Category: studios

‘Black Panther 2’ is supposed to film in Georgia. Why are Disney and Marvel so quiet?

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Earlier this week, two prominent Black filmmakers took a stand against Georgia’s new, restrictive voting laws by pulling their upcoming project out of the state. Emancipation , a slave drama starring Will Smith and directed by Antoine Fuqua for Apple TV, will no longer be shooting in the Peach State. “At this moment in time, the Nation is coming to terms with its history and is attempting to eliminate vestiges of institutional racism to achieve true racial justice,” Fuqua and Smith said in a joint statement . “We cannot in good conscience provide economic support to a government that enacts regressive voting laws that are designed to restrict voter access.” The laws , signed by Republican governor Brian Kemp in the wake of Georgia’s Democratic victories in the presidential and Senate elections, disproportionately restrict voting access for Black and poor voters through things such as limiting the number of ballot drop boxes and narrowing the window to request an absentee ballot. The backlash from Democrats has been fast and furious. President Biden called the new laws   “un-American” and “sick,” equating them to “Jim Crow in the 21st century.” Fuqua and Smith aren’t the only ones in Hollywood who have taken a stand against the laws, but they are an overwhelming minority. With the exception of a few other voices, including Ford vs. Ferrari director James Mangold and actor Mark Hamill, who have vowed not to film in Georgia—one of the biggest production hubs in the country due to generous tax incentives and an abundance of sound stages—for the most part Hollywood has remained mum on the subject. A few conglomerates, such as Comcast (owner of NBCUniversal), AT&T (owner of WarnerMedia), and Viacom have expressed their unhappiness over the legislation but have stopped short of saying they would not film in the state. AT&T said that it was working with members of the Atlanta and Georgia chambers of commerce to support “policies that promote accessible and secure voting while also upholding election integrity and transparency.” (In Atlanta, local business behemoths Coca-Cola and Delta were faster to take strong stands against the laws, though under public pressure and with predictable backlash.) Other broad-ish efforts have included an open letter published in the New York Times and Washington Post on Wednesday that called out efforts to restrict voting access but did not name Georgia specifically. The letter was signed by companies including Amazon, Netflix and Apple, and individuals such as J.J. Abrams, Shonda Rhimes and Samuel L. Jackson. But several weeks into the controversy, neither Disney nor its Marvel division, which are reportedly ramping up to start shooting one of the most high-profile projects of the year in Georgia in July, have made a public statement—and that silence is increasingly deafening. That project would be Black Panther 2 , the follow-up to the 2018 blockbuster. Buzz about the film’s shoot increased with the news of Emancipation ‘s relocation on Monday. Here is yet another high-profile Hollywood production steeped in racial justice themes and with a virtually all-Black cast, and one with significantly more global awareness. If any single project could serve as a platform for Hollywood’s condemnation about what’s going on in Georgia, it’s the Marvel tentpole Read More …

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 …

The NSFW future of OnlyFans, where celebs, influencers, and sex workers post side by side

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Vex Ashley began working as a cam girl to pay her way through art school. Whatever reservations she had about being a “little weird goth kid” doing porn melted away as she met other performers online who also had a more alternative approach to mainstream adult content. “I thought that to do porn, you had to fit a very rigid stereotype,” Ashley says. “I never was interested in fitting into that mold.” Ashley wanted to infuse porn with a higher level of aesthetics and concepts, using it as a medium to explore ideas rather than purely for viewing pleasure. And if ever there was a tenet of the creator economy, it’s that niche interests can always find an audience. Ashley uploaded experimental videos to Tumblr and quickly gained a following that she took to Patreon in 2014 to better monetize her art and support her production company, Four Chambers . At the height of her success on Patreon, Ashley had more than 3,000 subscribers and was pulling in around $25,000 per month. But after the platform changed its policies in 2018, she effectively lost it all. Vex Ashley [Photo: courtesy of Four Chambers] Like many other adult content creators whose Patreon revenue was decimated, Ashley migrated to OnlyFans in 2018. And like many of her peers, she’s now wary of meeting the same fate on the platform. OnlyFans, which allows creators to charge users a monthly or pay-per-view fee to access content, launched in 2016 with the intention of being for all types of creators but has become a nexus for adult entertainment. Amateur and professionals alike have flocked to OnlyFans as a safe haven to monetize NSFW (not safe for work) content, becoming the key drivers of the platform’s early growth. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated that momentum as more creators looked to OnlyFans as a source of income during record rates of unemployment. Between March and April of last year, OnlyFans experienced a 75% spike in new user and creator registrations. To date, OnlyFans has more than 120 million users and 1 million creators who have earned more than $3 billion collectively (the company takes a 20% cut). 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 …

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 …