Viacom, which owns channels like Comedy Central and MTV, is in advanced talks to be a part of a sports-free TV package priced at $10-$20 a month, CEO Bob Bakish said at a conference Monday, according to Variety. 

Last month, Bloomberg broke the news that several cable networks were trying to put together a sports-free package for under $20, cutting out high-cost channels like ESPN, which alone cost $6.10 in carriage fees per subscriber in 2016. 

Companies like Viacom and Discovery, which don't rely on sports rights, have come out in favor of it, while Disney CEO Bob Iger scoffed at the notion that such a bundle would be compelling.

Right now, most of the new streaming live TV packages — DirecTV Now, YouTube TV, Hulu with Live TV, and so on — are focused around sports and come in at around $35-$40.

“The transformational opportunity is to bring in a new entry segment at a much lower price point,” Bakish said Monday. Earlier this month, Discovery CEO David Zaslav said there's room in the market for a sports-free package that costs $8 to $12 a month.

Broadcasters hate it

There are two basic camps on this matter.

The parent companies of the major broadcast networks — NBC, ABC, CBS, and Fox — have paid a lot for sports rights, so they want no part of a bundle that makes sports seem less important. The cable networks they own are also out. So no FX, USA, or Fox News.

That means the bundle will have to be constructed of companies like Discovery, Viacom, AMC, Scripps, and Turner (though it does have some sports rights). Those five put together could indeed make a pretty compelling cheap "entertainment" bundle at $20 or less. You would get a spread of programming from CNN's news, to AMC's dramas, to Comedy Central or the Food Network. There would be holes, but at the right price people might be willing to overlook it.

Distributors who want to sell such a bundle might run into trouble, however. How? Some of the contracts cable and satellite providers have signed with heavyweights like Disney and Fox have fine print designed to stop new bundles like these. And in 2015, ESPN sued Verizon over a sports-free bundle, saying it violated distribution deals.

But it seems that at least one distributor is looking to bring a $10-$20 bundle to market anyway. 

Bakish said the package was meant to appeal to “cord-never millennials,” or young people who have never subscribed to cable. As it stands, it's hard to imagine why a young consumer who isn't interested in sports would shell out $40-a-month for his or her first pay-TV bundle. This package is meant to fix that.

The question is whether, without the broadcasters, there will be enough quality entertainment in the bundle to move the needle.

SEE ALSO: Sports-free TV bundles could kick off soon

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What is eSports? History & Rise of Video Game Tournaments

Years ago, eSports was a community of video gamers who would gather at conventions to play Counter Strike, Call of Duty, or League of Legends.

These multiplayer video game competitions would determine League of Legends champions, the greatest shooters in Call of Duty, the cream of the crop of Street Fighter players, the elite Dota 2 competitors, and more.

But today, as the history of eSports continue to unfold, media giants such as ESPN and Turner are broadcasting eSports tournaments and competitions. And in 2014, Amazon acquired Twitch, the live streaming video platform that has been and continues to be the leader in online gaming broadcasts. And YouTube also wanted to jump on the live streaming gaming community with the creation of YouTube Gaming.

eSports Market Growth Booming

To put in perspective how big eSports is becoming, a Google search for "lol" does not produce "laughing out loud" as the top result. Instead, it points to League of Legends, one of the most popular competitive games in existence. The game has spawned a worldwide community called the League of Legends Championship Series, more commonly known as LCS or LOL eSports.

What started as friends gathering in each other's homes to host LAN parties and play into the night has become an official network of pro gaming tournaments and leagues with legitimate teams, some of which are even sponsored and have international reach. Organizations such as Denial, AHQ, and MLG have multiple eSports leagues.

And to really understand the scope of all this, consider that the prize pool for the latest Dota 2 tournament was more than $20 million.

Websites even exist for eSports live scores to let people track the competitions in real time if they are unable to watch. There are even fantasy eSports leagues similar to fantasy football, along with the large and growing scene of eSports betting and gambling.

So it's understandable why traditional media companies would want to capitalize on this growing trend just before it floods into the mainstream. Approximately 300 million people worldwide tune in to eSports today, and that number is growing rapidly. By 2020, that number will be closer to 500 million.

eSports Industry Analysis - The Future of the Competitive Gaming Market

Financial institutions are starting to take notice. Goldman Sachs valued eSports at $500 million in 2016 and expects the market will grow at 22% annually compounded over the next three years into a more than $1 billion opportunity.

And industry statistics are already backing this valuation and demonstrating the potential for massive earnings. To illustrate the market value, market growth, and potential earnings for eSports, consider Swedish media company Modern Times Group's $87 million acquisition of Turtle Entertainment, the holding company for ESL. YouTube has made its biggest eSports investment to date by signing a multiyear broadcasting deal with Faceit to stream the latter's Esports Championship Series. And the NBA will launch its own eSports league in 2018.

Of course, as with any growing phenomenon, the question becomes: How do advertisers capitalize? This is especially tricky for eSports because of its audience demographics, which is young, passionate, male-dominated, and digital-first. They live online and on social media, are avid ad-blockers, and don't watch traditional TV or respond to conventional advertising.

