Bosco685

Quote

Warner Bros. has made it official: It will be returning to Middle Earth.

 

On Warner Bros. Discovery’s first-quarter earnings conference call on Thursday, CEO David Zaslav said that the company is “now in the early stages of script development” for new Lord of the Rings movies, which he says they “anticipate releasing in 2026” and will “explore storylines yet to be told.”

 

Zaslav says that director Peter Jackson and his longtime writing partners Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens “will be involved every step of the way.”

 

“Lord of the Rings is one of the most successful and revered franchises in history and presents a significant opportunity for our theatrical business,” Zaslav said.

 

WBD first said that it was developing new LOTR movies a little over a year ago, cutting a deal with rights holders Embracer Group AB to develop new films based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s book series.

 

As The Hollywood Reporter noted at the time, Amazon is also developing its own larger TV universe for the franchise, potentially leading to the two competitive visions. Jackson and his co-writers were said to be frustrated that many people thought they were involved in the Amazon shows, when they were not.

That's what he should have looked like

Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery to Launch Disney+, Hulu, Max Streaming Bundle

Quote

Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery — ordinarily rivals for consumers’ time and money — are teaming up for a triple-play bundle of Disney+, Hulu and Max.

 

The companies announced a new streaming bundle that comprises Disney+, Hulu and Max will be available this summer in the U.S. There’s no pricing info or specific launch date at this point. Disney and WBD said the new bundle will be available for purchase on any of the three streaming platform’s websites and offered as both an ad-supported and ad-free plan. 

 

The trio of streaming services will offer “the best value in entertainment and an unprecedented selection of content from the biggest and most beloved brands in entertainment including ABC, CNN, DC, Discovery, Disney, Food Network, FX, HBO, HGTV, Hulu, Marvel, Pixar, Searchlight, Warner Bros. and many more,” the companies said Wednesday.

Quote

Disney is on the precipice of the entertainment industry’s white whale: Profitability in streaming.

 

The company reported its fiscal second quarter earnings early Tuesday morning, disclosing that its combined direct-to-consumer businesses of Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ lost only $18 million last quarter, on revenues of $6.2 billion, and that when ESPN+ is removed from that equation, the entertainment streaming business was actually profitable, with revenues of $5.6 billion and a net profit of $47 million.

 

While the company warns that Q3 will be choppier thanks to some changes at Disney+ Hotstar, it says that expects the streaming division to be fully in the black in fiscal Q4, and to be a “meaningful future growth driver for the company” after that.

 

Charter’s big deal with Disney was also a major factor in the quarter, helping to cause Disney+ subscribers to surge by more than 6 million to 117.6 million, however the average revenue per subscriber fell slightly from $8.15 to $8 to reflect the wholesale pricing associated with the deal. Disney CFO Hugh Johnston said on the earnings call that the ad tier now has 22.5 million subscribers, juiced in part by Charter.

On 5/8/2024 at 3:47 AM, Cat said:

The new costumes revealed! 

I love them except for Jean and Rogue's. I've never liked those much. Thrilled with Cyclops, and very happy with Wolverine. 

  Hide contents

 

 

Very emotional episode.

On 5/7/2024 at 8:25 PM, D84 said:

Did you mean Al Bundy?

Ted. Al. All the same.

Sony rereleasing the early Spider-Man films have actually caused some domestic bumps. Along with plenty of positive social media chatter.

Quote

Speaking during Disney's earnings call, Disney CEO Bob Iger revealed that the House of Mouse is shifting its focus on quality over quantity, and that that strategy is "particularly true with Marvel."

 

"We're slowly going to decrease volume and go to probably about two TV series a year instead of what had become four and reduce our film output from maybe four a year to two, or a maximum of three," Iger said. "And we're working hard on what that path is."

 

As of this writing, Marvel Studios has just one theatrical release this year in the form of Deadpool & Wolverine. It is the first time that Marvel is sending one film to the box office in a calendar year since 2010 (Iron Man 2).

 

"[Marvel has] a couple of good films in '25 and then we're heading to more Avengers which we're extremely excited about," Iger added, alluding to blockbuster 2025 projects Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts*, and The Fantastic Four. "Overall, I feel great about the slate. It's something, as you know, that I've committed to spending more and more time on. The team is one that I have tremendous confidence in and the IP that we're mining, including all the sequels that we're doing, is second to none."