Peer-To-Peer News - The Week In Review - January 6th, 2024

[JackSpratts]

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January 6th, 2024




2023 US Box Office Crossing $9 Billion, Led By Universal

‘Wonka’ Tops New Year’s Weekend With $33M+
Anthony D'Alessandro

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, and he’s delivering the motion picture industry a $9 billion-plus year at the domestic box office, a feat many thought was unimaginable with the lack of a mega-tentpole over the holiday, coupled by a Q4 impacted by the double strikes.

But it was a diversified crop of family and adult films over the holidays which got us there, including the Warner Bros.’ trifecta of Wonka (which is leading the 4-day New Year’s Box Office with $33M), Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (4-day $26M), and The Color Purple ($16.2M 4-day), as well as adult movies like The Boys in the Boat ($11.6M 4-day) and even YA romantic comedy, Anyone But You ($10.56M 4-day). As we told you a few days ago, 2024 is bound to shed about $1 billion for an $8 billion take due to a lower inventory of wide releases and Q1 sans several tentpoles.

We’ll have more granular details on the major studios throughout the long weekend. But hands down, without any question, Universal is winning the domestic box office with $1.93 billion by EOD Sunday, +18% from 2022, off such hits as Super Mario Bros ($574.9M, 2nd highest-grossing film of the year), Oppenheimer ($326M), Fast X ($150.1M) and Five Nights at Freddy’s ($137.2M). In a slot that typically belongs to Disney, it’s the first time since 2015 that Universal has led the domestic box office.

Speaking of Disney, when the dust settles by the end of this weekend, they’ll be second with $1.89 billion, including monies from 20th Century Studios and Searchlight (-2% from 2022) followed by Warner Bros. in third with $1.4 billion (+50% from 2022). These numbers were compiled from Comscore data and Deadline calculations. Uni’s total includes Focus Features, while Warners includes New Line.

Nancy will be getting into global box office standings later on, but Universal has already crossed the $4B mark, making it the fourth time Uni has crossed that mark, the previous years being 2015, 2017, and 2018. Disney crossed $4B global in August after a $4.9B global take in 2022.

Rival studios may have thrown rocks at Illumination/Universal’s animated movie Migration, but the joke is on them: The movie, which has a 72% fresh Rotten Tomatoes critics score, is looking at a 4-day of $21.5M in third place for the weekend. By end of the day Monday, Migration, with a domestic cume of $58.5M, will be 4% behind the running total of Disney bomb Wish ($61.1M); with a final destination for these birds that’s North, not South, at $100M.


New Year’s Weekend 4-day chart (as of Saturday)

1.) Wonka (WB) 4,115 (-98) theaters, Fri $8.6M (+32%) 3-day $25M (+39%), 4-day $33M/Total $143.6M/Wk 3

2.) Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (WB) 3,787 (+81) theaters, Fri $6.75M 3-day $19.4M (-30%), 4-day $26M/Total $84.3M/Wk 2

3.) Migration (Ill/Uni) 3,839 (+78) theaters, Fri $6.7M (+17%) 3-day $16.67M (+34%), 4-day $21.5M, Total $58.5M/ Wk 2

4.) The Color Purple (WB) 3,203 theaters, Fri $4.1M, 3-day $12.2M, 4-day $16.2M/ Total $48.4M/Wk 1

5.) Boys in the Boat (AMZ MGM) 2,557 theaters, Fri $2.7M, 3-day $8.68M, 4-day $11.587M, Total $25.1M, Wk 1

6.) Anyone But You (Sony) 3,055 theaters, Fri $3.3M (-3%) 3-day $8.25M (+38%), 4-day $10.56M, Total $26.6M/Wk 2

7.) The Iron Claw (A24) 2,794 (+20) theaters, Fri $1.74M (-30%) 3-day $4.8M (-1%) 4-day $6.2M/Total $17.5M/Wk 2

8.) Ferrari (NEON) 2,386 theaters, Fri $1.3M 3-day $4.1M 4-day $5.4M Total $12.2M/Wk 2

