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Sky's deal with Sony paves the way for 4K movies
Sky has sewn up its first pan-European deal with Sony today, ensuring the studio's movies arrive promptly, and in 4K resolution, in every country where it operates. In the UK, the new agreement means that Sky will continue to get first dibs on Sony's latest flicks before any other subscription service. Sky says each movie will be available "only a few months" after it's been released in cinemas, and "over a year" ahead of other subscription services. (Think Netflix, Prime Video, or even BT TV.)
Sony's first 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray releases will arrive early next year
If you were hoping Ultra HD Blu-ray discs would be here in time for the holidays, you're going to have to wait a bit longer. Well, as far as Sony Pictures content is concerned anyway. The company announced today that its 4K Ultra HD discs will go on sale "in early 2016," missing the end-of-the-year estimate the Blu-ray Disc Association revealed back in August. When Sony's catalog does arrive, you can expect The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Salt, Hancock, Chappie, Pineapple Express, and The Smurfs 2 to be included in the first wave of releases. Newer movies like Fury and Captain Philips are in the works as well, and after being restored from the original film, the likes of Ghostbusters and The Fifth Element will make the leap to 4K, too.
Watch the first trailer for 'The Angry Birds Movie'
Yes, folks, it's all happening. The first trailer for The Angry Birds Movie has arrived. Directed by Clay Kaytis and Fergal Reilly (both first timers), and written by Jon Vitty (The Simpsons), the animated film seems to focus on the origin story of why these famous birds are, well, angry. Red, perhaps the most popular character, is voiced by Jason Sudeikis, while Danny McBride does the honors for Bomb -- you know, the black bird who likes to blow up. The rest of the cast is made up by other well-known stars, including Bill Hader, Josh Gad, Maya Rudolph and Peter Dinklage. Interestingly enough, The Angry Birds Movie is now slated to hit theaters in May 2016, a couple of months earlier than originally announced.
WikiLeaks lets you search Sony's hacked emails (updated)
When a group calling itself the Guardians of Peace hacked Sony Pictures in late 2014, thousands of private emails and information about top executives, actors and Hollywood hotshots hit the 'net. The messages revealed pay discrepancies between male and female stars, and contained copies of films that hadn't yet seen release. Some of these emails contained racist and derogatory comments from Sony Pictures staff, including co-chair Amy Pascal, who consequently left the company in February. Now, all of these emails are available in searchable form on WikiLeaks. Anyone interested in digging through Sony Pictures' email archives can now search by specific term, sender, recipient, attached filename or email ID.
PlayStation's original programming future depends on 'Powers'
Powers is the first series to come from Sony PlayStation's original programming push, a partnership with Sony Pictures Entertainment, and it's not rated "E" for everyone. With comic books as its source material, the racy superhero cop drama from creator Brian Michael Bendis is a custom fit for the PlayStation user base, especially users that pony up $50/year for Sony's PlayStation Plus subscription service. And it's that particular demographic the PlayStation group is keen to pursue with any future projects. "We are a gaming company, so we want to do what's best for gaming and for our gamers," says PlayStation VP of Platform Marketing John Koller. "We're going to make a decision here after we see how Powers does. But whatever we do, it'll be very centered on the gamer and the gaming audience and what caters best to them."
'Pixels' looks like another horrible video game movie
Pixels is a live-action movie about an alien-controlled cadre of classic video game characters wreaking havoc upon humanity by turning everything they touch into, well, pixels. It's based on the charming 2010 short by the same name that Sony thought would make a great feature-length movie starring Happy Gilmore (Adam Sandler) and Paul Blart (Kevin James). A mulleted Peter Dinklage is along for the ride too, in what looks like a less challenging role than his voice work in Destiny was. His character bears more than a passing resemblance to Dog the Bounty Hunter, because sure why not? At one point, Pac-Man's creator Toru Iwatani (played by Denis Akiyama) gets his hand chomped off by the big yellow guy himself. And just when I thought it couldn't get any more stupid, out came trite "homages" to iconic scenes from Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Independence Day. All this to say: The movie looks absolutely abhorrent.
'Seinfeld' will start streaming soon, but probably not on Netflix
According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, Sony Pictures has opened the bidding for streaming rights to Seinfeld. One party apparently not taking part is Netflix, leaving the show about nothing to Amazon, Hulu or Yahoo. While Netflix paid a reported $500k+ per episode for four years of Friends, the length of the agreement for Seinfeld is still in question. The streaming competition has heated up considerably over the last year or so, and if the usual people in a position to know are right, we'll find out who's willing to step up to the table on this one in the next few weeks.
