By George Robbins
There have been countless sources of entertainment being provided and used since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, but the most prolific since it began have been streaming services. There are now a vast number of services out there with all different kinds of content available to the public. A good number of services have exclusive content that can only be found on the one service, so it is now equivalent to purchasing individual channels with a monthly rate and the ability to cancel at any time. This has made streaming services extremely popular over the past few years and the addition of new content to each service can be a game changer. Recently, HBO Max released as a service and through its short tenure, it has become a streaming service that a lot of people like due to the sheer amount of content available.
Another prominent service that has been seeing a lot of action as of late has been the premiere Disney streaming service Disney+. Ever since its launch as of late last year it has been a service that gets a lot of traffic due to the primary content being everything that Disney has in their movie and show catalog. This has given the platform a lot of weight, but it also helps that Disney now owns so many intellectual properties that they can keep adding new content at any time. Thus, it is assured that they will be constantly trying to bring new content to the platform in the future to keep people subscribed to the service. Over the years, Disney has acquired numerous companies and it gives them plenty of options to pick from for when they pick films and series for Disney+.
One of the biggest acquisitions to have ever been made in the history of entertainment had happened not too long ago with the Disney acquisition of 21st Century Fox. This gave them even more content to tool around with other than just their own and gives them more opportunity now to make people happy. The number of IPs that 21st Century Fox owned was enough to give them an entirely new library of films on their own and this is the point in time that they will be adding those films to their roster. Disney has recently added things like the ‘Frozen 2’ making-of documentary and will be adding more such as the film edited adaptation of the Broadway musical ‘Hamilton.’ Soon enough, they will be adding more of the properties that they acquired through 21st Century Fox.
Among the newly acquired properties they will be making available are the ‘Fantastic Four’ movies and the ‘X-Men’ movies which have been properties Fox had held onto for many years. Once the Marvel Studios movies started being made, people have wanted nothing more than for those characters to be seen in the MCU that has been established. In the meantime people will get to enjoy the films that were made independently, experiencing the entirely separate universes they exist in. The hope, moving forward, is that now that Disney has the property they will be able to start making movies based on those characters that exist in the sprawling superhero universe they already have. These films being on the service will only enforce that this is what people want moving forward, and hopefully we will see something about the characters in the not-to-distant future.
By George Robbins
Plays are a part of a medium that has captivated numerous and diverse audiences for hundreds of years and given them live entertainment. Over the past one hundred years or so, they have become a refined art form the likes of which many different people can enjoy. It is possible to turn many different stories into plays which then get turned into musicals which can draw in even more crowds than the plays could. Most times, art forms are just turned straight into musicals and it creates something entertaining for old and new audiences alike to behold. Many musicals are created based on novels or movies, while some are just wholly original and can be based on something no one expects, like a musical based on one of the founding fathers.
Musicals, even ones that are lesser known, have a lot of different people working on them to make them the spectacles they are. Unlike other mediums, the actors have to practice over and over to get everything right from the dancing to the lines they need to know. Not only do they have to perform live to paying crowds, but they also have to do it multiple times a day, multiple days a week and it can be tiresome work. They interact in a way that differs wildly from other forms of entertainment such as music artists and movies. The actors must perform similarly to the way music performers do while simultaneously telling a story that keeps the audience intrigued. This is why movies can be made into musicals so easily sometimes, because they have a storyline that can be followed, thus the performance side is the one that needs to be worked on.
The best way of knowing which musicals are near the pinnacle of being the best is to look at the ones that find their way to Broadway in New York City. Usually, those same plays stay on Broadway for years to follow, constantly changing in terms of cast, but never changing the act that people get to watch. This dedication to the art form is why musicals end up being so beloved to begin with. Plays don’t usually end up going straight to Broadway as there are many that start in smaller venues all over the nation and if they do well enough, then they end up on Broadway. Well now nothing is happening on Broadway, which is usually full of life, due to the coronavirus pandemic and this isn’t bound to change any time soon.
Most recently, there has been a surge in new virus cases across the nation due to businesses being reopened and people not doing what they are supposed to do. This has resulted in things like movie release delays and delays for the reopening of movie theaters among many other delays. These things aren’t as interactive as musicals are and this has resulted in the announcement that all Broadway productions shall be shut down until at least January of 2021. Many other in-person events such as conventions and award ceremonies have been shut down for the remainder of the year as well. There is no telling when things will be able to go on as originally intended, but we will more than likely see more things like this happen as the year continues. Hopefully, it will not continue into next year and things will somehow be able to get slightly back on track.
