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netflix

Netflix Backtracks on Password Sharing Guidelines Following Backlash

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Less than a week after Netflix announced new rules aimed at cracking down on password sharing amongst users, the streaming service is backtracking its new guidelines, claiming they were posted in error.

In preparation for its upcoming policy to limit password sharing on the service, Netflix updated its help center page to list new restrictions. Some have been retracted after Netflix received intense backlash from its user base.

The streaming giant has been testing out its new policy on account sharing in Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru over the last year. Starting in March, viewers in America will also be subject to the new regulations.

Users will be required to designate a “primary location” for all profiles in their household, as per the new rules. Anyone who wishes to use the same account in a different location will be required to pay a fee.

Netflix plans to use device IDs, IP addresses and account activity to confirm a viewer’s location.

The updated help center page added a new requirement that users log in to their primary location’s Wi-Fi once every 31 days to avoid having their devices blocked. Users who are traveling would need to use temporary codes, which would expire after seven days.

“A Netflix account is for people who live together in a single household. People who do not live in your household will need to use their own account to watch Netflix.”

Many subscribers threatened to cancel upon hearing about the new updates. Some took to social media to share their outrage. One Twitter user tweeted questioning how this would apply to students.

“This new @Netflix anti-password sharing rule is so stupid. What about students? What about people who travel? I literally pay for one and won’t be able you use my own account after 30 days of leaving home?? Make it make sense.”

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Netflix claimed that the new updates were posted in error. They also added that no official announcements have been made outside of the countries where the tests are currently being conducted.

“For a brief time last Tuesday, a help center article containing information that is only applicable to Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru went live in other countries. We have since updated it.”

The investment firm Jeffries recently surveyed 380 Netflix password borrowers and found that 62% of them said they would no longer use the service after the new regulations rather than sign up for a new account or pay a fee.

Only 10% of respondents said they would sign up for a new account, suggesting that password-sharing users may be hesitant to switch to paid plans.

Over a third (35%) of respondents said they could just as easily replace Netflix with another service and another 31% said they do not find the content compelling enough to pay to consume.

When polled about which competitor’s platform they would use in its place, the top answers were Amazon Prime Video (42%), Hulu (35%), and Disney+ (26%).

Jadon Helfstein, head of internet research at Oppenheimer, told Yahoo Finance Live in an interview on Monday that he believes this will still be a net positive for the company.

“The bottom line is there’s a massive amount of password sharing, particularly among affluent people…We do think a good chunk of [Netflix] subscribers will probably pay more to keep certain members of their household or, let’s say, their children who no longer live with them, on their plan.”

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He added that the company would not be doing this if they thought “they would end up in a worse revenue situation.”

“The reality is people have taken advantage of it. Sharing your Netflix account with 20 other people is probably not what the company had in mind, [but] if people are reasonable and share this with five, six people in their family? I think it’s going to work out.”

The updated help center page now lists, “If you are traveling or live between different homes, we want you to be able to enjoy Netflix anywhere, anytime.”

“If you are the primary account owner (or live with them), you shouldn’t need to verify your device to watch Netflix. If you are away from the Netflix household for an extended period of time, you may be occasionally asked to verify your device. We ask you to verify to make sure that the device using the account is authorized to do so.”

To verify a viewing device, Netflix will send a link to the primary account owner’s email address or phone number with a 4-digit verification code. The code will then need to be entered on the device that requested it within 15 minutes. Once authorized, the device can be used to watch Netflix, but device verification may be required periodically.

According to a Netflix shareholder letter from last month, more than 100 million households share passwords, with 30 million residing in the U.S. and Canada.

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Netflix Will Start Charging Users for Password Sharing in March

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Netflix will stop subscribers from sharing passwords with members living outside their homes as early as March this year. The streaming giant claims that the widespread sharing of passwords affects its ability to evolve the platform.

In a letter to shareholders late last week, the company said it would “roll out paid sharing more broadly” late in the first quarter of 2023.

