As promised in September this year, AMC has announced it will be accepting cryptocurrency payments through its online access points for tickets and other goods. A novel development for the movie industry overall, for sure. We asked Brandon Blake, entertainment attorney at Blake & Wang P.A, for further details.

A range of cryptocurrencies

Acceptable cryptocurrencies include Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash, alongside ever-popular Bitcoin and Ethereum. This comes alongside the introduction of PayPal, Google Pay, and Apple Pay as acceptable options as well. Apparently, plans are in place to further extend the range of acceptable cryptocurrencies, with even troll-currency Dogecoin to possibly be onboarded at some point. This in itself can be seen as rather ironic, as we have the company that became the first meme stock become a leader in the push to take the original meme coin seriously. 

In the first week since the announcement, they have reportedly seen 14% of online payments use the new payment methods. While there’s no official breakdown of the numbers, we can only assume the majority of that comes from the payment services and not the crypto, which some investors see as a bit of a gimmick. Perhaps we are wrong, however.

Reinvention after the meme stock rebirth

AMC was extended a most unusual lifeline on the brink of bankruptcy last year, as an ‘army’ of day traders sent the stock soaring instead of allowing its manipulated demise. While some businesses would shy away from the ‘meme stock’ status this has earned, the AMC CEO, Adam Aron, has embraced it, even floating the notion of the company offering its own cryptocurrency and NFTs both. 

Is this unusual move a serious part of the plan to bounce back from the company’s financial problems? While that remains to be seen, it’s an interesting move, and one we will follow closely.

In the anniversary year for the first of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, perhaps it’s fitting to see Peter Jackson’s tech assets, bundled as Weta Digital, pass over to Unity Films. With an outstanding $1.6B in cash and stocks on the table, we turned to our entertainment lawyer and business expert, Brandon Blake of Blake & Wang P.A, for greater insight.

Iconic films

Weta is, of course, best known as the New Zealand vFx house that brought Lord of the Rings to life, alongside James Cameron’s Avatar, as well as some work on Shang-Chi more recently. Surprisingly, their vFx business will be separated into WetaFx, staying the course with their movie work.

Unity is best known for their gaming engine, now being widely repurposed for virtual production entertainment content, including a proprietary cloud system. With the Weta acquisition, they will acquire both proprietary tech and the 275 engineers who know it best, including unique facial capture technology, the Loki physics-simulation tools for smoke and water, and the ‘Barbershop’ hair and fur system. Prem Akkaraju, Weta Digital CEO since 2020, will remain in the post for WetaFx, with their CTO, Joe Marks, moving with the Weta Digital name under the Unity banner. 

Tech-entertainment crossover

In a time where we’re seeing more entertainment companies onboard tech assets, it’s intriguing to see the asset separation flow the other way. It’s been widely assumed that this tech acquisition by Unity will be leveraged for greater prominence in the entertainment industry, possibly beginning yet another tech giant crossover into the entertainment business through VR. In the meantime, Weta Fx will continue their work on the Avatar sequels. 

The deal is anticipated to be finalized by the end of the year, with a swift, if likely unexciting, asset handover expected. We will be watching further developments from this intriguing split with interest. 

It appears Lionsgate Entertainment is officially considering whether or not to let go of its pay-TV and streaming business (Starz), separating it entirely from its studio operations. Thursday last week we saw them complete a regulatory filing tied to their Q3 earnings regarding the separation, yet they don’t seem to have a buyer in mind- openly, at least. We reached out to a well-known entertainment lawyer with Blake and Wang P.A for more details. 

The decision was officially put to the board on Nov 2nd, 2021, and authorization to ‘explore potential capital markets alternatives’ was granted. The reasoning? It seems they would like to ‘unlock significant shareholder value’ by focusing on the two entities separately. This does seem fairly contrary to the ‘operational benefits’ we were told would be seen from their close partnership just a few years ago. Apparently, the envisioned separation will not affect this synergistic relationship, however, although it’s also currently not entirely clear how this is expected to happen in capital terms. 

Perhaps much closer to the truth, it’s also been cited that they’re not receiving equity value from the investment they’ve plowed into Starz, especially on the international front. Lionsgate acquired Starz 5 years ago, paying $4.4B at the time. Currently, Starz is set up as a pay-TV channel (as we once saw with HBO) but there is an attempt underway to increase their streaming market share, as with so many other operators currently.

While it’s clear this deal is in its early stages, and it would appear there is no buyer in mind, the situation will be worth monitoring as it progresses. It’s unusual, in what’s becoming acknowledged as the era of streaming, to see a company so keen to lose its streaming asset, so Brandon Blake and the team will be interested to see how this develops further.

Disney + has been something of a darling of the post-pandemic streaming age, leaping to the forefront of streaming services despite being a relative neonate next to Netflix and others. Yet, despite this fast climb to the top and a solid, if unexciting Q3 result, we’re finally seeing some push back on claimed growth potential from Wall Street investors. Entertainment lawyer with Blake & Wang P.A, Brandon Blake, guides us through the details.  

Ambitious 2024 targets

Financial observers are calling into question the projected subscriber growth target for 2024 of 230 million to 260 million subscribers. The streaming giant currently sits at 116 million paying subscribers globally, an impressive gain in a little more than a year of operation. 

Despite this boom, we’ve seen downgrades on the previously bullish sentiment around Disney. Q3 gains suggest ‘low single-digit millions’ for new subscriber growth, where Wall Street sentiments would have needed around 17 million to deliver on previous optimism.

