News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Netflix's New Chapter by phphphphp on Monday January 23, 2023 @11:49AM (#34491334)
Content is expensive to produce. Disney+ is not just a streaming platform for existing Disney content, rather, Disney produce content for it. Likewise, Netflix spends most of its money on content, operating the actual platform is comparatively cheap.
Re:Netflix's New Chapter by tootie on Monday January 23, 2023 @12:07PM (#34491661)
Yeah, D+ is churning out an enormous volume of what would be considered prestige content at other services. All the Star Wars and Marvel shows are star-studded and larded with top-tier visual effects. And some of them aren't really getting a lot of viewers from what the rumors say.
Re:Netflix's New Chapter by mardifoufs on Monday January 23, 2023 @12:24PM (#34491912)
That's why it's so surprising imo. Disney+ has a very wide and deep catalog of pre-existing IP, and I would have imagined that most subscribers care more about that than any future original production. So it's weird to see them invest so much in new content, more so than competitors that have a much weaker, smaller catalog. Especially when the content is made exclusively for Disney+.

But I'm almost certainly completely wrong, and I'm sure they have tons of data justifying their investment in new content. I guess I'm biaised since I pay for Disney+ so that my little sister can use it, and original shows weren't important to my decision to subscribe at all.

Re:Netflix's New Chapter by treis on Monday January 23, 2023 @12:42PM (#34492174)
Think it's a bit of a double edge sword. Disney+ is all Disney IP which is great for those that like it. But if you're not into Marvel or Star Wars or the kids catalogue there's not a lot there.
Re:Netflix's New Chapter by throwaway894345 on Monday January 23, 2023 @01:07PM (#34492547)
Yeah, this is my family. We don't have kids, but we probably wouldn't have D+ if it didn't come bundled with our Verizon bill. I don't know how everyone else is managing, but I'm suuuuuuuper burned out on superhero and star wars movies. It really feels like Disney in particular but Hollywood more generally need to branch out more and not rely so much on stamping out franchise films--they're good for an occasional flick, but there needs to be more substance on offer (if the market doesn't already agree with me on this, I suspect they will in time).
Re:Netflix's New Chapter by jessaustin on Monday January 23, 2023 @01:19PM (#34492737)
...we probably wouldn't have D+ if it didn't come bundled with our Verizon bill.

This feels like it should be illegal. You're certainly paying for D+, and it's not as though Verizon competes in a free market.

Re:Netflix's New Chapter by mrpippy on Monday January 23, 2023 @02:03PM (#34493370)
At least by US standards, cellular service is about as free a market for a utility as we have.

If you need to be on Verizon's network, you could go to Visible or another MVNO. If not, there's ATT and T-Mo and all of their MVNOs as well.

Re:Netflix's New Chapter by throwaway894345 on Monday January 23, 2023 @02:47PM (#34493955)
Eh, I don't really have a problem with it. I'd pay Verizon's rate even if they didn't offer D+ because the network is just so much better than the competition (I have no loyalty to Verizon; I've used AT&T, T-mobile, and US Cellular and they're worse by a considerable margin in my experience traveling around the country).
Re:Netflix's New Chapter by JackFr on Monday January 23, 2023 @01:17PM (#34492701)
I could watch The Godfather, Goodfellas, Patton, The Shining, Barton Fink and Millers Crossing a million times without getting tired of them and if I’m just flipping channels will always stop to watch if one of them is on.

But I don’t think I’ve ever streamed any of them other than maybe to show a friend who hadn’t seen them.

Don’t know why that is, but it’s weirdly true.

Re:Netflix's New Chapter by TylerE on Monday January 23, 2023 @02:01PM (#34493340)
Theory: When you come across a movie you love on TV, it's already in the "good bits".

Where as on streaming you have find it, sit through 2 or 3 studio logos, and then 5-15 minutes of exposition that even in most good movies isn't that good.

Re:Netflix's New Chapter by lrem on Monday January 23, 2023 @03:02PM (#34494176)
Disney+ is also very disappointing on that back catalog. There are Disney cartoons that I watched as a kid and would love to show to my kids. I can find them on YouTube, apparently badly copied from VHS tapes. I can't find them on Disney+, or only find a "modern" remake that's outright cringy :/
Re:Netflix's New Chapter by SteveNuts on Monday January 23, 2023 @12:23PM (#34491891)
I mean their best bet seems to be to license it out to other companies but that would defeat the purpose of having D+ in the first place.

Seems they've backed themselves into a corner

Re:Netflix's New Chapter by thedrbrian on Monday January 23, 2023 @12:44PM (#34492213)
>All the Star Wars and Marvel shows are star-studded and larded with top-tier visual effects.

