11 – Breaking News & Latest Updates 2026
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Alex Cranz

Alex Cranz

Former Tech Editor

Former Tech Editor

    More From Alex Cranz

    Alex Cranz
    Alex Cranz
    There’s a proxy fight at Disney.

    You might have thought Bob Iger returning to Disney would have smoothed things over with the board and investors, but activist investor Nelson Peltz is back baby.

    Peltz and his firm, Trian Fund Management are looking for two seats on the board. When Iger was asked about it yesterday at New York Time’s Dealbook conference he demurred.

    But today the company responded to the proxy fight accusing Peltz of collaborating with Ike Perlmutter (who owns most of the shares Peltz is relying on). Perlmutter was fired from the board this year after losing more and more of his once iron grip on the Marvel franchise. He once called women-led superhero films a “disaster” and attempted to scuttle both the hugely successful Black Panther and Captain Marvel films for exactly the reasons you think.

    Activist investor Nelson Peltz launches Disney proxy fight, seeks multiple board seats

    [CNBC]

    Alex Cranz
    Alex Cranz
    Bob Iger thinks he knows why The Marvels failed at the box office.

    Speaking during the NYT DealBook Summit 2023, he did not blame the actors’ strike and lack of publicity for the film’s performance. Nor did he blame the weird hatred of the film driven by sexism coming from a small and vocal cadre of Marvel fans upset over a film helmed by three women.

    He did blame the sheer volume of content being created for making it more difficult to maintain quality and said, “The Marvels was shot during Covid, and there wasn’t enough supervision on set” from executives.

    But given that overreliance on executive creative control is one of the things that have driven the Marvel brand to its current nadir... that’s certainly an interesting assessment.

    Alex Cranz
    Alex Cranz
    There’s an Oppenheimer shortage.

    Bill Hunt over at Digital Bits recently noticed it was awfully hard to buy a physical copy of Oppenheimer in 4K Ultra HD, and Universal has now confirmed the shortage is happening.

    I’m personally just thrilled that in 2023 people are embracing physical media so much that a major film release could sell out.

    Alex Cranz
    Alex Cranz
    One of James Cameron’s most important films is getting a theatrical re-release.

    If you had to sum up James Cameron’s whole cinematic career with a single one of his works The Abyss would be my choice. It’s one of his most personal films, and its technological achievements, like a whole monster created from water, were astounding in 1989, and remarkable even in 2023.

    The film, about a crew of a submersible oil rig forced to partner with the government to recover nuclear warheads, was a famously grueling shoot full of technological innovations, and its returning to theaters December 6, with a remastered 4K print.

    Alex Cranz
    Alex Cranz
    Today on the Vergecast: we talk about that new pin that wants to replace the phone.

    I won’t spoil things, but we spend quite a while talking about Humane’s AI Pin and what a device needs to be to get us to put down our phones.

    We also talk about the other big AI news of the week: Open AI’s new app store. Its no-code approach to building new GPTs seems very cool, even if its approach to compensating new GPT builders seems decidedly less so.

    All that plus a steamy lightning round.

    Alex Cranz
    Alex Cranz
    Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks are back with another massive World War II miniseries.

    Masters of the Air will be the third World War II miniseries produced by the two, and the first produced (and distributed) by Apple.

    Based on the Donald L. Milller book Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany, it chronicles the missions of the 100th Bomb Group as they flew B-17s in the European theater. If you like Band of Brothers and The Pacific it should be right up your alley, and if you’re curious if Austin Butler has shaken that Elvis-accent yet, you can hear for yourself in the teaser below.

    In a first, Marvel’s Echo is coming to both Disney Plus and Hulu at the same timeIn a first, Marvel’s Echo is coming to both Disney Plus and Hulu at the same time
    Alex Cranz
    Alex Cranz
    Do you think it was a typo in the prompt?

    I keep watching this very funny speech Julia Louis-Dreyfus gave that was penned by ChatGPT and wondering what prompt she used to cast her in so many romantic comedies of the early 90s.

    In Marvel we no longer trust

    Marvel should be synonymous with a good time, but increasingly, it’s synonymous with bloat, bad VFX, and poorly scripted film and TV.

    Alex Cranz
    Alex Cranz
    Alex Cranz
    Meet Casey Bloy’s embarrassing troll ‘army’.

    Everyone assumes companies are out there attempting to manipulate online discourse to boost the profile of their own product, but rarely do we have evidence as sad trombone as the text messages coming out of the wrongful termination lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court between HBO and former staffer Sully Temori. The text messages, acquired and seemingly verified by Rolling Stone, reveal HBO CEO Casey Bloys’ often petty directives to troll online critics of HBO shows.

    HBO Bosses Used ‘Secret’ Fake Accounts to Troll TV Critics

    [Rolling Stone]

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