Tag: actors strike

Netflix Is Reportedly Planning a Price Hike After the Ongoing Hollywood Actors’ Strike Ends

Netflix is reportedly planning to raise its subscription prices once the ongoing Hollywood actors’ strikes end. As per The Wall Street Journal, the streamer will issue a hike on its ad-free plans a few months before a global spread, starting with the US and Canada. The company hasn’t commented on the said increase, but going by the last instance, which was in January 2022, we can expect it to go up by $1 to $2 (about Rs. 83 to Rs. 166) for a monthly plan. Before that, Netflix also introduced its cheaper ad-supported plan, costing $6.99 (about Rs. 582), which is still unavailable in India.

While other international streaming platforms such as Max and Disney+ raised their prices to curb financial losses, Netflix instead chose to boost its subscription count by cracking down on password sharing among its customers. The method seems to have worked, considering the streamer reported a climb of 6 million new subscribers, as of July, taking the total to 238 million members. The WSJ report suggests that costs of major streaming platforms have shot up by 25 percent, as a means to make a profit and lead more price-conscious customers to their low-cost ad-supported plans. It’s not surprising for the company to try and match the price pools set by its competitors, with the leading one in the US being Disney+ at $13.99 (about Rs. 1,165). Raising the cost of ad-free tiers also makes the cheaper ad-supported plans look more appealing.

It’s unclear exactly when the new prices will be issued, but currently, the ad-free Standard tier costs $15.49 (about Rs. 1,289) per month in the US, while the Premium plan is set at $19.99 (about Rs. 1,664) monthly, allowing you to stream content at up to four screens at the same time.

Last week, the Writers’ Guild of America (WGA) finally ended its 148-day strike against major Hollywood studios, in an effort to earn fair paychecks and to fight back against unregulated use of AI in screenwriting. Among those studios were the aforementioned Netflix and other major streaming services, all of which will now be forced to share streaming data with the WGA — specifically, the hours streamed — so writers and actors can assess how well a movie or show performed and collect residuals on them. It’s similar to TV broadcasts, but the advent of online streaming made it so workers weren’t making any additional money beyond the initial payment. Meanwhile, the SAG-AFTRA (actors’ union) is still on strike and trying to negotiate a fair deal with the AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers).

In April, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos claimed that the streamer was ‘better prepared than most‘ studios in the event that a strike went through. Keeping disruptions to the minimum was its large slate of content, thanks to its penchant for planning out releases long before they’re ever revealed to the public. It makes sense for Netflix to wait until the strikes end so they can raise their prices, given there’s not much promise of new content besides the ones they’ve already shown throughout their TUDUM events.

However, as actors and writers return to work, not only can they justify the price hike, but they will finally be able to promote the films and hold interviews like they used to. For the uninitiated, actors under the SAG-AFTRA union aren’t allowed to promote their films or shows nor work on them during the strike period, which has caused several major projects like Dune: Part 2 and Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse to get delayed.

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Dune: Part Two Release Date Delayed to 2024 Due to Hollywood Actors’ Strike

Dune: Part Two has been delayed to next year, due to the ongoing actors’ strike in Hollywood. After much consideration, the highly-anticipated sci-fi sequel starring Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya has been moved from its initial November 3 slot to March 15, 2024. The realignment from Warner Bros. and Legendary has also caused them to push back Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire — the latest in the Monsterverse franchise — by nearly one month, going from March 15 to April 12, 2024. The Dune sequel will get an IMAX release as well, with an earlier report noting that supported screens would be hosting the film for an extended run of up to six weeks.

Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part 2 has turned out to be the biggest casualty of the SAG-AFTRA strikes since its star-studded cast — boasting the likes of Chalamet, Zendaya, Florence Pugh, and Rebecca Ferguson — would be barred from serving any promotional duties or interviews for the film. The lack of actors — or potential nominees — would have proven challenging for the awards campaign as well, which is why the Emmy Awards have been delayed as well. The first Dune movie snagged six trophies at the Oscars and emerged as one of the biggest movies during the pandemic, grossing $402 million (about Rs. 3,323 crore) at the global box office. Given it has the potential to build out a franchise akin to Star Wars, it makes sense for WB and Legendary to hold out on its release.

