Posted on Tuesday, April 23rd, 2013 by Angie Han
As other streaming services scramble to catch up to Netflix, Netflix has long eyed HBO as its biggest rival. And if Netflix isn’t hasn’t pulled off a decisive win quite yet, it is at least closing in. The company reported that it had 29.17 million domestic subscribers in the first quarter of 2013, surpassing the 28.7 million reported by HBO at the end of 2012. Netflix’s numbers represent an increase of 2 million domestic and 1 million foreign subscribers since the end of 2012.
Those figures come with a couple of caveats, however. SNL Kagan, which compiled the data, has not yet offered information on Netflix’s first quarter of 2013, so it could turn out that Netflix has grown as well. Additionally, while the two companies are neck-in-neck for subscribers in the U.S., HBO is trouncing Netflix worldwide, with 114 million subscribers globally compared to Netflix’s 7.14 million. [Variety]
After the jump, Netflix reveals in a letter to investors that it’s not renewing its Viacom deal, but is adding a new plan for families.
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Posted on Monday, April 22nd, 2013 by Angie Han
Marvel fans’ plans to watch Iron Man 3 on opening weekend may be stymied by a dispute between Disney and the country’s two biggest movie theater chains, AMC and Regal. The exhibitors have halted advance ticket sales of the Marvel Studios sequel in response to an argument over how box office revenue is split.
If a resolution is not reached, Iron Man 3 may not play at all on AMC and Regal’s combined 800+ theaters nationwide. And even if it is, missing so many days of pre-sales could take a big bite out of Iron Man 3‘s opening weekend box office. Hit the jump to keep reading.
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Rupert Murdoch has just changed the conversation about his various companies in a slight manner. Murdoch and News Corp. are splitting the publishing and entertainment divisions of News Corp into separate entities, and one of those big entities is getting a new name in the process. The publishing side will still be News Corp. while the entertainment division, which includes the movie studio Twentieth Century Fox, often called simply Fox, and Twentieth Television, gets the new title.
The entertainment company will be named 21st Century Fox, but the movie studio and TV company are keeping their names, “in recognition of their rich histories and strong connections with audiences across the globe.”
Murdoch said in a memo ”21st Century Fox is a name that draws upon the rich creative heritage of Twentieth Century Fox, while also speaking to the innovation and dynamism that must define each of our businesses through the 21st Century. Our new name is inspired by the very first company we acquired nearly thirty years ago as our initial foray into the awe-inspiring world of entertainment.”
Read the entire memo below. Read More »
This year’s Sundance Film Festival was full of great films, but the one that stood above the rest for me was Stuart Zicherman‘s A.C.O.D. The film stars Adam Scott as an adult child of divorce, who weaves his way through life between parents who hate each other (Richard Jenkins and Catherine O’Hara). It co-stars Amy Poehler, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jessica Alba, Clark Duke, Jane Lynch and is as funny and poignant as you can possibly image.
Four months after its premiere in Park City, the film has finally been picked up for distribution. The Film Arcade will release A.C.O.D. in North America and Paramount Home Media Distribution will handle international bookings, and the home market and digital distribution.
Click here to read our rave review of the film, and read more about the deal below. Read More »
Bryan Singer and the Wachowskis are back behind cameras this week as their new films, X-Men: Days of Future Past and Jupiter Ascending, have begun shooting. Singer announced the start his production with a tweet featuring Patrick Stewart as Professor X. Warner Bros. issued a press release about the Wachowskis’ sci-fi film, which stars Channing Tatum and Mila Kunis. Both films will be released in July 2014. Read More »
After Thursday’s news that the legendary Hollywood landmark, TCL (formerly Grauman’s) Chinese Theater was getting an IMAX upgrade, another Los Angeles movie destination has been revealed. A few years back the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced plans to create a movie-themed museum. Now, we know what it will look like, and what’ll be in it.
Called The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, the venue located on Fairfax and Wilshire will be a six-story, 290,000 square-foot museum attached to a massive 1,000 seat dome for movie events. There will a full red-carpet experience, an interactive moviemaking exhibit, and floors dedicated to the history of cinema. The plan is to have it open in 2017. Read more below. Read More »
Posted on Thursday, April 11th, 2013 by Angie Han
3D has become such a ubiquitous part of the moviegoing experience that it’s almost funny to remember how novel it felt when James Cameron used it for Avatar in 2009. These days, it’s almost tougher to find a four-quadrant blockbuster that isn’t in 3D, and even old hits are getting converted for theatrical re-releases. And it’s not just comic book movies and sci-fi adventures getting the treatment, either, as Ang Lee’s Life of Pi and Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby show.
But no trend can grow forever, and if 3D isn’t in decline yet, exactly, it’s at least headed for a plateau. A report by Fitch Ratings indicates that 3D box office figures are projected to drop in 2013, for the first time since 3D blew up in 2009.
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Briefly: Seems like another high-profile, big-budget studio movie is in danger of getting the axe. Deadline is reporting David Yates’ Tarzan, which had Alexander Skarsgård attached and Jessica Chastain circling, is about to close its production offices. Insiders tell the trade the proposed budget is currently too high for the studio and while changes might be made, filming likely wouldn’t happen for some time.
Tarzan is yet another film Warners has chopped in recent years. Other examples include Legendary’s Paradise Lost with Bradley Cooper and the Akira remake, with Garrett Hedlund and Kristin Stewart. [Deadline]
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