Killers of the Flower Moon Comes to Apple At Last

If you’re keen to enjoy one of the hottest titles of this Award Season race on SVOD, you finally have the chance. Apple’s decision to move Killers of the Flower Moon to its streaming service is, no doubt, in hopes of capturing a little more attention ahead of Oscar nomination voting. Here’s what Brandon Blake, entertainment attorney from Blake & Wang P.A., has to share about this stellar contender.

Brandon Blake

SVOD in Time for the Oscars

Oscar nomination voting opened on January 11 this year. Killers of the Flower Moon is an interesting title for the race, however. As an Apple Original, one has to assume that it was intended for streaming from the start. However, it is one of the first from Apple’s stable that has been handled like a traditional theatrical release (through Paramount) from the get-go. This has also given it an unusually long delay in coming to SVOD screens, with some wondering if it would ever make it.

Ten-Week Theatrical Run

Even more unusually, Killers of the Flower Moon has managed to hold strong in that theatrical run for over 10 weeks, bringing in $156M globally. It went to PVOD about 4 weeks ago for $19.99. Despite what is now a rather hefty price tag, especially for speciality fare, the picture managed to knock Oppenheimer off of its No. 1 PVOD spot in its first week.

This caginess around SVOD release dates seems to be a growing Apple trend for the films it released theatrically. We still don’t know when Ridley Scott’s Napoleon (through Sony) will hit their SVOD streaming, nor do we have a date for Argylle (through Universal). It will be intriguing to see if that trend continues with their 2024 release slate.

Killers of the Flower Moon has been a critical darling, acclaimed by some as one of the best movies of 2023. Given its rather delicate subject matter, that’s quite an achievement. Will it manage to cover itself in Oscar glory too? For now, we can only wait and see.

Asia-Pacific Chooses Online Video Over TV

In the wider Asia-Pacific region, we’ve seen a massive growth spike for online video and streaming, topping out at $145B in revenue. Yet this interest doesn’t extend to old-school TV itself, especially in monetization and engagement. Today, our industry expert entertainment attorney, Brandon Blake, of Blake & Wang P.A. dives deeper into this massive shift in consumption patterns.

Brandon Blake

Changing Entertainment Interests

According to data from research and analysis company MPA, or Media Partners Asia Research Services, that 5.5% industry growth was riding the wave of a massive 13% growth in the ‘online video’ sector. Meanwhile, traditional TV saw less than 1% growth, although it still retains the lion's share by sheer numbers ($98B vs $57B).

Within the market, we see China remain a massive driving factor, generating $64B of that revenue in 2023 alone. Japan followed, at $32B, with India ($13B), Korea ($12B), and Australia ($9.5B) rounding out the top 5. Even if we remove China from the equation, we’re left with a consistent 13% gain for the ‘online video’ sector (including streaming) and an even larger drop in TV revenue of 2%. Social media video does play a role in this, but premium AVOD, at 20% market share, was a stalwart too.

Looking For Reasons

Several key factors have powered this switch in interest. In particular, the penetration of internet-connected ‘Smart’ TVs and vast improvements in local connectivity. However, the boost to local creator economies plays a massive role too. With investment in premium local content, the spread of that content over international borders, and growing interest in online sports streaming, the reasons for this growth become considerably clearer.

In addition to a growing focus on the market from US-based studios like Amazon and Netflix, which did fantastically from its release of Squid Game for international audiences, we have also seen plenty of local successes with solid scalability. Private equity firms and other strategic players also have a massive interest in online video in the area, allowing regional and even local companies to become more competitive.

The Asian sector of the entertainment market is reaching a stage of maturity that provides a wealth of opportunities for streaming entertainment. Now it is time to see how that develops further as local market consolidation comes into play.

Lionsgate and Starz Part Ways Officially

Lionsgate and Starz will be officially parted this year, in a $4.6B deal that will see the studio and its 20,000-strong library of titles separate from Starz entirely. Blake & Wang P.A. entertainment lawyer, Brandon Blake, shares the news.