So what will the future of eSports look like? How high can it climb? Could it reach the mainstream popularity of baseball or football? How will advertisers be able to reach an audience that does its best to shield itself from advertising?

Robert Elder, research analyst for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled an unparalleled report on the eSports ecosystem that dissects the growing market for competitive gaming. This comprehensive, industry-defining report contains more than 30 charts and figures that forecast audience growth, average revenue per user, and revenue growth.

Companies and organizations mentioned in the report include: NFL, NBA, English Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, NHL, Paris Saint-Germain, Ligue 1, Ligue de Football, Twitch, Amazon, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, ESPN, Electronic Arts, EA Sports, Valve, Riot Games, Activision Blizzard, ESL, Turtle Entertainment, Dreamhack, Modern Times Group, Turner Broadcasting, TBS Network, Vivendi, Canal Plus, Dailymotion, Disney, BAMTech, Intel, Coca Cola, Red Bull, HTC, Mikonet

Here are some eSports industry facts and statistics from the report:

• eSports is a still nascent industry filled with commercial opportunity.
• There are a variety of revenue streams that companies can tap into.
• The market is presently undervalued and has significant room to grow.
• The dynamism of this market distinguishes it from traditional sports.
• The audience is high-value and global, and its numbers are rising.
• Brands can prosper in eSports by following the appropriate game plan.
• Game publishers approach their Esport ecosystems in different ways.  
• Successful esport games are comprised of the same basic ingredients.
• Digital streaming platforms are spearheading the popularity of eSports.
• Legacy media are investing into eSports, and seeing encouraging results.
• Traditional sports franchises have a clear opportunity to seize in eSports.
• Virtual and augmented reality firms also stand to benefit from eSports.  

In full, the report illuminates the business of eSports from four angles:

• The gaming nucleus of eSports, including an overview of popular esport genres and games; the influence of game publishers, and the spectrum of strategies they adopt toward their respective esport scenes; the role of eSports event producers and the tournaments they operate.
• The eSports audience profile, its size, global reach, and demographic, psychographic, and behavioral attributes; the underlying factors driving its growth; why they are an attractive target for brands and broadcasters; and the significant audience and commercial crossover with traditional sports.
• eSports media broadcasters, including digital avant-garde like Twitch and YouTube, newer digital entrants like Facebook and traditional media outlets like Turner’s TBS Network, ESPN, and Canal Plus; their strategies and successes in this space; and the virtual reality opportunity.
• eSports market economics, with a market sizing, growth forecasts, and regional analyses; an evaluation of the eSports spectacle and its revenue generators, some of which are idiosyncratic to this industry; strategic planning for brand marketers, with case studies; and an exploration of the infinite dynamism and immense potential of the eSports economy.

Interested in getting the full report? Here are two ways to access it:

1. Subscribe to an All-Access pass to BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report and over 100 other expertly researched reports. As an added bonus, you'll also gain access to all future reports and daily newsletters to ensure you stay ahead of the curve and benefit personally and professionally. >> START A MEMBERSHIP
2. Purchase & download the full report from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT

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Entrepreneur Billy McFarland and rapper Ja Rule have been targeted with severallawsuits since the Fyre Festival, the weekend-long luxury music event they had planned in the Bahamas for late April, fell into chaos before it could begin.

According to a New York Times report published Sunday, the cofounders of Fyre Media, which put on the event, are facing a criminal investigation by the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York and the FBI. Investigators are looking into allegations of mail, wire, and securities fraud, according to the report.

"I cannot emphasize enough how sorry I am that we fell short of our goal," McFarland said in a statement to The Times. "I'm committed to, and working actively to, find a way to make this right, not just for investors but for those who planned to attend."

Pending lawsuits include one from the festival's investors, who allege they're missing millions, as well as several from attendees who claimed breach of contract, breach of a covenant of good faith, and negligent misrepresentation on the part of the organizers and the PR firms that represented them.

One suit, filed by the celebrity trial lawyer Mark Geragos, is seeking $100 million in damages, alleging that the "festival's lack of adequate food, water, shelter, and medical care created a dangerous and panicked situation among attendees — suddenly finding themselves stranded on a remote island without basic provisions — that was closer to 'The Hunger Games' or 'Lord of the Flies' than Coachella."

According to a leaked tape that was reported by Vice, McFarland told employees of Fyre Media on May 5 that they would no longer be paid for their work but that they could stay at the company and work without pay if they wished. Employees have said that they were paid via wire transfer or in cash.

A host of supermodels had promoted the festival on social media, including Kendall Jenner, Hailey Baldwin, Emily Ratajkowski, and Bella Hadid. Blink-182, Major Lazer, Migos, Tyga, and Disclosure were among the artists scheduled to perform, according to the festival's promotions. According to The Times' most recent report, Blink-182's equipment is still stuck in "customs limbo," and Fyre Media owes more than $330,000 in customs fees.

Tickets started at $1,200, but reports have said some attendees paid close to or over $100,000 for the weekend.

