Netflix has established itself as the premier home for stand-up comedy over the past few years, and it has accomplished this by shelling out millions to some of the top names in the industry.

Ricky Gervais' recent Netflix special, "Humanity," is the first of two specials in a deal the actor-comedian reportedly signed for $40 million.

Gervais follows stand-ups like Amy Schumer, Dave Chappelle, and Chris Rock in netting multimillion-dollar deals from the streaming service.

It should be noted that Netflix has also drawn criticism for under-paying some comics. Comedian Mo'Nique came into a pay dispute with the company last year when they reportedly offered her $500,000 for a special.

Also, Louis C.K. was reportedly set to make between $30 million and $35 million from Netflix for a two-special deal, before the company cancelled his second special following sexual-misconduct allegations against the comedian. While he was paid for his first special, released in early 2017, we've excluded him from this list as his deal is not ongoing.

Here are the five comedians Netflix has paid insane amounts of money:

SEE ALSO: All 65 of Netflix's notable original shows, ranked from worst to best

Amy Schumer — $13 million

Netflix initially offered Amy Schumer $11 million in 2017 for her hourlong "The Leather Special," but Schumer was reportedly able to use Netflix's more lucrative deals with Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle as a bargaining chip to receive $13 million for the hour, according to Variety.

Ricky Gervais — $40 million

Ricky Gervais reportedly "secured the highest fee ever paid for a UK stand-up special" for his most recent Netflix special, "Humanity," according to Chortle. Gervais told the outlet that his second special in the deal, which was extended in January, would be worth the same. He then retweeted a Twitter user who wrote that Gervais had made $40 million from Netflix for the two specials.

Gervais has also profited from previously released shows that Netflix acquired of his, including "Derek" and "An Idiot Abroad."

Chris Rock — $40 million

Chris Rock signed a two-special deal with Netflix in 2016 that was worth $40 million in total, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The first of his two specials, "Tamborine," debuted in February.

• Bill Hader used the anxieties he had on "Saturday Night Live" to create the character for his HBO series, "Barry," about a hitman who wants to be an actor — though he's awful at acting.
• Hader said the biggest challenge was making a hitman show that didn't imitate classics in the genre like "Get Shorty" or "Grosse Pointe Blank."
• He also opened up about helping to voice the "Star Wars" character BB-8 (and if he's getting any residuals from the work) and working alongside Tom Cruise in "Tropic Thunder."

Since walking away as a “Saturday Night Live” cast member in 2013, Bill Hader has bounced around doing a bunch of things: showing off his dramatic chops in the indie “The Skeleton Twins,” playing the leading man in “Trainwreck,” doing a lot of voiceover work (“Inside Out,” “Sausage Party,” “The Angry Birds Movie,” “The BFG”), and contributing to the voice of BB-8 for “The Force Awakens.”

Now he’s returning to television for the HBO series, “Barry” (series premieres March 25), which he said was inspired by the years of anxiety he battled with while on "SNL."

Cocreating the series with Alec Berg (“Silicon Valley” executive producer), Hader plays the title character, a former Marine who is now a hitman completely burnt out and in a midlife crisis. While on a job in Los Angeles, Barry suddenly finds acceptance when he mistakenly becomes part of a local theater class while tailing his target. Now Barry has to try to find a way to continue his passion (acting) while continuing his day job as a hitman. The show also marks the first time Hader has ever directed, as he helmed the first three episodes.

Business Insider sat down with Hader last month to talk about how he channeled his fears on "SNL" — or, as he put it, "the thing that you're good at is destroying you" — into a creative way to tell a hitman story, if he has received any residuals for voicing BB-8, and what it was like watching Tom Cruise become Les Grossman on the set of “Tropic Thunder.”

Jason Guerrasio: Was it harder to convince HBO of the “Barry” storyline or that you could play a hitman convincingly?

Bill Hader: [Laughs] I think it was maybe both. To be honest, HBO was really open. They didn't need a lot of convincing. I had a meeting with them and said, "I want to do a show," and they said, "We'd love to do something with you." And they had seen “The Skeleton Twins,” and they liked my performance and saw that I wanted to branch out and do more than just sketch comedy. I think if Alec and I came in and pitched a broad comedy idea they wouldn't have been as interested. However, you say hitman and it conjures up images of a guy in a skinny tie with two 45s.

Guerrasio: “Grosse Pointe Blank.”

Hader: Exactly.

Guerrasio: But you take that idea of an outsider looking for a community and then bring in the whole arc of a guy dealing with a dead-end job. The kicker is, though, it just happens to be the job he hates is being a hitman.

Hader: That's exactly what it is. We thought what's the thing that we could relate to and just copy-paste hitman into it.

Guerrasio: So why a hitman?

Hader: I totally pulled it out of thin air, I'm going to be totally honest. Alec and I worked on an idea for a month and a half and it just wasn't jelling.

Guerrasio: What was that?

Hader: I can't remember, it was based on a guy I knew back home in Oklahoma and it was much more a weird guy in the Midwest. It was more in tune with the shows you see now that are led by comedians. This show is his daily life and daily struggles. And then we hit this place where it had no narrative pull, and I like things like that. Where each episode ends and you go, "What's going to happen next?" And it didn't have big stakes. That got us thinking, the biggest stakes are life and death. And I just said, "Well, why don't I play a hitman?" And Alec was like, "Ugh, I hate that word."

Guerrasio: But if it's Jason Statham saying, "Why don't I play a hitman?” it's like, seen that before, but you saying it makes things interesting.

Hader: Yeah, because I said, "It's me." I remember going to HBO saying, "OK, it's me as a hitman — but me." And they laughed and we pitched what essentially the pilot was, beat for beat. How art can heal a person. I love reading, I love music, to me these aren't recreational, they fulfill my life. So we made it as the thing this guy is good at is hurting him.

Guerrasio: And is it true the show also gave you an outlet to explore some of the anxieties you went through performing on "Saturday Night Live"?

Hader: 100%. That was the thing, at "SNL" the anxiety was so high. The longer I was on the show the better I was getting at the show but my anxiety didn't go down. It was actually going up. So, again, the thing that you're good at is destroying you.

Guerrasio: Did you throw any specific experiences you dealt with on "SNL" into "Barry"?

Hader: I do have a stage-fright thing, it's gotten better. That was in the pilot a little. The closest thing in the pilot is when Barry goes to the bar with the theater class. I remember when I first got to "SNL" I was suddenly getting to hang out with Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers and Rachel Dratch, and Tina Fey, and Chris Parnell, all these people that I admired. And I would be at a bar with them and I felt very out of place. I have to work with them and they are all geniuses and I don't feel equipped.

Guerrasio: You direct the first three episodes of the season, did that just happen by accident?

Hader: I wanted to direct. I said I wanted to direct the pilot and that was kind of a big thing. HBO came back and said, "We want to do this pilot," and I went, "Cool, I want to direct it." And they went, "Huh, well, have you directed before?" And I was. like, "No. But I've been on a lot of sets." And they were like, "Hmm." And I think the only reason they let me direct it was because Alec would be there and he's directed a ton of stuff for them. It was a thing I wanted to do my whole life. Before I wanted to be an actor. My heroes were all filmmakers. So getting a chance to do that was amazing.

