Stuff Worth Knowing for the Week of November 21, 2022

Bob Iger returns to Disney, Amazon commits to theatrical releases, and the Disco Elysium legal battle gets complex.

Welcome back to Stuff Worth Knowing! Each week, I'll round up news related to tech, video games, film, television, anime, and more. At the end of each newsletter, there will be a section called On The Calendar, which will include some of those notable dates that are near-term. Oh, and I also launched my Patreon, SavePhile, where my more thoughtful musings on any topic will go.

Apologies for the delay, the holiday season comes for us all. 

Film, Television, and Streaming 🎞️

One Bob Leaves, Another Returns: Iger Returns As Disney CEO

The issue with doing this once a week is that occasionally meaty news will come just after the release of the newsletter. Case in point, Disney announced on Sunday night that current CEO Bob Chapek is stepping down with his predecessor, Bob Iger, returning to the fold. The plan is for Iger to act as CEO for Disney for two years, while "developing a successor" to lead the company in the future.

It's an odd move, as Chapek's contract was extended for three years back in June, showing that the board of directors must've believed in his management tenure despite many public setbacks. The hammer likely came down because of the fourth-quarter financial earnings reports released two weeks ago, with Disney showing extensive losses of $4 billion in the direct-to-consumer division, which contains Disney+. The issue was less so that the numbers were bad and more that Chapek seemed to have a rosy outlook on the entire matter. 

A report from the Wall Street Journal also states that Chapek was moving the costs of Disney+ shows over to ABC and other Disney-owned networks, hiding even greater losses in direct-to-consumer. It doesn't help that Chapek was unpopular with the creative talent in the company. Coming from the Parks side of Disney, Chapek was focused on costs, which sometimes landed him at odds with creative talent, something Iger had a vocal issue with.

"Over the coming weeks, we will begin implementing organizational and operating changes within the company. It is my intention to restructure things in a way that honors and respects creativity as the heart and soul of who we are," Mr. Iger said in his first return memo to the company's employees. The memo also announced the departure of Kareem Daniel, the head Media and Entertainment Distribution, who was known to be part of Chapek's inner circle.

Why It's Worth Knowing: Folks may not remember, but Chapek was actually Iger's chosen successor. Iger had a popular run as CEO of Disney, as the person behind the acquisitions of Marvel, Lucasfilm, and Pixar. But that wonderful story hit the bricks with Iger's successor, who was seen as squandering everything he built. (The pandemic didn't help matters.) Certainly, that's why Iger has decided to come back for a successor mulligan. He needs the right choice so his story ends "happily ever after."

Of course, the issue is finding the right person. At the time of Chapek's choosing, I assumed that Kevin Mayer, the guy behind Disney+, would've been the successor. Apparently, the board of directors thought so as well, as Mayer and Thomas O. Staggs were offered the position ahead of Iger, according to the New York Times. Both men declined, apparently requiring that Disney acquire their start-up, Candle Media, for any deal to go through. That's a move Iger could approve now that he's the CEO, or he could choose another candidate. 

Amazon Spending Big on Theatrical

According to Bloomberg, Amazon is looking to spend more than $1 billion per year to produce theatrical releases. While Disney is splitting the difference and Netflix is experimenting with some theatrical runs, MGM owner Amazon is going all-in. The company will lower its output in 2023 as it spins up its move-making machine. 

While a billion sounds like a lot, it's actually on the lower-end of content spending in Hollywood. Disney promised to spend $33 billion in fiscal 2022, spread across theatrical, streaming, sports, and more. The idea is to have 12-15 films ready to release annually, which would put Amazon roughly in line with Paramount. 

Why It's Worth Knowing: Amazon doesn't have the IP to really make a huge splash yet, but having another place producing theatrical fare is always good news. At the very least, there's the hope that Amazon will support some genres that have gotten pushed out of Hollywood. Well, until it starts making The Boys films, I guess.

