The box office in 2016 has been more of a shrug than a full-on crisis.

While there have been bright spots, Hollywood has had some big bets that have not payed off at all this year, especially over the summer, when audiences got tired of all the underwhelming sequels.

And then there are the titles whose performances at the box office have been epically bad.

From "Zoolander 2" to "Ben-Hur," these are the 10 movies that did the worst this year, so far.

Note: These releases are limited to only those from the six major studios and those that have played in over 2,000 screens. Grosses below are all domestic earnings from Box Office Mojo.

SEE ALSO: The Rock is now the highest-paid actor in the world — here's who he beat out

10. "The 5th Wave" - $34.9 million

Reported budget: $38 million

(Note: Production budgets are estimates and do not include expenses for marketing and release.)

9. "Hail, Caesar!" - $30 million

Reported budget: $22 million

8. "Zoolander 2" - $28.8 million

Reported budget: $50 million

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Twitter has called on BAMTech to power its NFL on Thursday live streams, The Wall Street Journal reports.

BAMTech is a spin-off from MLB Advanced Media, which handles the backend and content delivery system for around 25,000 live events and 10 million streams daily, based on figures from last October.

Delegating backend video responsibilities to BAMTech will allow Twitter to dedicate resources toward its core product. In particular, Twitter will able to focus on developing its video platform, which was criticized during its Wimbledon tennis tournament broadcast. The company asserted that it was in the process of building and improving the live video experience in its Q2 2016 letter to shareholders.

Outsourcing the backend live stream responsibilities to BAMTech also makes sense for a host of other reasons:

• BAMTech’s impressive track record. The company has a history of turning around over-the-top streaming services in a timely and cost-effective way, perhaps best evidenced by its execution of HBO Now. HBO initially expected the project to take up to three years to complete at a cost of $900 million. BAMTech got the job done in four months on a $50 million budget, according to The Verge.
• BAMTech is well-established in sports. It began by powering the live streams for Major League Baseball, and then diversified into other leagues like the NHL, PGA Tour, CBS March Madness, and WWE. BAMTech’s geo-restriction technology – which enables out-of-market game streams while blacking out home broadcasts – is of particular value to Twitter, which needs to abide by this broadcasting condition. Moreover, BAMTech’s credibility in the sporting industry ties into Twitter’s live sports streaming ambitions. The social platform has recently signed content deals with the MLB and NHL, the NBA, as well as the college sports Pac-12 network.  
• Cozying up to The Walt Disney Company. BAMTech received a $1 billion investment from Disney in exchange for a 33% stake, confirmed earlier this month, so contracting BAMTech’s services should bring Twitter and Disney closer together, which would help boost Twitter’s future media ambitions. Disney is a titan in the industry and widely held as the exemplary media company, with a sprawling set of assets across intellectual property franchises, film studios and TV networks, and theme parks and resorts. 
• Boosting Twitter’s digital-TV ambitions. This all feeds into Twitter’s aim to be a premier digital-TV provider, and beyond that, could also help Twitter establish a linear TV channel if it so wished. After all, Vice’s entry into traditional TV was facilitated by Disney, which owns half of A&E Networks (in tandem with Hearst). A&E Networks is the parent company of the new defunct H2 channel, which Viceland took over. From a different perspective, Disney’s investment in BAMTech was a way to hedge against the demise of the pay-TV industry, which lost 812,000 subscribers last quarter. In this regard, Twitter could represent an attractive opportunity for Disney to tether its digital-TV streaming products onto, especially given that social platforms are becoming more and more involved in video distribution. 

If 2015 was the year that brands and advertisers embraced online video, then 2016 will see the medium take the next step as live streaming takes off.

Live streaming video refers to broadcasts in real time to an audience over the internet. While the concept of live streaming has been around for years, mobile-first video platforms with user-generated content have just recently begun to make serious waves thanks to improved video quality, faster broadband speeds, and enhanced mobile technology.

Online video has become a key part of the strategic business model for both brands and marketers as they seek more innovative ways to capture consumer attention. Creative live streaming video initiatives and campaigns are a way for companies to cut through the digital clutter and have emerged as the medium of choice not only for person-to-person sharing, but also for business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) communication. 

Brands are increasingly using live streaming to reach audiences. Its importance has grown significantly thanks to substantial investments by social platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat, and Twitter to build and enhance their live-streaming platforms.

And advertising dollars are likely to follow. 88% of agency respondents stated that they “might” or “definitely will” invest in live stream video advertising over the next six months, according to a recent Trusted Media Brands survey.

BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on live streaming video that examines the eruption of online video from the perspective of both consumers and advertisers and assesses how live streaming is emerging as the medium's next catalyst for growth.

Here are some key points from the report:

• Live streaming video will further accelerate streaming videos overall share of internet traffic. Streaming video accounts for over two-thirds of all internet traffic, and this share is expected to jump to 82% by 2020, according to Cisco’s June 2016 Visual Networking Index report.
• Live video’s value comes from its unique ability to add an authentic human element to digital communications. As a result, brands are leveraging three main streaming methods to connect with their viewers: tutorials, product launches, and exclusive and behind-the-scene footage.
• Advertisers will continue to invest heavily in online video, especially as live streaming video gains traction. Already in the US, digital video ad revenue reached $7.8 billion in 2015, up 55% from 2014, according to figures from the Internet Advertising Bureau.
• While live streaming is still in its early stages, brands are leveraging micropayments, mid-roll video ads and direct payments from social platforms, to monetize their live streaming videos.
• The success of live streaming video hinges on brands overcoming a lack of measurement standards in the space, as well as changes in social media sites' algorithms that affect what content users see.