Marvel pulls Sony and 'Spider-Man' into its Cinematic Universe
You can add a few more entries to the long list of comic book movies due in the next few years, as Sony Pictures has revealed its plans for the Spider-Man franchise. As suggested in emails leaked during the recent hacking scandal, the studio has worked out an agreement with Marvel and Disney to include Spidey in the Marvel Cinematic Universe which already includes a slew of blockbuster movies, a couple of TV shows and even Netflix's upcoming series. The superhero/photojournalist will appear in an upcoming MCU movie first, then on June 28th, 2017 a standalone flick is coming that's produced by Sony, departing executive Amy Pascal and Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Marvel movie with Spider-Man could be Captain America: Civil War, while Andrew Garfield will not continue on in the role.
Sony Pictures co-chair steps down months after massive hack
The hacking of Sony Pictures may not have stopped The Interview from being released, but now the Deadline reports the studio has announced co-chairman Amy Pascal will step down. Pascal has been with the company since the 80s when it was just Columbia Pictures, and her profile notes Sony had 95 movies hit #1 since 2000 under her leadership. In November news broke that Sony Pictures had suffered a crippling hack, disabling computers and locking employees out of the network for days, and what followed got even worse as information leaked out in bunches.
Kodak and movie studios forge a deal to keep film alive
Good news, die-hard aficionados of movies on film: those reels will stick around for a while yet. Kodak has put the finishing touches on a deal with the six big Hollywood studios (Disney, Fox, NBC, Paramount, Sony and Warner Bros.) that will maintain a steady supply of film for movie and TV directors that want to keep using the classic format. The exact terms aren't public, but it wouldn't be surprising if Kodak had the studios over a barrel. When high-profile directors like Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino virtually insist on film, it's hard to say "no" -- you may as well be telling them to take a hike if you make them go digital. This pact won't stop the gradual death of film in theaters, of course, but creative types can take comfort in knowing that celluloid's hard-to-replicate qualities aren't going away any time soon. [Image credit: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images]
'The Interview' is on Netflix streaming
As promised, the movie Kim Jong Un preferred you didn't see is now available if you have a Netflix subscription (and an account in US or Canada). Whether or not watching The Interview is a good idea is still a matter of taste/importance, but at this point it really couldn't get any easier (at least until it comes to Sony's Crackle service for free ad-supported streaming at some point in the future.) Oh, and if you're looking to get Amazon Prime for $72 ($27 off the regular price, good for new or existing customers who send it to themselves as a "gift" today only) and/or watch Transparent for free, you can do that right now too. Have a great weekend!
Hackers broke into Sony Pictures using an unpatched security hole
Whether or not you believe that North Korea hacked Sony Pictures, one thing is becoming apparent: whoever's responsible knew what they were doing. Sources for Recode understand that the perpetrators took advantage of a zero-day exploit, or a software security hole that hadn't been patched yet. The details of just what this attack involved are still under close guard, but it suggests that Sony had no surefire way to protect itself. Also, it hints that the culprits had a lot of skill, a lot of money or both. Zero-day vulnerabilities are usually difficult to find and fetch a high price on the black market (typically between $5,000 to $250,000), so the attackers must have really wanted in.
Troubled Steve Jobs movie starts filming at last
Aaron Sorkin's adaptation of Walter Isaacson's Steve Jobs biography (aka the new one that doesn't star Ashton Kutcher) has been fraught with difficulties, but by the looks of it, filming has finally begun. Last Friday, CNET caught a glimpse of the film crew prepping the garage at Jobs' old home, which is known for being Apple's birthplace... even if Wozniak admitted that it was just "a bit of a myth." The house is somewhere in Los Altos and is just one of film's locations around California, including several spots in Silicon Valley, of course. This adaptation went through the wringer since Sony snapped up the book's rights in 2011, as proven by the emails found among the gigabytes of data leaked by Sony Pictures' hackers late last year.
Top stories from 2014, Google talks Title II and other stories you might've missed
Happy New Year, folks! To celebrate the start of 2015, we rounded up all stories that helped make the past 365 days so memorable -- and they're just a click away. Head on down to the gallery below for the stories that defined 2014 and more, including The Interview's aftermath, why sitting will kill you and Google's plan for Fiber under Title II. You know you want to.