SEE ALSO: The organizer of the disastrous Fyre Festival told employees they would no longer be paid but were welcome to stay and 'help out'

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NOW WATCH: Fyre Festival expectations vs. reality — here's what attendees thought they were getting when they bought $12,000 tickets

The constant barrage of breaking news about President Donald Trump's administration this past week motivated HBO's "Last Week Tonight" on Sunday to bring back its look at the scandals surrounding Trump and his staff, which the show has dubbed "Stupid Watergate."

Host John Oliver describes the issue as "a scandal with all the potential ramifications of Watergate, but where everyone involved is stupid and bad at everything."

The bulk of Sunday's show recapped some major recent events and tried to answer key questions: "What the f--- is going on?" "How big a deal is this?" "Where do we go from here?" And finally, "Is this real life?"

Oliver highlighted reports of Trump revealing classified information to the Russians when they visited the White House the day after he fired FBI Director James Comey; Comey's letter stating that Trump asked him to stop the investigation of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn; Trump complaining during a speech at the Coast Guard graduation ceremony that no other United States president in history has been treated worse than him; and the special counsel appointed to investigate Trump's team and potential ties with Russia. 

And then there's the other news within those major stories, like reports of Comey telling a friend he wore a blue suit so he could blend into the Oval Office curtains and not be seen by Trump during a ceremony, Trump calling Comey a "nut job" to the Russians the day after firing him, and Senator John McCain saying everything going on is of "Watergate size."

Yes, this all happened in the last seven days.

"This certainly all has the appearances of a pretty big deal," Oliver said, addressing the calls by some Democrats in the Senate for Trump to be impeached. 

But then Oliver explained what would happen if Trump were impeached. The next president would be Vice President Mike Pence, a man who defunded Planned Parenthood and opposed the ending of "Don't ask, don't tell," to name a couple things. 

And it's a very long shot, Oliver pointed out, because the vote would go to the House and Senate, which are both controlled currently by the Republicans. 

“It seems like when it comes to President Trump he’s always approaching the end of the line and it never seems to come,” Oliver said.

What's also troubling is all of this involves a sitting president who said in his first 100 days that he misses his old life.

"That is why this is truly stupid Watergate," Oliver said, "because no matter what, we are in for an agonizingly long period of leaks, allegations, and recriminations all over a presidential campaign to put a man in power who may not entirely want to be there. Say what you want about Nixon, at least he wanted the f---ing job."

Watch the entire "Last Week Tonight" segment below:

SEE ALSO: Here are all the jaw-dropping looks from the Cannes Film Festival red carpet

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Fyre Festival organizers Billy McFarland and Ja Rule are already facing several major lawsuits after attempting to put on a music festival in the Bahamas, only to have it collapse before it began.

According to a new report in The New York Times, the cofounders of Fyre Media, who put on the event, are now facing a criminal investigation by the US attorney's office for the Southern District of New York and the FBI. Investigators are reportedly looking into allegations of possible mail, wire, and securities fraud. 

"I cannot emphasize enough how sorry I am that we fell short of our goal," cofounder Billy McFarland said in a statement to the Times. "I'm committed to, and working actively to, find a way to make this right, not just for investors but for those who planned to attend."

The founders are also facing several lawsuits, including one from the festival's investors, who allege they're missing millions, as well as several from attendees who claim breach of contract, breach of covenant of good faith, and negligent misrepresentation on the part of the organizers and the PR firms who represented them. 

Here's the full Fyre Festival promo video:

Several of the pending suits outline what the expectations were for this supposedly "luxury" festival vs. what actually happened. Take a look at the pictures below:

SEE ALSO: Lawyers for the Fyre Festival sent cease-and-desist letters to people who tweeted about it, lawsuit claims

The three-day party was supposed to be on a private beach on the island of Great Exuma in the Bahamas.

It was supposed to be over two weekends: April 28-30 and May 5-7.

A host of supermodels had promoted it on social media, including Hailey Baldwin, Emily Ratajkowski, and Bella Hadid.

Billy Bush, former host of NBC's "Access Hollywood" and cohost of the "Today" show, has broken his silence about the infamous 2005 tape of an "Access Hollywood" segment in which Bush and Donald Trump made derogatory comments about women.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Bush said watching the footage left him "totally and completely gutted."

"Looking back upon what was said on that bus, I wish I had changed the topic," Bush said. "[Trump] liked TV and competition. I could've said, 'Can you believe the ratings on whatever?' But I didn't have the strength of character to do it."

Bush told THR that he's seen the "Access Hollywood" footage only three times: once three days before the footage was revealed back in October while Trump was running for president, and two more times before being interviewed by THR. However, he said he knew of the tape's existence for a long time and that "plenty of people" and NBC knew of it as well.

The three-minute tape features Bush, then a host on "Access Hollywood," and Trump speaking aboard a bus headed to the set of the soap opera "Days of Our Lives" for a segment about Trump’s  appearance on the show.

While inside the bus, Bush can be heard calling the actress that Trump will be shooting his scene with, Arianne Zucker, “hot as s---” as she walks toward the bus.

“I better use some Tic Tacs just in case I start kissing her,” Trump said. “You know, I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.”

“Whatever you want,” Bush said.

“Grab them by the p----. You can do anything,” Trump said.

