It was difficult for algorithms to predict the sucess of game-to-movie adaptation 'Warcraft' in 2016. The film flopped in the U.S. but was a big hit in China. By James Vincent May 28, 2019 | Actors and directors are forever glancing off projects that never get made or that get made by someone else, and fans are left wondering what might have been. For...
By Gregg Tarr May 22, 2019 | Now under control of Disney, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment this week played Switzerland in its handling of the dynamic metadata HDR profile competition by announcing the upcoming release of the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc of Fox’s CGI animated sci-fi title Alita: Battle Angel (above). With the release of the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray...
By Dade Hayes May 20, 2019 | After a period of years when Netflix, Hulu and Amazon reigned virtually unchallenged as subscription streaming’s Big Three, the landscape is getting more crowded than the last act of Avengers: Endgame. This complex, multi-front battle qualifies as perhaps the disruption of the 21st Century (with apologies to President Trump). It has implications for everyone in the entertainment business for a number of reasons—changing...
By Ashley Rodriguez May 15, 2019 | The series 'Friends' captures a very different US audience on the streaming-video service than it does on cable channels like Nick At Nite, TBS, and Paramount Network, Nielsen found. Fans of the show on Netflix tend to be young, and some may be discovering 1990s sitcom for the first time. Read more on Business Insider. Related...
By Joe Flint and Micah Maidenberg May 14, 2019 | Walt Disney Co. and Comcast Corp. have struck a wide-ranging deal that turns operational control of Hulu over to Disney and gives Comcast the option to sell Disney its stake in the streaming-video service. Under the deal, Comcast can require Disney to purchase the one-third stake its NBCUniversal subsidiary owns in Hulu as early...
By Peter White May 8, 2019 | WarnerMedia is to bring together the international distribution divisions and home entertainment operations of HBO, Turner and Warner Bros. Jeffrey Schlesinger, President, Warner Bros. Worldwide Television Distribution, will take leadership responsibility for activities of HBO Enterprises and the distribution of Turner content produced in the US. He has held this role since 2013, having spent...
By Eric Peckham May 7, 2019 | Most of the strategy discussions and news coverage in the media and entertainment industry is concerned with the unfolding corporate mega-mergers and the political implications of social media platforms. These are important conversations, but they’re largely a story of twentieth-century media (and broader society) finally responding to the dominance Web 2.0 companies have achieved. To entrepreneurs...
BY JOHN KOBLIN April 30, 2019 |Eleven months after striking a deal with Netflix, the Obamas have a slate of programming. Barack and Michelle Obama’s new production company, Higher Ground Productions, on Tuesday announced seven projects that are in the works for Netflix, including several documentaries and a movie about Frederick Douglass. Read more on NY Times. Related Articles How Netflix May Impact the Next...
By Lucas Shaw and Matthew Boyle April 28, 2019 | Walmart Inc. already sells more TVs than anyone. Now it wants to make the shows you watch on them, too. The retailer plans to bankroll at least a half-dozen original programs over the next year, and will unveil the first few to advertisers in New York this week, people familiar with the plans...
By Nick Bilton April 22, 2019 |Right now, Hollywood is booming. There are now almost 500 original scripted TV series being produced a year, an astounding increase of over 100 from six years ago. But as a longtime technology journalist who has watched technology decimate journalism (or at least journalism’s profit margins), it’s not hard to see why Hollywood is next—and why the...