Reasonable growth

Of course, there are good reasons for the slow uptake. Indian subscriber growth slowed after it was announced the cricket season (streamed on Disney in India) would not go ahead. There have also been delays to their Latin American rollout, and other recent production delays. 

However, analysts feel this is indicative of a longer-term pattern. In particular, they highlight a need for greater content spending and a need to onboard older households if Disney+ is to thrive. This has seen downgrades in predicted share price ranging from $13 (to $203 from Barclays) to $35 (to $175 from Barclays). 

To meet their ambitious milestone, Disney + would need to more than double its current growth pace, which would bring it into line with Netflix’s current expansion rate. Can it be done? We’ve seen weirder things happen. For now, however, it seems Wall Street isn’t convinced. 

With 3rd quarter numbers ow being released, how as HBO Max fair after its controversial exit from Amazon Prime Video earlier this year? We turned to Brandon Blake, a skilled entertainment lawyer with decades of experience in the entertainment business, for his analysis of the stats.

As expected, domestic subscribers took a heavy loss with the parting of ways. We see roughly 1.8M US subscriptions lost- compensated for by a 1.9M rise in international subscribers. The telecom giant also reported overall revenue just shy of $40B, a reduction of 6%. This is being pinned on the divestiture of DirecTV, however, not the Amazon Prime exit itself. Interestingly, earnings per share doubled from 2020. Earnings topped average estimates, while the overall revenue figures are either spot-on predictions or ever-so-slightly below. 

Overall, these are not bad statistics, especially given the withdrawal. At this time last year, they sat at 38M subscribers domestically, showing a very sluggish start heavily impacted by the virus. NOr do they see the action slowing- it was also announced that they expect to meet the high end of their 70M/73M subscriber target by the end of the year. This is based mostly on high uptake in recently-launched Latin American services, and anticipation of growth through Spanish and Nordic territories later this year.

Of course, even the revised growth is half that predicted for Disney+. Yet, it’s still pretty impressive in a market that Disney and Netflix have in a chokehold. The exit from pay-TV also means they can further develop their AVOD tier, as it negates the inability to offer discounted tiers. It’s also worth remembering that many customers who were paying for HBO simply received HBO max subscriptions by default at the switch.

All in all, these figures are not bad at all in a year where many have struggled to reach growth. The Blake & Wang P.A team will be watching this service carefully as it grows further.

Did anyone predict a global streamer taking over a stalwart of the exhibition industry? While it may not have been a prediction for the year, it’s now a reality. We asked Blake & Wang P.A’s Brandon Blake for more details.

Together with Caruso, Netflix will be reopening the Bay Theater in Palisades Village. This legendary venue was forced into closure during the pandemic, and Cinépolis, the previous leaseholder, declined to reopen. This is, of course, not Netflix’s first theater, with the Paris in NYC already in operation and the Egyptian Theater planned to reopen next year in conjunction with American Cinematheque.

The Bay Theater will reopen from October 22nd with some tempting films and free screenings for two family-orientated pictures, no doubt hoping to boost their community profile. They’re certainly pushing to be seen as a family-focused location. It seems it won’t quite go back into full-time operation, but Netflix will be using it for theatrical releases of its productions as well as classic film screenings (in 35mm, even), and special events, which is far preferable to losing a historic exhibition venue. For the opening weeks, free concessions will doubtless prove a drawcard for families, too. 

The Bay Theater has a history littered with closures and reopenings. From it’s 1948 design, it was shuttered in 1978, to become a hardware store. Caruso were instrumental in its 2018 reopening with luxury seating and a full restoration of the original design. While the pandemic may have put a thorn in its path, it’s good to see the venue reopen and, hopefully, thrive. 

In a way, association with a streamer could prove to be a grace for the historic venue, especially if their plans for live appearances and Q&As pay off, which could bring substantial community investment in the theater. As always, our local entertainment lawyer will keep an eye on further developments.

After a remarkable international opening, No Time to Die is heading to the domestic Box Office. It was predicted to open to at least $60M domestically, and made a conservative and slightly disappointing $56M, far below the enthusiastic predictions of $100M that were bandied around. Any future success hinges on whether theaters can lure the older adult demographic that Bond plays well to into the theater. How likely is that, given a lackluster opening? Entertainment attorney Brandon Blake analyzes everything for us.

Internationally, we saw the older adult demographic practically stampede to the theater for Daniel Craig’s last Bond outing. Especially in the UK, where ‘Bondmania’ is the strongest. It has, in fact, crossed the $300M mark internationally this weekend. 

We can benchmark No Time to Die’s opening against Spectre’s $70.4M, and Venom 2’s remarkable $90M. Why has there been less theatrical traction for No Time to Die? Spectre’s domestic opening stats tell us the audience was 29% over 45 and 15% over 55. 62% were male and 75% over 25. And therein lies the answer.

While all ages have enjoyed Venom 2, the Marvel offerings from Sony and Disney alike have heavy traction in younger demographics and among Hispanic audiences. Those same younger demographic have been eager to return to theaters. The older Caucasian males that traditionally make up Bond audiences? Not so much, at least in the U.S.

All the same, while the film didn’t make its lofty record-breaking predictions, let’s not detract too much from a solid opening. It’s the widest Bond release to date in the U.S and Canada, too. For a much-anticipated film that’s had its release date messed around a lot, and a remarkable global release, it’s doing well. Will it have the pulling power to coax this much-needed demographic back to domestic theaters? That remains to be seen, but it’s got the best chances of anything on the 2021 release slate to date.