“Today’s widespread account sharing (100 million + households) undermines our long-term ability to invest in and improve Netflix and build our business. While our terms of use limit the use of Netflix to a household, we recognize this is a change for members who share their accounts more broadly. So we’ve worked hard to build additional new features that improve the Netflix experience.”

Members will still “have the option to pay extra if they want to share Netflix with people they don’t live with.” Otherwise, subscribers can transfer an existing user profile to a new account, allowing viewing history, recommendations, the “my list” feature and other data to be copied over.

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Netflix previously hinted at discontinuing its password-sharing feature back in July 2022. The company described last year as “tough.” In the first quarter, it suffered its first subscriber loss in over a decade, losing 200,000 users.

The company has not disclosed the fee it will charge for password sharing nor stated how they plan to enforce the new pricing structure. Currently, Netflix can tell when users log in outside their primary household based on their IP address, device IDs, and other information.

In March 2022, Netflix rolled out paid sharing in Costa Rica, Chile, and Peru, charging users a fee to add two “subaccounts” to a primary account. Users found the policy confusing, and many could still share their passwords without repercussions. 

An anonymous Netflix customer service representative told Rest of World that “she was instructed that if a subscriber called arguing that someone from their household was just using the account from another location, she should inquire further and tell the subscriber that they could use their account without extra charge via a verification code.” Many of the representatives still needed more clarification about the policy.

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Other users in those countries canceled their subscriptions after receiving news of the oncoming fee. The shareholder letter stated that Netflix expects engagement to fall in the short term but will pick back up soon after.

“As we work through this transition – and as some borrowers stop watching either because they don’t convert to extra members or full paying accounts – near-term engagement, as measured by third parties like Nielsen’s The Gauge, could be negatively impacted. However, we believe the pattern will be similar to what we’ve seen in Latin America, with engagement growing over time as we continue to deliver a great slate of programming and borrowers sign-up for their own accounts.”

The anticipated sharing fee comes on the heels of a new subscription tier that Netflix started offering in November, which provides customers with a cheaper “Basic With Ads” subscription option. In exchange for $3 off a monthly subscription, viewers are served up to five ads an hour. Netflix claims that rolling out the new option led to member growth.

“Engagement, which is consistent with members on comparable ad-free plans, is better than what we had expected, and we believe the lower price point is driving incremental membership growth. Also, as expected, we’ve seen very little switching from other plans. Overall the reaction to this launch from both consumers and advertisers has confirmed our belief that our ad-supported plan has strong unit economics (at minimum, in-line with or better than the comparable ad-free plan) and will generate incremental revenue and profit, though the impact on 2023 will be modest given that this will build slowly over time.”

red carpet

Selena Gomez Responds to Body Shamers After Golden Globes Appearance

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Selena Gomez called out social media users who were body-shaming her after her appearance at the 2023 Golden Globes on Tuesday.

In an Instagram Live, the “Only Murders in the Building” actress talked about body positivity alongside her 9-year-old sister, Gracie Elliott Teefey, who also accompanied her to the event.

“I’m a little bit big right now because I enjoyed myself during the holidays.”

“But we don’t care,” she added, laughing with her little sister.

Gomez walked the red carpet in a black velvet Valentino gown featuring purple sleeves, a plunging neckline, an off-the-shoulder bodice, and a thigh-high slit. She wore a pair of diamond drop earrings by De Beers and pulled her hair into a high ponytail to complement the dress.

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Gracie wore a silver and gold dress with a tiny gold purse. In August 2022, Gomez shared on TaTaTu’s video podcast that the two sisters are very close, and Gracie “puts things in perspective.”

“I have to basically watch this little person grow into a human being. There’s no better feeling in the world. I kind of feel like a parent in a way.”

Gomez has been vocal about online “trolls” before. Back in April 2022, Gomez told her fans on TikTok that being skinny was not worth sacrificing eating her favorite foods since she would get criticism about her weight regardless.

