For my first Word on the Street story of 2023, I wanted to talk about a piece of movie news that revolves around a topic I don’t often talk about: movie theatres. When I came across a video from Clownfish TV’s Youtube channel discussing AMC Theatres’ recently announced business model, I felt it was worth bringing up on 18 Cinema Lane. In the video, ‘Desperate AMC Theatres to Charge More for GOOD Seats?!’, Kneon and Geeky Sparkles address the theatre chain’s newest decision to have separate pricing for seats, based on where they’re located in the auditorium. Quoting an article from comicbook.com, Geeky Sparkles and Kneon break down the three tiers that will determine a seat’s price-tag. This article lists these tiers as “Value Sightline” (“seats in the front row of the auditorium, as well as select ADA seats in each auditorium”), “Standard Sightline” (“seats that are the most common in auditoriums and are available for the traditional cost of a ticket”), and “Preferred Sightline” (“seats in the middle of the auditorium and are priced at a premium to standard sightline seats”). Kneon and Geeky Sparkles speculate AMC Theatres is adopting this business plan to encourage more movie-goers to sign up for their AMC Stubs A-List program. Despite the theatre chain “hemorrhaging money right and left”, Kneon believes “other theatres are probably gonna adopt this”.
As someone who talks about movie news from time to time, I’m thankful to have discovered some great topics on Clownfish TV’s Youtube Channel. However, I respectfully disagree with Kneon’s view of the influence AMC Theatres’ latest decision will have on other theatres. When this Word on the Street story is published, the economy AMC Theatres exists in is not strong. Almost every day, there are articles chronicling the closure of multiple retail shops. With that in mind, movie-goers may, more often than not, view the theatre experience as a luxury. To save money on this pastime, audience members could either seek out a theatre that doesn’t charge extra for seats or wait to rent a theatrical movie and watch it at home. I believe AMC Theatres’ tier pricing for their seats will hurt their company more than help. I wouldn’t be surprised if, within this year, there are articles reporting on AMC Theatres closing several cinemas.
What are your thoughts on this piece of movie news? Is your theatre affected by AMC Theatres newest business model? Let me know in the comment section!
Have fun at the movies!
Sally Silverscreen
If you’re interested in reading the comicbook.com article that was referenced in the Clownfish TV video and my post, here’s the link:
When I write a Word on the Street story, I sometimes talk about stories that were covered on the Youtube channel, Clownfish TV. I not only like Kneon and Geeky Sparkle’s commentary, but I also learn about subjects I never would have known about before. So, when I watched one of their newer videos, I figured it would be an interesting topic to discuss on 18 Cinema Lane! In the video, ‘Elizabeth Banks Doing a BEANIE BABIES Movie?!’, my initial assumption was the movie being similar in execution to the 2014 hit, The Lego Movie. But as I watched the video, I learned the film would revolve around the popularity of Beanie Babies in the ‘90s. While analyzing an article from The Hollywood Reporter, Kneon and Geeky share how actors Elizabeth Banks and Zach Galifianakis are going to headline a film based on The Great Beanie Baby Bubble: Mass Delusion and the Dark Side of Cute, a book written by Zac Bissonnette. According to the original article, the movie will focus on the production and consumption of the classic stuffed animals, including “a celebration of the women who helped power Ty Warner’s success”.
Tiger stuffed animal image created by alesia17 at freeimages.com. “FreeImages.com/alesia17.”
While watching Kneon and Geeky’s video, ‘Elizabeth Banks Doing a BEANIE BABIES Movie?!’, they brought up a documentary titled Beanie Mania. In this documentary, the rise and fall of Beanie Babies are explored. From “a lot of drama” to “the one woman even has a rap song she wrote” (referring to a rap song dedicated to the Beanie Babies), Beanie Mania presents the perspectives of those heavily affected by the iconic toy. As I watched Kneon and Geeky’s video and listened to their commentary, I couldn’t help but feel Elizabeth and Zach’s project was a re-hash of the HBO Max documentary. When speculating which direction the film was headed, Geeky says “I think their take on it’s going to be very similar, cause I think the one guy that wrote the book they’re basing it on was in the documentary”. With this and everything else said, it makes me wonder what is the point of Elizabeth and Zach’s movie? What can they offer to the conversation that Beanie Mania didn’t? Personally, I’d like to see a documentary about Tickle Me Elmo, the coveted toy that dominated 1996.