By George Robbins
Movie theaters have had a rough go of things recently due to only just opening their doors back up to the public. This doesn’t help them nearly as much as they hope it would though, because there have been a number of setbacks in the movie industry as of late due to spikes in virus cases. Many films that had release dates set for the summer or some time later this year have had their theatrical release dates pushed back to allow for more time for the virus to die down. The massive increase in new cases has made it all the more difficult for many businesses to actually get people to come back in, especially theaters. Not only do theaters have no new content to show viewers due to delays, but they also have restrictions that limit the number of people who can come into the theaters.
Not too long ago, to try and help out the movie theater industry, Fandango launched a few new services to help people figure out where they can go and even buy tickets digitally and hands free. This service essentially gave people the chance to find out what theaters would be opened up near them to allow them the chance to get out of the house. Most theaters will end up remaining shut down though because they have no new content to show the public and this is how they usually bring people in. The two movies that were meant to release in July to help ease theaters’ financial trouble were both delayed. Christopher Nolan’s new film ‘Tenet’ was meant to release on July 17th, around the time that many theaters were supposed to have opened by, but is now set for a July 31st release. Also, Disney’s live action remake of ‘Mulan’ was meant to release on July 24th, but has now been delayed to August 21st.
These pushes for the delays have caused a great deal of grief for already struggling theaters that have been trying to get business by showing older films. For theaters that are still shut down, they are suffering as well but not quite as badly as the ones that decided to open before they had new content to show. All of the major movie theater chains such as Cinemark, Regal, and AMC have had their sights set on reopening by the end of June or by mid-July, but this has become a difficult task. Cinemark originally planned to start opening theaters nationwide starting June 19th, but that plan seems to have gone to the wayside in lieu of recent events. With the virus spreading again so quickly and movie release dates being pushed back, theaters have had no choice but to delay their openings even more.
Originally, AMC theaters were planning to reopen their doors by mid-July because this was around the time that new movies were supposed to release. Now that the flagship summer movies have been pushed back by a couple of weeks to a month each, they will also be pushing their door opening date by a couple of weeks. Even though they plan on reopening two weeks later than originally planned, there is no guarantee that they will end up opening on time. At this point, all of the reopening plans are hit or miss and many businesses are being forced to close up again amidst rises in coronavirus cases. Hopefully things end up working out over the course of the next few weeks or we may never get an actual date for when we can go back to theaters. At this point, just like everything else at the moment, it is a hit or miss situation that can change on a daily basis so we just have to keep our fingers crossed.
By George Robbins
Over the past few months, it has been difficult for any movie productions to get back to work after they all had to shut down. When movie theaters were shut down and most movies were delayed until later this year or some time next year, production companies also had to shut down all productions. This resulted in a couple of months where there were no movies being worked on and this is following news that many big upcoming films had started production. Obviously this created a period in time where many filmmakers and production crews were trying their best to get back out in the field to work again. One of the biggest proponents of that was James Cameron who followed the rules he had to until restrictions were lifted and he could start filming again, with restrictions.
Now that he has been given the green light to work on his upcoming sequel to the former box office number one hit ‘Avatar‘ he has been working in New Zealand to get the film finished. Cameron’s original ‘Avatar’ was a film that felt out of place for its time, but managed to find its way to the top of the box office where it stayed for 10 years. He originally said that he planned for the series of films to be a tetralogy, which is a four film series. Even though it has been 11 years since the initial film’s release, Cameron still had his plans ready to go when the time came and eventually it did. After Disney acquired Fox, they took over any of there existing properties, the ‘Avatar’ movies included. Like the Marvel Cinematic Franchise and the Star Wars Franchises they owned, they felt the ‘Avatar’ movies could potentially become something more.
The franchise will no longer be a tetralogy and will instead be a pentology consisting of 5 films that, as of now, still have set release dates over the next few years. It was unknown if the sequel would be able to release in 2021 as intended, but it seems that now it might actually make it after all. This is a massive win for Cameron who has big plans laid out that we will get to see come to fruition and the set photos give us an idea how big those plans are. One of the most prolific photos is one of the actors swimming in a tank of water with their gear on them for motion capture and this helps us get an idea as to what kind of tech and effort Cameron is trying to put in his film. With a budget of $1 billion for the next four movies, hopefully we will see a lot of incredible stuff over the next few movies and Cameron will get another box office hit, or four.
