Cordkillers 368 - MeeMaw+ (w/ Owen JJ Stone)
CNN+: all the CNN...without any of the news? Plus ESPN+ will get more and less sports (for more money), Loki will come back for a second season, and Amazon orders a prequel movie trilogy for Wheel of Time. All that and more on Cordkillers! With special guest Owen JJ Stone.
This week on It's Spoilerin' Time: Rick and Morty (505), Loki (106), Hannibal (307-308)
Next week: Rick and Morty (506), Ted Lasso (201), Hannibal (309-310)
CordKillers: 368 - MeeMaw+
Recorded: July 19 2021
Guest: Owen J. Stone
Intro Video
Netflix's upcoming Bake Squad
Primary Target
CNN plans to launch CNN Plus streaming service, but won’t say how much it will cost
Inside CNN Plus: A First Look at the New Streaming Service
MSNBC Streaming Expansion: Brzezinski, Wallace to Launch New Shows
- Warner Media will launch a streaming news service in the US under the CNN banner called-- you could have easily guessed-- CNN+.
- The service will launch after the first of the year 2022, no word on how much it will cost yet. There will only be an ad-free subscription, no free ad supported tier.
Like ESPN, CNN will include access to its CNN+ content in the existing CNN app, alongside any access you have to CNN through a TV subscription.
- CNN Plus will consist of original, live and on-demand programming separate from the existing channels. It will also include access to past seasons of CNN shows. The new content will be made by existing CNN staff along with 450 people being hired just for CNN Plus.
- Meanwhile NBC News is throwing more weight behind one fo the streaming channels it operates on Peacock, called 'The Choice from MSNBC." Peacock includes a grid of 24/7 streaming channels, a la PlutoTV, from NBC properties like comedy, Rotten Tomatoes and more. Several MSNBC anchors are taking on new shows streaming exclusively on The Choice.
- So we have a couple different approaches to bringing news over from cable to streaming. The ESPN+ model that CNN is pursuing or the PlutoTV model from NBC.
How to Watch
ESPN+ subscriptions are getting a price increase on August 13th
- Starting August 13th ESPN+ will cost $70 a year, up from $60 a year and $7 a month up from $6 a month. Bundles that include ESPN+ with Hulu and Disney+ will not have their prices increased.
- But it looks like you may be getting more for your money from ESPN+ in a strategy that points the way to the future of televised sports.
Disney Plans to Spread Sports Further Beyond ESPN
- Disney plans to spread sports around among its digital properties, rather than keeping it all on ESPN. Sunday Night Baseball is coming to ABC. Some NHL games will show on Hulu, and NHL's out of market streaming package moves to ESPN+. More Wimbledon coverage will come to ESPN Plus in 2024. And in 2026 when Disney gets the Super Bowl for the first time in 20 years, it plans to broadcast it on multiple networks with different presentations. Some will offer different camera views, others will feature celebrities or athletes commentating. ESPN offered 14 different broadcasts for the college football championship this year. ESPN has grabbed up rights recently and has all four major US sports and has pressed for the flexibility to offer games on alternate outlets like ESPN Plus and Hulu.
- As traditional cable subscriptions to ESPN drop, Disney needs to find an avenue to keep sports fans watching and paying.
ESPN And Disney Reach Deal With Peyton & Eli Manning For ‘Monday Night Football’ MegaCasts
What to Watch
‘Loki’ To Return For Season 2 At Disney+
- Very slight spoiler for the season finale of Loki. At the end a screen shows the words "Loki Will Return in Season 2." Meaning Disney decided to announce a second season of Loki in a mid-credits roll. Theories abound.
We’re getting a Wheel of Time prequel film trilogy to augment Amazon series
- Amazon likes ambitious fantasy projects. It's making a Lord father Rings series out of the appendix of the book. And it's adapting the 14-book series Wheel of Time from Robert Jordan into a series as well. One thing about Wheel of Time is that the main story alludes to a time before. Given Amazon's predilection for turning allusions to imaginary parts in fiction into series - a la Lord of the Rings-- it may come as no surprise that Amazon is developing flashbacks and legends from the books and the Wheel of Time Companion, into a film trilogy prequel. Zack Stentz who wrote for Thor and X-Men: First Class will write the first film.
How Coffin Flop’s Coffins Got Flopped
- Vulture has been doing the lord's work, interviewing the directors and prop maker Joe Holliday from I Think You Should Leave about how they produced the coffin flops in the sketch coffin flops in which dead bodies supposedly fall out of cheaply made coffins. The trick involved stunt workers and balsa wood. . Read the article and watch the videos folks. But first see the series.