Guerrasio: You've said you watched a lot of true crime shows and movies to prepare for this, was that for a visual style or story?

Hader: More story. It's so hard because you just don't want to make it a TV show about other TV shows or movies.

Guerrasio: You did not want to end up down the "Get Shorty" road.

Hader: Yeah. It's so easy to end up there. And that’s not to disparage Elmore Leonard or "Get Shorty.” I remember we were out in the desert shooting a scene and I turn to Alec and I go, "We're doing 'Breaking Bad' right now." And he's like, "Yeah, I was thinking about that." We're thinking, hitman that wants to be an actor, chemistry teacher who wants to be a drug dealer, we were like “Fu--! How did we not see this?" But, I love "Breaking Bad" so it seeps in no matter what.

Guerrasio: Gonna change it up a little before we’re done. Did you do any BB-8 stuff for "The Last Jedi"?

Hader: No, no, no. That was really funny. That is J.J. Abrams being a really nice guy. That is him saying, "Oh, I know you like Star Wars, do you want to come in and do the thing?" But anybody could do that, what I did. It's a Peter Frampton talk box with an app J.J. had.

Guerrasio: It must be nice to be in the mythology.

Hader: Yeah. I mean, I'm singing BB-8 pictures now.

Guerrasio: Is there such a thing as BB-8 residuals?

Hader: That's a good question, I should ask my business manager. [Laughs] You're finding out how bad I am at this. If my dad reads this he would lose his sh--. “You gotta know how much f---ing money you have, you moron!”

Guerrasio: [Laughs]

Hader: I mean, I would hope so. But that was just J.J. calling me up and saying 'Hey, man, you wanna come do this?' And I was like, sure. I did a voice initially, I tried it as a voice. And it didn't work. And I was like, “Well, there you go, it didn't work.” And months later, I mean, there were billboards already out for the movie, and he called again and was like, “You wanna try again?”

Guerrasio: I read once in an interview you did that you were kind of shocked to run into Tom Cruise at the premiere of "Tropic Thunder" because when you worked with him on the movie he was Les Grossman the whole time. Did you mean he was in character the whole time?

Hader: No. He wasn't Method or anything like that. It was just easy to talk to him because he was in that makeup. We're talking about "Risky Business" and I'm asking him questions about "Eyes Wide Shut" and he was so cool and so nice, but he was dressed as Les Grossman. But then seeing him at the premiere and he's like, "Hey, man" and I'm, like, "Jesus, you're Tom Cruise!" and I got star struck because I finally was next to him without makeup.

Guerrasio: Did you come up with any bits on the fly on set for Tom to do as Les?

Hader: No. That was him and [screenwriter] Justin Theroux and [director] Ben Stiller. I was off to the side. I was just laughing at it all. I would improvise little things. I was just always trying to get him to yell at me. I would come up with stupid things to get him to get mad. I basically did an impersonation of an executive from Paramount that me and Ben know. Ben just liked the energy of me being this weird, calm guy and Les being this raging dude. But I don't think you can do Les Grossman right now. [Laughs] You would be in jail. It just seems he was a dying breed and hopefully dying in prison. [Laughs]

SEE ALSO: The 16 best moments in Marvel Cinematic Universe history, ranked

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• Parkland students are guest editing The Guardian US to cover the March For Our Lives rallies happening on Saturday.
• The students requested actor George Clooney and wife Amal for an interview, but Clooney instead wrote a letter to the students.
• In the letter, Clooney said, "You make me proud of my country again."

In a letter to Parkland students, actor and activist George Clooney said the students make him "proud" of his country again.

Student journalists for The Eagle Eye— the student newspaper at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida (the site of a mass shooting on February 14) — have taken over coverage for The Guardian US of the March For Our Lives rallies for gun control happening on Saturday.

The students requested interviews from notable people like Bernie Sanders and Marco Rubio, who both said "yes." They also hoped to interview Clooney and his wife Amal, who donated $500,000 in support of the march.

Rather than being interviewed, though, Clooney wrote a letter to students Emma Dowd, Lauren Newman, and Rebecca Schneid (co-editors-in-chief of The Eagle Eye) praising them for their work "to make the country a safer place."

Many celebrities have voiced their support for the Parkland students, some of whom have become vocal gun-reform activists in the wake of the deadly shooting at their school last month. Actor Bill Murray recently wrote an op-ed for NBC News Think that compared the students to those that protested the Vietnam War.

Clooney's full letter is below:

Dear Emma, Lauren and Rebecca,

Thank you for your note and congratulations on the incredible work you and all of your fellow students are doing to make the country a safer place.

It’s terrific that you’re editing the Guardian. It’s a stellar newspaper and they must feel honored to be working with you.

Amal and I are 100% behind you and will be marching in DC on the 24th, but we both feel very strongly that this is your march. Your moment. Young people are taking it to the adults and that has been your most effective tool. The fact that no adults will speak on the stage in DC is a powerful message to the world that if we can’t do something about gun violence then you will. The issue is going to be this, anyone you ask would feel proud to be interviewed by you but it’s so much more effective if it’s young people.

You could talk to a dozen kids like the young kids from Chicago and LA that Emma met with. You could take over the Guardian and make it tell the stories of children by children. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to point to this moment and say it belongs to you. You certainly should do what you want but that would be my hope for you.

Amal and I stand behind you, in support of you, in gratitude to you. 

You make me proud of my country again. 

Thank you. 

All the best,

George

SEE ALSO: Actor Bill Murray writes op-ed comparing Parkland shooting activists to the students who helped end the Vietnam War

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• Season two of the Netflix comedy "Santa Clarita Diet" is available on Friday.
• The show stars Drew Barrymore as a suburban realtor and mom who becomes a zombie. 
• Season one was fun, but a bit of a mess, and the show vastly improves in season two.

Want to watch Drew Barrymore eat people? You've come to the right place. 

Netflix's "Santa Clarita Diet" isn't for everyone. It's a quirky, violent, and weird satire of the zombie genre and of American suburban life. But it's improved a lot in season two, and is definitely worth giving a shot.

The "Santa Clarita Diet," created by Victor Fresco ("Better Off Ted," "My Name is Earl"), debuted its first season on Netflix last year, and season two became available Friday. 

The show centers on a suburban family in Santa Clarita, California. Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant play Sheila and Joel Hammond, husband and wife real-estate agents with a teenage daughter. They live a standard, bland suburban life until one day, Sheila dies and is reborn as a zombie. Sheila's condition makes her more impulsive: She's more honest, aggressive, and her truest self — which helps her marriage with Joel.

But it also creates problems.

At first, she can eat raw meat and animals. But then her diet progresses to the point where she has to eat people to survive. 

Sheila and Joel, with the help of their daughter and their neighbor, try to figure out what happened to Sheila and why. And they also try to figure out who Sheila can eat to survive. She needs fresh human flesh, so she can't just take bodies from the morgue.

