Hollywood financier/producer MRC says it won't proceed with a Kanye West documentary.
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Lucas Shaw
@Lucas_Shaw
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Joined June 2011
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Netflix saw the Selena Gomez HBO show and said “I want one!”
Everything Everywhere All At once, an R-rated movie with no superheroes, no "stars" and no real genre, posted the highest per-screen average of any movie this year.
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I have obtained internal documents disclosing the cost and financial performance of several Netflix shows.
The Dave Chappelle special cost $24.1M. "Sticks & Stones" cost $23.6M. Both of those specials cost more than an entire season of Squid Game.
The biggest boy band on the planet is taking a break.
Adam McKay tells the real reason his partnership with Will Ferrell ended. Rare to see a Hollywood big shot be so candid about this sort of thing.
vanityfair.com/hollywood/2021
Universal Music Group’s 10:22PM is turning 4 NFTs into a music group. It will perform in the Metaverse (and maybe real life).
This Dave Chappelle special has caused the greatest worker uproar inside Netflix I can remember. Here is a story about the tension between the streaming giant and its workers.
Bad Bunny appeared in the Spotify top 100 the last two months more than Harry Styles, Drake, Kendrick Lamar, and Olivia Rodrigo combined.
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Netflix employees basically never speak out of turn or share internal documents. That they chose to in this case speaks to the frustration felt by many of them.
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The special generated about $19M in value. It is less efficient (0.8x) than Bo Burnham.
Both figures would suggest it lost money. But that is not how Netflix calculates. (Netflix says Chappelle's specials are its most watched specials.)
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Members of Netflix's black and trans employee groups met with Netflix leadership after Chappelle's previous special (Sticks & Stones) to discuss the transphobic remarks.
They agreed they would be more careful in the future. So this special has employees *Very upset*
New: Movie critics and fans have disagreed about blockbusters more this year than any time this century.
I went through the top 10 movies from every year for the past 22 years, and this is what I found.
bloomberg.com/news/newslette
It’s now been 4 days since deleted my account because I shared my own article about . A very small window into what SWs (and many other creators) have to deal with on a daily basis.
Riot Games, the publisher of video games League of Legends and Valorant, has hired former Netflix executive Brian Wright to lead its entertainment studio.
Worlds... colliding.
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Netflix trans employees plan to stage a walkout next week, as first reported by .
The company will also host activist Alok Vaid-Menon next week.
The two most popular shows this year on the biggest TV network in the world are in French and Korean. Sometimes I think we lose sight of how insane that would have sounded 10 years ago.
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Some news: Netflix employees raised several red flags with the special ahead of its release. Ted Sarandos and Bela Bajaria decided to release it as is.
There are only 2 musicians who still sell albums in the US: Adele and Taylor Swift.
Profits at the biggest entertainment companies fell almost 90% over the last decade (from $23.4B to $2.6B).
Revised numbers from the last newsletter (cc )
bloomberg.com/news/newslette
Bad Bunny now has the second, third and sixth highest-grossing concerts in history.
People spend more time watching YouTube on a TV than Amazon, Disney+ and HBO max combined. And that’s just on a TV.
New: The creators of South Park have signed a new six-year deal with that will pay them $900M, one of the biggest talent deals in Hollywood.
This is demonstrably false.
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Tucker Carlson's main message tonight: "A person who is intent on committing violence is very hard to stop under any circumstances. An act of Congress isn't going to do it. Neither will gun control."
1:04
Netflix projects the first season of Squid Game will generate almost $900M in value. It cost just $21.4M to produce.
Pretty hard to discourage leaking when you, the owner, give outsiders unfettered access to company documents.
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NEW: Elon Musk is threatening to sue Twitter employees who leak confidential information to the press. He's asking staffers to sign a pledge indicating they've understood. Here's the email:
Barbie now tracking to an opening of $160M in the US.
Oppenheimer at $75M.
Sound of Freedom may outdo Mission Impossible.
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Netflix employees have asked leaders dozens of questions on an internal messaged board about the special. Here is what Reed Hastings said in response:
I have a new(ish) job.
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.@Lucas_Shaw named team leader for media, telecom and entertainment coverage at @business: talkingbiznews.com/they-talk-biz-
HBO is firing about 70 people in its programming division, or 14% of staff.