New ‘Star Trek’ Movie Beams Up ‘WandaVision’ Director Matt Shakman
- Paramount Pictures and Bad Robot have hired Matt Shakman, who directed WandaVision, to direct the news Star Trek feature film. The screenplay is written by Lindsey Beer and Geneva Robertson. Robertson wrote Captain Marvel. The cast has not been set.
Anthony Bourdain Doc ‘Roadrunner’ Hits Record $1.9M Opening; Welcome Back Arthouse!
- A documentary about Anthony Bourdain, called Roadrunner, has brought in $1.9 million from theaters, signaling the return of the indie art house from the pandemic. It's the strongest so-called "specialty" opening of the year and number 8 overall. It benefitted from a little press as director Morgan Neville, used machine learning to recreate Bourdain's voice for a few lines in the film, including one of him reading an email he had sent to a friend.
Want to know how the new shorter theatrical exclusive windows will feel? A Quite Place Part II hit Paramount + last week, 45 days after premiering in theaters.
‘Good Times’, ‘All In the Family’ & ‘The Jeffersons’ Headed To Amazon Prime Video/IMDb TV In Largest Streaming Deal For Norman Lear Classics
- Amazon is getting access to Sony Pictures Television classic TV series from Norman Lear. The series, including All in the Family, Good Times, Maude, One Day at a Time, 227, Diff’rent Strokes, The Jeffersons, Sanford and Sanford & Son, will show up on Prime Video or IMDBTV--but no one show will be on both.
House of the Dragon, the Game of Thrones prequel, stopped shooting in the Uk after a member of the production tested positive for COVID-19.
‘Manifest’ Viewing On Netflix Surges After Cancellation To Dominate U.S. Streaming Ratings
- NBC canceled the series Manifest after three seasons the week of June 14th and it became the number one streamed show on Netflix that same week. Netflix had passed on picking up the 4th season.
Eyes On
Owen: Them on Amazon Prime
Bryce: Summer Games done Quick,
Tom: Gunpowder Milkshake, McCartney 321
On the Lookout: I Was Not Ready Da, Madrasi Da
Front Lines
Box Office: ‘Space Jam: A New Legacy’ Beats ‘Black Widow’ in Surprise Victory
Movie Theater Owners Blame Marvel’s ‘Black Widow’ Box Office ‘Collapse’ on Disney Plus Launch
Korea Box Office: ‘Black Widow’ Resists New Releases to Stay as Weekend Leader
‘Black Widow’ At $264M Global, Still No Word On China Release; ‘Space Jam: A New Legacy’ Bows To $55M WW; ‘F9’ Nears $600M
- When we talked about the $80 million - $60 million split of Black Widow on Disney+ we noted that the second week would be telling on the impact of streaming on theatrical revenue. Black Widow dropped to second place in revenue with $26.3 million, a 67% decline. Disney did not give an update on Week 2 Disney+ revenue for the movie. The National Association of Theater Owners were quick to issue a press release pointing out the steep drop-off and arguing Black Widow would have made more money for everyone if it had been a theater exclusive. Black Widow did well internationally, seeing only a 55% drop off and leading the worldwide box office. Arguably Disney+ has less of an effect worldwide where it has fewer subscribers and is not even available in some countries. BUT. The winner at the box office domestically last week? The one that nudged Black Widow into second? Space Jam. A movie that has a horrible rating from critics and is available at no additional charge to watch on HBO Max. So.... Your mileage may vary.
Marvel/Disney+ Series Breakthrough At Primetime Emmys With 28 Combined Noms For ‘WandaVision’ & ‘Falcon And The Winter Soldier’
Quibi Is Dead but Its Shows — Which Live on via Roku — Just Got Eight Emmy Nominations
Emmy Nominations By Program & Network
- Disney+ racked up an impressive 71 Emmy nominations-- with 23 nominations for WandaVision-- 24 for The Mandalorian-- 12 for Hamilton and 5 for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
- Still that fell behind Netflix's 129 nominations-- Led by 24 nominations for The Crown-- 18 for the Queen's Gambit and 12 for Bridgerton.
- They both got beat by HBO/HBO Max's 130 nominations, Led by Lovecraft Country's 18-- 16 for Mare of Easton, 15 for Hacks, and 9 for The Flight Attendant.
- Apple TV Plus got 34 nominations, 20 of which were for Ted Lasso. Hulu got 25 nominations, 21 of them for The Handmaid's Tale.
- Quibi even got 8, for Reno 911, Die Hart and Mapleworth Murders, though the shows are now Roku not Quibi.
