Alternative approaches to entertainment distribution/consumption

Started by Sleepless, September 06, 2013, 02:08:09 PM

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Drenk

I don't understand the difference, but the A24 movies are the ones I end up loving. Way more than the "main" ones, anyway.
Ascension.

wilberfan

I enjoyed this too much not to leave this here.

Alamo Drafthouse launches VerticalVision™ next-gen theater experience.

With backing from studios, #influencers, and acclaimed filmmakers like Paul Thomas Anderson, Austin-based cinema company unveils the world's first Vertical Format theater.

Quote
"What I love about VerticalVision is just how tight the frame is, allowing you to focus on just the one thing you want the audience to see," says THERE WILL BE BLOOD director Paul Thomas Anderson. "For too long filmmakers have been saddled with the constraints and extraneous details of widescreen – long live tall screen."

Anderson is currently developing his first native VerticalVision feature, LONG TALL SALLY, starring Elizabeth Delbecki. The filmmaker says he's also considering a host of other projects in the format, including JUMPIN' JACKS, LONGING TO FALL, and HOW HIGH THE SKY.

"When CinemaScope was first developed in the '50s, critics claimed it would only be worthwhile for films about snake and trains," says Anderson. "I commend the vision of Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in paving the way for the next cinematic frontier."



Source

wilder

How Will the Movies (As We Know Them) Survive the Next 10 Years? - The New York Times

Quote from: Jordan HorowitzI don't feel particularly optimistic about the traditional theatrical experience, especially for independent films. As more and more streaming services are making features, I think we'll start to see festivals be the theatrical experience for a lot of these movies. The movie will premiere at Sundance or Toronto, and then premiere on streaming that week or the week after.

Quote from: Joe RussoWhen you talk about making character movies like "Cherry" [after four Marvel sequels, the Russos will next direct this mid-budget drama], even we are finding that is becoming increasingly difficult as the months pass — not as the years pass, as the months pass. It is a tough market, even for us coming off "Endgame," to make a darker, character-driven movie. It's not what the market was even two years ago.

Quote from: Barry JenkinsIn the same way that social media approximates the experience of being in a community, I think the way we now watch these things — whether on our flat screens or laptops or phones — is also an approximation of what the original foundations of this medium always were. It's bittersweet. Five years ago, you couldn't just get on your laptop and find Claire Denis films. Now you can, which is a really awesome thing and better for the world, for sure. But there's a trade-off.

Quote from: Jessica ChastainI've seen a lot of female filmmakers get opportunities at Netflix and Amazon that they haven't gotten through the studio system. So I'm very, very happy about the new shape our industry is taking.

Quote from: Scott StuberI think the trick is recognizing that there's a giant global audience and everyone's taste in L.A. and New York is not necessarily everyone's taste in France or in South Africa.

Quote from: Kumail NanjianiThis is very cynical, but I think the standard of quality for people who watch stuff at home is not the same. If you go see "Avengers" in the theater, it better be great, but if you're just watching stuff at home, it doesn't matter so much. I don't want to diss on Netflix too much, because they make amazing stuff, and they're giving shots to people who would not have been given shots 10 years ago, but I also think Netflix would rather have five things that people kind of like than one thing people really love.

Quote from: Steve GilulaTake Bo Burnham's "Eighth Grade," Lenny Abrahamson's "Room"or Barry Jenkins' "Moonlight": I do not believe those films would have ever found a significant audience if they had premiered on streaming, because they did not have either the stars or the established directors that could have gotten them attention. I believe there's still an incredibly vital role that festivals and movie theaters play in giving those films time to be discovered.

Quote from: Kumail NanjianiI was at a bar with a friend who directs big movies, and while we were in line for the bathroom, he was saying that movie theaters were going to go away. He was like, "Kids don't watch movies, they watch YouTube." Which I thought was crazy. So he goes, "Watch this." There was a girl in front of us in line, and he said, "Hey, excuse me, what's your favorite movie?" And she said, "I don't watch movies." Just randomly, he picked someone — and she was like 25, she wasn't a child or anything. We were like, "Well, do any of your friends watch movies?" And she said, "Not really."

