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Paramount launches hostile bid for Warner Bros

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Re: Paramount launches hostile bid for Warner Bros

#331

Post by Muromec »

perihelions wrote: post #321
Muromec wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nah, they are fine. They ate head of presidents office alive last week. Add: it's also not one anticorruption agency, but the whole bunch of them -- law enforcement one (think of FBI, but investigating corruption in government), special prosecutors office, another agency monitoring assets of anyone close enough to government (including immigration officers on a country level) and their family and a whole separate cou…

> "Nah, they are fine. They ate head of presidents office alive last week." That's the same guy who tried to take over that anti-corruption office. He would be controlling it now, if it weren't for the massive country-wide protests about it. I'm not sure that they're doing fine. Economist , July 2025: > "On July 22nd the Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, passed a bill that would place the country’s two main anti-corruption…

>That's the same guy who tried to take over that anti-corruption office. He would be controlling it now, if it weren't for the massive country-wide protests about it. I'm not sure that they're doing fine.

Well, they won for now, that's what matters.

Re: Paramount launches hostile bid for Warner Bros

#333

Post by wooger »

nake89 wrote: post #303
dabockster wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That, plus fewer studios mean less creativity goes to the mainstream. If you thought AI slop was bad, go re-watch Star Wars Episode 8.

Me and my wife were Star Wars fans. The last Star Wars media we watched was episode 8. I almost walked out the theater.

I've watched and enjoyed Andor since, but yeah other than that zero star wars movies and TV shows since episode 8. I hear 9 was also hilariously bad, but I'll not ever bother seeing it.

Re: Paramount launches hostile bid for Warner Bros

#334

Post by BLKNSLVR »

petersellers wrote: post #244
__turbobrew__ wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People are given a choice on what they eat as well and many also eat junk food, despite it largely being agreed upon that junk food is not good for you. Both cheap entertainment and junk food cede your autonomy to large corporations whose main goal is to make you addicted to their product and extract the maximal amount of money. This is purely subjective, but I believe that the path to personal fulfillment does not i…

I disagree with your premise that your non-preferred form of entertainment is equivalent to eating junk food. I’m sorry that you were addicted to playing video games (truly) but I think your past experience is preventing you from thinking rationally about this. People can find fulfillment from many different things, including the ones that you personally don’t find fulfilling. One's fulfillment is also irrelevant wit…

> prescribing it as a general view

I didn't get that read at all. I read it as their journey of understanding how the world works and how they've reached their opinions on personal autonomy.

Your replies feel as if they're trying to paint turbobrew's comments as something more than they are; as some kind of prescribed doctrine, as opposed to an individuals opinion.

But that may just be because I happen to strongly agree with turbobrew's commentary.

Re: Paramount launches hostile bid for Warner Bros

#335

Post by alfiedotwtf »

thordenmark wrote: post #288
dabockster wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The failed merger and similar clawback clause between Kroger and Albertsons is currently destroying a significant part of the supply chain for food in the Pacific Northwest. Grocery stores that have been open for 50-75 years - stores where whole neighborhoods and towns were built around - are closing forever, leaving those areas as food deserts. Either way, this entertainment merger is going to get ugly. Consumers ar…

It's not like we aren't drowning in entertainment options. Food on the other hand, that's a real problem.

12 Fast and the Furious, 42 X-Men movies… yeah - drowning

Re: Paramount launches hostile bid for Warner Bros

#336

Post by ssl-3 »

themafia wrote: post #309
digitaltrees wrote: post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like an opportunity to open grocery stores.

So when it's not happening as readily as we expect what do we do next?

We just sit back and watch as the invisible hands of capitalism cleanse themselves of our existence.

Re: Paramount launches hostile bid for Warner Bros

#337

Post by wooger »

Levitz wrote: post #64
staplers wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

we'll see meaningful copyright reform and sanity in our lifetime. That seems wildly naive... gestures broadly at world

The rest of the world is the one thing that gives me hope in this regard, really. It feels like year by year, Asia, even China, is becoming more and more culturally relevant. Western media is just too damn stagnant. Hollywood used to be known as possibly the most important cultural powerhouse history has seen. It might still be that, but it certainly doesn't feel like it anymore. Or maybe I'm just getting old.

Based on what culture exactly? Can you name a single Chinese worldwide hit movie or TV show from the last 12 months?

I can think of only Korean Squid Game and a few Japanese anime shows that are somewhat successful.

Do Chinese movies even get distributed into places like India, Africa, South America as US produced stuff does?

