Ratings don’t matter to Mindy Kaling anymore

Also, Mindy Kaling talks about her show's new home on Hulu; Fantastic Four flops at the box office; and Ukraine bans Russia-linked celebrities.

Mindy Kaling's show has moved to Hulu. Imeh Akpanudosen / Getty Images

Mindy Kaling says she is blissfully unaware of the audience numbers Hulu is hoping to attract when it starts streaming new episodes of The Mindy Project. The fourth season debuts on the service on September 15. "To be honest, after being on network TV for 11 years, I'm kind of happy about that," she says. "I'd rather just focus on the creative and I'm happy that they're not trying to pull me into those conversations." Fox cancelled the series, created by and starring Kaling, in May but Hulu revived it days later, ordering 26 episodes, the biggest season order to date. "I'm so grateful and I just want to make the show better than it's ever been," said Kaling. "We went from, 'We're never doing this show again,' to having more work than ever." The show is not expected to change too much in its leap to the web, where a new episode will be posted each week – unlike the Netflix model, in which an entire season of a show is made available to binge-watch. "I think if we really changed the show and made it more risqué and put it more on a tilt towards stuff you might find on HBO or Showtime, we would maybe turn off some of our core viewers," said Ike Barinholtz, a star, producer and writer on the show. – AP

Bad reviews defeat Fantastic Four at box office

Hollywood's summer has had runaway sensations (Jurassic World) and heart-warming hits (Inside Out). It now has its fiasco. Fantastic Four, 20th Century Fox's attempt to reboot the superhero-team franchise, which opens here on Thursday, debuted with box-office takings of just $26.2 million in North America at the weekend, according to studio estimates. The result was bad enough that last week's leader, Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, held the top spot with $29.4 million in its second week. The Fantastic Four flop is a rare humbling for a Marvel superhero film, which often gross more than $20 million on opening night alone. The film has been savaged by critics and was dogged by reports of creative difficulties. As late as Tuesday, Fox research suggested the opening the industry was expecting: $40m to $50m. But the fortunes for the film seemed to turn with the unusually bad critical reaction. Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for box-office tracker Rentrak, highlighted the blazingly fast spread of bad buzz. "The fanboys and the fangirls listen to each other via social media," he said. "This shows you how powerful the social chatter can be." Don't miss our verdict on Fantastic Four in Thursday's Arts & Life.– AP

Ukraine bans films featuring blacklisted stars

Ukraine has banned the screening of films featuring actors included on a blacklist. It said the 14 Russian actors, singers and other cultural figures on the blacklist pose a threat to national security. Among them is French-born actor Gerard Depardieu, who became a vocal supporter of Russia after taking citizenship in 2013 and last month was barred from entering Ukraine for five years. The list also includes singer Iosif Kobzon, who is among those targeted by European Union sanctions imposed in response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea and support for separatists fighting in eastern Ukraine. – AP