After the video was released, Bush was quickly suspended by NBC and later fired. Trump called the comments "locker room banter" and went on to win the presidency.

Bush said he's currently developing a series. 

"I am not grateful for the moment," Bush said. "But I'm grateful for what I've gotten out of it. I'm grateful that it hit me all the way to my core."

SEE ALSO: A music producer who works with Eminem and Nas shows us how to make a hit hip-hop beat in 20 minutes

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After 25 years, "Twin Peaks" is finally back on TV with many familiar faces from the strange, small town we all knew and loved. There's just as much mystery in the new season as before, and the two-episode premiere screamed David Lynch from start to finish. Here are some things you might not have noticed on first watch. WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

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At Cannes, Netflix has been pulled into a fight with movie traditionalists, who have pushed back against the way Netflix puts out movies — particularly that theatrical releases have taken a back seat.

But film purists are should consider a crucial way Netflix is helping to coax the "mid-level" film market back to health.

The backlash

When Netflix got two films into Cannes this year, Boon Joon-Ho's "Okja" and Noah Baumbach's "The Meyerowitz Stories," it seemed like a big win, and perhaps a step toward acceptance into the film world.

But that swung drastically the other way when Cannes decided to tweak its competition rules after this year as a result of the backlash toward Netflix titles. Going forward, films will only qualify if they have a theatrical release in France (it's unclear whether those two titles will).

"The establishment closing ranks against us," Netflix CEO Reed Hastings wrote on Facebook. "See Okja on Netflix June 28th. Amazing film that theatre chains want to block us from entering into Cannes film festival competition."

The mid-level film 

"Okja" is a perfect example of both the pushback Netflix has gotten, and how Netflix has begun to help prop up part of the movie industry.

Last week, some members of the audience at the Cannes "Okja" premiere booed while others cheered when the Netflix title card flashed, expressing their distaste for the streaming giant. But "Okja," which got a four-minute standing ovation at a later showing, might not have been made if not for Netflix.

On Friday at Cannes, prominent producer Brett Ratner said that before Netflix, "Okja" had been pitched to traditional film distributors, who didn't want to back a $55 million film that was from a Korean director and didn't necessarily have franchise potential, according to The Hollywood Reporter. These kinds of mid-budget movies have become nearly impossible to make work, he said.

This echoes sentiments Netflix has been expressing for the last few years. Speaking at the Vanity Fair Summit in 2015, Netflix’s head of content Ted Sarandos emphasized that Netflix was moving to fill a niche currently ignored by Hollywood.

“There are movies that people really want to watch that are no longer being made and no longer being put in movie theaters because studios don’t want to make them anymore,” he said at the time. These movies are the mid-level films, the ones that don’t have superheroes or big explosions. Hollywood, Sarandos said, is increasingly focused on blockbusters that do well internationally.

That trend has only gotten worse since 2015.

Netflix has always argued that it is expanding the movie pie — making the industry bigger, not fighting over a static number of films.

If "Okja" would have never gotten made, would that have been a better outcome for those who care about the art of film?

The Amazon way

The counterpoint to that line of argument is Netflix's main rival, Amazon. Though Amazon is a streaming service, all its films get theatrical releases because Amazon is willing to keep the movies off its online platform for the traditional length of time.

Why can't Netflix just act like Amazon?

The problem is that how Amazon makes this work from a business model perspective — if it even does — is unclear. How value is created and passed between all the cogs in the Amazon machine is hard to parse out, and CEO Jeff Bezos seems to love Hollywood, so perhaps he's willing to lose some money there. Netflix's business is so wildly different from Amazon's, it doesn't make sense to compare them directly.

Netflix should be judged on its own terms.

So for those who believe Netflix is doing a disservice to films like "Okja" by de-emphasizing the theatrical release, these questions about artistic integrity, and what duty Netflix has to these films, must be balanced against the reality that some of them might simply not get made in a world without Netflix.

SEE ALSO: 11 tips to make you a Netflix master

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Netflix is on the verge of throwing us some seriously A-list movies on its service, like Will Smith in “Bright” (coming in December) and Bong Joon Ho’s “Okja” (June 28), featuring Tilda Swinton and Jake Gyllenhaal, among many others. But the first one out of the gate, the Brad Pitt-starring “War Machine” (available Friday), isn’t a strong start.

Pitt plays four-star general Glen McMahon, who has been assigned to head the Allied Forces’ war in Afghanistan circa 2010 and bring it to a quick end. But with a mixture of ego and stupidity, McMahon finds himself deeper into the war than when he started, which eventually leads to his downfall.

Directed by David Michôd (“Animal Kingdom”), the movie tries to be a witty commentary on our involvement in the Middle East, but instead it’s a pretentious snooze that isn’t as funny as it thinks it is.

An adaptation of the Michael Hastings nonfiction book “The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America’s War in Afghanistan,” the movie's McMahon is based on General Stanley McChrystal, the main subject of the book. It’s a follow-up to Hastings’ Rolling Stone article “The Runaway General,” which led to McChrystal’s resignation. Both the article and the book detail Hastings’ time with McChrystal and his staff in Afghanistan as they mock government officials like then-Vice President Joe Biden as well as US Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl W. Eikenberry.