In full, the report:

• Examines the eruption of live streaming video.
• Explores the differences between platforms that host live streaming video.
• Breaks down successful approaches from both brands and publishers.
• Discusses unique monetization opportunities live streaming presents.

To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options:

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

The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of live streaming video.

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Ever heard of CD Projekt Red? Didn't think so. But you might know the company's work: The wildly popular "Witcher" game series, for instance?

The company also runs popular online game store GOG.com, a place where you can buy games old and new, all without any DRM, which disallows copying or sharing. And now, between that popular series and the company's burgeoning game store, CD Projekt Red is worth more than $1 billion.

Here's what you need to know.

SEE ALSO: The former Prime Minister of Poland loves this video game so much he gave it to Obama as a gift

CD Projekt Red was born out of piracy. Co-founders Marcin Iwiński and Michał Kiciński used to sell pirated copies of games in their native Warsaw, Poland. We're talking late '80s, early '90s.

When the Soviet Union fell and Poland transitioned to capitalism, CD Projekt Red was founded. The company's initial focus was on localizing Western games for Polish and Russian audiences.

It was this type of work that led to the studio's first original game, "The Witcher."

It's no secret that Victoria's Secret Angels work hard to get into killer shape for the annual Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.

But being an Angel is a full-time gig, and the work doesn't stop once the show is over.

During last season's New York Fashion Week — this season's starts next week — Elsa Hosk caught up with StyleCaster to fill it in on what she eats in a day.

She doesn't give away exact portions, but it's likely that she exercises ample portion control.

Here's what she told StyleCaster:

• Breakfast: She said that she ate eggs and bacon.
• Lunch: She said that she ate a tomato and mozzarella panini and lentil soup.
• Dinner: She told the website that she went out to eat at a restaurant in New York City's trendy Tribeca neighborhood called The Greek. She said that she ordered a salad with potato, cucumber, and feta cheese, fried cheese, and chicken skewers with a rice pilaf.

She said that The Greek is her favorite restaurant.

But she also divulged a few contradictory diet practices. She said that she's been consuming green smoothies for snacks during Fashion Week, and that her favorite snack is "tzatziki and carrots, and smoothies." She separately said that she doesn't snack, however, but rather aims to "survive."

Her words, according to StyleCaster:

"I don't usually snack at all. I have main meals, and I make sure I eat a lot so I survive to the next meal."

She's also a huge fan of Juice Press, although she told StyleCaster that she was not a fan of "juice cleanses without solid food."

Unsurprisingly, she works out a ton.

She told StyleCaster that she prefers boxing and basketball, which makes sense. Before she was a Victoria's Secret Angel, she was a basketball player.

SEE ALSO: How Victoria's Secret models look so good for the fashion show

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: A model for Victoria’s Secret’s biggest competitor is taking on her critics

Remember the Nintendo 64? You're forgiven if you don't — the game console is 20 years old as of 2016, and its games look woefully outdated compared to the gorgeous graphics of modern ones.

Beyond being a Nintendo console packed with beloved games like "Super Mario 64," the Nintendo 64 was the last Nintendo console that used game cartridges.

These guys:

Every console since — from Nintendo and its competition — has used optical discs of some type. The PlayStation 1 used a form of compact disc — think music CDs — while the PlayStation 2 used DVDs and the current Xbox One and PlayStation 4 use versions of Blu-ray discs. Even Nintendo's latest console, the Wii U, uses a form of proprietary optical disc.

But there's a major issue with using optical-disc-based media formats: Game consoles are too fast for them. Really!

The reason that the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 require you to install games before playing them is because the consoles are capable of processing the data on the disc faster than it's able to read said data. The solution that Sony and Microsoft came up with? Install the data on the disc to the console's hard drive.

It is, frankly, a bad solution.

It means that you go home with a game disc, put it in your console, and then wait for it to install instead of just playing the game. It's a notorious step backward from previous consoles that didn't require you to wait around while the game installed from a disc.

Nintendo's Wii U doesn't require you to install disc-based games, but it's also nowhere near as powerful as the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. With Nintendo's next console, codenamed "NX," the expectation is that it'll be almost as powerful as the Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

So, how is Nintendo going to solve the disc issue? By using cartridges once again, it looks like.

A company that's worked with Nintendo for years, Macronix, might be behind the media format that Nintendo's using in its next console. British publication Screen Critics spotted some explicit mentions of Nintendo's next console in Macronix's latest financial report.

Specifically, the company cited Nintendo's new platform as helping drive financial growth for the company in its third and fourth financial quarters — those line up with this coming holiday season and the first part of 2017, around the time the NX is expected to launch.

Nintendo said recently that its new console will launch in March 2017.