9.) Hunger Games – Songbirds & Snakes (LG) 1,660 (-849) theaters Fri $1.1M (-8%) 3-day $3M (-1%) 4-day $3.78M Total $160.7M/Wk 7

10.) Poor Things (Sea) 800 theaters, Fri $808K (-20%) 3-day $2.3M (+10%) 4-day $3.08M Total $8M/Wk 4


Other studio standings for 2023, and we’ll get into them more during the course of the weekend:

Sony – $955M (+13% from 2022)

Paramount – $837.4M (-35% from 2022)

Lionsgate – $580.4M (+623% from 2022)

Amazon MGM – $270.3M (+164% from 2022)

Variance (propelled by AMC concert pics Taylor Swift: Eras Tour and Renaissance: A Film by Beyonce) – $216.4M

Angel Studios – $207.8M

A24 – $137.2M (+15% from 2022)


Other notes on 2023:

AMC Theatres lead all exhibitors –of course, they are the No. 1 circuit– with $2.1 billion (+23% from 2022). Regal is second with $1.4 billion, +16% vs. 2022. Cinemark is third, also with $1.4 billion, +22% from 2022. The AMC Burbank will be the highest-grossing theatre in the U.S. with around $22M in ticket sales, +25% over last year. AMC Empire is the second-highest grossing location with $19.5M (+37% over 2022).

Los Angeles was the top market for moviegoing, with around $715M+ (8% total market share) per industry stats, with the New York City area second with $590M+ in ticket sales (6.6% total market share). Dallas was an amazing third with $271M+ in ticket sales (3% total market share).
https://deadline.com/2023/12/box-off...nd-1235683633/





Alamo Drafthouse Blames ‘Nationwide’ Theater Outage on Sony Projector Fail

The outage appears to be short-lived, but we’re still waiting on comment.
Sean Hollister

“Sorry everyone! Sony is having issues with their projectors that is preventing us from being able to project movies at some of our theaters today.”

That’s what theater chain Alamo Drafthouse posted to social media sites on New Year’s Eve, adding that it was closing five theaters entirely for the rest of the day as a result. As of New Year’s Day, however, most theaters and most showtimes now appear to be available, with a few exceptions.

Sorry everyone! Sony is having issues with their projectors that is preventing us from being able to project movies at some of our theaters today. We’ll be closing the following theaters for the rest of the day. If you have tickets to a movie today please call the theater to request a refund or use our app to cancel / reschedule your tickets. We apologize for this inconvenience! Yonkers NYC - Lower Manhattan Denver - Westminster and Sloans Lake San Francisco - New Mission
Screenshot of @alamodrafthouse (X)

It’s not clear what happened. As New Year’s Day is a holiday, we somewhat understandably haven’t yet been able to reach Alamo or Sony spokespeople, and not every theater or every screening was affected.

That didn’t stop Alamo from blaming its Sony projectors for what at least one theater called a “nationwide” outage, however.

“Due to nation-wide technical difficulties with Sony, we aren’t able to play any titles today,” read part of a taped paper sign hanging inside a Woodbury, Minnesota location. That apparently didn’t keep the customer who took a picture of that sign from watching The Apartment at that very same location, though:

When we went to our seats, the wait staff let us know that despite the fact that the previews were playing, we wouldn’t know until the movie actually started whether we could see the film or not. If it didn’t work, the screen would just turn black. Luckily, the film went through without a hitch.

Here’s the latest guidance from Alamo on January 1st:

Most screenings are back online today at the affected theaters listed below! �� We thank you all for your patience and understanding. Please, check the email used to purchase your ticket, as our team will reach out directly if your show is impacted.

Showings of the following films are being reorganized and may remain cancelled due to these complications. Please, check your email if you had tickets to one of these films:

- BURN IT DOWN

- AMERICAN FICTION

- FERRARI

- BOY AND THE HERON

What might have only affected some screenings at some theaters? I’ve seen speculation on Reddit that it may have something to do with expired digital certificates used to unlock encrypted films, but we haven’t heard that from Alamo or Sony. We’re looking forward to finding out.