Netflix Signals Expansion Into Video Games With New Executive Hire
Netflix Kids’ new Top 10 row makes content discovery a little easier
Netflix extends exclusive rights to Universal's animated films in the US
- "Here's our Netflix roundup for the week. Netflix did hire video game exec Mike Verdu as its Vice President of game development. Verdu previously was VP of content for Facebook Reality Labs overseeing Oculus Studios, and before that was VP of Mobile at EA and president of studios and COO at Zynga. Netflix introduced a new Top 10 row for age-restricted profiles across 93 countries, available on TV, mobile, and web apps, although not Apple TV at launch. And the mystery of who would get the rights for Universal's animated movies in the middle of the 18-month Pay 1 window has been solved. Netflix will get them. “
Android TV gets new Google TV features
- Google added new tools to Android TV that already appear in the Google TV version of the set-top box software. You can now add titles to a watchlist from across the Android TV system including Google Search. Show detail pages now have trailers that autoplay. And Home Screen settings on Android TV now has a Content Preferences section that you can fine tune and the Discover tab has a card called "Improve your recommendations."
Amazon adds AirPlay 2 and HomeKit to two Fire TV Edition TVs
- The 2020 Toshiba 4K UHD Smart Fire TV with Dolby Vision and the 2020 Insignia 4K UHD Smart TV with FireTV now support Apple's AirPlay2 and HomeKit. AirPlay should work as soon as the TV gets a free update. HomeKit has to be enabled in settings.
ViacomCBS And Charter Reach Carriage Deal Including Streaming
- In what has become common, Charter Communications has reached a deal with ViacomCBS, not only to carry its cable and broadcast TV channels but also its streaming services. Customers of Charter's Spectrum cable TV service will be able to get Paramount+, Pluto TV, BET+ and Noggin through Spectrum.
Dispatches from the Front
G’day Tom, Brian and Bryce
Just my 5 cents regarding the recent release of Black Widow and cinema attendance from the perspective of someone living in Perth, Western Australia.
Pre-pandemic I would say I was a regular patron of my local cinema usually for blockbusters or an excuse for a date night with my other half. Given our very fortunate position and limited community spread, the cinemas have been able to open a lot earlier than even other Australian states and stay open besides a few short lockdowns.
What has kept me out of the cinema since reopening has been not only a lack of films I feel warrant a cinema visit but opening hours. My local chain is relatively small and living out in suburbia it’s prime hours given limited blockbusters appear to be during the day as most showing times have been pre-7pm since reopening. My preference has been release night (Usually Thursday in AU) showings.
As black widow release approached recently I had Intended to travel 18km/11miles to the next cinema (a larger chain) that had some later sessions to get the cinema AV and overpriced popcorn experience. But due to a recent lockdown due to a few local covid cases we were permitted to attend cinemas but there was a requirement for masks which personally was a no-go. I was much happier to pay (likely less money) to Disney plus to have a date night at home sans mask.
Hopefully we can make it to the cinema for Shang-Chi and movie releases pickup as restrictions loosen worldwide.
Keep up the great work.
- HG
Dear gang,
While you were talking last week about how Black Widow did in the theatre vs at home, it got me to wildly speculate on the future. I almost went to the theatre Thursday night to watch Black Widow because I knew if I didn't I'd have to wait an ENTIRE DAY to see it at home on Friday. Then I thought, that's a lot like your Patreon (insert plug here). When you subscribe you get spoilering time a day early! The serious fans of the franchise will pay to get it that one day earlier than everyone else. And if you throw in a little "after things" after the movie, but only for theatre watchers, it makes it even more of an experience. Maybe it won't play out that way but I can see theatres catering to the serious fans by offering perks the way most Patreons do. I also feel that first day theatre goers are most likely to double dip on the content by buying it at home as well, so it's advantageous to give them more incentives to go out
Love the work
- Ander
Hi there, Cord Killers Crew!
Last week, while talking about the box office and the good results of Black Widow, a question came to my mind. How much of that money did actually go to Disney?
I know it depends on the market, and the longer a movie remains being shown in the theaters, the less of that money goes to the studio, but there is also the "blockbuster tax", where big studios decide to take a bigger cut if the movie promises to be a bigger deal. In Mexico we had situations where films like TeneT or Suicide Squad were shown only by one of the two main chains, because the other didn't want to split 65% of the ticket cost, instead of the regular 45-55%. The cost of the ticket was the same for the public.
When Black Widow was released, the ticket cost had a 10% increase in both main cinema chains here. When I asked a person working at the cinema the reason, she said it was because "for new releases, the ticket is more expensive," but other new releases like Space Jam didn't experience that increase.
Did something like that happen in the US? I find it interesting that in this particular case, movie theaters decided to pass the cost increment to the audience. Keep up the incredible work! ¡Saludos, amigos!
- Dan
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