Disney to Increase Price of ESPN+ Subscription

Jul

13

2021

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By Troy Warren

Disney to Increase Price of ESPN+ Subscription

Digital, EntertainmentDisney, ESPN

BY J. CLARA CHAN | HollywoodReporter.Com Troy Warren for CNT Beginning on August 13, ESPN+ will cost $6.99 a month, or $69.99 a year. Disney will increase the price of its ESPN+ subscription from $5.99 to $6.99 a month beginning in August, an ESPN+ spokesperson confirmed on Monday. With the new price increases, a yearly subscription to ESPN+ will cost $69.99 a year, up from $59.99, next month. The price for the bundle of ESPN+ with Disney+ and Hulu will remain the same at $13.99 a month, as will UFC pay-per-view matches available on the streaming service. In April, Disney reported that…

Jul

13

2021

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By Troy Warren

How ‘Batwoman’ Star Wallis Day Re-created Kate Kane

Celebrity, EntertainmentBatwoman, KateKane, WallisDay

BY BRIAN DAVIDS | HollywoodReporter.Com Troy Warren for CNT The actor also shares her journey on 'Infinite' and how cutting her hair — against her agent's wishes — ended up being great for her career. [This interview contains spoilers for Batwoman.] In 2012, Wallis Day had her sights set on swimming in the 2012 Summer Olympics until she suddenly shifted gears and never looked back. Since swimming required her to train before and after school for most of her life, Day needed another outlet for her surplus of energy, and that’s when she decided to turn her weekend hobby of acting into her sole focus.…

Jul

13

2021

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By Troy Warren

Hollywood Docket: Do Emotions From Animated Characters Drive Ticket Buying?

Business, Celebrity, EntertainmentAnimatedCharacters

BY ERIQ GARDNER | HollywoodReporter.Com Troy Warren for CNT A roundup of legal developments in Hollywood including the intellectual property case now turning on the opinions of an expert in human-computer interaction. Today’s edition of you’ll-never-guess-what-they’re-discussing-in-court: Do realistic human emotions from computer-generated characters make a material contribution to the financial success of a blockbuster movie? The question comes up because a Silicon Valley tech company called Rearden LLC is suing Disney for using “stolen” technology for CG characters in blockbuster movies including Avengers, Beauty and the Beast and Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb. This long-running intellectual property case has had some serious twists…

Jul

12

2021

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By Troy Warren

‘Black Widow’ Stunner: Disney’s Streaming Revenue Reveal May Be Game-Changer

Business, EntertainmentBlackWidow, Disney

BY PAMELA MCCLINTOCK | HollywoodReporter.Com Troy Warren for CNT The conglomerate says the superhero pic made more than $60 million on Disney+ Premier Access during its opening weekend — a sizable 27 percent of its global $218.8 million hybrid streaming/box office debut. Marvel Studio’s Black Widow may have just changed the rules of Hollywood’s all-consuming streaming wars race versus the box office. The Disney empire stunned rival Hollywood studios and theater owners on Sunday when including premium video on-demand numbers in its box office note for the Marvel female-led superhero pic starring Scarlett Johansson. It’s the first time any movie studio has revealed such data…

Jul

11

2021

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By Troy Warren

Hollywood Stars Stake Claim in Podcast Boom During Pandemic, Report Finds

Digital, Entertainment, TechnologyJasonBateman, Podcast, RobLowe, StitcherReport, ZachBraff

BY J. CLARA CHAN | HollywoodReporter.Com Troy Warren for CNT Twenty-two of the top 200 new podcasts last year were hosted by names like Rob Lowe, Jason Bateman and Zach Braff, according to a study from the podcast app Stitcher. Hollywood stars entered the podcasting space with aplomb during the pandemic, making up 22 — or 11 percent — of the top 200 new podcasts launched in 2020, according to a reportfrom the podcast app Stitcher on Wednesday. While The Joe Rogan Experience, This American Life and The Daily remained the top three most-listened shows in 2020, new offerings from top names like Rob Lowe (Literally! With Rob Lowe); Jason Bateman, Will Arnett…

