Streaming giant Netflix has lost a case against the Writers Guild of America, and must pay $42 million in unpaid residuals.

A recent arbitration with the WGA over Bird Box starring Sandra Bullock has resulted in the organization securing $42 million in unpaid writer residuals.

“Netflix argued the WGA should accept a substandard formula the company negotiated with DGA and SAG-AFTRA,” reads a WGA memo from president Meredith Stiehm. “After a hearing, however, an arbitrator determined differently: that the license fee should have been greater than the gross budget of the film.”

The arbitrator forced Netflix to shell out $850,000 in residuals to Bird Box writer, Eric Heisserer as well as $350,000 in interest – a grand total of $1.2 million.

The ruling not only affects Bird Box but many other titles. Essentially, the arbitrator ruled that writers on original Netflix titles should be paid the same level of licensing fees that the streaming service pays for third-party titles. This means that the ruling applies to a total of 139 Netflix original feature films.

As an example, the WGA mentioned Red Notice, whose writers will receive $2.78 million thanks to the arbitration instead of the originally proposed $850,000.

The 216 writers of those films are in line to receive $42 million total in unpaid residuals. The WGA is also pursuing an additional $13 million in interest, meaning the affected writers could receive a total of $64 million in residuals after the WGA’s action.

Netflix began producing films written by WGA members in 2016, but the guild’s original compensation only covered the films’ theatrical runs. When those films are licensed or released in other markets, residuals need to be paid on those revenues. However, Netflix negotiated new deals with SAG-AFTRA and DGA that allowed them to pay significantly lower residuals and tried to force the WGA to accept this same deal.

Arbitration over Birdbox was a result of the WGA disputing this deal. Now, the guild has secured its members a massive $20 million more than what they would have received under the DGA and SAG-AFTRA deal.

“The upcoming 2023 MBA negotiation challenges us to address the industry’s rush to use the growth of the streaming model to depress pay and working conditions for Hollywood talent,” said the WGA. “It is our hope that writers and all Hollywood labor will receive their fair share of the value we together create.”

Netflix recently lost over 1 million subscribers and has since resorted to cost-cutting measures such as slashing its animated projects as well as layoffs at its editorial website, TUDUM.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Streaming giant Netflix has lost a case against the Writers Guild of America, and must pay $42 million in unpaid residuals.

A recent arbitration with the WGA over Bird Box starring Sandra Bullock has resulted in the organization securing $42 million in unpaid writer residuals.

“Netflix argued the WGA should accept a substandard formula the company negotiated with DGA and SAG-AFTRA,” reads a WGA memo from president Meredith Stiehm. “After a hearing, however, an arbitrator determined differently: that the license fee should have been greater than the gross budget of the film.”

The arbitrator forced Netflix to shell out $850,000 in residuals to Bird Box writer, Eric Heisserer as well as $350,000 in interest – a grand total of $1.2 million.

The ruling not only affects Bird Box but many other titles. Essentially, the arbitrator ruled that writers on original Netflix titles should be paid the same level of licensing fees that the streaming service pays for third-party titles. This means that the ruling applies to a total of 139 Netflix original feature films.

As an example, the WGA mentioned Red Notice, whose writers will receive $2.78 million thanks to the arbitration instead of the originally proposed $850,000.

The 216 writers of those films are in line to receive $42 million total in unpaid residuals. The WGA is also pursuing an additional $13 million in interest, meaning the affected writers could receive a total of $64 million in residuals after the WGA’s action.

Netflix began producing films written by WGA members in 2016, but the guild’s original compensation only covered the films’ theatrical runs. When those films are licensed or released in other markets, residuals need to be paid on those revenues. However, Netflix negotiated new deals with SAG-AFTRA and DGA that allowed them to pay significantly lower residuals and tried to force the WGA to accept this same deal.

Arbitration over Birdbox was a result of the WGA disputing this deal. Now, the guild has secured its members a massive $20 million more than what they would have received under the DGA and SAG-AFTRA deal.