“You’re too small,’ ‘you’re too big,’ ‘that doesn’t fit,’ meh-meh-meh. I am perfect the way I am. Moral of the story? Bye!”

The singer has been open about her relationship with social media through the years. In 2019, she deleted several apps off her phone, including Instagram, after comments left her feeling “depressed.”

In a “Good Morning America” interview in April 2022, Gomez said she had been off the internet for four and a half years. She only posted on Instagram and Twitter by sending her assistant photos and text to share.

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Two years prior, in an interview on “Live with Kelly and Ryan,” Gomez talked about the impact of social media on today’s youth.

“I think it’s just become really unhealthy for young people, including myself, to spend all of their time fixating on all of these comments and letting this stuff in.”

She told “Women’s Wear Daily” in October 2021 that taking a long hiatus from social media significantly improved her mental health.

“I’m completely unaware of actually what’s going on in pop culture, and that makes me really happy. And maybe that doesn’t make everybody else happy, but for me, it’s really saved my life.”

Gomez hinted at her return to Instagram on Tuesday with a series of bathroom selfies.

“Wait, can you tell I’m back on Instagram?” she captioned the post.

Gomez’s performance as Mabel Mora on Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building” earned her a nomination for Best Television Actress in a Musical/Comedy Series on Tuesday.

disney+

Sorry, Streamers: Disney+ Subscription Cost To Rise 38% In December

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For many, multiple streaming subscriptions have become the norm – and unfortunately for you and your wallet, that might soon become challenging.

Disney has announced it will be raising the monthly ad-free subscription price of Disney+ to $10.99, a 38% increase, on Dec. 8th. To keep the same price, users will have to opt into an ad-based tier, which will launch on the same day.

In an analyst conference call, CFO Christine McCarthy voiced her confidence the increases won’t be a dealbreaker for subscribers. “We expect the ad tier to be popular and we expect some people to want to stay with ad-free,” she said.

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Disney also noted Hulu will see its price raised by $2 to $14.99 on Oct. 10th, while the ad-based tier will see a $1 increase, from $6.99 to $7.99. The entertainment giant offers a bundle of ad-free Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ for $13.99 a month, which will also raise $1 to $14.99. Like the other increases, you can opt to keep the price the same, but all subscriptions will come with ads.

The company had previously upped Disney+’s ad-free tier from $6.99 to $7.99 back in 2021 after bursting out onto the streaming screen in November 2019, passing the number of expected subscribers within its first year.

That torrent pace — fueled by shows like “The Mandalorian” — continues to see ups, with Disney+ scoring over 14.4 million more subscribers than expected this past quarter, bringing it to 152 million total (a 31% year-over-year change).

The long-term forecast isn’t as pleasant. Disney now expects the service to reach around 215 million to a maximum of 245 million subscribers by the end of fiscal 2024, a lowered estimate that was originally pegged around 230 million to 260 million two years ago.

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Disney and CEO Bob Chapek’s reasoning for the increase is that it’s a necessary evil to match their increased content, which includes “Star Wars” and Marvel. “We believe, because of that increase in investment over the past two-and-a-half years relative to a very good price point, that we have plenty of room on price value,” Chapek said at an earnings call Wednesday.

Disney+ is also adding further content thanks to the acquisition of Fox studio, which will see R-rated movies like “Logan” and “Deadpool” hit the screens. It’s certainly a change of pace for both the service and company, both of which emphasize their family-friendly brand.

Chapek previously admitted it was a surprise to see how many adult-only households have a Disney+ subscription.

“We knew that we had interest in those general entertainment offerings, but didn’t really realize how important they could be towards our overall proposition, if you will.”

However, the price tick is also Disney attempting to compensate for the financial losses that continue to pile up. Direct-to-consumer operating income losses for the third quarter soared to $1.1 billion, up from $293 million a year ago.

