Cordkillers 468 - Release the Garry Marshall Cut
Netflix confirms it's testing cloud gaming--video games rendered on a server that can be "played" anywhere. Who does this move the needle for? Plus, did Marvel ruin the comedy-film? And no, Gal Gadot wasn't *fired,* but she's also not *hired.* All that and more on Cordkillers!
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Next week: Good Omens (204), Justified: City Primeval (106), Miami Vice (419, "Blood & Roses")
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CordKillers: 468 - Release the Garry Marshall Cut
Recorded: August 14 2023
Guest: None
Intro Video
You Are So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah
Primary Target
Netflix launches a game controller app for playing games on your TV
Netflix to expand into cloud gaming, opens new studio in Southern California
- October 18 at TechCrunch Disrupt last year Netflix's VP of gaming, Mike Verdu said Netflix is “seriously exploring a cloud gaming offering.” And announced the opening of a game studio in Southern California. That California studio is led by Chacko Sonny, former Ep of Overwatch at Blizzard.
- Verdu said “It’s a value add. We’re not asking you to subscribe as a console replacement. It’s a completely different business model. The hope is over time that it just becomes this very natural way to play games wherever you are.”
- Last Tuesday an app called Netflix Game Controller appeared in the iOS App Store. When you launch it, it says To begin, choose a game on your TV and follow the directions to connect."
- Netflix officially announced Monday that it will begin testing its games on TVs and computers in Canada and the UK.
- A limited number of subscribers in those markets will get the chance to test on TVs and then in the coming weeks the test will expand to browsers on computers.
- The test includes “Oxenfree” from Night School Studio and Molehew’s Mining Adventure.
- TV Devices
- Fire TV
- Chromecast w/ Google TV
- LG TV
- Nvidia Shield, Roku
- Samsung
- Walmart ONN
- more to come
- Phone controller for TV
- Mouse and keyboard for computer
Netflix appears to be working to bring games to TV with the iPhone as a controller
Testing Games on More Devices
Netflix finally streams video games, too
Netflix begins testing its games on TVs and computers in Canada and U.K.
- Netflix has studios in SoCal, Helsinki (former Zynga GM)
- Boss Fight Entertainment, Night School Studio and Finland’s Next Games
- In March, Steve Moser discovered code in the Netflix app that said “A game on your TV needs a controller to play. Do you want to use this phone as a game controller?”
- The App Store description says "Coming soon to Netflix. Play games on your TV with the Netflix Game Controller. The Game Controller app pairs with your TV and allows you to play games on Netflix using your phone or mobile device.
NETFLIX COMMENT:
-We are rolling out a limited beta test to a small number of members in Canada and the UK on select TVs starting today, and on PCs and Macs through Netflix.com on supported browsers in the next few weeks. Two games will be part of this initial test: Oxenfree from Night School Studio, a Netflix Game Studio, and Molehew’s Mining Adventure, a gem-mining arcade game. To play our games on TV, we're introducing a controller that we already have in our hands most of the day — our phones. Members on PCs and Macs can play on Netflix.com with a keyboard and mouse.
-This limited beta is meant to test our game streaming technology and controller, and to improve the member experience over time....
-While we’re still very early in our games journey, we’re excited to bring joy to members with games. We look forward to hearing feedback from our beta testers and sharing more.
What to Watch
Adam Devine’s Marvel Theory: “Superhero Movies Ruined Comedies”
- Adam Devine who plays Kelvin on the Righteous Gemstones told the podcast "This Past Weekend with Theo Von" his theory on what happened to movie comedies.
- He said, “My theory is I think, I think like Marvel ruined it. I feel like superhero movies are kind of ruined comedies. Because people go to the theater and you expect to watch something that costs $200 million to make and comedy movies aren’t that.
- So you’re like, ‘Well, why would I spend the same amount of money to go watch a little comedy in a theater, if I could spend the same amount of money and go see something that is, is worth $200 million?”
- And he noted that Marvel has some good comedy in it too.
