Even Wall Street is sitting up and taking notice of the question marks hanging over Hulu and the buyout that must happen on one side by early 2024. Do either Comcast or Disney really need Hulu? Is there a middle ground to hit? While everything remains very much up in the air, our resident expert entertainment attorney from Blake & Wang P.A, Brandon Blake, takes a look at all thoughts.

The Disney Shakeup

The return of Bob Iger to the Disney helm certainly throws a wrench in any previous predictions about Disney and Hulu. It’s clear he wants to return to building core Disney brands, like Marvel and Pixar, and put some focus back on their kid’s entertainment. Is a generic adult brand a boost for those plans, or just some split focus? They’re being coy for now, as we can expect with a multi-billion dollar deal looming soon. Should Disney bite, they can expect to part with at least $9B- which may be too much in the current landscape.While the previous leadership were hot on the integration of Hulu and its prospects, now they seem much more ambivalent. Comcast is likewise keeping its cards close to its chest.

A Third Way

It’s true that there’s not really a third logical party to offload Hulu onto, other than Disney and Comcast. And while Hulu’s subscriber numbers are less than a third of Disney+, their average revenue per user came in at nearly double that of Disney+. There’s also a strong argument that, behind Netflix and YouTube, it’s the No 3 streaming service in the US for time spent connected. Yet Hulu has very little content that makes it to the most watched lists.

Disney could potentially put ESPN on the table for a deal, which actually carries a lot of logic, solving issues for both businesses. But Disney seems reluctant to lose the sports-streaming platform. Could we see a renewed partnership restructure instead? While it’s an outlier scenario, it’s gained some strength with Wall Street of late, with a 50/50 venture being tabled as an idea.

For now, it remains up in the air. But we need some clarity soon- that deadline is looming fast.

Experienced-based pricing. It sounds quite evocative on paper. However, with many of the larger theatrical chains still struggling to balance their books after the tough years of the pandemic, one does have to wonder how wise pricing up the best seats in the house really is- when the lure of a seat at home is still strongly competitive. Brandon Blake, our inside expert and entertainment attorney at Blake & Wang P.A, unpacks this surprising development.

Sightline at AMC

Launched as ‘Sightline at AMC’ on February 10th, the new program will inflate ticket prices based on how favorable a seat location is within the theater. While it is only trialing in certain key AMC locations, it is expected to roll out to all AMC Theaters which allow reserved seating by the end of the year. There’s three tier options:

Standard Sightline (common seats, which keep the ‘traditional’ pricing)
Value Sightline (for front row seats and certain ADA-compliant seating, with a price reduction if you have AMC Stubs membership)
Preferred Sightline (premium costing for premium seats in the theater)

While AMC Stubs A-list members can keep traditional pricing for these seats, everyone else can expect a $1-$2 price rise. We can already see a $2 premium for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania in effect.

Attractive or Anti-social?

There has been sufficient recovery in the domestic theatrical market to show that the idea of a film as a ‘night out’ is strong with audiences. Despite the allure of watching from your couch on streaming, people still want to experience the full effect of theatrical releases. However, when there’s already ‘convenience charges’ on advanced ticket purchases, is another price increase really going to help their recovery? This will, of course, be the million dollar question. I guess we just wait and see for now.

Australia will be the next country to impose local content quotas on platforms hoping to operate within the company, reportedly to prevent local content being ‘drowned out’ by Hollywood fare. Blake & Wang P.A entertainment lawyer, Brandon Blake, unpacks the details.

The Revive Policies

The new quota forms part of a wider national policy, nicknamed ‘Revive’, and is set to come into effect by no later than July 1st, 2024. For now the details are slim on the ground, and there’s little clarity about the expected percentage of local content that must be produced/distributed by streaming services operating in the country’s borders. We can assume there’s some room being left for further negotiations. Key genre’s being targeted include scripted drama, children’s programming, and documentaries.

Existing Content

Key players in the streaming industry- Netflix and Disney+ prominent among them- have already begun a swing into locally made and targeted content for their streaming platforms globally, Australia included, so the news of new quotas is unlikely to upset the boat too much. In fact, Netflix netted itself a global break-out with its Aussie-focused Heartbreak High revival last year.

