Our friends across the pond sure do like their American professional wrestling --which is a fine thing, since we owe them for such treats as Monty Python and the most famous lord of time himself, the forever-regenerating Doctor Who. It's certainly a fair tradeoff.
And now there's no danger of the Brits losing their wrestling. News Corp.'s
The deal calls for the wrestling programs to stay on BSkyB for the next half decade. WWE has had a long relationship with BSkyB -- since the platform began, in fact -- and it is an important one. International growth will be one of the key drivers going forward for WWE, so a continued presence in Great Britain is requisite.
But one of the best growth drivers I foresee for the company is its burgeoning movie development business. The company's corporate website states that two films are in the pipeline for WWE Films; one will be a vehicle for the aforementioned John Cena entitled The Marine, while another project, Eye Scream Man, will give Kane's thespian talents a workout (hopefully, there will be thespian talents to actually work out). The Marine is due to be distributed by Fox
I'm hopeful the McMahons will be able to contain their celluloid expenses in the same way they've controlled costs associated with the wrestling business.
More on the media:
Hey, what do you think? Should WWE get into the film business, or stick to wrestling? If you want to challenge my assertion that McMahon can succeed in celluloid, head on over to the Fool's WWE discussion board and get down in some raw exchanges, brother!
Fool contributor Steven Mallas owns none of the companies mentioned.