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HBO Max halts original productions across large parts of Europe
HBO Max has confirmed that it will no longer produce originals in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Central Europe, the Netherlands and Turkey.
YouTube Originals launches a star-studded slate of COVID-19 content
YouTube’s Originals division is working on a slate of COVID-19-related shows. After YouTube launched the #withme campaign, it saw a huge increase in watch-time, Susanne Daniels, global head of original content at YouTube, told Deadline. The new COVID-19-related content will take advantage of the #withme traffic, and allow YouTube to produce shows that can be filmed remotely.
Snap reveals new Originals and renews 'Bringing Up Bhabie'
Snap has been expanding its mobile-first Originals line-up since it debuted the format in October 2018, and now it has introduced a new batch of shows yet again. Its latest additions include documentaries, anthologies and scripted shows, which will start streaming sometime this fall. Tekashi69 VS The World will be the first entry in the "VS The World" franchise, which will follow some of the biggest names in hip-hop, sports and entertainment. 6ix9ine's season will tackle his childhood in Brooklyn, rise to fame, legal issues and his eventual arrest and incarceration.
What’s coming to Netflix in July: ‘Stranger Things' and 'Queer Eye'
There's a good chance you know what's coming to Netflix in July: Stranger Things 3. It's arguably the most anticipated release of the summer, and you won't have to wait much longer -- it arrives on July 4th. Stranger Things 3 certainly isn't all we have to look forward to. This month, Netflix will release the seventh and final season of Orange is the New Black, the recently announced fourth season of Queer Eye and another season of Jerry Seinfeld's Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.
YouTube's 2017 lineup of Red Originals includes six new shows
Other than its innovated VR180 format and YouTube TV expansion, Google's video streaming site found time to mention its subscription package during Vidcon 2017. For 2017 the YouTube Red Originals lineup has a mix of new series on the way including an eSports comedy from Dan Harmon (Community) called Good Game starring Game Grumps personalities Dan Avidan and Arin "Egoraptor" Hanson, and its first reality series, Lace Up: The Ultimate Sneaker Challenge. As far as renewals, we knew of a cancellation for PewDiePie's show, but one of Red's first shows, Foursome, will return for a third go-round, alongside four other returning series and one movie sequel. YouTube also finally dropped a number showing some of the activity on its service, saying its originals have notched "nearly" a quarter billion views. After the break, check out a quick teaser trailer for the new shows plus more details on all of them.
Report: Facebook's first original shows have been delayed again
Soon, Facebook won't just be a place where people's personal videos go viral — it wants to become a destination for original videos, too. The push began in earnest in 2016 and the social giant hired notable names from CollegeHumor and MTV to develop made-for-Facebook shows soon after, but the launch schedule has gone awry. Recode reports that while the first batch of videos was intended to go live as early as this spring, we're probably not going to see them until at least the middle of the summer.
Watch the first trailer for Marvel's 'Iron Fist' on Netflix
With Marvel's Iron Fist hitting Netflix on March 17th, it's about time we've got a full look at the series. The series' first full trailer quickly introduces you to Danny Rand (Finn Jones), who returns to New York City after being away for 15 years. His goal? To reclaim his family's company, and, apparently, beat up a lot of bad guys with mystical martial arts powers. As you probably expected, Iron Fist will lead to the eventual team up of Netflix's Marvel shows later this year in The Defenders.
YouTube Red's next originals include a 'Step Up' spinoff
YouTube just announced its second round of original series at VidCon 2016, and the biggest new series is a bit of a surprise. That would be Step Up, which will bring a "heart-pounding, sexy, music-filled and dramatic look at dancers in a contemporary performing arts school." Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan co-starred in the original movie (there have been five), and are among those listed as producers, and with the popularity of dance videos on YouTube it could be a good fit. Returning for second seasons are high profile originals Scare PewDiePie and Foursome, while the Smosh crew is bringing an as-yet untitled movie project.
Amazon Japan adds 12 new original series to Prime Video
Amazon isn't wasting any time making good on its original programming plans for Japan. As part of its Prime Video service, which launched in September of last year, the company had announced plans to offer about 20 original shows tailored to that market. And today, Amazon Japan has unveiled a slate of originals detailing 12 new series that span a variety of genres, including documentaries, dramas and children's shows. Standouts include Magi, a time-traveling historical drama about teens that return to Japan to find Christianity's been banned; new versions of Ultraman and Kamen Rider; and manga adaptations like Businessmen vs. Aliens and Baby Steps. While some of these series are already available to stream now, others are planned to debut later in the year or even in 2017. It's also worth noting that Prime Video subscribers in Japan get access to these originals, as well as other Amazon series like Mozart in the Jungle for the bargain price of $32/year. Doesn't seem fair, now does it?
Edit all you want, because Google Photos will keep your originals
If you're prone to overfiltering, cropping and general meddling with your photos, you just keep right at it -- if you're using Google Photos on Android. The app has been updated to ensure it keeps the original shot irrespective of how many times you resize, shape and brighten it. Now, users can save their edits or save a new copy of the photo, but irrespective of which, the original will also stay filed away inside the Photos app. The new feature is inside version 1.17 -- and I'm telling you that now so that no-one goes crazy with the cropping before they're sure they've got the right update.
Netflix is bringing 'House of Cards' back for S5 in 2017
The Frank Underwood 2016 campaign doesn't kick off until March 4th, but Netflix is already announcing that its flagship original series House of Cards will be back again in 2017. There is a major change in store for season five, as it will be without creator, writer and showrunner Beau Willimon. As Willimon's Twitter profile explains, he's been working on HoC for the last five years, so it could be that this is just to take some time off. Update: Beau Willimon has issued a statement of his own, saying "it's time for me to move on with new endeavors." You can read it in full below.
