WrestleMania Peacock views / "Night Agent" tops Netflix charts / "Cruel Intentions" series / Harington joins "Industry"

Plus today's calendar, Glover on "Lando" and "Community," MGM+ International hits Europe, "The Diplomat" trailer, and more

Inside.com Part of   Network April 05, 2023

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The two-day WrestleMania 39 event streamed live on Peacock on Saturday and Sunday from Los Angeles' Sofi Stadium, delivering a record viewership weekend for the NBCUniversal-owned streamer. According to the company, this was the most-watched weekend of content in Peacock history, and WrestleMania streams were viewed for more hours than any live event on the platform other than the Super Bowl. More: Peacock included "WWE Hall of Fame ceremony" and "NXT Stand & Deliver" views -- which also streamed over the weekend -- within its WrestleMania numbers. Peacock viewership was up 32% in reach and 29% in hours viewed over last year's "WrestleMania 38" event. NBCU didn't release any specific viewership numbers. A Monday night episode of WWE's "Raw" airing on the USA Network also saw a WrestleMania bump, drawing its highest ratings among the 18-49 demographic in three years. DEADLINE

In its second week on Netflix, between March 27 and April 2, the spy thriller series "The Night Agent" was viewed for around 216.4 million hours, easily making it the platform's top show. The series has now been viewed for 385 million hours, signaling that it could ultimately become one of Netflix's most popular original series. More: As of now, "Night Agent" is only 120 million hours behind Netflix's 10th most-popular TV season of all time: Season 2 of "Ginny & Georgia." The show had the third-best premiere week of any Netflix original in history, with 160 million hours viewed in its first few days; only "Dahmer" and "Wednesday" have performed better in their first seasons. Netflix has renewed "The Night Agent" for a second season. The comedy sequel "Murder Mystery 2" was Netflix's top original film of the week, bringing in 42 million views in its first three days of availability. DEADLINE

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DAILY CALENDAR WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5 THE CROSSOVER: Debut sports drama series, based on the novel by Kwame Alexander. The coming-of-age story centers on two brothers (Jalyn Hall and Amir O'Neil) with a prodigal talent for basketball and their relationship on and off the court. Derek Luke, Deja Monique Cruz, and Sabrina Revelle co-star; Daveed Diggs narrates. [Disney+] WICKED TUNA: OUTER BANKS SHOWDOWN: The National Geographic reality series features veterans of the "Wicked Tuna" franchise in head-to-head competition as they visit the Outer Banks of North Carolina for winter bluefin tuna season. These episodes aired last fall on cable. [Disney+] JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH (VIAJE AL CENTRO DE LA TIERRA): Debut Spanish-language family fantasy-adventure series in which a young dreamer (Óscar Jaenada) discovers a portal to the "Verne Dimension," a parallel universe in which humanity was free to blossom without the destructive influence of greed. Margarita Rosa de Francisco, Alejandro Calva, and Sebastián García co-star. [Disney+] IT'S ALL RIGHT! (TÁ TUDO CERTO): Debut musical romantic comedy series from Brazil, starring Pedro Calais as a wannabe singer-songwriter who falls in love with a more established artist (Ana Caetano), prompting him to rethink his definition of success. [Disney+] LEWIS CAPALDI: HOW I'M FEELING NOW: Documentary feature profiling the musician, looking at his uneasy journey from breakout viral star to established, Grammy-nominated artist and the pressures of sudden fame. [Netflix] REGINALD THE VAMPIRE: Comedy-horror series produced for cable's Syfy network, starring Jacob Batalon as an unmotivated sadsack who only starts putting his life together after being turned into a bloodsucking monster. The full first season comes to Hulu today; Syfy has renewed the show for Season 2. [Hulu] AREA21 LIVE ON PLANET EARTH: 45-minute concert film featuring the electronic dance duo Area21, consisting of Martin Garrix and Maejor. The large-scale production expands the "Area21 mythos" and accompanies a companion album of the same name. [Hulu] THE GOOD MOTHERS: Debut crime thriller series from Italy, based on the nonfiction book by Alex Perry, about three women born into the ‘Ndrangheta mafia who collaborate with a prosecutor to bring down the organization from the inside. Gaia Girace, Valentina Bellè, Barbara Chichiarelli, Simona Distefano, and Michaela Ramazzotti co-star. [Hulu] THE POPE: ANSWERS: Spanish-language special, shot on location in Rome, featuring a meeting between Pope Francis and 10 young Catholics from very different backgrounds. The pontiff and his young guests discuss a variety of topics, including feminism, the role of women in the Church, the sexual abuse scandals involving Catholic clergy, the LGBTQ community, and more. [Hulu]

