Tag Archives: Disney+

Jan 22 2024

Wither Physical Media? Or The Downside Of Digital Streaming

By now, we all know about how physical media is dying, especially after the retailer Best Buy announced last year they would discontinue selling DVDs, Blu-rays and 4K disks this year. This is largely due to the prevalence of digital media and digital streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, Max, and so on, and declining sales of physical media. These platforms made it much more convenient to access and watch your favorite films and TV shows without the bother of physically getting up, searching through your DVD/Blu-ray library and inserting disks into a player. However, something has been lost with the downfall of physical media. Or is it truly dead?

By announcing that physical media was doomed, interest has increased in fans and collectors to obtain the remaining physical media, especially in secondary markets, as fans are now actively hunting down copies of their favorite films. What helped drive the hunts was a major flaw that became clear with the rise of digital media: the availability of a favorite film or TV show.

On paper, digital media and streaming takes care of the problems with buying and collecting physical media, namely storage and the ease of accessing your favorite Star Trek episode. The problem is the streaming market has become so diversified that these services feel like you’re accessing incomplete libraries. A draw of streaming was the vast libraries they boasted. This was the case when Netflix was the only large streaming service years ago, but with the coming of Disney+, Max and other streaming services, these companies understandably took their toys and went home. Good luck if you subscribed to Netflix to watch the latest Marvel superhero film. You might get Morbius or some knock-off film, but if you want to watch Iron Man or Avengers: Infinity War you’ll have to subscribe to Disney+. The same thing happened if you wanted to watch Star Trek. While you can watch some of the films on other services, for the “complete” Star Trek library you have to subscribe to Paramount+, which offers little else that would interest the average Star Trek fan. And by “complete” we have to keep in mind that Paramount+ cancelled and removed Star Trek: Prodigy from their service. Now you can only see that show on Netflix, which will exclusively stream the second and final season of Star Trek: Prodigy.

Anyone sees where this is going? Essentially, you have to subscribe to all the major and even minor digital streaming services to be able to access the films and TV shows you want to see. That is if they have the rights to stream them. Anyone want to see Outland? Never heard of it? No surprise. Outland was a sci-fi crime drama that starred Sean Connery as a sheriff on a mining station on IO. It copied the gritty and grounded look of Alien but was a well done film. Now where can you find it. Sure, anyone can buy it digitally, but why should they if they are supposed to easily access it on digital streaming? Also the money spent to download Outland is comparable to buying a physical disk.

The same issue has been noted online with the sci-fi film Cocoon. It was successful back when it was released in the 1980s, it even won Academy Awards, but it is unavailable on physical media and you have to hunt for it on streaming. Then there is the situation with trying to watch the original version of Star Wars, no bloody Episode IV or other silly subtitles, and where Han shoots first! Many fans hoped that Disney+ would have streamed the original vision of George Lucas, but to date that has not happened. The only way to see the unaltered Star Wars is by purchasing old VHS cassettes, laser disks, and DVDs. Of course, the quality won’t be 4K but at least it is accessible to you and owned by you.

The problem with buying digital downloads of films and TV shows is that you don’t actually own the downloads. Disney+ boasted that with its service you could download their content to watch anywhere on any device. But do you get to keep the downloads if you unsubscribe? If you can please drop a comment below.

Many owners of the PS5 learned the hard way that their digital downloads are not theirs to keep forever, as it was announced late last year that any Discovery+ content that was purchased and downloaded would be removed from PS5s. So, what is the point of buying downloads if you cannot keep them? With DVDs and Blu-rays, the disks are yours forever, you can watch them at anytime just as long as you have a player, which are very cheap these days. Of course, a problem with all the media platforms is the availability of old and obscure content. There are countless sci-fi, fantasy and horror films and TV shows that have basically disappeared since they are not streaming (usually due to rights issues) on any service and if they had a DVD or Blu-ray release, they have gone out of print a long time ago. This makes me glad that I never got rid of my DVD copy of Peter Jackson’s The Frighteners since it is a favorite that cannot be easily seen these days.

What can a genre fan do? Sure you can subscribe to every streaming service but that is expensive and you’ll be stuck paying for subpar services just to access a film or TV show, which can be removed at anytime, often without notice. This happened to me when I was binging Snowpiercer on Max and stopped watching it a few episodes away from its season finale. The next day the entire series was removed from Max. This streaming service was infamous for removing other genre content because the parent company did not want to pay residuals to writers and so on. Such content included Raised By Wolves and Westworld. Anyone who intended to watch the complete series is out of luck these days.

