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Redbox deal with Universal eliminates rental window delay
This week, Redbox, the company behind all those movie rental kiosks, extended its distribution deal with Universal, . The studio had previously held fast on a 28-day window between when it released movies for home purchase and when people could rent them from Redbox. Now, that window has been eliminated. The new terms apply to both the physical locations as well as the company's new streaming service, which was announced earlier this month.
Nintendo might be making an animated 'Super Mario Bros.' movie
Nintendo's plans to return to movies appear to include its most beloved franchise. Wall Street Journal sources understand that Nintendo is close to a deal for an animated Super Mario Bros. movie from Illumination Entertainment, the Universal-backed studio behind the Despicable Me series. While the exact terms aren't clear, the pact would theoretically allow multiple movies. Nintendo has also been bending over backwards to maintain creative involvement, and Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto is expected to be a producer.
Universal Music taps AR and VR to hype new releases
VR storytelling company Within has been experimenting with different musical collaborators. Universal Music Group artist The Chemical Brothers worked with the company to create an immersive, web VR-based visual interpretation of the duo's tune, "Under Neon Lights." Within also put together a music video for OneRepublic in VR for their single, "Kids." Within is now going big in a new partnership with Universal Music Group to develop augmented and virtual reality experiences with the music label's large roster of artists.
Redbox deals with Sony and Lionsgate bring discs with no delay
This year Redbox is trying to make a resurgence, adding kiosks after a few years of shrinking availability. Of course, if it's going to draw people in for disc rentals over streaming, it will need to provide the movies they're looking for and renewed studio licensing deals will help make that happen. This week it renewed an agreement with Sony Pictures that secured its movies, once again, for rental at Redbox the same day they go on sale, while Lionsgate made a similar arrangement a couple of weeks ago. As Home Media Magazine notes, recent renewals with Warner and Fox bring their movies to the box a week after they go on sale, leaving Universal as the lone holdout still insisting on a 28-day window. The simple fact is that physical media isn't bringing in as much money as it used to, and studios are more flexible about methods that will keep people using discs instead of Netflix. Of course, Redbox still trails the availability of streaming video-on-demand in many cases, but it's also much cheaper, at just $2 or so for a Blu-ray copy.
Most of Jay Z's albums are already back on Apple Music
Hip hop legend Jay Z pulled most of his music off of Spotify and Apple Music last Friday. It wasn't a huge surprise given Jay Z's involvement and stake in competitor Tidal, but it looks like things aren't quite so cut and dry here. After confirming that the majority of his discography was indeed gone from Apple Music in the US and UK last Friday, we're now seeing that the majority of his albums have already returned to Apple's streaming service.
Spotify is limiting free streaming for its own good
It's no secret that labels and artists aren't thrilled that their music is available free on ad-supported streaming services. Taylor Swift famously pulled her catalog from Spotify due to its decision to give full on-demand streaming to customers who weren't paying for a monthly subscription. And she's not the only one. The debate over streaming royalties has been going on for a while now. That's on top of the issues free options raise -- chief among them is artist compensation. When it comes to Spotify's decision to cede on free streaming, it was a matter of when, not if, this would happen to appease the labels.
Spotify might delay album releases for 'free' users
Spotify's deadlock with three of the largest music labels could soon come to an end. According to the Financial Times, the streaming company has agreed to 'window' important album releases to keep them on side. It would mean select records are only available to premium members for a period of time, incentivising subscriptions and boosting the revenue that trickles through to labels. The FT says nothing has been signed just yet, but stress talks have "picked up considerably" since the concession was made.
'The Mummy' in VR was shallow, but the seats were not
VR seat company Positron teamed up with Universal at SXSW this year to showcase a "Zero Gravity VR Experience" tied in with the studio's The Mummy reboot. While it fell (way) short of simulating weightlessness, it was nonetheless a nice way to watch virtual reality. If only the stuff I was watching wasn't quite so shallow. Like the movie it's based on, Universal's setup at SXSW is flashy and expensive. You walk into a nondescript ballroom at a convention center, and are greeted by a section of an aircraft's fuselage, together with a life-sized "Egyptian" sarcophagus from the movie. Behind a blackout curtain lay 20 or so VR seats, arranged as you'd expect seating in a high-class movie theater. These seats -- Positron Voyagers -- are the real stars of the show. Positron debuted the Voyager at Sundance earlier this year, and has since been touting the seat at various VR and film shows. Resembling an Arne Jacobsen egg chair, but with none of the charm and subtlety, the Voyager contains motors to control pitch and yaw to simulate motion, a built-in Subpac for vibrations, as well as a standard Oculus Rift headset and some noise-canceling headphones. The actual VR experience was of the shallow PR-grab variety: a 10-minute featurette narrated by Tom Cruise, showing how the movie's zero-gravity action sequence (which was pretty much 90 percent of the trailer) was filmed.
'Mr. Robot' creator turns sci-fi legend 'Metropolis' into a series
Sam Esmail is apparently taking a very unusual strategy for his next big project beyond Mr. Robot: he's tackling one of the earliest sci-fi epics. Hollywood Reporter sources say that Esmail is creating a miniseries based around Metropolis, Fritz Lang's classic 1927 film about a dystopic society. The show is still very early (Esmail may need to finish Mr. Robot before devoting his full attention), but partner Universal Cable Productions is apparently willing to give it a budget fitting Metropolis' pioneering visuals. Reportedly, the company would be willing to spend a whopping $10 million per episode, and is willing to shop it around to numerous providers, including streaming services.
Nintendo attractions are coming to three Universal parks
Nintendo didn't reveal any details when it announced a partnership with Universal Parks & Resorts to bring its video games to tourists last year. Today the company divulged a bit more, but there still isn't a lot of info on specifics just yet. Nintendo says the goal of the project is to use characters, action and adventure so you can step inside games via attractions that capture the "adventure, fun and whimsy" of playing your favorite titles. In other words, it's bringing its iconic games to life.
