In Hollywood, concern about whether Warner Bros. will remain a theatre-centered business is haunted by historical echoes of earlier seismic shifts in the movie business. It seems existential, perhaps portending the end of mainstream moviegoing. - The New Yorker
“The three-year licensing deal will let users generate videos using Sora, OpenAI’s short-form AI video platform, of more than 200 Disney, Marvel, Star Wars and Pixar characters. ... ChatGPT will also be able to generate images of Disney’s multibrand licensed characters.” - The Wall Street Journal (MSN)
So, how does the cinema experience fit into this time? Its key benefits are “immersion, spectacle, and shared experiences,” the Bain report highlights. “But this is at odds with people’s evolving consumption of media, which is increasingly short-form, interactive, and digital.” - The Hollywood Reporter
Presently, non-fiction filmmaking (in the form of docuseries) stands as a cornerstone of streaming economics, a format bolstered and degraded by an ever-growing demand for cheap, time-consuming content. - Stat Significant
Netflix’s movies don’t have to abide by any of the norms established over the history of cinema: they don’t have to be profitable, pretty, sexy, intelligent, funny, well-made, or anything else that pulls audiences into theater seats. - n+one
So, yes, for all intents and purposes, the Golden Globes are back. But regarding ethical practices, today’s for-profit Globes may well be worse than ever, crossing the line in ways that are more egregious than the shady maneuverings that put the awards on life support not so long ago. - Los Angeles Times
“The streamer has set new parameters for making content, providing rich upfront fees, but diminished profit participation or residuals for producers, directors, actors and their agents.” - TheWrap (Yahoo!)
From a competition standpoint, Warner Bros. going to Netflix is sharp a step in the wrong direction. It’s turbocharging the runaway market leader, leaving the other studios’ streaming services to wither on the vine. - Slate
Eline Van der Velden toiled with her 15-person team to nail down the look of her leading lady, creating 2,000 iterations of an actress unbound by the limits of physical ability, age or talent. She passed on dud iterations with the ruthless efficiency of a casting director who makes actors cry at auditions. - The Wall Street Journal
Piece by piece, Netflix has disrupted a more-than-century-old industry, from the way consumers rent movies and TV shows, to the cadence at which new series are released and even the economics of how entertainment is made. - The Wall Street Journal
A24 and Neon absolutely dominated the best picture nominations, leaving predicted nominees like Wicked: For Good and Jay Kelly out in the cold. - The New York Times
The investigative reporter took years to agree to the film. Poitras has won awards for her documentaries about Edward Snowden and Nan Goldin.”Her main thought, when Hersh briefly bailed on the project, was a sense of relief that he had considerately done so on-camera.” - The Guardian (UK)
“While sources did not know what the two men discussed, it does seem to point to an outcome that led to Netflix feeling they had a clear enough runway to make a serious play for the historic studio.” (The president made comments on Sunday that may indicate a different outcome, however.) - The Hollywood Reporter
Such events being HBO’s Mad Men remaster that showed a little too much. “We always tried to camouflage ourselves as much as possible, but these days they tend to just say ‘we’ll erase it in post.’ Only this time, apparently they didn’t erase us.” - The Verge (Archive Today)