Speaking of re-hashed ideas, this next story I found in Kneon and Geeky’s video, as it was an advertised article on Deadline’s website. According to the aforementioned site, Justin Kroll writes about a “remake of the classic thriller To Catch a Thief” in the pre-production stages. The Paramount Pictures project has recruited Gal Gadot to star in the film and produce it. Eileen Jones will pen the script, with Jaron Varsano and Neal Moritz also producing the movie. Similar to what I said about the Beanie Baby film, I wonder what the point of this remake is? I know you can ask that about any cinematic production. But what can this creative team bring to the table that Alfred Hitchcock and his team hasn’t already? Personally, I think the remake seems unnecessary.
What are your thoughts on these movie news stories? Are you anticipating any of the projects mentioned in this article? Let me know in the comment section!
For this month’s Word on the Street story, I was only going to talk about 2019’s ‘The Lion King’ receiving a second film. However, when I heard about Cineworld’s recent decision, I just had to talk about it. Yesterday, on October 4th, Chris Lindahl from IndieWire reported “a temporary suspension” is being placed on the United States and United Kingdom locations of Regal Cinemas. Chris also said this plan would start on October 8th. Cineworld, the parent company of Regal Cinemas, claimed in an official statement the closure “is not a decision we made lightly”. This closure being temporary is a silver lining. However, I do feel bad for Regal’s employees and patrons.
Others have also talked about this story, including Todd Russell from Movies, Movies, Movies, and Geeky and Kneon from Clownfish TV. Todd’s take on this piece of movie news brings up a good point. In his article, Todd questions Regal’s practices for new releases, asking the question, “if you temporarily ignore the theatrical window and embrace more direct to streaming titles you can show plenty of new movies, so why won’t you try that?” Here’s another question that should be asked; why would Regal decide to re-release Alita: Battle Angel if they had even the slightest concern of their theaters staying open? Until newer blockbuster titles can come back to the big screen, Regal could have shown older films to keep themselves afloat. While this idea has been adopted by other theaters, it seems like it would have been a win-win for Alita’s fans and Regal. According to Clownfish TV’s Kneon, an online campaign created by fans of Alita revolved around their effort to have Alita: Battle Angel re-released. Three days later, on October 3rd, Kneon announced the campaign was successful, with his video featuring a tweet from Regal Cinemas about the news. Regal’s tweet was posted on October 2nd, two days before IndieWire’s ChrisLindahl reported on Cineworld’s decision. Alita: Battle Angel was originally scheduled for an October 30th re-release.
Clownfish TV’s videos (you can type these titles in the search bar on Youtube): ‘Alita: Battle Angel RE-RELEASED to Theaters? Fans Want #RereleaseAlita to Trend!’, ‘Alita Army VICTORIOUS! Theaters to #ReReleaseAlita Beginning this Month!’, and ‘Regal Cinemas SHUT DOWN! Hollywood Will Take YEARS to Recover!’ (these videos may contain language)
In this screenshot I took with my phone, Regal’s official tweet about Alita: Battle Angel‘s re-release is shown. The circle and arrow in the picture stress the dates of the tweet’s release and Alita: Battle Angel‘s planned re-release. Screenshot taken by me, Sally Silverscreen.