Jul

11

2021

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By Troy Warren

Cannes: Sean Penn Says Donald Trump’s COVID Response Felt Like “Someone Gunning Down People” From White House

Editors Picks, Entertainment, PoliticsFlagDay, SeanPenn

BY ALEX RITMAN | HollywoodReporter.Com Troy Warren for CNT Penn also discussed directing his daughter Dylan Penn for the first time in 'Flag Day' Sean Penn took aim at the Donald Trump administration and its response to the COVID-19 crisis in Cannes on Sunday. Speaking at the press conference for his latest directorial feature, Flag Dag, which had its world premiere on Saturday night, Penn was asked about his own work setting up testing sites during the pandemic via his disaster relief organization CORE and the efforts of the Trump government, which he described as a “obscene administration.” Seeing the news during the pandemic, he said it…

Jul

10

2021

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By Troy Warren

Sean Penn’s ‘Flag Day’: Film Review | Cannes 2021

Celebrity, EntertainmentFlagDay, SeanPenn

BY DAVID ROONEY | HollywoodReporter.Com Troy Warren for CNT The director-star appears opposite his daughter Dylan Penn in this adaptation of Jennifer Vogel's memoir about her conflicted love for her counterfeiter father. Sean Penn’s directing career has followed an erratic trajectory, channeling raw feeling in his 1991 debut The Indian Runner, peaking with the ruminative 2007 survival drama Into the Wildand taking a nosedive with 2016’s tone-deaf The Last Face, which used a backdrop of human rights violations in Africa to spin a tortured romance between beautiful Westerners. He returns to the Cannes competition five years after that fiasco with Flag Day, which is a significant improvement…

Jul

10

2021

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By Troy Warren

TikTok Fixes “Significant Error” in Creator Marketplace After Phrases “Erroneously” Flagged as Hate Speech

Digital, Entertainment, TechnologyTikTok, ZiggiTyler

BY J. CLARA CHAN | HollywoodReporter.Com Troy Warren for CNT A video by the comedian Ziggi Tyler appeared to show that phrases like "pro Black" and "Black Lives Matter" were flagged as "inappropriate content" on creator bios. TikTok said it fixed a “significant error” in its Creator Marketplace that “erroneously” flagged phrases as hate speech in response to a widely viewed video from a TikTok creator that appeared to show the platform marking words like “pro Black” and “Black Lives Matter” as “inappropriate content” on creator bios. “Our TikTok Creator Marketplace protections, which flag phrases typically associated with hate speech, were erroneously set to…

Jul

10

2021

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By Troy Warren

Cannes Business Is Slow as Industry Ponders Future of Theatrical

Business, EntertainmentCannesBusiness

BY SCOTT ROXBOROUGH | HollywoodReporter.Com Troy Warren for CNT The slow trickle of deals out of the Cannes Film Market can't hide concerns over the future of the independent business in the wake of COVID. The Cannes weather, at least, has been something to count on. Clear blue skies and blazing sunshine have been the backdrop for the smaller contingent of cinema executives who have been sharing the Croisette with crowds of French tourists at this year’s very different Cannes Film Festival, which runs through July 17. But actual business has been slow as clouds of uncertainty — over the progress of the coronavirus pandemic, over when…

Jul

10

2021

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By Troy Warren

‘Black Widow’ Director Cate Shortland on Not Wanting to Make a Dark Film and Her Post-Credit Scene “Hero Worship”

EntertainmentBlackWidow

BY BRIAN DAVIDS | HollywoodReporter.Com Troy Warren for CNT The filmmaker reveals how Scarlett Johansson convinced her to make the jump from the indie world to Marvel and how 'Widow' recontextualizes Natasha's sacrifice in 'Avengers: Endgame.' [This interview contains spoilers for Black Widow.] Cate Shortland initially turned down the prospect of directing Black Widow, but Scarlett Johansson refused to take no for an answer after falling in love with the Australian filmmaker’s 2012 film, Lore. From there, a Zoom-based “courtship” took place as both women got to know each other without even discussing the film. Eventually, the two creatives found common ground when it came to Widow, and…

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