Another thing that makes physical media superior is that many disks come with unique interactive menus and features that you cannot get on a digital download. Some like The Lord of The Rings films are renowned for the exhaustive content on their Blu-rays and 4K disks like extensive behind-the-scenes features, production art, games, and of course deleted scenes. You certainly won’t get this much material in a download!

The best option is to shop for obscure products on second-hand online services that specialize in obscure and out-of-print DVDs and Blu-rays. But be prepared to pay a lot. Then there is cable or satellite TV. Yes, the point of streaming services was to enable viewers to cut the cable cord, but many times, cable is the best place to watch obscure genre films. However, while sales these days of physical media are past their heyday, they are still being made. It is easy to see a time when physical media makes a comeback like vinyl records did as streaming services and digital downloads become more expensive and inconvenient for fans. But for now, make a point of actively seeking out and buying your favorite obscure sci-fi film like Silent Running or the original version of the Star Trek TV shows. You never know if an increase in sales would have an influence on the decision makers in Hollywood. Besides a Blu-ray or 4K disk library definitely looks cool on display in your homes!

Nov 18 2023

The MCU Woes, Part I: How Did It Get To This?

Given all the downbeat news lately about Marvel Studios’ Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), it’s pretty understandable why MCU fans are so alarmed. It was not that long ago when the MCU was an undisputed entertainment behemoth that could not do anything wrong.

Now, there have been noticeable tumbles with their projects, especially this year. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania underperformed in the box office, the Disney+ TV series Secret Invasion was widely derided and what was worse is that the recently released MCU film, The Marvels, is performing worse than the third Ant-Man film.

Then the behind-the-scenes turmoil further added to the impression that the MCU is falling apart. Reports have revealed that productions were rushed and reshot. This explained why many MCU films and TV shows felt so disjointed and undeveloped.

Another dilemma involved the actor Jonathan Majors who plays Kang the Conqueror and is slated to be the major villain in the next few MCU films. He was recently arrested for domestic abuse and Marvel Studios and its parent company, Disney, is struggling over what to do with Majors and the character of Kang because if he is found guilty this would disrupt any upcoming films or TV shows.

Then there is the issue of what direction should the overall MCU should take. In the first three phases of the cinematic universe there seemed to be a goal that the films were reaching towards. Although the Multiverse Saga has been introduced in the Phase Four and Five of the MCU, many films and TV shows have ignored the concept and as a result the overall narrative of the MCU seems aimless and less interconnected than previous films.

Adding to the disjointed and convoluted nature of the current MCU is that a lot of characters and storylines have been introduced but many of them have not been followed up. For example, what happened with the Eternals after the Celestials kidnapped half of them? What is the story behind the Hulk suddenly having a son? Will we ever see Hercules carry out his quest of vengeance against Thor? What happened to the symbiote fragment that was left behind in the main MCU by Venom? What happened with the crusade of the United States against aliens?

What happened behind the scenes was that most of the productions had their scripts drastically altered during filming, which led to a slapdash feel to the finished film or TV show. This in turn strained the special effects department who were forced to work under insane deadlines and resulted in horribly bad special effects that in some cases were tweaked after a film or TV show was released.

What was worse is that the MCU was such a victim of its own success that the higher-ups at Disney demanded more projects from Marvel Studios to pad out the roster of Disney+ inventory. The reason for this as many know was due to the launch of Disney+, which had few original programs, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Both incidents caused Disney to demand more productions to be launched on the streaming app since it was the only way to present the MCU productions during the outbreak of the pandemic. As a result multiple projects were put into production, even though the demand for some of them was questionable. Does anyone actually want to see an Ironheart TV show?

This stretched ability of Marvel Studios to deliver quality films and TV shows and people noticed. Productions were rushed in order to meet deadlines and were heavily reshot during post-production. This in turn not only drastically changed some plots but disrupted the narrative flow of the stories. The results were less than satisfying films and TV shows, though the quality of the MCU productions varied. Still for every WandaVision or Black Panther: Wakanda Forever there was a Secret Invasion or Eternals. Marvel Studios saw diminished returns for their projects, which became very apparent this year given how poorly Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Secret Invasion and The Marvels were recieved.

So is all lost? Is the MCU headed in the same direction as the hapless DC films?

No, to both questions.

Marvel Studios has shown that it’s capable of putting out truly great films and TV shows. Just look at this year’s offerings of Loki and Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 3. There is still demand and goodwill for upcoming MCU projects like the third Deadpool film and Avengers: Secret Wars. But more importantly, the film studio and Disney are being proactive and are addressing the situation. The best days for the MCU may still be ahead of us.

In a follow up post, we’ll look at what Marvel Studios can do to right the ship and point out how they are taking concrete steps at this moment.

