Netflix And The WGA Are Disputing Over How Much Its Writers Are Paid

Netflix And The WGA Are Disputing Over How Much Its Writers Are Paid

Last year was perhaps Netflix’s most successful yet when it comes to its original films, with Roma netting Oscar wins and movies like Bird Box and To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before proving extremely popular. Now the streaming service’s original films are the subjects of a new dispute with the Writer’s Guild of America over how much its writers are paid.

According to Deadline, the WGA has filed an arbitration claim against Netflix over the residuals it says are owed to the union’s writers of 33 of the streaming service’s original movies. These were Netflix original films that were released in theaters to qualify for awards contention at the same time or close to it that they debuted on the streaming service itself.

The WGA’s dispute with Netflix is over the manner in which Netflix applies residuals formulas to its original films. The residuals for the original films owed to the writers are calculated based on licensing fees. Netflix pays itself to license the films to stream on its platform and the crux of the issue is the way in which Netflix allocates these licensing fees.

Because these films are being released in theaters for awards consideration, they are being licensed for the streaming services and by the sound of it, the WGA thinks that Netflix is handling its licensing fees and calculating residuals in a fashion that is shortchanging the writers who are owed more money than they are being paid.

A whopping 51 Netflix original movies were made under WGA contracts last year alone and the growth of the simultaneous streaming and theatrical release model means that the result of this arbitration claim could impact other streaming services if the WGA wins here. With Amazon, Hulu and Apple also releasing original films in theaters in the quest for golden statues, they too could be targets of the WGA over this issue.

It is interesting how this dovetails with the recent tumult over whether or not Netflix movies and those of other streaming services should be eligible for Oscars after qualifying for contention with limited theatrical runs. Director Steven Spielberg is seemingly against it, thinking that streaming movies should compete for Emmys, not Oscars, because of his belief in the importance of the theatrical experience and a desire to preserve it.

These are just some of the issues that arise in an industry that has been shaken up by the explosion of streaming services. At one point streaming service movies were just for the small screen, but with some movies from Netflix and others now getting to shine on the big screen, the waters get ever muddier and there are no clear answers because these are all new issues.

These conversations and disputes will only become louder and more important because of the increasing share of the industry streaming services command. Netflix alone plans to produce some 90 original movies this year.

To keep track of all the biggest movies coming to theaters in 2019, check out our release schedule and take a look at our guide to see what's headed to Netflix this month.

Why The John Wick Franchise Is Better Than Mission: Impossible

Why The John Wick Franchise Is Better Than Mission: Impossible

There is a general consensus among many movie fans, as well as a lot of film critics, that the best modern action movie franchise is the Mission: Impossible series. Tom Cruise has taken action to the next level by not only performing all his own stunts, but performing some practical stunts on screen like we've never seen before.

I would never claim that what Tom Cruise has accomplished in the Mission: Impossible franchise isn't amazing. It absolutely is. However, while Tom Cruise climbing the world's tallest building is phenomenal on its own, as a franchise, I actually find the John Wick movies to be far superior in many ways. Here are some reasons why.

John Wick Is More Human

It's true that, for the most part, both John Wick and Ethan Hunt are essentially superheroes. They are men of incredible talent and skill who are successful to a ludicrous degree in everything they do. However, I find John Wick to simply be a much more relatable character.

When we first meet Mr. Wick, he's not busy murdering a room full of assassins. He's in his house, alone, mourning. The first thing that we learn about Wick is his weakness and vulnerability This is important, because for the rest of the movie he is running around murdering rooms full of assassins, but now we can better relate to him.

By contrast, Ethan Hunt is a near perfect superspy who free climbs dangerous mountains alone for fun in his free time. The franchise has done a better job of humanizing him in more recent films, but it's been working backwards. It made him the invincible hero first and that's just not as relatable.

It Has Superior World-Building

The first thing that jumped out at me about the John Wick franchise was the excellent way it created the world in which Wick and the other characters lived. The idea that this whole world of professional killers is happening all around us in plain sight is incredibly entertaining. There's a serious lack of expository dialogue as well. Instead, the film just drops you into the world and lets you understand how it works as you go along.

Nobody tells us where the Continental hotel comes from or where its traditions originated. It's just there; one assumes it always has been. Because the characters can navigate this world with ease, it comes across as normal to us and we learn what we need to know by watching what happens.