“The upcoming 2023 MBA negotiation challenges us to address the industry’s rush to use the growth of the streaming model to depress pay and working conditions for Hollywood talent,” said the WGA. “It is our hope that writers and all Hollywood labor will receive their fair share of the value we together create.”

Netflix recently lost over 1 million subscribers and has since resorted to cost-cutting measures such as slashing its animated projects as well as layoffs at its editorial website, TUDUM.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has captured a stunning image of the Cartwheel Galaxy, revealing new details about its formation, shape, and structure.

The image released by NASA on Tuesday shows the Cartwheel Galaxy in never-before-seen detail. The large pink, speckled galaxy that resembles the wheel of a wagon is pictured in a "very transitory stage" alongside two spiralling companion galaxies, located around 500 million light-years away from Earth in the Sculptor constellation in the southern sky.

This cosmic snapshot offers a new view of how the Cartwheel Galaxy has changed over billions of years, and how it is likely to evolve in the future. Researchers say that the shape and structure of the Cartwheel Galaxy show that it was created as the result of an intergalactic collision "between a large spiral galaxy and a smaller galaxy," which is not visible in the image.

The galaxy's striking shape is formed by a colorful outer ring and a bright inner ring with glowing spokes spiralling out from it. NASA explains these rings are expanding outward from the center of the collision "like ripples in a pond after a stone is tossed into it." These distinctive features have led astronomers to categorize the Cartwheel Galaxy as a "ring galaxy," which makes it much more of a rare sighting.

The bright core of the galaxy "contains a tremendous amount of hot dust with the brightest areas being the home to gigantic young star clusters," according to NASA. "On the other hand, the outer ring, which has expanded for about 440 million years, is dominated by star formation and supernovas. As this ring expands, it plows into surrounding gas and triggers star formation."

The James Webb Space Telescope was launched last December and was designed primarily to conduct infrared astronomy. It's "the most powerful telescope ever launched into space," and its greatly improved infrared resolution and sensitivity allow it to view objects too old, distant, or faint for the Hubble Space Telescope while also assisting research into habitable conditions.

The image of the Cartwheel Galaxy is the latest in a series of snaps that the James Webb Telescope has produced so far. President Joe Biden unveiled an image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723, known as Webb's First Deep Field, during an event at the White House last month. The photo was later released online, along with more images and data from the orbiting observatory.

Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.

Cover image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI.

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has captured a stunning image of the Cartwheel Galaxy, revealing new details about its formation, shape, and structure.

The image released by NASA on Tuesday shows the Cartwheel Galaxy in never-before-seen detail. The large pink, speckled galaxy that resembles the wheel of a wagon is pictured in a "very transitory stage" alongside two spiralling companion galaxies, located around 500 million light-years away from Earth in the Sculptor constellation in the southern sky.

This cosmic snapshot offers a new view of how the Cartwheel Galaxy has changed over billions of years, and how it is likely to evolve in the future. Researchers say that the shape and structure of the Cartwheel Galaxy show that it was created as the result of an intergalactic collision "between a large spiral galaxy and a smaller galaxy," which is not visible in the image.

The galaxy's striking shape is formed by a colorful outer ring and a bright inner ring with glowing spokes spiralling out from it. NASA explains these rings are expanding outward from the center of the collision "like ripples in a pond after a stone is tossed into it." These distinctive features have led astronomers to categorize the Cartwheel Galaxy as a "ring galaxy," which makes it much more of a rare sighting.

The bright core of the galaxy "contains a tremendous amount of hot dust with the brightest areas being the home to gigantic young star clusters," according to NASA. "On the other hand, the outer ring, which has expanded for about 440 million years, is dominated by star formation and supernovas. As this ring expands, it plows into surrounding gas and triggers star formation."

The James Webb Space Telescope was launched last December and was designed primarily to conduct infrared astronomy. It's "the most powerful telescope ever launched into space," and its greatly improved infrared resolution and sensitivity allow it to view objects too old, distant, or faint for the Hubble Space Telescope while also assisting research into habitable conditions.

