by Emily Nagle
After years of Netflix CEO Reed Hastings stressing the necessity of the platform’s ad-free nature, Netflix will be rolling out an ad-supported payment plan in the United States on November 3, going for $6.99/month (as opposed to the ad-free Basic plan, which costs $9.99/month).
So, why is Netflix adding in commercials after being opposed to them for so long? In the first few months of 2022, Netflix lost a substantial amount of subscribers (200,000, to be exact) for the first time in a decade, and its stock plummeted as a result. The “Basic with Ads” plan will hopefully replenish Netflix’s revenue by introducing a cheaper option for customers who don’t want to pay premium. Ideally, this will help the platform to regain 1 million customers in the third quarter.
“We want to offer consumers choice,” Netflix COO Greg Peters explained in a media conference call, “and figure out what the best offering is for them.”
While they may have more choices, consumers aren’t particularly thrilled with the streaming platform’s decision. Many social media users have commented that the company has defeated its own purpose by adding commercials. Netflix, however, sees this as an opportunity to expand their services to people with different viewing and spending habits.
by Emily Nagle
As of earlier today, Cartoon Network Studios is essentially no more after the animation department was combined with Warner Bros. Animation in yet another cost-cutting realignment.
Ever since WarnerMedia’s completion of the Discovery merger back in April, CEO David Zaslav has been aggressively cutting costs by cancelling upcoming content and projects and laying off hundreds of employees – as a result of the consolidation, 26% of Warner Bros. Television Group’s workforce was axed.
WarnerMedia chairman Channing Dungey announced yesterday in a company-wide letter, “We are implementing a new streamlined structure in which the development and main production teams will now work across both Warner Bros. Animation and Cartoon Network Studios.”
In other words, Cartoon Network Studios will have to share resources with Warner Bros. Animation. This is bad news for Cartoon Network, which in recent years has produced original animation including Craig of the Creek, Infinity Train, Steven Universe, and Over the Garden Wall. Meanwhile, Warner Bros. Animation is more focused on creating content for WB’s many preexisting properties, such as Looney Tunes, DC, and Hanna-Barbera characters.
As a result of the studio realignment, Cartoon Network’s future content could very well consist of more reboots and spin-offs of popular Warner Bros. properties, being more focused on nostalgia than original stories and characters.
by Emily Nagle
With people off from school and work for the long Columbus Day & Indigenous Peoples’ Day weekend, this past weekend served as the perfect opening for lots of new films. With 41 releases raking in a total of $66.8 million nationwide, it was the most profitable weekend for movie theaters since over the summer.
Top 5 Highest Grossing Films for October 7 – October 10, 2022
5. Don’t Worry Darling ($4 million)
4. The Woman King ($5.9 million)
3. Amsterdam ($7.2 million)
2. Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile ($13.2 million)
1. Smile ($2`1.1 million)
After debuting last week, horror movie “Smile” continues to dominate ticket sales, earning over $20 million for two consecutive weeks. Coming in at number two is musical comedy “Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile”, based on the children’s book of the same name. Following a family that moves to New York City, only to discover a singing, caviar-loving crocodile (Shawn Mendes) living in their new home, many critics found “Lyle” to be a so-so family film, with nothing particularly unique going for it. Julian Roman of MovieWeb summarizes, “Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile will entrance the youngest tykes. Big-budget CGI animation and Shawn Mendes’ soaring vocals will have them dancing in the aisles. Their parents won’t be as entertained.”
While “Amsterdam” made it to number three out of all 41 releases, its overall box office performance was less than stellar. It opened to $10 million against a budget of $107 million, most likely due to mixed reviews from critics. Despite well-received performances from its star-studded cast including Chris Rock, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Mike Myers, the complicated screenplay and unconventional visual style were met with criticism by viewers.
by Emily Nagle
This afternoon, the long-awaited teaser trailer for “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” made its world premiere at New York Comic Con, as well as on a special Nintendo Direct livestream. It’s only been a few hours, but viewers already have strong feelings about the upcoming film, creating memes and sharing their first impressions of the film on social media, particularly the portrayal of mustachioed plumber Mario.
