AT&T CEO Throws Shade at Netflix Price Hike, Predicts HBO Max Will Recoup Amazon Losses

The Wonder Twins are getting activated. Yep, remember DC’s The Wonder Twins created for the 1970s Saturday morning cartoon “The Super Friends”? Well, they’re getting their own movie.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterNBC briefly misidentified singer Mickey Guyton as Jhene Aiko during a preshow performance at Super Bowl LVI on Sunday.As seen in the video below, the broadcast network first panned over Guyton with a chyron that labeled her as “Jhene Aiko” during Aiko’s performance of “America the Beautiful.” A few seconds later, the incorrect name disappeared under Guyton and cameras shifted to Aiko, who was singing, and a new chyron correctly identified her as “Jhene Aiko.”When Aiko concluded her performance of “America the Beauitful,” Guyton sang the National Anthem ahead of the kickoff for the big game between the Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals.Representatives for NBC Sports did not immediately respond to Variety’s request for comment on the error Sunday. More to come…@NBCNews #SuperBowlLVI ummm… who confused Jhene Aiko and Mickey Guyton? Its tone deaf….

It’s hard to think of other professional basketball teams that measure up to the Showtime Lakers era. NBA dynasties such as the Chicago Bulls led by Michael Jordan had a predecessor with Magic Johnson and the Lakers.

It’s hard to think of other professional basketball teams that measure up to the Showtime Lakers era. NBA dynasties such as the Chicago Bulls led by Michael Jordan had a predecessor with Magic Johnson and the Lakers.

HBO Max has commissioned a second season of Álex de Iglesia and Jorge Guerricaechevarría’s mystery horror 30 Coins.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer“Los Espookys” co-creator Julio Torres has signed a two-year first-look deal with HBO and HBO Max.Torres has two new projects already in development under the pact, “Little Films” (working title) and “Lucky,” the former of which he’s set to star in and is produced by Emma Stone.In “Little Films,” which has a production commitment at HBO, the former “Saturday Night Live” writer stars as himself. The potential show follows this version of Torres as he tells the tale of when he lost a golden oyster.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterKorean zombie thriller “All Of Us Are Dead” has become Netflix’s fifth most popular non-English-language series debut, Variety has learned exclusively.On Tuesday, “All of Us Are Dead” debuted on Netflix’s all-time rankings, which tracks the streaming service’s Top 10 most popular non-English TV series based on hours viewed in their first 28 days on Netflix, in the fifth-place slot. Its entrance bumps “The Queen of Flow,” which was previously at 10th, off the list.At No. 1 on the list is still, of course, the Korean mega-hit “Squid Game,” which racked up 1.65 billion hours viewed in its first 28 days post-launch.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterSPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “Child Care,” Monday’s episode of “9-1-1: Lone Star.”Baby made three for Judd (Jim Parrack) and Grace (Sierra McClain) on last week’s “9-1-1: Lone Star” — and on Monday’s episode, an estranged teen son and his mother made five. Totally unbeknownst to Judd and Grace, he had a son Wyatt (Jackson Pace) with Marlene Harris (Robyn Lively), a barrel racer he can hardly remember having met at the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo in 2005.On Monday’s “9-1-1: Lone Star,” that boy comes to find Judd with the help of an online DNA ancestry website and Judd and Grace, just getting the hang of taking care of newborn daughter Charlie following her birth at the tail end of the Fox drama’s weeks-long ice-storm plot.

reported was filed at the Los Angeles Superior Court Monday. In fact, Warner Media ordered its entire 2021 roster to be released on their sister platform HBO Max, while moving up the release date for “The Matrix Resurrections” from its originally scheduled 2022 premiere to December 2021, attorneys for Village Roadshow claimed in the filing.“WB’s sole purpose in moving the release date of ‘The Matrix Resurrections’ forward was to create a desperately needed wave of year-end HBO Max premium subscriptions from what it knew would be a blockbuster film, despite knowing full well that it would decimate the film’s box office revenue and deprive Village Roadshow of any economic upside that WB and its affiliates would enjoy,” the suit stated.Village Roadshow also claims to be the victim of “rampant piracy” facilitated by the streaming release, adding that Warner Bros.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterNBC has placed drama pilot orders for “The Brave” creator Dean Georgaris’ “Blank Slate” and an adaptation of the novel “Predictably Irrational.”Written by Georgaris, “Blank Slate” follows Special Agent Alexander McCoy, a legend in law enforcement, the agent we all hope is out there, the agent we’d all like to be, per the project’s official logline. The only issue is … he doesn’t actually exist.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer“The Boondocks” reboot series has been scrapped at HBO Max, Variety has learned.In September 2019, HBO Max ordered a two-season revival of the animated series before the WarnerMedia-owned streaming service had even launched.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterAmazon significantly beat fourth-quarter 2021 earnings estimates but narrowly missed on revenue, reporting Thursday a profit gain of almost $12 billion thanks to its investment in electric car company Rivian.Net sales for the quarter were up 9% to $137.4 billion. After some favorable adjustments that excluded the $1.3 billion impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter, net sales increased to 10%.The tech giant revealed in its Q4 earnings results that it is hiking the price of its Prime service from $12.99 to $14.99.The company said: “With the continued expansion of Prime member benefits as well as the rise in wages and transportation costs, Amazon will increase the price of a Prime membership in the U.S., with the monthly fee going from $12.99 to $14.99, and the annual membership from $119 to $139.” Click here to sign up for Variety‘s free Strictly Business newsletter covering earnings, financial and investment news, and more.Wall Street analysts forecast earnings per share (EPS) of $3.58 on $137.56 billion in revenue, per Refinitiv data.

