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.

With Studio City Toronto now under the banner of Canadian production equipment rental giant, William F. White International, after a fierce bidding war, the race to acquire and own soundstage space is hotter than ever. Blake & Wang P.A entertainment lawyer, Brandon Blake, takes a closer look at this new deal.

Undisclosed Deal

While the precise terms of the deal have not (yet) been made public, the iconic studio complex that has hosted pictures as varied as Spotlight and My Big Fat Greek Wedding over its long history is reported to have launched a bidding war for its 148,000 square foot space. With this acquisition, William F. White International now owns a whopping 1.55 million square feet of production space across Canada. This also brings Studio City Rentals under their banner, too. 

Built in 1988 and once part of Showline Studios, the complex was acquired by the City of Toronto in 2017. In 2018, it was allocated to Studio City Rentals under the new name, Studio City Toronto, with three new soundstages commissioned.

Production Space Wars

We’ve seen demand for soundstage space soar this year, both as streaming demands put production cycles into hyperdrive and as the need for cost-effective filming solutions to combat the effects of inflation on the entertainment market rise. Canada has become a popular filming destination over the past year, too, with appealing tax incentives and proximity to the US both making it a sought-after destination.

While this may be a near-historic location, we’ve also seen a studio construction boom hit both Toronto and Vancouver, with over $1.5B of new investments under development. It’s certainly a positive space to be in at the moment, and it will be interesting to see these revamps and new developments unveiled over the next few years.

Despite an overall improvement in Box Office prospects in 2022, the overall mood of the theatrical release model is still in flux. For cinemas, pulling a film like Glass Onion 2 from the screens a week into a highly successful run is a bad move, no questions asked. After its surprisingly successful run from a production house and streamer not exactly known for theatrical releases (Netflix), is it really all that stupid, however? Our resident Entertainment Lawyer Los Angeles, Brandon Blake, from Blake & Wang P.A, examines how this highly truncated theatrical run works out overall.

Records Set

Netflix has been notoriously theatrical-release shy since the beginning. Glass Onion 2 may make them revisit that overall. Not only does its $15M in domestic gross alone position it in a comfortable number 2 spot (behind, of course, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), it also represents not only their widest theatrical release ever, but also their strongest theatrical takings, with grosses doubling expectation. For it to now disappear for almost a month, until it resurfaces on the streamer on December 23rd, seems ridiculous at first glance. And with nothing solid to replace it in cinemas currently, that’s certainly true on the theater side. Has Netflix left all that money in the wind as it seems, however?

A Large Planned Preview

Despite the solidity of that $15M, it’s a fraction of what this film has the potential to do in theatrical release. But Netflix has always used what theatrical runs it does give us as a marketing tool, a kind of splashy trailer to drive hype for their streaming products. Offering such a small sample for an undoubtedly popular film, then delaying gratification further with a long gap, is a gamble that could net them more subscribers and more eyes on the final product- its run on their streaming service. With no time to lag, viewers saw the theatrical release in ideal conditions with a strong audience at each showing. Word of mouth should be solid. It will qualify for such awards as it has potential to bring home. And it kept an air of near-exclusivity.

It’s  a gamble, yes, but one that could pay off well for the streamer in the end. The ultimate expression, if you will, of how theatrical boosts streaming. In the end, it could see more Netflix productions in-theater and other streamers following suit, too. For now, we can only wait and see.

If there’s one thing that the post-pandemic recovery period has made clear, it’s that theatrical releases are far from dead. In fact, we’ve seen compelling evidence that for many productions, a combined theatrical-streaming release plan can be the best performing option. It seems Amazon has gone all-in on that idea, as we see them pledge to spend a whopping $1B in theatrical release productions per annum. Brandon Blake, entertainment lawyer and industry expert with Blake & Wang P.A, has all the details for us.

Cinema Stocks Rise

As can be expected on the back of a rather large spending pledge, we saw cinema stocks rise on the back of the news that Amazon intends to release 12-15 theatrical films a year starting in 2023. Additionally, some Amazon insiders suggest this number could rise in coming years. No doubt some of these will be produced under the MGM banner now it falls under Amazon leadership- they were fairly clear about their intent to keep the Hollywood powerhouse producing movies. 