Despite the subpar revenues and hits, Disney now ranks over main rival Netflix in terms of total subscribers across all their platforms by 400,000 with 221.1 million. Subscription tiers also remain lower than Netflix’s, which cost $9.99 for ad-supported streaming and $15.49 for HD, ad-free streaming.

hulu

Following Backlash, Hulu Will Begin To Accept Political Advertisements

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After facing political backlash from Democratic leaders following their rejection of advertisements on hotly contested topics like abortion, gun control, and the Jan. 6 insurrection, Hulu is now going back on their decision and announced they will allow the ads, effective immediately.

“After a thorough review of ad policies across its linear networks and streaming platforms over the last few months, Disney is now aligning Hulu’s political advertising policies to be consistent with the Company’s general entertainment and sports cable networks and ESPN+,” Disney, the owner of Hulu, told Axios on Wednesday.

With the acceptance, Hulu is now more aligned with other Disney properties like ESPN and FX Networks. However, Disney also stated they still reserve the right to ask clients for edits or alternative creative “in alignment with industry standards.”

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The ads, which run on other popular media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, NBCUniversal, and Roku, were originally rejected by the service back on July 15, according to The Washington Post. The Democratic campaign groups attempting to place the ads on Hulu, as well as ABC and ESPN, were told the rejection was for “content-related” issues.

According to Hulu’s advertisement guidelines, advertisements that take “a position on a controversial issue of public importance (e.g. social issues)” are not allowed. The streamer’s guidelines also note that political ads are reviewed on a “case-by-case basis.”

Hulu had previously forced New York congressional candidate Suraj Patel to cut abortion and gun control topics from his advertisements earlier this month and replace them with “non-sensitive issues” like climate change and education.

“Our path to victory runs through making sure we can reach so many of these disaffected younger people,” Patel told Jezebel. “This ad is a very important part of that, and Hulu is an incredibly important part of reaching that audience.” Patel’s campaign team sent Hulu a letter demanding them to end their “unwritten policy” on “censoring” a campaign advertisement before it could be aired.

“We are at an absolutely critical time in our nation’s history. How are voters supposed to make informed choices if their candidates cannot talk about the most important issues of the day?”

Responses on social media aimed at Hulu’s latest rejection were particularly intense and widespread, with #BoycottHulu hitting the number one spot on Twitter Tuesday morning.

“Hulu’s censorship of the truth is outrageous and offensive. Voters have the right to know the facts about MAGA Republicans’ extreme agenda on abortion – Hulu is doing a huge disservice to the American people,” the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) tweeted.

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Unlike regular broadcast channels, which are bound by the FCC to run spots from candidates, streamers have more flexibility when it comes to both the issues at hand, as well as the candidates attempting to advertise.

Britney Spears Star

‘Controlling Britney Spears’ Documentary Further Exposes Singer’s Struggles Under Conservatorship

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The New York Times released their follow-up to the ‘Framing Britney Spears’ documentary which detailed the abuse and struggles Spears has endured under her 13-year conservatorship. The newest installment is called ‘Controlling Britney Spears,’ which includes claims that her phone was monitored and recorded at all times and her security team even installed recording devices in her personal bedroom. 

The newest documentary is 70-minutes and aired last Friday Night. It’s currently available to watch on FX on-demand as well as Hulu. The documentary interviewed Felicia Culotta; Spear’s former longtime assistant, Latisha Yates; onetime head of wardrobe, Dan George; former your manager, and Alex Vlasov; a former security staffer. Vlasov especially revealed the extensive security measures Britney endured at the request of her father, Jamie Spears. 

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The individuals listed above detailed how Jamie would work directly with the head of Black Box Security, Edan Yemini, as well as Robin Greenhill, an employee of Tri Star Sports and Entertainment Group, which worked to handle the business side of Spears’ career. The insiders discussed how Jamie would meet with these individuals to oversee nearly every aspect of the singer’s life. 

Vlasov claimed that “the trio had a group chat that discussed every step she took, including closely managing her intimate relations. Greenhill proposed setting up an iPad to monitor her iCloud activity, including texts, notes, calls, and browser history. Conversations with her friends, her mother, and her then lawyer were all closely watched.”