The image of the Cartwheel Galaxy is the latest in a series of snaps that the James Webb Telescope has produced so far. President Joe Biden unveiled an image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723, known as Webb's First Deep Field, during an event at the White House last month. The photo was later released online, along with more images and data from the orbiting observatory.

Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.

Cover image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI.

Square Enix is reportedly looking to sell off stakes in some of its wholly-owned owned development studios, and has said that Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montréal were sold because they "cannibalized" from the wider group.

Reported by games industry analyst David Gibson out of Square Enix's latest earnings call, the publisher reportedly sees the unexpected sale of Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montréal, and Square Enix Montréal as 'Phase 1' of its changes to the business.

Phase 2 will apparently see Square Enix reviewing its portfolio of owned studios, deciding whether to retain full ownership, or allow other companies to buy stakes in those businesses. Per Gibson, the benefit of this would be to allow Square Enix to move resources around between studios more easily, with the view apparently towards being able to allocate "resources mainly to Japan titles."

Gibson expects the likes of Sony, Tencent and Nexon to be interested in purchasing pieces of Square Enix's studios, and management once again expressed interest in acquiring new developers to increase its portfolio.

The call reportedly also saw Square Enix explain that it made the decision to sell of its high-profile western developers because the likes of Crystal Dynamics "cannibalized" from the rest of the group, seemingly making resources harder to allocate across the whole development portfolio – presumably due to high development costs on the likes of Marvel's Avengers.

IGN has contacted Square Enix for a statement on these announcements.

Square Enix's remaining development studios include its four Creative Business Units (which make the likes of Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, and the recent 'HD-2D' line of game), Luminous Productions (Forspoken), Tokyo RPG Factory (I Am Setsuna), Square Enix London Mobile (Tomb Raider Reloaded), and more.

Like the majority of gaming companies post-pandemic, Square Enix's latest earnings saw net sales for its gaming segment fall year-on-year, although the incredibly successful Final Fantasy 14 once again bucked trends by seeing net sales rise, due to increased numbers of monthly subscribers.

Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Square Enix is reportedly looking to sell off stakes in some of its wholly-owned owned development studios, and has said that Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montréal were sold because they "cannibalized" from the wider group.

Reported by games industry analyst David Gibson out of Square Enix's latest earnings call, the publisher reportedly sees the unexpected sale of Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montréal, and Square Enix Montréal as 'Phase 1' of its changes to the business.

Phase 2 will apparently see Square Enix reviewing its portfolio of owned studios, deciding whether to retain full ownership, or allow other companies to buy stakes in those businesses. Per Gibson, the benefit of this would be to allow Square Enix to move resources around between studios more easily, with the view apparently towards being able to allocate "resources mainly to Japan titles."

Gibson expects the likes of Sony, Tencent and Nexon to be interested in purchasing pieces of Square Enix's studios, and management once again expressed interest in acquiring new developers to increase its portfolio.

The call reportedly also saw Square Enix explain that it made the decision to sell of its high-profile western developers because the likes of Crystal Dynamics "cannibalized" from the rest of the group, seemingly making resources harder to allocate across the whole development portfolio – presumably due to high development costs on the likes of Marvel's Avengers.

IGN has contacted Square Enix for a statement on these announcements.

Square Enix's remaining development studios include its four Creative Business Units (which make the likes of Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, and the recent 'HD-2D' line of game), Luminous Productions (Forspoken), Tokyo RPG Factory (I Am Setsuna), Square Enix London Mobile (Tomb Raider Reloaded), and more.

Like the majority of gaming companies post-pandemic, Square Enix's latest earnings saw net sales for its gaming segment fall year-on-year, although the incredibly successful Final Fantasy 14 once again bucked trends by seeing net sales rise, due to increased numbers of monthly subscribers.

Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Batgirl's stunning cancellation sent shockwaves through the film world, but Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav is making no apologies for the decision.