It’s obvious Michôd, who also wrote the screenplay, tried to take the whole situation and turn it into a wanna-be “Wag the Dog” political satire. What we get instead is Pitt with silver hair and a weird voice doing a strange jog (seriously, if anything, see the movie so you can make a GIF of Pitt jogging... it’s the only funny thing in this movie).

Perhaps its only highlight is the brief scene that features a platoon in battle in Afghanistan, which pretty much condenses the whole point of the movie. We find the troops looking for the bad guys and when they find themselves in a firefight, they unleash a barrage of high-powered rifle bullets and bombs (including one soldier, played by “Atlanta” star Lakeith Stanfield, taking it upon himself to go solo and take out the insurgents). However, we find that in the battle a bomb hits a family’s home and a child is killed. McMahon comes to look over the scene and apologize to the family. The villagers plead for him and his troops to just leave the region.

But this is only one powerful scene in a movie filled with flaws. Though the real-life events of McChrystal and his team are ripe for satire, "War Machine" gets too caught up in the fog of war to give its audience anything to latch onto.

SEE ALSO: RANKED: The 11 best movies of 2017 so far

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Ad buyers and TV network executives converged in New York City last week for a series of splashy, star-studded events. Jennifer Hudson sang. The cast of "Roseanne" reunited. There was lots of trash talking aimed at Facebook and Google. There was a new show about a magician who consults for the FBI.

But there was something missing among the round of TV upfront presentations, during which networks try and sell advertisers on their new crop of upcoming shows: lots of projects spun out of digital media companies.

Nearly every major digital media upstart wants to get into the TV business, whether that means licensing an idea, collaborating on a project, or acting like a studio and producing a TV series.

Consider all the recent alliances and investments between traditional media giants and digital upstarts:

• NBCUniversal has invested in both Vox Media and BuzzFeed
• Turner has pumped money into Mashable and Refinery29.
• Those deals were fostered in part because big TV companies were ostensibly hoping to borrow some of their supposed ability to connect with linear-TV-avoiding millennials.

Generally speaking, TV money is better than digital ad money, so it's natural for web companies, particularly venture-backed firms looking to justify their valuations, to want to venture into TV. Getting on TV is also a great legitimizer in the media world.

Thus, it's noteworthy that so few major networks have announced digital-publishing-born TV projects. To be fair, TV gestation periods are long, and some of these companies say they have many potential TV series waiting in the wings.

Still, traditional TV companies desperately need to figure out how to connect with younger audiences, and their affiliations with digital native publishers were enacted with the promise of borrowing some of these companies' "we get millennials" magic.

For web publishers, they would seem to need TV's to help accelerate their revenue growth. Being on TV should theoretically open them up to a much broader set of advertisers and let them sell content to a wider group of distributors. 

Here's what the various big web publishers are up to on TV:

Refinery29 - Headed to TNT with prestige documentaries

The female-focused publisher and Turner’s TNT have collaborated on a series of short films centered on female talent and themes. These films, dubbed the Shatterbox Anthology, have debuted at recent festivals and will eventually make it to TNT’s linear network. And TNT has also greenlit the documentary series “Who Run the World?" which is being executive-produced by Sarah Jessica Parker, Morgan Spurlock and Refinery29.

BuzzFeed - Moving cautiously, with little urgency to push brands like Tasty to TV

Back in 2015 founder Jonah Peretti said he wanted to push into TV, if he could figure out how to connect with audiences the same way the brand can on the web. BuzzFeed Motion Pictures just announced a deal to co-produce a documentary series that will land on NBCU's Oxygen cable network, reports the Hollywood Reporter. There are other potential TV projects in development, but landing a ton of major TV deals is not a central priority at the company, said a person familiar with the matter.

Mashable - Its Turner partnership has yet to yield a TV project

There are no TV projects in the works for Mashable at the moment, though last year Kevin Reilly, chief creative officer for Turner Entertainment, said he hoped the collaboration between the two companies might lead to some content production, reported the Wall Street Journal.

For millions of people around the world, the war between Super Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog was serious business.

And for Nintendo and Sega, it was actually serious business. Nintendo controlled north of 90% of the video game market before Sega — and a speedy blue cartoon hedgehog named Sonic — showed up.

"Sonic the Hedgehog" — the original Sega Genesis game, not the character — is beloved among game fans of a certain age. It starred the hard-edged Sega equivalent of Nintendo's goofy, floppy-hatted Super Mario. Moreover, his debut game was really, really good. (It didn't hurt that Sega included the game for free with new Genesis consoles, making it the first-ever successful free-to-play game.)

For years, fans have wanted a return to the original, 16-bit-era version of "Sonic the Hedgehog" that they grew up with. And now, those fans are taking over the creation of exactly such a project.

This is "Sonic Mania":

SEE ALSO: Nintendo's next major 'Super Mario' game is a fresh take on a classic — here's what we know

If "Sonic Mania" looks familiar, that's because it's a spitting image of the original "Sonic the Hedgehog" games.

It stars Sonic (the hedgehog), Tails, and a third playable character....

