Cordkillers 305 - The Rump Fox (w/ Len Peralta)
More movies are moving to VOD rental as China opens a few theaters. Plus, the Friends reunion is delayed and you can share films with your friends on MoviesAnywhere. All this and more on Cordkillers! With special guest Len Peralta.
CordKillers: 305 - The Rump Fox
Recorded: March 23 2020
Guest: Len Peralta
Intro Video
The Great
Primary Target
China Re-Opens 500+ Cinemas As Coronavirus Cases Ease, Moviegoing Slight
European Movie Theater Owners Restate Opposition to Straight to Video Releases
‘Bloodshot’ Released on Demand Early
Paramount cancels movie's theatrical release in favor of Netflix
Onward comes to Disney+ April 3, available for digital purchase today
Amazon launches new 'Prime Video Cinema' hub so you can rent or buy in-theater movies at home
- China has re-opened 507 movie theaters, about 4.5% of its "exhibition infrastructure" as of Saturday, bringing in $4,355.
- Most countries are closing there's as the virus hits. Theaters are still open with limitations in Brazil, Russia, Mexico, Korea and Japan. But elsewhere int he world they are largely closed.
- So more studios are experimenting with digital releases. But Europe's International Union of Cinemas objects, even though the theaters can't be open to show lives, saying "now is not the time to seek short-term financial gains at the expense of the sector as a whole.”
- But in the US the experiment is on. Last week it was Universal putting four theatrical releases up for rent for $19.99.
- Sony followed by making Bloodshot ($9.2 million), starring Vin Diesel, available to buy for $19.99. Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group reassured that Sony"is firmly committed to theatrical exhibition and we support windowing."
- Disney made Onward available for digital purchase, and will bring it to Disney+ April 3.
- Paramount will sell Sonic the Hedgehog on digital early (March 31)but took the unusual step of cancelling the theatrical release of The Lovebirds, starring Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani, and giving it to Netflix.
- Most of these movies were already in theaters and had their run cut short, with the exception of Lovebirds. So it's hard to tell whether we'll see movies that are expected to do well in the theaters once they re-open show up. Big ones like Mulan have already been delayed.
- But just in case, Amazon launched what it calls the Prime Video Cinema Hub, to collect all these early digital releases in one place.
How to Watch
Movies Anywhere will let you share purchases with friends
- Movies Anywhere is letting you share your movies with friends. The feature is called Screen Pass. You can share up to three movies a month. Your friend has a week to accept your offer to share, 14 days to start watching it and 72 hours to finish it after they start. More than 6,000 films are eligible for Screen Pass (so not all of them but about 80%). Screen Pass is launched in a closed beta with an open beta planned for May and a full launch later this year.
The 4 best ways to host a remote movie night with your friends
- A lot of folks are experimenting with a Chrome extension called Netflix Party that lets a group of friends who all have Netflix, sync up their video watching together. It adds a chat room so you can chat while you watch. All users in a party can pause, rewind and fast forward unless the initiator reserves that function to themselves. Polygon points out there are other similar options like Metastream for Chrome and Firefox, TwoSeven which has a paid tier to access some services like Hulu or Disney Plus, and Watch2Together which also supports audio if you want to listen to podcasts together. As with all browser extensions BE CAREFUL. It's hard to tell who is making these programs so install at your own risk.
How to Watch
Monday March 30, Conan O'Brien will return his talk show to to TBS. He'll be at home using his iPhone and guests will come in on Skype. Should we all talk about sending him a Logitech C920 or something?
Friends reunion special at HBO Max reportedly delayed
Sling TV rolls out free streaming to US consumers stuck at home
- Sling TV is making more of its content available to stream for free without a credit card or account required, including ABC News Live, movies, kids content and entertainment programming. This is an expansion of its existing free tier from around 100 hours to more than 3,000 hours. Sling is also making some channels like FX, CNBC, Hallmark and Game Show Network available as a free preview to paying subscribers through April and some into May. -- Hulu added free live TV news to its on-demand service on Friday
Sling customers can get free previews of FX, CNBC, Hallmark & more for a limited time
NBCUniversal Joins Fox In Offering Cable News, Local News Broadcasts To All Pay-TV Subscribers
- NBC and Fox are making their news channels available to all cable subscribers even if they don't subscribe to the package the channel is usually on. The channels can be accessed through the cable service or on the network's apps.
