The all-new Hollywood Reporter offers unprecedented access to the people, studios, networks and agencies that create the magic in Hollywood. Published weekly, the oversized format includes exceptional photography and rich features.
If Netflix’s business models were structured like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the company would be about to enter Phase 3. Phase 1, of course, is when the company launched its DVD-by-mail service in 1999, transforming the way DVDs were rented. Phase 2 began in 2007, when it supplemented its DVD subscriptions with a streaming video-on-demand service, ushering in the modern era of streaming entertainment. Phase 3 of the Netflix Revenue Universe (the NRU?) will begin in earnest in November, when the company launches its advertising-supported streaming tier. Yes, it’s still streaming video, but it’s also an entirely new ballgame. “Obviously they were a first mover in the streaming landscape overall, but they are a late mover in the advertising space,” says David Cohen, CEO of the trade organization Interactive Advertising…
Cory Haik/Morgan Hertzan Amid sale speculation, Vice Media promotes Haik to chief operating officer for news and entertainment and Hertzan to global TV chief as it re-ups president Jesse Angelo. Mark Zuckerberg Struggling with his metaverse vision, the Meta mogul is plagued by regulators clamping down on Facebook-era buys as a U.K. watchdog orders the firm to sell GIF firm Giphy. Marie Kreutzer After claiming a win at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard sidebar and being selected as Austria’s Oscar entry, the director’s Corsage takes the London Film Fest’s top prize. Dave Scott Comcast’s bet to revive G4, a gaming-focused linear TV channel, crashes less than a year after launch as the exec says it didn’t achieve “sustainable financial results.” Showbiz Stocks HAIK $14.00 (+4%) IMAX (IMAX) As the giant-screen firm…
Thanksgiving is more than a month away, yet Rian Johnson’s Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is already feasting. As of Oct. 17, a seat map of an auditorium at AMC Century City 15 in Los Angeles — one of the busiest cinemas in the country — indicates a packed Nov. 23 evening showing of the Netflix sequel. But Hollywood and the public won’t officially know what the film’s total ticket sales are during its one-week run in more than 600 cinemas, because Netflix doesn’t report grosses. Until now, the streamer’s foray into theatrical has been more of an annoyance than a threat for rivals. That changed Oct. 6, when Netflix revealed that AMC Theatres, Regal Cinemas and Cinemark Theatres will — in a first — all play a Netflix…
Ever since Disney+ series The Mandalorian began making news for its inventive use of an LED stage and virtual production pipeline for filming and incorporating real-time effects, these types of stages have become what is arguably the fastest-growing area of visual effects and production technology. But amid the explosive surge in LED stages, observers warn that the business, tech and creative models for these pricey installations require more understanding before their potential can be fully realized. “We are tracking roughly 300 stages, up from only three in 2019,” Miles Perkins, industry manager of film and TV for Epic Games, maker of the Unreal Engine used in virtual production pipelines, reports of the rise in capacity stemming from investments from studios, stage complexes and VFX companies. These installations include ILM’s StageCraft…
As Warner Bros. TV Group underwent a round of layoffs in October, the news that garnered the most attention seemed to catch the leadership of the newly merged Warner Bros. Discovery off guard: the shuttering of WBTVG’s long-running writers and directors workshops. The employees laid off as a result of the closures — workshop head Rebecca Windsor and administrator Elly Lachman — represented just two of the 125 positions eliminated Oct. 11 across the TV group, but the decision sparked backlash among the vocal community of writers on social media, followed by a swift rejoinder the following day from the DGA. The guild claimed in a statement that the workshops’ cancellation violated the terms of its 2014 collective bargaining agreement mandating that each studio operate a development program for emerging…
As Xi Jinping prepares to accept a ground-breaking third term as China’s leader, his country faces gathering headwinds on various fronts, with the film sector no exception. Insiders and industry observers believe Xi’s ever-tightening grip on power in Beijing bodes ominously for the creative and commercial development of the country’s once mighty movie business. As of Oct. 17, China’s box office total for 2022, thus far, was $3.88 billion, down 33 percent from the equivalent point in 2021 and off nearly 50 percent from 2019, the last year before the pandemic. During China’s National Day holiday weekend (Sept. 31-Oct. 2), usually one of the biggest earning periods of the year, total movie ticket sales reached $88 million, a slide of 67 percent from the 2021 holiday total of $271 million.…