David Ayer Says James Gunn Told Him His ‘Suicide Squad’ Cut Will “Have Its Time To Be Shared”
- Regarding the 2016 movie Suicide Squad, David Ayer wrote on Twitter aka X, “All I know is my unseen film plays much better than the studio release. The interest in my cut being show[n] seems real and organic. And Gunn told me it would have it’s [sic] time to be shared. He absolutely deserves to launch his DC universe without more drama about old projects. In a way I’m chained to this thing. I’m riding a tiger here and navigating this situation the best I can. Life is a very strange journey.”
HBO’s Superhero Movie-Making Comedy ‘The Franchise’ Ordered to Series; Himesh Patel and Aya Cash to Star
- HBO has ordered Sam Mendes and Armando Iannucci’s superhero movie-making comedy “The Franchise” to series. Himesh Patel and Aya Cash are the stars. In “The Franchise,” “the crew of an unloved franchise movie fight for their place in a savage and unruly cinematic universe.” Per the logline, the series “shines a light on the secret chaos inside the world of superhero moviemaking, to ask the question — how exactly does the cinematic sausage get made? Because every fuck-up has an origin story.” Jon Brown (“Succession,” “Avenue 5”) wrote the pilot and serves as showrunner.
‘Wonder Woman 3’ Won’t Fly in the New DC Universe, Despite Gal Gadot Teasing Development Plans
- Aww dammit. Last week we mentioned that Gal Gadot told folks (twice) that she has been told by James Gunn and Peter Safran that they would develop Wonder Woman 3 with her. But Variety's sources say a third “Wonder Woman” film is not in development at DC Studios nor do Gunn and Safran have plans at this time for any “Wonder Woman” project in the new DC Universe, other than the prequel series Paradise Lost for Max.
‘The Little Mermaid’ to Release on Disney+ in September
- Disney's live action Little Mermaid will arrive on Disney+ September 6th. It includes some special features like a song breakdown of “Under the Sea,” and Javier Bardem’s performance of “Impossible Child”.
The Emmy Awards are officially delayed because of the writers and actors strikes
- The Emmy awards are officially delayed until January 15th, 2024 because of the writers and actors strikes. It's the first time the Emmys have been delayed in more than 20 years.
NFL RedZone is coming to NFL Plus
Apple TV's MLS Season Pass subscriptions have doubled since Messi's arrival in the US
Apple TV Plus is getting a new series about Lionel Messi in Miami
- And checking in on sports, NFL Redzone and NFL Network will be included with NFL+, the football league's streaming service for mobile. And Inter Miami's owner wrote on X that "Subscribers to #MLSSeasonPass . AppleTV have more than doubled since Messi joined." Tim Cook retweeted it so it must be true. A six-part documentary series about Lionel Messi's move from Paris to Miami will stream on Apple TV+. No title or release date yet.
Eyes On:
Tom: Futurama
On the Lookout: Painkiller
Front Lines
Free ad-supported TV streaming services are booming, 1 in 3 U.S. viewers tune in
- Samba TV's latest state of viewership report says one in three US users subscribe to some sort of free ad-supported TV, aka FAST. Freevee grew the fastest at 11% year over year in the first half of 2023. Pluto and Tubi were up 7% and 6%, respectively, whereas the Roku Channel and Crackle were both up 5%. Compare that to Netflix's drop of 1% and Peacock dropping 2% in the same study.
Disney+ Lost 11.7 Million Subscribers in Q2, Will Raise Prices
- Disney announced its worldwide streaming service lost 11.7 million subscribers in Q2, as it continues to decline in India after losing IPL Cricket broadcasts there. Disney+ ended the quarter with 150.1 million worldwide subscribers. Disney also announced it will raise prices across its live streaming packages starting in October. And it will also expand its less expensive ad-supported package to Canada, the U.K., France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark on November 1. Disney CEO Bob Iger said the company plans to begin cracking down on password sharing in 2024.