Globally, more people are consuming streaming content than ever before, and mostly at the expense of traditional and local broadcasters that would have been more inclined to carry locally made content. The Australian subscription market currently lies in the area of $1.7B annual revenue. The Australian entertainment industry has been lobbying for a content quota for larger streamers for several years already, with most hoping to see 20% of revenue spent on local content. Easier said than done, however, given the many local and international partnerships in play in the area- it could be difficult to even pin down exactly what ‘Australian content’ is, honestly.

Until Q3 of this year, the consultation process will remain open, but the final product is expected to contain required revenue spend amounts, carriage quotas for Australian content on all platforms, and more stringent requirements for certain genres.

Despite its recent lack of favor with Oscar voters, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery has managed to break yet another US streaming record according to Nielsen data. In the charts for Dec 26- January 1st, its first full streaming week, it continues to rack up exceptional amounts of views (and beg the question of whether it should have been left on theatrical release longer, too). Blake & Wang P.A entertainment lawyer, Brandon Blake, has the facts and figures.

Most-Streamed Movie in a Week

At a very hefty 2.9B minutes viewed, it not only holds the top spot for the week, but has surpassed Wonder Woman 1984 and Hocus Pocus 2 to hold two of the top ten spots for most-streamed movies in one week. That’s certainly a victory for Netflix!

Wednesday retains its third place spot at 1.66B, still lagging behind Jack Ryan, which took the number 2 spot for another week. Emily in Paris and yellowstone also racked up a billion or more minutes viewed, at 1.4B and 1B respectively.

Yellowstone Milestone

While the number 5 spot isn’t immediate grounds for celebration, it’s worth noting that this is the first billion minute break for Yellowstone. With no new episode on-air on Paramount’s Networks, there’s clear evidence some of that can be attributed to binge watching- you can see the seasons peak sequentially in viewing over the Christmas holidays, so viewers were busy with the back catalog. Solid evidence, if more was needed, that keeping older seasons accessible to viewers is a solid strategy.

To finish out the Nielsen Top 10 for this particular week, we see Noah Centineo’s The Recruit just miss the mark at 953M minutes, and Netflix continues to dominate. Slots 6-10 were all Netflix properties- think Cocomelon, The Witcher: Blood Origin, Matilda the Musical, and Treason

It’s nice to see Glass Onion get some public traction, and with more and more streaming entities crossing the 1B minutes viewed mark, doubtless we can expect some more records to fall in 2023.

Netflix’s quarterly results have been a headline-hogger in 2022, and mostly for the wrong reasons. As we see them deliver an impressive rebound on subscription numbers in Q4 of 2022, they still have only lackluster financial gains to offer. Our industry expert and entertainment lawyer with Blake & Wang P.A, Brandon Blake, breaks it down further.

7.66M New Subscribers Globally

With the company taking substantial dings in their share price in Q1 and Q2 for subscriber losses, the addition of 7.66M new subscribers globally, for a cumulative total of 230.75M, isn’t to be sniffed at. Especially when Netflix itself was only anticipating 4.5M and Wall Street only stretched it to 5M.

Much of this can be tied to the launch of their new ad-supported programming tier, which joined their stable in November. 

Lackluster Financials

Accompanying this boost, however, was some rather dingy financials. Earnings per share totaled just 12c, from $7.52B in revenue and only a net income of $55M. If you’re taking notes, that’s the lowest since 2016. It’s not far off Wall Street predictions, which was $7.85B- but that EPS figure was anticipated to be 45c. Netflix themselves originally predicted 36c and $163M in net income. The company was keen to blame dollar depreciation against the Euro for much of its woes. 

They did meet their internal revenue estimate, giving operating profit of $550M over $330M. It’s tough not to compare that EPS to 2021’s Q4 $1.33. Nor can we ignore that the downturn in their stock price earlier this year all happened against a much stronger balance sheet, too. 

However, they did also produce a very strong slate for Q4, with Dahmer: Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story and Wednesday doing incredibly well, The Crown holding strong, and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery all attracting a lot of attention.   

Overall, it was a mixed bag. Where to from here? It’s impossible to say, so let’s just look to Q1 for now.

