Tag: peacock

Stranger Things and the Movie Theater Experience

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I was one of the lucky 1.1 million people who saw the Stranger Things finale at the movie theater New Years Eve. Screenings were sold out around the country to celebrate the culmination of 9 years of a popular Netflix show. This also got me thinking about the theater experience and what is needed to get butts in seats in a time when people morbidly declare the movie theater is dead.

I went with a group of friends to the historic Tara Theatre. The Tara is an Atlanta landmark, an arthouse theater featuring 4 screens, independent showings, and old school charm. The Tara was one of approximately 600 theaters that did this special Netflix screening over New Years. It was also the location of a scene between Lucas and Max near the end of the finale. The Tara even gifted free movie passes to the lucky two who sat in those seats. Thanks to my friend Charles who came up with the idea.

The showing I went to at the Tara Theatre was a whopping $7 for a ticket. Seven dollars!? In THIS economy? Considering many movie ticket prices in Atlanta average around $15-20 for a basic showing, that was a steal. Tickets sold out in advance of the screening date, and from what I heard, that was the case around the country. Folks wanted to see this in theaters with their fellow fans.

The two-day screening over New Years netted theaters $25-30 million in sales – though not necessarily in ticket sales. According to Deadline, the actor’s residuals for the Netflix show kept them from selling actual tickets, so they sold ticket vouchers. It’s a loophole.

Netflix and movie theaters did a similar collab in August 2025 when they rereleased K POP Demon Hunters to the tune of $19m, and got Netflix its first No 1 at the box office.

Streaming culture has changed the way we do TV. Many stories are tailored to the bingeable short seasons of streaming television. But the lines are becoming blurred as streamers like Netflix, Apple TV and HBO put out their streaming content in movie theaters. Partly to gain an audience, and also partly to take part in those award ceremonies.

But this culture has also contributed to less folks going to the movie theater. You can argue with me about this, but why should folks go see something in the theater if it’s going to be on their TV in a month or two?

Fall Guy, a movie I really enjoyed, barely got to get its legs up under itself before it was pulled from theaters and thrust onto the streamers. It was actually getting good reviews and word of mouth, but wasn’t given the chance it needed. Fall Guy was released May 3, 2024, made $180 million against its $125-150 million budget, and was pulled from theaters for “underperforming” its opening week. It was on the streaming service just 17 days after its release. When the film was uploaded to Peacock, it set a streaming record, becoming that platform’s biggest film debut.

Folks have been trying to predict the end of the movie theater experience for years.

This graph from The Numbers (great resource for these stats) shows that sharp decline into 2020 (we all know what happened there) and then a slow climb back up to where things stand now, which is quite a bit below where the numbers were headed in 2019. And this can be scary to those who make movies and to those who cherish them.

Audiences do enjoy the experience of being in a movie theater. For the most part. I mean you could listen to some of my friends who critique how oppressively loud the sound is or how rude their fellow patrons are. But for the right screening, people will put butts in seats.

Where’s the incentive to do so when tickets are pricey and you only have to wait a month or two (or 17 days) and it’ll be out on any one of the streaming services you have?

Speaking of price, here’s the cost for two adults and 1 child to see the new Zootopia film:

This is the cost for AMC Madison Yards for 6pm on 1/3/2026

Almost $70?! And a convenience fee for using the website. That’s just silly.

For a deal, you can sign up for AMC Stubs or Movie Pass or Regal Crown Club or just go on discounted Tuesdays… but the point still stands. Going to the movies can be expensive, especially for families.

In 2022 National Cinema Day was celebrated with a $3 movie ticket day, which was honored by numerous theater chains. People flocked to the movie theaters, seeing multiple movies in a day and finally watching movies they’d missed earlier in the year. It was a great promotion, and I’m sad that when I search for it now, I haven’t seen it done in years.

There’s a way to keep the movie theater business alive. I think we’re still searching for the correct recipe for success, but special exclusive screenings certainly don’t hurt.

Sources:

The Tara Theatre: https://www.taraatlanta.com/about–contact

The Numbers – Domestic Movie Theatrical Market Summary 1995 to 2025

https://www.the-numbers.com/market/

‘The Fall Guy’ is now streaming after just 17 days in theaters. Are summer movies in trouble?

https://www.fastcompany.com/91128501/the-fall-guy-streaming-after-j17-days-in-theaters-are-summer-movies-in-trouble

Pay or Play – Some Movies Don’t See the Light of Day

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Imagine working months, a year plus, on a project. Planning and outlining a story. Script revisions and rewrites. Storyboarding. A music score with full orchestra. Fighting and stunt choreography. Filming ninety percent of the movie.

Only to have HBO Max (I refuse to call it Max) shelve it for a tax write off.

This happened last year to Batgirl. Yes I’m still mad about this.

