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Netflix signs John Boyega's production studio to expand African content
Netflix is continuing its push to get more African content on its platform by partnering with Star Wars actor John Boyega and his company UpperRoom Productions. The indie production house will be responsible for developing non-English language films focused on West and East Africa, based on "stories, cast, characters, crew, literary properties, mythology, screenplays and/or other elements in or around African countries."
Netflix renews ‘Grace and Frankie’ for a seventh, 16-episode final season
Netflix has renewed Grace and Frankie, the comedy starring Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, for a seventh and final season. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the show will end with 16 episodes, giving it a total of 94 episodes over its lifetime and making it the longest-running Netflix original in terms of total episode count. While Orange is the New Black also had a seventh season, it had just 91 episodes.
The original 'Devil May Cry' will arrive on Nintendo Switch this summer
The original Devil May Cry is coming to Nintendo Switch this summer. The game's official Twitter account made the announcement earlier this week, although no release date or pricing has been revealed. We do know, though, that the game will only be available as a download, with no physical release.
Snap takes on Netflix with new short-form 'Originals'
Snap chief Evan Spiegel recently told employees in an internal letter that it's putting a focus on Shows in an effort to achieve full-year profitability in 2019. It looks like the company is going full steam ahead with that strategy, because it has just revealed quite a lengthy list of new scripted originals and docuseries titles. The app will roll out the first episodes for two of the scripted shows and one docuseries sometime today.
Hulu will offer ad-supported offline content soon
Back in January Hulu hit 17 million subscribers. Now it's sailed past the 20 million mark, and to celebrate, has revealed a raft of upcoming plans for the platform. For a start, it's expanded its slate of original series, confirming the arrival of Mindy Kaling's Four Weddings and a Funeral, Ramy Youssef's Ramy, plus Catch-22 from George Clooney and The First, starring Sean Penn. The Handmaid's Tale has also been renewed for a third season. And for the first time, Hulu will allow some of its content to be saved and played offline -- though that feature will be supported by advertising.
Square Enix gives 'Chrono Trigger' the PC graphics update it needs
Square Enix came under fire back in February when it released the mobile version of Chrono Trigger onto Steam, and not the anticipated SNES version. Players weren't happy, but now the publisher has made good its promise to fix things by releasing a patch that better aligns the game with its original look.
YouTube to follow Amazon by screening its movies inside theaters
Following YouTube's announcement last month that it intends to spend "hundreds of millions" on original content for Red, it's just unveiled plans for a YouTube-made movie that'll also be released in theaters. And unlike its previous effort, 2016's widely-regarded flop Lazer Team, this project has a serious name attached to it: Susan Sarandon.
Amazon is developing a new 'Conan the Barbarian' series
Conan the Barbarian is getting new TV treatment. As part of Amazon's push into the fantasy genre, the company is developing drama series Conan, based on the books by Robert E. Howard. This literary retelling of the classic 1932 tale will see our unlikely hero searching civilisation to find a place and purpose in a world that rejects him as a savage.
Apple poaches three Amazon video execs
Apple's push into original programming has been given another significant boost after it was revealed the company lured three executives over from rival Amazon Studios. Variety reports that Tara Sorensen, who joined Amazon in 2012 and helped lead its children's TV division, will jump ship to continue the same role within Cupertino. She'll also be joined by legal affairs chief Tara Pietri and international development executive Carina Walker.
Netflix revives London street drama 'Top Boy' with Drake's help
Netflix is continuing its tradition of extending popular Channel 4 TV shows after confirming that London street drama Top Boy is being revived. In a tweet, the show's star Ashley Walters -- also known as Asher D from the So Solid Crew -- confirmed that the series has been picked up as a Netflix Original and will debut in 2019 with a little help from Canadian megastar Drake.
Netflix's first original soccer docuseries focuses on Juventus FC
Netflix rarely ventures into the world of sport, but for its latest original docuseries, the streaming giant has confirmed it's working with one of the biggest names in soccer (football): Juventus FC. As part of a deal with the Italian champions, the company will produce four hour-long episodes that offers "unprecedented access" to the Juventus players and facilities during the 2017-18 season.