Adding more fuel to this already burning fire is the fact that Macronix was responsible for the proprietary-media format used in Nintendo's 3DS handheld-game console. That format, a 32-nanometer ROM chip, is capable of holding 8 GB of media. The new format being created by Macronix is a 75-nanometer ROM chip, capable of holding far more data.

And then on Friday, the Wall Street Journal further confirmed previous reporting. "Nintendo Co. plans to adopt cartridges for its next-generation video game console, people familiar with the matter said," WSJ's Takashi Mochizuki writes. Unsurprisingly, the report cites the same things we've said above — games load faster, are more portable (the new system is said to be a hybrid portable/home console), and are more durable (for younger game players).

So, when you think of Nintendo's next console returning to cartridges, don't think about your dusty old NES carts.

Think of the 3DS cartridge. Think of Flash memory. Most importantly, think of an evolution beyond the disc-based media we've been stuck with for 20 years now.

SEE ALSO: Nintendo is about to announce a new console — here's everything we know

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Here's why that leaked video of Nintendo's next video game system is totally fake

Stephen Colbert broke down Donald Trump's recent speech about immigration reform and found a unique connection to the menacing Cobra Kai from "Karate Kid."

"The last 24 hours of Donald Trump have been an emotional roller coaster," Colbert said. "And you must be this crazy to ride."

Earlier this week, CBS's "Late Show" host risked a little public vomit when he admitted that Donald Trump came off seeming presidential during his press conference with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto. But once Donald Trump was back on American soil, he returned to his hardline stance on immigration.

Trump was back to using fear tactics. He painted a scene in which jailed immigrants would be released back into the public and generally spread their "lawlessness" across the country.

"I don't understand how he changes emotions so quickly," the host said. "He went from 'Mr. Cool' in Mexico to thermal nuclear in like an hour."

There was one piece that especially boggled Colbert's mind. Trump wondered how the powerful US could be taken advantage of by immigrants. He said, "We’re like the big bully that keeps getting beat up."

"Yeah, you know how poor, defenseless bullies are always getting beaten up?" Colbert said. "Remember how bad you felt when that mean Karate Kid beat the crap out of Cobra Kai?"

Colbert then went into an impression of Trump: "That movie ended horribly. It ended horribly! This time, the bullies win. Trump 2016: Sweep the leg... No mercy!"

Watch the video below: 

SEE ALSO: Stephen Colbert skewers Donald Trump's gaffe in his visit to Mexico

DON'T MISS: Jimmy Kimmel says voting for Donald Trump is like buying a ridiculous, wacky shirt

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: 'Taco Trucks on every corner': Watch the stunning comments made by the leader of 'Latinos for Trump'

"Stranger Things" has become Netflix's latest smash hit.

The first season of the series, set in the 1980s, from brothers Matt and Ross Duffer ("Wayward Pines"), which is set to return for a second season in 2017, follows the disappearance of a young boy and the monstrous chain of events it launches in the small town.

Not only does the show star iconic '80s actress Winona Ryder, but it introduces a whole new cast of kids viewers can't help but fall in love with.

It's not hard to see why fans have taken so passionately to "Stranger Things," which borrows heavily from the era's most beloved movies including "E.T." and "Stand By Me." The more devoted viewers are tearing apart every scene, finding new clues and developing wild theories.

But in case you're a little behind or just plain don't want to watch all eight episodes (or maybe monster stories just scare you too much), Business Insider has created this quick recap of all the major plot points.

Here's everything you need to know from the first season of "Stranger Things" (spoilers galore, of course):

SEE ALSO: The 'Stranger Things' kids reunite on 'The Tonight Show' to settle Barb's fate

DON'T MISS: The 10 best and worst TV shows this summer

'Chapter 1: The Vanishing of Will Byers'

A monster is loose: It's 1983. In an isolated laboratory in Hawkins, Indiana, some kind of monster has escaped from its holding cell and is killing whoever gets in its way.

A boy goes missing: Young Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) and his friends Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), and Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) are playing an intense role-playing game. The game is cut short by Michael's mom. Will, Dustin, and Lucas grab their bikes and leave for home.

While racing, Will separates from the other guys and finds himself close to the laboratory when he senses something is following him. When he gets home, he finds that his mother and brother aren't home. Sensing that the monster is still after him, Will runs to a shed behind the house, arms himself with a gun, and holds his ground. None of that helps. With a flickering light, poof, Will is gone.

The next morning, Will's mom, Joyce (Winona Ryder), and older brother, Jonathan (Charlie Heaton), discover that Will isn't home. She decides to report Will missing to the police chief, Jim Hopper, a mess of a man.

He insists on speaking with Joyce's ex-husband — Will and Jonathan's father — but she is sure Will would never go to him. She insists that he look outside her family for Will's abductor.

A young girl with strange powers is on the run: Meanwhile, a young girl named Eleven arrives at Benny's Diner. Her head is shaved, she's wearing a hospital gown, she has limited speech, and she's ravenously hungry.

After Benny feeds her, he calls for social workers to come and pick her up. But instead of the social workers, armed agents arrive to take Eleven. In the end, Benny is killed, and somehow Eleven fights off the agents and escapes.

Worlds collide: Tired of waiting for the police to do something, Will's friends decide to search for him on their own. That's when they meet Eleven.