Sony reportedly exited the digital cinema projector business in 2020; all of the company’s existing models are listed as discontinued.
https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/1/24...sony-projector





Oppenheimer and the Resurgence of Blu-ray and DVDs: How to Stop Your Films and Music from Disappearing
Clare Thorp

In an era where many films and albums are stored in the cloud, "streaming anxiety" is making people buy more DVDs and records – as younger digital generations fear having their life histories erased.

Christopher Nolan has achieved some great feats of cinema in his career – but last November he pulled off something impressive on the smaller screen, too. Deep into the streaming era, where physical media can sometimes feel like a distant memory, the Blu-ray home video release of Nolan's Oppenheimer – one of 2023's biggest box office success stories – sparked a buying frenzy.

The 4K Ultra HD version of Oppenheimer sold out in its first week at major retailers, including Amazon. Universal released a statement saying they were working to replenish stock as quickly as possible. Some limited edition copies were fetching more than $200 on eBay. It was a sign that, for some people at least, nothing beats that feeling of holding a copy of something you love in your hand or seeing it on your shelf.

Perhaps it's not that surprising. If anyone can inspire fervour over a release – in any format – it's Nolan, and the DVD and Blu-ray release includes three hours of bonus footage. Then there's the fact that, prior to its release, Nolan himself encouraged fans to embrace "a version you can buy and own at home and put on a shelf so no evil streaming service can come steal it from you".

Nolan explained his stance further in an interview with the Washington Post, saying: "There is a danger these days that if things only exist in the streaming version, they do get taken down. They come and go – as do broadcast versions of films, so my films will play on HBO or whatever, they'll come and go. But the home video version is the thing that can always be there, so people can always access it."

Other directors have chimed in to sing the praises of physical media. James Cameron told Variety: "The streamers are denying us any access whatsoever to certain films. And I think people are responding with their natural reaction, which is 'I'm going to buy it, and I'm going to watch it any time I want.'"

Guillermo del Toro posted on X that "If you own a great 4K HD, Blu-ray, DVD etc etc of a film or films you love... you are the custodian of those films for generations to come." His tweet prompted people to reply, sharing evidence of their vast DVD collections.

DVDs had their heyday in the early 2000s. The biggest-selling DVD of all time, Finding Nemo, was released in 2003 and shifted 38,800,000 copies. But sales have been on a steady decline since the mid-2000s. According to CNBC, US DVD sales declined by 86% between 2006 and 2019. Figures from the Motion Picture Association (MPAA) show that the international physical home entertainment market fell 16% from 2020 to 2021, while the digital market grew by 24% – and in 2021, physical media accounted for just 8% of the US entertainment market, or $2.8bn. US retailer Best Buy is phasing out DVD sales in early 2024, while Netflix finally closed their DVD rental service in 2023.

Keeping it real

And yet, not only are there many people hanging onto their existing DVDs – there's a committed number still buying them. "Home entertainment is resurgent globally, and the factors of influence can change each year, through new tech, pandemics, pipeline and slate," Louise Kean-Wood from the British Association for Screen Entertainment (BASE) tells BBC Culture. "But the future of physical is important to fandom, especially for 4K and Blu-ray – collectors and film and TV fans love the ownership and event of physical." It's not just older generations clinging onto the past, either. According to the MPAA, it's those aged 25 to 39 who are the most likely to watch DVDs.

There will always be fans who want to own everything they can by a favourite artist or director, but another factor is an increasing fear over how much – or rather, how little – control we have over the content we stream. With so many streaming services at our fingertips, it's easy to assume that we can watch any film we want, any time we want, subscription depending. But there are many films that don't seem to exist online. In the UK, you won't find David Lynch's seminal debut Eraserhead available to stream. In the US, one New York Times writer recently told of her difficulty in trying to watch her favourite childhood movie, Britney Spears' Crossroads. Nineties pop fans wanting to indulge in a spot of nostalgia with Spice World will struggle to find it in the US.

