TV
Roku in Talks to Save Quibi’s Shows, Including “50 States of Fright” and “The Expecting”
Quibi may have had all the big Hollywood names, but it still managed to go down in history as one of the most brutal entertainment-related failures ever.
We can debate all day as to what caused the failed launch, but the content itself was never suffering. In fact, Quibi’s “50 States of Fright”, from producer and director Sam Raimi, was one of the best new horror series of last year.
When Quibi announced it was closing its doors, this struck a nerve with some horror fans and ignited a flame under the hot debate of physical media vs. digital. If Quibi were to shut down, what would happen to all their great content? Would it be lost forever or would someone save it?
While there was certainly a world in which we’d never see “50 States of Fright” again, there are reports this Monday morning that Roku is in talks to save Quibi’s content.
“Under the terms the companies have discussed, Roku would acquire rights to Quibi’s library,” the people familiar with the matter told the WSJ, further noting that “financial terms of the proposed deal couldn’t be learned” and that “the deal talks could still fall apart.”
Outside of the anthology series “50 States of Fright”, Quibi gave birth to “The Expecting”, a pregnancy thriller directed by American Psycho‘s Mary Harron, and The Hitcher-inspired Maika Monroe/Dane DeHaan-starring “The Stranger”, among several other genre adjacent thrillers.
Best known to horror fans for playing Rupert Giles in 121 episodes of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” actor Anthony Head (aka Anthony Stewart Head) has passed away at 72 years old.
Daughters Emily and Daisy Head said in a statement to the BBC that their father “passed away peacefully of complications due to pneumonia, surrounded by his family.”
Their statement continues, “It has been, and forever will be, an honour and a privilege to be his daughters, and to have witnessed firsthand the impact both he and his work have had on so many. We know how dearly he will be missed by friends, colleagues, and fans of the shows he was in — he loved his job very much, and he always considered himself incredibly lucky, to have been able to work alongside such exceptionally talented people, in such wonderful productions, across a career that spanned several decades.”
Anthony Head more recently played Rupert Mannion in 18 episodes of “Ted Lasso,” with the English actor’s film and television credits dating back to 1978. On the horror front, Anthony Head starred in Darren Bousman’s Repo! The Genetic Opera, as well as 2011’s Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, Let the Wrong One In, “Warehouse 13,” and “The Canterville Ghost.”
Also of note here in the world of horror, Anthony Head once played Dr. Frank-N-Furter in a London stage production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show back in the 1990s.
Outside the horror world, Anthony Head’s film and television credits well exceed 100 different productions and include “Highlander,” “NYPD Blue,” “Silent Witness,” “Doctor Who,” And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself, “Little Britain,” The Magic Door, “Sensitive Skin,” Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, “Free Agents,” The Iron Lady, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, “You, Me & Them,” “Dominion,” A Street Cat Named Bob, and Batman: Gotham by Gaslight.
“Buffy” actor James Marsters writes on Instagram, “There’s a hole in the World. Anthony Head has passed on from us. He was an unflaggingly kind and steady presence on the set of Buffy, and the best actor in the cast. He was the best of us. I was lucky to have known, and learned from him. He left the world a better place for his presence. Thank you Tony for all you gave.”
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