Cordkillers 417 - Andor Boolean Logic
Netflix sees franchise-potential in The Grey Man, but how attractive is the idea of a cinematic universe? Plus, Max Headroom will be back and MGM loses their rights to Lara Croft. All that and more on Cordkillers!
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Next week: Better Call Saul (611), What We Do in the Shadows (405), Westworld (407)
CordKillers: 417 - Andor Boolean Logic
Recorded: August 1 2022
Guest: None
Intro Video
The Rise and Fall of And1
Primary Target
Netflix, Joe & Anthony Russo And Ryan Gosling Are All In On ‘The Gray Man’ As Sequel & Spinoff In The Works: Q&A
Netflix is turning The Gray Man into a cinematic universe
- Last week I described Netflix's "The Gray Man" as a "perfect action film to watch while playing a video game on your phone."
- A few days ago Netflix announced that it will not only make a sequel to The Gray man but also a spinoff. Netflix says it will become a "major spy franchise.”
- Ryan Gosling and the Russo Brothers and co-writer Stephen McFeely are all set to return.
- Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese from Deadpool will write the spinoff.
- The Russos said "we had always intended for the Gray Man to be part of an expanded universe."
- Cinematic universes are all the rage. Marvel. Star Wars. Other... non-Disney-owned ones... Like Walking Dead for instance!
- While keeping in mind this will not be Netflix's only attempt at an expanded universe... is it a good one? And are expanded universes the right way to go?
How to Watch
Comcast Sees Slowing Demand in Q2 for Broadband in Tougher Economy
Peacock Subscriber Growth Stalls at 13 Million in Q2
Charter Q2 Beat Wall Street Forecast But Shows Rare Broadband Subscriber Loss
Roku Misses Q2 Estimates, as Streaming Hours Dip From Prior Quarter
Sony Pictures Entertainment Posts Strong Q1 Revenue And Profit Growth
- Last week earnings reports came out form many of the big companies who provide you streaming content AND internet service.
- Comcast: Internet service was flat at 32.1 million compared to last quarter's 31.2 million. A stark change for the internet sector. And Peacock's paid subscribers stayed even at 13 million as well while monthly active accounts fell from 28 million last quarter to 27 million.
- Of note, Charter Communications actually lost internet subscribers, dropping 42,000.
- Roku added 1.8 million accounts to reach 63.1 million while the number of hours streamed on Roku devices fell 200 million hours from last quarter to 20.7 billion. Ad revenue slowed as well, a bit of a wrench in Roku's plan to expand its business in that direction.
- Sony Pictures Entertainment did well with revenue up 70% over last year. You might guess that more people back in the theaters helped, but Morbius was Sony's only major release in the quarter. TV licensing and home entertainment revenues seem to be the main cause of the rise as well as some added revenue from Crunchyroll.
- Which makes me think. ISP growth might be a result of saturation. I doubt it's an indication that people are cutting that particular cord. Just finding other ways to get the net, including over their phone.
- But providing the content instead of banking everything on streaming it may be the better anger bet.
- As consumers we love all you can eat. But we also want choices. Is there room for a business model that treats TV more like Spotify or Apple Music treats music?
What to Watch
‘Andor’ New Trailer Teases Returning ‘Star Wars’ Characters, Tons of Action and Release Date
- Disney released a trailer for its forthcoming Star Wars series, Andor and also delayed the release date by about a month. The series now comes to Disney+ with three episodes premiering on September 21.
Jon Favreau Called the Russo Brothers to Stop Them From Killing Tony Stark: ‘You Can’t Do This’
- If you haven't seen Avengers: Endgame and want to still be surprised years later, stop listening now. OK. So one of the biggest moments of the movie is Tony Stark sacrificing his life. It has gone on to fuel future stories, particular Spider-man's. But apparently Jon Favreau was against it. Anthony and Joe Russo told Vanity Fair that Favreau called them and said, ‘You can’t do this. It’s gonna devastate people, and you don’t want them, you know, walking out of the theater and into traffic.’ The movie was going to end Stark's story one way or the other.
The next Tomb Raider film will feature a new Lara Croft
- MGM (now owned by amazon) did not make a Tomb Raider sequel within the period required by its contract in order to keep the rights. So the franchise is back on the bidding block. MGM had planned a sequel in 2021 but COVID got in the way of production.
‘Max Headroom’ Series Reboot Starring Matt Frewer In Works At AMC Networks From Christopher Cantwell & Elijah Wood’s SpectreVision
- Deadline reports that Matt Frewer is on board to reprise his role as Max Headroom with Halt and Catch Fire co-creator Christopher Cantwell as writer and showrunner. The show will come to AMC Networks.
Eyes On:
Brian: when guests come in, you get to watch 2nd laps
Tom: Lollapalooza (Hulu), Extraordinary Attorney Woo
On the Lookout: The Wheel of Time
Front Lines
Madison Avenue May Make New Push To Create Streaming Shows, Series
- A study from media researcher Magna and Amazon Ads found the viewers are not that concerned if a show they watch is created by an advertiser as long as it's entertaining. Examples include a movie called Unlocked funded by HP for Peacock and Nike's "The Day Sports Stood Still" on HBO. According to the study, viewers prefer the brand-funded content to traditional commercials.
