Get a look behind the scenes of the new โObi Wan Kenobiโ show
The first time we heard his name was in 1977 when Carrie Fisher said the famous line, โHelp me Obi Wan Kenobi. Youโre my only hope.โ Flash forward 45 years later and the character originally made famous by Alec Guinness has a show of his own starring Ewan McGregor, who reprised his role from, the prequel trilogy. Host Jason Carr spoke to Rupert Friend, who plays the new villain, and Joby Harrold, the Executive Producer, and Writer for the series.
Marvel's 'Falcon' promises action, explores race, patriotism
(Disney Plus via AP)NEW YORK โ When Steve Rogers handed Sam Wilson his Captain America shield at the end of Marvel's massive 2019 event โAvengers: Endgame,โ Wilson tried it on for a beat. That reluctance and skepticism is front-and-center as Wilson's story continues in โThe Falcon and the Winter Solder,โ a new six-episode Disney+ series that promises an exploration of patriotism and race alongside its shootouts and soaring chase scenes. While โEndgame" appeared to promise a quick transition for Anthony Mackie's Falcon to take up the Captain America mantle, as he has in the comics, the creator of โFalconโ promises only complications. AdSo will there be a Black Captain America by the time the final credits roll in April? Agent, a sometime antagonist to Captain America who twists American patriotism to darker ends.
Disney says Disney+ streaming service now tops 100 million paid subscribers
Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff and Paul Bettany as Vision in Marvel Studios' WANDAVISION exclusively on Disney+. The Walt Disney Co. announced Tuesday its streaming service Disney+ now has more than 100 million paid subscribers worldwide. Disney+ was launched in the United States back in November 2019, just in time for the 2019 holiday season. The announcement Tuesday about the Disney+ subscription milestone was made during a Disney annual shareholders meeting. Right now, Disney is enjoying another hit on the streaming service, โWandaVision.โ Itโs a series based on Marvel Comics characters.
Whatโs new on Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, Disney+ in January 2021
FILE - In this Aug. 13, 2020 file photo, the logos for Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus and Sling TV are pictured on a remote control in Portland, Ore. As movie theaters closed and lockdowns descended across the country, people turned to the ever-growing number of video streaming services for entertainment. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)(Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
Quack, quack: Disney announces โThe Mighty Ducks: Game Changersโ series
This week, fans of the 1990s โMighty Ducksโ films got what theyโve been wanting for more than 20 years: An announcement about another installment of the popular Disney hockey franchise. โThe Mighty Ducks: Game Changersโ will be streamed on Disney Plus. The series of movies made terms like โducks fly together,โ โcake eaterโ and โquack quack quackโ all too frequent in real life. The movies eventually helped create the NHLโs Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, now known simply as the Anaheim Ducks. Looking back on it, there is a certain nostalgia all hockey fans (probably) share for the original Mighty Ducks.
S&P 500 closes at record as possible vaccine lifts markets
TOKYO โ The S&P 500 closed at a record high on Friday as optimism built among investors that a coming vaccine for the coronavirus will help end the shutdowns that have devastated the economy. The S&P 500 added 48.14 points, or 1.4%, to 3,585.15, rising above the index's previous closing record of 3,580.84 set back in early September. The S&P 500 ended the week up 2.2%. Stocks in the S&P 500 energy sector rose more than 16% this week, while tech stocks were essentially flat. โI still think the dust is kind of settling from that vaccine news as investors think about how to be positioned,โ he said.
Disney posts 4Q loss as parks business, costs drag results
Walt Disney Co. reported fiscal fourth-quarter loss on Thursday thanks largely to changes related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Their primary focus is on making shows and movies for streaming services. Subscribers to Disney's main streaming bundle โ Disney Plus, ESPN Plus and Hulu โ top 120 million. Disney posted a loss of $629 million, or 39 cents per share, in the three months that ended Oct. 3. Disney said revenue at its parks, experiences and products business fell 61% to $2.6 billion.
Asian shares track Wall Street decline on pandemic jitters
Shares were mostly lower in Asia on Wednesday after pandemic concerns snapped a four-day winning streak on Wall Street. Japan's Nikkei 225 erased early losses to gain 0.2% to 23,645.81 while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong gave up 0.2% to 24,608.27. South Korea's Kospi lost 0.7% to 2,386.54 and the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia declined 0.2% to 6,185.30. JPMorgan Chase, Johnson & Johnson, Citigroup and BlackRock all reported stronger results for the summer than analysts had forecast. Benchmark U.S. crude oil lost 17 cents to $40.03 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Disney reorg to further bolster company's focus on streaming
The company said in August that its Disney Plus service has more than 60 million subscribers, and subscribers to its main combination of streaming services โ Disney Plus, ESPN Plus and Hulu โ top 100 million. It still plans to launch another international streaming service called Star. Disney has released several major titles on streaming services that would traditionally have appeared at cinemas, like a live-action remake of "Mulan" and the upcoming Pixar film โSoul" that will hit Disney Plus at Christmas. Their primary focus will be on making shows and movies for streaming services, Disney CEO Bob Chapek said in a statement. Disney Plus is considered one of the most successful so far.
Disney Plus hits 10M subscribers in 1 day
Disney Plus says it hit more than 10 million sign-ups on its first day of launch, far exceeding expectations. Disney has invested billions in its streaming service, which costs $7 a month or $70 a year after a 7-day free trial. Customers of some Verizon wireless and home-internet plans were offered a year free. Disney didnt break down where the subscriptions came from or if they were free or paid monthly or yearly. Some analysts thought it would take Disney a year to reach 10 million subscribers.
Disney Plus suffers some technical difficulties at launch
Disney's brand-new streaming service Disney Plus may be a victim of its own success. The $7-a-month service offering an array of Disney classics and new shows suffered some technical difficulties hours after launching at 3 a.m. E.T. The problems started a little before 7 a.m., according to downdetector.com, a website that tracks outages. It received more than 8,000 reports of difficulties, mostly with video streaming. Disney is working to resolve the issue after consumer demand exceeded its expectations, said spokeswoman Karen Hobson.