In an effort to murder but remain good people, Sheila and Joel try to only kill people who are bad. In season two, they come across a Nazi who is on a Nazi softball team. Sheila is convinced that's the perfect target for a surplus of food. 

While season one was a bit of a mess, it was still enjoyable. In season two, the show's found its footing and adds some hilarious and surprising twists to the narrative and characters. Barrymore and Olyphant's chemistry drives the show at this point, but the lore behind Sheila's condition, and the social satire at the show's heart, come together in a way that feels more natural than season one. 

Here's the trailer for "Santa Clarita Diet" season 2, out on Netflix now:

SEE ALSO: 5 comedians Netflix has paid insane amounts of money — including $40 million to Ricky Gervais

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• Amy Seimetz, the director of this week's episode of "Atlanta," explains coming up with the episode's most bizarre scene.
• She teases episode 7 of this season, which she also directed, titled "Champagne Papi" — yes, it's definitely a reference to Drake, she said.

Warning: Spoilers ahead if you haven’t seen the “Helen” episode of season 2 of “Atlanta.”

There was a lot to digest in this week’s episode of “Atlanta.”

Titled “Helen,” Earn (Donald Glover) and Van (Zazie Beetz) take a trip to Helen, Georgia, for a Fastnacht party (think Oktoberfest meets Halloween). And along with navigating the bizarre costumes and strange games, we also see that Earn and Van’s relationship is on shaky ground. The episode ends with the two parting ways.

“Helen” marks only the second time in two seasons of “Atlanta” that an episode was directed by someone other than Glover or Hiro Murai. Amy Seimetz (“The Girlfriend Experience”) was brought on to helm, and admitted she was hesitant at first to take on the job.

“It is one of my favorite shows and I Skyped with Donald and Hiro and I told them, 'I just want to make sure that you guys know I don't know how to direct someone else's script so there's going to be a lot of learning from my mistakes.’ And they were like, 'That's what we do, we don't know how to direct TV either,’” Seimetz recalled to Business Insider. “So as soon as they said that I was game to do it.”

First starting out her career as an actress (she was last seen in “Alien: Covenant”), Seimetz has created a impressive filmography behind the camera with her feature film “Sun Don’t Shine” and directing two seasons of “The Girlfriend Experience,” all of which she wrote or co-wrote.

Coming on “Atlanta,” Seimetz was relieved to find that she was given little restriction on what she could do. She said a big reason for that was the need for a female point-of-view, as the “Helen” episode is one of the rare times in the series when the focus is on the Van character.

“We haven’t gotten to see her internal struggle with Earn, what she’s going through while he’s trying to make Paper Boy a thing,” she said. “I think they wanted a woman to tackle that.”

It also helped that Seimetz had an emotional connection to Helen, Georgia. “10 years ago I had a breakup with my boyfriend in Helen,” she said.

But other than that incredible coincidence, she said she didn't recall Helen being as bizarre as the episode depicts it.

Along with the strange costumes everyone's wearing, at one point Earn and Van are sitting in a circle playing a game that involves two tennis balls being passed around and everyone trying to bounce the ball into two jars in the center of the circle. Puzzled by the game, Earn ends up with both balls and then just gets up from his seat and places the balls into the cartons. Everyone is in awe at what he did and he wins the game.

“That was completely made up,” Seimetz said of the game. “Donald told me he was watching some YouTube video of a Swedish game and he just couldn't figure out what the f--- they were doing. He thought it was just the whitest game that you could ever play. He said, 'When we make it up it needs to be that no one knows what's going on.’”

So on the day of shooting, Seimetz and Glover tried to explain the game to the cast. “People were like, 'I don't get the goal of the game,' and we were like, ‘We don't either, we just made it up right now!’ I still have no idea why Earn won the game.”

Seimetz’s work will be seen later this season on “Atlanta” in episode seven titled “Champagne Papi.” She said this episode will focus on Van and her friends having a girls night out on the town.

And is the title of the episode a reference to Drake, whose Instagram account is named that?

“It definitely is a Drake reference,” she said. “But the less you know about it the better.”

SEE ALSO: All 65 of Netflix's notable original shows, ranked from worst to best

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• Brendan "PlayerUnknown" Greene, the original developer of "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds," says that he doesn't see the game as competitive with "Fortnite: Battle Royale." 
• "Fornite: Battle Royale" came out several months after "PUBG," and has a very similar concept and gameplay.  
• Greene did not provide an update on when "PUBG" will be available for Sony PlayStation 4.

Last year, "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" became a surprise phenomenon, selling $400 million worth of copies in a few short months. But then, last September, "Fortnite" came out with its own, similar, free-to-play "Battle Royale" mode – and became a smash hit in its own right, challenging the dominance of "PUBG."

But at a talk at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco this week, Brendan "PlayerUnknown" Greene, the game's original creator, says he's more flattered  by the success of "Fortnite: Battle Royale" than anything.

"I’ve tried to combat the perception that we’re competitive with other 'Battle Royale' games," said Greene. "Its great that the space is expanding. We're happy that more and more people are getting to play games," he continued.

After the session, Greene reinforced the notion in an interview Business Insider after his presentation, saying, "I don't see us as competing. We are focusing on our game, not anyone else's." 

It's a slight change of tune from September 2017, when "PUBG" developer Bluehole said that was "concerned" about the similarites between the game and the then-new "Fortnite: Battle Royale." At the time, "Fortnite" developer Epic Games acknowledged that "PUBG" was a direct inspiration for the new game mode, but it wasn't enough to fend off critisism from fans of Greene's game.

The "battle royale" game style first popularized by Greene's PUBG, drops a hundred players onto an island where they must fight to stay alive, until there's one player left standing, similar to "The Hunger Games."

So-called "Battle Royale" games have been exploding with popularity in the last year. "PUBG" was the most-played PC game on Steam last year, while "Fortnite: Battle Royale" recently set a Twitch viewership record with as many as 600,000 people tuning in at once to watch musician Drake play with streaming superstar Ninja. 

"PUBG" is available for PC and Xbox One, and also just launched for Apple iOS this month. While Greene has said that the game will eventually come to Sony PlayStation 4, he declined to give Business Insider an update on when it will be available.

For its part, "Fortnite: Battle Royale" is available for PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and it's currently in a closed testing period for iOS. 

SEE ALSO: The folks behind the biggest game of 2017 say their game was copied — here's what's going on

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NOW WATCH: Everything you need to know about 'Battlegrounds' — an unfinished game that’s already made $60 million

• The actor Jim Carrey has taken his artistic war on Twitter with President Donald Trump to a new and sexually explicit level.
• The latest drawing, posted Friday, features Trump in bed with a woman who is presumably the adult-film star Stormy Daniels.
• Carrey has courted controversy this week over other drawings, including an unflattering depiction seemingly of the White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

The actor Jim Carrey isn't backing down from his criticism of President Donald Trump — and he has taken it to a new level.

