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Movie & Popcorn

Cineworld Signs Multi-Year Deal With HBO, Plans To Reopen Regal Cinema Theaters In April

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Cineworld and Warner Brothers are the parent company of Regal Cinema, one of the most popular movie theater chains in the country. The company recently announced that they are projected to reopen all Regal Cinema theaters in the beginning of April to line up with the theatrical release of Godzilla Vs Kong on April 2nd. 

More Regal locations are set to open on April 16th in order to line up with the release of Mortal Kombat. Both Cineworld and Warner Bros have also reached a multi-year deal with HBO Max that would give subscribers same day access to all movies as they’re released in theaters. Warner Bros has already been releasing their new movies on HBO Max for one month as a means of gaining viewership during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

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Beginning in 2022, Warner Bros theatrical films will all have a 45-day window of theatrical exclusivity at Regal Cinema theaters as well. Theaters in New York and Los Angeles have already begun reopening with limited capacity. Cineworld CEO Mooky Greidinger claims that Regal’s reopenings will be great news for the industry overall. 

“This is a great moment for us, the US market represents 75% of our business, and soon will be followed with all our marklets. We are great believers in the theatrical experience, which only one year ago generated $43 billion worldwide.”

The UK is Cineworld’s second largest market, and Greidinger claimed that the company reached a deal to show Warner Bros movies in Regal Cinemas 31 days prior to general release. “We are very happy for the agreement with Warner Bros. This agreement shows the studio’s commitment to the theatrical business and we see this agreement as an important milestone in our 100 year relationship with Warner Bros,” Greidinger explained. 

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Cineworld announced last year that it was temporarily closing 536 Regal locations in the US and 127 in the UK. 11 locations have since been able to reopen in New York. In late November of last year Cineworld secured an additional liquidity that helped ensure it would be able to survive the pandemic. 

Greidinger told the media last year that “reopening Cineworld’s theaters would hinge upon a clear picture of the lineup of the studios… It cannot be one movie only. We have long awaited this moment when we can welcome audiences back to our Regal theaters and restore our essential role within the communities we serve.”

“With the health and safety of our customers, staff, and communities as our top priority, we continue to take all the necessary precautions and abide by our CinemaSafe guidelines to confidently provide a safe and comfortable experience.”

Greidinger went on to explain that with health and safety procedures, including capacity restrictions expanding to 50% or more across most U.S. states, the company will be able to operate profitably in our biggest markets. We will also be monitoring developments closely in the UK and across Europe as we set to gradually reopen across the world in line with local government guidance.”

HBO Max

HBO Max To Release Sitcom Inspired By ‘Multiple Scandals’ At Famous Food Magazine

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Bon Appétit has been one of the most popular food magazines and online channels for cooking for quite some time now. After a slew of allegations that people of color working for Bon Appétit were unfairly treated and paid, the company lost a lot of its viewership, and now HBO is making a whole series inspired by it. 

While HBO Max is not mentioning Bon Appétit by name in the show, it does have a former worker serving as a consultant writer, and the streaming service is describing the show’s plot as “focusing on a cohort of young assistants of color who rise up to tear their cookie-cutter corporate culture apart.” 

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The series will be called Enjoy Your Meal, and Ryan Walker-Hartshorn is the former Bon Appétit employee who is working on the series as a consultant. The show claims it will “draw inspiration from the multiple media scandals of summer 2020 and today. 

Waler-Hartshorn was once the only Black employee at Bon Appétit, and served as an assistant to the former editor-and-chief Adam Rapoport. Her role in the Black Lives Matter Movement this summer is what led to a reckoning of Bon Appétit as a publication, in fact, a photo of Rapoport was released last summer in which the former editor was shown wearing black face. Waler-Hartshorn left the publication in August 2020. 

“I feel so blessed, humbled, honored, and freaking excited to be on this journey with these incredible women! Time to eat,” she tweeted out this week. 

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Amy Aniobi will be the writer for the series, she’s also known for her role as writer and executive producer on the Emmy-award winning show Insecure, also available on HBO Max. 

According to reports, “the announcement comes after a four part investigative series into Bon Appétit’s failings on diversity and inclusion by the podcast Reply All – The Test Kitchen – was cancelled, following allegations that some members of the podcast’s production team had contributed to a hostile workplace environment that one former colleague described as a ‘nearly identical toxic dynamic’ to the story they were reporting on.”

Within the first two episodes of The Test Kitchen, before it was cancelled, the hosts examined how Bon Appétit “sidelined” their culturally/linguistically diverse staff throughout its high profile relaunch in the years 2011-2018, and put all the white staff members at the forefront of the branding. 

After Rapoport resigned in June due to the black face photo, a multitude of other revelations regarding Bon Appétit’s unfair treatment of its staff members of color began unfolding, such as major pay disparities between white and non-white staff. By October of last year a majority of the magazine’s highest profile staff had quit due to the lack of progress shown within the pay disparities and other issues.

HBO Announces Four-Part Docuseries On Woody Allen Allegations 

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The story of Woody Allen and the multitude of allegations made against him throughout the past few decades has been one of the largest scandals in the entertainment industry. Now, one of the most controversial figures in Hollywood will have his life, and all of the allegations made throughout his career, explored in a four-part HBO docuseries called ‘Allen v Farrow.’