Knuckles! He's an echidna.

Warning: Major spoilers ahead if you haven't seen "Alien: Covenant."

Yes, Danny McBride is as surprised as you are that his character in "Alien: Covenant," Tennessee, survives the carnage of the movie.

"I'm very excited about that," McBride recently told Business Insider. "When you read a script like this, you turn the page and go, 'Okay, I'm still in the script,' turn the page, 'I'm still in the script,' turn the page, 'I'm still in the script.'"

It's well-known that generally in the "Alien" movies, all the characters get killed one by one by the aliens until there's one person left who is clever enough to survive (that honor went to Sigourney Weaver's Ripley character in the first two movies, leading to the character becoming one of the most popular in movie history).

In fact, Tennessee made history being the first pilot to survive in an "Alien" movie. McBride has been a fan of the legendary franchise that "Covenant" director Ridley Scott started back in 1979 with the groundbreaking first "Alien" movie, so he's aware how shocking his survival is.

In "Alien: Covenant," along with McBride's Tennessee, a female character, Daniels (Katherine Waterson), survives. 

Sworn to keep all details about the movie secret until its release, McBride said he got a kick out of messing with his friends about the fate of Tennessee before the movie opened in theaters.

"It was fun being at dinners that I had with my friends and getting them to guess how I get slaughtered in the movie," McBride said. "Then, I'd say, 'You'll just have to see.'"

Though McBride won't comment on if he'll be in the next "Alien" movie, he's skeptical about his character's future.

"I'm not allowed to say anything really, but just being a fan of the movies I feel like when people get in those sleep pods it's not usually good," McBride said with a laugh.

At the end of the movie, Tennessee and Daniels are placed in sleep pods as they set course to another planet. But the evil robot David (Michael Fassbender) is also on board.

Numerous characters haven't made it out of cryogenic sleep in the franchise. In the first 10 minutes of "Covenant," the captain of the ship, Branson (James Franco), dies when his sleep pod catches fire. In "Covenant" we learn that David killed Elizabeth (Noomi Rapace), the hero of "Prometheus." Though it's not explained how it happened, it's possible David put an alien embryo inside her while she was asleep in her pod. And in the beginning of "Alien 3," characters Newt and Hicks died in their sleep pods after surviving the events of "Aliens."

With news that the next "Alien" movie might be set between "Prometheus" and "Covenant," it could be a while before we get to know what happens to Tennessee and Daniels after they wake from their long sleep... if they do wake.

"Alien: Covenant" is currently in theaters.

SEE ALSO: Danny McBride talks about the "surreal" moment in his career and acting in the new "Alien."

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Pulling off the spectacle of ABC's live "Dancing with the Stars" competition show takes hundreds of people and an around-the-clock schedule.

America's most-watched dancing competition gave Business Insider a behind-the-scenes look at one of its biggest episodes of the season, Disney Night. An ode to the countless fantastical characters created by the ABC parent company, Disney Night featured the competitors and professionals tackling some of the most beloved musical memories in movie history.

"Dancing with the Stars" executive producer Joe Sungkur told Business Insider recently that it takes "a huge army of people" and a large amount of communication to pull together a night like that.

"Whether it be from a technical point of view or a creative point of view all have to come together so that we can really make sure that a unified vision is presented and that everyone is on the same page," Sungkur said.

BBC Worldwide Productions, which produces "Dancing with the Stars" for ABC, showed us what goes into Disney Night. 

Here's what it takes to put together TV's most popular live dance competition:

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7: 45 a.m. PT – It may still be dark outside, but the lights are on at the "DWTS" studio at Hollywood's CBS Television City. The crew is already hard at work setting up the "DWTS" stage.

"7:45 is when the couples come in and they're hearing the live band for the first time and the director's making the final adjustments for his cameras to really get ready for the show," Sungkur said.

It's also a beneficial opportunity for the competitors.

"Sometimes the band's arrangement will be a little different from the track," he explained. "So it's very useful for the couples, because they might give notes to the musical director. So it's a constant collaboration between all the technical departments to make sure that we are presenting these performances and all the elements in the show to the best of our abilities."

8:54 a.m. PT – Inside the immense wardrobe bungalow at "DWTS."

The team of seamstresses could work around the clock to finish the costumes for a live show. There can be constant fit issues to deal with and notes from the dancers and producers.

"One of the things that sets this show apart is the wardrobe," Sungkur said. "I don't think there's any other show on television that has the ability to convey such glamour and huge showbiz element with this amazing wardrobe that you can only get in ballroom and 09:24 dancing."

9 a.m. PT – It's always packed in the hair and makeup room.

There can be as many as eight hair and makeup artists at work on "DWTS." Women typically arrive around 9 a.m. and can spend as many as four hours in the chair. Men are way faster, though Sungkur said that "some of the guys like to spend a long time in the chair, as well."

"It's an amazing process," Sungkur said. "Not only do you have the regular hair and makeup, but our team has things like body makeup we have to consider on a show like this as well."

The world of e-sports is massive and still growing, and advertisers are wondering how they can profit from this phenomenon.