Quote from: Jeffrey KatzenbergWhat Quibi [his upcoming streaming service for mobile] is trying to do is get to the next generation of film narrative. The first generation was movies, and they were principally two-hour stories that were designed to be watched in a single sitting in a movie theater. The next generation of film narrative was television, principally designed to be watched in one-hour chapters in front of a television set. I believe the third generation of film narrative will be a merging of those two ideas, which is to tell two-hour stories in chapters that are seven to ten minutes in length. We are actually doing long-form in bite-size.

Quote from: Ava DuVernayMy nieces and nephews don't really care about produced content in the way that we do traditionally — my niece can sit there and watch IGTV for hours, which is on her phone, on Instagram, and it's basically little clips of nothing. That's why, when I hear people being so rigid and so strict about certain forms and presentations, it just reminds me of that "Simpsons" cartoon, "Old Man Yells at Cloud."

Quote from: Barry JenkinsThe problem is that making films is as expensive as it's ever been. There's no big budget-department store, $1.99 white-T-shirt version of making films — every film is some version of a really fancy $300 T-shirt from Calvin Klein. That's just how much this kind of art takes to make! I don't know how you offset that cost, and that's why there's so much tension between theatrical and digital distribution.

Quote from: Franklin LeonardIf you're not making movies like "Crazy Rich Asians" and "Black Panther" and "Searching" and "Captain Marvel" and "Wonder Woman" and "Beale Street" and "Moonlight" in 2019, good luck. I challenge anyone to build a company around narratives and stories that are totally driven by the people they've historically been driven by, and expect to deliver better for their investors than a company who has a more representative portrayal of the world in which we live.

Quote from: Franklin LeonardWhat happens when you have a generation with the sort of education that we had long deified people like Quentin Tarantino for having because they worked in a video store, or lived close to a movie theater where indie films were playing? For a very long time, Hollywood functioned as a choke point. Now that people have access to that education, paired with the shifts in the industry that are opening up more opportunities, I think we are on the brink of a remarkable period in film and television that's going to be unlike anything we've seen before.

Drenk

Ascension.

polkablues

The fact that he can easily list every movie that proves his point kinda disproves his point.
My house, my rules, my coffee

wilder

From the official site:

QuoteANTI-WORLDS

A NEW UK DISTRIBUTION COMPANY CELEBRATING UNIQUE, PROVOCATIVE AND CHALLENGING CINEMA ANNOUNCES ITS FIRST FIVE RELEASES

New UK distributor ANTI-WORLDS sees a collaboration between Andy Starke, Producer and co-owner of Rook Films, Powerhouse Films' Sam Dunn and John Morrissey (founders of the INDICATOR Blu-ray label), Creative Director of Manchester's HOME cinema Jason Wood and Publicist Zoe Flower. The company has announced its first films for 2019 seeing the UK premiere releases of Richard Kovitch's PENNY SLINGER – OUT OF THE SHADOWS, Aaron Schimberg's CHAINED FOR LIFE, Isabella Ekloff's HOLIDAY and Corneliu Porumboiu's Infinite Football.

ANTI-WORLDS will also produce and collaborate on original feature films. First up will be the latest film by Ben Rivers & Anocha Suwichakornpong – IN THE HOLOCENE, (currently in post production) followed by a new feature by writer / director Peter Strickland.

Andy Starke says of the venture – "It's great to be able to start to release films that excite us all. We are all huge film fans and have for a long time wanted to find a way to bring together production and distribution. Having spent many years working on our own and other people's films – we wanted to create a distribution network where the filmmakers collaborated very closely with the distributors allowing both parties to take advantage of the new cinema landscape and viewing methods. Our hope is to bring a slate of wild, entertaining, exciting and provocative films to the UK."

