paperheart Posted December 3, 2020 Share Posted December 3, 2020 5 minutes ago, Bosco685 said: It sucks. Thousands of people contributing to these films now most probably unemployed and hungry to get back to work. But like the AMC boss even had to admit, these are still uncharted waters. Even the best of the box office forecasters out there can't keep it straight what is going to happen. But they try. WB throwing in the towel on the entirety of 2021 given the coming vaccines seems an over-reaction but time will tell. If Disney goes this route then the US movie theater biz will be a shell of its former self. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bosco685 Posted December 3, 2020 Author Share Posted December 3, 2020 6 minutes ago, paperheart said: WB throwing in the towel on the entirety of 2021 given the coming vaccines seems an over-reaction but time will tell. If Disney goes this route then the US movie theater biz will be a shell of its former self. Agreed! Or, Disney may see it as an opportunity to take advantage now that one of its competitors has cleared the theater glut. Time will tell for sure. wilbil 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paperheart Posted December 4, 2020 Share Posted December 4, 2020 57 minutes ago, Bosco685 said: Agreed! Or, Disney may see it as an opportunity to take advantage now that one of its competitors has cleared the theater glut. Time will tell for sure. would not be a surprise if the 800 pound gorilla takes this route; they've already nailed down 75MM subscribers to D+ so aren't in scramble/catch-up mode like HBOMax Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broke as a Joke Posted December 4, 2020 Share Posted December 4, 2020 Disney will probably just buy one of the movie theater chains at this point. By 2022 people will be back in the theater. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
▫️ Posted December 4, 2020 Share Posted December 4, 2020 8 hours ago, www.alexgross.com said: no one should ever watch a MATRIX movie again, obviously, after the horrific sequels. but i will gladly shell out lots of money to watch DUNE at home instead of risking my life to see it in a theatre, or waiting 6-12 months more for it to be safe to do so again. No life risking necessary, I’ll wait until it’s safe to return to the theaters again. Dune is an IMAX event. Easy for me to be patient with all the streaming content available now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bosco685 Posted December 4, 2020 Author Share Posted December 4, 2020 Quote WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar says he "absolutely" believes in the theatrical marketplace in the wake of Thursday's news that Warner Bros. will send its entire 2021 slate to HBO Max, where 17 titles will release on the same day they open in theaters. After the AT&T-owned company announced a day-and-date release for Wonder Woman 1984, by far the biggest film to go straight to the streaming service launched in May, WarnerMedia made the unprecedented move to send next year's releases to HBO Max at no extra cost to subscribers. Anticipated titles like Dune, The Matrix 4, and The Suicide Squad will all start streaming on HBO Max the same day those titles release into theaters — but Kilar says it's not a precedent-setting move. "I absolutely believe in the theatrical marketplace. I say that with conviction because I know fans care about it. I know I count myself as one of the more ardent fans of the theatrical experience," Kilar told Deadline when asked if this distribution strategy is the new way of doing things. "I believe 10 years from now, 20 years from now, 50 years from now, there is going to be a robust theatrical marketplace, and I say that because there are very few things that can compete on a Friday night when you're going out with someone that you love, to a cinema, and being told a great story on a gigantic screen, in a communal setting and in an environment that is new and interesting to you. And I just think that's going to persist for decades and beyond that." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bosco685 Posted December 4, 2020 Author Share Posted December 4, 2020 (edited) Quote In the most seismic shift by a Hollywood studio yet during the pandemic, Warner Bros. Pictures on Thursday announced that all of its 2021 film slate — including a new "Matrix" movie, "Godzilla vs. Kong" and the Lin-Manuel Miranda adaptation "In the Heights" — will stream on HBO Max at the same time they play in theaters. Among the myriad release plan changes wrought by the pandemic, no studio has so fully embraced streaming as a lifeline. But after disappointing domestic ticket sales for "Tenet," and with the majority of U.S. theaters currently closed, Warner Bros. will turn to a hybrid distribution model. Films will debut simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max in the U.S. After one month, they will stop streaming and continue to play only in theaters. The move follows Warner Bros.' decision to put "Wonder Woman 1984" on HBO Max next December, in addition to in theaters. If that pivot sent shockwaves through the industry, Thursday's announcement was likely to rattle Hollywood to the core. It amounts to an acknowledgement that any full rebound for theaters is still a year or more away. "No one wants films back on the big screen more than we do," said Ann Sarnoff, chief executive of WarnerMedia Studios in a statement. "We know new content is the lifeblood of theatrical exhibition, but we have to balance this with the reality that most theaters in the U.S. will likely operate at reduced capacity throughout 2021." Warner Bros. called it a one-year plan. The studio has generally ranked among the top two studios in market share over the past decade — most recently dwarfed only by Walt Disney. Warner Bros.' 2021 slate includes many of the expected top movies of the year, including "Dune," "The Suicide Squad," "Tom & Jerry," "The Conjuring: The Devil Make Me Do It," "King