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The Grammys handed out 77 awards already. Nine remain. They are:
Record of the Year
Song of the Year
Album of the Year
Best New Artist
Best Pop Duo/Group Performance
Best Pop Vocal Album
Best R&B Album
Bet Country Album
Best Rap Performance
If you want to buy every major streaming service, it will now cost you about $100.
H/t
Draymond Green hosted a podcast while winning a fourth NBA title. It was raw, smart and very popular.
I spoke with about his show, and about what makes Draymond sports media’s next big star.
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The per screen average has dipped since this movie went wide, but it's grossed $18M to-date.
It's the classic A24 "hit." Not a hit by the mega standards of modern Hollywood. But very much a hit by the standards of the indie box office.
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Fans and critics agree more often than not. The average difference in their ratings is about 5 points.
This year? It is 19. Here are the 10 highest-grossing movies of 2022.
bloomberg.com/news/newslette
Amazon's CEO asked his Hollywood studio to provide detailed analyses of budgets for some of its most expensive projects.
For this week's newsletter, I wrote about the growing scrutiny of Amazon Studios as the retail giant cracks down on costs.
Netflix lost customers last quarter for the first time since 2011. It said it will lose another 2 million customers in the current quarter.
Story TK.
Contrary to Twitter opinion, Netflix accounts for about 75% of the most watched programs on streaming so far this year (in the US), per Nielsen.
bloomberg.com/news/newslette
Americans spend more time watching Pluto TV than Peacock, Apple TV+ or Paramount+.
You would not guess that from media coverage.
Rihanna is going to announce a new tour, as soon as this week.
From what I’m told, she’s copying the Harry Styles/Adele model. Residencies in one or more cities, as opposed to a new stop every few days.
Fun scoop: Netflix is adding video games to its streaming service in the next year. Story w/. (full story online shortly) bloomberg.com/news/articles/
Barbie is going to be the second highest-grossing movie of the year, eclipsing all superhero movies.
This will be the second year in a row that there is no superhero movie in the top 2 at the global box office.
Scoop: Pat Sajak is stepping down as host of Wheel of Fortune after this next season.
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So what happened? I spoke with a few critics, including . They had a few theories.
One? Critics have grown tired of Marvel movies. The two released this year have received some of the worst reviews of any MCU movie ever.
bloomberg.com/news/newslette
Scoooop: Netflix is about to announce the biggest acquisition in company history.
Scoop: has selected a partner for its advertising service. It is .
Story on . Link TK.
There is a very hard solution for Netflix’s problem: make better shows.
I am excited people are going to the movies to see Barbie and Oppenheimer. But... these are the 13 highest-grossing movies of the year:
Video Game
Comic Book Sequel
Sequel
Comic Book Sequel
Reboot
Comic book sequel
Sequel
Sequel
Original animation
Sequel
Sequel
Sequel
Comic book
Super Mario is now on track to gross $195M domestically. It’s now a leading contender for biggest movie of the year.
It's pretty crazy that SiriusXM, a company with < 100 million listeners, generates more advertising revenue than Spotify, a company with 500M+.
Some Saturday night news: Real Netflix viewership data.
How many people have started Squid Game, how many people have finished it and how much Netflix thinks it will make from the Korean smash.
Netflix issued a statement first thing this morning on the employee walkout today.
A more conciliatory approach this week than in Ted Sarandos’ initial memos.
Joe Rogan has united Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young in a boycott of Spotify. Give the man a Grammy.
Emmy nominations by platform:
HBO 130
Netflix 129
Disney+ 71
NBC 46
Apple TV+ 34
CBS 26
Hulu 25
ABC 23
Amazon 18
After it’s biggest star was caught using racial slurs, Spotify said it would spend $100M to support creators from marginalized communities.
So far it’s spent < $10M on new projects.
Great piece from
Scoop: Netflix has ordered yet another sports docuseries. This one is about tennis. It started filming at this year’s Australian Open.
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Netflix says it is going to add a cheaper, advertising-supported tier in the next year or two.
(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
I am allowed to say that I have seen the trailers for the new season of succession, the Game of Thrones spin-off and new show about the LA Lakers. I’m not allowed to say what they contain, but they all look pretty darn good.