Brandon Blake



Lionsgate to Become a SPAC

We’ve known a move was coming for a while now, but it is official. Lionsgate will spin off its studio business into what is known as a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC), allowing the creation of a fully separate publicly traded company. This will leave their existing library, together with Lionsgate’s TV production and Motion Picture Group divisions, to be combined by Screaming Eagle Acquisition Corp. It will trade as Lionsgate Studios Corp., and remain a public entity.

The Value of a Library

Under this new structuring, the worth of their weighty library has been pinned at $5.2B- more than the whole new entity is valued! In turn, it is theorized that Starz will be better positioned to realize its full potential. In doing so, Lionsgate retains an attractive structure to its capital and control over the studio business, too. 

The result will be one of the largest indie content platforms in the world. Paired with their very recent acquisition of the eOne company and its platform, and their ongoing interest in 3 Arts entertainment, the deal should allow for a thriving stand-alone content company with strong financials. It’s hard to see where that could go wrong. Screaming Eagle will take over around 12.7% direct ownership, with 87.3% of existing Lionsgate Studios shares remaining under Lionsgate’s control.

The new entity will operate completely separately from Starz, although the parent company retains control of the streaming platform. The SPAC transaction is expected to close by the spring of this year, with further details to be revealed in time. 

Paramount Deal Talk Captures Wall Street Attention

Will they or won’t they? And if they do, what route will they take? Those are the core questions we’ve seen on everyone’s lips this December as talks around a potential deal for some aspect of Paramount Global heat up. It’s hard to imagine that this return to enthusiastic deal chatter is how we’d finish out a year packed with labor disruptions, accelerated subscriber cord-cutting, and increasing Wall Street pressure for balance sheets solidly in the black. But if 2023 has taught the entertainment industry anything at all, it has to be to expect the unexpected. Our local insider, entertainment attorney Brandon Blake of Blake & Wang P.A., takes a closer look at what is firing Wall Street’s latest flurry of rumors and maybes.

Brandon Blake

Rumors Aplenty

Speculation that there will be a shrinkage in the number of streaming services- and the M&A action that inevitably comes with spinning off assets- has been rife for a while now. The news that David Ellison’s Skydance Media and private equity firm RedBird Capital could have their eyes on the Paramount Group (or rather its parent, National Amusements) has solidified attention onto the legacy entertainment company and its ailing Paramount+ streaming service.

Should we see these increasingly strong rumors become reality, an inevitable reshaping of the Hollywood landscape will follow- as will a flurry of new deals, too.

What We Know

Skydance Media is already an active player in the Paramount pool, responsible for not only their cornerstone Mission: Impossible franchise, but also some strong contenders like Reacher, World War Z, and the Star Trek into Darkness IP. Flush with a $400M cash injection through fundraising activities, it’s easy to see why Wall Street has latched onto this (potential) deal. In doing so, it catapults the wider M&A speculation in the industry back to prominence.

But is a spin-off of assets right for Paramount itself? It would leave its remaining DTC and linear assets looking even less attractive. Then again, a Skydance and Paramount combined film division could have considerably more scope to compete at scale with other streamers, something Paramount+ decidedly lacks.

There are several strong strategies we could see take center stage, with some going as far as to attach a $13B-$15B price tag to the anticipated deal. For now, however, we can only wait and see what comes- but if a Paramount deal hits Wall Street, there is one thing for certain- it will ignite the spark on other, similar M&A deals for the year.

Paramount Stock Powers Up in the Face of M&A Rumors

Paramount saw a whopping 13% gain in stock price last week off the back of rumors that it could find itself on the sales block at some point in the 2024 fiscal year. Our resident entertainment attorney in USA, Brandon Blake of Blake & Wang P.A., analyzes what we’re seeing for us.

Brandon Blake

Skydance Deal Speculation

It is expected that we will see some further mergers and acquisition action in the general entertainment space as we go into 2024 and 2025 with significant signs of industry recovery, but a potential over-saturation in entities, particularly in the streaming space. Paramount, in particular its Paramount+ service, has been at the core of several recent rumors as an ideal ‘target’ for acquisition.