Richard" and "Judas and the Black Messiah." HBO Max is only available in the United States. Internationally, the studio's 17 films planned for 2021 release will rollout in theaters. Edited December 4, 2020 by Bosco685 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexgross.com Posted December 4, 2020 Share Posted December 4, 2020 i'm all in favor of this news. i hope a few theaters will remain in the future when it is safe again, but i am happy to be able to watch new releases at home. it's hard to imagine who doesn't have a great hd tv in their house by now, and not dealing with texting and talking fools all around will be just fine with me. if the entire theatre experience goes bye-bye, yes, i'll miss taking my son to the movies. but given the pandemic, this shift has to happen now. i hope disney/marvel will follow suit with what WB is doing. media_junkie and kimik 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1Cool Posted December 4, 2020 Share Posted December 4, 2020 20 hours ago, paperheart said: WB throwing in the towel on the entirety of 2021 given the coming vaccines seems an over-reaction but time will tell. If Disney goes this route then the US movie theater biz will be a shell of its former self. It does seem like an extreme reaction but I'm sure these people are not just going with their guts or throwing darts at a board. Time will tell if it's a success but how much profits does a successful streaming platform generate? It appears to me the studios are trying to have their cake and eat it too (at the determent to the theaters obviously) since they still get a steady stream of ticket sales money (especially from overseas) and they get to add their movies to their platform. How many subscribers will HBO Max get if they get to release their movies on the same day along with their extensive catalog? 100 million? 150 million? The high end movies like WW 84 will probably take a hit in terms of overall sales but considering they get to keep almost all the profits from their subscribers vs giving half to theaters I can see why it's worth the gamble. I wouldn't touch a movie theater stock with a ten foot pole but I'm liking some of my streaming service picks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1Cool Posted December 4, 2020 Share Posted December 4, 2020 (edited) 15 hours ago, Broke as a Joke said: Disney will probably just buy one of the movie theater chains at this point. By 2022 people will be back in the theater. 2022 is a whole year away. This shut down in theaters and people adapting to streaming will be an almost 2 year experience at that point so we really don't know how the average person will deal with the 2 year changes. If the shutdown would have been 3 - 6 months then I'd agree people would go back to basically normal very quickly but after 2 years you would think a ton of people would set new traditions and ways of doing stuff. Movie theaters will not go away but I'd not be surprised if half the theaters are closed by 2022 and not many will reopen. 2 years is a long time to take something away and expect people to bonce back especially considering the advances in home movie experiences and the money people have spent to make their home extra inductive to watching stuff on their tv. Edited December 4, 2020 by 1Cool media_junkie 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimik Posted December 4, 2020 Share Posted December 4, 2020 (edited) You need to take consumption of media by younger generations into account here. I look at my kids - they watch movies and TV shows and youtube content on their phones/tablets primarily, and on the flat screen TV when warranted (e.g. Mandolorian right now). That is the future for the majority of media consumption now and even moreso in the future, not theatres. From a content owner perspective, you make more $$$ from direct to consumer than having a middleman (theatre) in the way. And, as a shareholder, I would prefer monthly recurring revenue streams vs. hit and miss nature of the box office. Edited December 4, 2020 by kimik Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fastballspecial Posted December 4, 2020 Share Posted December 4, 2020 16 hours ago, Broke as a Joke said: Disney will probably just buy one of the movie theater chains at this point. By 2022 people will be back in the theater. The problem is how many will be left and that's not being sarcastic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old_Man_Adam Posted December 4, 2020 Share Posted December 4, 2020 2 hours ago, 1Cool said: . 2 years is a long time to take something away and expect people to bonce back especially considering the advances in home movie experiences and the money people have spent to make their home extra inductive to watching stuff on their tv. Very true - I think movies will rebound but I’m not sure it will be as it was - I’m sure bars and sporting events will get back to the same pace sooner than film Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bosco685 Posted December 5, 2020 Author Share Posted December 5, 2020 Quote More than 100 executives are said to have been impacted by Thursday's layoffs. "It's a bloodbath." That's how two longtime Disney staffers have described the wave of layoffs happening at the company Thursday. The staff reductions are taking place in Disney's General Entertainment Content unit, overseen by Peter Rice, and Dana Walden's Walt Disney Television division, including ABC and studio 20th Television. Sources say more than 100 staffers have been impacted by Thursday's layoffs. "I'm sure Disney's seen worse, but it feels pretty significant," said one longtime executive familiar with the cutbacks. Disney declined comment. (THR will update this post with more information as it becomes available.) Longtime ABC exec Vicki Dummer, who has spent nearly a quarter-century at Disney and most recently served as head of current for the broadcast network, is among the senior executives who have been impacted by the layoffs. ABC's exec vp