I'm just going to throw this out there. What if these shows just aren't that good?

Re:Netflix's New Chapter by JackFr on Monday January 23, 2023 @01:11PM (#34492600)
Also if you’re not into superheroes and Star Wars, despite it being Disney there’s not a ton there.
Re:Netflix's New Chapter by saghm on Monday January 23, 2023 @01:28PM (#34492884)
Even if you are, there's the chance that the glut of the content coming out causes fatigue. I used to really look forward to new Star Wars things because it didn't come out super frequently (a new trilogy of movies every few decades, a TV show here and there), but it was enjoyable. Then they started coming out with a new movie and multiple TV shows year after year, and it just wasn't good enough to justify going out of my way to consume all of it. Marvel stuff seems the same way; I'd generally go to the movies maybe once or twice a year, so when there are half a dozen of them coming out for a single franchise within a year or two, it feels more like work than entertainment to keep up with it all. At this point, I'm not sure I'll _ever_ go to see a Star Wars movie in a theater again, which is extraordinary since even 5 or 6 years ago that would have seemed ludicrous to me.
Re:Netflix's New Chapter by WalterBright on Monday January 23, 2023 @02:48PM (#34493966)
I knew I was done with Star Wars movies when I caught myself looking at my watch about a half hour in.
Re:Netflix's New Chapter by ben7799 on Monday January 23, 2023 @03:28PM (#34494522)
Totally.. Disney has completely missed the fact that a big part of the pent up love of some of these franchises had to do with people having to wait their entire childhood for a new release. I went to ROTJ for my 7th birthday party. There was no more new Star Wars content till I was 22!

Now there is so much you need to pay attention or you'll miss it. People get sick of drinking out of a firehose.

Re:Netflix's New Chapter by dmitriid on Monday January 23, 2023 @04:46PM (#34495547)
Marvel released 4 movies and 3 series in 2022. Plus a second season of an existing one and a holiday special.

There were four Star Wars series.

That's too much content.

Two movies a year that Marvel started with was perfect. It gave you tome to unwind, and get hungry for more.

Re:Netflix's New Chapter by JackFr on Monday January 23, 2023 @07:49PM (#34497467)
Superhero movies are like Westerns in the fifties. It’s a just a weird genre that’s having a moment.
Re:Netflix's New Chapter by vnchr on Monday January 23, 2023 @01:02PM (#34492481)
I’d say it’s a mixed track record, and that risk of disappointment is enough to deter customets from content they might actually like.
Re:Netflix's New Chapter by layer8 on Monday January 23, 2023 @02:42PM (#34493876)
You don‘t need a “what if” for that. ;)
Re:Netflix's New Chapter by ska on Monday January 23, 2023 @03:53PM (#34494884)
> What if these shows just aren't that good?

What if they aren't that good in a very calculated, lowest-common-denominator way?

Any really big $$ production has to have really broad appeal to succeed. Maybe the safest way to do that is just to target some minimum threshold for ticket buying on a rainy thursday.

Re:Netflix's New Chapter by ska on Monday January 23, 2023 @08:49PM (#34498011)
Fwiw too late too edit but I meant that in a technical, not judgemental way - and I’m not suggesting that being popular implies not being good.
Re:Netflix's New Chapter by Volundr on Monday January 23, 2023 @12:44PM (#34492219)
TBH this more or less describes the problem at least for me. I'm like 3 Star Wars series behind. Catching up at this point feels more like a chore than entertainment. Forget Marvel.
Re:Netflix's New Chapter by aidenn0 on Monday January 23, 2023 @01:15PM (#34492674)
That's always been an issue with shared universes. I remember trying to follow X-Men in the 90s. You couldn't just read X-men, you had to read Gambit, Wolverine, &c.
Re:Netflix's New Chapter by ghaff on Monday January 23, 2023 @01:34PM (#34492966)
Or even just a TV series you didn't watch at the time. For a traditional 1 hour drama on TV, that could be 7 seasons times 20 hours per year even absent any spinoffs. I'm unlikely to catch up on 140 hours of past content.
Re:Netflix's New Chapter by warent on Monday January 23, 2023 @01:09PM (#34492580)
I agree with this and would add (perhaps partially and naively in the hopes of some Disney executive seeing this) that I feel very little excitement at the idea of watching any more super hero / jedi movies anymore.

Somehow the branding has become severely distorted, so now these movies make me feel like the studio sees me as a barrier between them and my money.

If Disney can once again make me feel like they're producing content because it's what they love to do, and because they love how we enjoy it, then I'll go back to giving them my money.