Ravi

https://deadline.com/2019/08/annapurna-bankruptcy-near-megan-ellison-larry-ellison-credit-facility-hollywood-studio-1202663429/

Annapurna Bailout By Larry Ellison Likely As Chapter 11 Looms For Megan Ellison's Oscar-Winning Studio
By Dominic Patten, Mike Fleming Jr
August 7, 2019 1:50pm

UPDATED EXCLUSIVE with Megan Ellison memo to staff: A showdown that has lenders on one side of the table, with Annapurna's Megan Ellison and her father and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison on the other, is about to take place, and it will decide whether Annapurna continues as a taste-making studio or a Chapter 11 casualty.

According to multiple sources, Annapurna has burned through much of the $350 million credit facility the company secured in fall 2017. Those sources said Annapurna has either defaulted or is about to default on that debt. A deadline has been set by lenders for this week to come to a solution.

The syndicate of senior lenders is considering putting Annapurna into bankruptcy, sources said. That is the usual course of action when entities like The Weinstein Company or Relativity lost the confidence of banks and don't have the receivables to pay back them back.

But this case isn't ordinary because it is Larry Ellison, which is why the banks have kept this situation quiet. Deadline hears that the banks expected him to step in and clean up the mess. "This is like a rounding error for him," said a source. The talks haven't gone the way the banks expected though, because Ellison is driving extremely hard terms, based on the relationship he has with several of the lenders.

And so extensive preparations have been put into place for Annapurna to file for Chapter 11 in either Delaware or California if the elder Ellison doesn't provide a Hail Mary for his daughter and her besieged company. This could mean all the drama amounts to a hiccup for Annapurna, or something far more serious.

A spokeswoman for Annapurna issued the following statement: "The Ellison family is in negotiations to restructure their deals with the banks. They remain in full support of the company and are dedicated to Annapurna's future."

Megan Ellison also sent a memo to staff today addressing the situation.

"Restructuring deals with financial institutions is not uncommon, yet the process is usually handled without a spotlight on it," she wrote (read the memo in full below). "Fortunately/ unfortunately, people like to write about me and my family. That said, it is of tremendous importance to me that you all know we are as committed as ever to this company and are in full support of our future."

Ellison, reportedly the fourth-richest person in America and the No. 7 richest individual person in the world with a fortune estimated at $70 billion, has his own revolving credit facility with two of the key banks that are part of the Annapurna credit facility. That is certainly reason for those banks to not be as aggressive as they would normally be, for fear of alienating him.

Larry Ellison has a $1 billion line with JP Morgan and another with Wells Fargo, two of the banks with significant hold positions in the senior facility on Annapurna. Known as a hard-nosed businessman, Larry Ellison has been negotiating to buy her debt at approximately 80 cents on the dollar, which may be drawndown on his own credit line with those two banks, sources said. It is not a great prospect for those banks, to take a haircut on what they are owed, and then finance the result. But a bankruptcy alternative might only yield them 50 cents or 60 cents on the dollar.

Bankruptcy would be an embarrassment for Megan Ellison, and several sources familiar with the issues felt her father wouldn't allow that. Annapurna secured in fall 2017 a $350 million senior credit facility, with J.P. Morgan serving as administrative agent and co-lead arranger with Comerica Bank. Banks in the funding lineup when it was announced were City National Bank, First Republic Bank, HSBC, MUFG Union Bank, SunTrust Bank and Wells Fargo.

Finance sources said the bankers feel betrayed: while Larry Ellison's family office was portrayed as being very involved in the marketing documents sent to the banks and indicated the office was behind his daughter's venture, there was no commitment from Larry Ellison in the final documents. That gives the Oracle co-founder a measure of leverage, beyond him being a big customer for major lenders now and in the future. Putting in bankruptcy the company founded by the daughter of one of the wealthiest men on the planet would involve the banks' CEOs and Risk Committee approval, something most bankers involved think might be political suicide for them.

