How can Apple’s streaming video service battle established competitors like Netflix? Simple: Buy a movie studio.
That’s the battle cry from certain Wall Street analysts, who suggest that Apple use its Scrooge McDuck-style cash pile to buy everything from Sony Pictures to Disney.
As sexy as that idea might sound on paper, however, in reality it would be a terrible idea. Here are three reasons why.
The best way for Apple’s upcoming streaming video service to compete against already established competitors like Netflix is to buy a movie studio, according to an industry analyst.
Apple is reportedly going to introduce its video service in the first half of this year, and the analyst recommends buying Sony Pictures, Lionsgate or another studio to increase its offerings.
The thing about robots in science fiction, especially recently, is that they’re often portrayed as living in a clean, distant future.
The brilliance of Neill Blomkamp is his gritty, dirty, realistic portrayal of the future, and he’s bringing us a new robot to live there, named Chappie.
Chappie, motion captured by Blomkamp favorite Sharlto Copley, is a gifted young robot, an artistic and emotional prodigy. In the trailer below, you can see how much of the real world Blomkamp sets around Chappie: He-Man on the television, a wristwatch on the main propellerhead kid that befriends the robot, and a variety of militaristic types trying to blow up the special kid.
Check it out.
We’ve been excited for iSteve, Funny or Die’s upcoming Steve Jobs movie, since it was announced on March 18, and with just under two weeks to go until its release, we’ve got its first teaser trailer. Check it out below.
jOBS, the biopic starring Ashton Kutcher and Josh Gad, is scheduled to hit theaters nationwide on April 19, just days after Apple celebrates its 37th anniversary. Kutcher will portray the Apple co-founder’s life between 1971 and 2000, covering his founding of the company in 1976, his ousting from it in 1985, and his return in 1996.
It seems Ashton Kutcher is delighted to be playing Steve Jobs in Mark Hulme’s upcoming movie, so much so that he has canceled all of his other projects and has already begun meeting with Steve’s friends to “get inside the voice.” Hulme reports that Kutcher has “poured himself” into the role that was “meant for him.”
New features have quietly been introduced to iTunes movies that allow users to search for specific words within a film’s script, and select their favorite clips to share with their friends through social networking sites. The features are being “quietly tested” in recent movies released by Sony Entertainment Pictures, as noted by PaidContent.org.
The movies that are known to include the new features at present are “The Other Guys,” which provides users with a search button enabling them to enter words to be found within the film’s script; and both “Salt” and “Resident Evil: Afterlife,” which include the “clip & share” function that allows users to select their favorite scenes and then share them with their friends through social networking sites. Users also have access to a playlist of songs from the movie and an opportunity to purchase them from iTunes.
The introduction of these new, iTunes-only features gives movie fans an incentive to purchase the latest films through Apple’s iTunes Store, rather than on DVD or Blu-ray. According to PaidContent.org, the capabilities found in the latest Sony movies are unique to iTunes, and not just a repackaging of additional content available on the Blu-ray or DVD counterparts:
“Mind-blowing add-ons? No, but they do represent the intent of studios like Sony, which declined comment, to offer differentiating value on digital platforms from that on DVD, where extras are often nothing more than a collection of additional short videos.”
These new features are only accessible to users who choose to purchase movies from iTunes, rather than rent them.