‘Stranger Things’ Has Nielsen’s Second Biggest Streaming Week Ever After Season 4 Volume 2 Premiere
- Nielsen says Stranger Things now holds the record for the two biggest weeks of streaming ever. It was viewed for 5.9 billion minutes during the week of June 27th, coming in behind its own 7.2 billion minutes set the week of May 30th this year.
Amazon Prime Video Announces First Southeast Asian Originals And Local User Experience
- Amazon Prime Video announced the launch of Comedy Island: Indonesia, Comedy Island: Thailand and Comedy Island: Philippines. Amazon is developing more local language content in all three markets including originals and licensed content. Prime Video has been available since 2016 in the regions but had not offered a localized experience.
Netflix Sues ‘Bridgerton The Musical’ Creators For Infringement, Seeks Halt to Live Stagings
- Last week Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear created a "Bridgerton musical" album and Netflix hailed it as a lovely homage. It even won a Grammy. Then the two composers staged a live concert of “The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical Album Live in Concert” at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC and it sold out. Now Netflix is suing them.
Guillermo del Toro’s Stop-Motion ‘Pinocchio’ Brings the Fabled Puppet to Life in New Trailer
Ben Affleck’s Batman will return for Aquaman 2
‘Rick and Morty’ Season 6 Sets September Premiere Date‘Locke and Key’ Drops Final Season Trailer (TV News Roundup)
‘The Flash’ to End With Season 9 at The CW
Krysten Ritter to Star in ‘Orphan Black’ Sequel Series at AMC
Peacock Orders Epic Gladiator Series ‘Those About to Die,’ Roland Emmerich to Direct
George R. R. Martin’s ‘Night of the Cooters’ Adaptation, Directed by Vincent D’Onofrio, Wins at LA Shorts Festival
- There's a trailer out for Guillermo del Toro's animated Pinnochio -- with Ewan McGregor voicing Sebastian J. Cricket. coming to theaters in November and Netflix in December.
- Ben Affleck will show up as Batman in Aquaman and the Lost kingdom.
- Rick and Morty set a return date of September 4.
- A trailer is out for the final season of Locke and Key coming to Netflix August 10
- CW's series the Flash will end after season 9 which will arrive in 2023.
- Kristen Ritter has been cast as the lead in Orphan Black spinoff Echoes.
- Peacock ordered a series about Roman gladiators to be directed by Roland Emmerich. It's called "Those About to Die."
- Night of the Cooters won best sci-fi at the LA Shorts International Film Festival. George R. R. Martin adapted it and Vincent D'Onofrio directed it. It's about aliens invading Texas in the 1800s.
Dispatches from the Front
"I know you've talked about the ease or difficulty in canceling some services, and how some are much easier than others. Today, I canceled my SiriusXM subscription. The only way to do that is by chat. It took me 24 minutes of ""Please wait while I access your account, it takes a while, and ""May I ask how you've enjoyed our services?"" and ""Your subscription is good until September 1st, you can continue to enjoy it until then."" My responses were always some variation of ""Please cancel my account.""
Cheese and Crackers! Give me a big Cancel button to simply end my subscription.
Moistly yours,
- Kev
Hi Tom, Brian, and Bryce,
Wanted to throw out another consideration to conversation around Netflix's plans for release schedules for their shows. As they move into ad-supported content, it's probably in their best interest not to drop entire seasons or multiple episodes all at once. Advertisers are keen to manage flighting and frequency of their ads. Contrary to popular belief, there is a limit of how much (most) advertisers want a user to see their ad over a period of time. If prime content is being binged too quickly, it narrows the window for advertisers to take part and may lead to over-frequency for any live ad campaigns. There's a reason why broadcast typically abides by a weekly release schedule (particularly for first run prime). Just a thought from the advertising side.
All the best!
- Derrick
Not sure if this has already been a topic on the show, but I'm wondering if Peacock's slow growth is due to the platform being both an AVOD and SVOD service all in one, and I wanted to hear your thoughts.
Initially when Peacock was first released, I thought they had the best strategy that would offer the least confusion for both customers who want free and those who want more. However, with Peacock stuck at 12 million paid subscribers, I'm wondering if that causes customers to see what is available and be assured that they don't need a paid subscription.
I'm thinking companies like Paramount are better off with Pluto TV being the free service, and Paramount+ forcing a paid subscription so that you have to subscribe to see what the service offers. It allows customers to get a taste of Paramount+ content through Pluto TV, which the customer will just see as a value to Pluto, and people who want to see what Paramount+ has to offer will simply ride out (and ultimately are likely to forget to cancel) their subscription, possibly seeing a value in keeping the service.
I'm wondering if at this point, the best move for Comcast is to remove the free Peacock subscription, and bolster and Pluto-ify its own Xumo service which seems to just be stuck waiting in the background for someone to notice it (unless Comcast is making good money by licensing Xumo to companies like Redbox with their free live TV service). Wanted to hear your thoughts, thank you!
- Anthony
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