Queen Latifah is starring in a new drama pilot from filmmaker Lee Daniels, the co-creator of Fox TV's "Empire."
The untitled Fox pilot is about three young women trying to make it in the music industry. Latifah plays Carlotta, a beauty salon owner who becomes a surrogate mom to the trio, the network said.
After open auditions, three newcomers were cast as the aspiring singers: Jude Demorest and Ryan Destiny, both from Detroit, Michigan, and Brittany O'Grady from Washington, D.C.
Musician-actress Latifah starred in NBC's live production of "The Wiz" last week and played the famed blues singer Bessie Smith in the Emmy-winning HBO movie, "Bessie."
The pilot, which could be the basis for a series, begins production this month in Atlanta.
Nintendo reports lower profits as demand drops for its aging Switch console
Nintendo, the Japanese video game maker behind the Super Mario franchise, said Tuesday that its profit fell 60% in the first half of the fiscal year, as demand waned for its Switch console, now in its eighth year since going on sale.
Kyoto-based Nintendo Co. reported a 108.7 billion yen ($715 million) profit for the April-September period, as sales slipped 34% from the previous year to 523 billion yen ($3.4 billion).
More than 74% of its sales revenue came from overseas, according to Nintendo, which didn't break down quarterly numbers.
Global Switch sales during the period dropped to 4.7 million machines from 6.8 million units the previous year.
But Nintendo said in a statement that Switch sales were still growing and vowed to stick to its goal of selling a Switch console to each and every individual, not just one Switch per every household.
Nintendo stuck to its earlier projection for a 300 billion yen ($2 billion) profit for the full fiscal year through March 2025, down nearly 29% from the previous fiscal year.
Annual sales were forecast to drop 23% to1.28 trillion yen ($8.4 billion).
It also lowered its Switch sales projection for the fiscal year to 12.5 million units from an earlier forecast to sell 13.5 million.
Nintendo and other game and toy makers rake in their biggest profits during the Christmas shopping season, as well as New Year's, a holiday celebrated with fanfare in Japan, when children receive cash gifts from grandparents and other relatives.
Nintendo has not yet announced details on a successor to the Switch.
Among its million-seller game software titles for the fiscal half were "Paper Mario RPG," which sold 1.95 million units since going on sale in May, and "Luigi Mansion 2... Read More