The SCOOP by Seymour Flix

Death of the DVR

Unless a cave-dweller, you're aware that the old, trusty, hard-wired to your TV,  DVR has been on a steady death-march.  Now, its demise has become official.

The DVR/DVD era is coming to an end

A recent survey reports that 64% of American households use Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu or other network streaming service from which to receive their in-home entertainment. Only 53% reported having and using a DVR. The decline and extinction of the DVR is inevitable. More and more media will be stored, shared, and accessed from the cloud, with streaming services dominating the home entertainment space.

The survey, conducted by the Leichman Reserarh Group, surveyed consumers 18 and older. A full 54% of them reported that they are Netflix subscribers of which 23% stream Netflix daily. 10% more reported they also subscribe to another or additional streaming service.

The era of the DVR is closing. Purchasing a DVD will go the way of the music CD. Yes, they will be available but not of primary importance for movie viewing as they once were.



Avatar Release Postponed



'Avatar's' sequel has been postponed to 2019. 'Avatar 2', the highly anticipated follow-up to the highest grossing movie of all time, will miss its scheduled December 2018 release, so says its creator James Cameron.

To be the second in a series of four new films, Cameron says, "what people have to understand is that this is a cadence of releases. So, we're not making 'Avatar 2', we're making Avatar 2,3,4 and 5. It's an epic undertaking that will consume the next eight years of my life."

'Avatar' grossed $2.8 billion and won 3 Oscars in 2010.


SXSW - Just Another Film Fest

SXSW (South by SouthWest for those of you asleep at the culture wheel), is the Austin, TX film fest that opened on Friday and runs through March 19th.

I'm not sure if even the most rabid movie fans need another, so called, 'great film festival'. There appears to be a race going on between film fests and award shows as to which will number the most - and the more there are the less relevant each becomes.

According to Janet Pierson, head of SXSW, "We specifically try to stay away from stuff that's too broad. We want the filmmakers view."  To that end, SXSW includes not only big screen but made for TV content as well.  Documentaries also play a big part of SXSW's 8 day agenda.

Let's face it. There is just too much content being produced. most of which is marquee or TV guide fodder. 99% of what will debut at SXSW will never see the light of a movie or TV screen.

Running 8 full days demands a lot of content and makes one wonder how good this stuff really is? Besides the filmmakers themselves and their friends, family, and acquaintances, plus the budding want-a-be filmmakers with their FF&A who actually shows up at these festivals.

Best, Seymour