Netflix Competitor Launches New Netflix Competitor
Speaking of Netflix, Comcast is launching a Netflix competitor.
But wait — isn’t Comcast already a Netflix competitor with their On Demand service, their Xfinity service, and their stake in Hulu? Well yes, but this will have a new name and new fees! Joy!
Reports Andrew Wallenstein for Variety:
With a business model and catalog-oriented content mix similar to Netflix and other competing services like Amazon and a coming joint venture from Verizon and Redbox, Comcast is clearly attempting to supplement its existing digital presence, Xfinity, with a long-tail-oriented offering. But Streampix is not available to those who don’t already get Comcast cable.
Streampix will either be free to those who get Comcast’s triple-play package of video, broadband and phone or for an additional $4.99 fee on top of other varieties of Comcast offerings.
So, it will only be available to those people who already have Comcast cable. AND it will likely cost you an additional fee even if you’re already spending upwards of $100 a month on cable. What a fucking fantastic sounding service.
Netflix And The Weinstein Company Enter Into Their First Multi-Year Streaming Deal
Huge win for Netflix. The Weinstein Company is one of the few production houses where quality absolutely trumps quantity. If I wasn’t already a member, I’d consider signing up for Netflix just for this alone.
‘The Bourne Legacy’ Teaser Trailer
The new Bourne film looks like it could be good. The first three were all great, but all had Matt Damon as the base. They’re moving to Jeremy Renner now, but smartly keeping several other elements intact — namely Joan Allen, Albert Finney, David Strathairn, and Scott Glenn.
And Renner isn’t Jason Bourne, he’s another agent from Bourne’s program. The tagline of the film plays this up: “There was never just one”, and Bourne is mentioned in the trailer. Smart way to handle it.
As an aside, interesting that Renner seems to be successfully taking over both the Bourne and the Mission: Impossible franchises — and he’s doing it as neither Jason Bourne nor Ethan Hunt.
[via /film]
Put this way, it sounds so simple. And actually, it should be this simple.
Unfortunately, this discounts the fact that Hollywood is run by people with their heads up their asses. Like this guy. It’s a fucked up nightmare of politics and greed. It’s amazing that anything good comes out of the system at all — it’s a testament to the true creative talent behind the films themselves.
You can bet that Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and all the rest have tried to talk Hollywood into the system above. They’ve probably been doing it for a decade, if not longer. Instead, we get bullshit like UltraViolet — a giant middle finger to consumers.
Why Not Try An Infinity-Day Window?
Matt Drance on Warner Bros. idiotic new 56-day DVD rental window:
Also under this new deal, pirated movies remain free of charge, free of non-skippable ads, free of five-minute load times, and are now nearly three months ahead of the competition.
And:
iTunes changed the music industry because it was more convenient than stealing. Most people made the value judgment that ten bucks for a clean, legal digital album was worth the alternative of fishing around for files that may or may not be damaged or infected.
It’s really — honestly — surprising that Hollywood doesn’t understand such a simple concept. Even stranger is that they can look to the music industry as an example and learn from the mistakes there, but they refuse.
Hollywood isn’t going to die anytime soon — but it won’t be from lack of trying. The pain is coming. In a big way.
Kill Hollywood, Not Movies
The fallout from the failure of SOPA and PIPA is just as interesting as the main topics themselves. First, many on the web with loud voices are finally waking up to how corrupt the lobbying/political system is in this country. Second, directly-related, there’s a quickly growing anti-Hollywood sentiment.
The most forceful stance has to be Y Combinator putting out a new RFS (Request for Startups) will one goal: Kill Hollywood.
It’s an important statement and message given the bullshit the MPAA is up to. But it’s also important to separate film, the artform, from Hollywood, the industry.
More Like "MehViolet"
For once, a bit of upbeat news for UltraViolet, the awful idea that Hollywood seems dead set on implementing: Amazon and Samsung are now on board.