Even films that are available could disappear at any moment, as streaming services reevaluate their content libraries or remove titles due to licensing agreements. And when you pay to purchase a digital version of a film or TV show, as opposed to renting it or watching it via a streaming subscription, you still don't "own" it – you've just purchased a licence to watch it. And, of course, when everything is on the cloud, we are at the mercy of a stable internet connection.

It was a problem that the film collector Lucas Henkel kept encountering. "I realised that many of the movies I enjoy are not really available on streaming services, or they disappear frequently, so the only way to see them reliably is through physical media," he tells BBC Culture. So Henkel decided to set up his own boutique home entertainment distribution label, Celluloid Dreams. "As a collector myself, it has a lot to do with the desire to own something tangible," says Henkel, explaining his own commitment to physical media. "More importantly, it guarantees access. I can pull out a 20-year old DVD and play it any day I want. No restrictions, no extra fees, no subscriptions… just insert the disc and press play. Seriously, what's not to like about that? And no streaming service can match the quality of a presentation coming from a physical medium."

Placing a premium

The company is starting with a focus on Italian thrillers – know as gialli – with the first title release Giuliano Carnimeo's 1972 film The Case of the Bloody Iris. The plan is to expand to other genres in the future. "The baseline for us is that it has to be a movie we personally enjoy and that we feel deserves a larger audience." Films will be reproduced as close to their original theatrical presentations as possible, and released in 4K UHD and Blu-ray formats. "We want to give these films the love they deserve," says Henkel.

Celluloid Dreams will join others – most notably The Criterion Collection – who focus on curating a collection of lost classics or cult favourites and releasing them in sumptuous special editions, often with bonus material. This reflects a wider trend in sales of physical media as they shift from mass market to premium collectors' items.

"While it's true that physical media continues to decline as consumers embrace digital formats, we do see high-profile theatrical new releases benefiting from premium physical formats," says Amy Jo Smith, president and CEO of DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group in the US. "4K UHD Blu-ray, which provides the highest quality home viewing in the market, experienced 20 percent growth for the full year 2022, driven by the year's biggest titles overall, including The Batman and Top Gun: Maverick."

HMV's head of film and TV, John Delaney, confirms that those buying physical discs are opting for a higher quality experience. "With Oppenheimer, over 60% of our sales came from the 4K & Blu-ray versions, with most customers wanting the more cinematic experience those formats provide at home," he says.

This shift to a more high-end experience has already happened with vinyl, which – despite commanding steep prices – has seen a huge resurgence in recent years – so much so that in 2022 vinyl sales overtook CDs in the US for the first time since 1987. And in 2023, sales of vinyl in the UK reached their highest level since 1990. CDs – once the shiny new kid on the home entertainment block – have been slowly declining for many years. Yet there have even been glimmers that even they might be having a revival, driven partly by fans buying them from merch tables at concerts, as well as artists like Taylor Swift and BLACKPINK releasing multiple collectible editions of their albums on CD.

The reality is though, that most CDs and DVDs already on our shelves are now fairly worthless – even some charity shops won't accept them anymore. So why do many of us have such a desire to hold onto them? "Possessions are incredibly important for humans and this has been the case for recorded history," says Professor Nick Neave from the department of psychology at Northumbria University. "When people are digging up Bronze Age burial mounds, they're finding that people have been buried with small personal items. It's really clear that objects mean a great deal to people and they imbue them with a huge amount of emotional significance."

The things we collect – and display to others – are an extension our personality, says Neave. "Your DVD collection, your book collection, what you hang on your wall, the clothes you wear, all of these things are signalling to people about your tastes, your attitudes, your membership of certain groups." That desire to show off what we're into (and hopefully impress others in the process) hasn't gone away – hence the popularity of website Letterboxd, where users list and rate the movies they've seen, and the flurry of Spotify Wrapped Instagram posts every December.