Kevin Lin, COO of Twitch, and Peter More, chief competition officer of EA, sat down with Business Insider's Steve Kovach at IGNITION 2016 to discuss the role advertisers play in e-sports.

In addition to revenue sources like subscriptions, donations, sponsorships, event-based ticketing, merchandise, food and beverage, and in-game items, Lin said advertising is the main way e-sports are monetized.

So why do advertisers want to get involved? For one thing, the viewership numbers are huge. “Some of them hit tens of millions,” Lin said. “In concurrents, you’ll see millions.” Additionally, users spend two hours a day, on average, watching content. During competitions, the number grows to 8 to 10 hours.

Another reason e-sports are intriguing to advertisers is the demographic they reach. According to Lin, 90% of the Twitch audience subscribes to Netflix or Hulu rather than traditional cable. “Broadcasters are wondering how to reach this demographic,” Moore said, so they want to be a part of e-sports.

With millions of young people not seeing traditional advertisements, companies are recognizing the need to engage with younger audiences in other ways. But there is a challenge in this form of advertising. Because this audience is not used to traditional advertising, they are quick to recognize when something is not authentic.

Moore mentioned that brands have to be careful when entering this space, and must be able to show they are truly interested in growing the field of e-sports rather than just selling a product.

“A lot of brands that are very interested in the space are building entire divisions that are hired from the community,” Lin said. “They can help craft a message and marketing plan that really resonates.”

When done correctly, massive success can be had. For example, Nissan launched a holiday campaign on Twitch. The Twitter impressions and chat messages involving the word “Nissan” were in the millions. Nissan did not expect this result, but because the campaign was authentic it succeeded.

Companies have huge potential to reach a new audience by dipping into e-sports, and we will likely be seeing even more of this in the future.

To learn more about the future of digital, be sure to attend Business Insider's IGNITION 2017!

We’re rolling out the speaker lineup over the coming months, and you won’t want to miss it. Business Insider IGNITION 2017 will take place November 29-30 at the Time Warner Center in New York City. Right now we're offering Extra-Early-Bird tickets that will save you $1,000 — don't miss out!

To hear more about the world of e-sports, check out the full interview below (the segment starts at 2:12).

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A Washington, DC bar has removed its controversial drink, "Pill Cosby," from the menu after it caused a stir on Twitter.

Served at a new bar called "Diet Starts Monday," the drink not-so-subtly alluded to the accusations of sexual assault that have been levied against comedian Bill Cosby. The Pill Cosby was a hibiscus cocktail topped with empty pills. 

Cosby is facing allegations that he drugged and sexually assaulted Andrea Constand in 2004, and jury selection for the trial began Monday. 

"Diet Starts Monday" is part of an experimental fashion label set up by friends John Geiger and Davin Gentry. 

Gentry told Washingtonian that the drink should remind people to be more aware of the dangers of date rape in bars. But some Twitter users found the cocktail to be distasteful, and the bar has now removed it from their menu.

The bar announced the cocktail's removal with a tweet Monday afternoon. The owners did not immediately return Business Insider's request for comment.

SEE ALSO: The 14 best bars in America

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The next major game from the folks behind "Grand Theft Auto" just got hijacked right out of its original release date.

Originally planned for a launch this fall on Xbox One and PlayStation 4, "Red Dead Redemption 2" now has a launch window of "spring 2018." Rockstar says the delay is, "necessary to ensure that we can deliver the best experience possible for our fans." Bummer! 

"Red Dead Redemption 2" is a gorgeous new game being made by Rockstar Games, the development studio most well-known for its wildly popular "Grand Theft Auto" series.

It's a lot like "Grand Theft Auto," in that it's a massive, open-world, third-person action game with a focus on storytelling. The big difference is that it's based in 1800s America — specifically, the Western frontier as the United States expanded toward the West Coast.

Rockstar describes "Red Dead Redemption 2" as an "outlaw epic set across the vast and unforgiving American heartland." It's not clear how the story of "Red Dead Redemption 2" aligns with the story of the first game, if at all. Notably, the first game ends with a rather definitive conclusion. Moreover, the art shown of "Red Dead Redemption 2" thus far paints the game as a "Magnificent Seven"-esque tale. 

Outside of news of the delay, Rockstar offered a few new images of the game in action and promised more information at some point this summer. 

Check out the full blog post from Rockstar right here.

SEE ALSO: The new game from the folks behind 'Grand Theft Auto' is ridiculously gorgeous

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NOW WATCH: These maps show where you're most likely to run into American wildlife that could kill you

President Donald Trump visited Saudi Arabia over the weekend, and the oil-rich kingdom pulled out all the stops.

Saudi Arabia was the first stop on Trump's weeklong trip abroad, the first of his presidency. He traveled to Israel on Monday, with stops in Vatican City, Belgium, and Italy scheduled over the next week.

While many of the events were a serious affair — from a major speech Trump gave about combatting terrorism to a $110 billion defense deal— the jam-packed weekend also featured many lighthearted moments.