Oct 15 2023

Daredevil Dead Again & Other MCU TV Shows Blues

Things just seem to be going from bad to worse for the Disney+ Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) TV shows. For the most part, some of the recent MCU TV shows have been poorly received by fans and critics who griped about the inconsistent tone of the episodes, half-finished scripts and poor special effects. The MCU TV shows hit their lowest point with Secret Invasion, which should have been a lot better but instead turned out to be the worst MCU presentations. There have been a lot of reports and rumors about how Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige is going out of his way to right the ship with the MCU. This has led to substantial delays and cancellation of projects. But the news last week that the upcoming Daredevil: Born Again has been essentially scrapped created a lot of concern for fans.

Daredevil: Born Again has been one of the most anticipated MCU projects since it brought back Charlie Cox as the title character. He won so much acclaim for his performance as Matt Murdock/Daredevil in the Netflix TV series Daredevil, which was about a blind superhero with enhanced senses fighting crime in Manhattan. That series ran for three seasons and was considered to be among the greatest superhero TV shows based on a Marvel Comics charater. Fans wondered if the TV show would ever be revived and saw reason to hope when Cox reprised his role in the film Spider-Man: No Way Home and the TV show She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. Naturally, many were excited when Kevin Feige announced that a new Daredevil TV show was being produced by Marvel Studios.

Not a lot was known about Daredevil: Born Again other than aside from Cox, Vincent D’Onofrio would reprise his role as Wilson Fisk/The Kingpin, the brutal crime lord that rules New York’s criminal society. Supposedly, the overall plot had to do with the consequences of Fisk being elected as the mayor of New York. But there were some aspects about the show that put off fans, namely that Elden Henson and Deborah Ann Woll would not return to play their beloved characters Foggy Nelson and Karen Page. In fact, there have been leaks that both characters were killed off in Daredevil: Born Again. Also, there seemed to be an effort by the executives to not associate it with the Netflix series. This did not make sense since Daredevil was so revered and it was only logical to continue that show instead of doing a reboot given that the same lead actor was returning.

Production came to a halt with the TV show due to the writer and actors strikes, which has crippled film and TV productions this year. At the onset of the strike only a few episodes had been completed and it was supposed to have an eighteen-episode run.

Marvel Studios has been having issues with the quality of many of their projects, especially the TV shows, and this resulted in diminishing returns. As we all know, Marvel Studios and Kevin Feige had been stretched very thin by mandates by Disney to produce more product and there are only so many resources and time available to consistently produce quality products. This is how we got poorly received films and TV shows like Secret Invasion, Eternals and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Naturally, this has forced Marvel Studios to take a hard look at their current and upcoming projects and honestly assess them.

This assessment and the realization that the market was being flooded with too many films and TV shows have led to delayed releases for their projects. In some cases, projects have either been scrapped or will undergo significant revisions. Unfortunately, this included Daredevil: Born Again.

According to a report in The Hollywood Reporter, Kevin Feige reviewed what had been filmed with the new Daredevil TV show and admitted that it was not working. It was turning out to be a procedural lawyer show that de-emphasized Daredevil and Matt Murdock did not even don the Daredevil suit until the fourth episode. This has led to the dismissal of the writers and directors and the show is now back to square one.

But Daredevil: born Again is not the only casualty. It has been rumored that a planned TV show, Visionquest, based on the android hero, the Vision, has been cancelled. Echo, which has been completed and feature Daredevil, keeps being delayed because it’s supposedly not well done and Marvel Studios is trying to fix it through editing. Agatha: Darkhold Diaries also seems to be a victim of constant retinkering given that the TV show based on the witch Agatha Harkness has had so many title changes. Ironheart, has been completed for some time, yet there isn’t any clear indication of when it will stream on Disney+. Rumors for upcoming MCU projects featuring Nova, Okoye and the Silver Surfer have stopped giving the impression that they also have been scrapped.

On the one hand this implosion of MCU TV shows is cause for concern given the high reputation Marvel Studios has with fans and most critics (excepting snobs like Martin Scorsese). Some panicking fans will use this situation to declare that superhero fatigue is upon us. But that is not necessarily so. The reason for diminishing returns in metrics and box office returns is due to diminished and inferior product that is not up to par with past MCU projects. If a film or TV show is great, people will seek it out, for the most part. Look at how well some recents films and TV shows performed. These include Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3, WandaVision, Loki, Spider-Man: No Way Home and Werewolf By Night. Right now, Loki, which began its second season a couple of weeks ago is removing the sting of the dismal Secret Invasion. However, it’s early for the show and it could wind up becoming an uneven disappointment. Another problem for Marvel Studios is that they do not have a lot of experience creating TV shows and it can be seen with their finished products. Most of them seem like overlong films instead of TV shows that are a different medium with a distinct method of storytelling.