Trend Reversal

As we see more and more key streaming studios make a push into the theatrical landscape, it’s hard not to remember the early pandemic backlash from key players- yes, Netflix, this does mean you- against the idea of theatrical releases at all. At best, we were seeing a push for a model with very truncated theatrical releases before the push onto the associated streamers.

However, as this year has amply demonstrated, we’ve seen streamers reevaluate this stance. Theatrical releases have proven a key player in the overall marketing cycle for properties, offering better ‘hype’ and visibility for key releases and a notable way to distinguish them from the never-ending content churn feeding the gaping streaming maw. With Apple+ TV also making inroads into the space with an enthusiastic embrace of the theatrical with streaming model, we will doubtless see even more support for theatrical releases in years to come.

Quentin Tarentino is hardly known for conformist opinions. However, he has been a very vocal naysayer of the current swing to ‘big brand’ cinema offerings above the more creative pieces and boutique viewing experiences we once saw dominate the industry. Weighing in on the future of the theatrical experience, he had some interesting opinions to offer- and entertainment lawyer and industry expert, Blake & Wang’s Brandon Blake, has the gist of the argument.

A Four Year Window

Despite this year’s clear swing back in favor of the theatrical experience, he suggests that it is the next four years, and how cinemas adapt to the changed climate, that will solidify how cinema survives in the streaming generation. Surprisingly, he seems to put his money on boutique chains, not big brands, to win the battle. Of course, he is hardly a completely impartial observer, given he himself owns the historic New Beverly cinema in L.A.

There’s certainly some value in the idea that ‘boutique’ individual cinemas and chains can remain more adaptable and versatile in an unsteady climate, but whether such a lofty prediction will hold weight long-term is questionable. We’ve seen big chains and boutique cinemas alike struggle to recover the lost ground of the pandemic, with the smaller ‘big’ chains seeming to fare the best in this year’s recovery.

The Content Question

He also took a- perhaps earned- dig at the rise of Netflix-style originals, calling them a ‘TV show of sorts’ despite their feature-length format. Of course, this is hardly the first streaming dig from the director, and he’s even on record as calling the streaming era ‘depressing’. Presumably in an attack on the lack of ‘artistic’ movies and the current focus on IP franchises and superhero-style movies. Given he has made some streaming deals recently, one could take it as a little hypocritical- but he is likely not wrong in the fact that some ‘worthier’, or at least more individual, fare will be needed to ensure the continued health of streaming and cinema alike. The current trend of sticking with the ‘tried and true’ certainly cannot sustain the film industry forever, but is understandable as we still struggle to fully recover from pandemic setbacks. 

Overall, it’s an interesting, if rather controversial, take on the state of the current movie industry. Will he prove right? Only time can tell.

As is rather fitting for a much-anticipated release, The Fabelmans, the first Stephen Spielberg film in a long while, will be having a platform release through 4 NYC and LA locations before wider release. With marketing heavily skewed to pulling cinephiles into the theater while still attracting a wider audience, it’s a unique moment for the Oscar hopeful. Blake & Wang P.A entertainment attorney, Brandon Blake, takes a look.

Toronto Favorite

The release of semi-autobiographical The Fabelmans, also expected to see some Oscar nominations, has been eagerly awaited since its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this year. It’s been well received critically, and actually received the TIFF’s People’s Choice Award, too. The 4- cinema release strategy is intended to allow word-of-mouth to snowball, with a further 600 screen release across both arthouse and commercial theaters intended for later this month.

While some of Spielberg’s greats- think Schindler’s List, Lincoln, and The Post– used the same limited opening into wide release strategy, it is an unusual one for modern films.

Strong Media Campaign

We’ve seen a ton of media campaigning for this film, too, including hints that the director himself may grace some of the early red carpets. From Spielburg and cast alike hitting up everything from CBS Sunday Morning to The Today Show, it has even popped up for a spot on connected TV takeovers with Amazon, Samsung, and Roku. It certainly doesn’t have the easiest release date, with the early screenings overlapping directly with the premier of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which will doubtless still be pulling in strong audiences at the later, larger rollout too. We also see a ton of strong festival favorites and Oscar hopefuls launching now, from Tar and Triangle of Sadness to The Banshees of Inisherin and Aftersun. Perhaps the hype generated by the novel release vehicle will help push it to some prominence.