Superhero Watch: Marvel's Blade Finds a New Director and Writer

Back in September, Marvel's planned Blade film lost its director, Bassam Tariq. This was right before the film was scheduled to begin filming for its November 2, 2023 release. Blade was delayed until September 6, 2024 to give Marvel a chance to find a new director. This week, a replacement was found in Yann Demange (White Boy Rick, one of the best episodes of Lovecraft Country). Demange will direct based on a new script by Michael Starrbury, who previously wrote When They See Us.

Tech ⌨️

The Ongoing Tragedy of Elon Musk and Twitter

Let's continue our ongoing look at the moves Elon Musk is making as the owner of Twitter. Last week was all about more layoffs and "Twitter 2.0". On Saturday, Musk reinstated former US President Donald Trump on Twitter, following the results of his Twitter poll. Unfortunately for him, Trump decided not to return to the platform, staying on Truth Social for all his social media needs. This led to some of the most desperate tweets I've seen from Musk, as he tried to make it seem like it was difficult for Trump not to come back to Twitter. In reality, Trump is "generally obligated" to use Truth Social, according to SEC documents obtained by TechCrunch.

Musk followed this with another poll asking if he should offer amnesty for all banned Twitter accounts. Following this poll, Musk stated that he would be allowing all banned accounts back onto the service. Of course, he neglects to think about why the accounts were banned in the first place. In some cases, this was for safety reasons, but generally it's because advertisers don't want their products next to open statements of sexism, racism, and white supremacy. 

The advertiser problem is a key one for Musk. A combination of Musk's moderation of Twitter and firing of key advertising executives has left Twitter down in overall sales. According to a story by the Financial Times, Musk has been calling CEOs of other companies who are pulling out of their Twitter ad buys. This has apparently had the opposite effect, causing them to keep Twitter ad spending at the bare minimum levels. In total, Twitter has reportedly lost 50 of its top 100 advertisers. 

Speaking of employees, The Verge reported that Musk told employees that Twitter was done with layoffs on Monday. By Wednesday, this was revealed as a lie, as Musk fired more employees right before the Thanksgiving holiday. (These employees only got one month of severance, as opposed to the three months they would've gotten if they said "no" to the earlier Twitter 2.0 deal.) 

Some of these cuts could land Twitter in legal trouble, especially at international offices. The shuttering of the Brussels office apparently raised concerns with EU officials, and former employees of Twitter's African offices have started legal proceedings, accusing Twitter of malfeasance over severance pay in the region. And all that is before looming legal threats from US Senator Ed Markey.

Musk's content moderation choices could also land him hot water with Apple and Google. Both companies have the broad power to remove apps that violate their content guidelines. "Failure to adhere to Apple’s and Google’s guidelines would be catastrophic, risking Twitter’s expulsion from their app stores and making it more difficult for billions of potential users to get Twitter’s services. This gives Apple and Google enormous power to shape the decisions Twitter makes," former Twitter head of Trust and Safety Yoel Roth wrote in an op-ed published in The New York Times.

Musk acknowledged this could be a problem, stating that he would make "an alternative phone" if that happened. Good luck!

The week ended with Musk announcing that Verification would be returning next week. The relaunched system will apparently feature checks of different colors. Gold checks for companies, gray checks for the government, and blue checks for individuals. He also stated that all verified accounts would need to be manually authenticated, but it remains to be seen who at Twitter is going to do that work.

Amazon's Alexa Is On Track To Lose $10 Billion in 2022

Amazon's theatrical ambitions aren't the only place where the company appears in this week's newsletter. An extensive article from Business Insider details Amazon's struggles with its voice assistant, Alexa. According to the report, the Worldwide Digital division had an operating loss of $3 billion in the first quarter of 2022. While the division includes Prime Video, and Echo home gear, the biggest loser was apparently Alexa. 

As such, when Amazon started its layoffs, they hit the Alexa group hard. "Alexa is a colossal failure of imagination," one former employee told BI. "It was a wasted opportunity." Apparently, Amazon has struggled to find a way to monetize Alexa interactions, which tend to be trivial actions like finding out the weather or playing music. That, combined with the wandering eye of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, means that Alexa is no longer a priority for the company.

Why It's Worth Knowing: Alexa already finds itself struggling against competing services from Apple and Google. Without additional resources, the gap will only increase, until Amazon decides to move away from this line of devices entirely. I'm sure they'll continue to be a part of Fire TV devices and the like, but you certainly won't see any innovation or major new features. 