On the other hand, these delays, cancellations and retoolings are a sign that Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios have acknowledged that things are not working for their projects. It is far better to course correct now with Daredevil and be willing to go back to the drawing board. Otherwise, can anyone imagine what would happen if Daredevil: Born Again turns out to be another Secret Invasion? One thing Marvel Studios should do is bring back the folks who were behind Daredevil like Drew Goddard. He and the other creatives behind Daredevil knew how to handle the character and his world, and it would reassure fans. Anyway, with less projects to deal with, Marvel Studios now has more bandwidth to ensure that they create superior films and TV shows that will be up to their usual high standards. So, while we may have to wait longer to see the full return of Daredevil, we can be comforted knowing that it will be worth the wait.

Aug 27 2023

Disney + Has Damaged Pixar, Star Wars & Marvel

When it was announced that the streaming app Disney + would feature exclusive content for their purchased intellectual properties Star Wars and Marvel, most fans were understandably excited. In the closing years of the 2010s both properties were riding high, especially Marvel with its Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The people running Disney + promised that subscribers would have access to a vast video library of its properties and that the exclusive content would be top-of-the-line when it came to quality. At first, this seemed to be the case. At first.

Shortly after Disney + became available, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, which shut down theaters and the streaming platform became the only medium available to get new content based on Disney IP, Pixar, Star Wars and the MCU. Due to the pandemic many films were delayed and this happened with the Pixar films scheduled for release. At the same time, Disney was desperate to generate streaming traffic for Disney + and to gain subscribers, new product had to be available. The easiest solution was to take the delayed films like Soul and premiere them exclusively on Disney +.

For a short while, this tactic worked, but unlike the other MCU films that were released exclusively in theaters, Disney kept debuting other Pixar films like Luca and Turning Red on the streaming app. This gave the impression that the Pixar films were inferior in quality, because people began thinking that these films were not good enough for theatrical releases. Also, when the Pixar films Lightyear and Elemental actually premiered in theaters, viewers were conditioned to wait for them to come out weeks later on Disney + and save some money. To be fair other streaming apps like HBO Max did this as well, but this tactic was abandoned soon after studios realized they were losing revenue. It took Disney some time to forego premiering some of their films on the app.

The app premiered with The Mandalorian, the hit TV show set in the Star Wars universe about a Clint Eastwoodish, intergalactic bounty hunter and his infant alien ward. The Mandalorian became a huge hit and actually helped keep the Star Wars brand alive. Actually, for a couple of years it was the only Star Wars-related property for fans to watch. Obviously, Disney had to put out more Star Wars content and last year more Star Wars-related TV shows streamed on Disney +, which included The Book of Boba Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor, and now Ahoska. While some of the TV shows were well received and even earned Emmy nominations, the Boba Fett show was a huge misfire with its unfocused scripts. Unfortunately, these same problems bled into the third season of The Mandalorian, and Ahsoka is receiving criticisms, as well. It is clear with The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett and Ahsoka that Disney wants to create a more integrated universe with a part of Star Wars history: the period of time after the fall of the Galactic Empire. Reportedly the goal is to have the TV shows lead to a film that ties all the elements together. While it is ambitious and echoes what happened with the MCU, there are problems in that the Star Wars universe is becoming too convoluted. Viewers are forced to watch other shows and even animated programs like Star Wars: Rebels to fully understand what is going on with many of the Star Wars TV shows. With interest in the Star Wars brand waning, this development could not have happened at a worst time.

The problem with the scripts for some of the Star Wars TV shows also plagued the MCU TV shows. What was worse was that the production values for many MCU TV shows was shockingly poor. The MCU, like Star Wars, got off to a promising start on Disney + with TV shows like WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. But the quality of the MCU TV shows soon began to falter and it became more and more obvious that budget limitations were impacting the shows. For example, with the time travel TV show Loki, even though it was well acted and written, it seemed as if there was a lot of talking instead of showing. Instead of time traveling to pivotal events in the MCU, the main characters traveled to mundane time periods.

The problem with limited budgets affected some of the effects work on later TV shows. This was best seen with Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law and Secret Invasion. With She-Hulk, the limited special effects was fatal for the show because its poor, unfinished special effects left She-Hulk looking like a SIM character. The same budget limitations has severely affected Secret Invasion, which has a lot of talking scenes about world events with limited action scenes. What is even more unbelievable is that the budget for the TV show was about $200 million. Where did that money go? The budget for Secrect Invasion is not the main reason for its poor execution, it is actually due to the scripts which make the show feel small scale. This also went on with many other MCU TV shows that should have had great payoffs. This even happened with WandaVision. For the most part that show was terrific with clever scripts and acting. But the payoff at the final episode felt like a letdown with the scope of the confrontations between characters.

