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| Thanks for opening today's Inside Streaming brief! You know, for all the talk about belt-tightening and cost-cutting and streamers seeking new sources of revenue to make up for their Peak TV excesses... all of these big tech and media companies are still producing a whole lot of very expensive content. It's important to remember that we're always discussing big-picture trends, while on the ground reality shifts much more slowly. Today, we have stories about Amazon likely extending its very costly "Lord of the Rings" series adaptation for a third season, even before Season 2 debuts on Prime Video, PLUS Apple ordering a sure-to-be-expensive "Neuromancer" cyberpunk series. That's just a year after Amazon canceled its own high-profile adaptation of a different William Gibson novel after a single season. Plus FX's lavish, cinematic "Shōgun" miniseries debuted this week. (It's great so far!) All this doesn't really sound like companies that are obsessively focused on cutting costs. It sounds like companies that are still willing to take big gambles on attention-grabbing "events" capable of reaching a large mainstream audience. Lon
p/lon-harris | |
| 1 | | Disney entered a new partnership with Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries. As part of the $8.5 billion deal, Disney will merge its Indian operations with Reliance subdivision Viacom18. More: - Viacom18 will hold a 63% stake in the new venture, to Disney's 37%.
- Together, Disney and Reliance control around 40-45% of both the Indian TV and streaming ad market.
- Reliance and Viacom18 beat out Disney for the streaming rights to Indian Premier League cricket matches in 2022, an important draw for Indian viewers.
- Reliance is owned by Mukesh Ambani, the richest person in India; his wife, executive and philanthropist Nita M. Ambani, will chair the joint venture.
- Viacom18's streaming platform JioCinema will now likely serve as the home for Disney's content in India.
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| 2 | | Paramount missed Wall Street revenue expectations in Q4 but nonetheless posted a surprise quarterly profit of $514 million. That's a significant improvement over Q4 of 2022, when Paramount made a profit of just $21 million. More: - Paramount+ hit 67.5 million subscribers, for a net increase of 4.1 million; across both Paramount+ and Pluto TV, the company saw a 27% increase in global viewing hours.
- The streaming platform recorded 69% revenue growth over the same period one year ago.
- Paramount executives predict the platform will reach profitability by 2025.
- Overall, Paramount Global saw a 6% year-over-year revenue decline, driven by a soft advertising market and a 31% decline in revenue for the Paramount film studio.
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| 3 | | DAILY CALENDAR THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 29 THE TOURIST: The British-Australian thriller series -- starring Jamie Dornan as a man investigating his dark past after waking up in a hospital with amnesia -- returns for a second season. Season 1 streamed on Max in the US, but the show moves to Netflix for Season 2. Danielle Macdonald, Victoria Haralabidou, Shalom Brune-Franklin, and Greg Larsen co-star. [Netflix] THE PARADES: Japanese drama feature from writer/director Michihito Fujii ("The Last 10 Years"), starring Masami Nagasawa as a mother searching for her missing child who comes to realize both she and the boy are dead, and she has stumbled into a realm of restless spirits. Kentarô Sakaguchi, Ryûsei Yokohama, and Lily Franky co-star. [Netflix] A ROUND OF APPLAUSE (KUVVETLI BIR ALKIS): Limited comedy-drama series from Turkish writer/director Berkun Oya ("Ethos"), following the ups and downs of a nuclear family over the course of multiple decades. Aslihan Gürbüz, Fatih Artman, and Cihat Suvarioglu co-star. [Netflix] ELSBETH: First-year CBS police drama series, spun off from "The Good Wife," and featuring Carrie Preston reprising her role as autistic attorney Elsbeth Tascioni. In the new series, Tascioni moves to New York and uses her skills to aid the NYPD in capturing particularly clever criminals. Wendell Pierce, Carra Patterson, and Gloria Reuben co-star; "Good Wife" vets Robert and Michelle King co-created. [Paramount+] PERIMETER: Debut period drama series from frequent collaborators Armani Ortiz and executive producer Tyler Perry ("Sistas," "Young Dylan"). Ava Mone't stars as a college student from a politically connected family in '90s Atlanta who falls in love with a drug dealer (Malcolm Xavier); Tatyana Ali and Donavan Christie Jr. co-star. [BET+] ME, HEREAFTER: Four-part true-crime docuseries from ABC News Studios in which murder cases are revisited from the victims' point-of-view, combining footage from the investigations, personal interviews, and scripted re-enactments. [Hulu] MURDER UNDER THE FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS: The Investigation Discovery true crime series looks back at murder cases involving high school football teams. Season 3 aired earlier this year on cable and hits Max today. [Max] L'IL STOMPERS: Animated series for young kids from Canada about a group of playful dinosaur friends. [Peacock] RED QUEEN (REINA ROJA): Debut Spanish thriller series, based on the novel by Juan Gómez-Jurado. Vicky Luengo stars as a brilliant young woman who's recruited to lead a covert European police force, with devastating personal consequences. Amaya Muruzabal ("Supertitlán") co-wrote and created. [Prime Video] | | | |
| 4 | | "The Rings of Power" co-creators and showrunners Patrick McKay and JD Payne extended their overall deal with Amazon MGM Studios for another three years. The duo also launched their own company, 10:40 PM Productions. More: - The epic fantasy "Lord of the Rings" prequel series has completed production on its second season, which will debut later this year.
- The show has not yet been officially renewed for Season 3, but Deadline reports that McKay and Payne are already at work on a rough outline for the story.
- "The Rings of Power" debuted in the fall of 2022; according to Amazon, it's the most-watched Prime Video original series of all time worldwide.
