Do the movies we watch reflect who we are and who we aspire to be? March 19, 2019 | Each year, companies spend millions of dollars to craft brands that will resonate with the target audience. The movie business is no exception, with branding playing a key role in helping films compete for audience attention. But through what mechanism does the branding...
By Lucas Shaw, Mark Gurman and Julie Verhage March 13, 2019 | Apple Inc., after teasing investors for months about its ambitions to become a services company, is getting ready to showcase plans for new video and news products. All it needs now is for Hollywood to sign up. The company will host A-list celebrities and media executives on March 25 to...
By Ryan Faughnder March 8, 2019 |Walt Disney Co.’s entertainment kingdom is about to get a whole lot bigger thanks to its pending purchase of 21st Century Fox assets, and the rest of Hollywood has only just begun to grapple with the consequences of the company’s increasing power. The long-anticipated $71.3-billion acquisition will put the X-Men, Homer Simpson, the Avengers, Buzz Lightyear,...
By Dino-Ray Ramos March 8, 2019 | Quibi founder Jeffrey Katzenberg and CEO Meg Whitman took the stage at SXSW to discuss their forthcoming short-form mobile streaming service. More accurately, they were defending it — and they unveiled new high-profile projects in the pipeline to sell it. The platform launches next April and Katzenberg said they are going to release a new series every Monday. Read more on Deadline. Related Articles: Katzenberg’s Quibi...
By Julia Alexander March 7, 2019 | Disney+, the company’s upcoming streaming service, will carry Disney’s entire catalog of animated films, ending Disney’s long-standing “vault” program. CEO Bob Iger told shareholders today that Disney+ “at some point fairly soon after launch” will carry films that “traditionally have been kept in a ‘vault’ and brought out basically every few years.” That’s a major policy change...
By Tom Dotan and Jessica Toonkel March 5, 2019 |As Disney nears an April public unveiling of its Disney+ streaming services for Wall Street analysts, some key questions—including whether to distribute through U.S. cable operators or companies like Apple—are still being hammered out. One worry is whether the service will work well from a technical perspective. With that in mind, some insiders...
By William D. Cohan March 5, 2019 | Research analysts at MoffettNathanson estimate that AT&T could save “hundreds of millions” of dollars annually by combining the various independent pieces of WarnerMedia. And AT&T needs the money. As of the end of December, the company had total debt of about $180 billion, making it the most indebted company in the world. Read more...
(Above) Source: The NPD Group, The DTC Video Landscape Affordability is the No. 1 reason that consumers subscribe to a la carte TV channels, but the ability to get only the content they want is also important March 4, 2019 | Direct-to-consumer (DTC) is an evolving U.S. retail trend with startups such as Warby Parker and manufacturers like Harry’s Shave Club seizing...
By Anthony D'Alessandro February 26, 2019 | Paramount Pictures said it is elevating Dan Cohen to president of Worldwide Home Entertainment & Television Distribution. Cohen, who currently serves as president of Worldwide Television Licensing, assumes the role previously held by Mary Daily, who had overseen International Theatrical Marketing and Home Entertainment for the studio since 2017. Read more on Deadline. Related News: Mary Daily Named Paramount Pictures Co-President of...
By David McLaughlin, Andrew M Harris, and Scott Moritz February 26, 2019 | AT&T Inc. beat back another effort by the U.S. to undo its purchase of Time Warner, cementing an $85 billion deal to help it compete with Netflix Inc. The U.S. Appeals Court in Washington said Tuesday the Justice Department failed to establish that a lower-court judge made a clear error when he rejected...