This has been strengthened in recent weeks with speculation that RedBird Capital, in conjunction with Skydance Media, could be eying Sheri Redstone’s controlling stake in the Hollywood conglomerate. While neither entity has rushed to confirm these rumors, they’re likely behind the recent stock boost.

Rising Stock Price

On the back of these rumors, even without much confirmation from the involved entities, Paramount saw a 13% boost to its stock price, raising it by $1.91 to $16.94 at its peak. Should the Skydance rumors prove true, this would significantly boost its growing profile. From a humble start as Paramount co-producer, Skydance has managed to reinvent itself in recent years into a diversified studio covering everything from animation to sports and even some big-budget films and series with a general sci-fi and action focus.

This stock boost will be well-received by Paramount investors, as they’ve taken an overall share price hit in 2023 with ailing streaming and pay-tv subscriber numbers. While it is still too early to take the news as fact, we do expect to see some movement on the overall Paramount matter in 2024- highly likely including shuttering the loss-leading Paramount+ and potentially selling off of both Pluto TV and some of their linear channels.

ZEE5 Global Makes a Play for South East Asian Streaming Dominance in the US

Zee5’s Global Streaming Service will now aggregate several smaller Indian streamers for the US market in a push for dominance of that niche. Blake & Wang's entertainment attorney Los Angeles, Brandon Blake, shares the details.

Brandon Blake

New Languages, New Programming

The deal will also boost several South East Asian languages on the Zee5 Global streaming service, bringing together programming from Indian streaming services Simply South, Chaupal, Oho Gujarati, NammaFlix, iStream, and EPIC ON are already on board, with six more services to be added over the next few months. Their current plan is to announce a new service every month. This will be paid through the Zee5 platform as a single service, with personalized recommendations. Zee5 Global currently offers around 250,000 hours of acquired programming across TV shows, movies, and even some originals.

A Major Merger

This expansion will be under the newly branded Zee5 Global Add-ons options package and is another expansion of their service base in the face of their upcoming merger with Sony Pictures India’s business. They are targeting the ‘diaspora audience’ base heavily, with the intent to build language and culture-specific monetization opportunities to carve out a niche in the increasingly crowded streaming universe. Zee5 Global already has a reasonably strong domestic US presence, and they’re hoping to create a kind of ‘group pull’ for the brand that is more attractive than splitting marketing focus over a range of niche streaming apps.

While we focus mostly on the Hollywood and US entertainment markets, this has been a strong year for South Asian entertainment offerings, with some films even making it to a wider cinematic release here in the US. It will be interesting to see if Zee5 succeeds in their plans to centralize and commercialize that space for the domestic market, to bring it fully into line as a ‘contender’ for subscribers and advertisers alike to service its limited target demographics.

Berlin Festival Finds New Funding

The Berlin Film Festival has secured a key new pledge from the city of Berlin itself to offset the impact of previous budget cuts. Our entertainment attorney in the know from Blake & Wang P.A., Brandon Blake, has all the details. 

Brandon Blake

$2.2 Million (€2 million) Boost

The Berlinale will be receiving $2.2 million directly from the city of Berlin over the next two years. This is intended to assist with offsetting the impact of some major cuts by Germany’s federal government that have shaken this cornerstone of the festival circuit this year. 

When the budget cut was announced this summer, we saw some major cash-conserving measures put in place by the festival, including cuts to the number of films it can screen (capped at 200, vs this year’s 287) and axing some full sections. The cuts were even blamed for the exit of some high-profile co-directors for next year. 

Key Financier Change

The German Federal Culture Ministry is the primary bankroller of the Berlinale, costing about $11.8M annually. While there has been some additional funding available over the last 2 years, which has now come to an end.

The new cash injection from the city itself is likely to come from the state lottery initially and is expected to become part of the regular city budget in years to come. The current Governing Mayor of the coalition government there has long been a vocal supporter of the festival. He has also put other budgetary components towards expanding the wider cinema infrastructure in the capital city for a total of $5.5 million (€5 million), with $1.1 million (€1 million) earmarked for 2024 expansion. 

The city will be offering this funding in time for the next Berlinale, slated to run between Feb 15 and Feb 25, 2024.