"We're not going to release any film before it's ready. We're not going to release a film to make a quarter, we're not going to release a film — the focus is going to be, how do we make each of these films, in general, as good as possible. But DC is something that we think we could make better, and we're focused on it now," Zaslav said during today's quarterly earning call.

Zaslav says that it's part of a "10 year plan" for DC in which Warner Bros. Discovery hopes to create a structure similar to the one "put together very effectively by Kevin Feige at Disney."

"We think that we could build a long-term, much stronger sustainable growth business out of DC. And as part of that, we're going to focus on quality," Zaslav said, alluding to reports that Batgirl was axed because test audiences reacted poorly to the film, though other sources have said that it was mainly a move intended to recoup some of the money spent on the movie through taxes.

On why Batgirl wasn't shifted directly to HBO Max, Zaslav said Warner Bros. Discovery has "looked hard at the direct-to-streaming business," but there "is no comparison to what happens when you launch a film in the theaters."

"This idea of expensive films going direct to streaming: we cannot find an economic case for it. We cannot find an economic value for it. So we're making a strategic shift...Our focus will be on the theatrical," Zaslav said.

Batgirl's cancellation earlier this week signaled a seismic shift within Warner Bros., triggering wild speculation about the company's intentions for HBO Max and beyond, with reports suggesting that Supergirl could be in trouble as well.

Meanwhile, Batgirl star Leslie Grace thanked fans on Instagram, saying, "Thank you for the love and belief, allowing me to take on the cape and become, as Babs said best, 'My own damn hero.'"

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.

Batgirl's stunning cancellation sent shockwaves through the film world, but Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav is making no apologies for the decision.

"We're not going to release any film before it's ready. We're not going to release a film to make a quarter, we're not going to release a film — the focus is going to be, how do we make each of these films, in general, as good as possible. But DC is something that we think we could make better, and we're focused on it now," Zaslav said during today's quarterly earning call.

Zaslav says that it's part of a "10 year plan" for DC in which Warner Bros. Discovery hopes to create a structure similar to the one "put together very effectively by Kevin Feige at Disney."

"We think that we could build a long-term, much stronger sustainable growth business out of DC. And as part of that, we're going to focus on quality," Zaslav said, alluding to reports that Batgirl was axed because test audiences reacted poorly to the film, though other sources have said that it was mainly a move intended to recoup some of the money spent on the movie through taxes.

On why Batgirl wasn't shifted directly to HBO Max, Zaslav said Warner Bros. Discovery has "looked hard at the direct-to-streaming business," but there "is no comparison to what happens when you launch a film in the theaters."

"This idea of expensive films going direct to streaming: we cannot find an economic case for it. We cannot find an economic value for it. So we're making a strategic shift...Our focus will be on the theatrical," Zaslav said.

Batgirl's cancellation earlier this week signaled a seismic shift within Warner Bros., triggering wild speculation about the company's intentions for HBO Max and beyond, with reports suggesting that Supergirl could be in trouble as well.

Meanwhile, Batgirl star Leslie Grace thanked fans on Instagram, saying, "Thank you for the love and belief, allowing me to take on the cape and become, as Babs said best, 'My own damn hero.'"

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.

Warner Bros. Discovery’s ideas for its DC movies are becoming a little clearer after CEO David Zaslav announced there will be a codified plan for the future of DC movies.

As part of Warner Bros. Discovery’s quarterly financials, CEO David Zaslav took the stage to answer questions about the company’s future, particularly in light of the news that it was canceling Batgirl despite the movie being mostly finished.

Rather than announce any kind of retreat for DC movies, Zaslav instead says the company has done a “reset” and will follow a ten-year plan just for DC that will be similar to what Disney and Kevin Feige have done for Marvel.

“We have done a reset. We’ve restructured the business where we’re going to focus, where there will be a team with a ten-year plan focusing just on DC,” Zaslav said. “It’s very similar to the structure that Alan Horn and Bob Iger put together very effectively with Kevin Feige at Disney.”

