Tag: warner bros

Dune: Part Two Trailer: Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya Plot Revenge Against the Harkonnen

Dune: Part Two just got a second trailer — in English and Hindi. Warner Bros. has dropped a chunky three-minute-long trailer for the highly-awaited sequel from Denis Villeneuve, taking us back to the desert planet Arrakis where Paul Atreidis (Timothée Chalamet) leads a rebellion against the Harkonnens, who seek to rule and mine the fictional spice melange. Romance blossoms between him and Chani (Zendaya), as he grapples with being worshipped as some kind of a revered prophet who would liberate the planet’s natives. The film was originally set to hit theatres on November 17 but was then brought forward by two weeks to a November 3 release date.

Dune: Part Two trailer

The trailer for Dune: Part Two opens right at the heart of the scorching desert, where Paul (Chalamet) muses about the spoils of war, having recently lost his father (Oscar Isaac) and most of the Atreides lineage in 2021’s Dune. “This world is beyond cruelty,” he tells the Fremen native Chani (Zendaya), his romantic interest. “You’ve been fighting the Harkonnens for decades. My family’s been fighting them for centuries.” Ditching his father’s no-revenge policy, Paul and his mother Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) join the Fremen, leading a warpath against the evil conspirators. The two would soon bear bright blue-coloured eyes, thanks to the consumption of melange, the psychedelic substance that heightens their senses. It does take a while for the natives to trust Paul, though Chani seems to have already sided with him — “I won’t be fighting for him. I’m fighting for my people,” she says.

Dune: Part Two Hindi Trailer

On the run and hiding from the Harkonnen footsoldiers, Paul finally runs into his mentor Gurney Halleck (Josh Brolin), who has been out in the desert searching for his ‘young pup’ since the massacre of the Atreides forces. “There are signs,” Stilgar (Javier Bardem) speaks of his faith in Paul to be the one to free them from a prophesised life of enslavement, as we’re treated to visions of the young prince riding a giant sandworm. Murmurs from the Fremen colony described Paul as some kind of ‘prophet’, which he’s asked to embrace and take advantage of to lead a rebellion. “Because all my visions lead to horror,” Paul explains in the Dune: Part 2 trailer, which is a good inclusion when compared to David Lynch’s 1984 Dune, where the character was treated as a good-willing hero or a messiah. While Paul is initially reluctant to lead the forces, he soon gains the natives’ trust, granting him immense control that turns him into a powerful ruler leading a crusade.

We then cut to see the Baron’s (Stellan Skarsgård) cruel nephew Feyd-Rautha (Austin Butler) sporting a terrifying look with a bald head and shaved eyebrows, adept at hand-to-hand combat, eventually leading to a climactic battle against Paul. “Your father was a weak man,” Emperor Shaddam IV (Christopher Walken) tells him, angering the prince who’s always idolised his father. As Paul grows in power, the Dune: Part Two trailer treats us to some action sequences where the Fremen engage in battle against the Harkonnens, showboating Chani’s skills in combat. “I am Paul Muad’dib Atreides! Duke of Arrakis! Long live the fighters!”, Paul yells at the end, foreshadowing the tyrant he’ll soon turn into. The film also stars Léa Seydoux as the Bene Gesserit Lady Margot, Florence Pugh as Princess Irulan, and Dave Bautista as Glossu Rabban, the brutish nephew of the Baron.

Dune: Part Two releases November 3 in theatres worldwide.

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The Flash Speeds Into Sluggish $139 Million Debut at the Global Box Office

The Flash has sped into a sluggish $139 million (about Rs. 1,140 crore) opening at the global box office just shy of Black Adam’s opening weekend, which stood at $140 million (about Rs. 1,148 crore). Marking the reset point that ushers in James Gunn’s revamped DC Universe, the film is reportedly performing worse than projections, earning merely $64 million (about Rs. 525 crore) from within the US and Canada. From everywhere else in the world, the film collected $75 million (about Rs. 615 crore), below the predicted $85–$95 million margin.