'The Witcher' will come to Netflix, not movie theaters
Geralt fans, listen up: The Witcher saga is being adapted into a TV series. Netflix has confirmed it will develop and produce an English-language drama series -- or Original, in Netflix parlance -- based on the fantasy books from Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski and inspiration behind the critically-acclaimed game franchise from CD Projekt Red.
Netflix's next original is basically a French 'Black Mirror'
One of the great things about Netflix's global expansion is that it allows audiences to enjoy new movies and TV shows that have been produced in other countries. French subscribers, for example, saw their first local original -- Marseille -- debut around this time last year. Today, as part of a wider statement confirming the creation of 400 new European jobs, Netflix announced that it has greenlit its second French-language TV series, Osmosis. Judging by the show's synopsis, fans of Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror could be in for a treat.
NBC will produce original content for Snapchat
If Snapchat's feeling an existential crisis (what with Instagram ripping off its product and all) then it's not showing it. The company has sealed a deal with NBCUniversal that'll see the broadcaster produce "original content" for the messaging service. The shows will feature original material that's been spun out of popular NBC franchises like SNL, The Voice and Fallon. The first will be a scaled-down version of the singing competition, in which user-submitted auditions will be judged by whichever The Voice coach has some free time.
Amazon is making a KKK movie led by Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Amazon's push for original content has seen it expand beyond TV shows and into movies. The company plans to release 12 films a year, which has caught the attention of some of Hollywood's biggest talents, including Spike Lee and Woody Allen. The Hollywood Reporter reports that for its next project, Amazon has signed Inception and Looper actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who will potentially produce and star in a new movie charting the rise of the Ku Klux Klan.
Amazon's first original UK drama will be set in post-war Paris
2016 is shaping up to be a good year for Amazon Prime subscribers after the company confirmed a second original UK series will be heading to its video streaming service. Joining Jeremy Clarkson and co. next year will be The Collection, a drama that chronicles the story of two brothers who work for a prominent Paris fashion house just after the end of World War II. Its producers, Lookout Point, co-produced Ripper Street, a series Amazon picked up in 2014 after it was axed by the BBC.
Time's up for Snapchat's original content
A service built on the two pillars of ephemerality and genitals was always going to be an unlikely destination for entertainment content. That's why it comes as little surprise that Snapchat is closing down Snap Channel, its portal for homegrown "TV" shows. According to Deadline Hollywood, the firm has also let go of Marcus Wiley, a high-profile comedy development executive that was hired in May of this year. Snap Channel had been withdrawn a few weeks ago, with Wiley charged with remaking the outlet in his own image. Unfortunately, original programming, much of it scripted, would have cost far more money than Snapchat wanted to spend. Now, the service will stick with using third-party content from other networks to provide a polite veneer behind which all those genital pictures can hide.
Netflix's next original is Charlie Brooker's 'Black Mirror'
The rumors were true: Charlie Brooker's renowned Black Mirror is headed to Netflix as its next original. The company confirmed today that it has commissioned 12 new episodes of the dystopian drama series, with Brooker and Annabel Jones, who produced the first seven episodes, continuing to spearhead development of the show. Brooker has already begun writing the new chapters, which will be shot later this year.
Apple is reportedly planning to make its own original video content
Rumors suggest that Apple is finally ready to introduce new Apple TV hardware next week, but that's not the only part of its new video strategy. According to Variety, Apple is preparing to launch its own original video programming in an effort to compete with Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and the many other tech companies that are making their own movies and TV series. It doesn't sound like this content will be ready to show off next week, though. Variety reports that Apple is having "preliminary conversations" with big players in Hollywood; the company's content lead Eddy Cue is apparently leading the effort.
YouTube's making 'TV' series and movies with its most popular creators
For many people, Netflix, Amazon Prime and those pirates episodes of Game of Thrones have all but replaced TV. YouTube's another big draw for "cord cutting millennials," but since its videos are all user-submitted, it's almost powerless to stop its stars being poached by TV networks and movie studios. For instance, Fred: The Movie was a flop, but YouTube must have been terrified to see one of its biggest stars wander off so easily. That's why the site is now setting up TV-style production deals with some of its most popular creators, as well as entering movie production partnership with AwesomenessTV.
