Category: movie

Inside Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon’s alcohol- and snacks-saturated battle for Oscar buzz

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A month out from the 2021 Academy Awards telecast—which airs on April 25—the battle to win the love of Hollywood has turned into the year of the crate. Over the past few weeks, everyone from the indie studio A24 to indie stalwart Fox Searchlight (now a division within Disney) to Universal have dispatched across town crates of artisanal food to woo their way into the hearts—and stomachs—of the Hollywood press corps, the influential body of scribes who feverishly chronicle every twist and turn in the jostle leading up to the Oscars. Netflix, which leads this year’s nominations haul with a whopping 35 nominations for films, including Mank , The Trial of the Chicago 7 , and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom , has also been lavishing edible swag on reporters, but has become more known for gifting booze. To support Malcolm & Marie , a moody art film starring Zendaya and John David Washington—which looked like an early contender but ended up not nabbing any nominations—Netflix sent out bottles of top-drawer scotch. (I’m sure it didn’t go to waste.) Swag and Oscar campaigning have always gone hand in hand during awards season—the three (to six) month swirl of parties, dinners, brunches, and getaways sponsored by the studios and streamers to stir up buzz for their contenders. But in a season that has been turned on its head due to COVID-19—in-person screenings have been verboten , along with glad-handling galas—studios and screening companies have had to be more creative about how to get the word out about their films. Even the fall film festivals, such as Venice and Telluride, which are traditionally relied on to build early buzz and critical acclaim for films, went virtual in 2020, lessening their ability to fuel word of mouth and serve as showboating opportunities for stars and filmmakers. As a result, studios and streamers are coming up with new ways to transform their projects into events. Take Nomadland . The Best Picture frontrunner—it cemented this position by nabbing the top award at the Producers Guild Awards—stars Frances McDormand as a peripatetic Amazon worker who finds beauty and serenity amongst fellow RV dwellers in the American Southwest. The film premiered at festivals last fall, but when it launched on Hulu in late February and officially came out in theaters, Fox Searchlight announced a virtual global premiere. The tactic, in part, was to keep the film feeling fresh so far along in its run, and with the delayed Oscars still a ways off. (During campaign season, the fear of peaking too soon—what many believed killed A Star is Born ‘s Best Picture chances in 2019—haunts all awards publicists.) Invitees to the event were sent the aforementioned crate—stuffed with gourmet cheese, “humanly raised” salami, and trail mix—to enjoy while watching the film. This at-home viewing party atmosphere has become de rigeur this season in an attempt to replicate the feeling and fun of an Oscar screening/gala, and to elevate the living room viewing experience beyond turning on the tube in your pajamas (though you can still do that, of course). One publicist attributed the format to Netflix, which has been throwing “virtual premieres” ever since COVID-19 hit. Invitees who RSVP “yes” to a Netflix premiere see the film show up in their Netflix preview row, and are then sent popcorn or a DoorDash coupon to enjoy with the show Read More …

Disney put the brakes on going back to the movies. Here’s why

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For many months now, the much-anticipated Marvel movie Black Widow has sat boldly on the movie release calendar. Slated to come out in theaters on May 7, the film was a sign that Disney, the studio releasing the film, felt confident that the ebbing state of the pandemic meant that fans would swarm to see the film in-person, driving up box-office receipts. More than any other film set for release this year, Black Widow was a harbinger of better times ahead for the movie business, which has been severely crippled by COVID-19.   On Tuesday, Disney dashed those hopes.   The studio abruptly announced on March 23 that it was not only moving Black Widow back to July 9, but that it will be simultaneously releasing the film on its streaming service, Disney Plus, for an additional $30 for subscribers, as it’s done with films such as Mulan and Raya and the Last Dragon . Disney also said that Cruella , which stars Emma Stone as Cruella de Vil, will also get the day-and-date theatrical-streaming treatment, though the film will   remain on its original release date of May 28.   Other changes included pushing the next Pixar film, Luca , straight to streaming on June 18, and delaying films including the Ryan Reynolds comedy Free Guy and another Marvel film, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings .   The news was a major blow to the exhibition business (to put it mildly), as well as a sign that the world’s emergence from COVID-19 is slow, laborious, and prone to unforeseen shifts—such as the new strains of COVID-19 that are ravishing Europe at the moment, sending countries back into lockdown. This gradual, up-and-down emergence from the pandemic, as opposed to the quick, clean pivot everyone would love, is evident in current movie theater attendance. While recent releases like Tom and Jerry and Croods 2 have proven that there’s pent-up demand to get back into theaters, in the United States the reality is that only 52% of theaters are currently open. Those that are operating are doing so at between 25% and 50% capacity. Anecdotally, that means that parents who couldn’t wait to break out of the house and go see Raya and the Last Dragon with their kids last weekend in cities like Los Angeles, where vaccinations are moving along at a steady clip, found themselves in empty-feeling theaters that were nonetheless sold out. That’s great for audiences, safety-wise. But not so great for Disney looking at all that lost revenue. The fact that Raya was also on Disney Plus was a consolation for the studio, as it now will be with Black Widow . Read More …

