Check in this link in which cinemas in Spain it can be seen The Irish
Has the time come to "break up" Disney, as suggested by Matt Stoller , author of *Goliath: One Hundred Years of War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy*? *Pulp Fiction* was the first film Disney released after acquiring Miramax in 1993 for $80 million, which it then sold in 2010 for $660 million. Since then, the Mickey Mouse factory's game of collectibles has only grown, and some have lost interest. Martin Scorsese may not possess Kanye West's knack for stirring up media frenzy around the time of his releases, but there's no doubt the director of *The Irishman* knows how to do it. And with style. After letting loose in an interview with * Empire* magazine, where he called Marvel movies "theme parks" (and not in a good way), this week Martin Scorsese justified his criticism by writing an op-ed in the *New York Times *.
"I was asked a question about Marvel movies. I answered. I said that I tried to see some of them and that they are not for me, that in my opinion, they are closer to the theme parks than to the movies, as I have known and loved them all my life. And that in the end, I don't think they are cinema »
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Along the way, he has given us an article that seems more like a history lesson. A love letter addressed to authentic cinema, and that will have to be archived for posterity:
After praising some of the great names that shaped his love for cinema ( Samuel Fuller 's Steel Helmet , Ingmar Bergman 's Persona , Jean-Luc Godard 's Vivre sa vie , and Alfred Hitchcock 's entire filmography ), the second part of Martin Scorsese's opinion piece delves into more somber territory. One of the final sentences, perhaps the most brilliant, suffices to summarize his position: "The situation is that now, unfortunately, we have two fields: there is global audiovisual entertainment and cinema . "
Al Pacino in The Irishman, by Martin Scorsese (Premiere in Spain on November 15)
Scorsese, who knows what he's talking about after releasing The Irishman last week in an unusually low number of American theaters (Spanish premiere on November 15), alludes directly and indirectly to the concentration of power of the major film studios, among which Disney is the undisputed colossus.
The great cake of cinema today is shared between five film studios: Disney, Warner Bros, Sony, Universal, and Paramount.
scorsese unchained
Since the turn of the millennium, the biggest change the film industry has undergone has been the "gradual but constant elimination of risk," says Scorsese. In his opinion, what most elevates a good film is, at the same time, the least appealing element on a company's roadmap: "Many films today are perfectly manufactured products ready for immediate consumption […] that lack something fundamental in cinema: the unifying vision of the individual artist. Because, of course, the individual artist is the greatest risk factor of all."
The nature of the modern franchise is that of a string of films that "call themselves sequels, but in spirit are remakes [...]; "films that obey market research and have been tested with audiences, examined, modified, re-examined and remodeled until they are ready for consumption."
It's hard to say more with less.
Disney, to the whole world
Although 2009 and 2012 were historic years for Disney thanks to the acquisitions of Marvel and Lucasfilm respectively, several indicators suggest that in 2019 Disney is on track to shatter all records . The six most-watched films worldwide so far in 2019 are theirs: Avengers: Endgame, The Lion King, Spider-Man: Far From Home, Captain Marvel, Toy Story 4, and Aladdin.
It's no surprise that Disney announced record revenue of $8.000 billion mid-year. But there's more: on November 14, Disney will launch its own Netflix (Disney+, featuring original productions like the Star Wars series The Mandalorian ).
In case anyone has forgotten, at the beginning of the year, Disney bought a small confection called 21st Century Fox from Rupert Murdoch for $71.000 billion. Fox owns, among many other names, The Simpsons and National Geographic.
The six most watched movies at the global box office so far in 2019 are owned by Disney
The vast majority of the film industry is divided among five major studios: Disney, Warner Bros., Sony, Universal, and Paramount. With its acquisition of 21st Century Fox in March 2019 , Disney effectively eliminated one of the so-called " Big Six" studios. It was the first time, since MGM's near-disappearance, bankruptcy, recovery, and subsequent decline , that a film studio had been erased from the map. Disney's three highest-grossing films of 2018 in the United States were all productions: Black Panther , Avengers: Infinity War , and Incredibles 2.
And what's wrong with this? Can't everyone who wants to see auteur films just go to Netflix? The reader may ask himself, and Scorsese himself asks himself (and answers himself sarcastically) in his article: «Anywhere except on the big screen, which is where the film director intended his film to be seen.
That the concentration of supply reduces variety is a problem for which it is not necessary to design a scheme. Unlike what can happen with sectors such as books or music, the cinema sector has limited support: if there are more publishing releases, an extra table can always be set up in the Fnac news section. Building a new movie theater is another story.