Zaslav says the hope is to “build a long-term, much stronger sustainable growth business out of DC,” and that the company is going to focus on quality over quantity.

“We’re not going to release any film before it’s ready. We’re not going to release a film to make a quarter, we’re not going to release a film — the focus is going to be ‘how do we make each of these films, in general, as good as possible?’”

The Warner Bros. Discovery CEO cited films already in the works like Black Adam, Shazam, and Flash as films the company are all very excited about. “We’ve seen them. We think they’re terrific, and we think we can make them even better.”

There were plenty of questions as to the future of DC movies after it was announced Batgirl would not be released in theaters or HBO Max. The film, which cost $90 million, already finished filming and had a cast that included Leslie Grace, JK Simmons, Brendan Fraser, and Michael Keaton.

HBO Max also began quietly removing other movies from its streaming service, sparking concerns the studio would be backing away from original, scripted content. But Zaslav has cited DC — particularly characters like Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman — as pillars of the newly formed Warner Bros. Discovery.

And reports say that Zaslav and co. will be focusing on marquis characters like Superman, as well as Joker which announced a release date for the sequel, Joker Folie A Deux with Lady Gaga joining the cast.

While time will tell what Warner Bros. Discovery’s ten-year plan for DC will look like, the company is standing behind its existing theatrical releases like Shazam, Aquaman, and The Flash which will figure into the company’s plans somehow.

Elsewhere in the financials, Warner Bros. Discovery announced it will be merging HBO Max and Discovery+ into a new streaming service that will be released in summer 2023.

Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.

Warner Bros. Discovery’s ideas for its DC movies are becoming a little clearer after CEO David Zaslav announced there will be a codified plan for the future of DC movies.

As part of Warner Bros. Discovery’s quarterly financials, CEO David Zaslav took the stage to answer questions about the company’s future, particularly in light of the news that it was canceling Batgirl despite the movie being mostly finished.

Rather than announce any kind of retreat for DC movies, Zaslav instead says the company has done a “reset” and will follow a ten-year plan just for DC that will be similar to what Disney and Kevin Feige have done for Marvel.

“We have done a reset. We’ve restructured the business where we’re going to focus, where there will be a team with a ten-year plan focusing just on DC,” Zaslav said. “It’s very similar to the structure that Alan Horn and Bob Iger put together very effectively with Kevin Feige at Disney.”

Zaslav says the hope is to “build a long-term, much stronger sustainable growth business out of DC,” and that the company is going to focus on quality over quantity.

“We’re not going to release any film before it’s ready. We’re not going to release a film to make a quarter, we’re not going to release a film — the focus is going to be ‘how do we make each of these films, in general, as good as possible?’”

The Warner Bros. Discovery CEO cited films already in the works like Black Adam, Shazam, and Flash as films the company are all very excited about. “We’ve seen them. We think they’re terrific, and we think we can make them even better.”

There were plenty of questions as to the future of DC movies after it was announced Batgirl would not be released in theaters or HBO Max. The film, which cost $90 million, already finished filming and had a cast that included Leslie Grace, JK Simmons, Brandon Fraser, and Michael Keaton.

HBO Max also began quietly removing other movies from its streaming service, sparking concerns the studio would be backing away from original, scripted content. But Zaslav has cited DC — particularly characters like Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman — as pillars of the newly formed Warner Bros. Discovery.

And reports say that Zaslav and co. will be focusing on marquis characters like Superman, as well as Joker which announced a release date for the sequel, Joker Folie A Deux with Lady Gaga joining the cast.

While time will tell what Warner Bros. Discovery’s ten-year plan for DC will look like, the company is standing behind its existing theatrical releases like Shazam, Aquaman, and The Flash which will figure into the company’s plans somehow.

Elsewhere in the financials, Warner Bros. Discovery announced it will be merging HBO Max and Discovery+ into a new streaming service that will be released in summer 2023.

Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.