Amazon Prime Video is streaming kids’ movies and TV for free, no Prime membership required
- Amazon is making some of its Prime Video kids programming available to stream without a subscription. Amazon's original content is available worldwide. Licensed content varies by region and Amazon says it's working to expand the free selection.
Oprah Winfrey’s new Apple TV+ show, ‘Oprah Talks COVID-19,’ arrives for free streaming
- Apple TV+ launched the first two episodes of Oprah Talks COVID-19 for free viewing. In the first episode she talks to Idris Elba and his wife who have tested positive for the virus. In the second episode she talks to Reverand Wintly Phipps. Oprah talks from her home and her guests participate using Apple's FaceTime.
Nick Jr's learning subscription video service for preschoolers is available on the Apple TV app now in 25 territories.
Netflix has two more interactive shows coming to the service. “You vs. Wild” comes April 10 starring survival expert Bear Grylls. An an animated show called Battle Kitty was announced but does not have a premiere date yet.
Monday March 30, Conan O'Brien will return his talk show to to TBS. He'll be at home using his iPhone and guests will come in on Skype. Should we all talk about sending him a Logitech C920 or something?
Friends reunion special at HBO Max reportedly delayed
Sling TV rolls out free streaming to US consumers stuck at home
- Sling TV is making more of its content available to stream for free without a credit card or account required, including ABC News Live, movies, kids content and entertainment programming. This is an expansion of its existing free tier from around 100 hours to more than 3,000 hours. Sling is also making some channels like FX, CNBC, Hallmark and Game Show Network available as a free preview to paying subscribers through April and some into May. -- Hulu added free live TV news to its on-demand service on Friday
Sling customers can get free previews of FX, CNBC, Hallmark & more for a limited time
NBCUniversal Joins Fox In Offering Cable News, Local News Broadcasts To All Pay-TV Subscribers
- NBC and Fox are making their news channels available to all cable subscribers even if they don't subscribe to the package the channel is usually on. The channels can be accessed through the cable service or on the network's apps.
Amazon Prime Video is streaming kids’ movies and TV for free, no Prime membership required
- Amazon is making some of its Prime Video kids programming available to stream without a subscription. Amazon's original content is available worldwide. Licensed content varies by region and Amazon says it's working to expand the free selection.
Oprah Winfrey’s new Apple TV+ show, ‘Oprah Talks COVID-19,’ arrives for free streaming
- Apple TV+ launched the first two episodes of Oprah Talks COVID-19 for free viewing. In the first episode she talks to Idris Elba and his wife who have tested positive for the virus. In the second episode she talks to Reverand Wintly Phipps. Oprah talks from her home and her guests participate using Apple's FaceTime.
Nick Jr's learning subscription video service for preschoolers is available on the Apple TV app now in 25 territories.
Netflix has two more interactive shows coming to the service. “You vs. Wild” comes April 10 starring survival expert Bear Grylls. An an animated show called Battle Kitty was announced but does not have a premiere date yet.
Eyes On:
Brian: got the kids watching Battlestar Galactica
Tom: Deep Space Nine, Kingdom
Len: Tiger King, Smackdown
On the Lookout:Omniscient
Front Lines:
Locast is a nonprofit streaming service providing access to local channels in many areas of the US.
- Every so often it interrupts programming to tell users it is nonprofit and relies on contributions. However in an email to users Locast said if you cannot afford the $5 a month contribution, to email admin@locast.org and they will provide 30 days of interruption-free service.
Fox Buying Tubi For $440 Million, Using Cash From Sale Of Roku Stake
- Fox announced it will buy streaming service Tubi by using cash from the sale of its minority stake in Roku. Tubi has a catalog of more than 56,000 hours of film and TV streaming for free with ads. Fox says it will run Tubi independent but consider leveraging its own " expertise in national and local news and sports programming."
Amazon Prime Video is adding support for up to six profiles on the same account
- Amazon's Prime Video now supports the creation of up to 6 user profiles so individuals watching on the same account can track viewing progress, manage watch lists and get personalized recommendations. The options seem to be available in select countries across Asia and Africa.
