USA TODAY - L awrence J ournal -W orld MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2015
LIFELINE
SPORTS LIFE AUTOS ‘Supergirl’ TRAVEL soars with both sexes
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TELEVISION
EXCLUSIVE PHOTO Britney Spears makes quite an impression on ‘Jane the Virgin’ in this exclusive photo of the pop star meeting telenovela star Rogelio. Spears, who plays herself in Monday’s episode of the CW comedy (9 p.m. ET/PT), comes dressed to kill — Rogelio’s ego. Star power clashes when Britney and Rogelio (Jaime Camil) confront each other. Rogelio is still steaming over a teleprompter incident at a 2009 Latin pop music awards show. Britney, in response, forgets his name. Executive producer Jennie Snyder Urman explains Rogelio’s rage: “This is the first time Rogelio has come face to face with his former-friend-now-nemesis: Britney Spears. Rogelio claims they used to be best friends, until she betrayed him! The only problem? When Rogelio confronts Britney, she doesn't remember him! Which, of course, drives Rogelio more crazy! And he is determined to prove the truth.”
GREG GAYNE, CW
CAUGHT IN THE ACT Sure, Diane Kruger looks divine in that Monique Lhuillier ensemble, but we’re too distracted by Jared Leto’s epic photobomb. The red-carpet high jinks happened at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Art+Film Gala Saturday. The fifth annual event honored Mexican film director Alejandro González Iñárritu and American artist James Turrell.
EUGENE GARCIA, EPA
IT’S YOUR BIRTHDAY WHO’S CELEBRATING TODAY?
Rare female superhero draws range of viewers Gary Levin USA TODAY
Supergirl has girl power. Maybe it’s the title. Maybe it’s that female viewers are hungering for female superheroes. But the latest comics-inspired TV series has an audience that’s nearly evenly split between men and women. That’s a rarity in the male-dominated superhero genre. By contrast, 60% of the adult TV audience for CW’s The Flash is male, as are 57% of viewers for Fox’s Gotham, which airs opposite Supergirl (Mondays, 8 p.m. ET/PT). The only other comic-book series to have nearly equal numbers of men and women is the last to feature a female lead: Marvel’s Agent Carter, which returns to ABC in early 2016. A third, Marvel’s Jessica Jones, arrives Nov. 20 on Netflix, but the streaming site doesn’t share information about how many viewers (and of which gender) are watching. “There is such a limited supply of female superheroes, it would be very appealing for women to watch,” says Brad Adgate, analyst at ad firm Horizon Media. A show that can “attract both genders, a dual audience, bodes well for its success.” Supergirl herself may be 24, but Supergirl also attracts the oldest audience among costumed crime-fighters, with a median age of 56, compared with 41.9 for The Flash and about 47 for Gotham and ABC’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. That’s likely a function of the show’s home on senior-friendly CBS. (About 54% of prime-time TV watchers are women.) But producers say the series, lighter and less mythology-driven than many of its counterparts, is aimed at everyone. “It’s nice to see that there are all kinds of people checking it out,” says executive producer Greg Berlanti, who’s also behind CW’s Arrow and The Flash. “My favorite emails and tweets are the ones where different generations from the same family are watching and enjoying it together.” Supergirl, which stars Melissa Benoist in the title role, premiered Oct. 26 with 13 million viewers but fell about 30% last week, when it no longer followed TV’s top comedy, The Big Bang Theory. But it still ranked as the top superhero series. A third episode airs Monday night.
HOW TV’S SUPERVIEWERS COMPARE
Percentage of adult viewership among men and women for current-season episodes, and median age of all viewers. Show (network)
% male
% female
Median age
Supergirl (CBS)
51
49
56.0
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (ABC)
53
47
46.9
Gotham (Fox)
57
43
47.2
Arrow (CW)
58
42
42.9
The Flash (CW)
60
40
41.9
Melissa Benoist’s Supergirl draws more female viewers than Stephen Amell’s The Arrow, left, Matthew Willig’s Lash on Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Grant Gustin’s The Flash.
Source: Nielsen SUPERGIRL BY CLIFF LIPSON, CBS; STEPHEN ARNELL BY ED ARAQUEL, CW; MATTHEW WILLIG BY MARK KOLPACK, ABC; GRANT GUSTIN BY DIYAH PETRA, CW
MOVIES
JON KOPALOFF, FILMMAGIC
Nick Lachey is 42. Vanessa Lachey is 35. Compiled by Cindy Clark
USA SNAPSHOTS©
Time-tested soap
12,714th Episode of “Days of Our Lives” airing today
Note The 50-year-old daytime drama debuted Nov. 8, 1965. Source NBC Entertainment TERRY BYRNE AND JANET LOEHRKE, USA TODAY
‘Spectre’ is lethal; ‘Peanuts’ animate No. 2 Box office bounces back; ‘Goosebumps,’ ‘Martian’ still strong Bryan Alexander @BryAlexand USA TODAY
James Bond had a license to kill at the box office and executed that mission with a $73 million tally, according to studio estimates. Daniel Craig’s fourth turn as James Bond easily outpaced a strong showing for The Peanuts Movie, which still thrived at $45 million in its debut. Both movies provided a needed spark to a box office that has been slumping — down dramatically last weekend vs. the year before in what was an overall tough October for new releases. “It’s a great story, James Bond and Charlie Brown, two iconic characters over 50 years old,”
SONY
Daniel Craig drove Spectre to the second-largest Bond opening. says Paul Dergarabedian, senior box office analyst for Rentrak. “It took Bond and Brown to get the box office back on track.” Spectre is the second-biggest Bond opening behind 2012’s Skyfall, which took $88.4 million. The U.S. tally fell short of analysts’ initial expectations for the weekend, following Spectre’s record opening in the U.K. “Unquestionably, this is a big, big success,” Dergarabedian says.
The 3-D computer animated Peanuts marked a strong return for the beloved comic strip characters. Director Steve Martino and screenwriter/producer Craig Schulz, son of Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz, carefully developed a film that honored fans. “They obviously took their time with this project and did it right,” says Jeff Bock, box office analyst for Exhibitor Relations. “Peanuts will have legs through
the holiday season. All signs point for this to be the beginning of a new Peanuts franchise.” Matt Damon and The Martian continued to excel with $9.3 million and third place. The Ridley Scott film has $197.1 million total. Jack Black as children’s horror author R.L. Stine in Goosebumps continued to pull in young audiences, taking fourth place with $7 million ($66.5 million total). Tom Hanks and director Steven Spielberg’s Cold War collaboration Bridge of Spies rounded out the top five with $6.1 million for a total of nearly $55 million. Awards hopefuls Spotlight, about The Boston Globe’s investigation into the Catholic Church child abuse scandal, and 1950s drama Brooklyn, starring Irish actress Saoirse Ronan, performed well in limited openings. In five theaters, the two movies averaged $60,400 and $36,200 per screen respectively. Final numbers are expected Monday.