The buzz from the Berlin Film Festival is always strong, and the Berlinale Special Program typically attracts wide interest across the industry. This week we see 8 more strong contenders added to the lineup. Brandon Blake, entertainment lawyer from Blake & Wang P.A, shares the news.

Golda and Others

A key focus among the 8 new additions will no doubt be Embankment’s Golda, a biopic-lite based on Golda Meir’s decisions during the so-called Yom Kippur War of 1973. We also see Netflix’s Kill Boksoon, starring Cannes Best Actress (2007) Jeon Do-Yeon take a spot in the lineup.
Last Night of Amore, which follows a retiring police lieutenant whose last case will be that of the murder of a friend during a high-stakes heist, nets another spot. Massimo Troisi: Somebody Down There Likes Me, Sun and Concrete, Mad Fate, Talk To Me, and Der vermessene Mensch will finish the roster of new additions.

New Forum Titles

In addition to the expanded Berlinale Special Program lineup, we have also had confirmation on the Forum section. This will include quite an interesting piece indeed. I Heard It through the Grapevine, the 1982 documentary by Dick Fontaine and James Baldwin will snag a spot. It has recently been restored through the Harvard Film Archive. With 11 other interesting titles, including two for Wanjiru Kinyanjui (The Battle of the Sacred Tree and A Lover & Killer of Colour), this is looking to be a can’t-miss section of the event. 
Other titles for the Forum section include:
Ein Herbst im Ländchen Bärwalde
Aufenthaltserlaubnis
I, Your Mother
Other than That, I’m Fine
All in Order
Oyoyo 
Black Head 
Mein Vater, der Gastarbeiter
The Devil Queen
Despite the return of most festivals to at least some kind of in-person presence in 2022, 2023 is shaping up to be the year we truly see a ‘taste of normality’ for the festival circuit. These latest additions to the Berlin lineup look fit to make it a great one indeed.

After a start that was sluggish to say the least, the momentum has truly picked up for James Cameron’s long-delayed Avatar sequel. Carrying forward a 2022 trend of revival for older franchises, the film has accelerated its performance massively in the opening weeks of 2023, managing to bust some box office records and take a spot on the Top 10 movies of all-time list. Blake & Wang P.A entertainment lawyer, Brandon Blake, fills us in.

7th of the Top 10

Now sitting at a global performance of $1.7B (and looking like it might feasibly reach the $2B needed to break even), Avatar: The Way of Water has blazed passed the 2019 The Lion King and 2015 Jurassic World to claim the number 7 spot on the top 10 for best performing pictures of all time. 

A remarkable $1.19B of this comes from the international box office, which has also made the sci-fi infused fantasy epic the highest-grossing overseas release of the pandemic era. This unseats Top Gun: Maverick, although Top Gun retains the title of 2022’s best performer- much of Avatar’s growth has come in the early weeks of 2023. This also pushes it into the To 5 offshore titles, behind only Titanic, Endgame and Infinity Wars from the Avengers franchise, and the original Avatar movie.

Boosting Sluggish Box Offices

No doubt the wider market is pleased to have Avatar 2 running currently, because there isn’t much else to dethrone it. This past weekend saw a 30% drop on the last frame recorded, with only the Puss in Boots spinoff and M3GAN offering any sort of competition at all.

For Avatar 2, China, Germany, France, Korea, and the UK remain its strongest international markets. Interestingly, it’s also become IMAX’s fourth biggest release ever. With some hope of at least breaking even for this massive movie undertaking now on the cards, we bet James Cameron is pleased.

With the 2022 entertainment playing field now all but in the bag, it seems Top Gun: Maverick is the gift that won’t stop giving. After a stellar performance in theaters, it opened to a new record on Paramount+, too. Our local entertainment attorney, Brandon Blake of Blake & Wang P.A, unpacks this new record for us.

Paramount+ Record

Top Gun: Maverick now officially beats out Sonic the Hedgehog’s premier weekend record to take the title of most-watched film to debut on the streaming service. And it’s not by a small percentile, either- it tops Sonic by 60%. Sadly Paramount haven’t revealed exact viewership numbers for either, however. 