Joyce gets a phone call. Despite the static, she swears she can hear Will breathing on the other end.

'Chapter 2: The Weirdo on Maple Street'

Eleven knows where Will is: The boys bring Eleven back to Mike's house. They can't tell his parents about her because they weren't supposed to be out at night looking for Will. Plus, Eleven says that "bad people" are after her.

As Eleven becomes more comfortable with the boys, she shows them some of her powers, closing Mike's door with her mind. After recognizing Will from a picture, Eleven tells the guys he's hiding from a monster.

While hiding in a dark closet from Will's mother, a scared Eleven flashes back to being dragged into a dark cell at Hawkins Laboratory.

Another strange call for Joyce: Joyce gets another phone call, which she believes is from Will. The lights go nuts and the walls start to warp.

The monster claims another victim: Mike's older sister, Nancy (Natalia Dyer), has started a relationship with one of the cool guys at school, Steven (Joe Keery). He's always trying to have sex with her, and asks her to join him and and another couple for a pool party at his house. A sexually naive girl, Nancy asks her best friend, Barb (Shannon Purser), to come along.

Meanwhile, Jonathan is taking photos in the woods when he happens upon Steve's house and realizes that his crush, Nancy, is at the pool with a few friends. For some reason, he takes pictures of the teens splashing about.

When the others go upstairs to hook up, Barb stays at the pool. Soon she finds herself being pulled away by the monster.

'Chapter 3: Holly, Jolly'

The Upside Down world: We find out that Barb (along with possibly Will) is stuck in some kind of world based on the one we live in. It looks like our reality, but it's darker and emptied of furniture. Barb is apparently running from the monster.

Nancy comes clean on Barb: After trying to buy some time to find Barb on her own, Nancy finally tells her mom that Barb is missing.

Eleven's terrible life: While the boys are at school, Eleven explores Mike's house. Different things bring back memories of her life in the lab.

A scientist named Dr. Brenner (Matthew Modine) is behind the testing, but also acts as a father figure to Eleven. She's asked to move things with her mind. At one point, she's forced back to her cell and ends up killing the men who took her there.

The search for Will goes cold: Chief Hopper wonders if Will's disappearance has something to do with the strange secrecy surrounding Hawkins Laboratory. He talks his way into the lab and finds very little. But upon watching security footage from the night Will disappeared, he realizes there's no rain in the footage. That's strange because there was a big storm that night. Hopper begins to think Brenner may know more than he's admitting.

Convinced that Will is using the electricity and phone lines to speak to her, Joyce has hung up hundreds of Christmas lights all over her living room. Some correspond to an alphabetical grid, kind of like a Ouija board, that she's written on the wall. It seems to work.

She asks Will if he's alive, and the lights indicate "yes." Then she asks him if he's safe and the answer is "no." Things go haywire and something looks to be stretching into her walls. Will is on the run.

Meanwhile, the boys ask Eleven to lead them to Will. When she brings them to his house, they go crazy on her. They don't understand that he could very well be right there, but in the Upside Down version.

They then hear sirens and follow them to a quarry where they see a body being pulled out of the water. It looks like Will.

People couldn't get enough of Michael Phelps' awkward facial expression during the Rio Olympics, and Jimmy Fallon decided to get to the bottom of it.

"Oh, here it comes," Phelps said on Thursday's "The Tonight Show," as Fallon repeated, "The face!"

So Phelps entertained him with a quick story about how he knew the expression would catch on even as he was making it.

"The worst is I was sitting in the ready room," Phelps recalled. "I always know there are two cameras before we walk out. I'm sitting there spitting water, like what is going on? And as I'm making a face, I'm like, yup, that's on camera ... Someone will pick that one up tomorrow."

Then Fallon pulled out a cardboard cutout of the "maddest face" Phelps rocked in Rio, which got some good laughs.

The "Tonight Show" host also took the opportunity to tease the Olympic swimmer about how he "didn't get the memo" regarding Ryan Lochte's activities in Rio.

Watch the "Tonight Show" clip with Michael Phelps below:

Join the conversation about this story »

Lena Dunham revealed that she originally met Amy Schumer when the latter comedian auditioned for Dunham's HBO show, "Girls."

"I first met Amy Schumer almost six years ago when she came in to audition for the role of Shoshanna on 'Girls,'" Dunham wrote on her site Lenny. "Everyone in the room was stunned by the detail and skill of her improv, the wild talent radiating off her (and I was personally intrigued by her breasts)."

Despite blowing away the room, Schumer didn't get the role. It eventually went to Zosia Mamet, whose unique portrayal of Shoshanna makes it hard to imagine anyone else in the role now. Dunham said that Schumer just didn't seem right for the role.

"It was clear Amy wasn't meant to play an innocent Juicy Couture lover obsessed with emoji — even if her Meatpacking District club lingo was the funniest s--- I had ever heard," Dunham said. "But when she left the room, the vibe was very 'Someone give that lady a show, STAT!'"

Dunham says she never forgot Schumer's audition. And eventually, the comedian did appear on "Girls."

