Fantastic Beasts Has Solid, Not Spectacular, Thursday Night

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them began screening Thursday evening at around 3900 theaters, pulling in an estimated $8.75 million. That's a solid opening number that puts the film in line to hit expectations of an $70-$80 million opening weekend take. Also opening this weekend are Edge of Seventeen and Bleed for This alongside an expansion of Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk to nearly 1200 locations — none of them expected to put more than a surface dent in the Fantastic Beasts take. [Variety]

Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk Playing in Four Different Formats

Billy Lynn's wide-ish opening today will bring the movie itself to a wider audience, although none of them will be able to see it in director Ang Lee's intended 120fps stereo 3D 4K presentation. Instead, a single Dallas theater will show it at 120fps in Dolby Vision 3D at 2K resolution and a few more will screen it at 2K 120fps in 2D. The bulk of screens, though, will be showing a standard 2K 24fps 2D version. [Mashable]

TV Academy Names Hayma Washington New CEO, Chairman

The Television Academy has elected Emmy Award-winning producer Hayma Washington (The Amazing Race) to be CEO and Chairman for a two-year term beginning January 1. He will succeed current Chairman and CEO Bruce Rosenblum. The Academy said Washington will be the first African-American in that position. [Emmys.com]

Afrocentric Streaming Service Is "Just Like Netflix, Only Blacker"

Brown Sugar

African-American broadcast network Bounce TV has launched video-streaming app Brown Sugar, promising blaxploitation fans "the biggest collection of the baddest movies" for $3.99/month. Does it herald a new breed of lower-cost streaming services targeting niche audiences? [ScreenCrush]

Doc NYC Panel: Stakes Are High for Documentary Filmmakers and Their Subjects

Documentary filmmakers need to assess their vulnerabilities, both legally and physically, on every project, according to speakers on a Doc NYC panel this week titled "Protecting Yourself." A team working on a film about American police departments worried that a shotgun mic could be mistaken for a weapon. The director of a film following an FBI informant (without permission from the FBI) had her cameras modified to suppress their GPS. And another changed her appearance and lowered her social media profile in order to fit in better in smalltown Ohio. [Filmmaker]