Viacom/CBS possibly to re-merge

[XCV330]

It's not competition for anything. It's one more potential franchise, one more product in the line.

What do you figure is the theatrical audience overlap for Marvel movies and Star Wars movies? Given that most of the audience is just young folks who want to see big blockbuster action movies when they open, I'll bet you that it's 90 percent or more.

Look at the number of brands Proctor and Gamble sell that "compete" with one another...except that they don't, really. They just push other products by smaller manufacturers off the prime supermarket shelf space.

Star Trek doesn't compete with Star Wars theatrically and never did - but it would be one more opportunity to dominate a summer weekend at the box office.

Disney has shelved Tron, cancelled the remake of Black Hole, and probably adjusted their production in other ways we can't imagine. I doubt they'd be interested in buying Trek, but even if they did, to the graveyard it would probably go, or else only on the small screen. Once they bought Lucasfilm, their dance card was filled for the next couple of decades.

 

[johnjm22]

Disney's long term plan is to have their own streaming service. They're trying to compete against Amazon/Hulu/Netflix/YouTube. Adding ST would allow them to entice customers that previously may not have been interested in the service.

As I understand it, Disney already owned Tron and The Black Hole. That's very different than going out and spending ~1 billion to buy a property like Star Trek. You don't do that just so you can shelve it.

 

[Shaka Zulu]

Disney has ruined Star Wars, let's not be hasty in securing a future for Star Trek in a short sighted way... :P

How the frak do you figure that out?

And please don't tell me that 'SJW bullshit' and diversity did this, this is over Rian Johnston not giving white male [neocon] fans the all-out action they wanted and having Luke die (even though it's time for Mark Hamill to have a career other than being Luke Skywalker.) Disney isn't going to get Star Trek in any way-CBS makes too much money from it as a franchise, and it's having Paramount and Bad Robot move ahead with two new movies. Plus, Amazon doesn't have the deep pockets to make a Star Trek TV show or movie, and people like Seaveraux hate Discovery because it isn't a clone of TOS like Star Trek Continues or Star Trek New Voyages is.

 

[mdtauk]

How the frak do you figure that out?

And please don't tell me that 'SJW bullshit' and diversity did this, this is over Rian Johnston not giving white male [neocon] fans the all-out action they wanted and having Luke die (even though it's time for Mark Hamill to have a career other than being Luke Skywalker.) Disney isn't going to get Star Trek in any way-CBS makes too much money from it as a franchise, and it's having Paramount and Bad Robot move ahead with two new movies. Plus, Amazon doesn't have the deep pockets to make a Star Trek TV show or movie, and people like Seaveraux hate Discovery because it isn't a clone of TOS like Star Trek Continues or Star Trek New Voyages is.

I have no issues with SJW's they do a good for society IMO, but as a gay man, maybe I am biased :P . My issue is that Episode 7 was derivative and dull (remake of A New Hope), which took the galaxy backwards in terms of it's world building. Rogue One was like a fan film, and Episode 8 destroyed the character of Luke Skywalker. I think the loss of George Lucas's story ideas, and his guidance was a mistake. Episode 3 and Episode 5 are my joint favourites, and with all the issues the Prequel Trilogy has, these were the dialogue and directing, both of which George Lucas sort out collaborators who all turned him down saying he should do it himself.

The schedule of yearly Star Wars movies will take its toll in time, and will lead to fatigue, which will be a slow death for the franchise IMO.

 

[Grendelsbayne]

I have no issues with SJW's they do a good for society IMO, but as a gay man, maybe I am biased :P . My issue is that Episode 7 was derivative and dull (remake of A New Hope), which took the galaxy backwards in terms of it's world building. Rogue One was like a fan film, and Episode 8 destroyed the character of Luke Skywalker. I think the loss of George Lucas's story ideas, and his guidance was a mistake. Episode 3 and Episode 5 are my joint favourites, and with all the issues the Prequel Trilogy has, these were the dialogue and directing, both of which George Lucas sort out collaborators who all turned him down saying he should do it himself.

The schedule of yearly Star Wars movies will take its toll in time, and will lead to fatigue, which will be a slow death for the franchise IMO.