Vlasov didn’t just make empty claims, however, he provided emails, texts, and audio recordings from his nine years as an executive assistant and operations/security manager. In the documentary, Vlasov shows an email from Ingham asking Jamie’s legal team for “confirmation that no one other than my client can access her calls, voicemails, or texts, directly or indirectly.” 

“Elaborate surveillance operation allowed almost every aspect of her life to be controlled by people, including her father and Greenhill. It really reminded me of somebody that was in prison, and security was put in a position to be the prison guards, essentially.”

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Vlasov discussed how Yemini had installed an audio recording device in Britney’s bedroom back in 2016 which captured more than 180 hours of audio; including conversations between the singer and her boyfriend and children. He then explained how Jamie was “fixated” on his daughter’s male friends and potential love interests, and would make countless individuals sign long NDA’s and contracts. 

Yates discussed how Britney was constantly denied small pleasures by her father and Greenhill. These pleasures included sushi, sneakers, or any other new products that caught her eye. Yates recalled a time where Britney was told “you had sushi yesterday, it’s too expensive.” The documentary also noted how, at the time, Jamie was paying himself $16,000 a month from Britney’s personal bank account. 

The newest film’s release comes just days before a court decides on the future of Britney Spears’ conservatorship, which has been instituted since 2008. Between 2008 and now, the pop star has barely had any time to rest because of how much she was being worked. One of the biggest points made in these documentaries is how a majority of the individuals in the legal field who have worked with individuals under conservatorships before, claim that they’ve never had a client under the control of a conservatorship who was also working; let alone constantly touring, promoting and releasing new music and business ventures, etc. 

In June, Britney was able to address the court herself for the first time. She spoke in depth about the flaws of the legal/judicial system that kept her in the conservatorship for more than a decade, while also condemning her conservators, managers, and family, calling the entire arrangement abusive. 

The judge then authorized Spears to choose her own lawyer, and on September 29th, the court will be considering Mathew Rosengart’s – her chosen lawyer – request to remove Jamie Spears as the conservator of the dinger’s estate. On September 7th, Jamie surprised the public by abruptly asking the court to consider whether to terminate the conservatorship entirely, which they will also be considering this week in court. 

Justin Timberlake Apologizes To Britney Spears Following Conservatorship Exposure

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After the New York Times documentary was released last week the public has been scrutinizing the industry, media, and multiple individuals within it that helped lead to the demise of Britney Spears.

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Britney Spears Star

Britney Spears’s Conservatorship Case Heading Back To Court 

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The legal battle over Britney Spears’s finances and conservatorship is heading back to Los Angeles court this Thursday, just days after a new Hulu documentary sparked widespread outrage over the controversial guardianship the pop star has been living under that is typically only for elderly individuals with dementia or other cognitive issues that make them unfit to be in control of their own finances. 

Jamie Spears, the pop stars father, maintains control over her estate, career, finances, social media, medical treatments, and a slew of other aspects of her personal life; he’s also had this control for the past 13 years, so any career endeavors that Spears has endured within that time, including her Las Vegas residency, were not her decision. 

Lawyers for Spears filed last year to have Jamie removed as conservator, arguing that she was “afraid of her father” and would be refusing to resume her performing career while he still had control over it. In November a judge refused to remove Jamie but added Bessemer Trust as co-conservator and corporate fiduciary. This Thursday’s hearing will include a discussion of what role the two conservators will play in overseeing Spears’s estate. 

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Supporters of Britney Spears attend the #FreeBritney Protest Outside Los Angeles

Conservatorship by definition is “a form of court-appointed guardianship that is typically used for elderly and infirm people, or others who can’t make decisions for themselves, the arrangement is often temporary.” 

The release of Framing Britney Spears, a New York Times-produced documentary, has now “raised questions about the fraught process that led the courts to institute the conservatorship, Jamie’s role as a conservator, the motives of Spears’s entourage in keeping the arrangement in place and the media’s treatment of the star.”

