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The Morning Fix: ‘Captain America’ wins. DreamWorks-Netflix deal?

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After the coffee. Before fighting the good fight for another day.

The Skinny: Hope everyone got back safely from Comic-Con. Do they even promote comic books anymore? While you were away there was a bit of controversy at Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. At the box office, ‘Captain America’ is on top of the latest ‘Harry Potter’ movie. Also, the NFL and players appear to have made peace and there will be a season. No official word though on whether there will be an HBO ‘Hard Knocks’ season.

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‘Captain America’ defeats ‘Harry Potter.’ In something of an upset, ‘Captain America’ easily beat up the competition at the box office this past, weekend including ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 2,’ the final entry in the legendary Warner Bros. franchise. ‘Captain America’ soared to almost $66 million while ‘Harry Potter’ took in $48.1 million, a drop of more than 70% from its premiere numbers of a week ago. Also debuting was ‘Friends With Benefits,’ which took in $18.5 million. Box office analysis from the Los Angeles Times and Movie City News. Also a look at the man behind Marvel Studios, the makers of ‘Captain America’ from the New York Times.

Marked man. James Murdoch was once seen as the likely choice to take over News Corp. when (or is it if?) his media mogul father ever decided to step down. Given that Rupert Murdoch’s mom is still going strong at 102, who knows when that would happen anyway. Nonetheless, the News of the World phone-hacking scandal that has rocked News Corp. has put serious clouds over James Murdoch, who has oversight over the media giant’s European operations, which includes the British tabloids. He has been catching heat for what he did and didn’t know about the debacle. Some thoughts on what the blowback could be from the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.

No HBO for DreamWorks Animation? Bloomberg and the Hollywood Reporter say that DreamWorks Animation may not renew its movie output deal with HBO and is in talks with Netflix to offer the streaming service its movies exclusively. Probably a good sign that HBO parent Time Warner isn’t interested in buying DreamWorks Animation, the sale of which has been the subject of speculation.

Never too young to produce. The New York Post looks at the Hollywood tradition of production deals for talent and tries to separate vanity from reality.

Inside the Los Angeles Times: John Horn on whether producer Brett Saxon is just unlucky or a fraud. An appreciation of singer Amy Winehouse, who died over the weekend.

-- Joe Flint

Follow me on Twitter. I’m not going anywhere. Twitter.com/JBFlint

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