'Jason Bourne' in 3D is making moviegoers in China nauseous
In China, where 80 percent of movie theaters built in the last 10 years have 3D projectors, movie studios often release "exclusive," three-dimensional adaptations of movies that won't actually see a 3D release stateside. While that can be lucrative for a studio's bottom line, the plan apparently backfired for Universal Picture's latest big budget action flick. Jason Bourne may be dumb about technology, but as The Hollywood Reporter explains, a 3D conversion of the film is actually leaving moviegoers feeling dizzy and nauseous, thanks to director Paul Greengrass' fast-paced, handheld camerawork.
Frank Ocean's 'Blonde' has been pirated 750,000 times
It seems streaming exclusives are continuing to create a rise in piracy. After a four-year hiatus Frank Ocean finally resurfaced, dropping his long-anticipated sophomore album, Blonde, on Apple Music last weekend. Critics and fans are enjoying it, but it's not all good news for the R&B singer. So far, the album has been illegally downloaded over a whopping 750,000 times.
Universal Music Group is reportedly done with streaming exclusives
Apple Music and Tidal have tapped into exclusive releases to gain the upper hand on Spotify over the last year, but it appears one major record label may have had enough. Frank Ocean released his long-awaited follow-up to 2012's Channel Orange on Apple Music over the weekend, an album that should top the charts this week. However, Blond has apparently caused quite a stir with Ocean's label Def Jam and its parent company Universal Music Group. In fact, Billboard reports that UMG CEO Lucian Grainge has informed the heads of Universal's labels that streaming service exclusives are a thing of the past for their artists.
'Warcraft' among Universal's first Ultra HD Blu-ray offerings
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment detailed its list of Ultra HD Blu-ray releases scheduled this summer, and it's just the tip of the iceberg for 4K home video collectors. Beginning with Warcraft, Jason Bourne, and The Huntsman: Winter's War, more than 100 titles will be available by the end of the year for 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray and digital formats. Each title will be mastered in Dolby Vision as well, with HDR and brighter colors across digital and physical releases.
Skype gets HoloLens support and help from Cortana
Microsoft isn't just content to work on a universal Skype app -- it has much bigger plans in store. It's developing a version of Skype for HoloLens that, as you'd expect, lets you chat and collaborate with friends using the augmented reality headset. Its exact functionality isn't clear yet, but the allure is clear: you can hold a hands-free video chat while you're walking around the room. Needless to say, that's helpful if you're working on a group project or have your hands full with other tasks. Don't worry if you can't drop $3,000 on a HoloLens unit to try it out, though, as there's plenty coming for regular users.
'Battlestar Galactica' movie starts coming together
There has long been talk of a Battlestar Galactica movie (supposedly as far back as 1999), but it looks like the flick is becoming more than just a bunch of whispers. Universal has signed on well-known producers Dylan Clark (Rise of the Planet of the Apes), Michael De Luca (The Social Network) and Scott Stuber (Ted) to helm a big-screen version of the humanity-versus-Cylon struggle. The X-Men series' Bryan Singer is reportedly involved as an executive producer, but it's not certain that he'll direct.
UHD Alliance reveals its specs for 'premium' 4K TVs
Last year a number of TV manufacturers, Hollywood studios and other content companies got together so they could avoid ruining the home experience of 4K. A battle over competing standards and formats has made a mess of tech like Blu-ray/HD DVD and the rollout of 3D, but this industry consortium is committed to making sure that doesn't happen with Ultra HD. As Fox exec Mike Dunn put it during a panel discussion, "Unless you have a standards group that puts the glue for the industry together, it's not seamless for the consumer." Tonight the group showed off the logo and specs (above) that you should probably look for if you consider buying a high-end Ultra HD television. Update: Samsung says its entire line of 2016 SUHD TVs has been tagged with the UHD Premium certification.
The PS4 universal remote hits stores later this month
Sony America announced on Thursday that the wait for its PS4 universal remote is nearly over. The much-anticipated accessory is set to go on sale for $30 "later this month," according to a company post. The remote will serve to replace the DualShock controller for non-gaming applications. It will communicate via a Bluetooth connection and be able to control up to three additional AV devices. What's more, it will also be compatible with a number of existing streaming apps including Crunchyroll, HBO Go, Netflix (obvs), Twitch and YouTube. If you can't wait to purchase it in person when it actually hits store shelves, Amazon, Best Buy, Gamestop and Toys R Us all have it available for pre-order.
Prime Music adds Katy Perry, The Weeknd and other Universal artists
To keep pace with the likes of Apple Music, Spotify and other, Amazon is expanding its music streaming library once more. Today, the online retailer announced that Prime Music now features tunes from Universal Music Group. If you're not into industry minutiae, Universal is home to Katy Perry, The Weeknd, Maroon 5, Drake and Lorde, just to name a few. The deal also means that Amazon will offer a collection of classical and jazz from Universal, too. Prime members are privy to the new tunes for unlimited streaming as well as "expertly programmed" playlists on iOS, Android (and Android Auto), Fire devices, Amazon Echo, or the web. [Image credit: Mauricio Santana/Getty Images]
Two states are looking at Apple's deals with record labels
It's no secret that both Apple and music labels are less than fond of free music streaming from Spotify and other services, but are they conspiring together to hurt these services in favor of pay-only options like Apple Music? Not if you ask the attorneys general of Connecticut and New York state. Both of them have accepted a statement from Universal Music Group swearing that it isn't illegally blocking free tunes, indicating that antitrust regulators didn't find evidence of collusion between UMG, rival labels and Apple.