A Smart Revisit

Let’s give the achievement a small nod towards the marketing department, too. Paramount has the sense to revive the original Top Gun movie in the weeks leading up to the sequel’s debut on the service, and kept a Tom Cruise weekend theme going with replays of Mission Impossible, too. Both can be seen as a smart way to bolster their flagship launch, and it’s a worthy strategy to keep audience’s minds fresh and focused. Coincidently, this also saw a 400% boost for viewership on the original, and about 140% for the Mission Impossible franchise. We saw something very similar happen earlier this year with Game of Thrones on HBO Max, which saw a solid revival in anticipation of the launch of House of the Dragon that even managed to propel the old series onto the Nielsen top 10 viewership stats for a while.

Is this the resounding victory for Paramount’s ‘multi-platform’ release strategy as they claim? Well, at least they have the sense to see that a smart and well-marketed theatrical release can be a massive drawcard for subsequent streaming viewings. That’s a lesson a few other streamers need to learn, so let’s give them the kudos for it.

L.A, New York….New Jersey? Odd as it sounds, it looks like there could be a new filming hub in the making, and it’s not anywhere you might have predicted! With the news that Netflix and Lionsgate will both now be investing in permanent studio space in the production-friendly state, this is certainly one to watch. Entertainment attorney and local expert, Brandon Blake of Blake & Wang P.A, dives deeper into this new trend.

Lucrative Tax Incentives

A key part of this shift is, of course, the rather compelling tax incentives on offer under the state’s film tax credit scheme, which is being further expanded to draw more high-profile projects to the area. Offering 30-35% offsets, and extended until 2034, it’s a compelling reason to look at the state. As part of this attempt to lure more shoots to the state, Lionsgate has now been granted ‘Studio Partner’ designation. This builds on them becoming the anchor tenant for Lionsgate Newark Studios, operated by Robert Halmi’s Great Point Studios. They will be able to offset qualifying above-the-line wages and some other costs associated with using high-cost creatives and talent. While Lionsgate Newark Studios will be the first purpose-built studio constructed in the area, it won’t be the last, either.

Netflix Unveils Major Plans

We’ve also heard Netflix unveil plans for one of the biggest full-integration production facilities globally, to be constructed in Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. This project will rework a former military base, and about $850M in investment is planned. There will be 12 soundstages, production facilities, and a backlot. The plans were approved last Wednesday, and now must pass the Governor and a 3-6 month due diligence period, as well as some local approvals.

This will give Netflix an East Coast production hub in an area with strong crew availability- and, of course, those tax incentives. Strangely, Netflix has yet to leverage those on a production. Should the New Jersey hub go ahead, it could generate between 1,400- 2,200 jobs, and a tremendous influx of dollars into the area.

At this time of year, it’s common to see platforms and production houses make announcements of their plans and focuses for the upcoming New Year. Peacock, which occupies an unenviable position where it’s a little too small to play in the big leagues, but doing better than other smaller streamers, has announced some changes to its 2023 development strategies. Brandon Blake, entertainment lawyer at Blake & Wang P.A, fills us in.

Considerable Change to Date

With the pandemic rather forcing the infant streamer’s hand, Peacock launched with a slate mostly comprised of original comedies and repurposed dramas from NBCUniversal’s linear networks. Interestingly, none of these shows are still on the platform.

And now 2023 will be the first year we see a full slate of originals for the streamer. They’re shifting their focus to eventized series, especially in the drama niche, while retaining so-called ‘bingeable’ comedies. True Crime, a genre that’s risen in popularity alongside the booming podcast trend, will also feature heavily. Celebrity-driven shows and docu-series will round out their unscripted offerings. 

Changed Balance

This is likely indicative of the fact that their original comedy series haven’t really built market traction. The new strategy brings about 67% of development focus onto dramas, based on feedback from their increased user base and engagement. 

While not yet able to compare itself to market leaders like Disney or Netflix, Peacock has had a very good year. They’ve more than doubled their paid subscriber base, ending the year at 18M, and have 30M monthly active accounts on the platform. Weekly engagement sits at 20 hours. They’ve also managed to make inroads into live event broadcasting, and pulled some popular films, alongside some solid content deals. We’ve even seen them inch into Nielsen’s ratings for the first time. 

Will the next Rings of Power, House of the Dragon, or Stranger Things spring from Peacock? They certainly seem to think so.