However, by shifting the release date to March 15, Warner Bros. has put itself in a difficult position, as it sabotages another major release from the company. Oscar-winning filmmaker Bong Joon-ho’s Mickey 17 starring Robert Pattinson is currently slated to hit theatres merely two weeks later, on March 29, 2024. This could negatively affect both of their box office numbers, as Parasite’s Oscar sweep in 2019 is bound to bring more eyes to Bong’s films now. Maybe we could see a repeat of the ‘Barbenheimer‘ magic, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this film gets delayed as well.

Reports from last month suggested that Warner Bros. was considering shaking up its December release calendar due to the strike. However, the company has chosen to stick to those dates, regardless of the strike. So, another Chalamet-led film Wonka is out December 15, DC Comics’ Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom drops December 20, and The Color Purple releases Christmas Day in theatres. As per The Hollywood Reporter’s sources, WB is still committed to theatrical releases, even amidst the uncertainty of the Hollywood dual strikes organised by the WGA (The Writer’s Guild of America) and the aforementioned actors’ union.

Dune 2 picks up right where the first chapter ended, with Paul Atreides (Chalamet), Chani (Zendaya), and the Fremen soldiers uniting on a warpath of revenge against the Harkonnen lineage, the conspirators who killed Paul’s family. The sequel brings in some new faces such as Austin Butler as the cruel Feyd-Rautha, Pugh as Princess Irulan, Christopher Walken as Emperor Shaddam IV, and Léa Seydoux as the Bene Gesserit Lady Margot.

Dune: Part Two is now slated to release March 15, 2024 in theatres worldwide.

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Emmy Awards 2023 Delayed to January Due to Hollywood Actors and Writers Strikes

Emmy Awards 2023 have been officially delayed to next year. After months of dialogue between the Television Academy and new broadcaster Fox, the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards will now be held on January 16 at 6:30am IST in India/ January 15 at 5pm PT in the US. This marks the first time in two decades that the Emmys are being postponed — the first being in 2001, after the September 11 attacks. This latest delay is owing to the ongoing actors’ and writers’ strikes in Hollywood, which have halted several major film and TV productions. Nominees were revealed back in July, with Succession leading the pack, and a host will be decided upon once the strikes end.

Without the actors/ nominees, the awards show would look rather empty, and with no writers pulling the strings in the background with a proper script or jokes, the show was headed with no vision. As per The Hollywood Reporter, there was a scenario in which the show would’ve been telecasted without writers, but the lack of star power caused the delay unavoidable. You see, members of SAG-AFTRA (Hollywood actors union) are not allowed to star in or promote any film or TV projects they’re in, in addition to accepting awards for struck work until the union meets a fair agreement with major studios. It’s also the reason why several big-budget movies — boasting starry cast lineups — are getting delayed.

The 2023 Emmys were originally slated for September and now see a nearly four-month delay, during which the studios hope the strikes will subside. However, the new date also places it in an already busy awards season. As usual, the telecast also includes the Creative Emmys, which rewards excellence in technical elements in television and some other minor acts — a two-night event scheduled for January 6 and January 7. However, the second night coincides with the Golden Globe 2024 event, which celebrates both movies and TV series, essentially dampening the achievements of the already underappreciated creative department. What I’m trying to say is that all eyes would be on the bigger awards show.

Not to mention, there’s also the 2024 Critics Choice Awards on January 14 (Jan 15 for India), which falls exactly a day before the newly-set date for the Primetime Emmy Awards. So, these are back-to-back awards shows, with the former featuring television alongside film categories. For now, the other award broadcasters aren’t confirmed to be shuffling dates around. As noted before, the Emmy nominees have already been decided and the final voting timeline for Academy members stays the same — August 17–28. Even SAG-AFTRA and the DGA (Directors Guild of America) have their award ceremonies set for the month of February, in the run-up to the Oscars season.