The series will use home movies, police evidence, court documents, and never-before-heard audio tapes that will expose and explore the 1992 allegation of sexual abuse against his seven-year-old daughter Dylan Farrow who he had with his then wife, Mia Farrow. The series will also discuss Allen’s marriage to Farrow’s adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn, the years of controversy after and how Allen was able to remain so relevant after all of it. 

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The four-part series was directed by Kirby Dick, Amy Ziering, and Amy Herdy; the filmmakers behind the documentary film ‘The Hunting Ground,” which explored on campus sexual assault cover ups throughout America, as well as ‘On The Record,’ which discussed the longstanding allegations of sexual assault against hip-hop mogul Russel Simmons. 

‘Allen v Farrow’ will also feature exclusive interviews with Dylan and Mia Farrow, as well as Ronan Farrow; Mia’s son. Other interviews in the series include the New Yorker journalist, family friend Carly Simon, prosecutor Frank Maco, relatives, investigators, experts, and eyewitnesses. The series will also act to explore Allen’s film’s, and how public allegations of sex crimes effect a notable mans image in Hollywood. 

Back in 2017 Dylan Farrow famously wrote an op-ed piece for the Los Angeles Times which begged the question “Why has the #MeToo revolution spared Woody Allen?” After the article was published several prominent Hollywood figures publicly vowed to never work with Allen, including Greta Gerwig, Colin Firth, and Mira Sorvino. 

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Back in 2019, Allen sued Amazon after the company terminated a film deal worth $68 million following controversial statements made about Harvey Weinstein and the #MeToo movement in general. Allen claimed that the movement was “very sad for everyone involved, and you don’t want it to lead to a witch-hunt atmosphere, a Salem atmosphere, where every guy in an office who winks at a woman is suddenly having to call a lawyer to defend himself.” 

Allen has continued to direct films and deny any and all allegations made against him. Back in May 2020 he discussed his memoir and lack of acknowledgement over all of his past allegations: “It doesn’t pay to sue. Do I really want to be a tabloid fodder for two years and go to court? And do I really care?” 

‘Allen v Farrow’ is set to premiere on HBO Max on February 21st. 

Warner Bros Media

Warner Brothers To Release Entire 2021 Movie Line Up On HBO Max

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After Warner Media releases the films for the first month on HBO Max, each one will then leave the streaming service and continue its scheduled theatrical release in the US and international territories; all films will be given a customary distribution schedule.

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I'll Be There For You Friends

The One Where They All Get Back Together: Friends Reunion Is Officially Happening

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Friends is by far one of the most iconic and popular sitcoms to ever grace television screens. Ever since its ten year run came to an end in 2004, die-hard fans have only had one question: when are we getting a reunion? 

Old school television shows and movies making a comeback within the past few years is nothing new. The market for reboots and sequels is arguably the highest it’s ever been; with shows like Full House, Boy Meets World, Saved By The Bell, and other 90’s favorites already making a comeback in the new digital age, it only makes sense that one of the most popular out of all of them is getting its moment again in 2020. 

Well, the now classic show starring Jennifer Aniston, Coutney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer, and Matt LeBlanc is making its much-anticipated return to HBO Max, WarnerMedia’s newest streaming service set to launch in May of this year. 

“Guess you could call this the one where they all got back together. I became aware of Friends when it was in the very early stages of development and then had the opportunity to work on the series many years later and have delighted in seeing it catch on with viewers generation after generation. It taps into an era when friends – and audiences – gathered together in real time and we think this reunion special will capture that spirit, uniting original and new fans.”  said Kevin Reilly, chief content officer of HBO Max, in the official release statement.

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Along with the reunion special, all 10 seasons and 236 episodes of the Emmy award-winning sitcom will be running exclusively on HBO Max. The stars of the show will be returning back to the sound stage that they originally filmed at in the Warner Bros Studio Lot, Stage 24. Stage 24 gave audiences the origin story of six adults trying to navigate all the trials and tribulations that comes with living in New York City back in 1994 and now, nearly 26 years later, they’re all back and ready to catch up with where they’re at now!

Friends made its original streaming service debut back in 2015 when the entire series was uploaded onto Netflix. The show was removed from the platform at the beginning of the New Year as WarnerMedia’s TV Studio, which owns all the rights and licensing to the show, wanted to give exclusivity rights to HBO Max. 

HBO Max reportedly paid upwards of $425 million to carry the series for at least five years, and they hope that all the work that Netflix did by holding the series for the past five years will grant them an entirely new generation of viewers ready to subscribe to the service. 

The concept of reboots paralleling the “streaming wars,” that a multitude of networks are joining in on, are making the entertainment industry one of the most competitive, and lucrative, markets out there. CBS, NBC, HBO, Disney, Apple, and so many more have all released their own monthly paid-subscription streaming platforms; with that much competition these corporations know that they need to target specific large audiences to receive viewership. 

The easiest way to target these large audiences is by bringing back shows that everyone has already known and loved with a modern lens, to keep it relatable and fresh. Other reboots being used as a “weapon” in these streaming “wars” includes NBC announcing a Saved By The Bell reboot, which will be exclusive to their new Peacock streaming service. Netflix also rebooted certain classics such as Full House and Sabrina The Teenage Witch, both of which are exclusive Netflix originals.

So when HBO Max acquired the rights to Friends, along with a new deal that would guarantee a reunion amongst the six original stars, they knew that that would bring major audiences to the platform once it’s launched in May of this year. So while no one told you life was going to be this way, you can now relax with a cup of Central Perk coffee knowing one of your favorite groups of pals is making their way back to your screens very soon.