Cordkillers 395 - ALL The Eyeballs!
With all these new-fangled superhero movies, how is Roland Emmerich expected to make original art? Is the world ready for Hollywood to finally adapt the work of English author J.R.R. Tolkien? All that and more on Cordkillers!
With all these new-fangled superhero movies, how is Roland Emmerich expected to make original art? Is the world ready for Hollywood to finally adapt the work of English author J.R.R. Tolkien? All that and more on Cordkillers!
This week on It's Spoilerin' Time: Raised By Wolves (201, 202), The Righteous Gemstones (206), Book of Boba Fett (106)
Next week: Raised By Wolves (203), The Righteous Gemstones (207), Book of Boba Fett (107)
CordKillers: Cordkillers 395 - ALL The Eyeballs!
Recorded: February 7 2022
Guest: None
Intro Video
jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy
Primary Target
Roland Emmerich Slams Superhero And ‘Star Wars’ Films: “It’s Ruining Our Industry A Little Bit”
- Lots of actors and directors have had lots of critical things to say about superhero movies. The successor Marvel has become a target for backlash as many successful things often do.
- Moonfall (and myriad other apocalyptic movies) director Roland Emmerich told Den of Geek “Because naturally, Marvel and DC Comics and Star Wars have pretty much taken over. It’s ruining our industry a little bit, because nobody does anything original anymore.”
- He added “You should make bold new movies, you know? And I think, actually, Christopher Nolan is the master of that. He is someone who can make movies about whatever he wants. I have it a little bit harder, but I still have a big enough name — especially when it’s a disaster or has some sort of disaster theme.”
- It's the old "Why can't anybody make anything original anymore?" complaint. People have been complaining almost since the advent of cinema that all successful movies are derivative.... is it true that studios just need to be bolder? Or do we just like what we like?
How to Watch
Streaming device wars: Smart TV viewing time surges, dongles see first-ever decline
- Smart TVs are on the rise! Conviva reports that Smart TV usage grew 37% between Q4 2020 and Q4 2021.
- You're probably thinking "here. We go with another Cordkillers story about some milestone or another on the march to cord cutting supremacy.
- But wait.
- Conviva also reports that viewership of streaming devices declined by 2% in the same period.
- How can this be?
- Streaming devices means dongles and boxes. That fell 2%. Smart TVs are winning. People don't want to buy a separate thing. They just want it on their TV.
- Sony was down 12% and Microsoft down 19%. Implying even when people have a game console connected they still just use the smart TV app.
- Amazon was down 7% and Apple TV down 1%.
- Roku rose 12% and Android TV 42%. And pure smart TV platforms grew as well. Samsung up 27% and LG up 36%.
What to Watch
‘Madame Web’: Dakota Johnson Tapped To Play First Female Superhero Star In Sony Pictures’ Universe Of Marvel Characters
‘Lord of the Rings’ TV Series Will Get First Teaser Trailer During Super Bowl Sunday
‘Lord of the Rings’ Series Unveils Posters of Characters’ Hands
- Expect an actual trailer for Amazon's The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, during the US Super Bowl broadcast on Sunday. Amazon also released 23 character posters. Correction. 23 pictures of the characters hands. The shows is set to premiere on Sept. 2.
David Letterman appeared on Late Night with Seth Myers Feb. 1 to mark the 40th year since Late Night with David Letterman premiered on NBC.
‘Fight Club’ Original Ending Is Restored on Chinese Streaming Video Site
- China's Tencent had modified its streaming version of the end of Fight Club to replace explosions with the message “The police rapidly figured out the whole plan and arrested all criminals, successfully preventing the bomb from exploding. After the trial, Tyler was sent to a lunatic asylum [sic] receiving psychological treatment. He was discharged from the hospital in 2012,” Which... spoiler is not how the movie originally ended. That oddly brought it more in line with the book than the original David Fincher film. However nobody liked it, including people in China on social media who may have seen pirated versions of the film. Two weeks after release on TenCent the streaming version is back to the original ending.
The ‘Babylon 5’ reboot will survive the sale of The CW
- The CW, jointly owned by Warner Media and Vicaom CBS is up for sale. We don't know who might buy it BUT Babylon 5's planned reboot should survive. J. Michael Straczynski posted on his Patreon that the reboot is very much alive and has the assurance of CW Head Mark Pedowitz on that. It will be delayed from 2022 to 2023 though.
Eyes On
Brian: More Arcane
Tom: The Olympics on Peacock
On the Lookout: Disenchantment
Front Lines
Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony Viewership Falls Hard From 2018 Kick-Off In Early Numbers; NBCU Says Peacock Had Best Weekday Ever
NBC Releases Initial Beijing Olympics Viewership Data; Most-Streamed Winter Olympics Day Ever
- 8.7 million people tuned into NBC to watch the opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. That's down 69% from the 2018 Olympics and down 16% from the summer games in Tokyo last year.
- BUT if you add in streaming's hat number it rises to 14 million, though that's still down from the 17 million total for Tokyo.