the internet’s most hated character, Che Diaz. In the episode, out Thursday on HBO Max, Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), goes to what she believes is a dinner to meet the family of her non-binary lover, Che. In reality, Che takes Miranda to a crowded nightclub and gets on the stage to sing a song.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterParamount Plus and Showtime are two separate subscription services owned by the same company in a market that is already overcrowded with streaming and pay-TV competition. But that’s the way it’s going to stay for the two ViacomCBS brands — for now at least — as Paramount Plus president of original scripted series Nicole Clemens says the young streamer continues to carve out its identity as the home of “big blockbuster originals” versus Showtime’s slightly “more coastal” audience.“I think they’re complementary and I think there’s going to be some overlap in a Venn diagram,” Clemens told Variety Tuesday, following Paramount Plus’ day of presentations at the virtual Television Critics Association winter press tour.

Angelique Jackson WarnerMedia OneFifty has acquired the short films, “Namoo” and “When the Sun Sets,” to be released on HBO Max.Both films are shortlisted to be nominated for the 2022 Academy Awards, with “Namoo” as a contender in the animated short film category and “When the Sun Sets” in the live-action short film category. The nominations will be formally announced on Feb.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterByrde family fans flocked to Netflix to watch “Ozark” Season 4, Part 1, drawing more viewers than any other TV series in its debut week on the streamer.The first half of the final season of the Jason Bateman-led drama landed at No. 1 on Netflix’s English-language TV Top 10 list for the week of Jan. 17-23, with 77 million hours viewed in just its first three days.

HBO Max is offering 20% off monthly plans for a year. If you've been waiting for an opportunity to catch up on HBO Max's Emmy-winning show  and the reboot, then this might be it. When you sign up for an annual plan before the deal ends, you can save $2 each month on HBO Max with ads.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterNetflix stock fell more than 10% Monday morning, continuing the steep downward trend it’s been experiencing since the streaming giant reported last week it had ended 2021 with slightly lower-than-expected subscriber gains and anticipated a weak start to Q1.At approximately 11:50 a.m. ET, Netflix stock was trading at $353.31 per share, down from the $397.50 per share the stock closed at Friday.Last Thursday, Netflix reported a net gain of 8.28 million subscribers for Q4, again driven by markets outside North America, to reach 221.8 million total worldwide.

HBO Max is offering 20% off a one-year subscription. If you've been waiting for an opportunity to catch up on HBO Max's Emmy-winning show  and the reboot, then this might be it. When you sign up for an annual plan before the deal ends, you can save $2 each month on HBO Max with ads.

TV’s most hated character?HBO Max has yet to even announce whether there will be Season 2 of the divisive “Sex and the City” spin-off.But in the next episode of “And Just Like That,” fans will see Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) dash to Cleveland to see her new paramour, comedian Che (Sara Ramirez).After telling her longtime husband Steve (David Eigenberg) that she wants a divorce, Miranda jumps on a plane to proclaim her love for Che, the show’s first nonbinary character.But it appears that she’s in for a rude awakening after turning up at Che’s hotel room — seemingly to find them with someone else.In a glimpse of the next episode, titled “No Strings Attached,” Che yells at Miranda, who turns up with a box of pastries: “You are not my ‘girlfriend.’ We are not dating,” to which Miranda exclaims: “We’re not? What are we doing?!”Che has turned out to be one of the most hated roles on the show, with even longtime fans lamenting the character’s contrived nature. Twitter has gone into hyperdrive about them, and after this week’s episode, one tweeted: “Stop subjecting us to che, they are making it really hard to get into and just like that….