| Hello again and thanks for opening today's Inside Streaming daily brief! I watched the new Disney+ Beach Boys documentary last night, and while it's an entertaining enough overview, it's not really essential viewing, especially if you're already familiar with the basics of the band's story. Director Frank Marshall makes the deeply strange decision to spend almost all his time on the group's childhood and early career, and then zips through everything post "Pet Sounds" at lightning speed. Feels like there should be a Part 2 that gives us the '70s through present day details, but to my knowledge, there's no plan to do that. An oddly incomplete experience, but hey, the songs are great. (I'm told this '90s TV documentary, available for free on YouTube, is superior. I'm gonna try and watch it later today.) Enjoy today's issue! Lon
p/lon-harris | |
| 1 | | Speaking at a New York investor conference, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav predicted that there will be multiple media companies "for sale" over the next two or three years. Zaslav suggested WBD will be "opportunistic" but also "disciplined" about potential acquisitions. More: - Zaslav was speaking at the 40th Annual Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference in New York.
- He suggested that "a lot of players... are losing a lot of money" in today's streaming marketplace.
- Zaslav suggested that WBD is in a healthy place, having "really fought to drive our free cash flow and pay down our debt."
- More consolidation is also on the way for the streaming marketplace, according to Zaslav; he pointed to WBD and Disney's new Disney+/Hulu/Max bundle as a key example.
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| 2 | | During a strategy briefing this week, Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO Tony Vinciquerra referred to the Crunchyroll anime streaming service as the company's "primary growth driver." Crunchyroll currently has around 13 million global subscribers. More: - According to Reuters, the anime market is expected to double in size by 2030, hitting $60 billion in revenue.
- Crunchyroll is currently expanding to new Southeast Asian and Indian markets; it's available in the region through Amazon's Prime Video Channels platform.
- Sony is the lone major Hollywood studio without its own dedicated streaming platform, though the company is considering a potential acquisition of Paramount+ owners Paramount Global.
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| 3 | | DAILY CALENDAR THURSDAY, MAY 30 MASTERCHEF: The Fox cooking competition series returned on Wednesday night for a 14th season; new episodes hit Hulu on Thursdays. This season, subtitled "Generations," features four competing teams divided up by age: Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, and Baby Boomers. Gordon Ramsay, Aarón Sánchez, and Joe Bastianich return as judges. [Hulu] THE PROMISED LAND (BASTARDEN): 2023 fact-based period drama, based on the book "The Captain and Ann Barbara" by Ida Jessen and produced in a combination of Danish and German. Mads Mikkelsen stars Ludwig von Kahlen, a former soldier who started cultivating the barren, harsh Jutland heath in the 18th Century, bringing him into conflict with the local aristocracy. Amanda Collin and Simon Bennebjerg co-star; Nikolaj Arcel ("A Royal Affair") co-wrote and directed. [Hulu] ERIC: Six-part British psychological thriller series from writer/creator Abi Morgan ("Birdsong," "The Split"). Benedict Cumberbatch stars as a puppeteer in 1980s New York who becomes increasingly volatile following the disappearance of his 9-year-old son, Edgar (Ivan Morris Howe). Gaby Hoffmann and McKinley Belcher III co-star; Lucy Forbes ("The End of the F***king World") directs. [Netflix] GEEK GIRL: Coming-of-age drama series from the UK and Canada, based on the 2013 YA novel by Holly Smale. Emily Carey stars as an awkward teen who struggles to fit in until she's recruited by a top London modeling agency, shifting her perpsective on what it means to stand out. Sarah Parish, Emmanuel Imani, and Liam Woodrum co-star. [Netflix] WE ARE LADY PARTS: Musical comedy series from the UK chronicling the exploits of an all-female Muslim punk band as they develop a following in London. Anjana Vasan, Sarah Kameela Impey, Juliette Motamed, Faith Omole, and Lucie Shorthouse co-star; "Polite Society" vet Nida Manzoor created the series, and also writes and directs. It's back for a second season. [Peacock] DIE HART 2: DIE HARTER: Seasons of the "Die Hart" Roku comedy series are re-edited into feature films for Prime Video; "Die Hart 2" adapts the show's second season. Kevin Hart stars as a fictionalized version of himself, whose dreams of being taken seriously as an action star once more get him in over his head. Nathalie Emmanuel, Ben Schwartz, Paula Pell, and John Cena co-star. [Prime Video] OUTCHEF'D: Cooking competition series from Food Network in which home cooks think they're attending an audition, but instead get surprised by spur-of-the-moment face-offs against celebrity chefs. Eddie Jackson hosts. It's back this week for a third season. [Max] PYRAMID GAME: Debut psychological thriller series from Korea, based on internet comics by Dalgonyak. Transfer student Seong Soo-ji (Kim Ji-yeon) struggles to climb the social ladder at all-girls school in which students are ranked by popularity, with violent consequences dished out to those on the bottom. Jang Da-ah, Ryu Da-in, and Shin Seul-ki co-star. [Paramount+] | | | |
| 4 | | Netflix announced a new line-up of reality shows and renewed "The Ultimatum" and its spinoff, "Queer Love." "The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On" returns for a third season in December. More: - "Ultimatum" features six couples deciding whether to get married or permanently sever ties, during an eight-week process that includes trying out alternate pairings with new partners.
