Good vs. evil? Netflix seems to be guiding the future when it comes to movies and entertainment. Their future? Currently it has one-half million subscribers in India. They expect their next 100 million Netflix subscribers to come from India. That’s what one would call growth!
Who makes money in Hollywood? Reportedly, in 2017 Disney studios’ net profit is $2.3 billion (on $8.3 billion in revenue), Time Warner’s net is $1.8 billion, and NBC Universal’s net is $1.3 billion. 21st Century Fox’ profit is estimated at $738 million but down 45%. Sony’s net is $374 million on $9 billion in revenue. Note the difference in rate of return as compared with Disney. Viacom (Paramount) has a net loss of $230 million. Is someone getting fired? Fox is selling to Disney rather than competing with Netlix.
Who can ever forget the first 24 minutes of Saving Private Ryan? And that was the point. It took Steven Spielberg 19 days to film that segment. We will never forget The Greatest Generation.
Speaking of Spielberg, it’s been 25 years since Jurassic Park. Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum have fond memories, except for Hurricane Iniki which passed through while filming in Kauai. That was not an experience they want to repeat. By the way, Jurassic World 3 is aiming for a June 2021 release. We love our dinosaurs.
Copyright infringement by The Shape of Water? Say it ain’t so, Joe! Many believe that the story has too much in common with the play Let Me Hear You Whisper. In the play a scrub-woman attempts to save a dolphin at a research facility. The dolphin will only talk to her. Certainly sounds similar. FYI, Avatar had eight copyright infringement suits filed against James Cameron, apparently with little success thus far.
For those of us who enjoyed Justified, Boyd Crowder was certainly a complicated individual. Played by Walton Goggins, one can still picture that character in your mind. After receiving nine Oscar nominations, L.A. Confidential is coming to TV. Goggins will play the detective whose role was created by Kevin Spacey. The character is not above some corrupt shakedowns. Sounds like Boyd, i.e. Walter, will fit in just fine.
And Captain Marvel is . . . Brie Larson. Marvel’s first female super-hero movie is to be released March 8, 2019. We will likely see Wonder Woman several times before then. The movie co-stars Samuel L. Jackson, Jude Law and Ben Mendelsohn. We will all be learning more about Skrulls–those shape-shifting villains.
Finally, who didn’t see this coming? The Weinstein Company is going into bankruptcy. What did they know and when did they know it? It seems like everyone in Hollywood knew.
Read my Red Sparrow review, posted last night.