While this isn’t a recent piece of movie news, it’s one I haven’t seen a lot of people talk about. Last week, Rebecca Rubin and Brent Lang from Variety revealed the 2019 remake of Disney’s The Lion King will receive a second film. The two authors said “the new movie will partly focus on the early years of Mufasa”. The screenwriter from the 2019 movie, Jeff Nathanson, will join the team, with Barry Jenkins directing the film. Since we’re on the subject of The Lion King, I’d like to share one of Rafiki’s quotes from the 1994 film; “Oh yes, the past can hurt. But from the way I see it, you can either run from it, or…learn from it”. With this new creative decision, it seems like Disney is running from their past, especially when it features mistakes. Two years ago, the studio released Solo: A Star Wars Story, a movie that revolved around the early years of Han Solo. The film’s overall box office results were $393,151,347, making it one of the lowest grossing films in the franchise’s history. Solo: A Star Wars Story contributed to a problem Disney has had for years; choosing not to tell newer stories in favor of tried-and-true properties. Even though this new chapter of The Lion King is in pre-production, Disney’s choices show they are refusing to follow Simba’s lead by learning from their past.
In a recent video, Kneon and Geeky Sparkles, from Clownfish TV, reported the news that Kevin Mayer will be stepping down as the CEO of Disney+. While no reason for this decision was provided, it should be noted that Kevin will now be the Chief Executive of the musical app, Tik Tok. He will also be the Chief Operating Officer of the company that owns Tik Tok, ByteDance. To fill his position at Disney, Rebecca Campbell has now been named Chairman of Disney’s Direct-To-Consumer and International, the role that allows her to oversee Disney+. Despite being the former President of Disneyland, she does have experience working with Disney’s streaming service. According to Geeky Sparkles, “she set up Disney+ overseas, she was key in that”. Ken Potrock will now be the President of Disneyland and Kareem Daniel will take Ken’s place as President of Consumer Products. Currently, it’s unknown who will take Kareem’s position as President of Walt Disney Imagineering/Operations/Product Creation/Publishing/Games. Also, Josh D’Amaro is the new Chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products, the position Bob Chapek left behind when he became Disney’s CEO. Since Josh is giving up his title as President of Walt Disney World in order to take this new position, Jeff Vahle will take his place. Taking Jeff’s place as President of Disney Signature Experiences is now Thomas Mazloum. Through this confusing domino effect, both Kneon and Geeky bring up concerns that I couldn’t agree with more. Kneon thinks these new leadership choices are a bad idea because he sees it as history repeating itself. He brings up how the President of Disney Parks West, Catherine Powell, was let go by Disney last September. Geeky asks, “is any of these changes going to equate to actually, you know, better changes in the parks and better changes, you know, in the Disney company in general or are we just going to get the same old shit, different day”? Kneon responds by saying “Nobody’s in their position long enough to make any kind of a difference”. At this point, it’s difficult to tell how these leadership changes will affect Disney’s outcome. However, I do agree with Kneon’s point. To bring up one example, Bob Chapek has been the CEO for less than six months. But, from my perspective, I find it challenging to think of anything significant he’s done in his new position.
Here are the sources featured in this story:
Type “Disney Plus Boss JUMPS SHIP for TikTok! Disney Leadership PANIC Shuffle?!” into Youtube search bar or visit Clownfish TV’s official Youtube channel (there is some language in this video)
Trevor Donovan, an actor from Hallmark, appeared as a guest on a recent episode of the Deck The Hallmark podcast. While on the episode, he shared two projects that are currently in the works, but are not completed due to the Coronavirus. The first one was described as an “indie film/Hallmark acquisition that will be shooting in Hawaii”. For the second project, Trevor says it will “hopefully be able to parlay that right into a Hallmark movie in Hawaii after that, so two back to back”. None of these projects are confirmed as belonging to Hallmark, as of May 2020. However, it was indicated in the interview that the potential is there. As far as I know, Hallmark has never filmed a movie or had a movie take place in the Aloha State before. This would introduce their audience to a newer landscape than is not usually showcased. While the plot for both projects is currently unknown, I hope one of these is a Christmas film. Hallmark has never created a Christmas movie that takes in Hawaii. Also, it would be nice to hear Trevor sing Mele Kalikimaka.
Here is the link to the Deck the Hallmark podcast:
What are your thoughts on these pieces of movie news? Do you have any thoughts about what Trevor’s upcoming movies could be about? Please let me know in the comment section!