That’s good news for the don’t-call-it-DRM newfangled DRM, which has been swimming in a sea of shit since it launched last year.
Of course, the one name still not on board remains the most important: Apple. Wake me up when that happens — which given the customer response to UltraViolet seems unlikely anytime soon.
Roger Ebert On Why Movie Revenue Is Dropping
The popular argument nowadays is that the movie business is tanking because the majority of movies suck. But that’s not really true. Sure, many big, Hollywood movies suck. But for each of those, there are a few smaller, independent movies which are great. In fact, as a whole, I might argue that quality is better than it ever has been thanks to technology greatly driving down the cost to make a film.
As Ebert lays out, the actual problem is with the distribution model. That is, most movie theaters in the U.S. are set up to play only the big ticket items — and again, a good percentage of that is crap. Massive films like Avatar and The Dark Knight disguise this — but only temporarily. This year there wasn’t a film of that magnitude, so we’re seeing it.
Here’s a shocker: the theaters showing actual good movies are doing quite well.
I see a healthy number of movies myself — at least one a week, sometimes two. But I rarely go to the AMCs of the world (in fact, the only time I’ve been to one recently was to see an IMAX). I go to theaters like Sundance which pride themselves on the quality of the experience and the quality of the films they show. You buy a reserved seat and you can buy a drink for the showing. Because it’s a bit more expensive, the audience tends to be better behaved as well. It’s well worth the money.
Ebert has this exactly right and the theater industry would be wise to listen to him. But they won’t. Because next year, we’ll get The Dark Knight Rises and The Hobbit and a few other massive films. And they’ll think everything is just fine again. And they’ll keep on thinking that until they go out of business. Which will happen.
AMC does not own and operate the Kabuki Theater, Sundance Cinemas does. Is this not the very definition of false advertising?
‘The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring’ Was Released 10 Years Ago Today
Wow, time flies. I remember seeing it in the theater and thinking it was pure magic. It was easily one of the greatest films I’ve ever seen in a theater because I was totally transported back to being a little kid and reading the books.
I also remember the rumors for years that the movie was getting made than it wasn’t getting made — with plenty saying it would be impossible to make. Not only did Peter Jackson do it, he did it better than anyone could have ever imagined. Those three films are three of the best ever made in any genre.
Can’t wait for The Hobbit.
Bond Producers Want Daniel Craig For Five More Films?
Casino Royale was excellent and Quantum of Solace was incredibly “meh” (for good reason), but the producers of the latest Bond film, Skyfall, have seen enough that they’d like to sign Daniel Craig to do five more Bond films.
That would give Craig 8 Bond films in total. Roger Moore was in 7. Sean Connery was in 6 (7 if you include Never Say Never Again, which I don’t).
Craig is a huge star now without Bond — The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and its subsequent sequels will only further solidify that — so who knows if he’d even want to do 5 more Bond films.
Also, Roger Moore was 58 at the end of his Bond run, but looked about 70. Craig is 43 right now. Even if they’re able to do one new Bond film every two years for the next 5 films (which they won’t), he’ll be 53 at the end of that run. More likely, he’d be closer to 60. When they booted Brosnan, he was 49.
But the best bit of this report is what producer Michael G. Wilson has to say about Skyfall itself:
The director Sam Mendes and Daniel are taking it back to a 60s feel – more Sean. I think that’s what the fans wanted. There’s a magical “Goldfinger” feel surrounding it all. It’s all very exciting. I can’t wait for people to see the movie because I think we’re making a very special Bond.
Or maybe you’d rather see the awesome The Dark Knight Rises trailer embedded.
The Dark Knight Rises Trailer
Speaking of The Dark Knight Rises, the first official trailer has just hit.
Yes, that’s Hines Ward.
Yes, this is going to be awesome.
Anyone else getting a 99% vs 1% vibe? Can Christopher Nolan actually pull that off?
That chant is already stuck in my head.
Update: The embed.
