Filming news this week was quite abundant. Netflix is fast-tracking a new means of revenue. House of the Dragon has already lost a showrunner. A DC Comics show is getting a new season before it’s finished its current season. And you won’t believe the footage revealed of the new Winnie The Pooh movie. Check out everything that happened in filming this week.
Netflix Launching Ad-Supported Tier in November
According to Variety, Netflix will soon be instituting its cheaper ad-supported tier. They’ll be launching in November in order to get ahead of Disney+ launching the same tier. Plans were to introduce the ad tier in early 2023 but the move by other big streaming channels may have prompted Netflix to speed up this new avenue for bringing in more customers. Netflix is aiming for a soft $65 CPM with advertisers but it’s not sounding good for this ambition.
The new tier could help Netflix out with its dwindling customers and revenue issues. The streaming service has seen big numbers this year for the fourth season of Stranger Things. They’ve also hit a wall for how many customers they can amass, losing more this year despite the increase in viewership. If the ad tier is successful, it could lead to extra revenue to fund more projects. Netflix recently decided to cancel a number of projects so it could use the funding for future projects.
House of the Dragon Already Losing a Showrunner
Despite just debuting recently, the Game of Thrones prequel series is already facing some exits with creatives. According to The Hollywood Reporter, House of the Dragon co-showrunner Miquel Sapochnik is stepping down from the position. This comes after working on the development of the show for three years. This means that co-creator Ryan Condal will be the central showrunner going forward.
Sapochnik also gave a statement on his departure:
“Working within the Thrones universe for the past few years has been an honor and a privilege, especially spending the last two with the amazing cast and crew of House of the Dragon. I am so proud of what we accomplished with season one and overjoyed by the enthusiastic reaction of our viewers.”
The second season will still be going forward with Alan Taylor being added as a director.
DC Fandome Cancelled
Things are not looking good at Warner Bros right now. The shakeups caused by the Discovery merger have placed a lot of projects in jeopardy. As a result, many DC Comics shows and movies have been gutted. This includes the recently completed-and-then-shelved Batgirl movie and the new Batman animated series. That being said, some projects like James Gunn’s Peacemaker and Matt Reeves’ Penguin spin-off series are still in production as of this writing.
With all of this considered, however, DC Comics is currently in a heavy state of restructuring. This restructuring has led to Warner Bros canceling its annual DC Fandome event. This event is usually meant for announcing upcoming DC Comics projects for theaters, TV, and HBO Max. There will be no official event this year as it’s uncertain just which projects will remain. For example, we don’t know if the HBO Max movie for Blue Beetle is proceeding or canceled yet.
This news may also not sit well with the Synderverse fandom that has been pushing for Warner Bros to restore Zack Snyder’s vision for future DC Comics films. They were hoping for some spec of news amid Comic Con this year but there was nothing. With no DC Fandome this year, it’s even less likely that Warner Bros will entertain another Zack Snyder DC Comics movie in the future.
Harley Quinn Approved For Season 4
Despite there being no DC Fandome this year, there is some good news this week for DC Comics productions. Harley Quinn has been receiving rave reviews and acclaim as an adult-oriented postmodernist take on the Batman villain. Her animated series is currently in its third season on HBO Max. The season is apparently going so well that season four has already been approved for production. The news broke this week over on Twitter from the official Harley Quinn account and the creators have confirmed they’re moving ahead with another season.
The series, based on the character created in 1990’s Batman: The Animated Series, follows the criminal exploits of Harley Quinn, her girlfriend Poison Ivy, and their friendly cohorts King Shark, Clayface, Catwoman, and more. The series features the voices of Kaley Cuoco, Lake Bell, Alan Tudyk, Ron Funches, Tony Hale, Jason Alexander, J. B. Smoove, Matt Oberg, and Christopher Meloni. The third season has featured guest voice actors James Gunn and Billy Bob Thorton playing themselves.
As the news is early, there’s no word yet on when we can expect the fourth season to hit HBO Max. It’s likely that it will debut sometime in 2023.
Winnie The Pooh Horror Movie Trailer
Not too long ago, Winnie The Pooh entered the public domain. This meant that any writers or filmmakers could conceive of any Pooh story they wished. Thus began a new non-Disney production of Winnie The Pooh in a much different light.
“Winnie The Pooh: Blood And Honey” may sound like a parody or satirical short film meant to poke fun at Disney. But, no, this is apparently a real horror feature film that has finished filming. The B-movie style horror will feature Pooh and his pal Piglet as grotesque creatures of the Hundred Acre Woods who goes on a killing spree in the absence of Christopher Robin.
The first trailer has debuted and it very much promises to be a disturbing film. Pooh and Piglet will both be portrayed with weird designs and there will be plenty of blood spilled. Here’s a synopsis to give you an idea of what to expect:
“Christopher Robin is pulled away from them, and he’s not [given] them food, it’s made Pooh and Piglet‘s life quite difficult. Because they’ve had to fend for themselves so much, they’ve essentially become feral. So they’ve gone back to their animal roots. They’re no longer tame: they’re like a vicious bear and pig who want to go around and try and find prey.”
“Winnie The Pooh: Blood And Honey” does not currently have a release date.
Cover source: Netflix