On Friday, Carrey tweeted a drawing that depicts Trump in bed with a woman appearing to be Stephanie Clifford, the porn actress whose stage name is Stormy Daniels. Clifford has said she had an affair with Trump years ago and has recently been at the center of a legal battle with the president.

Carrey covered the most explicit areas of the drawing with the presidential seal, captioning it "Fifty Shades of Decay."

Clifford says her affair with Trump started in 2006, a few months after Melania Trump gave birth to her son, Barron.

Clifford sued the president earlier this month, arguing that he never signed a nondisclosure agreement intended to prevent her from talking about the alleged affair.

Carrey, who has become an unlikely political artist and activist on Twitter, has been quite busy over the past several days, courting controversy for other drawings he tweeted.

On Saturday, Carrey received backlash from conservatives when he posted an unflattering image seemingly of the White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, that called into question her Christian faith.

Carrey was unfazed by the criticism, telling the progressive digital video outlet The Young Turks in a statement that he was "so gratified by the reaction to my little drawings."

He followed that drawing up with one portraying Trump as the "WICKED WITCH OF THE WEST WING."

SEE ALSO: Jim Carrey slams Mark Zuckerberg in a new portrait: 'Who are you sharing your life with? #regulatefacebook'

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• Taylor Swift announced in an Instagram post on Friday that she had donated to the March For Our Lives campaign started by the student activists of the Parkland school shooting.
• Swift, who has largely abstained from sharing her political views in the past, shared in the post that she supports gun-control reform. 
• She joins a growing list of celebrities who have spoken out in support of gun control and the Parkland student activists.

Taylor Swift took to Instagram on Friday to share her support for gun-control reform.

The pop singer, who has largely abstained from sharing her political views in the past, announced in the post that she had donated to the March for Our Lives campaign started by student activists in the wake of the Parkland school shooting last month. 

"No one should have to go to school in fear of gun violence. Or to a nightclub. Or to a concert. Or to a movie theater. Or to their place of worship," Swift wrote in the post.

"I’ve made a donation to show my support for the students, for the March For Our Lives campaign, for everyone affected by these tragedies, and to support gun reform," she continued. "I’m so moved by the Parkland High School students, faculty, by all families and friends of victims who have spoken out, trying to prevent this from happening again."

Swift follows a number of celebrities who have publicly expressed their support for the activism of the Parkland students in the wake of the shooting.

This week, Bill Murray wrote an op-ed for NBC News Think comparing the Parkland students to the students who helped end the Vietnam War. George Clooney wrote a letter to the Parkland students, saying that their activism made him "proud of my country again."

SEE ALSO: The worst album of every year since 2000, according to music critics

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This is a preview of a research report from BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service. To learn more about BI Intelligence, click here.

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
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• Nate Parker has signed on to direct a police drama about a real-life hero LAPD detective.
• This is his follow-up to his directorial debut, "The Birth of a Nation," which after winning the grand prize at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival was derailed when a 1999 rape trail against the actor-director resurfaced.

Nate Parker has laid low since a 1999 rape trail involving him — and subsequent suicide of his accuser— resurfaced leading up to his 2016 directorial debut, "The Birth of a Nation," which didn't just derail the movie's success but its award season hopes.

Now the actor-director is attempting a comeback. It was announced on Friday that Parker has signed on to direct the police drama, "Black & Blue," according to Deadline.

The movie looks at the career of Los Angeles Police Department detective Ralph Waddy, who was involved in some of the most notorious moments in Los Angeles, including the Watts riots, Robert Kennedy's assassination, and the Manson Murders at actress Sharon Tate's house.

This follows revelations in February that Parker was casting a web series titled "Baselines" about a Los Angeles family driven to protect their son, a talented basketball player, from the dangers of inner-city life.

Parker's directorial debut, "The Birth of a Nation," won the grand jury prize at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival and was destined for major award season consideration as the movie was bought at the festival by Fox Searchlight for $17.5 million. But Parker faced a media firestorm after a 17-year-old rape case from his his time attending Penn State University resurfaced before the movie's theatrical release.

The woman who alleged Parker and "Birth of a Nation" co-writer Jean Celestin assaulted her, committed suicide in 2012. Parker was acquitted in the case and has maintained that he was unjustly charged.

SEE ALSO: Taylor Swift shared a rare political statement in support of gun control

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• Directors Chris Miller and Phil Lord said they will be taking executive producer credits on "Solo: A Star Wars Story."
• The duo were originally the directors on the project but were fired during production over creative differences with Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy.
• Ron Howard, who took over from Miller and Lord, will have the sole director credit.

The fired directors of "Solo: A Star Wars Story," Phil Lord and Chris Miller, have finally revealed the credit they will be taking on the movie.

While speaking at the third annual GLAS Animation Festival on Friday, Lord and Miller indicated they will take executive producer credits and not be sharing a director credit with their replacement Ron Howard, according to Variety.

“We were really proud of the many contributions we made to that film,” Miller told the audience, according to the trade. “In light of the creative differences, we elected to take an executive producer credit.”

Howard took over the Han Solo origin story from Lord and Miller in June of last year after Lucasfilm president, Kathleen Kennedy, fired the duo over creative differences. Since then it's been a mystery how Lord and Miller would be credited, though it became more and more unlikely the two would be listed as directors as it was reported Howard reshot 80% of the movie once he took over.

However, Howard told Entertainment Weekly "Phil and Chris' fingerprints are all over the movie."

"Solo: A Star Wars Story," opens in theaters May 25.

SEE ALSO: Jeff Goldblum tells us about acting over the phone with Wes Anderson for "Isle of Dogs" — and why thinks his best performance is yet to come

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NOW WATCH: Why 555 is always used for phone numbers on TV and in movies

Even if you love Netflix, you probably haven't seen some of its best shows. 

For many original series Netflix has put out, the company's marketing has been either non-existent or subtle, allowing its viewers to determine what becomes a hit. In 2016, "Stranger Things" quietly became a phenomenon through word of mouth, with no major advertisements before it made its debut on the streaming service. 

Now, Netflix is starting to decide what it thinks will be the next big show. 

In January, Netflix announced that in 2018, it would increase its marketing budget by 50% to $2 billion. So that's why you definitely didn't miss "Altered Carbon," the first freshman series Netflix put major marketing behind.

But there are a bunch of other shows that might have slipped under your radar, and we collected 29 of our favorites.

Here's all the Netflix original shows you might have overlooked (along with their Rotten Tomatoes score and why you should watch):

SEE ALSO: Why you should be watching Netflix's 'Santa Clarita Diet,' a comedy where Drew Barrymore eats people

"Santa Clarita Diet" — two seasons (2017-present)

Critic score: 75%

Netflix description: "They're ordinary husband and wife Realtors until she undergoes a dramatic change that sends them down a road of death and destruction. In a good way."

Why you should watch it: Drew Barrymore eats people, and her chemistry with Timothy Olyphant ("Deadwood," "Justified") is sparkling. It's also a clever satire of suburban life. 

