Sean Wang, 29-year-old director of Didi, "has been preparing for his Sundance moment since he discovered Spike Jonze’s skater videos as a teenager before heading off to film school at the University of Southern California." - The New York Times
Well, it sure was fun to watch Andor and Love, Victor and Only Murders in the Building, etc., while password-sharing lasted. Cram it all in before March 14, y’all, cause the Mouse wants its money. - Wired
Analysts are projecting that the changes will generate billions of dollars in revenue for Amazon. If viewers pay for the ad-free tier, that’s $3 more per person; if they opt not to upgrade, Amazon can make money by showing them ads. - The Atlantic
Rogan’s podcast will stream on Spotify, but also will also be available on Apple, Amazon and YouTube under the revised distribution strategy that Spotify began pursuing in 2023. - Deadline
Says one source, “The propagandists are both envious and also hateful that a movie with an anti-censorship, anti-totalitarian, anti-war message is getting so much popularity, that they have doubled down. It started out with just a few patriots. Now it’s on state TV. They want blood." - Variety
"Audacy has laid off … a quarter of the staff at (Pineapple Street Studios,) the division that produces shows such as the recent hit Ghost Story and several television-focused series with partners like HBO, Max, and Netflix. … The layoffs come just weeks after Audacy filed for bankruptcy." - Inside Radio
"It hews so closely to the real-life absurdities of the Cold War, with two saber-rattling superpowers escalating an arms race that could only end in mutual annihilation. … Some of the best bits barely have to reach for a joke: Kubrick merely points out the folly behind modern man’s greatest fear." - The Guardian
Edward Teller? John von Neumann? Herman Kahn? Wernher von Braun? "Despite all the speculation, Kubrick never clarified the character's origins. So did he base Strangelove on one of them, all of them, or none of them? … The most compelling candidate ... is the only one who sounded nothing like him." - BBC
"Hallmark rose from the sixth-most-watched cable network at the top of October to the third-most-watched the week of Nov. 20, when it won out over CNN and MSNBC in total eyeballs. … It’s time to admit that Hallmark movies are actually just Hollywood movies — and specifically rom-coms." - The New York Times Magazine
A study surveying 300 leaders across the entertainment industry reports that three-fourths of respondents indicated that AI tools supported the elimination, reduction or consolidation of jobs at their companies. Over the next three years, it estimates that nearly 204,000 positions will be adversely affected. - The Hollywood Reporter
“A lot of people who are walking out of musicals and loving them may not even know that it was a musical,” said Paul Dergarabedian, a senior media analyst at Comscore. - The Wall Street Journal
"The comic-turned media mogul (Byron Allen) has made a $14.3 billion offer to buy all outstanding shares of Paramount Global. … The deal would also see Allen Media Group assume Paramount’s roughly $15 billion debt load, valuing the shares at about a 50% premium to their recent trading prices." - The Hollywood Reporter
"The biggest player in this new genre is ReelShort, an app that offers melodramatic content in minute-long, vertically shot episodes and is hoping to bring a successful formula established abroad to the United States by hooking millions of people on its short-form content." - The New York Times
