Hollywood Week: Netflix, Tony Bennett, SAG-AFTRA Strike News, Box Office
- Details
- Category: Entertainment News
- Published on Saturday, 22 July 2023 14:16
- Written by Janet Walker
"Barbenheimer" has exploded the box office with the force of an atomic bomb, as movies theaters around the country are celebrating the first real big weekend comeback with a range of equally attractive choices for film goers.
Netflix Cancels Sharing, Gains Six Million Subscribers
As the Home Entertainment market continues to boom, streaming giant Netflix began to flex its corporate muscle and announced in the three months ending June 2023, the platform added nearly six million new subscribers, bringing the global total to 238 million.
Hollywood Week: Bob Iger Reups, SAG-AFTRA Votes to Strike, Box Office
"The company said it has now launched paid sharing — its effort to get users to stop sharing accounts with others for free — in more than 100 countries, after beginning its broad rollout earlier this year. Netflix said revenue in those regions is now higher than before the service launched, and that "sign-ups are already exceeding cancellations," CNN reported.
Even as Netflix boosted second quarter earnings of 8.1billion, it fell short of Wall Street expectations. As the first name in streaming continues to navigate new global markets and bring international content to American audiences the continuing WGA/SAG-AFTRA strike remains a concern.
Streamers depend on content and as the union has shut down all scripted content productions what remains may cause some reshuffling or adjusted premiere dates of already produced content. Although the non-scripted content, which includes reality or cooking shows, still attracts large audiences, international content which has seen a boost in audience viewing recently will continue to be added to the streamer's options.
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Hollywood Union Strike Updates
The entertainment capital of the world is on strike. For the millions around the world, it sounds like a bunch of spoiled brats walking away from good paying gigs because their already inflated salaries can't keep up with their lavish spending.
This statement couldn't be further from the truth.
For the millions who report to work every day, the hourly wage is a monthly battle of financial haggling, stretching the budget, worrying about healthcare costs, inflation and unexpected expenses, exhausted rainy-day funds, how to pay for school, student loans, and the hope that nothing breaks before the next paycheck.
The SAG/AFTRA/WGA union members worry about the same things.
"When negotiations broke down this month, [Fran] Drescher said, union leadership "called CEOs directly to try to reason with them. We can't make a living. We're squeezed out of our livelihood." She acknowledged that "they will not feel the financial pain before we do" from a lengthy work stoppage," The Washington Post reported.
Unions in America may not be as popular or strong as they once were, oddly, when they helped build American earning the name "The Greatest Generation." Today union workers carry the added stress of understanding that their labor creates billions of dollars of revenue for CEO's in every major corporation in America. SAG/AFTRA/WGA union is no different.
Not every SAG/AFTRA/WGA union member earns the salaries that are often reported in media and cause envy, and boycotting, among society. The unions represent the range of performers and writers, some who are only given three days of work and others eight weeks and others who work on spec.
Granted they don't worry about lock outs or other hardcore management tactics, but essentially, they are the victims of pickpockets every day, and no worker, anywhere, would allow their employer to steal money from their pockets every single day.
Billionaire CEO's, some more conscious than others of the changing tide of public scrutiny, are riding the back of their workers every day to the ATM. Workers everywhere feel the same. UPS is confronting the same shocking issues in their upcoming Teamsters contract negotiations.
Crippling the entertainment industry, unfortunately, is the only avenue to securing a fair living wage and guarantees on future revenues.
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Tony Bennett – The Passing of a Legend
Tony Bennett, the last of the great crooners, died this week. He was 96. His career spanned six decades, and long after his peers' enjoyed playbacks of their recordings, he reinvented the crooner genre and became that guy who sang with Lady Gaga or Katy Perry or Amy Winehouse.
With the most celebrated third act in entertainment history, Bennett, led by new management that included his son, muscled his way into the MTV generation, and in a shocking turn of events won Grammy's in 1992, and followed with back-to-back wins in 1993, 1994 and surprised the world again, who rooted for the crooner to snap up a few more Grammy Awards, which he did in 2022, winning the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for "Love For Sale," which he recorded with Lady Gaga.
In the ever-changing landscape of musical genres, Bennett carved out his own style that created an avenue for jazzy classics to become once again mainstream.
"His albums were on the charts in every decade from the 1950s to the 2020s. He was a star before Elvis Presley recorded his first song and was still at the top of his game in the era of Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Jay-Z, giving him what critic Gary Giddins called "the longest last laugh in history,"' reported The Washington Post.
A World War II veteran and a Bronze Star Medal recipient Bennett served in the Rhineland Offensive in the United State Army's 63rd Infantry Division.
Bennett passed away July 21, 2023. He is survived by his wife, Susan Crow, and his four children, Danny, who managed his extraordinary career revival, Antonia, an American singer, Dae, a producer, and recipient of 10 Grammy Awards and Joanne, an actress living in New York City.
No additional information is available.
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Box Office
The box office has exploded this weekend with the force of an atomic bomb, as movies theaters around the country are celebrating the first real big weekend comeback with a range of equally attractive choices for film goers.
"Audiences at the domestic, global and international box office this weekend are going bonkers for Barbenheimer. Warner Bros’ Barbie is now poised for an estimated $300M+ worldwide start through tomorrow (eyeing $150M+ each, from North America and a combined 69 overseas markets). Meanwhile, Universal’s Oppenheimer is now pegged for a $165.9M worldwide bow through Sunday, including $88.9M internationally,” Deadline reported.
Director and co-screenwriter Greta Gerwig's, "Barbie," an animated/live action drama starring Margo Robbie, and Ryan Gosling, has earned rave reviews from critics and audiences.
Director Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer," the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the Atomic Bomb, which traces his development as a scientist, recruitment to development of the atomic bomb, and the knowledge that saving the world comes as a high cost, including making lifetime enemies. The film's stars relatively unknown Cillian Murphy as Oppenheimer, Robert Downey, Jr., Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Matt Damon, Kenneth Branagh, and Gary Oldman, and a host of other well known and recognizable actors.
"Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One" fell to number 4, with the sleeper indie hit "The Sound of Freedom" nudging its way up the charts.
With an attractive box office filled with summer blockbusters, movie goers are beating the extreme heat and sitting through multiple screenings.