"Bloodline" — three seasons (2014-2017)

Critic score: 57%

Netflix description: "When the black sheep son of a respected family threatens to expose dark secrets from their past, sibling loyalties are put to the test."

Why you should watch it: The cast, from Kyle Chandler to Linda Cardellini to Ben Mendelsohn, brings life to the otherwise predictable family drama. 

"Marvel's The Punisher" — one season (2017)

Critic score: 63%

Netflix description: "A former Marine out to punish the criminals responsible for his family's murder finds himself ensnared in a military conspiracy."

Why you should watch it: It's the most ambitious Marvel Netflix show. 

• By Saturday night, "Black Panther" will become the highest-grossing superhero movie of all-time at the domestic box office.
• It will have surpassed previous record-holder, 2012's "The Avengers" ($623.2 million).
• However, counting inflation, "The Avengers" still is the top superhero movie with a domestic gross of over $700 million.

By Saturday night, "Black Panther" will be the highest-grossing superhero movie of all-time at the domestic box office, with an estimated total of over $630.5 million by the time the weekend's over. It surpasses the previous title holder, 2012's "The Avenger" ($623.2 million).

The incredible feat by the movie is even more astounding by the fact that it was done in only 36 days.

And with a $1.2 billion worldwide gross, the movie is inching closer to the top 10 all-time (currently sitting in 14th place just behind "Iron Man 3" with $1.214 billion).

Now, none of this is counting inflation. When going down that road, "Black Panther" still has a little more work to do.

The Disney/Marvel box-office sensation will likely finally lose its number one spot at the domestic box office to newcomer "Pacific Rim: Uprising." 

And "Black Panther" is in fourth place for all-time superhero domestic grosses — behind 2002's "Spider-Man" ($637.8 million), 2008's "The Dark Knight" ($683.5 million), and "The Avengers" ($705.7 million).

Nice company to be in, and with the movie still having a month (maybe two) in theaters, who knows where it will end up on this list of titans. 

More "Black Panther":

• MoviePass says it has bought over 1 million tickets for Marvel's "Black Panther"
• A box-office analyst predicted "Black Panther" would make more money than "The Last Jedi" in China, and its opening day proved it will do just that
• The star of "Black Panther" revealed that Denzel Washington paid for his college acting classes — and he finally got to thank the veteran actor

SEE ALSO: Jim Carrey has taken his criticism of Trump to a new level with a sexually explicit drawing of the president

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• Legendary actor Jeff Goldblum talked to Business Insider about voicing a character in the stop-motion animated movie, "Isle of Dogs," which marks his third time working with director Wes Anderson.
• Goldblum also opened up about why he believes he still hasn't delivered his career-best work yet.

It kind of makes sense that one of the most unique directors working today would want to work with one of the most unique actors.

“Isle of Dogs” (in select theaters Friday) marks the third time Wes Anderson has used Jeff Goldblum to masterful perfection. In “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou” (2004), he had Goldblum play Bill Murray’s nemesis with the incredible charm that has become one of Goldblum’s memorable on-screen traits. Ten years later in “The Grand Budapest Hotel” (2014), Anderson gave him a very different role as an attorney who gets in over his head. And now with the stop-motion animated “Isle of Dogs,” Goldblum voices the dog Duke, who along with his canine friends helps a boy trying to track down his lost dog (Duke also loves to gossip whenever possible).

Working with Anderson is just the latest achievement for the legendary actor, who has literally done it all on screen — from playing a fly (“The Fly”), to saving the world (“Independence Day”), to running from dinosaurs (“Jurassic Park”), to even getting in on the Marvel craze (“Thor: Ragnarok”).

Goldblum talked to Business Insider about working once again with Anderson, the movie from his past he doesn’t mind watching if it’s on TV, why he loved his wardrobe in “Buckaroo Banzai,” and why he thinks he’s just on the threshold of doing his all-time best work.

Jason Guerrasio: I’ve heard that you did all your lines for “Isle of Dogs” over the phone, is that true?

Jeff Goldblum: Yes. Well, Wes was on the phone, I was in a recording studio in Los Angeles because schedule-wise I wasn't able to join Bill Murray and Bob Balaban and Ed Norton and Bryan Cranston, who were all together in a New York Studio. So I had to do this long distance, which I loved because I was sort of able to have Wes just to myself. He's a wonderful actor's director.

Guerrasio: If you did do it over the phone it wouldn't have been a first because Ryan Reynolds did a few lines over the phone for "Deadpool" that were needed during post. Same with Will Arnett for "Lego Batman Movie."

Goldblum: Well, these days I guess the technology is such that you can record something over the phone and tweak it into something very presentable.

Guerrasio: So it is safe to say this was the easiest movie you've done?

Goldblum: [Laughs] Well, there was no getting up every day early. It was short. But I'm working with Wes, even if it's a couple of hours over the phone, I thought about it as much as I could and tried to put as much into it as I could.

Guerrasio: What kind of direction did you want from him? Did you want visuals to prep?

Goldblum: Well, I'll take anything I can get. But this is my third movie with him, so you feel safe and anything he wanted to give me was enough. But originally he gave me the script and some photographs, some drawings that were the inspiration. And that was all. We didn't talk about the overall message and themes of the movie because he doesn't need to. We just talked about the character. But now that I've seen it a few times I start to go, wow, I guess I didn't need to know it but I'm so struck by the theme of us dogs being so committed and devoted to this kid.  

Guerrasio: Was what you saw on screen completely different from what you imagined it would be when you were recording the lines?

Goldblum: While I was preparing for it I was thinking, “How can I make this good?” I spent time looking at my dog, and a little bit more, and a little bit more. But having seen it now it was amazing and what these stop-motion animators have done. Not only are they blocking the scene and other things we didn't have to think about doing, but every line is accompanied by the correct depiction of what we're feeling, a subtle naturalistic performance.

Guerrasio: It sounds like a fun gig. A couple of hours and then hand it over to these guys who have to spend years crafting it.

Goldblum: Could you imagine? [Laughs] I do a little voice for a few hours and they work for three years.

Guerrasio: Now let's go to the other side of the spectrum. At this point in your career, are you still interested in doing a role that's very costume heavy, like "The Fly," having to spend hours and hours in a chair before shooting.

Goldblum: I’m nothing if not a hard worker and if it's worth it. These days I'm as picky as ever and I have somehow the freedom to pick and I wouldn't work so hard just for the novelty of having a job, it would have to be with people I'm excited about and a story and a character I'm excited about. But they're around so yeah, I would jump into anything. 

Guerrasio: I’m sure you get many offers to do many things, is it nice to have the freedom to be selective and not have to worry about where the next job is coming?

Goldblum: It is nice. I like it. I feel I'm on the threshold of my best stuff. I feel I'm trying to get better and I'm getting a little better all the time, and I seem to be getting a variety of things. I have “Jurassic World" coming up, and the Jodie Foster movie called “Hotel Artemis,” a very different character for me. And I just did a movie called “The Mountain” with Rick Alverson, he's the director who did “Entertainment” and “The Comedy.”