'Simpsons' creator Matt Groening is in talks with Netflix
Netflix will spend a ton of money on original series to double its output this year, and some of that could be heading Matt Groening's way. Variety and Deadline are reporting that the creator of Simpsons and Futurama is in talks with the streaming network to create a new animated series. There's no word on what it might actually be, but the rumors say Netflix is considering signing up for two ten episode seasons -- and considering Groening's track record, we can see why. [Image credit: Gary Doak / Alamy]
Netflix: New season of 'OITNB' spurred a record amount of streaming
Netflix is flying high enough to need a 7-for-1 stock split, but now it's competing in a world where Showtime and HBO offer streaming video over the internet too. That makes today's earnings results (PDF) ever more important, and not surprisingly, the company focused on its push for original, exclusive content. Now up to 65 million members worldwide (42 million in the US), Netflix mentioned that the debut of Orange is the New Black S3 resulted in viewers watching a record number of hours for one day the following Sunday, the same day as HBO's Game of Thrones finale and an NBA Finals game.
Netflix pushes 'OITNB' release six hours early during primetime
We were expecting season three of Orange is the New Black to become available for streaming at about 3AM ET tonight, but Netflix surprised everyone and released it at about 9PM. That was during its "OrangeCon" event in New York City for fans, but really raises an interesting question. What if Netflix bumps its all-at-once original series releases from those early morning hours to right in the middle of primetime? There's not much on tonight other than the NBA playoffs, but pulling such a stunt in the think of the fall TV season could be an interesting experiment -- if Netflix ever does it again.
Netflix's early-2015 premieres include 'Daredevil' on April 10th
Netflix watchers, check this post and update your calendars accordingly -- the streaming service just announced premiere dates for a bunch of the new shows it will have this year. That list includes its first collaboration with Marvel, (Daredevil, April 10th), the Tina Fey-produced show it snagged from NBC, (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, March 6th), a drama from the producers of Damages, (Bloodline, March 20th), and a new show bringing Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin together again (Grace & Frankie, May 8th). For the kids, Netflix has The Adventures of Puss in Boots on January 16th, Ever After High: Spring Unsprung on February 6th and Mako Mermaids season two on February 13th. Of course, we can't forget House of Cards season three arrives February 27th, and Edward Norton produced documentary My Own Man is slated for March 6th. Whew.
YouTube offering bonuses to keep talent away from rivals, says WSJ
Google is throwing money at its YouTube stars to keep them away from a site that hasn't even launched yet, according to the WSJ. Vessel, created by Hulu exec Jason Kilar, has offered some YouTube artists exclusive and lucrative deals to attract attention to its launch later this year. Other sites like Facebook and Crackle have also reportedly been poaching YouTube stars. The "broadcast yourself" site leans on talent like style coach Michelle Phan and comedian Colleen Ballinger (as Miranda Sings, above) to keep loyal channels fans engaged. But Phan, who had an early look at Vessel, called it "stunning," and others have said that they were offered serious money for exclusive deals. Artists that stay loyal are making out better, though -- on top of bonuses, YouTube has been offering rich funding deals to help select stars create new channels. [Image credit: Flickr/Gage Skidmore]
Netflix will experiment with DVD-style extras for originals, Android app gets UI tweaks
Netflix made a couple of interesting announcements today, the first of which should be most pertinent to the Android users amongst you. The streaming video company has updated its app for the Google mobile operating system with a revamped interface that promises snappier covers, smoother scrolling and new action and navigation bars. Chromecast users should especially take note, as apparently the Netflix app has been slightly tweaked to play nicer with the TV dongle, such as improved lock screen playback controls. The only bad news? It still doesn't have support for the new profiles, although we asked and the company is still working on that, as well as broader HD streaming support. The slow rollout begins today, though you can hit Android Police for the APK if you're impatient. The second announcement is a little more experimental. Netflix's VP of Product Innovation, Todd Yellin, mentioned at the GigaOm Mobilized conference today that the company will begin testing enhanced content or extra features around its original shows such as House of Cards or Orange is the New Black. If that works out, he says Netflix is open to offering DVD extra-style content to other partner providers as well. "Hopefully if we try something like that," said Yellin, "We have that lightning bolt of an idea that it's more than just a tiny percent user game." For those who're in the process of giving up physical media, additional extras like these could certainly be welcome.
Six Ngmoco iPad titles revealed
In his panel at GDC last week, Ngmoco's Neil Young dropped the news that his company was going all out with their freemium business model -- not only are they releasing twenty iPhone titles by the end of this year, but they're planning on having six iPad titles ready to go right away at launch. Touch Arcade has done a little digging, and they've come up with what they think the six iPad titles will be. Here we go: GodFinger We Rule (both of these were previewed last week) Flick Fishing (probably re-created as a freemium app) NBA Hotshot (also likely remade into Ngmoco's model) CastleCraft (an MMO strategy/wargame) WarpGate As you may have noticed, two of those are Ngmoco originals, and four of those are Freeverse titles that were either planned for the iPad or are being remade for the new platform; again, presumably free-to-play, along with microtransactions and freemium resources in the Ngmoco mold. That's definitely a sizeable library going into the new platform, and if Ngmoco really does have these ready to go on April 3rd (and I don't see any reason why they wouldn't -- even if they haven't gotten one of those test iPads from Apple, their model is designed to release early and make updates quickly if needed), then they'll be positioned to grab iPad app space very early on.
