Netflix Overtakes Disney as the World’s Most Valuable Entertainment Company
According to Variety, a historical first took place as Netflix’s shares overtook Disney’s last Wednesday. With the stock price at $426,75, the streaming service’s net worth reached $187.3 billion compared to Disney’s $186,6 billion. While certainly impressive, this development is unfortunately hardly surprising considering the events of the last two months.
As we reported in the past, in 2019 Disney earned a full one-third of the total domestic box office – a mind-blowing $3,7 billion. But then in March WHO informed the world about a global pandemic of the extremely infectious COVID-19 virus. After that, it was only a matter of time before public venues began closing amid fears about health safety. Studios halted movie productions and postponed new releases. Most of Disney’s revenue comes from theme parks and movies, all of which are presently gone.
Netflix has been disrupting the entertainment industry for a decade now. With an increasing number of people shut in their homes, streaming surged. U.S. viewing of internet video on televisions rose 109% in March 2020 compared with the same four-week period in 2019. While Disney joined streaming wars with a very successful launch of Disney+ in November 2019, Netflix still possesses advantages in experience, popularity, and its catalog of original titles.
WarnerMedia Sets Launch Date for HBO Max
WarnerMedia announced the launch of HBO Max on May 27, 2020, says SlashFilm. Upon its release, this new streaming platform will offer six Max Originals and over 10,000 hours of premium content. Users subscribed to HBO Now will have access to the HBO Max as well.
Honestly, the list of HBO Max originals doesn’t sound all that impressive. It includes comedy series Love Life starring Anna Kendrick, new Looney Tunes cartoons, Sesame Workshop’s The Not Too Late Show with Elmo, Sundance documentary On the Record, the underground ballroom dance competition Legendary, and the crafting show Craftopia.
Far more interesting is the list of the older available titles. HBO Max will include the entirety of HBO’s impressive back catalog of TV shows – from The Sopranos to Silicon Valley. Furthermore, this new streaming service will include over 1800 movies, including 40 films in the DC library (plus every Superman and Batman movie from the last four decades). Additionally, there’s an impressive collection of movie classics from Warner Bros. and New Line as well as titles from Adult Swim, Cartoon Network, Looney Tunes, CNN, and TNT. Finally, HBO Max will feature the U.S. streaming debut of animated films by the Japanese Studio Ghibli as well as all seasons of Friends.
X-Men: First Class Writer Hired to Pen Myst Adaptation
GeekTyrant reports Village Roadshow hired screenwriter Ashley Miller (Thor, X-Men: First Class) to pen the script for an adaptation of the cult computer adventure game Myst. Miller has also extensively worked on science fiction TV shows like Andromeda, Fringe, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and The Twilight Zone. The company plans to produce a multi-platform adaptation.
Myst is a graphic adventure computer game created by brothers Robyn and Rand Miller in 1993. It features a nameless protagonist who, after reading an ancient book, ends up in another world. The only way to return is by solving a series of puzzles. Upon its release, Myst became a surprise hit as well as a highest-selling game of its time. It is also frequently mentioned as an early example of a computer game as a new art form. It was followed by six sequels as well as by several accompanying novels. Through them, fans learned the complex lore about D’ni – an ancient civilization that could open portals to other worlds and times through the power of writing.
The Miller brothers will serve as producers on an as-yet-unfilmed adaptation of Myst.
