Author Archives: Matt

STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER “The Story Ends” TV Spot

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There was nothing new (to most of us), but last night during NBC Sunday Night Football, the first TV spot dropped.  This one found on YouTube also has some foreign trailers at the end.  

Jon Favreau Unveils ‘Star Wars’ Series ‘The Mandalorian,’ Marvel Plans and a New Venture

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Via HollywoodReporter.com:

The future of filmmaking is unfolding in a drab office park near a Whole Foods in Playa Vista. It’s where Jon Favreau assembled this summer’s $1.5 billion-grossing The Lion King using a gaming engine and a warehouse of cutting-edge artists and technicians, and it’s where the actor-writer-director-producer is sketching out season two of The Mandalorian, a Star Wars TV series set to debut Nov. 12 on the new Disney+ streaming service (and to be teased with a trailer at the D23 conference Aug. 23). Favreau, 52, invited Hollywood Reporter editorial director Matthew Belloni to a conference room lined with pictures of Tatooine’s finest to talk about his crazy summer (in addition to Lion King, he co-starred in the $1 billion-grossing Spider-Man: Far From Home and dropped The Chef Show on Netflix) and to unveil his new endeavor, Golem Creations, named for the man-made creature from folklore that represents an artistic creation brought to life by magic. It’s a logical next step for a multihyphenate who, since writing and starring in Swingers in 1996, has carved out a unique (and lucrative) niche combining his passions for storytelling and technology, launching the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the tech-heavy Iron Man and developing immersive video walls to use with live actors on Mandalorian.

A married father of three teens (wife Joya is a physician), Favreau lives on L.A.’s Westside and says he’s still interested in acting, but he’s plenty busy making an Apple docuseries featuring photo-realistic dinosaurs, the VR experience Gnomes + Goblins as well as a stop-motion animation special for Netflix called Alien Xmas. The conversation below has been edited for length and clarity.

Click below for the full article

Disney’s new streaming bundle priced to compete with Netflix!

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Via arstechnica.com:

The Walt Disney Company’s latest quarterly earnings call included an announcement to investors that appears to take dead aim at Netflix: an all-Disney, three-service streaming bundle for $12.99/month, coming November 12.

The bundle will see three wholly owned Disney services—Disney+, ESPN+, and “ad-supported” Hulu—available as a combined online-streaming bundle once Disney+ launches in November. Separately, the services’ asking prices add up to $17.97 ($6.99, $5.99, and $4.99, respectively), thus marking a 27% discount for the whole shebang.

That $12.99 price matches Netflix’s “standard” service tier (which includes 1080p resolution and support for up to two simultaneous streams). Only one of Disney’s bundled services, Disney+, includes support for higher-resolution video, but that comes as a free upgrade for supported streaming devices. Netflix’s 4K offering requires upgrading to a $15.99/mo. plan. Should Netflix subscribers want to save money, they can downgrade to an $8.99 “basic” plan, which tops out at 480p resolution and only one device at a time.

George Lucas is America’s wealthiest celebrity!

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Via businessinsider.com:

Filmmaker George Lucas almost didn’t become rich or famous — at least by Hollywood standards. He dreamed of being a race car driver, but that all came to a halt after a car crash, according to a 1979 profile of Lucas in The Atlantic. Inspired by a cinematographer he had built a racing car for, Lucas enrolled in film school.

He went on to helm one of the biggest franchises of all time — “ Star Wars” — and co-create another box-office franchise, “Indiana Jones.” The director, screenwriter, and producer has been nominated for an Academy Award four times. He’s also accumulated an estimated net worth of $6.4 billion, according to Forbes.

Lucas is currently married to his second wife, Mellody Hobson, with whom he has one biological child. He also adopted three children during his first marriage and as a single parent.

Lucas has a reputation for being quiet on the media front, so not much is known about how he spends his fortune. However, he has cultivated a California real-estate portfolio, including Skywalker Ranch, and donates a lot of his money to charity. A representative for Lucas declined to comment on Lucas’ personal finances when reached by Business Insider.

Here’s how Lucas, now semi-retired, accumulates and spends his billions…

Click below for the full story at businessinsider.com

Toys ‘R’ Us is coming back to the United States

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Via CNN.com:

Toys “R” Us’ long-awaited comeback is finally official.

Its owner, Tru Kids Brands, announced Thursday that Toys “R” Us is being reborn in the United States with two new stores. The return comes more than a year after the chain collapsed, resulting in the closure of all 700 of its American stores.
The new stores will be smaller than their predecessors. Tru Kids described them as a “highly engaging retail experience designed for kids, families and to better fit within today’s retail environment.”
 
The new Toys “R” Us stores will be open before the holiday shopping season later this year at The Galleria in Houston and in Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus, New Jersey. They will sell toys, but fewer of them.