"A year later, we couldn't get her off our minds and asked Amy to come back and play a pivotal role as the protective best friend of Adam's new GF, a lady with a penchant for gold lamé and verbal threats," Dunham recalled. "Our entire crew was in stitches, even if she was just dancing across a background shot. There was also something so tender about her portrayal."

Schumer currently stars on her own Emmy-nominated Comedy Central sketch show, "Inside Amy Schumer," which she cocreated, writes, and produces. Last year, she starred in the movie "Trainwreck."

SEE ALSO: Jimmy Fallon and Amy Schumer looked through each other's phones and explained their weirdest photos

DON'T MISS: Amy Schumer denies she stole these jokes from other comedians — and she plans to prove it

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Amy Schumer may be a big deal — but she still lives in a walk-up

"Birth of a Nation" director Nate Parker has been the center of a media storm since it was revealed in August that a woman accused him of raping her while they both attended Penn State in 1999.

Parker was acquitted of the rape charge in a 2001 trial, and the woman who made the accusation reportedly killed herself in 2012.

Parker has since attempted to show his remorse about the situation with a lengthy Facebook post and an emotional interview with Ebony.

Now one of the actresses from his film is speaking out about being raped and what she makes of the accusations against Parker.

Gabrielle Union ("Bad Boys II"), who plays a woman who is raped in the film, wrote an op-ed for The Los Angeles Times in which she says she was raped when she was 19 and speaks about why the news about Parker has left her "in a state of stomach-churning confusion."

"I took this role because I related to the experience. I also wanted to give a voice to my character, who remains silent throughout the film. In her silence, she represents countless black women who have been and continue to be violated. Women without a voice, without power. Women in general. But black women in particular. I knew I could walk out of our movie and speak to the audience about what it feels like to be a survivor."

But since the news of Parker's rape allegation, she can't help but question Parker's actions, even if he thought he had consent:

"I cannot take these allegations lightly. On that night, 17-odd years ago, did Nate have his date's consent? It's very possible he thought he did. Yet by his own admission he did not have verbal affirmation; and even if she never said 'no,' silence certainly does not equal 'yes.' Although it's often difficult to read and understand body language, the fact that some individuals interpret the absence of a 'no' as a 'yes' is problematic at least, criminal at worst. That's why education on this issue is so vital."

In 1999, Parker, then a student and wrestler at Penn State, and his roommate Jean McGianni Celestin (who wrote the screenplay for "The Birth of a Nation" with Parker) were charged with raping an 18-year-old woman in their apartment after a night of drinking. Parker and Celestin have stated that the encounter was consensual.

Parker was acquitted of the charges, partly because of testimony that he and the woman had consensual sex before. Celestin was found guilty and sentenced to six months in prison.

Celestin appealed the verdict and was granted a new trial in 2005, but the case never went to court, as the victim declined to testify again.

Parker said this in the Ebony interview about what he thought consent meant back in college:

"I'll say this: at 19, if a woman said no, no meant no. If she didn't say anything and she was open, and she was down, it was like how far can I go? If I touch her breast and she's down for me to touch her breast, cool. If I touch her lower, and she's down and she's not stopping me, cool. I'm going to kiss her or whatever. It was simply if a woman said no or pushed you away that was non-consent."

In her op-ed, Union says that teaching her children about respecting the opposite sex has become as important as other life lessons a young person should know:

"My husband [NBA star Dwyane Wade] and I stress the importance of their having to walk an even straighter line than their white counterparts. A lesson that is heartbreaking and infuriating, but mandatory in the world we live in. We have spent countless hours focused on manners, education, the perils of drugs. We teach them about stranger-danger and making good choices. But recently I've become aware that we must speak to our children about boundaries between the sexes. And what it means to not be a danger to someone else."

Read Union's moving op-ed at The Los Angeles Times »

SEE ALSO: Why hundreds of musicians are supporting Pharrell and Robin Thicke in "Blurred Lines" appeal

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: How Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson makes and spends his millions

In "Kulipari," two-time Super Bowl champion Trevor Pryce's new animated series for Netflix, frogs defend their homeland against nefarious scorpions who want to take it over.

It's a classic battle of good versus evil, and while "Kulipari" is aimed at kids, it's not a lighthearted romp. Pryce says the series can get a bit dark — something that initially scared off Hollywood dealmakers.

Getting "Kulipari" onto the small screen was a struggle, but the uniqueness of the tale, which initially took the form of an ongoing illustrated novel series (three so far), eventually prevailed.

"I made a very deliberate decision," Pryce told Business Insider about pitching "Kulipari." "You are going to hear something from me you've never heard."

He didn't want to pitch the same retread schlock Hollywood hears four to five times a week, even if it meant a lot of "no"s up front.

Pryce ended up having to make the series on his own dime before eventually scoring a distribution deal with Netflix, a rising children's programming powerhouse.

Here's Pryce's story:

The start

Pryce's inspiration for "Kulipari" came from an unlikely source: waiting for cable to be installed.

"When I decided I would take writing creatively seriously, I became a product of my environment," Pryce said. "With three kids, all my TVs had cartoons on all the time."

But one day Pryce was between homes, and his 65-inch TV hadn't had a cable box installed yet.