How did things go so awry for Annapurna?

After establishing herself as a taste-making producer-financier of films like Zero Dark Thirty, American Hustle and The Master, Annapurna expanded into a full-fledged studio. It has a marketing and distribution operation that is costly, but whose costs are now shared through a joint venture with MGM, and this includes domestic distribution and marketing of the James Bond 25 film. Annapurna set a streaming deal with Hulu and has Sue Naegle building out a television division, with a theater division and another division for interactive IP also part of the company. When tastemaking producer Plan B's deal expired at Paramount, Annapurna became home to the company behind Annapurna's Vice and If Beale Street Could Talk and such Oscar-winning films as as Moonlight, The Big Short and 12 Years a Slave.

But not enough has gone right, since the company came out of the gate last summer with Detroit. The drama, directed by Oscar-winning Zero Dark Thirty helmer Kathryn Bigelow, depicted the blatant police brutality that occurred at the Algiers motel during the riots of 1967. The film opened early August, usually the domain of popcorn films, but corresponding to the 50th anniversary of the event. The pic cost $34 million and grossed only $16 million domestic and $24 million worldwide. Other films have been critical darlings but cost too much, and there wasn't a breakout commercial hit.

That included the Adam McKay-directed Vice and the Barry Jenkins-directed If Beale Street Could Talk, which got 11 Oscar nominations between them. But Vice had a reported budget of $60 million and a worldwide gross of $78 million. Beale Street grossed only $15 million domestic and another $5 million worldwide, on a reported budget of $12 million. The Nicole Kidman-starrer Destroyer grossed $1.5 million domestic and another $4 million worldwide on a reported $9 million budget.

The company had a bright spot in Olivia Wilde's directorial debut Booksmart, but for all its critical acclaim even that film had limited upside, a $24 million worldwide gross so far on a $6 million budget. Annapurna on August 16 releases the Richard Linklater-directed Where'd You Go Bernadette, starring Cate Blanchett.

The company's expansion has seen Annapurna run through several hundred millions of dollars. A course correction occurred a year ago, when Chelsea Barnard exited as president of film and the company jettisoned two films: the Jennifer Lopez-starrer Hustlers (which was picked up by STX and accepted into the upcoming Toronto Film Festival) and a film about Fox News founder Roger Ailes, which Jay Roach directed, that BRON Studios picked up. This came about after Annapurna president Marc Weinstock left shortly before this drama, and wasn't replaced.

It was speculated that Larry Ellison and his team stepped in and prompted those changes, out of concern his daughter wasn't hands-on enough in the management of a company that has always relied on his money.


Larry Ellison is an investor in son David Ellison's Skydance venture, but his focus has been on commercial tentpole fare that has included co-financing the Mission: Impossible films, as well as the upcoming Top Gun sequel with Tom Cruise.

While that company drew quizzical glances when it set former Pixar founder John Lassiter to run its animation division, the road has been a smoother one than Annapurna experienced, shooting at the elusive moving narrow target of director-driven tastemaker fare. Besides Top Gun: Maverick, Skydance is a partner in the Ang Lee-directed Will Smith-starrer Gemini Man and Terminator: Dark Fate. The latter, directed by original Deadpool helmer Tim Miller, brings back for the first time creator James Cameron, who hasn't been involved with a Terminator film beyond the first two classics that he directed. Skydance was part of a previous panned Terminator: Genisys installment, but even that $155 million film grossed $440 million worldwide. Not every film has worked — Life and Geostorm didn't — but much has worked and the television division has been particularly strong.

Ironically, it was Megan Ellison who had the foresight to acquire the Terminator rights out of the Carolco library when that company went bankrupt, for around $20 million. It didn't fit the kind of movies she wanted to make, and she sold those rights to her brother, David. It looks like the finale might be a winner for Paramount and Skydance.

