Ever since the rise of streaming, specifically, a publisher owned streaming service, one of the biggest questions that fans had is how would the streaming service handle the releases of certain shows. For apps, such as Netflix, their shows, for the most part, are shown uncensored. However, if a show or movie gains enough criticism, Netflix would start to remove the shows. This is done mainly because Netflix only has the rights to stream the product, not alter it. That is why Netflix chooses which release they air depending on the movie. Some movies are streamed with their original theatrical release, while others stream the DVD or Blue Ray release.
Amazon Prime streamed the entire Tom and Jerry cartoon with the earlier episodes getting an early warning letting the viewer know that what they are about to see was a product of the time.
Disney + takes this further as they edit out certain scenes from some of their movies. Fans discovered a hilarious edit to the Tom Hanks movie 1984’s Splash. A movie about Tom Hanks Character falling in love with a mermaid. The edit is when the mermaid is going to the water, you can tell that they altered the size of her hair.
Disney+ didn't want butts on their platform so they edited Splash with digital fur technology pic.twitter.com/df8XE0G9om
The edit is so apparent that it is hilarious. When the movie first came out, it was rated PG, which meant that, for the time, kids could watch this scene. Now it is important to state that Disney is a family brand, so it makes sense that they would edit out the scene. However, the real question becomes, is it fair to pay for something when you don’t get the original version of it?
With the rise of premium television, viewers expect to see the shows as they were intended. HBO GO, which shows both Game of Thrones and Sesame Street on the same app is the best example of pleasing everyone. Disney +, on the other hand, seems to promise almost everything from their library, but as long you play by their rules.
According to a recent Live Q&A on Instagram via Screenrant Dwayne, The Rock Johnson revealed that plans are already moving forward for the sequel to last year’s The Fast and Furious Present Hobb and Shaw. The spinoff focused on Hobb (Introduced in Fast 5) and Shaw (Introduced in Fast 7) as the unlikely duo team up to stop a criminal superpower man played by Idris Alba. The movie is a massive departure from the original series (granted you could say that about every movie past Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift). However, that didn’t stop the movie from becoming one of the most successful films of the franchise and 2019, in general, earning 700 million worldwide.
Before this, the only confirmation of any plans for future sequels came from Fast & Furious writer Chris Morgan previously confirmed the plan is to bring back the spinoff’s mystery villain, the director of the Eteon organization in the future. Chris Morgan also wrote Hobbs & Shaw. When speculating why there hasn’t been much news about the project, the conclusion is the busy schedule of each actor (especially The Rock). However, with Hollywood pretty much on lockdown, major Hollywood projects have been put on hold.
During the Live Q&A. The actor confirmed, “We are developing now the next film, the next [Hobbs & Shaw] movie, and I’m pretty excited about it.” He went on to say he and the rest of the Hobbs & Shaw team “Just gotta figure out the creative right now, and the direction we’re going to go” before thanking fans around the world for making the first movie “a huge success.”
While this is good news for the franchise going forward, keep in mind that with Hollywood in lockdown, there is no way of knowing how long it will take for any of this to go through. As of now, no movie has debuted on theaters, while other movies are releasing digitally. The latest film in the Fast and Furious franchise F9, was placed on hold with no real release date given.
Onward has had a tough time in theaters, with the movie becoming one of the lowest-grossing Disney movies. The movie is going to find new-life going digital with the movie already available for digital purchase and the movie is also hitting Disney+ on April 3. The moves comes at no surprise with the wave of films hitting digital release early as a response to the Coronavirus.
This is not new for Disney as Frozen 2 arrived on Disney+ earlier this month. Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey movie hit digital purchases over the weekend. While Troll 2: World Tour is set to release both on theater and digital.