Guerrasio: Very different projects and roles. You have a career full of them. But what's the movie of yours you'll stop everything and watch a little if it comes on TV?

Goldblum: It's funny, I watch them when they first come out because I'm curious what we did, but I'm critical of my early stuff. Like I said, I'm trying to improve. But let me see, let me see, what comes on that I really like? Well, Wes' movies. Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. IIIII dddooooonnnn'ttt kknnnoooow — I guess "The Fly" if it comes on. I'll watch a moment of that.

Guerrasio: Let me give you mine. I love you in “The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension.”

Goldblum: Thank you.

Guerrasio: Do you get that one a lot?

Goldblum: Well, yes, people come up to me and say that. I like that movie. I actually watched it again because I did an interview about cult movies. I was very happy to see it again. I like that movie.

Guerrasio: I love the scene where your character, Dr. Sidney "New Jersey" Zweibel, is introduced. Wearing that incredible Western get up.

Goldblum: Well, like I say in that scene, "Geez, I thought we were going to go on the road," or something like that.

Guerrasio: He thought he was going to play with Buckaroo's band.

Goldblum: Yeah. He wasn't ready for what was about to happen. They had a very good costume person. And I was in “Silverado,” but I didn't have anything like woolly chaps and a great big hat. 

Guerrasio: It's an amazing look.

Goldblum: Yeah. I liked it.

Guerrasio: Now you were still coming up in the business at the time that movie came out. A sequel was teased in the end credits, did you think you were in a franchise? You probably thought you were going to at least get another paycheck playing this character.

Goldblum: Well, I think [director] W.D. Richter and Earl Mac Rauch, who wrote it, they had a lot up their sleeve. They had more things to show. I think it just didn't do well enough in theaters. But I've never been particularly careerist and I'm no kind of business man, I've always done this as a wild-hearted romantic creative adventure and I was plenty satisfied with what we'd done with that movie. I don't think I even paid attention to how it did. In those days, in fact, I don't even think there were opening weekend box office news like it is now. I don't think franchise was a term used yet. But no, I don't think I counted on anything past that movie. [Laughs] 

SEE ALSO: How "Isle of Dogs" stacks up against Wes Andersons' 8 other movies

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• Chrissy Teigen, a model and host of "Lip Sync Battle," has quit Snapchat.
• She says it's because of the app redesign, and a controversial ad on Snapchat that made light of the assault on Rihanna by Chris Brown. 
• She follows in Kylie Jenner's footsteps — though Jenner eventually came back to Snapchat.

Chrissy Teigen, the 32-year-old model and host of the Paramount Network's "Lip Sync Battle," has become the latest celebrity to announce that she's quit photo messaging app Snapchat. 

"I stopped using snap. The update, the constant complaints of people not being able to find me, plus the Rihanna poll...no bueno," Teigen wrote to her almost 10 million Twitter followers on Saturday morning. 

The "Rihanna poll" she mentions is a reference to a huge controversy earlier this month, as Snapchat ad appeared to make light of Chris Brown's assault on the singer in 2009. "Shame on you," said Rihanna, as she slammed Snapchat for allowing the ad in the first place. Snap, the app's parent company, soon apologized, but shares of the company dipped 4% following her post. 

As far as the complaints of people not being able to find Teigen on Snapchat, that's a reference to the widely-panned app redesign, which was intended to make it easier to use — but also made it harder to find photos and updates from celebrities and influencers, critics say. 

Teigen is just the latest celebrity to quit the app. Back in February, Kylie Jenner announced she had quit Snapchat, too: "Sooo does anyone else not open Snapchat anymore? Or is it just me... ugh this is so sad," she tweeted to her 24.5 million followers. Following Jenner's tweet, stock in Snap dipped 8%, giving its market cap a $1.3 billion haircut. However, Jenner did return to Snapchat some time after sending that tweet. 

Snap stock is currently flat in after-hours trading.

SEE ALSO: Kylie Jenner just announced the death of Snapchat

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• Musician Paul McCartney attended the "March for Our Lives" rally in New York City on Saturdayy.
• He wore a shirt that read "We can end gun violence" and told CNN, "one of my best friends was killed in gun violence right around here."
• He was referring to his Beatles bandmate John Lennon, who was shot and killed near Central Park in 1980.

Legendary musician Paul McCartney took part in the "March for Our Lives" rally in New York City on Saturday, and was spotted not too far from where his former Beatles bandmate, John Lennon, was the killed due to gun violence in 1980.

As McCartney sported a shirt that read "We can end gun violence," CNN correspondent Jason Carroll asked him if he believed change could occur through legislation.

"I don't know," McCartney said. "But this is what we can do, so I'm here to do it."

"One of my best friends was killed in gun violence right around here," McCartney added, referring to Lennon. "So it's important to me."

Here's McCartney speaking to CNN:

On December 8, 1980, Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono, were walking to their apartment near Central Park after exiting a limo when Lennon was shot multiple times in the back at close range by lone gunman Mark David Chapman.

Lennon was rushed to the nearby Roosevelt Hospital and was pronounced dead on arrival. Chapman was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison.

SEE ALSO: Patriots lend team plane to Parkland students and families for trip to DC for "March for Our Lives" rally

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• The internet had a field day in 2015 when Sony officially announced it was making a sequel to the hit 1995 movie "Jumanji."
• But the joke's on the internet critics: The movie, powered by Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart, earned close to $1 billion globally at the box office.
• The film's director, Jake Kasdan, explained to Business Insider how he pulled off one of the biggest surprise hits in recent memory.

Things did not start off well for the sequel to "Jumanji."

Twenty years after the 1995 hit movie — which starred Robin Williams as a man who, after decades of being trapped inside a magical board game, is finally released to complete it with two kids — Sony announced in 2015 that it was going to dust off the property and reboot it.

The internet was not happy.

"It was like, 'You're ruining my childhood!'" Jake Kasdan, the director of "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle," recalled when Business Insider asked whether he was aware of the backlash.

Following the Sony announcement, social media was flooded with negative reactions, the consensus being that a "Jumanji" reboot would tarnish the original's legacy and that the sequel was just the latest example of Hollywood running out of new ideas:

And things didn't get any better for the movie when, after the screenwriter Chris McKenna ("Spider-Man: Homecoming") was tasked with coming up with a new take on the movie, three more screenwriters came on board to give it a crack. The release date was also changed three times, eventually settling on December 20, the Wednesday after "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" would hit theaters.

These are not good signs for a movie.

But in one of the most miraculous turnarounds for a movie in recent memory, "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle" didn't just hold its own against "The Last Jedi" in December (finishing in second place for the last week and a half of the year), it knocked the latest "Star Wars" movie off the top spot and went on an incredible three-week streak of topping the weekend domestic box office in January.

The movie went on to earn over $939 million worldwide, and over $400 million in North America — the second-best domestic performance ever for a Sony movie (just below the $403.7 million made by 2002's "Spider-Man"). All this came from just a $90 million budget.

And no one is more surprised by the movie’s global success than Kasdan.