Here are seven entertaining tidbits from Trump's first trip abroad:

SEE ALSO: 'We are not here to lecture': Trump calls on Middle Eastern leaders to 'drive out' the 'crisis of Islamic extremism'

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When Trump dined in Saudi Arabia, his favorite meal of steak and ketchup was reportedly offered alongside traditional rice and lamb dishes.

Source: AP

Trump, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross danced while holding swords during a welcome ceremony on Saturday evening.

Tweet Embed:
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/865987711374696451
please enjoy this footage of the secretaries of commerce and state dancing awkwardly while holding swords pic.twitter.com/KrkoGRS8fWTweet Embed:
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/865988889827303424
And here is President Trump dancing in Saudi Arabia. pic.twitter.com/6KkCmwoVvN

Source: Business Insider

American country music star Toby Keith hosted a concert in Riyadh on Saturday night, and Trump "did a slow roll" in a golf cart past a livestream of the event with his wife Melania and Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz. Women weren't allowed at the concert.

Tweet Embed:
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/866000396610813952
I can report that the White House travel pool is now watching a live feed of Toby Keith's all-male concert in Riyadh. The lutist is opening.Tweet Embed:
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/866001307907235840
Proof pic.twitter.com/fJOsON6P5YTweet Embed:
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/866008323015024641
I now can report that POTUS, FLOTUS and the king - all in a golf cart - did a slow roll by the live stream of the Toby Keith concert.

Source: AP

After news broke that hail-hydra.com redirected to the White House website, Marvel Comics apparently made moves to trademark the famous phrase.

On May 11, The Hollywood Reporter wrote that the domain hail-hydra.com redirected to President Donald Trump's biography on the official White House website.

Marvel applied to make "Hail Hydra" a registered trademark, Comicbook.com reported May 21. The trademark rights would extend to everything from electronic comic books to graphic novels and websites.

It's unclear whether the company chose to trademark the phrase because of the redirect. Marvel representatives did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

The phrase, which has been present in Marvel comics for decades, entered the popular vernacular as an internet meme after "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" came out in 2014.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the hail-hydra.com domain was registered to an account in Queensland, Australia back in 2014.

Buzzfeed News tracked down the owner of the domain who, upon condition of anonymity, said he redirected it to Trump's bio on Inauguration Day.

"Trump in particular seems to have a cult of personality about him where he thinks now that he is president everyone should be loyal to him first, and not the Constitution or laws of the land," the domain owner said, adding that he didn't plan to take down the redirect, and no White House representatives had contacted him to do so.

During his visit to Saudi Arabia over the weekend, Trump placed his hands on a glowing orb with the Saudi king and Egyptian president — and thus set off a new round of 'Hail Hydra' jokes about the White House:

As of May 22, hail-hydra.com still redirects to Trump's profile on the White House page.

SEE ALSO: Trump's encounter with glowing orb sets Twitter alight with evil villain jokes

DON'T MISS: Here's what the 'glowing orb' Trump touched in Saudi Arabia actually was

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The company that makes "Grand Theft Auto" isn't known for pumping out games. You may recall that the last "GTA" game came out in 2013 — that's the most recent release from Rockstar Games.

But a new game from Rockstar is just on the horizon: "Red Dead Redemption 2."

The relentlessly gorgeous "Red Dead Redemption 2" is still at least one year away — it was recently delayed to "spring 2018." When it does arrive, it's headed to the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. 

So, what's "Red Dead Redemption 2" all about? Is it basically "Grand Theft Horse?" Let's dive in.

SEE ALSO: The next major game from the folks behind 'Grand Theft Auto' just got delayed until 2018

Unlike "GTA," the "Red Dead" series is set in the American frontier, circa mid-1800s. That means campfires and starry skies.

It also means gunslingers and six-shooters and bandit masks. This isn't just a tale of America's "Wild West," but a tale of cowboys, robbers, and the evolution of American society.

Major centerpieces of the era, like cross-country railroads, directly play in to "Red Dead Redemption 2."

Ariana Grande wrote that she was "broken" after a bomb exploded at her concert in Manchester, England, on Monday night, killing at least 22 people and injuring dozens more, many of them young children.

After the police determined that an attacker had set off a bomb near the entrance of the Manchester Arena, where Grande was finishing a performance, Grande tweeted that she was "broken" and "so so sorry."

Sources who were with the singer after the attack told TMZ that Grande was "in hysterics" from knowing that young children who came to see her were killed.

Despite initial reports that Grande had suspended her world tour, all future concerts were still on, a source from Grande's team told the Associated Press.  The singer's future tour includes stops in London, Belgium, Poland, Germany, and Switzerland before heading to South America and Asia.

The source, who did not want to be named, said that Grande was focusing her attention on the victims rather than the tour.

The Islamic State terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attack, which the Manchester police said was carried out by a single person who died in the explosion.

Grande's manager, Scooter Braun, issued a statement condemning the attack.

"We mourn the lives of children and loved ones taken by this cowardly act," he wrote. "We are thankful for the selfless service tonight of Manchester's first responders who rushed towards danger to help save lives."

SEE ALSO: Three arrests, raids, and controlled explosion as police investigate Manchester bomb attack

DON'T MISS: How celebrities are reacting to the terror attack at Ariana Grande's Manchester concert

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