The movie starred Leslie Grace as Barbara Gordon/Batgirl, Brendan Fraser as Firefly and J.K. Simmons as Commissioner Gordon. Michael Keaton was reprising his role as Batman. And it looked awesome.

Filming began November 30, 2021. In January 2023, DC Studios Co-head Peter Safran deemed the film “not releasable.”

But, the real reasoning may just be because The Artist Formerly Known as HBO Max was rebranding, and no longer wanted the direct-to-streaming movie in its library. And it would make a fantastic tax write off.

I was going to write about this a long time ago. I mulled it over, got mad about it, and decided too much time had passed and I didn’t want to bring it up again.

But then we have Disney+ cancelling The Spiderwick Chronicles series adaptation this week. This is only one cancelation of many, as Disney+ and Hulu downsize for their fiscal third quarter.

This year, Disney+ deleted Crater, a $54 million feature that only lasted on the streamer for seven weeks! They also removed the Willow spinoff, Y: the Last Man, and The World According to Jeff Goldblum. Last year, HBO Max removed the likes of The Witches (2020), Moonshot, Locked Down, Superintelligence, Charm City Kings, An American Pickle and a veritable pile of animated and live action series.

And since my blog lately has become “here’s a bunch of thoughts about the writer and actor’s strikes” you can only imagine how much Disney and Hulu and all these other streamers are saving on their barely existent residuals.

The Not So Fantastic 4

All this insanity reminds me of The Fantastic Four movie.

No, not that one.

Certainly not that one.

Yep, that one.

Not familiar with it? I’m not surprised. It’s technically a movie you can’t watch (unless cough cough bootleg DVD at Comic-Con cough cough).

The story behind this Fantastic Four is interesting, because it was a movie made specifically to never be seen. Why?

The 1994 film was made just to retain the rights to the characters. Although this Looper article claims otherwise.

A paltry $1 million dollar budget was set. A music video director was hired to direct the film. Cast and crew were hired at breakneck speed. This was definitely a race against the clock. Principal photography ended just three days before the contract would expire. The movie was edited in 28 days, and soon after it was served with a cease and desist from the producers.

Producer Berd Eichinger claimed it wasn’t his intention not to release the film, but Marvel exec Avi Arad was the one who stopped the movie in its tracks. In fact, Arad did buy the movie for several million dollars and order the prints destroyed. But still, it persisted, and bootleg versions exist out there for people to see the film in all its awkward B movie glory.

Pay or Play

Some movie contracts have a Pay or Play clause.

a pay or play clause guarantees that someone will get paid, even if they end up not doing the job that they were contracted to get paid for in the first place. They either get paid or they “play” and get paid. 

-Wrapbook

A good example was when the American The X Factor initially hired Cheryl Cole to judge two seasons of the show. Problem was, they didn’t think American audiences would understand her accent, so she was let go after the pilot episode. Cheryl Cole eventually had to sue, after she was paid for only one season. Her contract guaranteed her two seasons of pay, even though she didn’t work out as a judge.

This clause is also how Johnny Depp got paid $16 million after being fired from Fantastic Beasts 3 and replaced by Hannibal‘s Mads Mikkelsen. He had a pay or play, and the contract, as the IndieWire article points out, “did not have a morality clause.” This was after the highly publicized U.K. libel trial regarding the story of abuse with his wife Amber Heard. Mikkelsen was a better villain anyway. But still, $16 million is a lot to lose to an actor not appearing on screen.

I personally have worked on movies that have never, and will never, be seen. These are typically due to issues with finances at the indie budget level. I’ve worked on pilots that were never picked up by a network. I know several people who worked on The CW’s live action Powerpuff Girls show. I can’t imagine working on something so huge that it cost $50-80 million — and it never gets to be seen.

The cancelation of Powerpuff, from what I heard, might have been an act of mercy.

Pay or Stream?

We’ve got to a sticky situation in which titles are being deleted off of servers and shows and movies cease to exist. Actors, writers and show creators can’t earn residuals off that creative work, and not even DVD sales can save the day because…well, there’s not a lot of DVD sales going on. Personally, I’d love to see some streaming shows hit the DVD market. I don’t want Apple TV but I do want to see Silo. Why should I have Peacock in order to watch the Twisted Metal adaptation? Frankly, it would be beneficial to have an on-demand physical or digital download of content like this.

That’s enough for now.

Release Batgirl you cowards!

…and don’t get me started on New Warriors.

Sources

Disney Plus movie deleted just seven weeks after it premiered

Disney+ Not Moving Ahead With Completed ‘Spiderwick Chronicles’ Series Adaptation

HBO Max removes even more original content

Producer’s Guide: Pay or Play Clauses

Johnny Depp Exposé Reveals His Destructive Set Habits and $16M ‘Fantastic Beasts 3’ Payday