Before I start this Word on the Street article, I’d like to remind everyone that Thursday, April 16th, is the last day to cast your vote for the Best Movie and Story of the 2nd Annual Gold Sally Awards! The last award will be posted on the April 17th! Here is the link to the poll:
For a while, there has been a rumor about Sam Raimi directing Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. I choose not to talk about this story because, at the time, it was a rumor that hadn’t been confirmed or denied. Now, the director himself has confirmed his involvement in the upcoming Marvel film! Jim Vejvoda, from IGN, reports that this news was first “confirmed by the project’s original director, Scott Derrickson, in a social media post wishing Raimi well with the film”. But, prior to confirming this news himself, Sam stated “I loved Doctor Strange as a kid, but he was always after Spider-Man and Batman for me, he was probably at number five for me of great comic book characters”. The news seems to spark positive reactions from fans, including Josiah from Geeks + Gamers. In a video titled ‘Sam Raimi will Direct Doctor Strange 2 | Marvel’s Best Decision in a Long Time!’, Josiah says “I think that Sam Raimi is, just, the perfect choice for this because he does have a background in horror. I think that he will be great for this. He does know how to handle that type of genre very well and he’s done comic book movies before as well. So, obviously, he has the experience and the know-how to blend these together”.
Type ‘Sam Raimi will Direct Doctor Strange 2 | Marvel’s Best Decision in a Long Time!’ into Youtube’s search bar or visit the official Geeks + Gamers Youtube channel
In a Word on the Street story two months ago, I talked about how Bob Iger stepped down as Disney’s CEO to become the executive chairman of the company. Despite not being the company’s leader anymore, The New York Times feels Bob will save Disney during the days of the Coronavirus’ presence. On April 12th, Ben Smith reports that “Mr. Iger has effectively returned to running the company”, saying that “Mr. Iger smoothly reasserted control”. While companies around the world are doing whatever they can to survive, Disney’s CEO situation now comes across, in retrospect, like a big reactionary move. Two people that feel similarly are Kneon and Geeky Sparkles from Clownfish TV. In a video titled ‘Disney Fights to LIVE! LAYOFFS in Disney World! Bob Iger in Charge!’, Geeky expresses that The New York Times article says “that they [The New York Times article] did mention he [Bob Iger] is not CEO”, while referencing an article on her blog called Pirates and Princesses. However, both Geeky and Kneon question where Bob Chapek has been during this time, with Kneon saying that “Bob Chapek, sort of, got sidelined”. On this topic, I agree with Kneon and Geeky. Anytime I watched their videos about Disney’s business decisions during the time of the Coronavirus, Bob Iger has been the one to give the official statements, not Bob Chapek. In fact, it makes me wonder what exactly Bob Chapek has done as Disney’s CEO? While The New York Times article focuses on Bob Iger’s perspective about how different Disney will be after the Coronavirus, Geeky speculates if Disney regrets making their CEO decision, saying “I bet Disney wishes, God, they just waited a couple more months to make that announcement, the switch, because now they just look stupid”.
Type ‘Disney Fights to LIVE! LAYOFFS in Disney World! Bob Iger in Charge!’ into Youtube’s search bar or visit the official Clownfish TV Youtube channel (there is some language in this video)
Because of the Coronavirus, Hallmark’s schedule was been thrown off-course. Movies that were originally announced have now moved release dates. One of these films is Picture Perfect Mysteries: Exit, Stage Death. When I reported on this movie back in February, the date for this film was set for May 17th. However, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries’ official website lists that date for the premiere of Aurora Teagarden Mysteries:Heist and Seek. In an episode on the Deck The Hallmark podcast, the film’s director, Ron Oliver, says that the film might premiere in August. Meanwhile, a new movie, titled When it Rains it Pours, has been listed on Hallmark Channel’s website! Here is the synopsis directly from the network’s website:
“After swearing off dating for a full year, Leah quickly learns her new commitment has made her a magnet for men.”
As of April 2020, the film has been given a release date of June 13th. It also stars Cindy Busby and Christopher Russell.