Re: Paramount launches hostile bid for Warner Bros

#338

Post by defrost »

wooger wrote: post #337
Levitz wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The rest of the world is the one thing that gives me hope in this regard, really. It feels like year by year, Asia, even China, is becoming more and more culturally relevant. Western media is just too damn stagnant. Hollywood used to be known as possibly the most important cultural powerhouse history has seen. It might still be that, but it certainly doesn't feel like it anymore. Or maybe I'm just getting old.

Based on what culture exactly? Can you name a single Chinese worldwide hit movie or TV show from the last 12 months? I can think of only Korean Squid Game and a few Japanese anime shows that are somewhat successful. Do Chinese movies even get distributed into places like India, Africa, South America as US produced stuff does?

Ne Zha 2 was huge.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ne_Zha_2

  Like its predecessor, the film received highly positive reviews from critics, and achieved even greater commercial success at a gross of $2.2 billion worldwide against a production budget of US$80 million.

  Ne Zha 2 broke numerous box office records inside and outside China, including becoming the highest-grossing film in a single box office territory, the highest-grossing animated film, being the first adult animated film in this position, the highest-grossing non-English language film and the first animated film in history to cross the $2 billion mark, as well as being the highest-selling animated film based on ticket sales.

  It also ranks as the highest-grossing film of 2025 and the fifth-highest-grossing film of all time.
and that immediately sprang to mind for a 60+ Australian english speaking mathematician / geophysicist not of asian descent. No Google / Bing / AI required.

Having grandchildren made it hard to avoid.

As for China in Africa:

  Global power dynamics in Africa are shifting, with China eclipsing the influence of the US and France. China has become Africa’s single largest trading partner.
is true, but has been overstated by some to raise fear of Red Menace.

Source: https://theconversation.com/maps-showing-chinas-growing-infl...

FWiW China has been a significant employer of US mercs in Africa.

eg: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontier_Services_Group

Re: Paramount launches hostile bid for Warner Bros

#339

Post by kakacik »

trymas wrote: post #316
digitaltrees wrote: post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the fact that this is credible should scare every entrepreneur. If you cant compete on an even playing field because some people have direct government involvement in tipping the scales we are neither a free market economy nor a democracy.

Since the beginning of the year - USA is just a shell of market economy. Small government indeed… Also some say it’s “flawed democracy”, IMHO - for last ~3 decades (or even more) it’s just a charade of democracy. Probably soon you won’t even have that. First-past-the-post two party system, bizarre primary elections, electoral college, land votes instead of people (how many senators are from california and how many fr…

The fact that in US you can win the most powerful seat in the world while not even voted for by majority of its own population is properly ridiculous. Yes we all heard about historical this and that but that doesn't matter, thats not a democracy at its core and at the lowest, most important layer of building a resilient democratic society.

Then on that questionable base you build a shaky empire that is supposed to work if people behave nicely. It works till somebody comes around who doesn't care about that and it all falls down. Lets not forget current government was voted by +-half of US population, for second time. Nobody should be shocked by direction its taking again, maybe surprised by intensity of it but thats it.

I am a minority in the fact that I openly welcome the visible consistent hostility of USG towards whole Europe and Ukraine conflict when russia attacks whole western world including US and our philosophy of existence, as much as it can (luckily for us not that much). We are waking up from our deep comfy slumber, not in ideal fashion but we already have a bigger combined military than US has in many, for us the most important aspects (since we don't want to drag ourselves to remote wars unlike you guys so ie aircraft carriers are rather unimportant).

Green deal will be soon gone (good idea in vacuum but not in world where literally nobody else cares about it and we just destroy our economy and future trying to make our 10% part count), social services will get cuts to bring them to more sustainable levels based on unavoidable demographics and more focus on more practical and military manufacturing, like it or not.

Re: Paramount launches hostile bid for Warner Bros

#340

Post by lotsofpulp »

TSiege wrote: post #237
1970-01-01 wrote: post #225

All I can say is welcome back to torrenting. This perpetual "same shit deal for consumers, different corporation" problem doesn't end until copyright kicks the media into public domain. Until then, you can play their content reindeer games[1] or you can download a copy of Reindeer Games[2] and watch it without worrying about ownership foofaraw. [1] https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/reindeer-games [2] predb.me

The problem here isn’t as simple as torrenting. It’s the narrowing of what culture is created and promoted and what isn’t. Paramount is overtly a right wing organization now under the Ellison’s. Part of their bid to WB is “it’d be a shame if trump killed this deal of yours”. Netflix’s groveling or Paramounts success might mean we see less art critical of the government and more that panders to its interest

> It’s the narrowing of what culture is created and promoted and what isn’t.

What professional media companies create and promote gets less and less relevant every year. The content served by Meta/ByteDance/Alphabet’s computers and other online sources get more and more relevant.

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