Several factors might have played into this, mainly surrounding its lead Ezra Miller who was largely barred from appearing in The Flash’s publicity campaigns, following his run-ins with the law in 2022. Around that time, Warner Bros. concocted three release scenarios for the film, with the studio even considering scrapping the $200 million (about Rs. 1,639 crore) movie if the actor refused to seek help or cooperate. Reshooting the same film with a different actor would’ve also been impossible, since there are two versions of Barry Allen in the film, with his face present in almost every scene. Therefore, much of the marketing was done with Sasha Calle, who plays Supergirl in The Flash.

Meanwhile, its director Andy Mushietti confirmed that Miller will continue playing the Scarlet Speedster, as long as he is involved in the superhero franchise. In case a sequel is greenlit, he wants Miller back, saying: “I don’t think there’s anyone that can play that character as well as they did. The other depictions of the character are great, but this particular vision of the character, they just excelled in doing it,” in an interview. Even ignoring that The Flash does not have a star of Dwayne Johnson’s stature for marketing purposes (Black Adam), the film had one thing in common with other recently successful films — multiverse-hopping shenanigans.

Everything Everywhere All At Once is the first thing that comes to mind, lifting the Oscar award earlier this year, for Best Picture. From the superhero realm, we’ve seen back-to-back wins from Spider-Man: No Way Home, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and more recently, Spider-man: Across the Spider-Verse.

With the aforementioned figures, the DC Extended Universe continues to underperform. As per Deadline, China took the top spot, earning The Flash an estimated $13.8 million (about Rs. 113 crore), which is still lower than the expected traffic. Following next is Mexico with $9.4 million (about Rs. 77 crore), while the UK added another $5.3 million (about Rs. 43 crore) to the pot. Korea came in fourth, making $3.8 million (about Rs. 31 crore), closely followed by Brazil with $3.5 million (about Rs. 29 crore). The film has a fairly clear runway until the end of June, which brings Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny to theatres.

Hopefully, Gunn’s revamped DC Universe finds the right footing and propels the franchise back into profit. Just last week, he hired The Flash’s director Muschietti to direct the new Batman movie, The Brave and the Bold, which brings Damian Wayne/ Robin into the mix.

The Flash is now showing in theatres worldwide.

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Barbie Could Dominate in Early Box Office Standings Against Bout With Oppenheimer: Report

Early box office tracking for the two biggest movies of the year — Barbie and Oppenheimer — suggest that the pink, live-action doll movie would be stealing the show. As per The Hollywood Reporter’s sources which have tracked various polling services, the Christopher Nolan film was initially the favourite, but things soon turned in Barbie’s favour as it became a social media phenomenon, thanks to its ensemble cast, internet memes, and outrageous reports of them causing a pink paint shortage. Both films are budgeted at roughly $100 million (about Rs. 819 crore) as well, which makes this clash all the more exciting.

In recent years, production studios have intentionally steered clear of having their films’ release dates clash with each other, as a means to maximise ticket sales. Some would even go as far as shifting them around — Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two is a solid example of this, having brought forward its release date by two weeks to avoid direct competition with The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which is set for November 17. So you can see why the prospect of Barbie vs Oppenheimer would have fans excited. Even more so, considering the background drama between director Nolan and Warner Bros.

It’s not uncommon for Nolan to pick an American Summer release window for his movies, with Oppenheimer following suit on July 21. As per THR, Warner Bros. originally planned for John Cena’s Coyote vs. Acme to drop around that time, only for it to then pull the film out of the calendar and replace it with Greta Gerwig’s Barbie instead. Rumours surrounding the subject claim that it was a deliberate move by Warner Bros. out of spite, to mess with Nolan’s release. Back in late 2020, Warner Bros. announced that it would release its entire 2021 slate of films simultaneously in theatres and HBO Max. Nolan, who was appalled at that decision, called HBO Max the ‘worst streaming service’ and chose to part ways with Warner Bros. — ending a two-decade-long partnership. His film Oppenheimer was then shopped around to several studios until Universal Pictures stepped in to distribute it.

