"MTV's Hip-Hopera: Carmen" chalked up the second-best Nielsen numbers for an original movie in the history of MTV, reaching 2.2 million cable homes on Tuesday -- more than triple the network's usual
primetime average.
"These numbers back up our strategy to do between four and six TV movies a year and treat them as special events," said Maggie Malena, MTV's VP of original movies for TV.
A
modern-day urban version of Bizet's classic opera, "Carmen" starred Destiny's Child singer Beyonce Knowles, Mekhi Phifer and Mos Def.
Consistent with the special-event blueprint, MTV said its
original movies will be budgeted at about $3 million each, much higher than the tab for a typical cable TV film.