When the all-star cast list for the Illumination and Nintendo co-production first got announced online, the name that drew the most attention was Chris Pratt (Jurassic World, Guardians of the Galaxy), who will be voicing Mario. Especially when it was revealed that he wouldn’t be using an over-the-top Italian accent like the overall-sporting plumber speaks with in the games. In other words, Mario would just sound like a regular dude.
Of course, with the trailer only being a teaser, Mario got the least screen time compared to other characters. We open to a scene featuring Bowser (Jack Black), Kamek (Kevin Michael Richardson), and an army of Koopas facing off against a team of fuzzy blue penguins. Long-time Nintendo fans enjoyed this reference to Super Mario 64, a classic Mario game that has a level challenging the player to race a penguin down a snowy mountain. And Jack Black is phenomenal as Bowser, sounding super badass and menacing as we watch the Koopa king steal a shiny star.
As for how Mario sounds: it’s hard to say, because the only lines we hear him say are “What is this place?” and “Mushroom Kingdom, here we come!”. Pratt seems to give the character a bit of a New York accent, reminiscent of television depictions of Mario, namely The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!. Pratt was right, though; based on what we’ve seen, Mario’s voice is more or less Chris Pratt’s regular voice. Which, if you think about it, is kind of hilarious.
The rest of the Internet, however, has mixed feelings on Pratt’s performance. Many users criticized Hollywood’s tendency to use big-name celebrities as voice actors, rather than actors who are particularly well-known for their voice work – before portraying Star-Lord in the Marvel films, Chris Pratt was best known for playing Andy in Parks and Recreation. While it marked a turning point in his career, Pratt’s starring voice role as Emmet Brickowski in The Lego Movie in 2014 isn’t the first credit of his that comes to mind.
This gave us only a small preview of what to expect next spring in “The Super Mario Bros. Movie”, so only time will tell how Pratt does with voicing Mario. One can only hope he doesn’t pull what Tom Hanks did in his role as Geppetto in Pinocchio last month, where he half-assed a vaguely Italian accent for the first 20 minutes before giving up completely.
by Emily Nagle
Top 5 Highest Grossing Films for September 30 – October 2, 2022
5. Bros ($4.9 million)
4. Avatar [2022 re-release] ($5 million)
3. The Woman King ($6.8 million)
2. Don’t Worry Darling ($6.8 million)
1. Smile ($22.6 million)
With Halloween just a few weeks away, audiences are beginning to flock to cinemas for “Smile”, the first horror film to be released this month. “Smile” stars Sosie Bacon as Dr. Rose Cotter, a therapist who begins experiencing disturbing events that she is convinced are supernatural. It’s been met with positive reviews from critics, who enjoyed its sound design, production value, and jumpscares.
Also popular in theaters is “Bros”, a gay rom-com following two men with commitment issues who find themselves getting into a relationship with each other. Boasting a predominantly LGBTQ+ cast, this film opened to positive reviews from critics, and Rotten Tomatoes even writes that it’s “a whole bunch of fun to watch.” Despite this, the film’s opening weekend didn’t meet producer Billy Eichner’s expectations – the film was projected to earn $8-10 million in its opening weekend. This is likely due to a multitude of factors, including the abundance of other films that released that day on streaming.
by Emily Nagle
Amidst the streaming wars, Invincible is hitting the airwaves, having just acquired the YTA Broadcast Network.
Launched in 1985 as the Nostalgia Channel, YTA reaches 41 million homes across the United States. Following the acquisition that was completed last month, the channel’s programming will be targeted at “fanboys, nerd culture and gamers.”
“YTA came to us as an opportunity to acquire a traditional over-the-air broadcast TV network,” Invincible CEO Thomas Ashley explained to Broadcasting+Cable. “One of our goals is to increase the distribution and improve the content that’s on the network. We have a large library to pull from.”
With 18 free ad-supported streaming TV channels offering every genre from horror and thrillers to comedies and animation, Invincible has no shortage of content. Most notably, several shows created by renowned producer Thom Beers (Deadliest Catch, Storage Wars), who joined Invincible in 2020 with the company’s purchase of his channel Business Rockstars, will be added. The first Beers show to be added to the network will be “Kings of Kush”, which chronicles infomercial star Anthony Sullivan’s adventures in starting a CBD farm.
Galxy’s unique “Watch & Earn” feature will even be coming to YTA, so viewers will earn money whenever they watch the channel.
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