By George Robbins
Things have been pretty rough lately for everybody and big companies are no exception to that rule, however, some have found ways of bringing in cash flow. Disney is especially adept at this because they are a multi-media empire that cannot be stopped. Despite having only a few of their parks open or not being able to release any movies due to the closing of theaters, they have had to mix things up a bit. While the box office and the parks may make up a large amount of their business, they still have the merchandising aspect of their business as well as their streaming service. They own a lot of different networks and so there is something for almost everyone on one of the services they run. Their biggest streaming service they have to promote is Disney+.
The Disney+ streaming service has a lot going for it in the fact that it has almost the entire Disney catalog of films that they own. This has helped them during this period in time and they have tried to add more to their service as time goes on in order to keep people coming back to their platform. With Disneyland being shut down longer than anticipated and Disney World reopening slowly come mid-July, they are squeezing as much as they can out of the service. Recently, they added a documentary to the service that talked about the making of ‘Frozen 2’ and gave fans something to watch and talk about. The original ‘Frozen’ was critically acclaimed and attracted fans of all different backgrounds and while the sequel wasn’t as well received, it did fairly well in theaters.
In fact, saying that ‘Frozen 2’ did “fairly” well is an understatement because back in January, it became the highest-grossing animated movie of all time. While it may not have been the movie that many people were hoping for, it was still one that was loved by fans and gave them an incredible animated experience. Although it seems moving forward is going to be tough because, as of now, Disney hasn’t even discussed the possibility of a third film. This is surprising considering how well the two movies they currently have under their belt have done theatrically, but it may just be the fact that a series can be ruined if pushed too far. The directors of the previous film are not in any kind of rush to come up with plans for a third film, but they have said that it is a possibility. So it may just be a long while before we see any movement in regards to a third film for the ‘Frozen’ franchise.
By George Robbins
These past few months have been tough due to the coronavirus pandemic plaguing the world and it has changed the ways we function on a regular basis. Whether this be people or companies, everyone has had to change something in their lives to make daily life work out. Many people have had no choice but to sit at home while most businesses have been shut down in order to try and keep the number of new cases down. Now that it seems that there has been a surge in new cases, there is no telling what will happen in the near future and if people will need to stay home more often. Regardless of what happens moving forward, companies are trying to keep up with the current climate in order to keep their cash flow coming in.
Among the companies that are working to make sure that they have cash flow coming in are the ones that handle products that can’t currently be used or released. For instance, the movie industry is almost at a standstill at the moment because theaters are only just reopening their doors to the public. This has resulted in a number of different approaches being taken in order to keep up business and keep people interested in what is still to come. Disney has been trying to keep up with their streaming service Disney+ while their parks have been shut down and they can’t release their films to theaters. They recently added a documentary about the making of ‘Frozen 2’ and they are about to release a movie edited version of the play ‘Hamilton.’ They aren’t the only ones working on their streaming service because not too long ago HBO Max released to the public.
The HBO Max streaming service was put out by WarnerMedia as an alternative to their HBO channels on television. The service has a large number of movies and shows on it, boasting thousands of hours of content and everything available on their linear channels. On top of the content they are bringing over from television, they will also be bringing content to the platform which will be exclusively for the HBO Max service and its subscribers. With new content in the works, they are also teasing upcoming content being worked on such as the Snyder Cut for the ‘Justice League’ movie. They are teasing all they can, even if some of it won’t be available until next year, to get people more interested in watching on their streaming service. Most recently, they announced that they will be putting up an extended, much more violent version of ‘Casino Royale.’
‘Casino Royale’ was the beginning of an entirely new era of James Bond films with Daniel Craig taking helm as agent 007 himself. This was a major move since it was unknown just how he would actually be able to play the character, but that film helped create a basis for the character that gave way to a newer type of Bond. The newest films have all done great for the character with his third outing as Bond in ‘Skyfall’ seeing the film becoming the highest grossing film that the series had ever seen. The theatrical release of ‘Casino Royale’ was one that was edited from the original film and cut down in order to secure a PG-13 rating in America. Now that HBO Max has the rights to offer the movie on their service, they can play the extended cut which is said to have an extended torture scene and fight sequences.
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