However, recent reports somewhat dispute this theory of WB trying to sabotage Universal, with Warner Bros. Pictures co-CEO Michael De Luca confirming that they have been trying to mend their relationship with Nolan and bring him back into the fold. In fact, some sources familiar with the situation claimed that Nolan received a seven-figure royalty cheque for his work on Tenet, and he even did some post-production work for Oppenheimer at WB. The box office numbers for the film against Barbie will be interesting to track, for if Oppenheimer turns over a huge profit, Universal Pictures might try to hold onto Nolan and give him all the budget and resources he needs for the future. It’s a battle between studios as well.

The competition between the two movies has inspired several memes, with people online comparing the stark contrast in tones, with Oppenheimer boasting a gritty look (some scenes are even shot in monochrome), focussing on the obsessive father of the atomic bomb. Meanwhile, Barbie is bright pink and cheerful, with everyone’s go-to silent protagonist/ ‘literally me’ actor Ryan Gosling sporting a uniquely goofy appearance. Adding fuel to the flame is Tom Cruise, who is reportedly upset that both Barbie and Oppenheimer have booked most of the IMAX screens in July, essentially sabotaging his Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One film, which is out a week prior on July 12. Yep, there’s a third competitor and its box office revenue is bound to be impacted by the other two films. July is shaping up to be an interesting month for blockbuster movies, in terms of both on and off-screen drama.

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The Flash Trailer: Barry Allen’s Worlds Collide in New DC Comics Time-Hopping Movie

Upcoming superhero movie The Flash just got its final trailer, ahead of its premiere on June 16. Marking a reset point for the DC Universe, the film has been long-gestating at Warner Bros., enduring a bunch of ups and downs, including lead Ezra Miller’s run-ins with law enforcement last year. The new trailer, however, seems to spoil the beginning segments of the much-awaited movie, as Barry Allen cracks open the multiverse with his new-found time travel abilities and reunites with his parents. Ben Affleck’s Bruce Wayne gets more screentime in this trailer, though there’s no indication of whether he will meet up with the alternate Michael Keaton version in the film.

The trailer for The Flash opens with our titular hero being cheered on by random kids on the street before getting called in to see Bruce Wayne (Affleck) in person. It’s unclear why The Flash seems reluctant to meet him, but he’s too timid to say no. “So you’re saying you can travel back in time?”, Wayne asks Allen (Miller), presumably to see if those powers could be used for the benefit of Earth. “But Bruce, I can fix things. I could save people. I could save my mom. I could save your parents,” he tells Wayne, who holds onto the belief that messing with time could be catastrophic.

The Flash trailer then cuts to show Allen sprinting back in time to see his mom (Maribel Verdú), who died on the same fateful night that he got his superhuman powers. Of course, his father Henry Allen (Ron Livingston) is at the kitchen table as well, having been falsely arrested on suspicion of murder back then.

The reunited family start chatting about Barry’s school life, to which he responds with “good” in a really corny manner — one that’s enough to pique suspicion from his mother. However, it appears as if Barry didn’t plan out his time travel mission fully, as the alternate timeline’s Barry slowly makes his way towards the house. The pair meet upstairs in Barry’s room, agreeing on how trippy the entire affair is. “Dude, this is catastrophic,” the future Barry explains in The Flash trailer. We then skip to General Zod’s (Michael Shannon) arrival on Earth with the intention of destroying it — an Earth without metahumans, so there’s no Superman to save the day this time. Soon after, our heroic pair meet up with this timeline’s version of the Kryptonian hero — Supergirl (Sasha Calle), who agrees to help on the mission and goes head-to-head in combat with the villainous Zod.

“Interesting group,” an older Wayne (Keaton) says, presumably coming out from retirement. “Want some help?” He also seems quite charitable, handing out one of his suits to the alternate Barry to spraypaint it and turn it into a makeshift Flash suit. As for how this timeline’s Barry gained powers is a bit unclear for now, but he seems capable enough to stay toe-to-toe with the more advanced superheroes in the battle against Zod. Despite being old, Keaton’s Batman is fully combat-ready in The Flash trailer, easily fending for himself against mercenaries by smoothly gliding in and dispatching them one after the other.

The trailer ends with a montage of Earth’s heroes working together, with The Flash spinning in place and sending out a mini tornado to hunt down enemies. Kiersey Clemons’ Iris West, who first appeared in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, is also seen towards the end, making a keen observation that Barry has got some really ‘fancy friends’.

