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MoviePass adds 500,000 subscribers within a month
MoviePass' $10-per-month subscription service was a hit from the start, enough to crash the company's website when it was first announced. It looks like demand isn't slowing down anytime soon either: it has gained 500,000 more subscribers merely a month after it reached 1.5 million users. The fact that MoviePass cut off members' access to some popular AMC theaters had little effect, if any. It's easy to see why 2 million would sign up: for 10 bucks a month -- an ongoing promo even cuts the price down to $7.95 -- they're entitled to see one 2D film a day, every day, without paying extra.
Theater subscription service MoviePass snaps up its first film
MoviePass is wasting no time in making good on its plans to invest in films. The company behind the 'unlimited' theater subscription has snapped up crime caper American Animals for $3 million at Sundance. The move sees it share North American distribution rights for the film with indie studio The Orchard, according to Variety.
FilmStruck's alternative streaming service is coming to the UK
A movie streaming service backed by Warner Bros. and Turner is launching in the UK in the "coming weeks," the pair have announced. FilmStruck has been lighting up screens in the US since late 2016, and will arrive across the pond with a slightly different name: FilmStruck Curzon. Underpinned primarily by the substantial archives of Warner Bros. and the Criterion Collection, the service will span "mainstream, cult, independent, classics, art house, foreign and documentary film." As well as providing logistical support, Curzon will have its own curated corner on the service that'll feature some content provided by its movie distribution arm, Artificial Eye.
Amazon will focus on 'bigger' movies to lure people to Prime
Having made its name buying smaller, niche independent projects to build its TV and movie division into a multi-award-winning studio, Amazon plans ramp things up a little moving forward, Reuters reports. According to sources, the company will increase its spending on new films, dedicating as much as $50 million to more commercial projects. Amazon will reportedly reduce the number of art-house movies it buys, which it typically acquires at events like the Sundance Film Festival for figures in the low millions, in its bid to lure more people to Prime and onto its expanding streaming service.
‘Slender Man’ trailer is proof some things shouldn’t leave the internet
I suppose it's better that the first internet-inspired meme to hit theaters will be the Slender Man instead of Grumpy Cat (whose movie was straight to video, chumps!), but creepy copypasta from the internet's teenage days sounds like a terribly thin base for, y'know, a feature-length production. But some industry exec's kid probably got spooked from a Slender Man thing once and idea-strapped Hollywood decided to spend money adapting web-bred spoopiness into a horror flick. Behold, the trailer for Slender Man.
People are really into MoviePass’ unlimited cinema subscription
MoviePass, the deal that eliminates the eye-watering cost of going to the flicks, has passed the one million mark in paid subscribers -- not bad for a service that movie chain AMC lambasted as "unsustainable" earlier this year. Film fans can see a movie a day for $9.95 per month, or $6.95 if paid for the year in advance.
The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures will display an iPhone 5s
Director Sean Baker ripped up the filmmaking rulebook by shooting his Sundance hit Tangerine on an iPhone 5s. Now, over two years since the flick scooped more than seven times its budget at theaters, the Oscars has come knocking. No, the filmmaker isn't getting a belated gong (although his current indie success story The Florida Project could change that). Rather, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is pinching one of three iPhone 5s handsets used to film Tangerine to display in its upcoming Academy Museum. You'll be able to see it for yourself, alongside film memorabilia from The Wizard of Oz and Alien, when the 300,000 square foot space opens its doors in 2019.
Netflix tries out a Christmas movie with Kurt Russell as Santa
Netflix is handing Kurt Russell the role he was born to play: Santa Claus. The streaming giant is about to start rolling cameras on a festive flick, according to The Hollywood Reporter, with filmmaker Chris Columbus (of Harry Potter and Home Alone fame) producing. Child actors Judah Lewis (last seen on Netflix's The Babysitter) and Big Little Lies' resident DJ Darby Camp will round out the cast of the as-yet untitled project.
Cinemark launches a monthly movie program to rival MoviePass
MoviePass, the $10-per-month movie theater subscription service, was so unexpectedly popular when it launched last August that the company struggled to meet demand. Its success hasn't gone unnoticed, especially by the competition. Theater chain Cinemark is creating its own service, Movie Club, but with far less generous perks. For a $9 monthly subscription, it grants a single ticket (instead of one every day) but also gives 20 percent off concessions and cheaper bulk ticket rates.
Quentin Tarantino developing 'Star Trek' movie with J.J. Abrams
Quentin Tarantino could helm the next Star Trek film, according to sources who spoke to Deadline. Tarantino has shared his pitch on the long-running sci-fi franchise with producer J.J. Abrams, reports The Hollywood Reporter. The two plan to convene a writers room to develop the film at Paramount, with Tarantino in the director's chair.
Amazon Prime members can stream 15 Sundance Film Festival titles
Today, Amazon announced that 15 Sundance Film Festival titles are now available for Prime members through Amazon Video Direct. The films include Manifesto, starring Cate Blanchett, and festival award winners Marjorie Prime and Free and Easy.