I’m going to be honest; I was not planning on writing a Word on the Street story today. But, yesterday, I discovered there was a movie news story involving Sebastian Stan. Being the Bucky fan that I am, I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to talk about it. With the Super Bowl just around the corner, I also wanted to discuss an interesting article that I happened to come across. Like I do with most Word on the Street stories, I will share the story and express my opinions. Now, let’s get started with the final Word on the Street story of January 2020!
I think this is the first time my Bucky Lego figure has made an appearance in a Word on the Street story! Screenshot taken by me, Sally Silverscreen.In my post, A Movie Blogger’s Christmas Wish-List 2019, I said that I wanted to see Disney and Marvel stop treating Bucky like an afterthought. It looks like I’m not the only person who is tired of seeing this happen. In recent videos from Clownfish TV and Geeks + Gamers, it was reported that Sebastian Stan, who portrays Bucky Barnes in the MCU, shared his displeasure toward Marvel’s treatment of the character in a subtle but creative way. Kneon and Geeky Sparkles, creators of Clownfish TV, and Ryan, a contributor of Geeks + Gamers, talked about an Instagram post of Sebastian’s that indicated his feelings. In this post, Sebastian adds a blushing emoji over a picture of Bucky and Steve with the caption “Together until the end of the line”. Under that image, one person expressed their dislike over the way Steve’s story played out in Avengers: Endgame. In both videos, Kneon, Geeky, and Ryan mention that John Boyega, star of Disney’s Star Wars trilogy, responded to Sebastian’s post by saying “Welcome Mr. Stan” on Twitter. If Sebastian’s post was meant to express his views on how Bucky was treated in the MCU, then I’m glad he spoke up, even it was just through emojis. At the end of the day, honesty and being yourself will get you so much farther in life than trying to be everyone’s cup of tea. As Albus Dumbledore, from the Harry Potter series, once said, “It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities”. Sebastian’s choice to speak his mind will, hopefully, earn respect from fans and appreciators of cinema who just want quality story-telling and well-crafted characters.
You can watch the videos I referenced in this story by typing “Sebastian Stan Throws Shade At Disney, John Boyega Welcomes Him To The Club!” and “John Boyega, Sebastian Stan Team Up AGAINST DISNEY?!” into Youtube’s search bar. If you do choose to watch these videos, I just want to let you know that they do contain language. You can also visit these links:
With the Super Bowl coming this weekend, one of the most important pieces of the puzzle are the movie trailers. Yesterday, I came across an article that felt like a fitting topic for this week’s Word on the Street story. In an article from CinemaBlend, Nick Evans writes about the steep cost of commercial spots for this year’s Super Bowl. It’s said that “a 30-second TV spot airing during this weekend’s Super Bowl LIV between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs carries an eye-watering price tag of $5.6 million”. Nick also says that this new price is “roughly $186,666 per second and a $400,000 increase from the $5.2 million a spot cost just last year”. To save money within their marketing budgets, various studios are choosing to show their movie trailers before and after the game. With this choice, these trailers still have the ability to captivate the attention of social media, as the article says. However, some studios might also show their trailers during the game. The three studios that Nick expects to show trailers are Disney, Paramount, and Universal. While reading through this article, I noticed some of the movie titles belonged to animated films. When watching the Super Bowl in years past, I’ve primarily seen trailers for action-packed or big-budget movies. By having animated films take the stage, it creates a variety among the type of movies that get advertised and helps break the stigma of animated films being “just for kids”. Another thing I noticed was how some of these titles have already started their marketing campaigns. Nick reports that Sonic the Hedgehog’s trailer can already be seen. There has also been a teaser trailer and poster for Fast & Furious 9. While the article doesn’t mention either piece of marketing, Annlyel, from Annlyel Online, talks about the poster in a recent article! You can read about it here:
What are your thoughts on this Word on the Street article? Which trailer do you hope makes a Super Bowl appearance? Please tell me in the comment section!