'I loved what this could be'

Known for R-rated comedies like "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story" and "Bad Teacher," Kasdan came out of nowhere to prove he could helm a PG-13 action-comedy with major stars like Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Karen Gillan, and Nick Jonas.

Kasdan signed on to direct a few months after Sony made the official announcement, despite being fully aware of the hatred for the idea by those on the internet.

"On some level I think there's a deserved skepticism about bringing back titles," Kasdan told Business Insider while promoting the Blu-ray/DVD release of the movie (available Tuesday). "Whether it's a sequel, reboot, relaunch, I think we've done so much of it that understandably the audience is kind of, 'Why does everything have to be like this?' But I loved what this could be."

What the haters online didn't know was that Kasdan and the screenwriters McKenna, Erik Sommers, Scott Rosenberg, and Jeff Pinkner all contributed to what can only be described as a unicorn in the movie business — a reboot that feels new while also paying homage to the original.

The major adjustment done for the "Jumanji" sequel was shifting the board-game element to better reflect the present gaming world.

At the end of the original "Jumanji," the two main characters toss the game into a river. The sequel starts years later in 1996, with the game being found on a beach. The boy who is given it ignores what he sees as a lame board game, so the game magically morphs into a more attractive video game, sucking him into it. Years later, more kids are sucked in and become avatars played by Johnson, Hart, Black, and Gillan.

That element opened incredible possibilities for the sequel's story, as it not only could bring the Jumanji game to life but also could deliver all types of gaming aspects to the movie — from the characters' three game "lives" apiece to the jokes about their avatar's strengths and weaknesses.

Kasdan said this was all pulled off not by one single screenwriter who finally figured out how to crack the story but by collectively using all of them, like a TV writers' room.

'It wasn't like someone was dismissed and never heard from again'

Traditionally, on a movie, when a screenwriter has handed in his or her draft and been told that another scribe has been hired, that usually means the director, producers, or studio executives (or all the above) didn't like the previous screenwriter's work. But that wasn't the case on "Welcome to the Jungle."

"What made this project unusual was I continued to work with a lot of the writers," Kasdan said. "It wasn't like someone was dismissed and never heard from again. Chris McKenna came up with the idea and wrote it with Erik Sommers, and then Scott Rosenberg and Jeff Pinkner came on, and I did some work on it as well. I just liked their work, so by the end it was this unique experience where they worked with me or each other. Everyone kept a foot in."

Though Kasdan thought they had made a worthy movie, he still had no idea how it would play in test screenings. So first, he decided to play the movie for his kids.

"My kids are like 7 and 5, which is sort of younger than we ever thought about our audience, but they loved it," he said. "That made me think that the movie had a larger possible audience than I had fully realized while we made the movie. They connected so strongly to the fantasy of it, it got me excited."

And the rest is history. The movie made just under $1 billion globally at the box office and solidified the star status of Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart. And Kasdan is still trying to take it all in.

"I've been doing this long enough to realize how extraordinary this is," he said. "It's kind of a dream."

But now it's back to the drawing board for a sequel. Kasdan, Rosenberg, and Pinkner are all set to return, along with the lead cast. But can a sequel that was praised for having its own identity pull off a successful encore? Can the video game storyline be used again? Is it right to bring back the same cast?

"We're just starting to figure that out," Kasdan said. "The honest answer is you could do all different kinds of things and we're trying to figure out what feels like the most organic and fun way to continue this."

More on 'Jumanji':

• How the new 'Jumanji' sequel pays homage to Robin Williams' character
• The unique reason the director of the box-office hit 'Jumanji' says he doesn't want to direct a 'Star Wars' movie
• The amount of money The Rock gets paid for a single movie is unheard of in today's movie business

SEE ALSO: 17 TV shows that will probably get canceled soon

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• "60 Days In" follows undercover inmates who navigate life in Fulton County Jail in Atlanta and Clark County Jail in southern Indiana.
• The undercover inmates learned about the complex social dynamics that take place in jail.
• Unwritten rules dictated how new inmates eat, sleep, socialize, and solve disputes.

Life in jail is no cake walk — and it's even harder when you don't know the unwritten rules.

Several law-abiding citizens learned those rules the hard way when they went undercover as inmates for the A&E show "60 Days In." Now in its fourth season, the show followed the undercover participants as they navigated jail life at Clark County Jail in Jeffersonville, Indiana, and Fulton County Jail in Atlanta, for two months.

The participants were given false identities and booked under fake charges during their stints behind bars, and needed to maintain their cover stories to prevent other inmates from catching on.

As they quickly learned, jail life is governed by strict rules that dictate the way inmates eat, sleep, socialize, and solve disputes. Most people don't know about these complex social dynamics until they experience them for themselves.

Read on to find out about the complicated dynamics that take place in jail.

SEE ALSO: Regular people who went undercover at a jail for 2 months discovered inmates will go to staggering lengths to get high — and how they smuggle illegal drugs behind bars

DON'T MISS: These photos of prison cells around the world show how differently countries treat their criminals

On their first day, new inmates often find themselves getting grilled by veteran inmates about the nature of their crimes. Inmates are on high alert for inconsistencies in someone's back story, which could suggest they are an undercover mole.

The undercover inmates quickly learned that there is a strict social hierarchy in jail that governs everything from where you sleep to whether you get to shower or not.

New inmates are constantly getting tested by those higher on the social ladder. In one early episode, an undercover inmate named Jeff got pressured into buying commissary items for a veteran inmate. Word quickly spread that Jeff could be taken advantage of.

• Before Netflix, Hulu and Amazon, AOL kicked off the streaming TV era in 2005 with In2TV.
• The ad supported video hub featured a library of classic Warner Bros. shows, including "Eight is Enough," "Growing Pains" and "Welcome Back Kotter."
• The TV site was one of the first places people could watch full episodes of shows on the web, and a rare example of a successful byproduct of the rocky AOL/Time Warner merger.

Today, millions of people are streaming their favorite shows on demand. Services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime are completely disrupting the media business. But some would argue this was all started by AOL.

AOL of course is known for its early role in getting millions of Americans online. But way back in 2005 it may have kicked off the binge TV revolution.

Now a forgotten footnote in the much maligned AOL/Time Warner merger, that November AOL rolled out In2TV.

The desktop-centric channel featured free, ad-supported episodes of a slew of TV classics and non-classics, including "Chico and the Man," "Lois and Clark" and "Growing Pains" and yes, the John Travolta 1970s starmaker "Welcome Back Kotter."

While it only lasted a few years, the liberating viewing trends that In2TV unleashed were unstoppable. Here is a brief oral history of In2TV from those who were there:

Eric Frankel, CEO of the personalized digital ad firm AdGreetz, ran distribution for Warner Bros. at the time:

"I came up with it. I ran a $1.2 billion domestic distribution business at Warner at the time. We had tens of thousands of shows that we would try and get on television. One of the things I realized was, one of the terrific ways to grow a business is to invent new clients. We realized this whole internet thing was happening. What if we aggregate a bunch of shows?