scheduling Andy Kubitz, an eight-year network veteran, is also among those who lost their jobs Thursday. Kubitz most recently patched together ABC's schedule after the scores of holes were created when the pandemic forced production to shut down. On the studio side, Dan Kupetz — who joined 20th TV in January to fill the void created by longtime studio co-chief Howard Kurtzman's retirement — was also let go. At Disney-owned National Geographic, Geoff Daniels is out. Daniels most recently was promoted two years ago to global exec vp of unscripted entertainment. His duties will be absorbed by Nat Geo CEO Courteney Monroe. Daniels had been with Nat Geo for nearly two decades and was promoted in 2018 ahead of the deal that brought the company into the Disney fold. Another source noted that Hulu executives are also among those worried about their jobs after Disney earlier this week gave Hulu head of originals Craig Erwich oversight of ABC as well. Disney continues to restructure and consolidate its workforce to better position the company for the streaming future while eliminating staff redundancies for cost-saving purposes. The changes are the latest in a wave of structural repositioning across Disney that started Oct. 12 when new CEO Bob Chapek shifted the company's priority to streaming. As part of the effort, Chapek tapped former consumer products president Kareem Daniel to oversee a new Media and Entertainment Distribution Group. That gave greater content control to studio leaders, including Rice, while handing Daniel oversight of distribution, ad sales and such other business functions as budgets. The changes created what one top literary agent dubbed a "content czar and Supreme Court of buyers" at Disney. As part of the moves, Rice centralized departments including marketing, publicity, scheduling and media planning into three distinct groups overseen by Shannon Ryan (Hulu and linear networks), former Twitter head of global creative Jayanta Jenkins (Disney+) and Stephanie Gibbons (FX/FX on Hulu). That means that networks like Freeform and ABC will no longer have dedicated teams overseeing areas including scheduling. This week, Walden reorganized her group and folded Touchstone Television (formerly Fox 21) into 20th Television. ABC Entertainment president Karey Burke was tapped to oversee 20th TV, bumping Carolyn Cassidy to the No. 2 at the former Fox studio and sending longtime Fox 21 president Bert Salke back to producing. With Erwich expanding his purview to include Hulu and ABC, and Burke now at the studio, it's unclear how the development process at Disney will work going forward. The restructuring empowered studio chiefs to develop content across Disney's portfolio. Still to be determined is if Disney will merge creative development teams — i.e., heads of current, drama, comedy and so on — into one larger group that oversees all content and could effectively end the age-old process of getting notes from both the studio and network side. Such a move would position Disney similar to the changes that have taken place this year at NBCUniversal, which centralized business functions under Frances Berwick and entertainment content under Susan Rovner. The duo together oversee a portfolio that includes NBC, USA, Syfy, Bravo, Oxygen and E!, among others. NBCUniversal continues to have its studio counterparts, with separate leadership of Universal Television and Universal Content Productions. Thursday's layoffs are the latest to come at Disney, which like other entertainment titans, is under tremendous financial pressure as a result of the novel coronavirus. With Disneyland in Southern California remaining shuttered and most movie theaters pinched by the pandemic, Disney this month announced additional furloughs for theme park employees and executives. That unknown tally will join the 28,000 park employees who were laid off in September. Disney reported a $3.1 billion third-quarter loss this month, following a $4.7 billion hit during Q2. Other Disney brands, including ESPN, have also been impacted by layoffs as the pandemic touches every corner of the entertainment sector and upends Hollywood's old way of life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paperheart Posted December 11, 2020 Share Posted December 11, 2020 France’s Cinemas To Remain Closed Until At Least Early January As Covid Restrictions Extended This means there is more shuffling ahead for Warner Bros’ Wonder Woman 1984, which had been scheduled for a December 16 release in France. It is as-yet unclear when it will be re-dated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paperheart Posted December 11, 2020 Share Posted December 11, 2020 Struggling AMC Entertainment said it risks running out funds in January. In its latest warning cry, it said it needs $750 million “to remain viable” through 2021. Even if it raises that, it still risks bankruptcy next year if moviegoing doesn’t pick up — and Warner Bros. may have made that harder to accomplish. In an SEC filing, the nation’s biggest exhibitor also announced a stopgap $100 million debt sale to Mudrick Capital Management (at an annual interest rate of 15%). Does the mob even charge 15% these days? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bosco685 Posted December 11, 2020 Author Share Posted December 11, 2020 15% interest rate??!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paperheart Posted December 11, 2020 Share Posted December 11, 2020 (edited) "stock" reacted positively to yesterday's news; guess there was some concern out there it was going straight to Disney+ Edited December 11, 2020 by paperheart Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bosco685 Posted December 13, 2020 Author Share Posted December 13, 2020 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paperheart Posted December 13, 2020 Share Posted December 13, 2020 1 hour ago, Bosco685 said: the same weekend that AMC files to sell 178MM shares #fund90%popcornmargins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