It’s not clear whether the writers’ and actors’ union will be able to reach a fair agreement by January since a Deadline report from July revealed the statement made by an unnamed executive. “The endgame is to allow things to drag on until union members start losing their apartments and losing their houses,” they said. Another person deemed it a ‘cruel but necessary evil.’

The 75th annual Emmys are set to stream live from the Peacock Theater, Los Angeles, on early Tuesday, January 16 at 6:30am IST/ January 15 at 5pm PT in the US. In India, it will be available to stream on Lionsgate Play.

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Oppenheimer Cast Walk Out of London Premiere in Solidarity With the Actors’ Strike

Oppenheimer’s cast walked out of its London premiere late on Thursday, in solidarity with the SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) actors’ strike. While buzz for the new Christopher Nolan film was strong at Leicester Square, the possibility of a strike caused the crew to push the premiere event up by an hour, only the previous night. As the actors’ union was unable to come to an equitable deal with movie studios — for proper residual payments — the strike was called upon with a 98 percent vote approval margin, causing Oppenheimer’s cast to leave from the venue in order to adhere to the terms of the union.

“I think right now we are just sorting of… I hope everyone makes a fair deal and we are here to celebrate this movie,” star Emily Blunt told Deadline, during the Oppenheimer red carpet event. “And if they call it, we’ll be leaving together as cast in unity with everyone… We are gonna have to. We are gonna have to. We will see what happens. Right now it’s the joy to be together.” Co-star Matt Damon echoed her sentiments, adding that his and Ben Affleck’s independent studio, Artists Equity, just shut down production on an undisclosed film, waiting for things to resolve between SAG-AFTRA and the studios. SAG-AFTRA is a union representing about 160,000 film and TV actors and media professionals primarily in the United States, whose leadership claims that its deal with movie studios for appropriate pay is not fair. “It’s the difference between having healthcare and not for a lot of actors, and we gotta do what’s right by them,” Damon said.

The last time the entertainment industry faced a double strike was in 1960, with both writers and actors voicing their concerns for appropriate payments, arising from the dawn of television. At the time, they together won residuals for repeated TV reruns and broadcast for movies and shows, in addition to welfare. Residuals payments are helpful for artists when they are in between projects. Now, in 2023, with streaming services taking the lead, companies like Netflix and Disney+ don’t disclose viewing figures for their shows, essentially offering a flat rate, regardless of how much a program might surge in popularity. Making things worse is the debate about the use of AI in film production, like using apps such as ChatGPT to write full-blown movie scripts — directly affecting the jobs and livelihood of writers.

AMPTP, the organisation bargaining on behalf of major studios claimed in a statement that it presented SAG-AFTRA with a deal that promised ‘historic pay and residual increases’ alongside higher caps on pension and healthcare contributions, and even a ‘groundbreaking AI proposal.’ Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, SAG-AFTRA’s COO responded to the offer claiming that AMPTP had been devaluing the work of actors. As for the artificial intelligence proposal, it was revealed that production studios wanted to pay background performers for one day of work in exchange for the rights to their digital likeness for eternity, without compensation or further consent. The bizarre situation mirrors Black Mirror’s ‘Joan is Awful’ episode from season 6, where studios acquired rights to scan and use actors’ digital likenesses forever.

The strikes have caused movies and TV series productions to get delayed or halted until further notice when new bargaining agreements are met. However, a report from Variety suggests that filming on the Emmy-nominated House of the Dragon will continue normally in the UK. The HBO series’ cast is composed of primarily UK-based actors who do not work under America’s SAG-AFTRA contracts, but rather under the British acting union Equity, whose trade laws prevent them from striking in solidarity with international unions. Equity also put out a guide for its 47,000 members, stating that performers joining the strike will have no protection against dismissal or breaking the contract. It’s worth mentioning that the ongoing writers’ strike had no effect on House of the Dragon’s filming since scripts for season 2 were completed long before, and now creator Ryan J. Condal is strictly involved in a non-writing capacity.

Oppenheimer releases July 21 in theatres worldwide, while the second season of House of the Dragon is expected to release in 2024.

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