Although Quentin Tarantino also felt the impact of the Disney hurricane, with The Hateful Eight playing in fewer theaters than he would have liked , the director of Pulp Fiction has been less hostile toward Marvel films, even declaring Thor : Ragnarok his favorite. Nevertheless, in 2015 Tarantino experienced a drastic drop in theater share due to Star Wars: Episode VII , owned by Disney.
Samuel L. Jackson in The Hateful Eight by Quentin Tarantino
Scorsese has something to say about the issue of theaters: “Would I like my film to be in more theaters for a longer period of time? Of course I would. But regardless of who you make your film with, the fact is that the theaters in most multiplexes are packed with franchise films.” After his initial outburst in Empire , Scorsese quickly received support from another giant, Francis Ford Coppola , who branded Marvel films “despicable.”
One war, two battles
Given the degree of salseo that is in the chicken coop, better subscribe to the blanket and go to the living room, I could think of more than one. That in the saón it is warm and, at least, there things will be calmer. No?
No.
With the arrival and consolidation of Netflix and other video- on-demand services as a successful model, the very future of film production and consumption is presented to us in the form of a Sudoku puzzle with numbers that change squares in an unpredictable way.
Roma , by Alfonso Cuarón (winner of the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film) , premiered in only five cinemas in Spain in 2018. The Coen brothers' latest film , The Ballad of Buster Scruggs , was originally intended as a series but remained a feature film, again with a limited release on Netflix. The penultimate chapter of this puzzle comes from Martin Scorsese himself. The Irish director's film will premiere in select Spanish cinemas on November 15th, and will be available nationwide on November 27th via Netflix, which financed the film.
Still and promotional image of Roma, by Alfonso Cuarón
One of the most popular interpretations of the 21st Century Fox acquisition, as reported by Vox, is that Disney is preparing for the "long winter of the streaming apocalypse." With the entry of a fifth player (Hulu is very popular in the US), Apple TV+, Disney has secured a catalog capable of challenging (and even giving colds to) Netflix and HBO themselves. Cinema itself is not at risk of extinction. If anything, the only thing in danger is a certain way of making films.
In the list of the most notorious acquisitions or absorptions of Disney there are interesting names:
1. The Capital Cities/ABC cable channel in 1995 for $19.000 billion
2. FOX Family in 2001 for 2.900 billion.
3. The Muppets in 2004 (estimated to be around 70 million)
4.Pixar, then commanded by Steve Jobs (and with only six films released, all resounding successes) for 7.400 million dollars.
In 2009, Marvel's super purchase would arrive with which Disney would obtain the rights to use and exploit some 5.000 characters for 4.000 million dollars, and in 2012, and for another 4.000 million dollars, LucasFilm.
In case anyone is considering the possibility that Star Wars: Episode IX will be the final installment of the saga, they'll be glad to know that three more films have already been confirmed. If we add to these the myriad Avatar films that James Cameron is currently shooting (and which belong to 20th Century Fox, i.e., Disney), we find that the Christmas blockbusters for the box office are already allocated from now until 2027. Here's the schedule:
Avatar 2: December 2021
New Star Wars 1 movie: December 2022
Avatar 3: December 2023
New Star Wars 2 movie: December 2024
Avatar 4: December 2025
New Star Wars 1 movie: December 2026
Avatar 5: December 2026
In the meantime, the thirty films that currently make up the Marvel universe will be expanded with a very juicy calendar of new sequels (or remakes, according to Scorsese) already confirmed and which, surely, other specialized web pages will know much better than Postposmo.
And outside the world of cinema…
GoPro, Photobucket, Cocoa China… It's long since ceased to be just about movies. The list of conglomerates, properties, subsidiaries, affiliates, or mere holdings reached by Disney's tentacles could fill several films. No one has explained this almost Kafkaesque organization better than the website Titlemax.com, whose graphic we invite you to appreciate in all its splendor.
Is there room for hope in this tunnel whose end one can hardly imagine? Is Disney's ultimate aspiration to monopolize the audiovisual world? In 2010, the same year it divested itself of Miramax, Disney saw fit to return ownership of the Power Rangers to Saban, whom they milked for all it was worth with seven television seasons, each one featuring increasingly hideous costumes. The Power Rangers have returned home, and today it's a source of pride to say they've regained their independence and identity. It's a shame that they haven't been seen in theaters since 2010.
All the companies of the Disney colossus
Update 6/11/2019: Disney CEO Bob Iger responded to Martin Scorsese's criticism, stating he didn't believe the director had "ever seen a Marvel movie": "Anyone who has seen a Marvel movie couldn't honestly make these statements," he added.