Neave, who is also the director of a hoarding research group, says our emotional attachment to objects means it can be incredibly difficult to let go of our possessions. "For most people, we surround ourselves with a certain amount of possessions that give us a sense of security, a sense of self-esteem, and yes, to show off our personality to visitors."

Cloud anxiety

Younger generations, who have grown up accessing and storing everything online – especially photos – are more likely to be digital hoarders than physical ones, but with this comes an increasing level of anxiety. "It's fairly unlikely that even if we get burgled somebody's going to nick all of our records," says Neave. "But if somebody hacks you, then all of your digital files could be gone forever. There's a real terror among young people about having their entire life history erased." He thinks this unease over everything being online could be driving some of the recent trends for Gen Z embracing physical mediums like film cameras, paper diaries and even cassette tapes.

There's another kind of anxiety that comes from the digital world: too many options. "In our work with digital hoarding we look at how digital overload can lead to anxiety in students," says Neave. "They feel absolutely overwhelmed with information and choice. Some people find that if you've got too many things to choose from, you essentially just give up."

Algorithms have been designed to serve us options, but can end up flattening our cultural experience, feeding us more of the same that we've already consumed. There are signs young people are turning away from paid music subscription services. A cost of living crisis is a likely explanation – but some users also want a more meaningful, curated and intentional kind of listening experience, one where they're not constantly hitting skip. Making the effort to pick out a CD, record or cassette, put it in the stereo and press play involves some agency – rather than just passively listening to suggested playlists. Then there's the ethical dilemma, with increasing awareness of how little musicians themselves make from streaming services.

Whether these ripples of dissatisfaction over streaming will translate into a more significant reprieve for physical media, or are just a blip on the way to total digital dominance, is uncertain. But if you're refusing to get rid of the stacks of CDs and DVDs in your home – or if you put the Oppenheimer Blu-ray on your Christmas list – then you can be assured that you're not alone.

"Personal possessions are so deep rooted in our being and give us such immense comfort that I don't think they'll ever be a stage when everything goes virtual," says Neave. "We'll always want something physical, tangible and permanent."
https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/...eaming-anxiety





YouTube Demonetizes Public Domain 'Steamboat Willie' Video after Copyright Claim

A one-off mistake or a sign of copyright battles to come over Mickey Mouse?
Matt Binder

A YouTuber's upload of Steamboat Willie has been hit with a copyright strike from Disney, even though the short film has entered the public domain. Credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images

Planning to utilize new public domain works featuring Mickey Mouse this year? Well, here's a case you should certainly pay attention to.

On Thursday, voice actor and YouTuber Brock Baker uploaded a new video, titled "Steamboat Willie (Brock's Dub)," to his YouTube channel with more than 1 million subscribers.

The video contains the entirety of the 1928 Disney animated short "Steamboat Willie," with Baker providing his own comedic voice overs and sound effects throughout the less than 8 minute long cartoon.

According to Baker, shortly after uploading the clip though, YouTube demonetized the video, evidently on behalf of the erstwhile copyright owner, Disney. Baker also shared a screenshot to his X account showing the video was also being blocked from view in some territories as well.

Prior to this year, nothing here would be out of the ordinary. Disney is very protective of its copyrighted works and would likely be especially so of a film like Steamboat Willie as it stars its most iconic character, Mickey Mouse.

However, Steamboat Willie along with that 1928 version of Mickey Mouse, entered the public domain on January 1, 2024. This means that a video like Baker's should be completely fine for the YouTuber to not only create and distribute, but monetize as well.

Baker could likely make a fair use or parody defense for his dubbed version of Steamboat Willie, but as Duke University's Jennifer Jenkins, a professor of law teaching intellectual property, told Mashable this week, he doesn't even need to make that argument. Public domain works are considered public property.

"Reproducing and adapting the footage in whatever way you like is legit," Jenkins told Mashable.

As soon as "Steamboat Willie" became public domain earlier this week, multiple different creative projects using the iconic mouse were announced. Some of these creative works include a horror movie and a video game.

