Netflix have finally come to the table with more details about the much-debated password sharing crackdown. A move that resulted in a lot of poor press for them, converting to paid sharing at a time when they’ve already been buffeted by poor publicity sounds pig-headed at best- but luckily we have Brandon Blake from Blake & Wang P.A to give the entertainment attorney’s perspective on the matter.

Quarter 2 Rollout

The rollout will begin for the US market as of the second quarter. However, we have also seen them trial the password crackdown in Latin America from January this year, with considerable momentum through February as the replacement paid sharing option became available. At the moment, this plan is available in New Zealand, Spain, Canada, and Portugal. It allows for 2 active users outside the primary user’s home for a price between 3.99-5.99 Euros, or $7.99 CAD or NZD. What will the domestic price be? We’ve yet to find out- and you’d think they might have wanted better clarity on that matter with the rollout coming fast. All we know is that pricing, “will be higher in more affluent countries.” Fair? Possibly. Good publicity? We aren’t so sure! While the crackdown is, at the heart, merely an attempt to squeeze more profitability out of the same few subscribers, stating it so openly does leave a bit of a bad taste.

Pleased With Results

While the removal of a ‘service’ they once actively encouraged was always going to be problematic publicity-wise, especially with the oddly combative and blame-heavy spin they’ve put on it to the public, hey seem content with the results of the Q1 rollout to date. Acquisitions and revenue have gone up with the ‘extra member’ accounts (naturally) for the Latin American area, now growing faster than the US.

Is that really ‘growth’, however? Debatable, but Wall Street seems to like it, and also believe the paid sharing option will work in tandem with their new ad-supported tier to boost numbers. For now, we can simply wait and see what happens as more territories make the change.

Super Mario Bros has definitely been the unexpected hit of the 2023 box office so far. As an unpredicted side effect of this exceptional launch for the Nintendo franchise, we have now seen share prices for a range of top theatrical chains pop too. Entertainment lawyer from Blake & Wang P.A, Brandon Blake, takes a closer look at the news.

AMC Receives a Welcome Boost

Despite it’s now infamous ‘memestock’ boom, the AMC share price has been languishing as the box office recovery stalled at the end of 2022. Off the back of the surprisingly solid performance from Super Mario Bros, however, it saw a 7%, or 35c, boost to its share price. Cinemark achieved a similar benchmark. IMAX, which is one of the few theatrical chains to have seen very little disruption from the pandemic shutdowns, also saw a 5% ($1.05) jump. For Imax in particular, Super Mario Bros has also brought it the top opening of all time in the animation category, earning about $375.6M of the global takings for the film.

While the boost won’t manage to offset the pandemic disruptions entirely, the rise in stock prices will doubtless help the chains struggling with heavy debt after the pandemic closures. It isn’t a full return to pre-COVID numbers, but it is certainly a welcome breather.

The Video Game Surprise

And unlike the successes of films like Top Gun:Maverick and Avater:The Way of Water, this boom is rather unexpected. Historically, video game franchises like Super Mario Bros have not played well to audiences, and this may well be the first truly successful video game IP we’ve seen in a long time.

While a slump in product could still seriously impair the wider box office recovery, and with a slate that’s still smaller than is needed set for 2023, it’s another welcome sign that fans are keen to return to the theatrical experience. And that’s good news for the whole industry.

We’ve seen more and more locations enter the market in attempts to lure location shoots and film/TV projects to their locales over the last few years. Now it’s time to add Singapore to the pile, too. With the announcement of a $7.5M TV and Film Fund to court international productions that highlight the country as a travel destination, there’s even more scope for those looking for appealing shoot destinations. Blake & Wang P.A entertainment lawyer, Brandon Blake, has the details.

The Fund

Established as a joint venture between the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) and the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), the fund is accessible to all international entertainment/media companies making global content that will highlight Singapore’s appeal. Potential projects will be evaluated for market reach, distribution agreements, concept and ‘creative merit’, as well as how much focus on the area is shown on screen and how much local talent is used in credited roles. Successful projects will have up to 30% of qualifying costs (again with the ‘related to featuring Singapore’ caveat) returned, including marketing and production costs. To qualify, the project needs to launch by Q1 in 2027.

The Destination Boom

In fairness, unlike some of the tax incentives we’ve seen leveraged to attract location shoots both within US borders and internationally, the new fund has a limited budget and clear focus. But the Singapore On-Screen Fund, as it is being named, shares a common feature with other such incentives we’ve seen launched- the urge to get themselves a slice of the ever-more lucrative destination shoot boom. With an acceleration in ‘content creation’ across streaming platforms, it was inevitable we’d see the demand for shoot space increase, both for soundstages and location shoots. We expect to see even more incentives like this arise globally as the demand accelerates.

As we’ve seen with the meteoric appeal of The Last of Us to UK audiences via Comcast/HBO’s content carriage deal with Sky, a great content carriage deal can be a critical part of both growth and audience traction, especially for smaller platforms without the budgets to invest heavily in developing their own original content. With studios becoming more focused on retaining content for their own platforms, however, these deals have been harder to come by, but this week we see Mubi strike a fantastic deal with Sony Pictures for library content. Blake & Wang P.A entertainment attorney, Brandon Blake, has more focus.

The Unique Sony Position

With more and more of the so-called ‘legacy’ studios launching their own streaming platforms, Sony has chosen to take a different position. One that involves licensing its compelling library of content to the highest bidder (or, rather, several). The company is on-record as seeing this as a unique selling proposition for their coveted titles, allowing them to remain agile (and in the black) in an era where many of the newer streaming platforms are struggling to reach profitability. So far, it is working well for them indeed.

The Mubi Deal

Mubi, which also acts as a distributor and has even ventured into the production arena of late, also offers a unique theatrical deal with its premium Mubi Go service, allowing for a free movie ticket each week for a selected film in key locations through the US. This has made it something of a darling with Indie distributors, who have seen an uptick in audiences from the offer. It currently offers its base plan to US markets for $12.99 a month, or $17.99 with the Mubi Go option. While we have no clear subscription numbers for them, they do suggest a ‘community’ figure of around 12M members.

The new deal will see them add to the 900+ titles already on their US service with 50 new additions from the Sony library, mostly studio and arthouse fare. They add one new movie to the platform daily. Each Sony title will receive its own window, with some going to immediate accessibility and others cycling onto the platform through the end of 2024. No doubt this new haul from Sony, which includes cult classics like Close Encounters of the Third Kind, will be a fantastic drawcard for the service.