Meanwhile, Annapurna's fate will be decided shortly by the banks and the Ellisons. Some who know her suspect that when Megan Ellison is no longer exclusive to Annapurna beginning early next year, she might well go back to her previous practice of funding and producing taste-maker fare, and placing each film at whatever studio feels best for the pictures.

Here's Megan Ellison's memo:

Dear AP Team,

I got word this morning that there are some rumblings around town about our current status with the banks and that a story is likely to hit the press at some point today.

Restructuring deals with financial institutions is not uncommon, yet the process is usually handled without a spotlight on it. Fortunately/unfortunately, people like to write about me and my family.

That said, it is of tremendous importance to me that you all know we are as committed as ever to this company and are in full support of our future.

Regardless of whatever comes out in the press, the truth is that we are well on our continued path towards success. There will always be speculation, misinformation and personal jabs in the press – that's part of the business.

But know, none of that matters to me. What does is your sense of security and protecting the special community and culture at Annapurna. I believe in what we make and have no intention of stopping any time soon.

We have a lot of exciting things on the horizon and I have no doubt all of our hard work will continue to show Annapurna's unique and powerful place in this industry.

If you have any questions or want to talk, please do not hesitate to reach out.

Megan

jenkins

The Life of Flowers is free to watch on vimeo. it's simply an independent feature about life in our times and this is like catnip to me. i recommend taking a peek at 39:25-41:52 for a coaxing mechanism, it demonstrates the writer/director's ability to make a movie

jenkins



becoming more specific after having watched the movie myself, perhaps a more accurate phrasing would be: a cinematically realistic diy art film, nobudge, literally like the nobudge movie William Never Married, but a more famous example would be Andrew Haigh's Weekend

a sort of crucial moment in the movie, a scene preluding the ending, involves a foggy forest solo wandering



that's taken to the level where a swan in a river is observed, respect



this movie's conclusion is, shall we say, an emotional upending delivered in a realistic way


wilder

Disney Is Seemingly Putting The Fox Library In The "Vault" As Theaters Around The US Are Barred From Showing Studio's Titles
via The Playlist

For film fans that grew up with a love of Disney films, the idea of the Disney Vault is a glorious, yet frustrating thing. Depending on your age, there were probably many times you eagerly ran to your parents, begging them to buy a copy of that coveted Disney film on VHS before it got locked away in the Vault forever. It's a marketing ploy to ramp up the urgency in purchasing, but damn it, it works. Well, now it appears that the Vault is about to take another victim, the biggest one to date even — 20th Century Fox.

According to a new report from Vulture, it appears that repertory theaters all across the US are finding out that an unforeseen consequence of the blockbuster merger is the fact that the Mouse House's Disney Vault idea is going to extend, in part, to the vast library of Fox. The report claims that, without warning or any real formal announcement, Disney has begun eliminating older Fox titles from being shown in theaters around the country.

There aren't any real reasons given, but it appears the new rule is that only non-profit theaters, such as Film Forum in New York City, will be given access to the library of Fox titles to be shown on the big screen. That means repertory theaters, which thrive on the showing of classic, iconic films, as well as regional chains and other major for-profit theaters, will not be allowed to show Fox titles on the big-screen moving forward.

Some examples point out that theaters attempting to show "Fight Club" for a special anniversary showing and "Alien" alongside the recent making-of doc 'Memory,' are being banned from doing so from Disney. One theater even was told it wouldn't be able to screen "Say Anything," "The Princess Bride," and "Moulin Rouge."

Unfortunately, there's no real rhyme or reason given as to why this is happening or for what films, exactly. It appears that the Fox library just finds itself under the same rules that govern Disney, which has been notoriously strict with when, where, and how past films are shown in theaters and home video, such as with the Vault. However, there appears to be one notable exception, which is sure to confuse many and please a ton of fans — "Rocky Horror Picture Show." The musical has seemingly been exempt from this new rule.

