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| So... I watched that Netflix movie "Reptile" that I talked about yesterday in this note. It's a weird movie! Benicio del Toro plays a hardened and disillusioned detective working a homicide investigation that makes him feel even more disillusioned, and while he's terrific, the movie is probably too much of a slow burn. I did also like Alicia Silverstone as Del Toro's wife, who's not a cop but still likes hearing about his cases and trying to piece things together for herself, plus Michael Pitt is good as a creepy guy who's among the key suspects. But I don't know, it's really just a pretty standard procedural mystery-drama when all is said and done. Probably would've benefitted from one more pass to make it leaner and faster-paced. But certainly not bad, and probably worth watching just for that BDT performance. He's so good. Lon
p/lon-harris | |
| 1 | | According to The Wall Street Journal, Netflix plans to raise its subscription prices after the conclusion of the SAG-AFTRA strike. The price hike will reportedly impact several international markets, including the US and Canada. More: - Netflix did not comment on the report, which also did not include specifics about the scale of the price hike, or when it might go into effect.
- Over the past year or so, in aggregate, the cost of US streaming subscriptions has gone up by about 25%.
- Streamers have also experimented with lower-cost ad-supported tiers and the addition of exclusive premium programming, such as live sports, as strategies for increasing revenue.
- Among the largest and most popular US streaming platforms, Netflix was the lone holdout that had not yet raised prices over the past year; the last Netflix price jump was in January of 2022.
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| 2 | | Warner Bros. Discovery raised the ad-free subscription price for the Discovery+ standalone streaming service by nearly 30%, effective immediately. This marks the first-ever price increase for Discovery+ since its January 2021 launch. More: - In the US, an ad-free Discovery+ plan will increase from $6.99 per month to $8.99.
- Ad-supported pricing will remain $4.99/month.
- Existing subscribers will see the price change reflected on their next bill.
- WBD does not break down its subscriber numbers by platform, so it's unknown how many viewers are signed up specifically for Discovery+.
- The standalone Discovery+ service includes content produced for Discovery's line-up of cable networks, including HGTV, Food Network, TLC, ID, OWN, Discovery Channel, Travel Channel, Animal Planet, and Magnolia Network; most of this content is also available on Max.
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| 3 | | DAILY CALENDAR TUESDAY, OCTOBER 3 MAKE ME SCREAM: Unscripted Halloween comedy special in which three celebrity teams try to make it through haunted houses and scare zones without screaming in terror. Team leaders include Jaleel White, Soniqua Shandai, and Lil Xan; Tempestt Bledsoe and Darryl M. Bell co-host. [Amazon] BETH STELLING: IF YOU DIDN'T WANT ME THEN: The comedian's new special is her first since "Girl Daddy," which hit HBO Max back in 2020. Topics include camping out with a fake spouse and keeping an eye on her father's "raccoon army." [Netflix] LET'S MAKE A DEAL PRIMETIME: "Let's Make a Deal" returns to primetime this week for a series of specials, running through November. First up is a vacation-themed episode in which all the prizes are luxury getaways to destinations including The Maldives, Bora Bora, Ibiza, Hawai'i, and Jamaica. Wayne Brady hosts. [Paramount+] THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS: The classic soap opera returns to CBS for a 51st season on Tuesday afternoon; episodes debut simultaneously on TV and Paramount+. Eric Braeden, Lauralee Bell, Doug Davidson, Peter Bergman, Tracey E. Bregman, Sharon Case, and Reylynn Caster co-star. [Paramount+] HOSTAGE 911: Debut true crime docuseries from Investigation Discovery, featuring recorded conversations between law enforcement negotiators and criminals who have taken hostages. [Max] HELCK: Anime series based on the manga by Nanaki Nano, about a human who enters the demon realm to compete in a fighting tournament. Season 2 arrives today in the US on the HIDIVE service. [HIDIVE] | | | |
| 4 | | Netflix made some high-level changes to its executive management team. Jeremi Gorman plans to exit the company, just one year after taking over its advertising business. More: - VP of studio operations Amy Reinhard will become the company's new president of advertising.
- Gorman joined Netflix after working at Snapchat and Amazon; she said she's taking on a new project where she can "build again."
- Netflix also promoted Eunice Kim to the role of chief product officer and Elizabeth Stone as its new chief technology officer.
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| 5 | | Hulu renewed the mystery-comedy series "Only Murders in the Building" for a fourth season. The Season 3 finale, which sets up the story for Season 4, debuted on Monday. More: - Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez co-star in the series as residents of a lavish Manhattan apartment complex who start their own true-crime podcast.
- Season 3 guest starred Paul Rudd and Meryl Streep, and concerned a murder investigation on Broadway.