Last Jedi is the first time I ever cared about Luke Skywalker as a character at all. I see no reasonable argument as to how his character has been 'destroyed' just because he isn't perfect.

 

[XCV330]

How the frak do you figure that out?

And please don't tell me that 'SJW bullshit' and diversity did this, this is over Rian Johnston not giving white male [neocon] fans the all-out action they wanted and having Luke die (even though it's time for Mark Hamill to have a career other than being Luke Skywalker.) Disney isn't going to get Star Trek in any way-CBS makes too much money from it as a franchise, and it's having Paramount and Bad Robot move ahead with two new movies. Plus, Amazon doesn't have the deep pockets to make a Star Trek TV show or movie, and people like Seaveraux hate Discovery because it isn't a clone of TOS like Star Trek Continues or Star Trek New Voyages is.

I won't say it's ruined but the ep 7 and 8 made terrible mis-characterizations for Luke and Han, left Leia a pointless mildly-sad cipher before they had a chance to move on to ruining her character in 9. It's introduced a new gaggle of characters that aren't as compelling and won't be remembered twenty years from now. 7 was an ok movie only insofar as it was a complete rehash of preexisting movies, something Abrams excels at. 8 would have been an interesting movie if it hadn't had Star Wars tacked in front of it. But Disney could trot out Episode 9: You Will Be Force Fed Bantha Turds and people would still line up to watch it, "well I've come this far, I'll give it a chance. I'm curious about those Bantha Turds"

 

[Shaka Zulu]

I have no issues with SJW's they do a good for society IMO, but as a gay man, maybe I am biased :P . My issue is that Episode 7 was derivative and dull

Most fans wanted a return to what was in ANH to begin with, and it wasn't a blatant copy, but a pastiche that 'remade' the original while creating a new story, much like Star Trek Into Darkness did.

which took the galaxy backwards in terms of it's world building.

How so?

Rogue One was like a fan film

Give me a break on that; it was the most heroic movie I've ever seen, with the most heroic sacrifices ever seen in a modern movie.

and Episode 8 destroyed the character of Luke Skywalker.

Again, how so?

Jedi's are not out-and out action mavens; as Yoda said, 'A Jedi uses the Force for defense, NEVER for attack'. Luke used the Force to defend what was left of the Resistance from the First Order on Crait, and he mind-fucked his wayward nephew so well that Kylo might not come back as powerful as he used to be. That's as bad-ass as any kicking of butt, and he did it while doing what Obi-Wan did on the Death Star in A New Hope. A great end to the character (and a great way for the actor to stop playing the character), I've not seen.

I think the loss of George Lucas's story ideas, and his guidance was a mistake. Episode 3 and Episode 5 are my joint favorites, and with all the issues the Prequel Trilogy has, these were the dialogue and directing, both of which George Lucas sort out collaborators who all turned him down saying he should do it himself.

The schedule of yearly Star Wars movies will take its toll in time, and will lead to fatigue, which will be a slow death for the franchise IMO.

George can't be doing it forever, and everybody hated his guts because of the Prequel Trilogy, so what's the big concern? It's in great hands with Bad Robot, Abrams, Kathleen Kennedy, and Rian Johnston. Also, having yearly movies will only be fatiguing because of cynical whiny butthurt fans that act like brats because the trilogy won't go their way, or because Lucasfilm won't adapt the 'universe' of a bunch of spin-off licensed books. I've been entertained, and I'm not interested in whiny fools who think that the franchise isn't great because of recent changes.

 

[lawman]

[TFA] wasn't a blatant copy, but a pastiche that 'remade' the original while creating a new story, much like Star Trek Into Darkness did.

I have trouble reading that comparison as anything other than "it sucked," but somehow from context I gather that's not what you're trying to say...

 

[mdtauk]

@Shaka Zulu It's a subjective argument, so not worth going into all the details. You obviously are enjoying the current direction for the series, where as I am disappointed and losing patience with it. I will probably skip Solo, and will only watch Episode 9 to see how the trilogy ends. But I don't enjoy it as much as I did, and think it is a shame.

