Amazon’s Man in the High Castle Isn’t Attracting Enough New Members
Making prestige television in today's market requires large amounts of cash, but with streaming services like Netflix and Amazon staying tight-lipped about production and marketing costs, it's difficult to know exactly how much these shows cost. Thankfully, a recent study has shed new light on just how much companies are willing to invest in a flagship series.
In a report from Reuters, which claims to have internal documents from Amazon that reveal not only production and marketing costs, but also the strategy Amazon uses to determine whether or not a show is successful. It's called the "cost per first stream" approach, which analyzes the viewing habits of new Prime subscribers. The data reveals that Man in the High Castle Season 2 cost around $107 million to produce. That's a large sum and it's not paying off the way the company would like it to.
The New Gods Explained: Who Are the DC Characters?
The New Gods are back in the spotlight. Not only did the DCEU begin delving into the complex mythology of the Fourth World in last year's Justice League movie, now WB has announced that Ava DuVernay has signed on to direct a dedicated New Gods movie.
If you're not sure what the Fourth World is or how these cosmic heroes and villains fit into the larger tapestry of the DCU, now is the time to get caught up. Fortunately, we're here to help. Scroll down to find out everything you need to know about the New Gods.
The New Gods are a race of highly powerful beings who live in the Fourth World, a realm far removed from the rest of the DC Universe and accessible only by advanced teleportation technology called a Boom Tube. Once this realm consisted of a single, primeval world called Urgrund. But that world was split in two after a cataclysmic war, and now the Fourth World consists of two planets - peaceful, idyllic New Genesis and hellish Apokolips. The former is ruled by the benevolent Highfather, while the latter is a realm populated by slavers and slaves, all dominated by the tyrant known as Darkseid.
A Wrinkle in Time’s Ava DuVernay to Direct DC’s New Gods
A Wrinkle in Time director Ava DuVernay's next project will be the DECU movie The New Gods.
THR reports DuVernay is set to helm the comic book film for Warner Bros., based on the 1971 comic of the same name created by Jack Kirby, co-creator of X-Men, Captain America, and more. The film is said to be the start of a new universe of properties for the studio, though Variety reports it will be part of the existing DC Extended Universe.
A New Gods Comic
Lord of the Rings TV Series Could Cost Half a Billion
Amazon is shelling out big money to compete with other streaming platforms like Netflix and Hulu, with a new report indicating that its planned Lord of the Rings series could wind up costing as much as $500 million for its first two seasons, which is crazy since the original trilogy only cost $281 million according to Box Office Mojo.
The report comes from Reuters, who studied internal documents from the company detailing the cost/benefit formula that Amazon uses to determine which shows are successes or failures. The metric they use is called "first stream," or what new shows Amazon Prime subscribers are watching when they first sign up. So far, the first seasons of Man in the High Castle and The Grand Tour have provided the most bang for their buck. For example, Man in the High Castle Season 1 cost $72 million to produce and drew in an audience of 1.15 million new Prime members during their first stream. That's a cost of around $63 per subscriber -- not a bad deal. On the other end of the spectrum, Season 2 of Man in the High Castle cost $107 million to make with an average cost of $829 per subscriber. With Season 3 on the way, one has to wonder what this downhill trend for such an expensive show might mean for its future.
Valkyria Chronicles 4 Release Window Announced
Sega has announced Valkyria Chronicles 4 will be released this fall in North America and Europe.
When Valkyria Chronicles 4 was unveiled last year, Sega provided a very broad release window, saying the game will launch in the west for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch sometime in 2018. Now, if you head over to the game's official website, you'll see it's slated to arrive for all three platforms in fall 2018.
While Amazon's listing for the game currently specifies an October 16, 2018 release date, Sega has confirmed to IGN that date is merely a placeholder. The company also said the game will launch in Australia in spring 2019.
Super Mario 64 Speedrun Livestream!
Super Mario 64 is one of the most enjoyable games to speedrun with many streamers attempting to break the world record. Our own Mark Medina is a casual speedrunner himself and practices regularly.
Join him as he works on his technique live on IGN's Nintendo Voice Chat YouTube channel as he tries to break his current 16-Star record of just over 20 minutes. Can he do it?
Dragon Ball FighterZ Update to Fix Lingering Online Issues
Dragon Ball FighterZ is getting an update tomorrow to fix issues with online play and add more features, including communities with in-game rewards.
The update, which has been detailed on the game's Steam page, will greatly improve Ring Match matchmaking and server stability, which have had issues since the game launched on January 26. The patch will also add the Z-Union feature to the game.
Z-Union will allow players to join Unions, or fan clubs, of their favorite character and get special rewards for doing so. What's more, the longer players stay in a Union, the better the rewards get.
Family Guy’s Sunday Episode Will Air Without Ads
Sunday's new episode of Family Guy, titled "Send in Stewie, Please," will air with no commercial breaks.
Instead, a 60-second God of War promo, dubbed "Arrow," will air before and after the episode, Adweek reports. As such, PlayStation will serve as the only sponsor for the episode, which will air without a single ad interruption for the very first time.
Additionally, prior to the promo airing before the episode, the network will air 10-second co-branded bumper that also features PlayStation.
God of War launches for PlayStation 4 on April 20. PlayStation marketing VP Asad Qizilbash said the company views this as a great opportunity to promote the game within its "critical" six-week launch window, as there appears to be a significant overlap between action game fans and Family Guy viewers.
A Quiet Place Will Change How You Watch Movies
You don't realize how much you take sound for granted until it's gone.
Set in a near-future where the slightest noise could kill you, star John Krasinski's third directorial effort, A Quiet Place, creates an immersive, unsettling viewing experience that will change the way you watch a movie -- just as it changed the way Krasinski and his collaborators made one.
"I think the crew thought it was a silent movie, so they said, 'oh, we can make as much noise as we want, because they’ll just edit it out,'" Krasinski tells IGN, explaining that in reality, the film's lack of dialogue is used to heighten the diegetic background sounds that would usually be lost under a character's lines or the soundtrack. "So it was really fun to see these incredible crew members moving trucks and cables and all that stuff just stop dead, frozen. It was like the red light, green light game."
GoT Star Says ‘Brilliant’ Finale Won’t Please Everyone
Jorah Mormont himself, Iain Glen, has read the Game of Thrones series finale and believes, as many fans might have suspected, it won't please everyone.
In an interview with The Indian Express, Glen shared his opinion on the final episode, saying it's "rather brilliant" and a fitting conclusion to the epic series even if it might be bittersweet.
"Yes, I hope," Glen said, when asked if the finale will gives fans some closure. "I can’t tell, but I am one of the few people who has read the script and I know the ending and what happens. When I read it, I thought it was rather brilliant. I am a bit of a fan of the series as well, and it satiated my expectation and hopes. I felt (it was the) conclusion."