Peter Parker only had eyes for Pearl Pangan in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man’s first season, but that might change when the show returns with a new version of Gwen Stacy in tow.
Over the next four years, Netflix plans to spend $1 billion dollars to energize the production of new films and series out of Mexico according to The Hollywood Reporter. The investment is nowhere near the $2.5 billion Netflix committed to South Korean productions a few years ago. And a time when the studio has come under fire for platforming questionable depictions of Mexico (see: Emilia Pérez), the move definitely feels like some strategic damage control.
[hollywoodreporter.com]
Though it might have seemed like OpenAI was on the ropes between its recent weirdness with Microsoft and the disruptive arrival of DeepSeek, CNBC reports that the firm behind ChatGPT now has 400 million weekly active users — up 100 million from last December. OpenAI COO Brad Lightcap attributed the 33% growth to, among other things, word of mouth:
”They see the utility of it. They see their friends using it. “There’s an overall effect of people really wanting these tools, and seeing that these tools are really valuable.”
Apple (like most streamers) has always been cagey about sharing viewership data, which makes it difficult to know exactly how well its shows are performing. But Deadline reports that, following the premiere of its second season, Severance has dethroned Ted Lasso as Apple TV Plus’ most-watched series to date:
The series claimed the #4 spot on Nielsen’s Top 10 Originals chart for the week of Jan. 13, which includes the first three days of the Season 2 debut being available on the service. Severance logged impressive 589 million minutes viewed in the U.S. over all existing episodes, 28% of them spent on the Season 2 opener, with the numbers expected to climb as the season progresses.
Now that Jon M. Chu’s Wicked has cleaned up at the box office, made even more bank thanks to an early digital release, and been nominated for a bunch of awards, the musical is making its Peacock streaming debut on March 21st.
It’s hard to imagine The Substance working nearly as well without its exquisitely deranged third act turn, but in a new interview with Vulture, director Coralie Fargeat says that Universal — which was originally slated to distribute the film — “wanted everything changed” and was convinced that audiences wouldn’t respond to her ideas:
The movie was exactly what I wanted to do, which was to show that yes, this is violent, this is excessive, this is gross. They didn’t want to see that.
One thing that was really not liked was the monster. The monster is the most sincere and risky part, where I show my inner self. I show the way I felt since I was a little kid, because I don’t totally fit what is expected. You show yourself naked and people find you ugly. But I was like, okay, so even monsters have to meet some beauty standards. It’s really an endless battle.
[vulture.com]
In Apple TV Plus’ new adaptation of Dennis Tafoya’s 2009 novel Dope Thief, best friends Ray and Manny (Brian Tyree Henry and Wagner Moura) come up with the bright idea to pose as Drug Enforcement Administration agents in order to rob other criminals more easily. Very little about the duo’s plan seems to be paying off in a new trailer for the series that highlights how quickly things start to go sideways. But the show looks like it might scratch that Breaking Bad itch for Apple TV Plus subscribers when it debuts on March 14th.
As disappointing as it was to see Daft Punk and Leiji Matsumoto’s Interstella 5555 mangled by AI for its recent theatrical rerelease, the new Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust Blu-ray remaster (whose first 10 minutes you can watch down below) looks like it’s going to be a stunner. The anime classic is coming back to Japanese movie theaters on February 28th, and will be able to purchase on Blu-ray beginning March 26th.