Entertainment

Netflix confirms ads are coming later this year

In a cheaper subscription tier

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Netflix is currently in a bind. As the platform’s rivals grow, Netflix has started shrinking and losing subscribers. The company has also started pondering on alternative strategies to maintain its grip on the streaming world. One of the most recent ideas involves the introduction of a cheaper, ad-supported subscription tier. Now, after much strategizing, Netflix has all but confirmed its addition later this year.

During the recent Cannes Lion advertising festival (via The Hollywood Reporter), Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos confirmed that the platform is indeed adding a cheaper option for subscribers by the end of the year. While the platform was initially averse to including ads, Sarandos has stated that some subscribers actually don’t mind ads in return for a cheaper price per month.

Prior to an official announcement, Netflix has not announced how much the new subscription will cost on launch. Likewise, they haven’t confirmed whether the tier will come to all countries and territories where Netflix is present.

If anything, Netflix isn’t alone or the first in adding an ad-supported subscription tier. Hulu, for example, already offers such a tier. Hulu’s partner streaming platform, Disney+, is also considering adding a similar tier later this year.

Besides adding the ad-supported tier, Netflix is also pumping up its presence in the gaming world. They are also considering another payment system meant for users who share their passwords to non-subscribers.

SEE ALSO: Netflix is losing a lot of long-term subscribers

Entertainment

Transformers One trailer: Get to know Optimus Prime, Megatron’s origin stories

In cinemas September 18

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Transformers One

Paramount Pictures has released the trailer for Transformers One, the upcoming latest installment of the Transformers film franchise.

Before fans get excited for the Transformers and G.I. Joe crossover, this animated film focuses first on Optimus Prime’s relationship with his adversary, Megatron.

The origin story is set in Cybertron, long before the transformers land on earth in the chronological timeline.

The trailer reveals Optimus Prime’s previous name, Orion Pax. On the other hand, Megatron was previously known by D-16.

Joined by Elita-1 and Bumblebee, the two main protagonists journey to Cybertron’s surface, which hasn’t been explored beforehand due to the dangers it is said to have.

On the surface, the crew realizes that right away, but are bestowed the power to transform. After some figuring, they manage to utilize this ability to defend Cybertron from intruders.

Overall, the three-minute trailer gives a lighter and funnier vibe. That’s in contrast to the previous iterations where the story is more serious from the get-go.

The transformers’ appearance also looks simpler and more toned down, giving an old school feel which is appropriate, considering this movie is set an earlier time when Cybertron was more intact.

Transformers One is showing on Philippine cinemas on September 18. The voice cast includes Chris Hemsworth as Optimus Prime, Brian Tyree Henry as Megatron, Keegan-Michael Key as Bumblebee, and Scarlett Johansson.

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Joker: Folie à Deux 1st trailer finally released

The world is a stage

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Joker Folie a Deux

Warner Bros. Pictures has finally released the first trailer for upcoming musical thriller Joker: Folie à Deux. The two-and-a-half minute trailer debuted at CinemaCon. The Todd Phillips masterpiece will hit the big screens in the Philippines on October 2.

Phillips’ own take on a story loosely based from famed characters from DC, Joker: Folie à Deux was originally intended to be standalone film given that it is a musical. However, it eventually became a sequel to the Academy Award-winning Joker movie from 2019. The short clip shows titular lead actor Joaquin Phoenix and, for the first time, Lady Gaga.

Joker Folie a Deux

The trailer aptly starts with Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck character in solitary confinement inside Arkham. If you can recall, the end of the 2019 movie showed the Joker walking with bloodied footprints. This means he presumably killed the therapist he was trying to tell a joke to.

Inside the asylum, Joker meets Gaga’s character Harley Quinn. This is one of the obvious changes to the iconic DC character’s origin story. The movie depicts Quinn as Joker’s fellow patient, instead of being a psychiatrist in the asylum who eventually falls in love and helps her partner in crime escape. The clip eventually transitions to the two protagonists dancing in the streets. Hal David’s “What the World Needs Now Is Love” plays along.

Joker Folie a Deux

Towards the end, Gaga then dons a red blazer with black-and-white diamond checkered top inside. It’s nowhere near the classic Harley Quinn jester costume that Margot Robbie once put on in the first Suicide Squad installment, but it’s obvious that the getup somehow takes some of those elements.

The trailer concludes with Harley Quinn telling Joker, “I wanna see the real you” as she draws the latter’s signature red lips on a glass divider separating the two. It can definitely mean that Fleck is incarcerated for that particular scene, and it could be the scene that jumpstarts the escape from Arkham. Who knows? We can only wait until October to find out.

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Fallout on Prime Video: What inspired producers to create series

From video game to TV series

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Prime Video-exclusive series Fallout is finally streaming next week. Based from the popular video game franchise that has spanned decades, Fallout is set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland world. It is quite reminiscent of the video games’ original environment that is damaged by nuclear war.

If you need quick refresher, Prime Video released the series’ official trailer a month ago. READ: New Fallout trailer dwells upon The Ghoul, brotherhood, more

So, what inspired the producers to come up with the sci-fi adaptation? According to Jonathan Nolan, who directed the first three episodes, the Fallout 3 game became his “entry point.”

“It’s dark, violent, but it’s also satirical and in some places almost goofy. It’s all these amazing things in one. I’ve never really experienced anything quite like it,” Nolan shared.

Bethesda’s 2008 action RPG was the third installment in the main Fallout video game series. The game featured the Great War of 2077, the several underground bunkers called vaults, and a vast wasteland set particularly in Eastern United States. Based on the trailers alone, the creators have worked with these elements for the series version.

Ten years after coming across the title, Nolan then met with Fallout 3 developer Todd Howard to explore the possibility of a TV series. Howard mentioned how Nolan played the game dedicatedly, and that the latter was “in sync” with what he was thinking.

Nolan’s vision led to the recruitment of the series’ two other directors: Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner. The creative trio crafted an original narrative within the Fallout universe that was consistent with the game’s storyline.

Robertson-Dworet added: “We’re not just adapting a game; we’re crafting a new story that delves deep into the complexities of humanity post-nuclear apocalypse.”

The Fallout series begins with a nuclear apocalypse, then a 219-year jump into the future – where life underground offers comfort and order, while the surface is a battleground for survival.

The series stars Ella Purnell as Lucy, Aaron Moten as Maximus, and Walton Goggins as The Ghoul, among others. Fallout premieres on April 11.

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