Yes, it’s been four months since I last posted a Word on the Street story. While looking through my Word on the Street posts from this year, I noticed that all of them were about Hallmark related projects. I don’t want to be a movie blogger that just talks about one thing. So, I took a short break to find interesting pieces of movie news that had nothing to do with Hallmark. Yesterday, I found a story that was quite fascinating. In a video from the Youtube channel, Clownfish TV, Kneon and Geeky Sparkles, the hosts of the video, talk about the various films from 20th Century Fox that Disney was planning on not greenlighting. Because Disney purchased the aforementioned studio, they inherited a lot of movie titles. Some of them hadn’t even gone into production yet. In this post, I will discuss these titles as well as my thoughts about them. Now, as the saying goes, “absence makes the heart grow fonder”!
In a video titled “Disney CANCELS Fox Films! Blue Sky Studios Gets Disney ‘DISCIPLINE!’”, Kneon and Geeky Sparkles, two of the creators of the Youtube channel, Clownfish TV, discuss some of the Fox titles that Disney will not be developing, as well as the articles that reported them. The first title that Disney eliminated, according to Collider, is an animated film called “Mouse Guard”. I’m not familiar with this particular project or its source material. Kneon and Geeky, however, were more knowledgeable about the subject, even going so far as to share the film’s production status. Geeky states that “you cannot have a competing mouse”, indicating that the only mouse that’s worth Disney’s attention is their one and only, Mickey. If this were true, that would make the company look a little bit hypocritical, especially since they’ve created beloved characters that were also mice. Some examples are Gus and Jaq from Cinderella, Roquefort from The Aristocats, Bernard and Miss Bianca from The Rescuers, Jake from The Rescuers Down Under, and the cast of characters from The Great Mouse Detective. In another article that was featured in the video, this time from Screen Geek, Kneon and Geeky examine the short list of films that will, probably, never see the light of day. These titles are Flash Gordon, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Chronicle 2, McClane, The Sims Movie, Assassin’s Creed 2, Mega Man, and Magic: The Gathering. I’m, honestly, not heartbroken that these films got cancelled. Most of the projects on the list sound like unnecessary sequels or reboots/remakes. Even Geeky and Kneon weren’t that upset about these films being cancelled. This particular article featured a link to a Reddit page that listed even more movie titles, which Kneon and Geeky also talked about. The first section of the article listed films that had a chance of not getting scrapped. While looking through these titles, Geeky expressed interest in seeing the Zorro reboot, currently titled Z. In my opinion, none of the movies on this list sound intriguing enough to make me want to pay theater admission for them. The next section listed movie titles that were not getting eliminated. When Geeky and Kneon were looking through the list, Kneon had a feeling that a film titled Nimona would either get scrapped or be placed on Disney’s new streaming service, Disney+. His reasoning was because the movie is, apparently, going to be animated by Blue Sky Animation, a division of Fox that Disney is disciplining (which, according to Kneon, means “budget cuts”). This is the first time I had heard about this project, so it’s not a title that I’m emotionally attached to.
While searching through the extensive list of film titles on Reddit, there was one movie that I didn’t see in the article. Back in March, I participated in the Book Adaptation Tag. In that post, I said that one of the “book movies” I was looking forward to was Words on Bathroom Walls. According to IMDB, this film is in post-production. Based on the limited amount of information I was able to find, it doesn’t seem like this movie has a distributor yet. Despite this, the fact that Words on Bathroom Walls wasn’t even a part of the conversation was something I found surprising. If this specific movie were included on the list, I’m guessing that it would have been saved from cancellation due to its production status. Hopefully, Words on Bathroom Walls will get a distributor sooner rather than later.
What are your thoughts on this piece of movie news? Which movie would you want to save from being scrapped? Tell me in the comment section!
Have fun at the movies!
Sally Silverscreen
If you want to check out the sources that I referenced in this article, you can watch the video by visiting Clownfish TV’s Youtube channel or typing “Disney CANCELS Fox Films! Blue Sky Studios Gets Disney ‘DISCIPLINE!’” into Youtube’s search bar. The link to the Reddit article is in the video’s description. You can also visit these links:
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18 Cinema Lane 