Amazon's latest Prime perk is an early 'Jumanji' screening
Amazon Prime members will have a new perk soon for all the Jumanji fans in the house. Subscribers can book tickets for a December 8th advance showing of the upcoming movie, which will screen a full 12 days before its public release.
Facebook tests VR in News Feed with ‘Jumanji’ experience
Since adding 360 videos to News Feeds in June 2016, Facebook has spent this year significantly invested in the format. It enabling 360 livestreaming and then added that functionality within its apps, and even boosted the back end with automatic image correction. But the social network isn't stopping its immersive push at flat imagery. Today Facebook announced it has started testing VR experiences in users' News Feeds, and its first experiment is a 'scavenger hunt' game for the upcoming Jumanji film.
MoviePass offers an even bigger discount if you pay for a year upfront
MoviePass is dropping its price point yet again. In August, the company reduced its subscription cost to just $10 per month -- down from $15 to $21 depending on where you lived -- and upped the amount of movies its subscribers could see from two per month to one per day. Now, if you're willing to pay for the whole year up front, you can snag the no contract, subscription for $7 per month.
Netflix outbids Disney for superhero movie starring Daisy Ridley
There's no shortage of superheroes on Netflix, yet it's found room for a subversive spin on Hollywood's favourite genre, courtesy of Josh Gad. The streaming giant outbid Disney to nab the film, dubbed Super-Normal, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The character-driven flick will also star Daisy Ridley (who's back in the saddle as Rey for Star Wars: The Last Jedi) and Gad's Beauty and the Beast co-star Luke Evans. The script comes from the writing duo behind animated hit Moana (another Disney connection), with Gad in the production chair alongside It producer Dan Lin -- who's also involved in Netflix's Death Note.
Kodak cuts 425 jobs as film revival treads water
Kodak has lost $46 million this quarter and will lay off 425 employees, indicating that its film resurgence is still a work in progress. The company chalked up $46 million in losses (compared to a $12 million profit in the same quarter last year), to a slowdown in the printer market and rising cost of aluminum used in its products. The company's Consumer and Film division, which manufactures movie film for its upcoming Super 8 camera and the motion picture industry, also lost money.
Christopher Nolan apologizes for trash-talking Netflix
Film director Christopher Nolan made no secret of his disdain for Netflix's business model over the summer, when he gave an interview calling the streaming service's "bizarre aversion" to supporting theatrical releases "mindless" and "untenable". Now, he tells Variety that he sent a personal email to Netflix's chief content officer Ted Sarandos, apologizing for his comments.
The Reflex 1 is the first manual film SLR in decades
Written off not long ago as dead technology, film has recently been embraced by instant photographers and filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino and Christopher Nolan. A company called Reflex has capitalized on that trend by launching the manual focus, 35mm Reflex 1 SLR, "the first newly designed manual SLR system in over 25 years."
Sky Store lets you scrap the DVD for a cheaper digital download
When the Sky Store's "Buy & Keep" option first launched in 2014, it offered the best of both worlds: A digital copy of a film (and later, TV box sets) to download and watch immediately, followed by a physical DVD copy to add to your collection when it eventually turned up in the post. Times have changed since then, though, and these days physical disc sales are dwindling as streaming and downloads become ever more popular. Embracing this shift, Sky is changing how Buy & Keep works this week, allowing you to sack off the DVD or Blu-ray copy for a cheaper, digital-only purchase.
Designing the technology of ‘Blade Runner 2049’
This article contains spoilers for 'Blade Runner 2049' There's a scene in Blade Runner 2049 that takes place in a morgue. K, an android "replicant" played by Ryan Gosling, waits patiently while a member of the Los Angeles Police Department inspects a skeleton. The technician sits at a machine with a dial, twisting it back and forth to move an overhead camera. There are two screens, positioned vertically, that show the bony remains with a light turquoise tinge. Only parts of the image are in focus, however. The rest is fuzzy and indistinct, as if someone smudged the lens and never bothered to wipe it clean. Before leaving the room, K asks if he can take a closer look. The blade runner -- someone whose task it is to hunt older replicants -- dances over the controls, hunting for a clue. As he zooms in, the screen changes in a circular motion, as if a series of lenses or projector slides are falling into place. Before long, K finds what he's looking for: A serial code, suggesting the skeleton was a replicant built by the now defunct Tyrell Corporation. Throughout the movie, K visits a laboratory where artificial memories are made; an LAPD facility where replicant code, or DNA, is stored on vast pieces of ticker tape; and a vault, deep inside the headquarters of a private company, that stores the results of replicant detection 'Voight-Kampff' tests. In each scene, technology or machinery is used as a plot device to push the larger narrative forward. Almost all of these screens were crafted, at least in part, by a company called Territory Studios.