Disney Plus Release Schedule:
April 3
Onward
Life on the Edge (new episode)
Dolphin Reef (new episode)
Diving With Dolphins (new episode)
Star Wars: The Clone Wars (new episode)
Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings (new episode, finale)
Shop Class (new episode)
Disney Family Sundays (new episode)
One Day At Disney (new episode)
Be Our Chef (new episode)
A Tale of Two Critters
In a Nutshell
Don’s Fountain of Youth
Don’s Fountain of Youth
Donald’s Dog Laundry
Double Dribble
Dragon Around
Elmer Elephant
Fish Hooks (S1-3)
How to Play Football
Lambert, The Sheepish Lion
On Ice
Out of Scale
Penguins
Pluto’s Party
Sea Scouts
Sonny with a Chance (S1-3)
The Boy Who Talked to Badgers
The New Neighbor
The Small One
The Straight Story
April 10
A Celebration of Music from the Coco Premiere
Star Wars: The Clone Wars (new episode)
Shop Class (new episode)
Disney Family Sundays (new episode)
One Day At Disney (new episode)
Be Our Chef (new episode)
Life Below Zero (S14)
Paradise Island (S1)
Playtime with Puppy Dog Pals (S1)
Running Wild with Bear Grylls (S5)
Tut’s Treasures: Hidden Secrets (S1)
April 12
PJ Masks (S3)
April 17
Star Wars: The Clone Wars (new episode)
Shop Class (new episode, finale)
Disney Family Sundays (new episode)
One Day At Disney (new episode)
Be Our Chef (new episode)
Brain Games (S8)
Let’s Stick Together
Mickey and the Roadster Racers: Nutty Tales (S1-2)
With China re-opening its Hubei district (where the coronavirus originated), and the country also taking further steps to contain the virus. Other moves are being made to bring back a sense of normality; one of these steps is to bring back movie theaters. China closed down most of its theaters back in January during the early days of the outbreak. According to The Hollywood Reporter, China is starting to re-open approximately 600-700 movie theaters.
“An estimated 600 to 700 Chinese movie theaters open for business,” and now to boost business, all four Avengers movies, Avatar, Inception, and Interstellar will be re-released. Hollywood Reporter explained that a source at one of China’s nationwide cinema operators told them that “whenever the DCPs reach the cinemas,” the films will be available to them. In addition to this, the article notes that the Hollywood studios re-releasing their films in China will still “receive their usual 25 percent share of sales.”
Releasing some of the biggest blockbusters of the last 10 years (and Avatar) will allow nostalgic fans to go to the theaters. As for local filmmakers according to The Hollywood Reporter:
“Over the past week, China’s Film Bureau has introduced measures to help address the bottleneck. In a deal hashed out with Chinese studios last week, state-backed distributor China Film Group said it would allow local theaters to rerelease a raft of past local blockbusters — including Wolf Warrior 2, The Wandering Earth and Wolf Totem, among others — while giving cinemas the right to keep 100 percent of ticket revenue.”
The closed down of theaters has had a strong impact in different markets such as Italy. Movies such as No Time to Die, F9, and Sonic The Hedgehog had their international release days postpone. While this news doesn’t mean that we will start seeing newer movies arrive in theaters, it is a step in the right direction. The only way for studios to see if the theater openings are worth bring the newer movies to them is all going to come down to how much revenue will be made. While 600-700 theaters is a large number, it is not enough to justify new movies trying to break even.
Recently Troll 2: World Tour was announced to release both theatrical and digitally at the same time. Black Widow stars are also campaigning for Black Widow also to be released digitally. While I am on board with movies being available for both theater and streaming at the same time, there is something magical about experiencing a movie in theaters for the first time.
It is always fun the look through the weekend box office results, at it gives us an idea of what is popular, or what people feel like watching. I wrote before the world of cinema is going through a significant change, with more and more theaters closing to fight against the Coronavirus the movie industry is forced to adapt. With more movies shifting their digital release in order to help people stay indoors it is no surprise that this weekend box office numbers are drastically small. For the third week in a row, Disney’s Onward is still number one; however, what the biggest news of the weekend is that the box office arguably made no money.
As always, the numbers reported are mostly estimated, and when reports claim that there was no profit made, that is not necessarily the case. However, it is important to note that this is a big blow to the film industry. Movies are bigger, and budgets reflect this, so when a movie makes no money, it is something worth talking about. Now I am not saying to go to the theaters because we all need to do our part to stay safe. What I am saying is that film studios have realized that if they want to make money from their movies, then theaters are no longer going to work (at least for the foreseeable future). Recently it was announced that The Sonic The Hedgehog Movie is also going to move its digital release date.
The shift to digital is going to be a gamechanger, but while the reasoning is not the most ideal as I said before, it will be interesting to see how this trend evolves going forward.
For now, I will not be covering the weekend results since it seems that there won’t be any changes coming anytime soon.
Mission Impossible stopped filming back in February, and it was one of the first movies to cancel productions over the coronavirus. Only a month later, more movies would delay filming such as The Matrix 4, AMC would close down all theater, and release dates for movies such as F9 would be delayed.
The Daily Mail posted pictures of Tom Cruise filming motorcycle stunts along with other scenes. Mission Impossible 7 is being filmed in the U.K, whose borders were closed after the Coronavirus outbreak.
Jack Valentine / SplashNews.com
Jack Valentine / SplashNews.com
Jack Valentine / SplashNews.com
With the number of delays and shutdowns in Hollywood, it is refreshing to see a high profile movie film restart productions. While it is not clear how long the shooting will last, the only thing we can hope for is everybody to be safe.
