Oxygen Films Corp

Media empire must sustain its costly online push while its lucrative legacy businesses decline source: ( Financial Times.com ) 2020 has hit the film and television industry hard. Although compensating for distribution through online streaming sites appears to be a partial solution, Disney execs including Bob Iger explain why streaming is not saving the day... December 06, 2020 Anna Nicolaou writes:  The Walt Disney Company, in its 97th year, has decided its television future lies in streaming . But what happens to its past? Disney Plus has been a knockout success, signing up more than 70m subscribers in its first year to cement the Mickey Mouse empire as a serious competitor to Netflix, whose boss Reed Hastings had expected its new rival to secure 20m customers “at best”. As the group re-engineers itself around video streaming, giving up lucrative licensing revenue, it must also manage the decline of its ageing TV channels and movie studios. Taking the long view, Bob Iger ,...

  Tom Hanks on Surviving Coronavirus: ‘I Had Crippling Body Aches, Fatigue and Couldn’t Concentrate’ The world’s most relatable megastar talks about his Covid-19 experience, his fears for the future, and whether he’s really just so gosh darned nice. Source: ( getpocket.com ) December 4, 2020 Hadley Freeman writes: “Welcome to the future, Hadley!” Tom Hanks says from my computer screen, as he makes a quick glance to the right of his own to check my name. “Can you remember the last time you felt comfortable running around with other people?” he asks. I tell him it was probably the last time I saw him, which was when we were at the Academy Awards in February, where he had ratcheted up his sixth Oscar nomination, for his performance as beloved US children’s TV host Fred Rogers, in the film A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood . “Remember those carefree days of the Academy Awards? It was like, what’s that place in Italy underneath the mountain...

After months of brainstorming and negotiations, the Hollywood studios and unions adopted rigorous safety protocols to get TV production going again. And, with fits and starts, it has been going, churning out fresh content with original episodes hitting the air first with the soaps in daytime, followed by unscripted and then scripted series in primetime. Source: Deadline.com November 20, 2020  Nellie Andreeva  writes: But it has not been easy. And it has been expensive. So far, the safety procedures are largely working. There have been many positive COVID tests — both real positives and false positives. There also have been production shutdowns, though no reports of fatalities or seriously ill cast or crew members. (The Good Doctor‘s Richard Schiff is the only known main cast member on a series to be hospitalized with COVID, and he is on the mend.) At least in part as recognition for the entertainment industry’s efforts, it was given an exemption from California Gov. Gavin Ne...

No Theatre for Christmas this year... and Wonder Woman 1984 filmmakers will likely suffer financially. But it seems, for Warner Bros., it was the best option to simply release this year's hottest anticipated blockbuster solely on HBO Max. "Though the film is forgoing substantial box office returns and will likely end up losing money — “Wonder Woman” cost $200 million to make and many millions more to market globally — leaning into the HBO Max of things became the best option because it allowed them to get the movie out in a timely manner while promoting a streaming service that’s struggled to make waves." source ( Variety.com ) November 19, 2020 Rebecca Rubin writes: Warner Bros. didn’t have a lot of good options. After the studio released Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet” in September to lackluster ticket sales , it was hesitant to unveil another $200 million-budgeted movie in the middle of a pandemic. And yet, just three months after “Tenet” tried and largely failed...

We all can agree 2020 has been an unprecedented year around the globe. The Covid-19 Pandemic spread chaos and the unknown into full throttle across the planet and it certainly has opened floodgates for new story ideas. 2020 reads like a TV script. So we asked screenwriters how it should end.  Source: (The Washington Post) October 27, 2020; 3:00am Maura Judkis of The Washington Post writes: If 2020 were a TV show, the first draft would be terrible. The premise is promising — what happens when political dysfunction meets a deadly virus? — but the execution needs work. Think about how messy it all has been: competing plotlines, too-abrupt soap opera twists, one-dimensional villains, stories introduced and then just as quickly dropped. Like it or not, we’re barreling toward the finale, and no one knows what’s going to happen in the last episode. Will there be a satisfying ending? Or one of those unsettling, ambiguous ones that gnaws at you long after you’ve finished the show...