You don't actually own digital media

And the truth about Nic Cage "retiring"

Dec 05, 2023

PlayStation users are losing the Discovery shows that they bought to own on digital… In case you didn’t know, when you buy a piece of digital media — be it a book, a song, a movie, a game — you’re not actually paying for the thing itself, you’re paying for the license to it. The media exists on a server and you’ve paid to essentially rent it indefinitely. But licenses can be revoked, and Sony is letting its license agreement with Discovery end. This means shows that PlayStation users paid to “own” (like Mythbusters and Deadliest Catch) will be disappearing from their libraries without a refund. This is messed up, but not illegal because it’s all laid out in the terms and conditions — which you definitely read, right? So how can you own media? Physically, if that’s an option, or if you pirate and have the file itself on your own hard drive. With rising costs of streaming plus the growing eradication of physical media, it’s no surprise piracy went up 18% in 2022. 😮
The Marvels ends box office run as lowest grossing MCU movie ever… That was fast — but unfortunately not a surprise at this point. The movie fell out of the top 10 this past weekend, its 4th in theaters, making just $2.4M. You might still be able to catch it in certain multiplexes, but Disney is going to stop reporting the film’s weekly grosses. The movie has made just $197M worldwide, which is what most Marvel movies have been able to do in just one weekend. Times have changed, as Variety writes: “The Marvels is the clearest indication that comic book fans will no longer reliably show up to theaters just because the Marvel logo appears in front of a movie.” 💥
Nic Cage says he’s only got “3 or 4 movies” left in him… He told Vanity Fair he thinks he’s taken film acting as far as it could go for him, and that he wants to spend more time with his family. He isn’t done acting necessarily but it sounds like he just wants to slow down. He makes a lot of movies. Cage expressed interest in exploring avenues other than movies — like TV — but if he wants a lighter schedule, I’m not sure television is it. ⌚️
Adam McKay won’t make $150M serial killer politician movie after all... It was set up at Netflix with Robert Pattinson, but the plug has been abruptly pulled as McKay will instead focus on something climate change related. Ironic considering no one in town wanted to make this movie in the first place. The premise was wild though and I hope McKay does get around to it eventually. 🤷🏻
Fallout teaser, The Boys season 4 trailer, True Detective season 4 trailer, House of the Dragon season 2 trailer arrive online… Despite the strike, some of the biggest TV franchises will be putting out content next year. Fallout, by the way, is based on the long-running video game series, stars Walton Goggins (!), and is poised to be the next Last of Us. ▶️
Central Park canceled after 3 seasons at Apple… The tech company seems to be turning into Netflix at the rate that it’s canceling shows. But! With its obvious quest to provide quality over quantity, you can’t blame them. 🍎
A George Santos movie is already in the works at HBO… But it’s from Veep EP Frank Rich, who outside of Veep creator Armando Ianucci, is probably the best person for the job. 🏛️
Armando Iannucci’s next film Growth to star Riz Ahmed… Speaking of which, this is a great marriage of writer-director and star. Ahmed will play the founder and CEO of a Snapchat-esque social media company who has to deal with rapid success and a “devastating leak of users’ private content.” Love it. 👻
Disney will reportedly release Soul, Turning Red, and Luca in theaters next year… As you’ll recall these Pixar films went straight to streaming. I like this plan as a make good to Pixar and as an opportunity for fans and families to see them in theaters. Seems like a win-win for all parties. 🧜🏻‍♂️
Netflix passed on the Suits spinoff years before the show blew up on its platform… Netflix is good, but this good. Sometimes you can’t predict what’s going to happen. I bet Sarandos and company are kicking themselves now that this show is going to Peacock. 😂