1999's "Cruel Intentions" Following an extended development proess, Amazon ordered an eight-episode series based on the 1999 film "Cruel Intentions." The project was originally developed for Amazon's free ad-supported Freevee service but may ultimately shift over to Prime Video. More: The original "Cruel Intentions" film was inspired by the 18th Century novel "Dangerous Liaisons," and starred Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, and Reese Witherspoon; it centers on a wager between wealthy step-siblings concerning the seduction of their school headmaster's daughter. NBC ordered a pilot for a sequel series, with Gellar set to reprise her role, in 2016; this version of the project was ultimately not picked up to series. Gellar later said she was "grateful" the NBC version had not moved forward, feeling the show would be more appropriate for a streaming platform than a broadcast network. Amazon's "Cruel Intentions" series was first announced in October 2021 and has no connection to that prior project; "Euphoria" vet Phoebe Fisher and "Gossip Girl" writer Sarah Goodman collaborated on the pilot script. TV LINE

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"Game of Thrones" veteran Kit Harington joined the cast of HBO's "Industry" for its upcoming third season in a recurring role. Harington will play Henry Muck, the CEO of a green energy company on the cusp of going public. More: Season 3 of "Industry" enters production in the UK this month. The series centers on a group of young investment bankers working in London. Harington has also signed on for a "Game of Thrones" sequel series centered on his character, Jon Snow; that project remains in the early stages of development. DEADLINE

In a video interview with GQ, Donald Glover indicates that discussions with Lucasfilm about a potential Lando Calrissian Disney+ series remain ongoing. Glover -- who played a young version of the iconic "Star Wars" character in the spinoff film "Solo" -- confirms in the interivew that the character "is definitely somebody I'd like to hang out with," adding "we're talking about it." More: The series was first announced in December 2020, with "Dear White People" vet Justin Simien attached. No fresh reports have come out since then, but the project has never been formally canceled. Billy Dee Williams starred as Lando in George Lucas' original "Star Wars" film trilogy. In the GQ piece, Glover also indicates that he's in involved in the "Community" reunion movie; other confirmed cast members include Joel McHale, Danny Pudi, and Alison Brie. IGN

MGM's suite of streaming services will be rebranded as "MGM+ International" in key European markets. The Amazon-owned studio recently relaunched its Epix cable network and streamer as MGM+ in the US. More: The company also struck a new content deal with Lionsgate, bringing a number of the studio's films and Starz TV shows to the MGM+ International platform. MGM+ International is coming this week to Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, and The Netherlands; monthly subscriptions cost €3.99, or $4.37 US. Current Lionsgate+ subscribers through Amazon Prime Video Channels will receive a free upgrade to the new MGM+ platform. HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

QUICK HITS Quickly familiarize yourself with building on Google Cloud with real-world examples and code snippets in this Google Cloud Cookbook.* Netflix dropped a trailer for "The Diplomat," a political drama series starring Keri Russell that debuts on April 20. "Curb Your Enthusiasm" executive producer Jeff Schaffer is the latest member of the creative team to shoot down rumors that the show will end after its upcoming 12th season. Amazon entered development on "Vanderbilt," a drama series about the powerful American dynasty based on the book by family member Anderson Cooper and Katherine Howe. Apple renewed the sci-fi comedy series "The Big Door Prize" for a second season. The new spinoff series "The Great American Baking Show" -- featuring "Great British Baking Show" vets Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith as judges -- arrives on Roku Channel on May 5; Ellie Kemper and Zach Cherry host. The comedy series "Somebody Somewhere" returns for a second season, following Bridget Everett's character Sam as she returns to her Kansas hometown, on April 23. Former HBO and Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes told CNBC that the cable network started producing original programming in the early 1990s due to competition from Blockbuster Video. Jon Stewart briefly returned to "The Daily Show" on Tuesday night for a comedy segment with guest host Roy Wood Jr.; the Comedy Central series has been relying on rotating guest hosts since Trevor Noah departed the anchor chair in December. Disney+ greenlit the German-language original series "Pauline," from the creative team behind Netflix's "How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast)"; the new series centers on a teenager who becomes pregnant following a one-night stand with The Devil. Sharpen your math, data, and CS skills with Brilliant. Quick, hands-on lessons make learning fun and easy. Over 10M+ people agree, so try it today.* *This is sponsored content

Learn how you can cut $1 Million from your T&E program in this guide.

Learn how the encrypted threat landscape has evolved in The State of Encrypted Attacks Report.

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