The dating app Bumble is about to open "a café and wine bar for daters, networkers, and friends."
People spend more time watching YouTube on a TV than ABC and CBS put together.
They spend more time watching Netflix on a TV than NBC and Fox combined.
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From my friendly source:
June primetime avg. viewership, Live+3 Day for linear TV, millions.
YouTube (no live TV) 4.8
Netflix 4.5
ABC 2.5
CBS 2.1
Hulu (no live TV) 2.0
NBC 1.8
Amazon Prime 1.8
Fox 1.5
Disney+ 1.1
Fox News 1.1
MSNBC 0.8
Max 0.8
Tubi 0.8
ION 0.7
Peacock 0.6
Jan. 30: Spotify assured everyone it has robust content guidelines.
Feb. 4: It removed 70 episodes of its biggest show after the public revealed the use of racial slurs.
Makes you wonder what else is on a platform with 3.6 million podcasts.
Apple says these are the most popular podcast channels under its new subscription program.
Note most of these companies distribute several shows.
The streaming competition split into tiers.
Must-have
Netflix
Disney
Amazon
Quality
HBO Max
It’s free!
Apple TV+
Still looking for a strategy
Paramount+
Peacock
Netflix faces its biggest challenge in a decade. I spent the last few months talking to employees, partners and rivals about how it got here and what comes next. For
South Korean girl group will headline Coachella tonight for the first time.
spoke with them ahead of a major moment in the history of K-pop.
HBO says the Game of Thrones scored the biggest debut ratings in company history.
I wrote about some of my favorite topics:
Streaming services, talent negotiations and BS arguments.
I interviewed the new co-CEOs of Netflix.
I went to Seoul last year to understand how a peninsula of 50M people is now producing more hit TV shows than any place but the US.
Thanks to everyone for the help.
The heads of almost every cable network at Warner Bros Discovery are leaving.
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FWIW there have been years where critics liked movies as much if not more than fans.
In 2005, the 10 biggest movies got higher scores from critics than fans.
Troublesome news for the Netflix bears, per :
It had 5 different shows hit 1B hours viewed in one week. 4 of the 5 were new originals.
New: is stepping aside as CEO of Netflix. He will remain chairman.
Greg Peters joins Ted Sarandos as co-CEO.
About 3M people pay for Peacock. That means it’s signed up fewer people in one year than Disney+ signed up in it’s first day. That and more from
The only people who know what we’re watching are the companies who make the shows. I wrote about why that is, and why it’s a problem.
ESPN is showing two different football broadcasts on ESPN/ESPN2 instead of devoting one to the Australian Open.
(And its tennis announcers aren't even in Melbourne.)
Big news in media land:
NBCU CEO Jeff Shell is leaving the company after a complaint of inappropriate conduct.
TV viewership fell 5% last month.
More importantly, Tubi is now as popular as Peacock and almost as popular as HBO Max.
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"Advertising is an exciting opportunity for us."
Something no Netflix executive has ever said before.
Netflix had lost about $130b in market value since November. This week’s newsletter explores why it’s happening, whether it matters and what it means for all of its competitors.
Linear TV's share of total TV viewing has dropped by 12% in the last two years and will soon slip below 50%.
(Netflix and YouTube will soon account for as much TV viewing as all the broadcast networks combined.)
I really need the writers guild and studios to work this shit out so we can get a third season of the bear.
News: Amazon plans to eventually release 12-15 movies a year in theaters at a cost of $1 billion or more.
It’s not going to happen right away, but this is the biggest commitment to theatrical movies by an internet company that we’ve seen.
Scoop: If you see an ad when you open TikTok, someone likely paid more than $1M for it. By the end of this year, it could cost more than $2M.
Wow: OnlyFans is getting out of the pornography business.
Scoop: Harry Potter is coming to TV.
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Critics’ least favorite franchise is Transformers. The movies have grossed $4.85 billion, but the critics have given every movie a score below 60. (The Bumblebee spinoff is an exception.)
bloomberg.com/news/newslette
Critics most-hated blockbusters:
Amazon has spent more than $350 million buying rights to podcasts over the last 12 months. I spoke to the heads of Amazon Music and Audible about their plans.
Let's wait to hold a eulogy for HBO Max until you know what's going to happen.