- Spinoff "Queer Love" features women and non-binary couples; it will return for a new season, but no release date was provided.
- The new series include "Selling the City," an entry in the "Selling..." franchise of luxury real estate showcases set in New York; "Building the Band," in which 50 singers form groups and then face off; and "Battle Camp," in which Netflix reality veterans compete in various physical and mental challenges.
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| 5 | | Max renewed the comedy series "Hacks" for a fourth season. The show's third season just wrapped up this week. More: - "Hacks" Season 3 made it just under the wire for Emmy consideration this year; Jean Smart won Emmys for her lead performance in both 2021 and 2022.
- According to Max's internal data, the seventh and eighth Season 3 episodes scored the series' best single-day viewership numbers ever.
- Smart stars as legendary comedian Deborah Vance, who has a love-hate relationship with her snarky writer, Ava (Hannah Einbinder).
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| 6 | | Glenn Close and Jeremy Renner have joined the cast of Netflix's "Wake Up Dead Man," the third film in the "Knives Out" series. Daniel Craig reprises his lead role as gentleman detective Benoit Blanc alongside a fresh line-up of new victims and suspects. More: - No word yet on who Renner or Close will be playing; the cast line-up also includes Kerry Washington, Josh O'Connor, Cailee Spaeny, and Andrew Scott.
- Rian Johnson also returns as writer/director.
- This is Renner's first major film role following his devastating 2022 snowplow accident; he'll also be seen in the new season of Paramount+'s "Mayor of Kingstown," debuting this weekend.
- "Glass Onion," the second "Knives Out" film, features a running joke about Renner releasing his own line of hot sauces, making it possible that the actor will portray a version of himself in the third film.
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| 7 | | Netflix is developing an animated series based on the hit video game "Minecraft." The game's Swedish developer, Mojang Studios, will collaborate on the project. More: - No specific plot details were released, but the series will center on original characters living in the world of "Minecraft."
- Canadian studio WildBrain -- which also produces "Sonic Prime," "Ninjago: Dragons Rising," and "Carmen Sandiego" for Netflix -- is working on the new series.
- "Minecraft," notable for its signature pixellated art style, is a "sandbox" game that's not narratively driven, but allows players to construct their own 3D environments using available raw materials; it was first released in 2011.
- Mojang is also developing a live-action film adaptation of "Minecraft" with Warner Bros. and Legendary; that's slated to hit theaters in 2025.
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| 8 | | Amazon ordered a series about a young version of Sherlock Holmes, based on a novels by author Andy Lane. Hero Fiennes Tiffin will star as a 20-something incarnation of the famed British detective, originally created by Arthur Conan Doyle. More: - Filmmaker Guy Ritchie will executive produce the series and direct some episodes.
- Ritchie and Tiffin recently collaborated on the film "The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare."
- Ritchie previously directed two feature films starring Robert Downey Jr. as an adult version of Sherlock Holmes.
- "Deep State" and "Rogue" vet Matthew Parkhill will write and showrun the new series.
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| 9 | | QUICK HITS - FX released another trailer for Season 3 of "The Bear," hitting Hulu on June 27.
- Nikki Glaser's latest HBO comedy special, "Someday You'll Die," has now been viewed 2 million times across all platforms since its May 11 debut; according to HBO, this is the strongest performance of any of the network's comedy specials in over two years.
- Netflix dropped a trailer for the fourth and final season of the superhero drama "The Umbrella Academy"; the series is based on graphic novels by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá, and centers on a family of adopted siblings with special abilities.
- Amazon announced the main cast for "We Were Liars," a series adaptation of the YA romantic thriller by author E. Lockhart; Emily Alyn Lind, Shubham Maheshwari, Esther MacGregor, and Joseph Zada will serve as the main line-up, while Mamie Gummer and David Morse co-star.
- Actor Matt Smith teased elements of "House of the Dragon" Season 2 in an interview with Variety; Smith says his character, Daemon Targaryen, is at a "point of crisis" in the new episodes, and the character now appears "much weaker" than in his commanding Season 1 presence.
- A new Netflix game show, "Million Dollar Secret," finds 11 contestants hunting down a 12th, who starts off the game with a $1 million prize, in an effort to be the last one standing; British actor Peter Serafinowicz hosts.
- Sports-free cable replacement streamer Philo raised its monthly subscription price to $28 per month -- its first price hike since 2021 -- but added access to AMC+ at no additional charge.
- Apple's thriller series "Liaison" will air on the TF1 network in France; the show remains available on Apple TV+ globally.
- A French lawsuit could delay the release of the Netflix shark thriller "Under Paris"; writer/director Vincent Dietschy claims the film resembles a project he's been developing since 2011, about a giant carniverous catfish that takes up residence in the Seine.
- Several actors joined the cast of "The Night Manager" Season 2, including Indira Varma, Paul Chahidi, and Hayley Squires; the new season will air on BBC in the UK and stream on Prime Video around the rest of the globe.
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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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