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[ad_1] Timothee Chalamet stars in Warner Bros.' "Dune." Warner Bros. LOS ANGELES – Warner Bros. has a sandworm-sized dilemma on its hands: Keep the fall release date for its highly anticipated "Dune: Part Two" and risk not having its star-studded cast promote it – or bump it into next year and potentially miss out on a dominant run at lucrative premium movie screens. As two Hollywood strikes rage on, movie writers and stars aren't permitted to hype their projects, due to strike rules. The longer the work stoppages keep going, the more likely it is studios will delay releases as production shutdowns choke the movie release pipeline. Already, a handful of titles – including Ethan Coen's "Drive Away Dolls," the sequel to "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" and the Emma Stone-led "Poor Things" – have moved to later dates due to the labor disruption. "Dune: Part Two," a science fiction epic based on Frank Herbert's semin...

[ad_1] NEW YORK, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 31: Rebecca Damon joins SAG-AFTRA members on strike during Halloween on October 31, 2023 in New York City. The strike, which began on July 14, entered its 100th day on October 21st as the actors' union and Hollywood studios and streamers failed to reach an agreement. (Photo by John Nacion/Getty Images) John Nacion | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images SAG-AFTRA actors aren't totally on board with Hollywood studios' latest labor agreement pitch. The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists said there were still "several essential items" that they couldn't agree with during their negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, including artificial intelligence guidelines. Studios put forth this "last, best and final offer" over the weekend, with top executives making clear that they would not make further concessions. SAG-AFTRA spent time Sunday and...

[ad_1] Kevin Mazur | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images Warner Bros. Discovery reported second-quarter results Thursday that fell below Wall Street expectations across the board and revealed subscriber totals that were down from the previous quarter. Global direct-to-consumer streaming subscribers at the end of the period were 95.8 million, below the 96.7 million subscribers analysts were expecting according to StreetAccount, and a decrease of nearly 2 million from the end of the first quarter. related investing news The company launched its combined Max streaming service during the second quarter, merging HBO content with unscripted hits from the Discovery networks into one platform. Customers dropping their Discovery+ subscriptions for Max were likely to blame for the decline in subscribers. Data provider Antenna estimated that Discovery+ cancellations were up about 68% compared with June 2022 due to the switchover to Max. Still, the company said it had repaid $1.6 bil...

[ad_1] SportsCenter at ESPN Headquarters. The Washington Post | The Washington Post | Getty Images The blackout fight between cable giant Charter Communications and Disney appears to be coming to a close. Hours ahead of "Monday Night Football," which airs on Disney's ESPN, the companies are expected to reach a deal that would allow millions of Charter cable customers to watch the game, CNBC's David Faber reported Monday, citing sources. Charter and Disney's stocks, as well as media peers including Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global traded higher on Monday morning. Representatives for Disney and Charter didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. Terms of what the deal would entail were unclear Monday morning. The dispute has been ongoing since late August when carriage renewal negotiations broke down between the two companies and left millions of customers without Disney TV channels, including ESPN, FX and Disney Channel. At the time...

[ad_1] LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 12: CEO of Netflix Ted Sarandos attends Netflix's FYSEE event for "Squid Game" at Raleigh Studios Hollywood on June 12, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Netflix) Charley Gallay | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images The main takeaway from Netflix 's second quarter earnings is business is ... good. That's right. A large media and entertainment company's fundamental business is just fine. Netflix added 5.9 million subscribers in the quarter, a sign that its two primary 2023 initiatives — cracking down on password sharing and launching a cheaper $6.99 per month advertising tier — are bringing in new subscribers. Netflix added 1.2 million subscribers in the United States and Canada in the quarter — its largest regional quarterly gain since 2021. This is not the story for the rest of the media industry. Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery have spent the year slashing content f...

[ad_1] Skynesher | E+ | Getty Images LOS ANGELES — The 2023 box office is inching closer to pre-pandemic levels, but inconsistent performances from blockbuster features in the first six months of the year will put a lot of pressure on second-half releases. While the domestic box office has tallied $4.46 billion in ticket sales through June 30, a nearly 20% increase over the same period in 2022, it still lags behind 2019, the benchmark of a time before the pandemic, according to data from Comscore. Ticket sales are down 21% from four years ago, but that's not the only thing that's down. So, too, is the number of wide releases. From January to June 30 in 2019, 57 films were released in 2,000 theaters or more. In 2023, there have been only 45 releases during that same period. "It really isn't a fair comparison just going dollars to dollars," said Mike Polydoros, CEO at PaperAirplane Media. And quantity matters. While blockbusters and franchise films can draw big...