July 28, 2023FilmTakeComments Off on Amazon’s MGM+ Could Emerge as a Formidable Streaming Service After Acquiring Lionsgate
By absorbing Lionsgate and Starz into MGM+, which is available and promoted worldwide to hundreds of millions of Amazon subscribers, MGM+ could emerge as a leading streaming service. Besides Amazon, Paramount Global is said to be considering Starz.
Even before unprecedented disruptions to the theatrical market, established film buyers and sellers were under tremendous financial pressure after spendthrift streamers elbowed in to populate their sparse film catalogs and vie for Oscar gold.
February 8, 2023FilmTakeComments Off on Sundance Fails to Ignite an Apathetic Independent Film Market
By every measure, the theatrical market for independent films remains on life support after the first in-person Sundance Film Festival since the ‘before times’ in January 2020.
Netflix emerged as the winner in a nearly two-year auction process for the exclusive U.S. rights to stream Sony’s theatrical releases in the lucrative first PayTV window starting with the studio’s 2022 slate.
September 5, 2021FilmTakeComments Off on AT&T’s Great Media Escape Takes Shape After DirecTV and WarnerMedia Selloffs
AT&T’s decision to acquire a declining DirecTV in 2015 and a bloated WarnerMedia in 2018 were massive miscalculations. Desperate to pay down its debt, in March 2021, AT&T announced it would sell a 30% stake in DirecTV.
Despite muted expectations by sellers, buyers, and producers heading into the virtual European Film Market on March 1, most reported a successful and busy market.
After a lackluster Sundance in 2018, last year was full of mega-deals, especially by Netflix and Amazon. Buyers spent over $120 million acquiring rights to some 40 films.
The Department of Justice in the United States is preparing to allow Hollywood studios to own film theaters once again. This decision would reverse 70 years of anti-trust law that was implemented in 1948, which is known as the Paramount decrees.
Discover what type of films independent distributors want to acquire in their own words. Understand what elements 26 U.S. distributors are looking for when they acquire a film at TIFF or elsewhere.
Recently, anonymous sources have reported to multiple news outlets about the difficulty Hollywood will face in attempting to take back its content from Netflix.
Netflix surpassed Sky in the UK in terms of subscribers for the first time in 2019. The victory makes Netflix the most widely subscribed to media platform in the U.K.
The European Commission’s Digital Single Market strategy will destroy Europe’s independent film and television market in favor of global technology companies.
Amazon is preparing to acquire Landmark Theaters according to unnamed sources. Fewer and fewer Americans are going to the theater, but those that do are spending more and more.