We don't even need the explanation of who John Wick is that the first movie gives us. Everything we need to know about the level of badass we're talking about here is expressed in the dialogue between two other characters. The reaction spells it all out.

The Mission: Impossible franchise isn't without its own world-building, specifically as it pertains to the IMF itself, but for the most part the IMF just feels like any spy agency in the real world. I enjoy the more fantastic elements of John Wick.

There's A Cohesive Story

One of the things that set the Mission: Impossible movies apart was the way that each installment was handled by a new director. This let each one take the property in a different direction and use it to try and do something different. This was a great idea and it gave us a lot of different flavors of Mission: Impossible to enjoy, and also a John Woo movie.

Unfortunately, one negative side effect was that each movie feels so different that they barely feel like they're part of the same franchise. Only in the last couple films have we seen real sequels that feel like they belong together, and that's because Christopher McQuarrie has been overseeing things.

By comparison, the John Wick films are so tightly woven together, the second film follows almost immediately after the first and we know the same will be true of John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum. The entire trilogy takes place over a matter of days. Each event that happens follows directly on the events that came before. The events of Chapter 2 happen because of what happened in the first movie. Parabellum's plot is a consequence of Chapter 2. The reason that the following installments are called chapters is because they really are just pieces of a longer narrative.

More Visceral Action

Action scenes are largely a matter of taste and the type of action that one person loves might not work for another, but personally, I'm a fan of action that is simple and personal. Give me a good sword fight or fist fight, when well shot and choreographed, and I'm in heaven.

Mission: Impossible certainly isn't without this sort of action. The bathroom fight scene in Mission: Impossible - Fallout is a thing of beauty and my favorite part of that film. However, the rest of the action in that movie involves Tom Cruise doing HALO jumps and flying helicopters. They're big, amazing moments, but I find them to be so big that the character of the moments gets lost.

John Wick, by comparison is almost nothing but these close quarters hand-to-hand fights and gun battles. Everything feels more intimate, and therefore, more tense. When John Wick gets thrown off the balcony of the dance club you don't just see him hit the ground with a thud, you feel that impact.

John Wick isn't about one massive set piece stunt, it's about a collection of stylish, perfectly choreographed action sequences, where each one ever so slightly out does the one that came before building to an epic finale.

It's Got Style For Days

While the action of John Wick may feel more real, the rest of the world, to be sure, does not. The world of assassins that exists around our own is somewhat fantastical, that's true, but that's what makes it so much fun.

It exists out of time, with operators using an old fashioned switchboard and typing out contracts on vintage typewriters. Contracts are sent out on the modern cell phone network, but they come from a computer that looks like it came out of a silicon valley garage in the 1970s. The timeless element adds so much to the overall feel of the story.

The fight scenes are an extension of this style. Everything in them is beautifully choreographed. It's like watching a big song and dance number in a very bloody musical. Watching all the players perform their steps to perfection is a joy to watch.

I still love the Mission: Impossible franchise. I look forward to the two additional films that are coming from Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie, and I can't wait to see what they have in store for us next. There's no question we'll see some epic stunts. However, outside of those epic stunts, I'm just not sure there's going to be enough in the story to keep me excited when the big stunt is over.

Instead I'm much more excited to see John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum, and if there are even more chapters in John Wick's story left to tell, I'll be even more excited for those. I find John Wick to be a more compelling character, who also is really good at killing lots of people in very pretty ways.

Charlie Says Trailer Debuts Matt Smith's Charles Manson

Charlie Says Trailer Debuts Matt Smith's Charles Manson

Is Matt Smith in Star Wars: Episode IX or isn’t he? I suppose we’ll have to wait until that film’s first trailer or its December release to know for sure, but in the meantime, the former Doctor Who star will definitely be showing up in Charlie Says, where he plays someone who unquestionably belongs to the dark side. Take a look below to see the trailer for Charlie Says and see the debut of Matt Smith’s Charles Manson.

Charles Manson doesn’t show up for almost a minute into this trailer, but his presence is felt from the start as we see some of what befell those who followed him into the darkness. When Matt Smith appears as the cult leader, he really looks the part: bearded, longhaired and charming, and along with Hannah Murray’s Leslie Van Houten, we see the appeal of what he’s selling and how he roped people in.

