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| Thanks for reading Inside Streaming! The toll of the Hollywood strikes becomes more and more apparent every day. Solidarity is easy in that first week, when everyone's fired up and excited to hit the picket lines and have their voices heard. But after being at this for several months -- with lots of people now facing the real-world consequences of going without paychecks -- tensions are rising. It seems like each day, we're faced with nuanced new situations and impasses related to the strike, that no one seems to know how to fairly resolve. Should "Dancing with the Stars" -- with a crew of 500 people, and just one union writer among them -- have to shut down entirely? But if they don't, should WGA members who are also part of the cast this year refuse to cross the picket line? And what about Sherri Shepherd? If she doesn't promote struck work, and never had WGA writers anyway, is doing her show okay? And so on. We'll keep covering these situations as everyone tries to iron out what's appropriate and what isn't. Hopefully, this won't go on MUCH longer and everyone can just get back to work, though. Enjoy today's issue! Lon
p/lon-harris | |
| 1 | | According to Disney's internal figures, the animated Pixar romantic comedy-drama "Elemental" grabbed around 26.4 million views in its first five days on Disney+. That makes it the most-watched film premiere in the history of the platform. More: - Disney calculates "views" using the same formula as Netflix: total time streamed divided by the content's runtime.
- The previous Disney+ film premiere record was held by a different Pixar movie: 2022's "Turning Red."
- Marvel Studios' "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" also recently arrived on the platform, and was viewed for 1.625 billion minutes in its first five days, which worked out to 10.8 million overall views.
- "Elemental" had a relatively soft opening at the box office, pulling in just $30 million in its first weekend in theaters; the film bounced back over the summer, however, and ended up grossing nearly half a billion dollars worldwide.
- Set in "Element City," the film centers on the relationship between the fiery Ember (Leah Lewis) and aquatic guy Wade (Mamoudou Athie).
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| 2 | | Cable and braodcast networks once again accounted for more than half of all TV viewing in the US in August. Over the summer, streaming platforms grabbed more than 50% of total TV viewership in the US for the first time. More: - Streaming dipped in overall viewership in August for the first time in five months.
- Cable accounted for 30.2% of US TV use during the month, while broadcast networks took around 20.4%.
- Nielsen, which reported the figures, cited new seasons of popular network franchises like "America's Got Talent" and "Big Brother," along with the return of NFL football, for the boost to conventional TV viewing.
- Streaming remains the largest individual category for TV viewership, with 38.3% of the total.
- The dip in streaming viewership in August may also relate to kids and teens returning to school following the summer break.
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| 3 | | DAILY CALENDAR TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19 TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: MUTANT MAYHEM: 2023 animated superhero film, rebooting the "Turtles" franchise with a new voice cast of actual teenagers: Micah Abbey, Shamon Brown Jr., Nicolas Cantu, and Brady Noon. In the new adventure, the Turtles take on a powerful crime syndicate, which brings them into conflict with an army of fellow mutants. Ayo Edibiri, Maya Rudolph, John Cena, Seth Rogen, Rose Byrne, Giancarlo Esposito, Paul Rudd, Post Malone, and Jackie Chan co-star; Rogen and Evan Goldberg executive produced. [Paramount+] THE SAINT OF SECOND CHANCES: Feature documentary profiling eccentric baseball executive and promoter Mike Veeck, the son of former Chicago White Sox owner Bill Veeck who famously hosted the ill-fated "Disco Demolition Night" event in 1979. Jeff Daniels narrates, while Charlie Day portrays Veeck in re-enactments. Morgan Neville ("Won't You Be My Neighbor?") and Jeff Malmberg ("Marwencol") directed. [Netflix] KOUNTRY WAYNE: A WOMAN'S PRAYER: The actor and comedian's first-ever stand-up special was recorded at the Warner Theatre in Washington, DC, and features material about gender dynamics, faith, and being a father to his 10 kids. [Netflix] A THOUSAND AND ONE: 2023 drama from writer/director A.V. Rockwell, making her feature debut. Teyana Taylor stars as a New York single mother who kidnaps her son from the foster care system, in order to raise the boy herself. Lena Waithe executive produced. [Amazon] | | | |
| 4 | | YouTube suspended monetization on Russell Brand's channel, following multiple allegations of rape and sexual assault against the British actor and comedian. In a statement, the platform explained that Brand's off-platform behavior had violated its Creator Responsibility policy. More: - The allegations surfaced as part of a joint investigation into Brand by The Sunday Times, The Times, and Channel 4; four women accused Brand of assaulting them on separate occasions between 2006 and 2013.