"My First stop was Yahoo, which was run by Terry Semel at the time. Terry, for whatever reason, set me up with a bunch of content execs, including Lloyd Braun. [Braun, a former ABC executive ran Yahoo's media group at that time. He did not respond to a request for comment.]

"Long story short, he said no. I was shocked they didn’t get it. 

"We had been married somewhat unhappily to AOL, and I knew [then president] Jon Miller. I sent him a note and said, "I have this idea and want to talk to you.' He said. 'Sure, I’ll see you at 6pm on a Tuesday.' I get down to Dulles and they keep me waiting, and then they move me into a room and its Jon and Kevin Conroy [then EVP of AOL's media networks group].

Prominent media investor Jon Miller, who ran AOL at the time of the In2TV launch, noted that in 2005, many people were just getting broadband connections in their homes:

"I blessed it and said, 'If there’s going to be broadband there’s going to be video. There wasn’t at the time. Now it's an obvious statement. I thought, 'People are going to watch shows online. The logic is as simple as that."

Conroy, who's since held top media posts at Univision and until recently MGM:

"Everything that can be said and written about the AOL/Time Warner era has been written. But the truth of the matter is there were some pretty remarkable things that happened despite the bullshit corporate politics."

In2TV launched amidst plenty of skepticism, but also landed mainstream press coverage in USA Today, Entertainment Weekly and the Washington Post. The group even took out ads in Times Square in the New York Times.

Frankel: "The reality was, people actually watched. We got lots and lots of plays, even with a fairly under promoted group of channels. If they would have kept at it, wasn't like nobody watched it. It worked."

In2TV offered six channels, including Drama Rama (soaps like "Falcon Crest") and Heroes and Horrors (reruns of "Wonder Woman" and the lizard-alien sci-fi classic "V.") The site also carried streaming video ads from companies like Procter & Gamble.

Besides shows, In2TV featured companion videos, such as theme song singalongs and compilations of early TV show appearances by stars like Brad Pitt and George Clooney.

Former WB network president Garth Ancier, who joined the In2TV effort midstream after the WB broadcast network was folded into the CW network in 2006:

"I had just wrapped WB [the now defunct broadcast TV network known for 90s shows like "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."] We turned off the lights and handed over the keys to the CW [broadcast network] next day. 

"I sat on the same floor with Frankel. He had started it. I tend to gravitate to stuff that is more unusual, and this was so early in video streaming. I remember AOL people didn’t have a flash player in their dialup system.

It was really a mess technologically, trying to make all the systems talk to each other. But there was a lot of great stuff in the library. They had Hanna Barbera and Looney Tunes shows. So we said 'Let’s try to program like a TV network. Create a personality.'"

Conroy says that Time Warner leadership started to take notice:

"I’ll never forget, [Time Warner CEO] Jeff Bewkes was so impressed with it that he used it in a presentation at a top management company meeting as as an example of what could be built. He was not a big synergy guy, but he was really impressed with what we had done.

"In2TV was really the precursor to the first generation of Netflix. We got alot of stuff done and were first in many areas [at AOL], but no one really wanted to pay attention. It was much more popular to be writing about the dysfunction."

Even with In2TV's budding success, the landscape changed quickly. Apple was suddenly selling full episodes of shows like "Lost" via iTunes. Hulu was around the corner. Most of the players aren't sure exactly when In2TV shut down. By 2009, AOL was spun off from Time Warner, unwinding the failed merger. Some are left wondering what might have been.

Frankel: "When you were the only guy in town you had a major advantage. It might have taken one, two, three or or five years to build it right, but we pretty much sort of invented how it would all work [in streaming]. Such is life."

Conroy: "The downside to In2TV was that it was desktop only. Mobile wasn’t a thing yet. So how many people are going to sit down in front of their computer to watch TV shows. Had Roku been around then, history might have been written very differently."

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Just three months in to 2018, and we've already got a must-play game: "A Way Out" is here, and it is like nothing I've ever played before.

Where to even begin?

"A Way Out" is a two-player co-operative experience — it literally cannot be played without two people. It follows two men, Leo and Vincent, as they escape prison and embark on a quest for revenge.

On paper, "A Way Out" is an ambitious, interesting concept. In reality, "A Way Out" is a remarkably well-told interactive story that's like nothing else on modern game platforms. It's a game that, barring few exceptions, I'd suggest everyone play — video game fan or not. Here's why!

"A Way Out" is the best example yet of how video games can be used for storytelling.

"A Way Out" is essentially a playable action film, tropes and all.

There's a prison break, and a villainous antagonist that the protagonists are out to get, and various twists and turns that complicate the main storyline. There's a realistic, nuanced relationship between the two main characters — Leo and Vincent — that directly plays into the overall narrative. The dialog is believable, and the stakes are grounded in reality.

You're not a superhero. You're just one of the two main characters, trying to escape a prison and get revenge. 

If "A Way Out" were a movie, it'd be slammed as a relatively straightforward, derivative experience. It probably wouldn't be very good, honestly. But it's a game, so the heavily trodden narrative foundation of "A Way Out" works much better. More importantly: You've never played through such a narrative before — not like this, anyway, with two human players depending on each other so directly.

The game is literally divided in half between the two main characters — it's an ambitious design choice that gets more interesting as the game goes on.

Again, to be all the way clear: You seriously can't play "A Way Out" without two humans controlling each of the two player characters.

The game can be played cooperatively over the internet, or on a single game console/PC. Bonus: You only need one copy to play the game, even over the internet on two separate game consoles!

If you're playing locally, like I did, you'll see a screen divided in two: On the left is Vincent, on the right is Leo. I played as Vincent, my buddy as Leo.

Sometimes they're in the same area, doing different things or working together, and sometimes they're in completely different places — no matter what, each character can directly impact the other. Early on in the game, this plays out in obvious ways: Vincent helps Leo climb up to a ledge, for instance. As the game goes on, though, the concept of two different screens and two different characters becomes something far more interesting.

Notably, the controls are never too complex — most of the game's actions come with on-screen prompts, which should help make it a bit more accessible to sporadic game players.

Yes, this is both characters working together to choke a man.

The way that "A Way Out" uses cooperative play is incredibly smart, and it changes a lot as the game goes on.

Take, for instance, the scene above. Here, both Leo and Vincent are furiously scrambling to choke a man. The scenes leading up to this big moment are tense, and break from the game's usual two-screen setup.

Here's what things looked like before the big climax you see above:

You can see the enemy on the left side — he's attempting to break through a barricaded door so that he can shoot Leo and Vincent. On the right side, you can see Leo and Vincent assisting each other in a relatively simple puzzle they needed to solve in order to continue escaping.

The moment was tense, as my buddy and I scrambled to get away from the enemy. I didn't realize how impressive it all was in the moment, but it was a major topic of discussion when we had some downtime soon after. We had both been monitoring the progress of the bad guy on the left, while simultaneously communicating with each other in real life how to help each other in the game. 

That the scene culminated in all three screens coming together for the co-op choking was especially impressive (and gruesome, of course).