Category: ves

news.sky.com/story/british-visual-effects-giant-cinesite-devises-plot-for-blockbuster-163300m-sale-12588150

www.theverge.com/2022/1/18/22889258/microsoft-activision-blizzard-xbox-acquisition-call-of-duty-overwatch

www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-60401124

Streaming service Paramount+ has announced a huge slate of new shows and films ahead of its expansion to countries including the UK this year.

www.cnbc.com/2022/02/07/matrix-co-producer-sues-warner-bros-over-hbo-max-streaming-release.html

“WB’s sole purpose in moving the release date of ‘The Matrix Resurrections’ forward was to create a desperately needed wave of year-end HBO Max premium subscriptions from what it knew would be a blockbuster film, despite knowing full well that it would decimate the film’s box office revenue and deprive Village Roadshow of any economic upside that WB and its affiliates would enjoy,”

“The Matrix Resurrections” disappointed at the box office, partially because of its simultaneous release strategy and partially because its target audience is older than the moviegoers who have been most active in returning to cinemas.

www.awn.com/news/att-spin-warnermedia-merger-discovery

Discovery CEO David Zaslav told CNBC that his goal is to hit “2-, 3-, 400 million homes over the long term” — twice the amount of subscribers currently boasted by Netflix. Even prior to the merger, WarnerMedia’s key holdings – Warner Bros., HBO, CNN, DC Comics, among others – control rights to the kinds of pop culture hits that incentivize subscriptions.

www.techradar.com/news/live/sony-is-buying-bungie-for-dollar36b

www.cnet.com/tech/gaming/sony-bolsters-playstation-buying-destiny-game-maker-bungie-for-3-6-billion/

www.awn.com/news/dneg-going-public

www.awn.com/sites/default/files/attached/1056363-dneg-agreement.pdf

www.cartoonbrew.com/business/why-did-netflixs-value-plunge-by-over-20-overnight-212642.html

Netflix is still leading by some way, with 221.8 million subscribers at the end of 2021. Amazon’s Prime Video had around 175 million active streaming users by Q1 last year, although it is not exclusively a streaming service. Disney+ had 118.1 million subs as of October 2021, and is targeting 230–260 million by September 2024.

Netflix’s stock price fell over 20% in after-hours trading, wiping nearly $45 billion from its market capitalization. … Disney shares are down nearly 6% this morning, Roku around 6%, and Viacom 5%. Anxiety spread as some investors worried about how much more the streaming market as a whole can grow. “They’re saying the streaming wars are over,” Rich Greenfield told CNBC’s Fast Money.

www.cartoonbrew.com/ideas-commentary/winnie-the-pooh-and-bambi-have-entered-the-public-domain-212036.html

It’s important to distinguish here that Disney’s (and other) adaptations stay under copyright, as do other books by the authors. Any adaptations, remixes, or extensions of these stories must be based on the original 1926 works. Also, Winnie-the-Pooh’s pal Tigger first appeared in a book in 1928, so will remain copyrighted for another two years.

Another important addition this year is a library of an estimated 400,000 sound recordings, all released prior to 1923. Due to quirks in how the law has developed, this is the first major batch of recordings to enter the public domain in one go. If you’re looking to soundtrack your film, you can start by exploring this trove of old blues, jazz, classical music, comedy skits, and more (listen to highlights here: www.archeophone.com/arsc-top-ten-nominees/#smith).

https://www.ft.com/content/ae756fda-4c27-4732-89af-cb6903f2ab40

From the Financial Times:

The top eight US #media groups plan to spend at least $115bn on new movies and #TV shows next year in pursuit of a video #streaming business that loses money for most of them.

The huge investment outlays come amid concerns that it will be harder to attract new customers in 2022 after the pandemic-fuelled growth in 2020 and 2021. Yet the alternative is to be left out of the streaming land rush.

Most of the companies — a list that includes The Walt Disney Company , Comcast , WarnerMedia and Amazon — are set to rack up losses on their streaming units. Including sports rights, the aggregate spending estimate rises to about $140bn.

But the fact that even the industry leader must invest heavily to churn out shows and keep pace with competitors has caused some investors to ask whether video streaming is a good business.

Netflix is set to spend more than $17bn on content next year — up 25 per cent from 2021 and 57 per cent from the $10.8bn it spent in 2020. The company expects to break even and become free cash flow positive in 2022.

“The market is increasingly concerned there is no pot of gold at the end of this rainbow”, the bank’s analysts said.

www.vfxvoice.com/the-progression-of-design-with-oscar-winning-visionary-doug-chiang

www.studiobinder.com/blog/best-movie-directors-of-all-time

adsknews.autodesk.com/news/acquisition-software-from-tangent-labs

Autodesk is acquiring LoUPE, the powerful cloud-based production pipeline technology for artists and studios, and the team that created it.

Tangent Labs founder Jeff Bell will be joining Autodesk with his development team.

https://www.fxguide.com/fxfeatured/unity-weta-deal/

variety.com/2021/digital/news/unity-acquires-weta-digital-1235107544/

Under the deal, Unity is obtaining the Weta Digital suite of VFX tools and technology and its team of 275 engineers, who will join Unity’s Create Solutions division.

Joe Marks, Weta’s chief technology officer, will join Unity as CTO of Weta Digital.

Weta Digital’s VFX and animation teams will continue to exist as a standalone entity, known as WetaFX, which is expected to become Unity’s largest customer in the media and entertainment space. WetaFX, with about 1,700 employees, will remain majority-owned by Jackson and led by CEO Prem Akkaraju. The proposed deal is expected to close before the end of 2021, subject to regulatory approvals.

www.dialoguepakistan.com/south-korean-influencer-with-more-than-100-sponsors-doesnt-exists/

www.instagram.com/rozy.gram/

www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/vfx-house-dneg-uk-paid-overtime-policy-1235012515/

www.dneg.com/novator-investment/

https://www.awn.com/blog/blame-canada-and-covid

deadline.com/2021/08/walt-disney-animation-studios-vancouver-studio-what-if-1234809175/

Effective next year, Walt Disney Animation Studios is throwing the doors open to a new facility in Vancouver, BC that will focus on long-form series and special projects for Disney+. The first in the pipeline is the anticipated, feature-quality musical series Moana.

variety.com/2021/biz/news/amazon-buys-mgm-studio-behind-james-bond-for-8-45-billion-1234980526/

For Amazon, snapping up MGM — which has more than 4,000 movies and 17,000 TV shows in its catalog — is a way to supercharge its Prime Video service with a slew of well-known entertainment titles.

In addition, Amazon is anticipating being able to mine Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer properties like the Pink Panther, Rocky and, the 007 franchises for new originals.