- But that's the opening ceremony. Competition seems to be faring a little better for NBC. Friday Peacock alone had 16 million watching you know, actual competition, margin the biggest weekday numbers for Peacock ever. Saturday was the most streamed Winter Olympics day ever. Saturday night's combined number across broadcast cable and smart TV reached 13.6 million for the Olympics. That makes it the biggest February prime time audience since the 2018 Winter Olympics.
Netflix Commemorates Ten Years of Original Programming on ‘Lilyhammer’ Premiere Anniversary
Netflix finally lets you remove the shows and movies haunting your ‘Continue Watching’ row
- Sunday February 6 marked ten years since the premier of Lillyhammer on Netflix, which was the first show to be marked as a Netflix original. Lillyhammer had been shot for local broadcast in Norway but Netflix acquired distribution rights for it elsewhere. Unrelated to the celebration Netflix also added the ability to delete shows from your "Continue Watching" row.
Amazon Spent $13 Billion on Film, TV and Music Content in 2021, up 18%
- Amazon is raising the cost of Amazon Prime in the US from $110 to $139 a year or from $13 to $15 a month. That's ALL of Amazon Prime, which includes Amazon Prime Video along with shipping and music and Kindle stuff and more. If you are just an Amazon Prime Video subscriber int he US, your rate will stay where it is. Amazon spent $13 billion on video and music content in 2021, which was a slower rise than in past years. It spent $11 billion in 2020.
Alamo Drafthouse Announces Plans for Four New Theaters
Now Showing: Fewer Movies. Theaters Brace for Dramatic Drop in New Films
‘Yellowstone’ And Other Hot Titles Push 2021 Home Entertainment Spending To Record $32.3B; PVOD Hits $525M Minus Disney+ Premier Access
- Alamo Drafthouse is bouncing back. The Austin-based theater chain had to close a few locations due to the pandemic but announced it plans to add four new locations in Grand Prairie, Texas, Glendale, Colorado, Chicago and Birmingham. That's in addition to previously announced expansions in Arlington, Virginia, Staten Island and St. Louis. That comes as releases start to ramp back up. There were 57 theatrical releases from major studios in 2021, and that is expected to rise to 71 this year, ten shy of the 81 released in 2018 and 2019.
- Meanwhile, home entertainment spending was up 8% in 2021 vs. 2020. 80% of the money came from streaming. Physical formats like DVDs fell 14% although Blu-ray bucked the trend rising 6%.
Five ‘Star Trek’ Shows Aren’t Yet Peak Trek, Says Paramount Plus Exec
- Paramount Plus has five Star Trek series underway. Discovery, Picard, Strange New Worlds, Prodigy and Lower Decks. One called Section 31 is still in development with more news expected soon. Nicole Clemens, president of original scripted series at Paramount Plus, told reporters "I think you may see a few more very curated editions coming.” Alex Kurtzman, who EPs the Trek franchises, said they are working on one other show besides Section 31 but they will likely not add new shows until existing shows run their course.
Hulu to Stream Fox Series Including ‘The Masked Singer’ in New Output Deal
‘The Orville’ Season 3 Delayed Until June, Hulu Releases Opening Footage From Premiere
‘Euphoria’ Renewed For Season 3 By HBO
‘Yellowstone’ Renewed for Season 5
Killing Eve’ Season 4 Trailer: Sandra Oh & Jodie Comer Return For Drama’s Final Chapter
- A few other notable bits:
- Hulu struck a deal with Fox to stream out of season episodes of unscripted and animated series.
- The Orville Season 3 delayed until June on Hulu.
- HBO renewed Euphoria for season 3.
- Paramount renewed Yellowstone for Season 5.
- And AMC and BBC released a trailer for Season 4 of Killing Eve coming February 27th.
Dispatches from the Front
I'm doing a bit of an experiment with the Book of Boba Fett. There is the big question about is something better with or without spoilers. I watched the first two episodes as they came out and I was not impressed. I am now listening to all of spoilering time and when the season is fully out I will watch it. Probably binge it. I will let you know what I think when I have finished it.
At the moment I am a little excited to get back to Boba Fett and see where it goes now that I know it gets better and there are characters that I love and wanted to see.
Proud Patron
- James
Paramount+ started out as a sub to see Star Trek: Discovery. The CBS shows eventually convinced me to cut Tivo and just stream the shows without commercials on CBSAllAccess / Paramount+. Now, they've added Picard (which should return soon), Prodigy, and will add others. I'm monthly on it, but I have SO FAR not had enough time of not watching it to have the ""I should cancel that"" thought come to mind. Yet.
Disney+ pulled me in with it being cheaper to sign up or a year than it would be to rent/buy the Marvel movies to ""watch 'em all, in chronological order!!"" Then, the Marvel TV shows came. Then, the Star Wars shows came. I recently signed up for a 2nd year because I know more stuff I like will come.
HBOMax? I signed up for $6.95 / month six months ago. I watched The Snyder Cut, Wonder Woman '84, Titans, and several other things. I've added several movies to my watchlist. I've watched very few. I'm thinking about canceling before the cheap 6 months is over.
So, yeah, if they don't bring new quality that >I< like often enough, these services can/will lose subs.
Later!
- Michael
Links
patreon.com/cordkillers
doghousesystems.com/v/rogue
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