Re:Netflix's New Chapter by karmakurtisaani on Monday January 23, 2023 @02:51PM (#34494013)
The "Mickey Mouse shit machine" (to quote Rick and Morty) never loved to produce content. They love to make money with endless sequels.
Re:Netflix's New Chapter by wnevets on Monday January 23, 2023 @01:15PM (#34492675)
> I'm like 3 Star Wars series behind. Catching up at this point feels more like a chore than entertainment.

Here let me get you caught up. Blue laser sword is good, red laser sword is bad.

Re:Netflix's New Chapter by akiselev on Monday January 23, 2023 @04:13PM (#34495125)
Is green laser sword ecofriendly and organic?
Re:Netflix's New Chapter by wnevets on Monday January 23, 2023 @05:25PM (#34495980)
They are marketed as an ecofriendly alternative but that is just greenwashing by the kyber crystal mining industry.
Re:Netflix's New Chapter by cwmma on Monday January 23, 2023 @01:22PM (#34492795)
here's some advice, skip everything else, just watch Andor, it's fantastic, best Star Wars since Empire. Other stuff has been hit or miss.
Re:Netflix's New Chapter by BurningFrog on Monday January 23, 2023 @02:02PM (#34493355)
Andor reinvented the spy thriller in the Star Wars universe.

Mandalorian reinvented the Western in the Star Wars universe.

Both are superb. The other Star Wars series are not.

Re:Netflix's New Chapter by ghaff on Monday January 23, 2023 @02:15PM (#34493528)
In general, over the last decade+ the more peripheral Star Wars content is to the central storyline, the better it is.
Re:Netflix's New Chapter by slowmovintarget on Monday January 23, 2023 @03:02PM (#34494173)
We got both a heist, and a prison break from Andor.

The Mandalorian is Western + Ronin / Samurai.

And yes, they're both great.

Re:Netflix's New Chapter by the_doctah on Monday January 23, 2023 @02:26PM (#34493675)
Star Wars: Visions is good if you like anime.
Re:Netflix's New Chapter by slowmovintarget on Monday January 23, 2023 @02:59PM (#34494121)
Half the season is an amazing heist story, the other half an amazing prison break story.

It was truly excellent. For a complete surprise, do not watch Rogue One first.

Re:Netflix's New Chapter by duderific on Monday January 23, 2023 @04:51PM (#34495588)
My gosh, I thought Andor was just a horrific bore. I literally couldn't stay awake for it. It felt like about four episodes worth of story stretched out to 12 episodes. I feel like with all the glowing reviews, people are watching it through the lens of being Star Wars universe fans, and not judging it objectively against other content.

I did enjoy the Mandalorian series because at least it had the comic relief of Grogu, if the rest was a bit of a slog.

Re:Netflix's New Chapter by tootie on Monday January 23, 2023 @05:02PM (#34495744)
That's a surprising take considering how little it intersects with the rest of the SW universe. There's no Jedis, no lightsabers maybe one brief space battle and barely any direct overlap with the films. You could come in cold without having seen anything else and still enjoy it. I thought it was outstanding, especially the pacing and suspense of the early episodes. The second half is a lot more action-packed and squeezes in both an epic heist and an emotional jailbreak sequence.
Re:Netflix's New Chapter by hnburnsy on Monday January 23, 2023 @09:10PM (#34498184)
Agree but it had typical movie tropes; a bank heist, the anti-hero, a prison break, etc.
Re:Netflix's New Chapter by duderific on Tuesday January 24, 2023 @01:34PM (#34507896)
I thought the heist was kind of silly though; the whole strategy was just go in and strong-arm the guards, which is kind of lazy. A more clever "Star Wars-y" approach might have been to create some kind of subterfuge such that they could simply walk in and take the credits without even a challenge.

As far as the jailbreak, I had trouble getting emotionally invested in the outcome, as I found Diego Luna's character to be one-dimensional. Again, the approach was simply shoot your way out.

Re:Netflix's New Chapter by taco_emoji on Monday January 23, 2023 @01:57PM (#34493283)
Marvel seems like it'd be even worse since A) the storylines all intertwine, so you feel like you have "homework" to watch before seeing the latest one, and B) they're all pretty much superhero movies.

With Star Wars, creators can ignore the tired Skywalker storyline, plus there's no genre expectations tying creators down (IMO sci-fi is not a genre so much as a meta-genre or motif). At least in theory--they've been pretty reluctant to spread their wings until recently.

Re:Netflix's New Chapter by travisgriggs on Monday January 23, 2023 @02:14PM (#34493511)
Add to that the fact that Disney productions feel very formulaic and redundant, and you know you're not really missing anything. Just same ingredients stirred in a different bowl each time.
Re:Netflix's New Chapter by wowonewow on Monday January 23, 2023 @06:17PM (#34496492)
“All the Star Wars and Marvel shows”

pure dogshit for children