17 moments in the long, turbulent history of vaccine skepticism

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This story is part of Doubting the Dose, a series that examines anti-vaccine sentiment and the role of misinformation in supercharging it.  Read more here . Quick—when did the epidemic of misinformation about vaccines begin? Was it when Jenny McCarthy took to The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2007 to claim that a vaccine caused her son’s autism? Or maybe when the anti-vax movement discovered that social networks such as Facebook and Twitter were a powerful way to amp their message and recruit new members to the cause? Try a little earlier than that—by more than two centuries. Shortly after Edward Jenner pioneered vaccination at the end of the 1700s, the movement against it began. Even earlier, vaccination’s precursor—known at the time as inoculation or variolation—inspired similar fear and misconceptions. Some of the specific arguments made against vaccines have evolved over the years. The means used to amplify them—from pamphlets to online videos—have changed even more. Read More …

Inside the new playbook for creating a kids’ TV hit in the streaming age

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When we think about the must-see TV that draws us to sign up for streaming platforms such as Netflix, Hulu, and Apple TV Plus, the list is endless. The Crown , The Handmaid’s Tale , Bridgerton , Ted Lasso . But what about kids’ shows? Sure, there are old episodes of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Pokémon , but there’s a gaping dearth of new, buzzy series with any real lasting power. (Does Netflix’s Miraculous: Tales of Lady Bug & Cat Noir really have a significant following?) Kids tune in to a new Netflix show here and there, but for the most part the platform’s real appeal for children is its sprawling, buffet atmosphere—and all those reruns. ( The Mandalorian over on Disney Plus is an exception, though that show skews heavily toward teens and adults too.) Cyma Zarghami , a veteran of children’s TV who spent 33 years at Nickelodeon, most recently as its president, sees this as white space in the industry, one that she is eager to fill. Last year Zarghami started MiMo Studios , a kids’ production company that aims to create the kind of franchises that have been lacking in the kids’ TV space in recent years in both the linear and digital worlds. “ SpongeBob [ SquarePants ], Peppa Pig , PJ Masks , those are all at least seven to eight years old,” Zarghami says, ticking off some of Nickelodeon’s biggest hits. “Nothing has emerged off the old platform or the new that’s really resonated with audiences.” Cyma Zarghami [Photo: MiMo Studios] As for why that is, Zarghami says, “There are too many choices, there’s not enough marketing, everything is a little derivative, and quantity, not quality, is the mandate”—especially in streaming. “So nothing has really floated to the top.” She also says that streaming companies’ priority is to grow subscribers and minimize churn, as opposed to “building the next Game of Thrones for kids.” At MiMo—which stands for “mini movie”—Zarghami hopes to do exactly that by investing in properties built on great, preexisting stories and characters that have the maximum potential to become a franchise. But the Hollywood formula ends there. Read More …

26 great free streaming services for cord cutters

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The best thing about cutting the cable cord is that you get a lot more control over your monthly TV bill. Instead of spending $100 per month or so on a bloated bundle of TV channels, you can throw together a few streaming services such as Netflix or Hulu and save a lot of money. Alternatively, you can take things to the extreme and trim your TV bill to zero dollars per month. These days, there are so many free streaming services that you can watch hours of TV every night and spend nothing. Whether you’re chasing that mythical $0 TV bill, or just trying to pad out your paid subscriptions with a few more things to watch, here are 26 free streaming TV services you ought to know about. Tubi Tubi may not have the name recognition of Netflix or Hulu, but that hasn’t stopped it from hitting 33 million monthly active users last year and being acquired by Fox . In addition to a vast library of movies and shows, the service also offers free news channels and local newscasts from Fox affiliates around the country. And if you create an account, you can synchronize your watchlist across devices. [ Tubi ] Notable programming: The Infiltrator , Hell’s Kitchen , Alias , Stop Making Sense . Read More …