Hello, my dears! Here is what I found this week…

On the 15th, Nicole Sperling looked at the freakout over the Disney/Fox merge for Vanity Fair:
“The business climate in Hollywood has shifted in recent years, and studios are competing not just with each other but with a handful of ruthless Silicon Valley interlopers. New alliances have been forged out of desperation, none of them bigger than the $71.3 billion acquisition, which was set to close last month, that saw the Walt Disney Company absorb the once indomitable Fox. The deal could eventually result in the loss of anywhere from 4,000 to 10,000 jobs, depending on whom you ask.”

Nellie Andreeva explained why Netflix cancels shows and why those shows can’t find another home at Deadline on the 18th:
“For the most popular shows, like blockbuster hit Stranger Things, renewals are a no-brainer as each new season is an event, driving viewership and subscriptions. (Being owned by Netflix, Stranger Things also is a money maker for the company, with auxiliary revenue streams such as theme park attractions and merchandising, including Halloween costumes.)
But for everyone else, there is intense scrutiny. Netflix is unabashedly data-driven, with many of its decisions based on algorithms. That’s how the network reportedly switched from the initial (and traditional) 13-episode seasons to seasons of 10 episodes or less. Word is that those shorter seasons are considered optimal for consumption, and any additional episodes beyond 10 a season do not add value, so they are an unnecessary expense for the network.”

David Walsh, a comrade at the World Socialist Web Site, examined the propaganda of Captain Marvel, on the 20th:
“The hope is that Captain Marvel will do ‘for women’ what Black Panther did ‘for African Americans’—which is, of course, nothing whatsoever, except for a small layer of prominent studio executives, writers, performers, etc.”

Also on the 20th, Rick Porter talked about the influence friends and family have on people’s streaming choices for The Hollywood Reporter:
“The second biggest factor in selecting streaming content, cited by 66 percent of Nielsen’s respondents, is recommendations from family and friends. That ranks several points ahead of any other method of discovery, as seen in the graphic below, and 18 percentage points ahead of the streaming services’ own recommendation engines.”

Finally, on the 21th Amanda Mannen explained why gender flipped remakes tend to suck over on Cracked:
“One of the earliest female-led movies of the decade which was wildly successful, both commercially and critically, was Bridesmaids. It not only wasn’t a remake, but was also unique for being built on the sort of raunchy comedy usually reserved for the guys. But at its core, it’s a story about the complexities of female friendship and identity, and even the raunchy comedy (getting the shits at a bridal fitting, an uncomfortable sexual relationship the protagonist feels pressured to pretend is just casual) is uniquely feminine in nature.”

Enjoy!