Disney CEO Bob Iger recently said that the market was oversaturated with Star Wars and Marvel TV shows and films, and he is correct. There was a lot of pressure for the Disney + app to have new and original content, which meant that there had to be a lot of content about two of its most popular IPs. Unfortunately, the demand stretched the capability to keep up the quality of the products in order to meet scheduling deadlines. The result was that many fans were disappointed with the finished TV shows as the brands became diluted. To correct this, the brands need to pull back and Disney is doing this as per Iger’s orders. They are giving their properties the time needed to produce quality over quantity. However, there will be more inferior TV shows until the better-produced TV shows come out.

Disney and other studios are facing a new problem with their inability to provide new content thanks to the crippling writer and acting strikes which have shut down productions for film and TV studios. As content dries up and films and TV shows get delayed again or canceled, there will be increased demand. Will the studios make the same mistakes they did earlier this decade and force creators to pump out products before they are ready? Probably, so it is up to the studios to learn from their missteps regarding their streaming platforms.

Jul 26 2021

About Black Widow’s Box Office…

After what seemed like forever Marvel Studios and Disney finally released on July 9, Black Widow, the first film from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) since 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home. Predictions and projections were all over the place over how the film would perform and be received.

At first, Black Widow performed very impressively, earning $80 million dollars in its opening weekend. This may be small compared to some of the bigger MCU hits, but terrific for a film release during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has cratered the box office worldwide. In fact, Black Widow has set the record for the highest debuting film during the pandemic.

However, the news was quick to turn against the film and Disney when Black Widow had an enormous drop in its second week, earning only $37 million dollars, a drop of 67 percent, the biggest second week drop for an MCU film. This current weekend it earned $11 million dollars, placing it in third place and it actually beat the film that displaced it in its second week, Space Jam: A New Legacy. Currently its box office haul is $315 million worldwide. Yes, that is impressive but it had a budget of $200 million and it looks like it will barely break even if it reaches $400 million by the end of its run. Consider that the average MCU film of late earned roughly $1 billion dollars and its lower earning films averaged around $500 to $600 million. These figures can be used to conclude that Black Widow will be a disappointment in the box office. In fact, there are tons of reports trying to explain its relatively poor performance.

But that is not necessarily the complete picture.

As anyone reading this knows, Disney simultaneously released Black Widow on its streaming platform, Disney+, for $30 dollars on top of a subscription to the app. Many people scoffed at paying such a high price for a film that could be seen in theaters for much less. Yet, it earned about $60 million dollars to date and that is aside from its box office haul. Surely, Disney’s accountants will point out that the streaming haul means that the film’s earnings to date are close to $400 million and anything over that is just profit.

It was also heavily pirated online, which certainly robbed Disney of a lot of revenue. Being that the film was completed over a year ago, there were many opportunities and time for it to be pirated before it was officially released.

Many have correctly pointed out that the online access to Black Widow robbed the film of its full box office potential. Theater owners are enraged that Disney did this because it undercut their business, and set a precedent for film releases going forward, although after the upcoming Jungle Cruise is released both in theaters and premier access on Disney+, the entertainment company will discontinue this practice.

Others have said that the film had limited appeal since it was not a big-event film like Avengers: Endgame and that it came out too late. Yes, given the film’s setting and the main character’s eventual fate, the film should have been released right after Captain America: Civil War in 2016 or 2017. But many circumstances beyond the film’s control prevented that and while the film is just a standalone film and is not perfect, it is a solid MCU entry that shone an overdue spotlight on Black Widow herself and her world.

Of course, the wildcard in the film’s performance is the pandemic. Hardcore MCU fans braved going to the theaters to see the film, while everyone else thought it was safer to pay for online access or waiting. However, at the time of Black Widow was released, the perception was that the pandemic was winding down given the huge drops in COVID-19 infections and deaths. But since many idiots refuse to get vaccinated or others are unable to have access to vaccines, the delta variant of the coronavirus has spread like wildfire and increased cases. In other words, the rising cases and deaths encouraged potential theater goers to stay home instead. With the pandemic it is doubtful that even an Avengers: Endgame would have performed as well as it did pre-pandemic.

So, saying Black Widow underperformed is not so clear cut. Given the many hurdles it faced it performed remarkably well and helped bring the MCU back into theaters. Hopefully the next MCU films will fare better and Black Widow itself will gain in popularity later on like many other MCU films.