Sling TV struggles to keep subscribers, drops nearly 100K users in Q2
- Sling TV reported it lost 97,000 subscribers in Q2. Which is better than the 234,000 it lost last quarter. Sling TV now has 2 million subscribers, it's lowest in five years. Notable that Sling launched Sling Freestream, a FAST service earlier this year.
AMC Entertainment Rides Box Office Revival To Top Q2 Forecasts
- AMC Entertainment, the movie theater company, reported that its revenue rose 16% over last year. It even made a profit of one cent per share. Analysts had expected a loss. That's for a quarter that didn't even include Barbenheimer.
Paramount+ tops 61 million subscribers after Showtime merger
Paramount CEO Bob Bakish Says Streaming Bundling Will Increase, Possibly With Third Parties; Cites Evidence That Paramount+ Combo With Showtime Boosted Viewing
- Paramount added 700,000 subscribers to Paramount+ in Q2 after integrating Showtime into the service. Paramount+ now has 61 million subscribers. CEO Bob Bakish talked a lot about the possibility of bundling Paramount+ with other services. “Bundling has been one of the tried-and-true methods of value creation in media and certainly as we enter the streaming space, bundling is part of our strategy.”
Lachlan Murdoch Sees Pay-TV Driving Value Of Fox Sports “For A Long Time To Come
- Fox's CEO Lachlan Murdoch told investors that the company is not looking at abandoning linear TV anytime soon. “We don’t envision a moment when you leave pay-TV and quickly transition to a direct-to-consumer universe. We think you will enter a phase where both are important.” Fox is one of the few media companies without a major SVOD streaming platform.
Lionsgate Postpones Split Of Starz And Studio Until First Quarter Of 2024, Citing Strike, eOne Deal And “Disruptive Marketplace”
- And Lionsgate says it won't split out Starz into its own company until the first quarter of 2024. Lionsgate just acquired Canada's eOne studio and then there's the strike. But Tom's conspiracy theory is they're waiting for consolidationpalooza to kick off in January when Comcast and Disney finally settle the last bit of Comcast's stake in Hulu.
Dispatches from the front
Last week, we talked about phone usage in movie theaters appearing to be rising with more bad behavior. I was a little cavalier and suggested a free for all and many of y'all respectfully disagreed!
Do not dabble with your phone at a theater. Please! It will definitely pick up on someone's peripheral vision and annoy them.
- Esa
Lax policies on phones in theaters lately is the chief deciding factor on if I'm going to the movies. I have to be so interested in the movie that dealing with the distractions is better than waiting. I understand it's an expectation thing. If I go to the theater, I'm doing it because I want the absolute best, distraction-free experience that I can't get at home. If those distractions are going to be at the theater too then I might as well wait until it comes out digitally.
- Ander
"My teen recently asked me, "Mom, how do you pirate a show?" She was trying to watch Lego Monkie Kid, a Lego cartoon series out of China, and Prime Video only has the first two seasons. Just Watch, lists two seasons on Prime Video and one season on Spectrum. Then, r/MonkieKid suggested Roku users could watch on an app called HappyKids.
I typed "Lego Monkie" (note the spelling) into the Roku search box, expecting it to suggest the HappyKids app. Instead, when I selected S3, it added The Lego Channel to my Roku, and took me straight to the series.
The Lego Channel's navigation is a bit janky, but the Roku search works great, and I found it does have HappyKids & Kabillion listed as additional free options, alongside some on Spectrum.
Anyway, the Teen is happy with my magic (her friend group had been trying to find a way to watch for weeks), and if anyone else is trying to stream on a Roku, I do recommend using the Roku's search to go straight to the episodes without having to endlessly scroll inside an app. It's pretty darned good and there are a lot of random FAST channels out there.
- Ulrike
And we got great emails about ATSC 3.0 including pointing us to the Antenna Man YouTube channel for commentary on the issue.
One reason for the DRM restrictions in ATSC 3.0 could be due to increased signal strength letting viewers be able to access (technically) out-of-market signals, which could affect how ad sales are targeted. DRM might control that overlapping, is the idea! Thanks everyone for your emails!
- Greg
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