Video Games 🎮

Disco Elysium Studio's Legal Battle Grow

Last time we talked about the legal brouhaha surrounding Studio ZA/UM, the developer behind Disco Elysium, founders Aleksander Rostov and Robert Kurvitz alleged that studio Ilmar Kompus had taken over the studio via fraud. Now there are a few more details as to how that fraud happened. 

According to the Estonian Ekspress (translated via PCGamer), a shell company called Tütreke controlled by Kompus purchased four sketches related to the planned Disco Elysium sequel for one pound. Tütreke then turned around and sold those sketches back to Studio ZA/UM for €4.8 million, with Kompus essentially acting as the buyer and seller. Then Kompus used those funds to buy out the shares of Margus Linnamäe, the largest shareholder in the studio, giving him majority control. 

In the legal case, it's alleged that Kompus was hoping to sell ZA/UM and Disco Elysium to a larger publisher like Microsoft or Tencent. The IP rights to the game are held by Yessirnosir Ltd, a subsidiary of ZA/UM UK, which Kompus also runs. The issue for Kompus' alleged plan is that Kurvitz still owns part of the rights and can block any sale. 

Why It's Worth Knowing: Look, this case is just getting more complex all around. I didn't even get into one of the primary figures in the case, Tõnis Haavel, who was apparently also involved in the Gild-Baku Land Affair. Yeah, read the lengthy PCGamer article for more.

The FTC Might Block Microsoft's Acquisition of Activision-Blizzard

Microsoft is already struggling with its planned acquisition of Activision-Blizzard on the UK side, where the UK Competition & Markets Authority is investigating whether the deal should go through. Microsoft and Sony are doing their damndest to look as bad as possible to push the investigation in their preferred direction. Sony alleges that losing Call of Duty would be a death knell, while Microsoft argues it would simply give them the leverage to compete with Sony's strong first-party offerings. 

According to a report by Politico, the Federal Trade Commission is looking to file an antitrust lawsuit to block the acquisition in the U.S. This comes fresh off the U.S. Justice Department's success in blocking the merger between Simon & Schuster and Penguin Random House. The FTC is still reviewing the deal at the moment, with the worry again being that Microsoft would have too much operating power within the industry if the deal went through. 

Why It's Worth Knowing: It's a $68 billion deal that could change the shape of the current video game industry. This has the potential to move Microsoft out of third place, something that regulators are weighing heavily. There's a chance the deal could skirt by if Microsoft promises not to withhold major titles like Call of Duty from competitors, something Xbox boss Phil Spencer is already promising.

On My Mind 🧠

I honestly struggled to fill on the "One the Calendar" section, so I've replaced it with a new one. "On My Mind" is where I can highlight statements or moments that aren't entirely newsworthy, but still interesting. 

Tarantino Talks Marvel: Everyone focused on director Quentin Tarantino saying Marvel actors aren't stars, but his actual point was somewhat near Scorcese's comments long ago. The key part of his larger comments:

"My only axe to grind is they’re the only things that seem to be made. And they’re the only things that seem to generate any kind of excitement amongst a fan base or even for the studio making them. So it’s just the fact that they are the entire representation of this era of movies right now. There’s not really much room for anything else. That’s my problem. It’s a problem of representation.”

FTX Doesn't Know Where Its Stuff Is: FTX is in bankruptcy court this week and the opening arguments are simply gold. The implosion was so swift that the company seems to have misplaced some of its assets, according to James Bromley, a partner at the law firm representing FTX. 

"A substantial amount of assets have either been stolen or are missing."

Sonic Frontiers Is The Future of the Franchise: The reviews might have been middling, but the fans are happy. In an interview with Sector, Sonic Frontiers producer Takashi Iizuka said that the title was an evolution of the franchise:

"Just like Sonic Adventure, our goal for Sonic Frontiers was to create a game that would be the cornerstone of future Sonic games. It is a brand-new approach for the franchise, but we have been conscious to honor Sonic’s roots as well - the game still needs to feel like a Sonic game."