President Obama orders stricter sanctions on North Korea after Sony hack
According to a press release that just hit the Treasury Department's website, President Barack Obama has issued an executive order that calls for even more restrictive sanctions on North Korea for its role in the massive hack attack on Sony Pictures late last year. In his words, the new financial clampdown is because of North Korea's "destructive, coercive cyber-related actions during November and December." "Today's actions are driven by our commitment to hold North Korea accountable for its destructive and destabilizing conduct," Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said in a statement. "Even as the FBI continues its investigation into the cyber-attack against Sony Pictures Entertainment, these steps underscore that we will employ a broad set of tools to defend U.S. businesses and citizens, and to respond to attempts to undermine our values or threaten the national security of the United States."
DVDs of 'The Interview' will be airdropped on North Korea
Sony's once-forbidden The Interview is now seemingly ubiquitous, but there's one place where you can't get it: North Korea, the country that inspired the movie (and allegedly, the hacking campaign) in the first place. If defector and activist Park Sang-hak has his way, though, North Koreans will see that movie whether or not their government approves. Park plans to use balloons to airdrop 100,000 copies of the comedy (both on DVD and USB drives) in the country starting in late January. In theory, North Koreans will have second thoughts about Kim Jong-un's rule once they see him as less than perfect -- and if you've seen the movie, you know how eagerly it knocks Kim off his pedestal.
'The Interview' spreads to cable VOD, DirecTV, Vudu and more theaters
In the space of a few days, Sony Pictures' The Interview has gone from unreleased to impossible to avoid. Cable video on-demand operator inDemand has added the movie to its roster, so for $5.99, pretty much anyone with pay-TV service can rent it right now instead of needing one of Google's video services, Xbox or iTunes. It's also popped up on WalMart's video service Vudu in the past day, is available via DirecTV, and according to Variety, as of Friday the number of theaters where its playing will grow to 580, compared to 331 on Christmas Day. If you're still on the fence about viewing you can use our opinion or that of others, but the movie that couldn't be stopped by North Korea (and/or company insiders) has already reportedly brought Sony $15 million through its unconventional release.
The hackers who hit Sony Pictures also threatened CNN (update)
The Guardians of Peace didn't just threaten Sony Pictures and theaters that planned to show The Interview; it also shook its fist at the press, too. The Intercept has obtained an FBI alert noting that the group implied threats against a "news media organization" on December 20th. While the bulletin doesn't name the company, The Desk's Matthew Keys has copies of the Pastebin-based messages (since removed) showing that CNN was the target. The GOP sarcastically complimented CNN on its "investigation" of the hacking group and linked a video calling the TV network an idiot, but didn't warn of any specific consequences. Update: Writer David Garrett Jr. has stepped forward as the source of this particular posting. According to Garrett, he has no connection to North Korea or the Guardians of Peace group, and just wanted to point out media inaccuracies.
Sony had to dig up old BlackBerrys to function during hack
When Sony Pictures' computers were hacked on Thanksgiving, its employees were forced to use older technologies to keep things running, according to reports by The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. Staff relayed details about the hack from one person to another via phone, and had to haul in old machines to issue physical checks instead of transferring salaries through bank deposit. Sony execs also reverted to old BlackBerry company phones -- as they can send and receive emails through their own servers. These reports don't only shed light on what happened (and what continues to happen) behind the scenes at Sony, they also give us a glimpse at how the investigation was handled.
FBI maintains that North Korea hacked Sony as detractors mount
Did North Korea's government hack Sony Pictures? Though the United States government and FBI say yes, a growing chorus of detractors is pushing back on that claim. And the FBI is apparently listening: one firm, Norse, met with the FBI this past Monday to present its own claim that a group of six people were responsible. Moreover, at least one of those six is said to be an ex-Sony employee, reports Politico. Norse says its been looking into the attack on Sony Pictures since before Thanksgiving, and it presented the results of that research to the FBI yesterday. For its part, the FBI is sticking to its story -- at least for now. "The FBI has concluded the Government of North Korea is responsible for the theft and destruction of data on the network of Sony Pictures Entertainment. Attribution to North Korea is based on intelligence from the FBI, the U.S. intelligence community, DHS [Department of Homeland Security], foreign partners and the private sector," an FBI statement provided to media reads.