Oh and you invoked Into Darkness. I couldn't watch that movie without rolling my eyes at the blatant moments lifted directly from TWOK. Star Trek 2009 and Star Trek Beyond were much better movies by plowing their own furrows. (Even though Beyond and The Search for Spock, feature the destruction of the Enterprise :P )

 

[Mudd]

It would be interesting if fewer fans practiced apparently popular eye exercises during movies and actually watched them attentively before forming fixed opinions.

 

[fireproof78]

Oh and you invoked Into Darkness. I couldn't watch that movie without rolling my eyes at the blatant moments lifted directly from TWOK.

All two of them?

Last Jedi is the first time I ever cared about Luke Skywalker as a character at all. I see no reasonable argument as to how his character has been 'destroyed' just because he isn't perfect.

While I cared about Luke before this, I never understood the "destroyed" descriptors either. He simply felt more human and less "everyman."

 

[Shaka Zulu]

That is essentially true. But I know I am not a lone voice in the wind. I don't think putting Star Trek into the same blockbuster movie factory/process that Disney employs would do the series good. Yea its an opinion, but also I think plurality in these movie franchise owners is also a good thing.

Excuse me, but where the frak did you get the idea that Star Trek is some kind of niche artistic property similar to 2001: A Space Odyssey? It isn't, you know; it's been an action-adventure/science fiction property since Gene Roddenberry wrote Star Trek Is... back in 1964. I'm not going to repeat what was already said about the movies by some other member (and it was a great one), I'll just leave a link to it.

 

[XCV330]

Star Trek could pull in the numbers of a Star Wars film. it just needs a lot of things to go right that haven't quite all gone right at the same time. i think, aynway.

 

[dahj]

Star Trek could pull in the numbers of a Star Wars film

Well, it's already pulling Solo numbers...

 

[F. King Daniel]

Well, it's already pulling Solo numbers...

...yay?

 

[CorporalClegg]

Nah. I think Star Trek's realistic ceiling is about 800 or so. But that's dependent on a lot of things. Number 1 being Paramount not run by a sack of stale marshmallows.

#2: Borg movie.

ETA: I will add that I think there's a real opportunity here. And I hope this Viacom/Paramount/CBS scuffle doesn't piss it away.

Star Wars has exposed the kinks in its armor. And I think audiences are beginning to get bored. Now is the chance for Star Trek to swop in and offer its slightly different but mostly familiar meal.

They have an up-and-coming talented woman director and two of the Chrises. If Paramount had any sense at all, they should have been on the phone immediately after the Solo weekend numbers came in to get the ball rolling, so they can have a fairly meaty teaser out by the holidays.

Oh. And, similarly, DISCO S1 should be put up on Netflix in all regions a few weeks before S2 starts.

They really need to start promoting the band name.

 

[ITDUDE]

They really need to start promoting the band name.

They could, they should, the won't. Not with the 70+ somethings running the company.

 

[NeoStar9]

As long as CBSAA continues to grow, and it is, no way is Discovery appearing on Netflix in the US/Canada. From a business point of view it would be greatly self-defeating and huge malpractice for them to do that. CBS AA is a important long term project. That can't be undermined for anything. So I fully get what they're doing there. That's why they're expanding CBS AA via Amazon's Channel service and trying to get it on more devices, etc. This is actually a very forward thinking plan by them regardless of the age of those in charge. Something that both Disney and Warner Bros are doing as well.

What they need to do is get those blu-rays out and advertise those. Get the show on store shelves where people shopping will pass by them. Keep the price for the season low enough that it can easily be an impulse buy for some. Get it on the blu-ray/dvd rackets you see in Walmart when you are near the registers that tend to have every new Marvel film and other film that just came out.

 

[CorporalClegg]

Blu-Rays are no longer market viable and putting the first season on Netflix wouldn't be any different from any other show's previous season being on there. It's easy exposure.

 

[.:: TSN ::.]

Blu-Rays are no longer market viable and putting the first season on Netflix wouldn't be any different from any other show's previous season being on there. It's easy exposure.

Believe it or not, but disks are still very much viable. Even DVDs are still being sold.

CBS has nothing to gain from releasing the first season to Netflix in USA. Neither does the public. If you are able to have Netflix at your home you are also capable of singing up for a free trial on CBSAA and binge-watching the first season of DSC for free.

But if you don't have fast enough internet for streaming services, or some other reason for not signing up, your only choice is a disk release.