July 28, 2023FilmTakeComments Off on Amazon’s MGM+ Could Emerge as a Formidable Streaming Service After Acquiring Lionsgate
By absorbing Lionsgate and Starz into MGM+, which is available and promoted worldwide to hundreds of millions of Amazon subscribers, MGM+ could emerge as a leading streaming service. Besides Amazon, Paramount Global is said to be considering Starz.
July 26, 2023FilmTakeComments Off on Lionsgate Faces Substantial Financial Risks and Capital Requirements
Lionsgate has failed to deliver on long-touted plans for cash injection by spinning off Starz. Despite ongoing delays and several missed deadlines, Lionsgate is reportedly one of three final suitors vying for Canada’s eOne.
Many uncertainties surround the format and nature of film markets in 2021, including the crown jewel – Cannes. All significant markets scheduled in the first quarter will be virtual.
With most of the world in mandatory lockdown, Netflix doubled its quarterly subscriber estimates from January through March by adding 16 million new subscribers.
Deal activity is muted so far at this year’s festival despite claims that producers and sales agents were withholding their best films at TIFF in September to introduce at Sundance.
Netflix continues to publicize unsubstantiated claims that its original films and shows outperform third-party content contrary to all independent research.
Against the backdrop of new streaming competition, Netflix is significantly increasing the amount it invests in producing, licensing, and acquiring films and shows.
Amazon Studios has relied on traditional distribution practices to foster greater collaboration with gatekeepers in Hollywood. However, after playing second fiddle to Netflix for the better part of a decade, Amazon is changing its theatrical strategy stateside.
After years of declining production activity for Made-For-TV movies, Netflix is accelerating the rate it licenses and produces lower-budgeted movies for its streaming platform.
Netflix expanded its global footprint with a ten-year lease at the U.K’s Shepperton Studios. The lease grants Netflix exclusive access to a majority of Shepperton including 14 sound stages.
If reports from China are to be believed (clearly they cannot), a company with $19 million in revenue was going to finance $1 billion of Paramount’s slate.