VarietyRebecca Rubin looks back on a quiet Fourth of July holiday weekend at the box office with a tepid U.S. opening for Universal and Illumination’s “Minions and Monsters,” but a strong showing for Angel Studios’ “Young Washington.” AND VarietyKJ Yossman explains why Comcast’s Sky has reached a deal to buy British broadcaster ITV for $2.1 billion.

For “Minions and Monsters,” the good news is that the film is already performing well in several overseas territories. Domestically, however, it posted the lowest opening weekend for the “Despicable Me” franchise to date with $36 million.

“It could be a case of franchise fatigue,” Rubin says. “This is a franchise that tends to be quite popular overseas. It came out last weekend in some territories, so the movie has grossed about $160 million globally so far. And that’s why it’s difficult to close that kind of business, because [‘Minions’] It doesn’t have the biggest production budget compared to other animated properties like the ‘Toy Story’ movies which are much more expensive. This one cost 85 million dollars. So it’s definitely a disappointing start, especially at the domestic box office. But it’s not necessarily a huge financial ruin.”

“Young Washington” is an independently produced George Washington biopic that was a hit with mainstream audiences and motivated by the values ​​that Angel Studios courts with its film and television productions. The modestly budgeted film grossed $20 million in its first salvo.

Angel Studios “have a niche that they’ve found in this demographic. They definitely know their core audience,” Rubin says. “And the moviegoers who tend to see these movies often give them very good audience scores. This one got an A rating, and that generally bodes well for how it will perform throughout its career. It’s another win for Angel Studios.”

Yossman, a London-based journalist for Varietybreaks down the $2.1 billion transaction revealed today between Comcast’s Sky and ITV. Comcast will acquire linear broadcast network and streaming platform ITVX, while the ITV Studios division will remain an independent publicly traded company owned by ITV shareholders. It is a major shake-up and a sign of the times for the UK television sector, where local players are finding it increasingly difficult to go it alone without wider media partnerships.

“What I’m hearing from everyone is that the landscape has completely changed. The threat now is coming from these American giants, the social media giants, whether it’s Meta or Google, YouTube, Netflix, and it’s a completely different landscape,” Yossman says. “The signs are that the government, in its current form, will be quite supportive of these types of mergers and acquisitions, because the main objective is obviously to maintain at least the [public service broadcasters] as a going concern. And if you have to sell it to an American studio to do it, it is still better than the alternative, which is that it goes bankrupt.”

Comcast last week unveiled a plan to separate Comcast’s core cable and technology assets from NBCUniversal and Sky. The ITV acquisition looks like the second half of that deal, as Yossman points out.

“We think that’s really where the value is for them for the streaming platform, ITVX,” he says.

(Pictured: “Young Washington”)

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