The Flash speeds into theatres worldwide on June 16.

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Avatar: The Way of Water Disney+ Hotstar OTT Release Date in India Set for June 7

Avatar: The Way of Water is set to release June 7 on Disney+, Disney+ Hotstar, and Max (wherever available). The much-anticipated sci-fi sequel from James Cameron, transporting you back to the exotic lands of Pandora, will arrive a whopping 173 days after its theatrical release on December 16 worldwide. That’s almost a half-year gap between release to streaming — Disney had implemented a minimum 45-day window before movies become available on its streaming platform, Disney+. This time, the film will also be available to stream on HBO Max — soon to be ‘Max’ on May 26 — owing to an unusual streaming agreement production company 20th Century Fox made with Warner Bros.

In India — over on Disney+ Hotstar — Avatar 2 will be up for streaming in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada. Unlike the Marvel Cinematic Universe films, there is no mention of an IMAX Enhanced version, which would expand the aspect ratio, resulting in more picture on screen. That said, a 4K Ultra-HD version with Dolby Vision/ Atmos can be purchased as VOD on Apple TV, which also includes Spanish subtitles. The movie clocks in at 3 hours and 12 minutes, and currently takes the no. 3 position among the highest-grossing movies of all time, besting Cameron’s own 1997 disaster romance film, Titanic. Avatar 2 made $2.319 billion (about Rs. 19,064 crore) at the worldwide box office.

It would also seem strange for a major release as such to premiere on two streaming platforms at the same time. This has to do with the timing of the deal 20th Century Studios struck with Warner Bros. The former — under the title ‘20th Century Fox‘ — did not have a streaming platform or owner, and therefore, signed a contract to collectively stream its movies exclusively on HBO Max and Disney’s services such as Disney+ and Hulu. Even now that the studio is owned by Disney, it has to honour its deal with WB for Avatar 2 — or rather, for half of the studio’s titles through the 2022 release year.

Set 15 years after the events of the first film, Avatar: The Way of Water sees Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) as parents to five kids, thriving in the lush forests of the moon planet Pandora. A resurrected Recombinant Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) and other ‘Sky People’ bring a new challenge for the family, who is forced to flee and seek help from the shoreline-dwelling Metkayina clan, who teach them the ways of the water and help prepare for the upcoming battle. The film won an Oscar for Best Visual Effects, in addition to being nominated in the Best Picture category. Cameron also previously alluded to introducing the fire culture of natives in Avatar 3.

Avatar: The Way of Water is out June 7 on Disney+, Disney+ Hotstar, and HBO Max wherever available. In India, the film will be available in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada.

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JioCinema Announces Premium Subscription Plan in India; to Offer Exclusive HBO Shows

Indian streaming platform JioCinema announced premium pricing of Rs. 999 a year, its first step to move away from a free content model to fight global rivals such as Netflix and Disney in the country. 

The move comes weeks after a Reliance‘s Viacom18 struck a content deal with Warner Bros., that will make available popular HBO and Warner titles such as Succession and those featuring the character Harry Potter on the JioCinema platform.

The JioCinema website on Saturday showed the new premium pricing for Hollywood content, with the much-awaited Succession series available for streaming.

Several of HBO’s top-rated shows, including Succession, had aired in India on the Disney Hotstar platform until March 31 as part of a deal between the two companies that ended on that date.

JioCinema has become popular for showing the IPL cricket tournament on the platform for free in the ongoing season. The new pricing, according to the website, is only for premium content, while the matches continue to stream for free.

Viacom18 won the IPL digital streaming rights from 2023 to 2027 for around $2.9 billion (nearly Rs. 23,850 crore), rights which Disney previously held.

Karan Taurani, a senior vice president of India’s Elara Capital specialising in the media and entertainment sectors, said Reliance’s streaming offer price was at the lower end versus rivals that but more content would be needed to succeed.

“Only with pure play HBO content you may not get a large scale (of customers) … Rs. 999 definitely is at the lower end of the band, many of the other platforms, they are all in the range of Rs.  1,000 plus and it goes up to Rs. 2,000,” he said.