"I had one DVD: 'Planet Earth.' And watching 'Planet Earth' over and over again, I kept going back to a particular scene about the Amazon," Pryce said. "They had these tree frogs that were jumping from tree to tree. When you slow it down, [the frog] looked like a spear."

That image stuck, and when he watched "300," another image floated up: the Persian army as scorpions. His heroes and villains came together in his head.

After that, developing the story was easy, Pryce says. He plucked elements of aboriginal Australian mythology and wrote the pilot in just three days.

This wasn't Pryce's first brush with creating a story for Hollywood.

In 2008, he sold a story idea to Sony Pictures after pitching the CEO on it for 20 minutes — a man gets hit by lightning and his mind is filled with an insane amount of knowledge. At a point during his pitch, Sony's CEO asked him, "So what happens next?"

Pryce didn't know. "I thought you would tell me," Pryce told the CEO.

"I was thinking, 'You're Sony Pictures,'" Pryce said with a laugh when recounting it.

But selling "Kulipari" wasn't so easy.

Hollywood

When Pryce's agent began shopping the "Kulipari" script, Pryce couldn't get anyone in Hollywood to bite.

"This is a cool idea, but it's a little dark," is what Pryce heard a lot. He was frustrated.

"'Hunger Games' just came out and kids were killing kids!" he said. "I was just killing frogs and scorpions. But 'Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs' had just come out and was a big hit."

And Hollywood, in Pryce's experience, always wants a replica of what's popular in the moment.

"Whatever is hot on screen is what someone else's boss wants," he said. And more specifically: "Hey, do you have 'Cloudy With a Chance of Subway Sandwiches'?"

But eventually Kulipari found a home with Cartoon Network, which fell in love with the show. The only problem was it wanted to turn it into a comedy.

"'Thundercats' had failed miserably, and 'Kulipari' was bought on to pair with 'Thundercats,'" Pryce said. "But 'Adventure Time' and those kind of shows were doing incredible."

Cartoon Network wanted to know whether there was an "Adventure Time" version of "Kulipari" — something more lighthearted.

"It became very obvious very quickly that this wasn't going to work," Pryce said.

So Pryce bought "Kulipari" back from the network. And when Pryce thought about the path forward for "Kulipari," he knew he need to finance it himself.

"I gave myself the green light," he says.

Pryce says he never thought of bankrolling "Kulipari" as a risk, and that it took him about 10 seconds to make the decision. Some of his ideas Pryce thought might have been better for someone else to throw their money into, but not "Kulipari." Pryce says he knew where the floor was with "Kulipari," and that it was already pretty high.

He wasn't worried.

Enter: Netflix

Midway through production, Pryce approached three companies to distribute "Kulipari."

"I wanted streaming because the serialized nature of it," he said. "The series is not 13 random episodes. It is one consecutive, continuous story." He also wanted to control the narrative pace.

Netflix immediately blew him away, he says — and not because of the money.

"The reason I went with Netflix wasn't because they were big and powerful and cool," he says. "It was because the executives read the book."

Pryce considers it a success that people around the world, in countries like Russia and Germany, will get to watch his show in their native language. He's not worried about the money as much, though he's lined up a deal with Under Armour and is finalizing one with a toy company.

The future

After Pryce was drafted, he said his goal after the NFL was to run a record label by the time he was 35. That never materialized, but he started his own record label and scored an indie movie.

Pryce is hyperactive, and his mind is always going from one creative thing to another.

But for now, he's focused on "Kulipari" and a new drama script he's finished. But he's only working on projects he really believes in.

"I had a project in development at HBO, and I remember being on a call with like 10 executives," he said. "I just hung up in the middle of the call. I thought, 'This is a waste of my time.'

"But this is the one: 'Kulipari.' The rest of it is nonsense. The rest of it doesn't move the needle."

SEE ALSO: Here's what investors don't realize about Netflix's future

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Now that new music comes out every Friday — though not always on every streaming service — it can be hard to know where to find the next great song.

To help you out, Business Insider compiles this rundown of the best new music you can stream right now.

This week, Kendrick Lamar collaborated with his labelmate Isaiah Rashad for an album track, and Bon Iver debuted a stunning and cryptic new single.

Check out this week's best new songs:

SEE ALSO: The 5 best new songs you can stream from the week of August 26

Bon Iver — "33 'GOD'"

After releasing two bizarresingles last month, Bon Iver's Justin Vernon has returned with a third song from his upcoming album, "22, A Million."

Lyrically cryptic and instrumentally captivating, "33 'GOD'" is one of Bon Iver's most experimental and striking songs to date.

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James Blake — 'Timeless' (feat. Vince Staples)

English producer-singer James Blake snagged an incredible verse from rapper Vince Staples on this new reworking of the song "Timeless" from his critically acclaimed album "The Colour in Anything," which came out in May.

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Angel Olsen — 'Never Be Mine'

Where Angel Olsen's previous music was largely inspired by folk greats like Joni Mitchell, the 29-year-old singer-songwriter's latest album, "My Woman," blends a variety of influences.

The album's standout track, "Never Be Mine," successfully emulates Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound" approach to production.

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Justin Bieber recently rented a Hawaiian property called Water Falling Estate for two weeks at a rate of $10,000 a night, TMZ reports.

