Cordkillers 316 - Tom Hanks Boat Multiverse (w/ Bill Meeks)
ALL the movie release dates got shuffled again--except Bill & Ted. A new app with original content, co-watching, and interactive decision-making. All this and more on Cordkillers! With special guest Bill Meeks.
CordKillers: 316 - Tom Hanks Boat Multiverse
Recorded: June 15 2020
Guest: Bill Meeks
Intro Video
Crazy Delicious
Primary Target
‘Tenet’ Moves To July 31; 10th Anniversary Re-release Of Christopher Nolan’s ‘Inception’ To Go On July 17
‘Unhinged’ Going July 10 In Wake Of ‘Tenet’ Summer Shift
Wonder Woman moved to October
‘No Time to Die’ Release Date Moved Up Five Days in the U.S.
How Russell Crowe’s ‘Unhinged’ Will Pave The Road To Reopening Cinemas After COVID-19 Shutdown
Marcus To Open Six Theaters June 19 With Harry Potter, Classic Films
Outdoor Cinemas To Re-Open In England From June 15
California Movie Theaters May Open on June 12 With 25% Capacity
AMC Entertainment Expects To Be “Fully Opened Globally” In July
AMC wants to reopen cinemas in July, but it’s not clear audiences are ready
Beijing Cancels Plans To Reopen Movie Theaters After COVID-19 Reemerge
- Last week more cinemas opened in the US and the big chains laid out their own plans for reopening.
- California allowed counties to open theaters June 12 at 25% capacity. Some counties did some counties didn't, LA County did not. Theaters are now allowed topped in all but 15 states int the US.
- Marcus Theaters will open 6 locations June 19.
- The UK allowed outdoor cinemas to open June 15.
- AMC has a phased reopening planned saying it expects 97 percent of its locations to be reopened by next month.
- Last Friday, the movie industry shuffled its release calendar, implying it may be getting a clearer picture on when it expects audiences to return to theaters.
- The first move was buy Christopher Nolan's Tenet, which most people see as the first big test case. It has moved from July 17 to July 31.
- Warner Brothers will reissue Nolan's Inception to theaters July 10 with sneak peek footage from Tenet.
- There's also Tenet's own warm-up act, Unhinged, starring Russell Crowe. After the Tenet move, Unhinged moved from July 1 to July 10.
- Following those two announcements Friday Wonder Woman 1984 shifted from August 14 to October2
- That might be clearing ground for Mulan which is still holding at July 24
- Saturday the James Bond film No Time to Die moved its US release date earlier from November 25 to November 20. The Uk date is still November 12.
- One last factor? China. Worldwide box office receipts depend on China. And this weekend, Beijing pulled back from letting cinemas reopen because of a new COVID-19 breakout.
How to Watch
Interactive Storytelling App Whatifi Launches With $10 Million in Funding
- An iOS app called Whatifi launched Tuesday letting up to 9 people view interactive stories together and vote on what should happen at certain points in the story. Each decision must be unanimous. A chat room in the app lets viewers come to a consensus. The first two movies on the app are drama Anatomy of a Decision and a supernatural thriller called As Dead as It Gets. More releases are planned for later this summer.
What to Watch
A new trailer came out for Bill & Ted Face the Music still scheduled for August 21.
Tom Hanks Film ‘Greyhound’ Arriving on Apple TV+ on July 10
-The movie Greyhound co-written by and starring Tom Hanks tells the story of a World War II-era US Navy commander leading a convoy crossing the U-Boat infested Atlantic for the first time. It will arrive on Apple TV+ July 10.
New Netflix movie earns scorchingly bad zero score on Rotten Tomatoes
- The Last Days of American Crime on Netflix has 35 reviews in and a 0 percent score on rotten Tomatoes. Audience Score is 25%. The story is based on a graphic novel about the US planning to broadcast a signal that makes it impossible to knowingly commit crimes. So one group plans one last heist. As of last Tuesday it was number 7 of 10 on the US most popular list on Netflix.
HBO Max Removes ‘Gone With the Wind’ From Streaming Platform, Says Film Will Return With “Discussion Of Its Historical Context”
- HBO Max temporarily removed Gone with the Wind from its collection while it works on a way to put it in context for its depiction of slavery and Black characters. In a statement HBO Max said "it will return with a discussion of its historical context and a denouncement of those very depictions, but will be presented as it was originally created, because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed."
Eyes On
Brian: Last of Us Part 2, Lost
Tom: Dave Chappelle: 8:46
Bill: Steven Page- live from Home
On the Lookout: Rocknrolla
Front Lines
WarnerMedia tries to simplify HBO branding by sunsetting HBO Go and renaming HBO Now
- Warner Media is simplifying HBO branding. It will get rid of HBO Go, since most customers who use it can use HBO Max instead. The HBO Now app will remain available but be renamed HBO. And HBO Max will become the main app though it is not available on Roku or Fire TV. Those users can only use the HBO app.