JioCinema is in talks with various production studios and has plans to introduce dozens of TV shows and movies on the platform in the coming months, in Hindi and other languages, Reuters reported last month.

© Thomson Reuters 2023

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IPL 2023 Sets New Record With 1,300 Crore Views on JioCinema in the First Five Weeks

JioCinema continues to set global benchmarks in the world of digital sports viewing for IPL 2023 as it clocked over 1,300 crore video views in the first five weeks of the cricket tournament. Viewers were glued to JioCinema’s fan-centric presentation as the average time spent per viewer per match touched 60 minutes. TATA IPL 2023 on digital streaming has reached twice the number of viewers on HD TV. “JioCinema continues to grow from strength to strength every week and it is based on clear evidence of consumer’s outright preference of catching the TATA IPL on digital,” said Viacom18 Sports CEO Anil Jayaraj.

“The combination of outstanding cricket action and our robust platform proved the stellar opening weekend was just the beginning of bigger things to come. I would like to thank all our sponsors, advertisers, and partners for showing faith in our journey as we continue to elevate every fan’s TATA IPL viewing experience, ” added Jayaraj. JioCinema breached the peak concurrency records of IPL twice in a span of five days. On April 12th, the platform clocked a 2.23 crore peak viewership during the Chennai Super Kings vs Rajasthan Royals match. Five days later, during the Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Chennai Super Kings fixture, JioCinema broke the record again with a concurrency of 2.4 crore.

After the response, JioCinema released a 360-degree viewing feature, showcasing the power of immersive fan engagement on digital. Viewers can also view IPL in different language feeds including Bhojpuri, Punjabi, Marathi, and Gujarati and digital-only features like Multi-cam, 4K and Hype Mode, Other features and content includes highlights, and top player interviews including Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, Faf Du Plessis, Rashid Khan, David Miller through partnerships with IPL teams.

The number of advertisers on JioCinema who have signed up is also a new record as is the revenue booked, both significantly higher than last year on digital. The list of brands joining the digital bandwagon is expected to grow further. Viewers can continue to watch their preferred sports by downloading JioCinema (iOS & Android). Notably, JioCinema also recently secured a deal to bring Warner Bros. Discovery content including HBO shows to the platform. This is likely to go live sometime in May, with JioCinema also expected to switch to a subscription-based model after the conclusion of IPL 2023.

OnePlus recently launched its first tablet in India, the OnePlus Pad, which is only sold in a Halo Green colour option. With this tablet, OnePlus has stepped into a new territory that’s dominated by Apple’s iPad. We discuss this and more on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Karl Urban Is Reportedly in Talks to Play Johnny Cage in Mortal Kombat Sequel

Karl Urban is reportedly in final talks to join the cast of the Mortal Kombat sequel. As per The Wrap, The Boys star is joining the sequel to New Line’s 2021 live-action adaptation in the role of Johnny Cage, the confident action movie star with immense martial arts background. Simon McQuoid will return to direct the sequel, from a script penned by Jeremy Slater (Moon Knight, The Umbrella Academy). It’s not surprising for Urban to take on a blockbuster role either, having been involved in franchises like the aforementioned The Boys, The Lord of the Rings movies, and Thor: Ragnarok.

Urban has prior experience starring in video game projects as well, such as 2005’s Doom — in which he played Doomguy — and a voice role in the upcoming Ark: The Animated Series. For the uninitiated, Johnny Cage is one of the central characters in the Mortal Kombat titles, sworn to protect the Earthrealm from threats, while being largely concerned about whether he looks cool when doing it. He was the only lead character, who was left out of the 2021 film, albeit a post-credits scene teased his appearance in a potential sequel, at the time. The new Mortal Kombat movie is essentially a grittier reboot — compared to the 1990s films — bringing in fatalities (brutal finishing moves) to the mix.