The estate, which sold for $5.7 million at an auction in 2014, boasts "a 450-seat tennis/basketball stadium, a 250 million-gallon Olympic infinity pool with a high dive and two-story water slide," and a helicopter landing pad, according to The Hawaii Tribune Herald.

The mansion stands on a cliff overlooking several waterfalls and the Pacific Ocean, and its listing on Concierge Auctions reveals some spectacular photos of the property. It can also be rented on Home Away.

Check out the opulent vacation home Bieber stayed in:

SEE ALSO: No one wants to buy 50 Cent's incredible $6 million mansion that he's been forced to sell due to bankruptcy

The 9.44-acre property stands atop a cliff on Hawaii's Hamakua Coast.

Source: Concierge Auctions

The estate was once a macadamia nut plantation, but now it boasts an Olympic-size pool, a multipurpose athletic court ...

Source: Concierge Auctions

... a helicopter pad on the mansion's roof ...

Nick Johnson, America's first Pokémon Go master, recently got back from his successful trip around the world to catch all of the 145 Pokémon available in the game. 

That trip, sponsored by Marriott and Expedia, brought him to Paris, Hong Kong, Sydney, and Tokyo, in a whirlwind 12-day trip across continents. 

It was a fun vacation from his day job as Head of Platform at New York-based startup Applico. Still, it was exhausting.

On his journey to catch 'em all, Johnson had to deal with a typhoon, hordes of fans, and most distressingly of all, Pokémon Go developer Niantic, which reshuffled the locations of most of the Pokémon in the game the very day that he left.

It was worth it, he says: The best part was "getting to interact with and meet new people in every country and bonding with them over Pokémon," Johnson says.

Here's what Johnson's global Pokémon journey was like, with photos taken with permission from his Snapchat and social media.

SEE ALSO: America's first Pokémon Go master has finally caught every Pokémon in the world

CHECK OUT: 12 clever tips and tricks for Pokémon Go from the first guy to catch all 142 Pokémon in the US

Johnson's trip began on July 29th, flying from New York's JFK airport to Paris.

On the flight, Johnson started scouring local Pokémon Go Reddit and Facebook groups to gather intel on where to find his target: Mr. Mime, the Pokémon exclusive to Europe.

While in France, Johnson stayed at the Renaissance Paris Arc de Triomphe. Expedia paid for Johnson's travel; Marriott Rewards paid for his hotel.

You can hardly turn around without running face first into some doom-and-gloom story about the end of social interaction as we know it, all brought on by the ubiquity of smartphones and the millennial obsession with Snapchat.

This is a boring, tired narrative. Truth be told, smartphones can be used as a facilitator of social interaction, too.

Enter Jackbox Games, a video game developer based out of Chicago that's quietly become the best maker of party games in the world. And it's all thanks to those little apocalypse-bringing devices in your pocket.

Fart jokes don't hurt, either.

Your phone is your controller

Jackbox Games has a pretty massive library of games for nearly every device, including PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Steam, and even Amazon Fire TV. They all work in nearly the same way.

Everyone gathers around the television and grabs whatever smartphone or tablet they choose. Using those devices, they go to "Jackbox.tv" on their browser and enter the four-letter room code displayed on the screen. Once you enter a display name, your device is synced up with the game.

As you can see above, six players have logged into the game "Drawful 2," an updated take on Pictionary.

Here's where things get interesting: Based on what's going on in the game, your phone's screen will change. Is it your turn to sketch a prompt? Your screen becomes a blank surface for you to sketch whatever the game asks of you. Once you're done, your drawing will zoom onto the TV, at which point everyone else will type in what they think the prompt was that led to whatever monstrosity you just created.

The real prompt — which, up until this point, was only visible to the person drawing — is mixed in with everyone else's guesses. If you guess the original prompt correctly, you get points. If you successfully persuade someone else to believe that the prompt you submitted was the original prompt, you get even more points. Get it?

Another game, called "Quiplash," is pretty similar to something like Apples to Apples or Cards Against Humanity. You'll be provided with a fill-in-the-blank statement or some open-ended question, and you have to submit an answer that you think everyone else is likely to vote as being the funniest.

Jackbox Games is coming out with a new collection of games this fall, called "The Jackbox Party Pack 3," which will have five different games included. Speaking from personal experience, throwing on just about any Jackbox game at a family gathering or casual party is a surefire way to have a great time.

So, before you start mouthing off about how the proliferation of smartphones spells the end for society as we know it, just ask yourself: Has it been used to make your entire family laugh at an infantile fart joke yet?

SEE ALSO: 13 video game consoles you've probably never heard of

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When a blockbuster movie couples its box-office success with an equally influential soundtrack, the film's cultural impact and staying power can amplify exponentially. And the dollars add up, too.

Soundtracks hold prominent spots in the Recording Industry Association of America's lists of the best-selling albums of all time.

While some soundtracks like the ones for "Titanic" and "The Bodyguard" were bolstered by giant hit singles — "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion and "I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston, respectively — others soundtracks like Prince's "Purple Rain" became classic albums in their own right.

