We've asked Netflix if it can comment on the report.The reason for the deal wouldn't be shocking: it would get a major movie studio on the cheap. EuropaCorp is in financial trouble, having racked up the equivalent of $285 million in debt. It bet big on Valerian and the City of A Thousand Planets as proof that France could produce a Hollywood-style summer blockbuster, only to watch as the movie flopped both critically and commercially. EuropaCorp has had plenty of successes, including Lucy and the Taken series, but it's worth the equivalent of $97.4 million on the stock market. Even accounting for the debt, Netflix would pay relatively little to acquire a production house with vast worldwide potential.If Netflix were to clinch a deal, it would certainly be in line with the company's existing strategy. It's spending more money than ever on original movies, to the point where it's rescuing movies that might have floundered at the box office. A EuropaCorp purchase would take that … [Read more...] about Netflix is reportedly close to buying Luc Besson’s movie studio
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Report: Netflix is ‘in advanced talks’ to acquire Luc Besson’s EuropaCorp studio
Last year, French filmmaker Luc Besson released Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, a glitzy, CGI-filled summer blockbuster which ended up being a disappointment at the box office for his studio EuropaCorp. According to a report in the French site Capital (via The Playlist andio9), Netflix is “in advanced talks” to purchase the studio. Besson co-founded the studio in 1999, and since then, it’s been known for films such as Lucy, Taken, Lock-Out, The Circle, and Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. The studio blamed the later and other weak performers for an $83 million loss at the end of 2017, and weeks later, Variety reported that there were several buyers interested in purchasing the company, which was struggling with its debt. At the end of January, Variety reported that Netflix was negotiating with the studio to “buy into” its library and to have Besson exclusively direct and produce several films for the streaming service. Capital … [Read more...] about Report: Netflix is ‘in advanced talks’ to acquire Luc Besson’s EuropaCorp studio
Netflix, but for smartphones: Is it the future?
Despite the growth of the used smartphone market, a huge amount of new smartphones are sold each year. Marketing and carrier plans work their magic to support sales and detrimental factors like planned obsolescence, failing support for older devices, and a limited ability to repair phones keep anything too old from sticking around in the market for too long On top of that, phones often have locked down bootloaders and company-owned software or service. Beyond a 12-24 month warranty period, you’re often on your own.10 or 15 years ago convincing hundreds of millions, if not billions of consumers it’s OK to toss what was an expensive 24-month old device would have been nearly impossible. Why is it so easy now? PCs and laptops faced similar pressures with the driving force of Moore’s Law, but at least that was a period of rapid advancement — few-year-old smartphones that should still be capable get stuck in bootloops, don’t receive updates, or have terrible … [Read more...] about Netflix, but for smartphones: Is it the future?
Netflix V. Box Office
News By CW Headley 02/26/18 Email Facebook Twitter Reddit Over the last five years or so, home media seems to be the most frequently cited reasoning for the general decline in box office figures. Watered by the renewed interest and respectability of television shows, the accessibility afforded users through streaming services, namely Netflix, has increasingly made that position harder to flout. I know because, as a person that hadn’t watched Stranger Things until every friend, relative and clergy had recommend it to me twice, I believed, resolutely, that theatre going apathy owed itself to a much more anticlimactic pretext: most movies are desultory piles of shlock mass produced by a boardroom comprised of dads five years behind cultural trends. But then Bright came out.Although the “game changing” success of Bright is habitually mischaracterized, the kind of numbers it garnered and the ease at which it did so, does not bode well for the floundering … [Read more...] about Netflix V. Box Office
Best TV shows and movies on Netflix right now
What to Watch In this week's Netflix selections, once again follow the different sides of the war on drugs, from smugglers and dealers to cops and users, tracing the conflict all across the world. Watch four young women during their last two weeks in high school and how they deal with the changes they are about to face in their lives. Finally, a dying photographer takes a road trip with his nurse and estranged son in order to have rolls of Kodachrome film developed at the last photo lab that still processes it. Dope - Season 2 - This original documentary series returns for its second season, again taking a look at the war on drugs from different perspectives, including the dealers who fight in it, the police that wage it, and the users who become victims of it. This season, the cameras follow the the drug war across Indiana, the Caribbean, Detroit, and Atlanta. Dude - This Netflix original movie follows four best friends as they look ahead to the big changes that are about consume … [Read more...] about Best TV shows and movies on Netflix right now