Hollywood
Disney pulls a Warner Bros, sets ‘Black Widow’ for simultaneous release
NEW DELHI: Taking a cue from rival Warner Bros, media & entertainment behemoth Disney has set its highly anticipated MCU outing Black Widow for a simultaneous release in cinema halls and on its premium streaming service, Disney+ Premier Access for an additional cost. After interminable delay due to the Covid2019 pandemic, Black Widow, which was initially supposed to come out last May, will now hit the big and small screen on 9 July.
With this announcement, Disney has also revealed its upcoming film Cruella will follow the same strategy, coming to theatres as well as Disney+ (via Premier Access) on 28 May. Also, Pixar’s animated movie Luca will now be skipping the silver screen and debut exclusively on Disney+ on 18 June.
The release dates of several other movies have also been pushed back – Ryan Reynolds-starrer Free Guy will now come to cinemas on 13 August, another MCU film Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is set for 3 September, while The King’s Man will drop on 22 December. The Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas thriller Deep Water will now come out on 14 January 2022 instead of its August release; Death on the Nile, the film adaptation of the Agatha Christie mystery featuring an ensemble case, is coming next 11 February, instead of this September.
While Marvel fans may be rejoicing at this piece of good news, the mouse house's decision to defer six of its big-ticket releases comes as a blow to cinemas, which have been struggling ever since the pandemic-induced lockdowns. Moreover, the simultaneous digital release of some of these movies will undoubtedly impact theatres in terms of ticket and concession sales, while boosting the already rising fortunes of Disney+.
Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution chairman Kareem Daniel said the move “reflects our focus on providing consumer choice and serving the evolving preferences of audiences.”
It may be recalled that last year, Disney's Mulan released exclusively on Disney+ and subscribers had to shell out an additional $30 access fee to watch it. After the fact, Walt Disney Co boss Bob Chapek had been cagey about the revenues Mulan netted, though he pronounced himself "pleased" with its performance.
The pandemic has forced Disney and other entertainment companies to shift gears and recalibrate their business strategies. In December 2020, to the dismay of many industry stakeholders, WarnerMedia dramatically boosted the profile of its HBO Max streaming service when it announced that 17 movies — the entire 2021 Warner Bros slate — would be available to subscribers at the same time as cinema audiences.
Hollywood
Hollywood’s ultimate streaming war ends with a whimper—and a whopper of a deal
Netflix folds, Paramount wins, and Warner Bros finds itself a new dance partner
NEW YOR & LOS ANGELES: Netflix has blinked. The streaming colossus walked away Thursday from its months-long pursuit of Warner Bros Discovery, handing Paramount Skydance a glittering Hollywood prize and setting up what could be the biggest media merger in years.
The denouement came swiftly. Warner Bros declared Paramount’s sweetened offer of $31 per share “superior” to Netflix’s $27.75 bid, and politely asked the streaming giant to raise its hand. Netflix politely told them where to go.
“At the price required to match Paramount Skydance’s latest offer, the deal is no longer financially attractive,” said co-chief executives Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters, with the studied coolness of men pretending they hadn’t just been outbid by a tech billionaire’s son. “This was always a ‘nice to have’ at the right price, not a ‘must have’ at any price.”
Translation: Larry Ellison scared them off.
The Oracle founder and one of the world’s richest men has been the invisible hand behind Paramount’s relentless pursuit of Warner Bros, bankrolling his son David Ellison’s ambitions with a commitment of $45.7bn in equity—up from $43.6bn previously—plus $57.5bn in debt financing from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citi and Apollo. Netflix, for all its swagger, had no appetite for a bidding war with a man who seemingly has no ceiling.
“There’s no point playing chicken with someone who won’t turn the wheel,” said a Netflix adviser, displaying a frankness one rarely hears on Wall Street.
If regulators wave it through, the deal reshapes Hollywood dramatically. Paramount would hoover up Warner Bros’ HBO Max streaming customers into its portfolio, absorb CNN, the Food Network and a clutch of sports rights, and stack them alongside its existing stable of Nickelodeon, CBS and Comedy Central. Two studios, two streaming platforms, two newsrooms—one colossal headache for antitrust watchdogs.
And headaches there will be. California’s attorney-general Rob Bonta has already signalled he’s watching closely, Democratic senators including Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders have smelled political favouritism given the Ellisons’ ties to President Donald Trump, and European regulators may yet fancy a say. Paramount has hedged accordingly, raising its break-up fee to $7bn and agreeing to cover the $2.8bn Warner Bros would owe Netflix for ditching their earlier deal.
Warner Bros chief executive David Zaslav, sounding like a man who’d just won the lottery, declared the deal would create “tremendous value” and said he “can’t wait to get started.” David Ellison called it a triumph of “superior value, certainty and speed.”
For Hollywood’s army of writers, directors and crew—already battered by years of production cuts—the champagne will taste rather flat. Mergers of this magnitude invariably come with a chainsaw attached.