Snap announces new slate of Snap Originals
- Snap also announced new Snap Originals from ESPN, NBCUniversal, ViacomCBS, the NBA and the NFL. Snap reported numbers Quibi would like to see. Dead of Night attracting 15 million viewers, Nikita Unfiltered attracting 22 million viewers and Will From Home (featuring Will Smith) attracting 35 million viewers.
Quibi on Pace to Hit Less Than 30% of Year-One Paid Subscriber Goal
- A Wall Street Journal article Sunday alleged infighting between Quibi's Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman. Which some say is like acknowledging Katzenberg is alive but OK. The more damning information int eh article is that Quibi looks on track to sign up 2 million subscribers by April next year. The company had projected 7.4 million. Apptopia estimates Quibi has been downloaded 4 million times and 30% of those are active users, so just over 1 million. But hey, Quibi added support for Chromecast to its Android and iOS apps.
Quibi adds Chromecast support on iOS and Android
Android TV may soon recognize your exact voice
- 9to5 Google reports is found code in Android TV indicating that Google Assistant's Voice Match may be coming to the platform. Voice Match can recognize who is speaking and personalize commands. For example if you Say launch Netflix it could launch it into your profile.
2021 Oscars Postponed To April 25, Latest Date Ever; Films Eligible Through February 28; Academy Museum Opening Delayed To April 30
- The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences announced that the 93rd Academy Awards, aka the Oscars, will move from February 28, 2021 to April 25. This is the latest since April 18, 1966. The qualifying date will be extended to February 28, 2021.
DC is making HBO Max-inspired comic books for some reason
- Warner Media properties DC Comics and HBO Max are teaming up on a free digital comic series called To The Max. It tells the story of three everyday people who encounter a dog named Max who turns them into superheroes and sends them on life-saving missions. We did not make this up.
Dispatches from the Front
Second, DogHouse Systems:
I'm the IT Director for a commercial drone company and my AI Director reached out about building a heavy machine to be able to handle our Machine Learning and AI processing. He has been using AWS for some of this but that was getting pretty expensive. He already listed out all the parts that would be needed and wanted me to configure. Having just listened to one of your episodes, I immediately went out to DogHouse Systems' website to see if I could build out a similar system. Within minutes of being on their site, I built a model with the same or better spec's for cheaper than the total on the parts list my AI Director provided.
I ordered a massive desktop for the AI team, and was so happy with the team over there I ordered a couple of gaming laptops for my data team. We process A LOT of data and they run laptops with dedicated video cards and high end processors. These DogHouse systems have the same (or better) spec's as what we current use, but are less expensive. Going to pilot them to see if I can expand their use.
Thanks for the info on DogHouse. Doubt I would have found them without hearing you guys talking about them.
- Justin
Humanity, as Brian was alluding, has a deep cultural need for sacred time and spaces which are created when people gather for a common experience sanctified by a ritual to search for transcendence and understanding. Whether it's people gathering in a church to listen to somebody preach where you put your best clothes on, sing a song, and stand up and sit down in unison, a movie theater where you enter a quiet room with lowlights and to the concession stand for big bucket of communion wafers, a rock club where you get your hand stamped and scream and dance with 100 other people, a stadium with a national anthem followed by a ceremonial coin toss, or sitting around a campfire attentively listening to someone tell stories about how god belched out the universe onto the back of a turtle.
We still have the need and appreciation for that creation of sacred space to give us as individuals an opportunity for a shared transcendent experience where we feel a part of something bigger, especially as organized religion provides that opportunity for fewer people.
I'm not saying that movie theaters will always fill the role of sacred spaces, but it's a reason behind their stickiness and why we still want the experience even though there's many other ways to get the same content (the same way people still go to church instead of watching services on television).
- Alex
Hello human resources,
Long time boss, second time writer here. Just wondering if the current COVID situation has got you starved of watching scantily clad men gettin' all sweaty, then maybe the Australian Football is for you!
Australian Rules Football is a high-speed aerial kicking game played on Cricket ovals. If you've ever seen Gaelic football and thought "That's like Soccer, but with some extra stuff", then AFL is most of that "extra stuff".
The AFL is restarting this weekend and my team (The Giants) are having a push to get US viewers. There's a game on Fox Sports 1 at 8pm on Saturday 13th, or watchafl.com.au. Somewhere at this abominable link there's a slightly humorous video that explains it a bit better: https://www.gwsgiants.com.au/video/704287/root-for-the-giants?videoId=704287&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1591839606001
Thanks,
Keep breaking those wires!
- Miles