Vulture says that Disney hasn't officially commented on the policy or how it will enforce it. That means we don't know if this is just Disney being Disney or if this is part of some larger plan to focus people's attention to the streaming platforms that the company owns and/or is launching.

But what we do know for sure, if you want to watch "Avatar" in preparation for the upcoming sequels, you might be out of luck. And for those theaters that survive off of these types of films and screenings, it appears that Mickey Mouse has struck again.

Sleepless

This was a story a few weeks ago. At that time, they said that only true repertory theaters would be able to screen catalogue titles. The logic being they don't want to potentially take screens away from new releases. Presumably this is the case with Disney catalogue titles already. So have things changed since then?

Also, they've already said Avatar will be on Disney+ within 12 months of launch, so while there might be some issues with existing streaming licensing, that's presumably intentional to maximize the marketing value ahead of next December's sequel release.
He held on. The dolphin and all the rest of its pod turned and swam out to sea, and still he held on. This is it, he thought. Then he remembered that they were air-breathers too. It was going to be all right.

wilberfan

Netflix Reportedly Testing New Variable Playback Feature That Will Show A Film At 1.5x Speed

QuoteAccording to a report from Android Police, some users on Google's mobile operating system have noticed a new feature in their Netflix app that would allow a film or TV series to be played at variable speeds, from 50% up to 150% of regular speed. Why on Earth would Netflix test a function that allows users to watch a film at a faster speed than usual? Well, apparently people nowadays just don't have time to watch content at the intended pace. Movies are just too damn slow! Amirite?! (Ugh.)
That'll actually come in very handy for me when the 4-hour OUATIH is released.   :laughing:

wilberfan

Why Martin Scorsese's 'The Irishman' is so important to Netflix

QuoteFor Netflix film chief Scott Stuber, who joined the firm more than two years ago, the Scorsese picture is part of a mission to prove that the streamer — widely seen as an outsider and, by some, an enemy of traditional Hollywood — can make movies that stand up among studio giants.

Quote"The Irishman" is part of a larger push into quality filmmaking that Netflix hopes will draw subscribers to its service as it faces an onslaught of competition from studios that have been creating cinema since the early days of the art form.

Quote
Burbank-based Walt Disney Co. is poised to launch its Disney+ service Nov. 12 with a huge catalog of Marvel, Star Wars and Pixar movies, along with its vault of animated classics. AT&T Inc.'s WarnerMedia on Tuesday unveiled its ambitious plans for HBO Max, which will be the streaming home of DC superhero films, the Lord of the Rings franchise and classic movies from the Warner Bros. and MGM libraries.

As competitors encroach on its turf, Netflix is set to lose much of the older film and TV content studios supplied to the service. As popular licensed material like "Friends" and "The Office" leaves Netflix, the company will have to rely more on its in-house content, including film. To that end, the company is releasing 18 movies this quarter — a company record in terms of size and scope for its film releases — including the Eddie Murphy vehicle "Dolemite Is My Name" and the upcoming Michael Bay action movie "6 Underground."

QuoteSome analysts worry that Netflix's spending levels are unsustainable. The company is expected to spend $15 billion on content this year, fueled by growing long-term debt. But longtime Netflix bull Rich Greenfield, a partner at New York-based research firm LightShed Partners, said the company's movie strategy adds more value to the platform and should help Netflix retain customers, even as the market gets more crowded with lower-priced services.

"It's going to allow Netflix to not only increase engagement with the Netflix service, but it's also going to allow them a lot of pricing power over the long term," Greenfield said of Netflix's movie slate.

And despite the influx of competitors, the company remains confident in its strategy of attracting top-tier filmmakers by promising high levels of creative freedom and by being willing to take risks. Netflix recently cited three films as "early Oscar front-runners": Noah Baumbach's "Marriage Story," featuring Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver; "The Two Popes," starring Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce; and "The Irishman."