The documentary followed Spears’s rise to fame and the intense abuse she faced by paparazzi, the media, and fans as well. The approval of her conservatorship was partially a result of the American media painting Britney to be mentally unstable. The documentary also depicted Jamie as an absent father up until he took on the conservatorship in 2008, when he gained complete control over her finances. 

The biggest question raised by the documentary is how can someone who the court deems unstable enough to be in control over basically every aspect of her personal life be stable enough to go on multiple tours, perform a Las Vegas residency, work as a judge on X-Factor, etc. The amount that Britney has done in her career within the past decade does not line up with an individual unfit to be in control of their own finances. 

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American pop culture, the media, and the entertainment industry in general is now being analyzed with a fine-tooth comb, specifically over how it treats female performers and makes light of their struggles. The film also featured the #FreeBritney movement, “a fan-led campaign advocating for the singer to be freed from conservatorship and from her father’s control. Organizers said this week they hoped the reaction to the film would put pressure on the courts to restore the singer’s independence,” according to the Times. 

 Leanne Simmons, a #FreeBritney advocate who was featured in the documentary, told the press recently that the documentary “has lit a fire under all of us to keep pushing, because we do have that support from the general public. I work in post production in the film industry, and have been closely following the court case and plan to attend the Thursday hearing in person. 

“We’ve been trying to get this message across for so many years, and to essentially have the narrative change overnight is pretty extraordinary. The documentary was hard to watch. It brought me back to that moment of watching this in realtime in 2007. I felt so frustrated back then like no one was listening to her, or to me when I would try to defend her. I can’t believe it took this long and this documentary for people to realize that it was always wrong.”

Spears publicly acknowledged the #FreeBritney movement for the first time last year through her lawyer in court, when he claimed that Britney was “trying to regain some measure of personal autonomy, and she welcomes and appreciates the informed support of her many fans.”

Woman Streaming Show

Quibi’s Quick Decline Shows How Competitive The Streaming World Is

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Quibi announced recently that they would be calling it quits, less than one year after launching into the streaming service industry that is now saturated by big business owners and their endless content.

The app’s demise was officially announced this past Wednesday, six months after its launch, in what’s being referred to as the most predictable business failings of 2020. The app was founded by Disney and DreamWorks alumnus Jeffrey Katzenberg and former Hewlett Packard and eBay CEO Meg Whitman.

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The app initially advertised itself as a streaming service that delivers face-paced, short-length television episodes and movies that the average individual can watch throughout their day whenever they have free time. The idea behind Quibi was that you can watch an episode of a TV show while waiting for the train, or on your lunch break, without having to worry about stopping the episode half-way through when you have to return to your daily responsibilities.

Hence its name, Quibi, which means “quick bites” of entertainment. On average the TV shows and documentaries were 7-9 minutes in length. Initially, the app had a lot of Hollywood agents and investors ready and willing to dip their toe into this new form of streaming. However, when the Covid-19 pandemic arose in March, the idea of “on the go entertainment,” became a foreign idea for most who were now quarantining in their homes indefinitely.

In March, when Quibi was asked about the dilemma of running an app that advertises itself as entertainment on the move in the middle of a pandemic that forces everyone to stay home, the company dismissed the concerns. However, the pandemic wasn’t the only issue that arose with the app. After the first two months users were left uninterested in the limited and quick content that it offered, and many began deactivating their accounts.

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Quibi also arrived on the market months after the initial wave of major companies in the world announcing their participation in the streaming service industry. Platforms such as Disney+, Apple TV+, HBO Max, and of course the more established Netflix and Hulu have existed for quite some time now, so a completely new streaming service offering a new type of entertainment entering into the market right at the beginning of a global health crisis, set Quibi up for some massive failures.

In a recent open letter published by both Katzenberg and Whitman, the two acknowledged that they personally may never understand why the platform failed as quickly and greatly as it did.