Get a personalized list of shows to stream across Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime with this free app
- CNET profiled an app called Watchworthy that lets you rate shows by swiping right or left. Within 60 seconds of that Watchworthy gives you personalized recommendations fo what to watch across 200 streaming services. Watchworthy is owned by Ranker, a site that surveys viewers about entertainment habits. So Watchworthy will collect your preferences and sell them to advertisers in an anonymized, aggregated way.
Disney+ To Reduce Bandwidth By 25 Percent, Delays France Launch Until April 7
- Disney+ will still launch in most of the EU on March 24, but committed to reducing bandwidth utlization from the service by 25%. Disney announced the launch in France is delayed until April 7th. The company also indefinitely suspended the launch of the service in India, originally scheduled for March 29th.
AdChoices Streaming service fuboTV to merge with virtual entertainment technology company, FaceBank
- Fubo TV, the sports-centric live TV streaming service is merging with FaceBank. Which is neither Facebook nor Softbank. FaceBank is best known as the company that makes hyper-realistic digital people, like the virtual Tupac or the virtual Michael Jackson that performed "live" at things like the Billboard Music Awards. It also has the rights to digitally represent Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe. The plan of the combined company is to create a content delivery platform for both traditional and “future-form IP.”
Dispatches from the Front
I work for a major theatre chain and have heard within the company, that we tried to make deals with the studios to have release dates stay put. That we tried to get old content or limited releases, potentially even free with no print fee cost to us, just so we could stay open and sell concessions. I heard the major studios said no, and told us ahead of time they would continue to change release dates and even start cutting VOD windows and make current titles available now. This is what started the theatre shutdowns in areas outside of LA and states that required them close outright. We only closed because studios gave us the middle finger.
The theatre chains are a high revenue, low profit industry, that has proven to be extremely stable for investors ... with the sudden exception of loss of product and low customer interest ... let alone sudden required shutdowns. This will certainly harm and even close many theatre buildings and even chains.
- Anonymous
I've found the discussion about day and date streaming interesting the last two weeks. I'm surprised that not once did anyone bring up piracy. I think that is a bigger barrier to day and date than anything else. It's easy to look up piracy numbers on things like Game of Thrones and see studios would have a huge problem.. Do a quick check whenever a movie hits digital rental perfect copies appear online. One of the guys down the street showed me on his fire stick that he could watch perfect copies the same day as a movie hits digital release. His kids were watching Onward!
I manage a movie theater that is currently closed from the virus, and I know how many times I've heard people come in and turn to a spouse and say we already have that at home (now most of the time these are more than likely horrible camera versions). Once a movie hits digital rental it's out of the studios and theaters hands. A movie like Avengers Endgame never makes almost 3 billion worldwide released day and date.
I would expect whatever studios would want to price movies at to make money it still wouldn't work, it only takes one person to make a copy available online and what incentive is there for people like my neighbor who has a fire stick and only has to wait 1 day after to watch a perfect copy for free... I think that would have to be worked out long before this becomes a viable option. The only movies that were released quickly during this were movies already at theaters. If Trolls World Tour comes out in April I expect it will gross far less than it would have even in theaters.
Look forward to your thoughts...
- Jeff
You're hearing from a tiny percentage of your listeners, and I expect the most of us are just fine with the way things work now. That said, I like the idea of splitting spoiling time into individual mini episodes. If people have their pod catcher set to only keep 3 episodes, they can surely change that. Or simply pick the episodes out of the history.
I don’t like the idea of moving some shows to a non-spoiler Aftertalk.
- Cerebus
I also wanted to give a thumbs up on splitting out (within the single feed) the various shows that are being talked about. That would make things even easier...I'd just delete (or move down the playlist) anything I didn't want to listen to yet.
- Ken
Hi Brian and Tom,
I was just watching the latest episode of Cord Killers where you all were talking about the survival of movie theaters with no one going to the movies over the last couple of weeks.
What about this thought, do you think we’ll see a comeback of the drive-in movie theater? I am old enough where I can remember when drive-ins matched the number of walk-in theaters. (This was before the time of the multiplex theaters.) Perhaps the cost of real estate would prevent a big comeback of drive-ins but nice to think about as I have fond memories of drive-ins during my childhood and teenage years.
I would like to hear you thoughts about any comeback of drive-in theaters.
- Jimmy