The kumbaya lovefest he is pitching bears quite the resemblance to Chris Hemsworth's character in Bad Times at the El Royale, so you can see from whom that film took its inspiration. That lovefest turns as the things Manson is saying begin to have seriously dark connotations. When Grace Van Dien’s Sharon Tate opens the door and Charles Manson is just standing there, Matt Smith, more known for his roles as good guys, gives off some seriously creepy vibes.

Matt Smith has a magnetic presence and that is crucial to this film that will explore both how Charles Manson convinced people to kill for him in the first place and the powerful hold he had on these women long after they were sent to prison for their crimes. He can’t just be a crazy creep, we have to be drawn in by the actor’s portrayal and see how he appealed to his followers and they wanted to believe in him.

The book The Long Prison Journey of Leslie van Houten: Life Beyond the Cult, written by Karlene Faith (here played by The Walking Dead’s Meritt Wever, serves as inspiration for Charlie Says. That gives this film an interesting perspective as it looks at these women who committed horrible crimes as victims themselves, who made excuses and rationalized their behavior as a result of Charles Manson’s manipulation and their loyalty to him.

We see that in this trailer, especially with Sosie Bacon's Patricia Krenwinkel clinging to something that captivated her not wanting to take responsibility or acknowledge the truth. Also, Hannah Murray looks to be giving quite the performance as Leslie Van Houten as she come to grips with the truth of what she did and who Charles Manson was years later.

Charlie Says comes from director Mary Harron who created one of the staples of the serial killer genre in American Psycho. Most recently Harron directed episodes of Netflix’s Alias Grace.

Since 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the Manson murders, Charlie Says is just one of the cinematic looks at the notorious crimes that both puzzle and fascinate to this day. Actress Hilary Duff stars in The Haunting of Sharon Tate, due out April 5, and the second season of Netflix’s Mindhunter will also feature Charles Manson. In an interesting twist, the actor starring as the cult leader in Mindhunter, Damon Herriman, will also play Manson in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

Charlie Says arrives in theaters on May 10 and on VOD a week later on May 17. Check out our 2019 release schedule to keep track of all the biggest movies headed your way this year.

Annabelle 3 Has An Official Title, And It’s Great

Annabelle 3 Has An Official Title, And It’s Great

Although the main Conjuring film series began in 2013 and will return with its third installment next year, this horror franchise became a proper cinematic universe in 2014 with the release of Annabelle, centered on the eponymous creepy doll introduced in The Conjuring. She returned in 2016 for Annabelle: Creation and will be back again this summer, and we’ve now learned that Annabelle 3 will be officially, and fittingly, titled Annabelle Comes Home, as you’ll see below.

At first glance, Annabelle Comes Home may not seem like a particularly special title, but when looking at where this movie’s set within the Conjuring timeline, it makes sense. It was revealed last year that the threequel will be set after the beginning portion of The Conjuring, with Annabelle being kept in the museum of Ed and Lorraine Warren, the protagonists of the Conjuring movies. So after two movies of seeing Annabelle’s horrifying exploits in years past, she’s finally “returning” to the family that launched her film career, although within the Conjuring chronology, not much time has passed.

It’s nice to finally know what the third Annabelle movie’s being called, and this video is certainly spooky. Still, with only three months to go until the movie’s release, ideally fans will be treated to a trailer relatively soon. In a summer season that’s packed with various genre offerings, Warner Bros will want to start showing off footage from this latest Conjuring franchise fright fest to get more people hyped for its release.

The first Annabelle spinoff took place in 1967 and depicted how Annabelle Higgins died and the demon impersonating her spirit going on a killing spree, eventually inserting itself into that porcelain While met with mixed-to-negative reception, Annabelle did quite well for itself commercially, making $257 million worldwide off a $6.5 million budget. Annabelle: Creation wound the clock back even further to 1955 and show how Annabelle, originally known as Janice, became demonically possessed. Creation earned a much better critical reception than its predecessor and made $206.5 million worldwide off a $15 million budget.

For the third spinoff, Annabelle Comes Home will see Annabelle terrorizing the Warrens’ daughter, Judy, in the family’s home, and the doll’s presence will have an effect on the other supernatural artifacts being kept under lock and key. Along with Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga reprising Ed and Lorraine, respectively, Annabelle Comes Home’s main cast includes Mckenna Grace as Judy, Madison Iseman as Mary Ellen, Katie Strife as Daniela, Stephen Backehart as Thomas, Steve Coulter as Father Gordon Paul Dean as Mr Palmeri and Luca Luhan as Anthony Rios.