- Steve Martin co-created the series alongside John Hoffman for 20th Television.
- "Only Murders" is Hulu's most-watched original comedy series ever; the Season 3 premiere had the most-watched single day of any Hulu scripted original this year.
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| 6 | | Netflix grabbed the global rights to the drama feature "His Three Daughters," following its premiere at the Toronto Film Festival. According to Variety, the streamer paid around $7 million for the film. More: - Natasha Lyonne, Elizabeth Olsen, and Carrie Coon co-star as estranged sisters who reunite as their father's health declines.
- Azazel Jacobs -- whose 2020 dark comedy-drama "French Exit" scored a Golden Globe nomination for star Michelle Pfeiffer -- wrote, directed, and edited the feature.
- This was Netflix's third major acquisition in Toronto; the streamer also grabbed Richard Linklater's crime comedy-drama "Hit Man" and "Woman of the Hour," the directorial debut of actor Anna Kendrick.
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| 7 | | The Hollywood Reporter spoke with Moonbug Entertainment founder and CEO René Rechtman about expanding the company's footprint beyond YouTube, and developing shows for the largest streaming platforms. Moonbug, the studio behind preschooler mega-hits like "Cocomelon" and "Blippi," already produces content for Netflix, and will launch its first Disney+ original next year. More: - Rechtman developed his Moonbug distribution strategy while working at Disney; he told THR that families are willing to pay a monthly subscription fee for "strong, engaging kids brands."
- The company uses YouTube as a kind of lab, experimenting and playing around with IP until they're certain it has innate appeal to a wide audience of young viewers.
- Both the "Little Baby Bum" and "Morphle" franchises started as independent YouTube channels; both were acquired by Moonbug in 2018, and have been developed into original series for Netflix and Disney+, respectively.
- Moonbug also distributes some of its original productions through Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV+.
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- Netflix dropped a trailer for the four-part limited series "All the Light We Cannot See," based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Anthony Doerr; the WWII drama, about a blind woman who escapes Nazi-occupied Paris with her father, then forms an unlikely bond with a German teenager, debuts on November 2.
- "Loki" EP Kevin Wright spoke with Variety about planning out Season 2 early on in the Season 1 production process, why it's the first Marvel Studios series to avoid reshoots, and the casting of newcomer Ke Huy Quan as OB; Season 2 premieres later this week on Disney+.
- In a broadside against Netflix, the new ad campaign from Pluto TV stresses that its selection is curated by humans, as opposed to algorithms.
- Roku announced "A Very Demi Holiday Special," featuring Christmas-themed performances from pop star Demi Lovato and to-be-announced guest performers, along with "a very special surprise duet."
- Rather than interrupting Sunday's "Toy Story"-themed streaming NFL game, sponsor Allstate ran an entirely in-show campaign based around trivia questions.
- On his first "Tonight Show" in five months, host Jimmy Fallon addressed the toxic workplace allegations first reported by Rolling Stone in a vague manner, saying that he used his time off "to really just sit and think."
- Apple released some early images from "Criminal Record," a UK crime thriller series reuniting "Torchwood" vets Peter Capaldi and Cush Jumbo; the first two episodes hit Apple TV+ on January 12, 2024.
- Paramount uploaded the complete comedy film "Mean Girls" to TikTok, broken up into 23 parts; the stunt commemorates October 3, known as "Mean Girls Day" because of a specific joke from the film.
- A complete copy of the comedy series "The Complete and Utter History of Britain" -- a precursor to "Monty Python's Flying Circus" that aired for just one season in the UK in 1969 -- has been discovered in the ITV Archive and is now available to stream on ITV Premium for the first time ever.
- Netflix ordered a first season for the Hebrew-language Israeli comedy series "Bros" from co-creators and stars Guy Amir and Hanan Savyon; they'll play lifelong friends whose bond is tested by a string of fresh challenges.
- Amazon greenlit "Hell of a Date," an action-thriller series set in the world of Swedish media and politics; production is now underway in Stockholm.
- Sky Studios announced prequels for two internationally popular Italian drama series: "Gomorrah" and "Crime Novel."
- Paramount+ appointed two international executives to new rules; Anna Priest will serve as senior VP and head of Paramount+ for the UK, while Katrina Kowalski was named Pluto TV's senior VP for international content and acquisitions.
- Even the best engineers can run into challenges. Straight from the cloud experts at DoiT, here are here are 5 core strategies for cloud innovation.*
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Term of the Day Large language models: Large language models (LLMs) are a statistical method that helps predict the following outcome in a given sequence of input. Question of the Week Do you share details about your salary with your coworkers? Join the conversation |
INSIDE STREAMING LEADERBOARD (ALL-TIME) |
 | 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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