Mortal Kombat was released simultaneously in theatres and HBO Max during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, and was largely focused on the origin story of Scorpion (Hiroyuki Sanada) and Sub-Zero’s (Joe Taslim) feud. The film also starred Tadanobu Asano as Lord Raiden, Mehcad Brooks as the cybernetic Jax, and Jessica McNamee as special forces officer Sonya Blade. In the games, she’s also depicted as the love interest of Cage. Mortal Kombat grossed $84.4 million (about Rs. 689 crore) at the worldwide box office, against a production budget of $55 million (about Rs. 449 crore). The figures might seem small, but that has to do with its simultaneous release on HBO’s streaming service. As per Business Insider, it was the most-streamed movie among the films Warner Bros dropped in theatres and HBO Max at the same time in 2021, garnering an opening viewership of 3.8 million.

The news about Urban’s involvement in Mortal Kombat 2 comes exactly a year since WWE superstar Mike ‘The Miz’ Mizanin expressed his interest in playing Johnny Cage in a potential sequel. “I have been working on my splits, I’ve been working on my kicks,” he said on a podcast from last year (via IGN). “As soon as I saw that Mortal Kombat was out and there was no Johnny Cage yet and my name was literally trending Worldwide No. 1, ‘We want Miz as Johnny Cage,’ I was like, ‘If they want that to happen, I need to basically make sure that I am prepared and ready that if that opportunity presents itself then I will be ready and focused.” The wrestler is known for being a complete showman on WWE, with even MK creator Ed Boon endorsing him. Sad day for The Miz indeed.

Currently, there are no release details for the Mortal Kombat sequel.

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  • Release Date 30 July 2021
  • Language English, Japanese, Chinese
  • Genre Action, Adventure, Fantasy
  • Cast

    Lewis Tan, Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson, Mehcad Brooks, Ludi Lin, Max Huang, Tadanobu Asano, Chin Han, Joe Taslim, Hiroyuki Sanada, Matilda Kimber, Laura Brent, Sisi Stringer, Mel Jamson, Nathan Jones, Daniel Nelson, Damon Herriman, Angus Sampson

  • Director

    Simon McQuoid

  • Producer

    James Wan, Todd Garner, Simon McQuoid, E. Bennett Walsh

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Google Officially Reveals Pixel Fold in a Short Video Teaser Ahead of Google I/O 2023 Launch


Coinbase Crypto Exchange Posts Smaller Quarterly Loss After Costs Cuts



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Warner Bros Discovery Unveils Revamped ‘Max’ Streaming Service, Launching May 23

Warner Bros Discovery on Wednesday said it will launch on May 23 its long-awaited new streaming service, christened “Max”, combining HBO Max’s scripted entertainment with Discovery’s reality shows.

The service will seek to expand its reach beyond devotees of HBO’s acclaimed and edgy shows by incorporating unscripted fare and children’s programming.

It also will mine the studio’s rich content library to produce high-profile programming, including a new series based on the Harry Potter books by author JK Rowling, and another prequel to popular fantasy series Game of Thrones.

Warner Bros, Walt Disney and other media companies are seeking to strike the right balance between spending on fresh programming to attract and retain subscribers and turning a profit.

Shares in Warner Bros Discovery closed down nearly 6 percent, part of a broader decline in streaming stocks after critical remarks from renowned investor Warren Buffett.

“It’s not really a very good business,” Buffett said on CNBC television. While people working in entertainment “make lots of money, the shareholders really haven’t done that great over time”.

Buffett is an investor in Paramount Global, which dropped 3 percent on Wednesday. Disney fell 2.5 percent and Netflix was down 2 percent.

The new “Max” service will serve as a test of CEO David Zaslav’s ambition to create one of the world’s leading streaming services by assembling a collection of disparate assets, from the Barefoot Contessa cooking show to Batman.

“This is our time, this is our chance,” Zaslav said during a presentation held on the Warner studio lot in Burbank, California. “I feel like for our company, this is our rendezvous with destiny.”

Prices for Max would range $9.99 (roughly Rs. 820) a month for the ad-supported version to $19.99 (roughly Rs. 1,640) a month for “Max Ultimate” for the ad-free tier with four concurrent streams. One tier would retain the current HBO Max pricing of $15.99 (roughly Rs. 1,310) a month – a strategy that won praise from one media analyst.

“By keeping the pricing the same, except for the new premium tier, there’s no reason for anybody to churn off,” said Bank of America media analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich. “For the same price you’re getting multiples of content.”