Directed and written by Gary Dauberman, with Conjuring mastermind James Wan producing alongside Peter Safran, Annabelle Comes Home scares its way into theaters on June 28, so keep checking back with CinemaBlend for continuing coverage. For now, don’t forget to look through our 2019 release schedule to learn what other movies come out later this year.

Why Didn't Anyone Go See Missing Link?

Why Didn't Anyone Go See Missing Link?

There's all this talk about Hellboy under-performing in its opening weekend -- the hellish, going up in flames jokes write themselves -- taking third place below both Shazam! and Little. But Missing Link would've been happy with such a finish. Instead, it opened in 9th place, even after playing on more screens than fellow newcomers Hellboy, Little, and After.

Missing Link only made $5.8 million in its opening weekend at the domestic box office. That's the lowest opening yet for Laika. The stop-motion animated adventure -- starring the voice talents of Hugh Jackman, Zach Galifianakis, and Zoe Saldana -- had been tracking for $8 million-$12 million, per THR. That's still not a wow, but this is worse.

So what happened?

Sometimes you can look to reviews. But not this time. Hellboy, After, and Little were all trounced by critics, with 15%, 13%, and 49% respective Rotten Tomatoes scores. Missing Link, on the other hand, has an 89% RT score with a still positive 74% audience score. Missing Link also earned a B+ CinemaScore from moviegoers polled opening night. That's the same score as Little, and higher than After's B and Hellboy's C.

So it wasn't bad reviews, which was probably a factor in turning people away from Hellboy. With Missing Link, I'd wager lack of publicity was a factor. I may not have been the target audience, but I saw very few ads for this movie. Then again, I could say the same for the romantic drama After, which opened above Missing Link with $6.2 million from 2,138 screens. That's a thousand fewer screens than Missing Link, which opened in 3,413 theaters.

Missing Link actually opened in about a hundred more theaters than Hellboy, and nearly a thousand more than Little. It had fewer than Shazam! but the per-screen average for Missing Link was only $1,712, vs. $5,838 for Shazam! this week, $5,811 for second place Little, and $3,638 for Hellboy.

Expect a lot of chatter about the Hellboy reboot and what that could mean, but I'm wondering what this could mean for the studio behind Oscar-nominated films Coraline, ParaNorman, The Boxtrolls, and Kubo and the Two Strings. Maybe the international box office will help.

None of the Laika films have been blockbusters, but worldwide Coraline made $124.6 million in 2009, with $75M of that from the domestic box office. Subsequent films made a bit less money, per Box Office Mojo. Kubo and the Two Strings has the lowest total so far with $69.9 worldwide -- $48M from domestic -- after its opening in 2016. Missing Link looks to be on track to end with less.

Missing Link could be one of those films that picks up as it goes along, but with Avengers: Endgame coming April 26, there isn't much time to build momentum. That thing is going to take over all screens. As we wait to see what happens from here, be sure to come back to CinemaBlend to check out our weekend box office roundup, and bookmark our 2019 movie schedule to keep up with everything headed to theaters this year.

The Top 5 Memorial Day Opening Weekends Of All Time

The Top 5 Memorial Day Opening Weekends Of All Time

It's strange to say "Happy Memorial Day weekend," considering the serious holiday. But it is known to be a big weekend for movie openings, and it's been a pretty happy weekend so far for Aladdin. The 2019 remake topped the weekend box office and, depending on how things go tomorrow (Monday, May 27), it has a strong chance of joining the list of Top 4-Day Memorial Day Weekends.

Aladdin has already cracked the top 10 Memorial Day weekend openings just from three days, but does it have a chance at the top 5? Here are the current top five, with this list just covering the domestic box office from the four-day Memorial Day weekend openings in their respective years:

1. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

Opening weekend: $139,802,190

The third film in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise came out May 25, 2007 and really broke the bank, at least at first. This is the most a film has made over Memorial Day weekend to date. Critics were harsh on At World's End, but fans embraced it with scores/grades and money. When all was said and done, it's total domestic and foreign gross was $963,420,425. That's certainly impressive, but it still placed it third on the list of Pirates movies, behind Dead Man's Chest and On Stranger Tides, which both cracked $1 billion worldwide.

2. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Opening weekend: $126,917,373

There were high hopes and expectations for the fourth Indiana Jones movie, which opened May 22, 2008. The movie was met with mixed reviews, and ultimately made $786,636,033 worldwide. There are more measured hopes, I'd say, for Indiana Jones 5, which is taking forever to get off the ground. But better to take the time to get it right than rush, I suppose.

3. X-Men: The Last Stand

Opening weekend: $122,861,157

As you can see, sequels rule when it comes to Memorial Day weekend. Once you've successfully launched a franchise, you can use the holiday weekend to serve eager fans the sequels. The Last Stand was the third movie in the X-Men film series, directly following X2. It came out in May 26, 2006 and faced mixed reviews -- which happens a lot when expectations are high. Ultimately, it made $459,359,555 total worldwide.

4. Fast & Furious 6

Opening weekend: $117,036,995

Fast & Furious 6 opened on May 24, 2013 to strong reviews. The first four movies in the franchise weren't embraced by critics, but it helped that Fast 6 came off the heels of Fast Five, which got even better reviews and was credited with injecting new life into the franchise. Worldwide, Fast 6 made $788,679,850, which puts it third overall behind Furious 7 and The Fate of the Furious (aka Fast 8).

5. X-Men: Days of Future Past

Opening weekend: $110,576,604

Yep, another X-Men. If we kept going, you'd see X-Men: Apocalypse on this list at #11 too. If it ain't broke, don't veer from the Memorial Day opening. Dark Phoenix is coming in a couple of weeks, but apparently it wasn't up to the challenge of Memorial Day 2019. Days of Future Past came out May 23, 2014 as the sequel to X-Men: First Class. It ended up making $747,862,775 worldwide, which places it third on the worldwide charts behind the two Deadpool movies.

There's a solid chance Aladdin will kick X-Men: Days of Future Past off Box Office Mojo's Memorial Day chart (which is not adjusted for inflation), but we'll have to wait and see how the final four-day numbers come in. And then the whole list could be shaken up again in 2020.

Mark Hamill Says Luke Didn’t Die A Virgin

Mark Hamill Says Luke Didn’t Die A Virgin

Through the entire Star Wars saga, fans have had a pretty good beat on exactly where Luke Skywalker has been at all times. The movies have shown everything from his birth to his death, and while there have been some time jumps installed in the storytelling, various exposition and material deemed canonical has filled in the gaps. Despite all of this, however, one question has continued to make fans scratch their heads: did Luke ever have sex?

Because the movies are aimed at audiences of all ages, it's not a subject that has specifically made its way into the movies - though it has been pointed out that Luke has never been shown to have any kind of on-screen romance. This has kept speculation alive, but now Mark Hamill has offered his two cents on the matter via his Twitter account:

Earlier today a Twitter user posed a question to her followers asking if Luke Skywalker died a virgin, and while he wasn't actually tagged in the post, Mark Hamill found it and addressed the topic from his own perspective. He offered that fans can really make up any version of events that they want based on the evidence presented, but according to his own view of the character and his personally-constructed backstory, Luke did at some point find an opportunity to have a sexual relationship.

Of course, knowing this opens up a whole lot of other questions that we may never get specific answers to - unless Mark Hamill decides to offer them at some point down the line. The big one, of course, is the identity of the person with whom Luke had sex - but speculation in that arena comes part in parcel with queries such as when they were together; if they were in a romantic relationship; and what happened between them both before and after the sexual encounter.

One can expect that this revelation will also add some fuel to the flame in the on-going conversation regarding the parentage of Daisy Ridley's Rey. While Star Wars: The Last Jedi told us who Rey's mom and dad were, there are some who continue to not accept the word of Adam Driver's Kylo Ren, and they have continued to wonder if the heroine might be Luke's offspring. Knowing that Luke did have sex at some point in his life does technically increase the chances of a closer familial relationship with Rey... but there is also still plenty of evidence out there that suggests that possibility is not really on the table (not to mention the fact that the statement makes it sound like the topic isn't going to be addressed in the upcoming Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker).

Right now this is all the information that we have to go on, but it's certainly a subject that could easily be fleshed out at some point in the future. Beyond the blockbuster movies there are still comics, novels, and television shows being produced at a constant rate, and there is every possibility that one of them will eventually address the subject of Luke's sexuality and sexual history. We'll just have to wait.