“The media migration from the traditional ad-supported template to a direct-to-consumer subscription model continues to basically fly blind, leaving companies largely guessing about where the saturation point resides.”

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings recently was interviewed about the future of the streaming industry and the multitude of new players trying to get involved. He claimed that additional service casualties will definitely be expected as time progresses, but overall “we’ll see what happens.” Quibi unfortunately set the standard of these casualties, which will likely lead many businesses to rework their plans for new services.

Hulu on phone

Popular Movies Available To Stream On Hulu Right Now 

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As the coronavirus pandemic continues on, many of us are running out of new television shows and movies to watch and stream. I personally feel like I’ve watched everything there is to watch on Netflix, luckily, with the new month Hulu has uploaded a multitude of new original movies, and classic fan favorites, to keep us all entertained while we continue to pass the time in lockdown. Here’s a list of just a few of the most talked-about and streamed movies on Hulu right now:

Palm Springs: This movie has been regarded as one of the best movies of 2020 so far and to be honest, the less you know about the plot, the better. To put it lightly for you, this romantic comedy starring Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti follows the pair as they navigate a potential new relationship while being stuck in the same place on the same day, indefinitely. 

Sorry To Bother You: This Hulu original starring Lakeith Stanfield is a psychological thriller not made for the faint of heart. Stanfield plays Cassius Green, a young black man who discovers he’s an amazing telemarketer when he uses his “white voice.” The film is regarded as being a satirical commentary on race, capitalism, art, and commerce. If you find yourself in the mood for a movie that’s going to make you think and reflect while also delivering some amazing one-liners, this one’s perfect. 

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Crawl: In this action-thriller starring Kaya Scodelario, athlete swimmer Haley has to rescue her estranged father during a Category 5 hurricane in Florida. She initially finds her dad unconscious in his flooded basement and soon realizes she’s not alone; as a group of aggressive alligators has taken to the streets and is hungry for blood. This movie follows the classic “fight for their lives” plot line, and is great for any action lover looking for something a little different.

Rocketman: If you were a fan of Bohemian Rhapsody, you’re definitely going to love this Elton John biopic starring Taron Egerton. This movie follows the earlier life of John and focuses on the heavier aspects of his life, such as his struggles with substance abuse and his family. At the same time, the movie brilliantly shows off the wonder that is Elton John and his iconic past performances. 

Escape From Alcatraz: This 1979 film has been trending on Hulu as of late as many individuals at home are wanting to relive what’s highly regarded as one of Clint Eastwood’s most iconic movies. This movie follows Frank Morris on his unprecedented journey to escape one of the most secure maximum security facilities in the US; especially in the 1970’s. 

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Parasite: Winner of Best Picture at the 92nd Academy Awards, Parasite has truly been one of the most popular films of the past year. Now, the film is available to stream on Hulu. This film analyzes class divisions through the experiences of a South Korean family who cons their way into working for a wealthier family. The movie has a ton of cultural commentary embedded throughout it, hence its extreme popularity among the Academy. 

West Side Story: This 1961 classic has just recently been added to Hulu. For those who don’t know, this musical is a more modern take on the Romeo and Juliet star-crossed lovers plot that tells the story of a turf war between rival teen gangs in Hell’s Kitchen. Caught in the middle of this war is two lovers from opposite sides of the city, this classic film is highly regarded as one of the best musicals for all ages. 

A Quiet Place: John Krasinski stars and directs this 2018 thriller that follows a family trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world run by blind monsters who use their powerful sense of hearing to hunt and kill anything moving. The movie was highly regarded, receiving a 95% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and is projected to have its sequel released in the coming months. 

The Beatles: Eight Days A Week – The Touring Years: For documentary-lovers, this film follows the Beatles, one of the world’s most famous bands, in their earlier more formative years together. The film is meant to show the bands rise into fame and what elements of their group made them such an immediate success. The film is full of old, never-before-seen concert footage and interviews with the band that any music lover will enjoy.