Check out the best-selling movie soundtracks of all time in the US, ranked:  

SEE ALSO: The biggest hit album the year you were born

15. "The Song Remains the Same" (1976) — Led Zeppelin

Copies sold: 4 million

Notable songs: "Rock and Roll,""The Song Remains the Same"

14. "A Star Is Born" (1976) — Barbara Streisand & Kris Kristofferson

Copies sold: 4 million

Notable song:"Evergreen"

13. "High School Musical" (2006) — Various Artists

Copies sold: 4 million

Notable song: "Breaking Free"

Most people look at thrift store art and see trash. Dave Pollot sees opportunity.

By day, Pollot works as a software programmer. At night, he turns thrift store artwork into the kind of nostalgia-laced magic you see above.

SEE ALSO: Here’s what happens when an artist who knows nothing about Pokémon attempts to draw them

Pollot hasn't always been doing this; he used to paint more traditional subjects.

"Before I began repurposing discarded thrift art, I painted more 'serious' architectural paintings and landscapes. While I loved this, I found that I got bored very quickly (which resulted in about three completed paintings a year)," Pollot explained on his website.

But between his wife's love for thrift store shopping and his passion for pop culture, a new concept was born.

Pollot spoke with Business Insider via email. "I paint pop culture parodies of the things that I know and love," he said. "Gaming was a big part of my childhood, so you'll definitely see a lot of classic video game paintings, but movies, television, sci-fi, and tech also make up a large part of what I've done."

After choosing a painting from his collection of thrift art, he spends anywhere from 8 to 36 hours transforming the work.

"It very much depends on the size and complexity of the piece, but generally somewhere between 8 and 36 hours," he said.

Pollot doesn't do this full-time; his day job is programming. "Perhaps someday I'll be painting full-time, but for now it's really nice that there's no pressure on the artwork," he told us.

Wall Street is split on Netflix: some are unloading shares while others are calling it a "number-one buy."

Much of the controversy revolves around subscriber growth, both in the US and internationally. Netflix missed badly on Wall Street expectations for Q2, but boosters argue that this is a hiccup, and that Netflix's potential is still intact.

However, on the international front, there have been whispers that Netflix isn't doing well in markets where a high percentage of the population doesn't speak English, like Russia.

But there is one thing investors are missing about the international market, according to analysts at RBC Capital Markets.

Netflix recently disclosed that its pre-2014 international markets are on pace to bring $500 million in contribution profit in 2016. RBC's analysis pegs this at about a 20% contribution margin on 25.5 million subscribers. RBC notes that this is "very consistent with the profitability ramp of Netflix US back in 2012 and 2013." Basically, Netflix's international road map is working like it should.

"We don’t believe many Netflix investors realize this, and thus, we believe that the market underappreciates the profit potential behind Netflix’s international rollout," RBC analysts wrote in a recent note.

The reason is that while Netflix has maintained that its international markets could one day be as profitable as the US, there hasn't been much evidence, according to RBC. Netflix has simply had to spend too much on content and marketing in new countries for investors to give an accurate assessment of future profitability.

But RBC thinks this new $500 million number is promising, and that it signals Netflix can take over the world like it took over the US.

SEE ALSO: There's a huge difference between how founder-CEOs get paid versus non-founders in tech

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In April, Mads Mikkelsen let it slip that in "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" he plays the father of the main character Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones). Now a new prequel novel to "Rogue One" has revealed more information about Mikkelsen's character.

It turns out he has a lot to do with the origins of the Death Star.

According to the description of the novel, "Catalyst," Galen Erso (Mikkelsen) is actually friends with "Rogue One" villain Director Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) — the one decked out in a cape and Empire gear.

At the time of the novel Krennic is a member of the group assigned to get the Death Star project off the ground. Galen has become an asset as his "energy-focused research" can benefit the Death Star construction. Krennic saves Erso, his wife, and his young daughter Jyn from separatists, and encourages him to continue work on his research for the betterment of the universe.

But Erso soon realizes that Krennic is going to take his work to complete the Death Star, using the research for nefarious ends.

It's certainly an insightful piece of backstory before seeing "Rogue One," the first standalone "Star Wars" movie from Disney, when it hits theaters December 16.  

SEE ALSO: Everything you need to know about "Stranger Things" — the Netflix show people are obsessed with

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Leon Cooperman is done with Netflix for now.

The hedge fund legend told CNBC on Wednesday that the video-streaming company is no longer in his portfolio for "no particular reasons."

"I think ultimately Netflix is going to work, but I think somebody buys the company at a nice premium," Cooperman, who founded Omega Advisors, said.

"Netflix is an acquisition candidate for somebody," he said.

Netflix's most recent quarterly results showed that the company is struggling to grow domestic and international subscriptions as it prepares to load its catalog with even more original content.

"Another idea came in, I didn't want to raise my exposure, so I sold and went to something else," Cooperman said, without getting into details on Netflix's business.

He said that he also dumped his stake in Citigroup and expects that banks will make more money if interest rates start to rise.

One company that Cooperman likes is payments processor First Data. The stock trades at about half of the S&P 500's forward price-to-earnings ratio of 18x, and is cheap compared to the competition, he said. It gained 3.5% in trading.

More broadly speaking, Cooperman said that he is about 65% exposed to stocks, below his norm of about 85% to 90%.

SEE ALSO: 'The US economy will soon be at full employment'

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