Morgan Stanley analyst Benjamin Swinburne issued a report this week in which he argues that the big studios should get serious about premium on-demand video and suggests that Hollywood release feature films to the home while they’re still showing in movie theatres.
Netflix this week committed to streaming its movies in both Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision high-dynamic range formats. It is the first global on-demand service to commit to combining both formats. Okja, the critically praised Netflix Original Film, is the first film available in both formats. Additional Dolby-supported titles are coming soon, and the catalog will continue to grow. Okja will be released to select movie theatres this week as well. Netflix has raised the stakes again.
Shudder has acquired North American and UK/Ireland rights to Flying Lotus’ psych-out nightmare Kuso. The film, which debuted at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, will be available on the premium thriller, suspense and horror video streaming service, and play theatrically in New York and Los Angeles from July 21.
The June meeting of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, New York region, will be devoted to discussions surrounding two essential topics facing the video industry today – the 2110 SMPTE production standard for video-over-IP and how to optimize video signals for wide color gamut and high dynamic range formats.
Amazon Studios and Abramorama are bringing Long Strange Trip, Amir Bar-Lev’s critically acclaimed documentary about the Grateful Dead, to theaters across the U.S. to give fans an opportunity to experience the documentary on the big screen prior to its New York and Los Angeles release on May 26. Following its release in theaters, the documentary will come exclusively to Amazon Prime Video on June 2.
Post-production finishing for Parrott Heads, a new feature length documentary about dedicated fans of singer Jimmy Buffett, was completed recently at Roundabout Entertainment. The Burbank facility provided editorial conforming, color grading, sound mixing and DVD authoring services for the film, currently streaming on Amazon, iTunes and elsewhere.
Content studio Malka Media of Hoboken, New Jersey is currently shooting a documentary series for release online about Jersey City, New Jersey’s St. Anthony High School and its legendary basketball coach, Bob Hurley with VariCam LT 4K cinema camcorders. Louis Krubich, Malka Media CEO and series director said that when longtime client Showtime approached him about the St. Anthony story, he and his staff directors of photography agreed that the VariCam LT would be a great choice for this sports documentary, largely because of its 4K acquisition and dual-native 800/5000s.
Fandango today announced a new relationship with HBO Home Entertainment to make HBO’s award winning content available for purchase via digital download on FandangoNow. Individual episodes and seasons of HBO content will join FandangoNow’s robust collection of 40,000 new release and catalog movies and TV shows.
European films now get a longer lifespan thanks to their release via on-demand platforms, whatever their business model – subscription based, pay per view or advertising financed. This booming generation of new distribution channels represents a powerful means of boosting a film’s overall career. So it’s logical that European filmmakers are looking to on-demand services to give European movies a much needed shot in the arm. But what’s law got to do with it?
Travelers debuts December 23rd on Netflix, which will have exclusive international rights everywhere except in Canada, where it has already begun airing on Showcase. The original series is being released in 4K UHD.
