Random Thoughts

Ovation Watch: BLONDE gets 11 minutes at Venice, which is by far the best received Netflix title.

The Son was 10 minutes, Banshees still the undisputed champ at 13 minutes. The Whale 6 minutes, Bardo 4, White Noise 3.

WyldeMan wrote:

Queen Elizabeth II has died aged 96. The royal, who was the world’s second longest-serving monarch after ruling for 70 years, will be replaced by her son Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales.

UltimateMarvel wrote:Damn! She was 96. RIP

They need to set age limits and this is something that needs to be done globally in any form of government. I don't want to be doing shit in my 70s. In my 90s? You can fuck right off!

WyldeMan wrote:Upon my death, all my belongings shall transfer to the man or animal who has killed me.

joey con carne wrote:Watching Bloodfist 2. God damn, this movie is a piece of shit. I love it!


Now watching Bloodfist 3. This is even worse than 2.

joey con carne wrote:Damn, that’s scary. Hope you’re safe and the fires don’t make it to your area.

If you are bored now, turn on Pluto channel Flicks of Fury. Don The Dragon Wilson’s movie Whatever It Takes is on. Andrew Dice Clay is in this, too. Looks like it just started. Homeboy just shot a kid. I think Donnie is gonna get in some trouble here.

UltimateMarvel wrote:Damn! Stay safe man! Hope they are able to manage it. Is that normal over there at this time of year? You get any rain lately?

Rusty wrote:Fucking wildfires. We get them here as well. Had a few close calls, but as you say, just the smoke and the ash does enough damage, which hangs around for ages even after the fire has died/passed. Shit is terrible.

Is the show going to be over for Showtime?

Paramount Global is having “early” discussions about shutting down Showtime as a standalone service and migrating Showtime’s slate of premium content into its flagship streamer, Paramount+, according to a Wall Street Journal report, citing anonymous sources. Paramount has “broached the idea” of shuttering Showtime in talks with “at least one major pay-TV partner,” per the report.

Reps for Paramount and Showtime did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In a statement to the Journal, Paramount did not directly address the question of whether Showtime would continue as a separate service. “We are always exploring options to maximize the value of our content investment by giving consumers access to great Paramount content through an array of services and platforms,” the company rep told the publication.

The WSJ report comes less than a month after Paramount combined Paramount+ and Showtime into a single, merged service — letting subscribers access content from both streamers in one place — and offering discounts of up to 33% on the Paramount+/Showtime bundle through Oct. 2.

Showtime’s popular shows include “Billions,” “Yellowjackets,” “The Chi” and “Dexter: New Blood.” Fall premieres on the premium service include “American Gigolo,” “Let the Right One In” and the return of “Your Honor” and “The L Word: Generation Q.”

Content on Paramount+ includes original series like “1883,” “Halo,” “Star Trek: Discovery” and “Secret Headquarters” with upcoming originals this fall slated to include “Tulsa King,” “On the Come Up,” “Criminal Minds,” “Wolf Pack,” “1923” and the return of “The Good Fight” and “Seal Team.”

In announcing Q2 earnings, Paramount said that Paramount+ now has 43.3 million paid customers, a net add of 3.7 million for the June quarter (including 1.2 million disconnects in Russia). The company’s total streaming subscribers globally reached 63.7 million in the second quarter, a gain of 1.7 million, meaning the company’s other direct-to-consumer services dropped 2.4 million subs overall; Paramount does not break out the number of subscribers for Showtime or its other direct-to-consumer services.

Meanwhile, Paramount recently inked a deal with Walmart under which Paramount+ is now available in the retailing giant’s Walmart+ membership program.

Paramount+ is the rebranded version of what was previously called CBS All Access.

Source: Variety

joey con carne wrote:uh oh, that likely means Paramount Plus will go up in price.

Rusty wrote:Paramount + Plus

Disney CEO Bob Chapek, coming off a promotional blitz at the company’s D23 conference last weekend, reiterated many of those messages for a Wall Street audience but struck a more confident tone than ever before in outlining the future of Hulu.

Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia & Tech Conference, Chapek noted that while Hulu has been operated by Disney since 2019, a full streaming combo would need to wait due to Comcast’s financial stake. Under the terms of a deal reached by the companies when Disney acquired most of 21st Century Fox, Disney can buy out Comcast at the start of 2024. Chapek said he “would love to” execute the buyout sooner, but he indicated Comcast is not in a hurry. Recent estimates have estimated the valuation of the stake at $27.5 billion and that number is not likely to decline during an era when streaming assets continue to be prized.

“The thing that you worry about when you’re Disney is brand friction, with some of the content that we may have in general entertainment,” Chapek said. “I am amazed every day in this job how elastic the Disney brand is. I would tell you that we have had no blowback whatsoever in terms of including that general entertainment content on a Disney-branded streaming proposition” in territories outside of the U.S. “I’m not saying it would be received exactly like that in the U.S., but it gives us some reason to believe that we have more degrees of freedom than anybody would have ever suspected.”