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| 5 | | Film distributor Kino Lorber and First Look Media will merge their North American streaming platforms, MHz Choice and Topic. The new service will operate under the MHz Choice brand, and feature a curated roster of international shows and films. More: - Kino Lorber and First Look have collaborated and shared streaming content since 2022.
- The new combined service will be led by Kino Lorber COO Martha Benyam.
- MHz Choice will serve as the exclusive North American home for the German period drama series "Babylon Berlin," which previously streamed on Netflix in the US; Season 4 debuts on June 25 of this year.
- Other popular shows that will stream on the service include the classic Nordic noirs "The Killing" and "The Bridge," the Italian teen drama series "The Sea Beyond," and the Austrian thriller "Pagan Peak."
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| 6 | | Paramount+ ordered a first season for an "NCIS" spinoff series, following fan favorite characters Tony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly) and Ziva David (Cote de Pablo). The still-untitled series is currently in development under the nickname "NCIS: Europe." More: - The two characters haven't been featured on-screen together in around 10 years.
- The new show finds them raising a daughter together in Paris when a mysterious attack forces them to go on the run across the continent.
- John McNamara ("Prime Suspect," "Aquarius") wrote the pilot and will serve as showrunner.
- Weatherly was an original "NCIS" cast member for 13 seasons, before exiting the show to star in CBS' "Bull," which wrapped up its run last year.
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| 7 | | Apple ordered a 10-episode series based on the classic William Gibson sci-fi novel "Neuromancer." Graham Roland ("LOST") and JD Dillard ("Sleight") co-created the series; Roland will serve as showrunner, while Dillard will direct the pilot episode. More: - Gibson's 1984 novel, his first, helped to popularize the "cyberpunk" genre.
- It centers on a low-level hacker named Harry Case living in a dystopian future who accepts a job from an augmented mercenary that puts him at odds with a powerful artificial intelligence.
- The book spawned two sequels: "Count Zero" and "Mona Lisa Overdrive."
- Amazon's recent series adaptation of a different Gibson novel, "The Peripheral," was canceled after a single season.
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| 8 | | Paramount+ ordered a new UK crime drama series, "The Donovans," that's loosely inspired by the Showtime hit "Ray Donovan." The new show comes from "Top Boy" creator Ronan Bennett; filmmaker Guy Ritchie will direct episodes and executive produce. More: - While "Ray Donovan" starred Liev Schreiber as a fixer serving Hollywood's elite, "The Donovans" focuses on an entire family who work for powerful clients across Europe.
- Ritchie recently adapted his film "The Gentlemen" into a series for Netflix; it debuts on March 7.
- Bennett, meanwhile, is also working on a modern reimagining of the classic novel and film "The Day of the Jackal" for Sky and Peacock.
- "The Donovans" is expected to hit Paramount+ later on this year; it will only stream for Paramount+ with Showtime subscribers.
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- "Curb Your Enthusiasm" regular and stand-up comedy legend Richard Lewis died on Tuesday at his home in Los Angeles at age 76.
- Warner Bros. Discovery will shut down the niche auto-focused streaming platform MotorTrend+ and migrate most subscribers over to either Discovery+ or Max by the end of March.
- Nick Offerman and Betty Gilpin joined the cast of Netflix's historical drama series "Death by Lightning," about the strange relationship between US President James Garfield and his admirer and eventual assassin, Charles Guiteau; Michael Shannon and Matthew Macfadyen co-star as Garfield and Guiteau, respectively.
- The Prime Video reality series "Friends in Low Places" follows married country music stars Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood as they launch a large-scale four-story honky-tonk in the heart of Nashville; the series premieres on March 7.
- Apple's WWII documentary "The Bloody Hundredth" -- tracking the real exploits of the 100th Bomb Group, which inspired the TV+ series "Masters of the Air" -- debuts on March 15; "Masters of the Air" producer Tom Hanks provides narration.
- Season 1 of the Paramount+ crime drama "Tulsa King" will air on CBS over the summer; Sylvester Stallone stars as a former New York mobster who embarks on a new criminal enterprise in Oklahoma.
- At a gala event this week in Mumbai, Netflix revealed a new slate of Indian original content, including 8 films and 14 TV series.
- Tech startup Vibe helps smaller brands and companies place ads on streaming platforms, including Pluto, Fubo, and Paramount+; the company recently closed a $22.5 million funding round led by French VC firm Singular.
- "Handmaid's Tale" vet Yvonne Strahovski grabbed a lead role in Peacock's upcoming thriller series "Teacup"; the show is based on Robert McCammon's novel "Stinger," and follows a group of people facing down a mysterious threat in rural Georgia.
- Hulu dropped a new trailer for the documentary "Freaknik: The Wildest Party Never Told," about the legendary and raucous Atlanta Spring Break festival of the '80s and '90s; the film premieres at SXSW before hitting Hulu on March 21.
- Netflix released a trailer for the Korean mystery-comedy series "Chicken Nugget," starring Ryu Seung-ryong as a man whose daughter is transformed into the titular food item by a strange device; it arrives on March 15.
- David Dastmalchian joined the cast of Apple's sci-fi drama series "Murderbot," based on the "Murderbot Diaries" books by Martha Wells; Alexander Skarsgård stars as an assassin android that covertly hacks itself and develops human emotions.
- Amazon released a trailer for the musical romantic comedy feature "Música"; popular YouTuber Rudy Mancuso co-wrote, directed, and stars as a New Jersey street performer who falls for a woman (Camila Mendes) he meets at a fish market.
- The long-awaited third season of the anime hit "One Punch Man" now has a trailer.
- The teen spy thriller series "Alex Rider" will return to Amazon Freevee for a third and final season on April 5; the series is based on novels by author Anthony Horowitz.
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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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