- Brand denied some of the allegations in a video posted to Instagram, which appeared before the actual article.
- YouTube has also barred Brand from creating new or alternative channels in order to circumvent the monetization hold.
- London's Metropolitan Police are currently investigating at least one allegation against Brand.
- The BBC has also removed some of Brand's shows and content from its iPlayer streaming platform.
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| 5 | | ABC and Disney+ plan to debut Season 32 of "Dancing with the Stars" next week, despite opposition from the striking Writers Guild of America (WGA). "Dancing with the Stars" employs one WGA writer, as part of a crew of around 500 staffers. More: - According to Variety, the show will be produced in compliance with SAG-AFTRA guidelines, even though a number of the competitors are members of the acting guild.
- The WGA writer typically scripts material for the show's hosts; the dance competition series is otherwise mostly unscripted.
- Under SAG-AFTRA guidelines, members are allowed to make public appearances, so long as they aren't promoting any struck work; this means the usual montages and video packages featuring past TV and film projects will be modified.
- Season 32 competitors include Alyson Hannigan, Jamie Lynn Spears, Barry Williams, Matt Walsh, Mira Sorvino, Ariana Madix and Xochitl Gomez.
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| 6 | | Netflix and South Korean ISP SK Broadband closed out a three-year legal dispute, and agreed to form a new partnership. SK Broadband will now offer a bundled package, including Netflix subscriptions along with its IPTV and SK Telecom service plans. More: - The companies filed suit against one another in 2020, due to a dispute over increases in Korean streaming traffic.
- SK Broadband blamed Netflix for the costly traffic boost, which it related to the debut of the blockbuster thriller series "Squid Game," and asked the court to require the streamer to help cover the increased network demands.
- SK estimated that the jump in internet traffic cost the company around $23 million US.
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| 7 | | Steven DeKnight, the showrunner of Netflix's "Daredevil" series, criticized Disney+'s decision to reboot the project under the new name "Daredevil: Born Again." DeKnight argues that the reboot is not actually a new series, but has been retitled as part of "an old Disney scam." More: - In a series of posts to Twitter/X, DeKnight points out Disney's history of retitling classic shows in order to make them appear as debut series, allowing them to revert to original contract terms.
- DeKnight argues that this loophole should be addressed by the striking unions.
- In a later post, DeKnight clarified that he's still personally excited to check out the Disney+ "Daredevil" series, and particularly the performances from returning stars Charlie Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio.
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- Netflix acquired the feature documentary "American Symphony" following a lengthy bidding war; Matthew Heineman's film profiles musician Jon Batiste, following along as he experiences professional success while his wife Suleika Jaouad battles leukemia.
- "The Simpsons" Season 34 comes to Disney+ in its entirety on October 11; the show's 35th season debuts October 1 on Fox, and streams the following day on Hulu.
- The Wall Street Journal looked at the phenomenon of feature film piracy on TikTok; some full films, such as recent VOD release "Barbie," are available to stream in their entirety on the app, broken up into 90-second chunks.
- Netflix unveiled a new slate of Italian shows and films at the See What's Next media event in Rome on Tuesday; the line-up includes the series "Storia della mia Famiglia" and "Adorazione," along with the film "Il Treno dei Bambini," based on the novel by Viola Ardone.
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 | Writer | | Lon Harris is the writer and editor of Inside Streaming and was the very first person to ever write an Inside newsletter. He lives in Los Angeles, California, and also writes about TV and film for Fandom, Screen Junkies, Rotten Tomatoes, Gamma Ray and others. Plus he has a Game of Thrones podcast called "Casterly Talk" and competes on The Movie Trivia Schmoedown as "The Professor." | | This newsletter was edited by Lon Harris | |
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