A blending of the two services has been expected by many insiders and industry observers, and it would match the strategies afoot at Warner Bros Discovery, Paramount Global and other companies as the market matures. Yet lining up Hulu’s programming, which includes everything from dystopian drama A Handmaid’s Tale to topical comedy films like Plan B and Happiest Season as well as edgy F/X titles like American Horror Story, in the same app as Pixar and other kids fare has always represented a unique challenge. Chapek said he has become convinced that such an offering could be brought to market and “not be subject to organ rejection by the consumer.”

Continuing to reach broad scale remains a key objective for Disney. While in the aggregate it now has more streaming subscriptions than Netflix, many customers subscribe to multiple services. Additionally, Chapek said, there is incentive to minimize hassle created when a viewer wants to, say, toggle between the new season of Atlanta and a Star Wars series on Disney+. “There’s a little bit of consumer friction there,” the CEO said. “Long-term, we can avoid that, and 2024 is not that far away.”

Even in the U.S., Disney has been realigning its programming with an eye toward stocking Disney+ with more titles not directly connected to its original five pillars of Marvel, Pixar, Lucasfilm, National Geographic and Disney. It shifted ABC mainstays like Dancing with the Stars and Black-ish to streaming, after seeing significant tune-in and new subscriptions for Peter Jackson’s Beatles docuseries Get Back last fall.

Pricing was another major topic during the 40-minute session. Asked about what kind of price increases may be possible down the line — even though the company is getting set to implement its second major hike later this year — Chapek said he wasn’t expecting a spike in churn. Therefore, he suggested, more increases could be on the way soon. “It’s what the market will bear, which is a direct reflection of price/value, and I think we’re way under-priced relative to the value that we provide,” he said. “We owe it to our shareholders to try to get that recognized.”

Data from the nearly 3-year run of Disney+ and the path of ESPN+, which launched in May 2018, will help inform decisions on pricing, Chapek said.

The price where Disney+ began — $6.99 in November 2019 — is “absurd” in retrospect, Chapek said, and makes comparisons seem drastic when the service tacks on additional dollars. The low initial price “helped us get to where we’re at, with those huge sub numbers,” he acknowledged. “It’s hard to believe we’ve only been at this three years.”

Source: Deadline

Grammy-winning singer R. Kelly was found guilty in Chicago today on six of 13 counts related to child pornography and luring underage girls to have sex with him, according to Reuters. Each child pornography conviction carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in Chicago.

Previously, Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison at a Brooklyn federal court on nine counts of sex trafficking and racketeering.

Today Kelly was found guilty of three child pornography counts and three counts of enticing minors for sex. He was acquitted of seven other charges, including obstruction of justice and conspiracy to receive child pornography. He had pled not guilty.

Of the felony counts of sexual assault, four of them are aggravated criminal sexual assault that carry a maximum sentence of up to 30 years in prison.

The charges were originally filed May 30, 2019 after Kelly previously pleaded not guilty to 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse against four alleged victims — three of whom prosecutors say were underage at the time. The new charges are related to one of the original underage victims and allegedly occurred in 2010.

The Associated Press said prosecutors wrote in court documents that because the victim was underage at the time, the statute of limitations for bringing charges extended to 20 years from her 18th birthday.

Kelly also faces additional charges in Illinois and Minnesota, according to Reuters.

The latest news is part of the fallout from Lifetime’s 2019 documentary series Surviving R. Kelly, which featured alleged victims coming forward to detail the singer’s abusive past. After that, Stormy Daniels’ ex-lawyer Michael Avenatti came forward with a video allegedly showing Kelly involved in sex acts with a 14-year-old girl.

Source: Deadline

UltimateMarvel wrote:He brought it on himself, that's it for him.

Rusty wrote:I like Jon Hamm but damn I wanted Jason Lee as Fletch

John Cena has officially set a new Guinness World Record for the most wishes granted through the Make-A-Wish Foundation with 650. Nobody else has ever granted more than 200 wishes in the 42-year existence of the organization.

Tyger wrote:How can they verify this if nobody can see him?

Tyger wrote:How can they verify this if nobody can see him?

WyldeMan wrote:A young Canadian actor named Ryan Grantham has pled guilty to both second-degree murder and plotting to kill Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Spoiler:

Prosecutors said at a hearing in June that after he fatally shot his mother on March 31, 2020, at the family’s home in Squamish, British Columbia, he recorded video with a GoPro camera, in which he confessed to the killing and showed Waite’s lifeless body.

Rusty wrote:Quick update: Actor Ryan Grantham sentenced to life in prison. Eligible for parole in 14 years.

Something I hadn't read before from this article:

Prosecutors said at a hearing in June that after he fatally shot his mother on March 31, 2020, at the family’s home in Squamish, British Columbia, he recorded video with a GoPro camera, in which he confessed to the killing and showed Waite’s lifeless body.

joey con carne wrote:This board’s most-anticipated film came out today: Don’t Worry Darling.

I wonder how it will do in the box office.

Tyger wrote:I actually think a lot of it looks good, but will probably wait to stream