A bold claim, to be sure, but one that serves Netflix's aim to prove itself as a bona fide studio.

Source

wilder

Justice Department Wants To Terminate Paramount Consent Decrees
via Deadline

The Justice Department will ask a federal court to eliminate the Paramount consent decrees, the 71-year-old restrictions on major distributors' control of the exhibition pipeline.

The elimination of the decrees could alter the dynamics of the business, and perhaps lead to further consolidation. But the DOJ, which has been looking to eliminate the decrees since last year, believes that they are from an outdated time, before multiplexes, on-demand movies and streaming.

"We have determined that the decrees, as they are, no longer serve the public interest, because the horizontal conspiracy – the original violation animating the decrees – has been stopped," Makan Delrahim, the chief of the antitrust division, said in a speech to the American Bar Association on Monday.

He said that they DOJ would be asking a federal court to terminate the decree, except for a two-year "sunset" period on the ban on block booking and circuit dealing.

A 1948 Supreme Court decision in favor of the government compelled studios to sell their theater chains. The landmark decision led to the crumbling of the studio system, in which the seven major studios of the time held tight control over all aspects of production, distribution and exhibition.

In the wake of the ruling, Paramount, MGM, Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox and RKO to divest their exhibition chains, and the consent decrees restricted certain types of distribution practices. The decrees also applied to Columbia Pictures, Universal and United Artists.

Delrahim argued that the decrees are out of date, and even noted that "much of our movie watching is not in theaters at all."

"We cannot pretend that the business of film distribution and exhibition remains the same as it was 80 years ago," he said in his speech.

The Antitrust Division opened a review of the decrees last year, sending a signal that it would move to terminate them.

In comments to the Justice Department, the National Association of Theater Owners argued that the decrees were "more necessary than ever" given the changes in the industry. They specifically cited the prohibition on block booking, or the selling of an entire slate of films as a unit.

"If distributors are permitted to block book, they could demand exhibitors book an entire slate on multiple screens, leaving little room for the independent and smaller distributors to finance and distribute films that consumers demand," NATO told the DOJ. "The risks of 'overbooking' a film on a multiplicity of screens are exacerbated with digital distribution, as the historic high costs associated with shipping film prints are set to expire entirely in the next few years, reducing the cost of film distribution to close to zero."

Among other things, NATO argued that the result could be less room for midrange movies as major studios seek more screens for their tentpole movies.

"Without the ability to guarantee a wide release, or even a tailored platform release, independent studios will not have the screens they require for midrange movie success, to the detriment of consumers," NATO said last year. They also argued that eliminating the prohibition on block booking would curb experiments in variable pricing.

In a statement on Monday, NATO noted that they "submitted comments to the Department previously and we stand by those comments. We will wait to review any actual motion the Department may file in court before commenting further."

In his speech, Delrahim said that the sunset period will allow for a "period of transition," in which studios and exhibitors can adjust their licensing proposals. He also suggested that termination of the decrees does not mean that practices like block booking are legal. He said that the Antitrust Division could still bring scrutiny to distributors' conduct using the "rule of reason."

"If credible evidence shows a practice harms consumer welfare, antitrust enforcers remain ready to act," he said.

Delrahim has been looking to eliminate long-standing antitrust decrees that have no expiration dates. The DOJ is in the midst of reviewing an even older set of decrees that govern music licensing.

wilberfan

Netflix Expected to Spend $17 Billion on Content This Year

QuoteThe world's biggest streaming service is projected to spend $17.3 billion this year on content, according to a new estimate from BMO Capital Markets — or about $2 billion more than it spent in 2019.

QuoteTo keep the hit shows coming, Netflix is for the moment swimming in debt. By last count, Netflix's total liabilities, including long-term debt, totaled $24.1 billion, according to its third quarter financial report. Netflix will share its Q4 results next Tuesday.

Source