Zaslav said HBO’s “one-of-a-kind storytelling” would bring subscribers to the service while Discovery’s unscripted programming would keep them.

Warner Bros Discovery eliminated “HBO” from the name of the streaming service, which for some viewers connotes bespoke series but repels others.

Global streaming chief JB Perrette said, “HBO is HBO” and it “should not be pushed to the breaking point” by taking on a wide variety of content offered by HBO and Discovery.

“We look to go broader,” Perrette said, “And we think we can compete with the biggest players in the space.”

The service will feature HBO content including multiple Emmy award-winning drama series Succession and hit video-game adaptation The Last of Us.

New titles

It will also have several new titles based on popular franchises, including The Penguin, a series based on the DC Comics villain, a new comedy series derived from the hit CBS show The Big Bang Theory, and a new installment in the Fixer Upper home improvement franchise, Fixer Upper: The Hotel.

CEO Zaslav has said Warner Bros films would enjoy a traditional theatrical release and reap box office proceeds before becoming available on the streaming service.

The opportunity to better capitalize on the streaming video revolution was one of the justifications for the merger of Discovery and WarnerMedia in 2022.

But by the time the deal closed in April last year, Wall Street’s enthusiasm for streaming had begun to wane, as Netflix reported its first loss of subscribers in more than a decade. Investors began prioritizing profits over subscriber gains, ushering in a new frugality across Hollywood.

Like other media companies, Warner Bros Discovery has yet to turn a profit on its HBO Max and Discovery+ streaming services, though the company has reduced losses from them.

It has set a subscriber goal of 130 million by 2025, well below Netflix’s 231 million subscribers.

© Thomson Reuters 2023

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Jason Momoa-Led Minecraft Movie Sets April 2025 Release Date

The Jason Momoa-led live-action Minecraft movie finally has a release date. Warner Bros. has confirmed that the troubled adaptation of the block-building sandbox video game will hit theatres on April 4, 2025. Currently, there are no plot or character details for what Momoa could play, but it lists Jared Hess as the director, best known for Napoleon Dynamite. Buzz around a Minecraft movie began in 2014 when Shawn Levy (Free Guy) quit working on the film upon hitting a dead end for a solid story. As it turns out, his and the writing team’s ideas didn’t align with the game developers’ vision. Multiple directors have joined and dropped out from the project since then, with WB locking in on Momoa to lead last year. WB’s rights to Minecraft were set to expire in January 2023.

To be fair, it’s tough to envision a story for Minecraft, which essentially is a free-willed type of game where creativity and item crafting is the priority. However, one could create a wholly original story, as seen with Telltale’s Minecraft: Story Mode, simply using its universe as a device to capture a young warrior’s perilous new adventure, after having slain the Ender Dragon.

That said, video game adaptations — save for select examples such as The Last of Us, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, and Arcane — have always received poor on-screen translations, be it for odd narrative choices or character motivations that stray too far from the source. Elsewhere, Mojang Studios is preparing to launch its upcoming Minecraft spinoff title Minecraft Legends on April 18 — a strategy game that has you form alliances and wage war against the Piglin mob.

The Last of Us Season 1 Review

Warner Bros. also tweaked release dates for some other upcoming projects. First, the Momoa-starring DC live-action film Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom has been pushed forward by five days, now releasing on December 20 in theatres worldwide. In doing so, it’s swapping places with the Colman Domingo-led (Euphoria) The Color Purple, a likely awards contender, that’ll now drop on Christmas Day. Aquaman 2 is expected to offer more world-building in the submerged kingdom of Atlantis, with Willem Dafoe, Nicole Kidman, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, and Amber Heard reprising their roles. James Wan will return to direct the sequel, which might also feature a small appearance from Ben Affleck’s Bruce Wayne.

Meanwhile, The Wizard of Oz animated film Toto has been removed from Warner Bros.’ calendar, as the Robert De Niro-led (The Irishman) The Wise Guys steals its spot, now slated to release on February 2024. As per Deadline, an untitled DC Comics movie was taking up a slot on September 22, though it has now been scrubbed from the schedule.

The Jason Momoa-led Minecraft movie is now slated to release on April 4, 2025.

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