So, what happened with Baker's video? Mashable has reached out to YouTube to find out more information and will update this post when we hear back. However, due to how quickly Disney's copyright claim was issued after Baker uploaded his "Steamboat Willie" video, it's likely the video was a victim of the automated Content ID process.

"Videos uploaded to YouTube are scanned against a database of audio and visual content that's been submitted to YouTube by copyright owners," reads YouTube's policy page on its Content ID feature. "When Content ID finds a match, it applies a Content ID claim to the matching video."

If this is the case, YouTube nor Disney appear to have updated the database to remove works that have recently entered the public domain. And, if so, it seems that should certainly be programmed into the Content ID system as an automated process, much like the valid claims are.

Mashable will keep you updated on the status of Baker's video.
https://mashable.com/article/youtube...opyright-claim





Disney Backs Down from 'Steamboat Willie' YouTube Copyright Claim

The company tacitly acknowledges that 'Steamboat Willie' is in the public domain.
Matt Binder

Disney has retracted a copyright claim it made on a YouTube video, publicly acknowledging "Steamboat Willie" as public domain. Credit: Brandon Bell/Getty Images

This feels significant: Disney has officially retracted a copyright claim on a third-party's Steamboat Willie video on YouTube.

On Thursday, Mashable reported that YouTuber and voice actor Brock Baker had uploaded a video to his channel with over 1 million subscribers which was almost immediately hit with a copyright claim from Disney.

Baker's video featured the entirety of the 1928 Disney animated short Steamboat Willie. He had remixed the film, which stars Mickey Mouse, with his own comedic audio track playing over the nearly 8-minute cartoon, and released it under the title "Steamboat Willie (Brock's Dub)."

After being hit with the claim, Baker's upload became demonetized, meaning the YouTuber could not make any money off of it. The claim also blocked the ability to embed the video on third-party websites. In addition, the YouTube video was given limited visibility, including being blocked from view entirely in certain countries.

Baker disputed the copyright claim shortly after receiving it. His case appeared strong, as Steamboat Willie entered the public domain on January 1, 2024, allowing a broad range of creative usage of the film and its contents without Disney's permission — including for profit.

He was successful.

"Disney released their claim and it's now embeddable and shareable worldwide," Baker told Mashable on Friday along with a screenshot of the email alert he received from YouTube letting him know the copyright claim was released.

"Good news! After reviewing your dispute, Disney has decided to release their copyright claim on your YouTube video," reads the YouTube email message.

As a result of Disney pulling the claim, Baker's video is now monetizable, embeddable, and viewable worldwide.

"I'm honestly glad it took 24 hours and not 30 days, still frustrating though," Baker told us, referencing YouTube's policies which gave Disney an entire month to respond to his dispute to their copyright claim. "I wish I knew what goes on behind the scenes."

There has been lots of speculation online about what exactly can be done with Steamboat Willie that won't draw the ire of or potential lawsuit from Disney, which still holds the trademark (which is different from a copyright) for uses of the iconic Mickey Mouse character in certain contexts. According to TechDirt, other Steamboat Willie videos have also reportedly received copyright claims over the past few days.

YouTube, for its part, historically asserts that it does not mediate copyright claims. It's up to the copyright holder to make claims via its Content ID tool, and it's up to uploaders to dispute those claims when they believe they were incorrectly made. According to YouTube, the responsibility to release claims on content that has fallen into the public domain is with the Content ID user, who in this case is Disney.

Based on how quickly Baker's video was flagged, Disney's copyright claim on his upload was likely automated, drawing from YouTube's Content ID database. Mashable has reached out to Disney for more information and will update this piece if we hear back.

But, the way this has played out will likely be genuinely helpful to those looking to create new creative works based on the newly public domain title Steamboat Willie. By releasing the YouTube copyright claim on Baker's video, Disney has made what could be its first official public action recognizing that Steamboat Willie along with this version of Mickey Mouse is indeed public domain.

In other words, content like Baker's is allowed, with or without Disney's input.
https://mashable.com/article/disney-...opyright-claim
















Until next week,

- js.



















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