Posts

Paramount Still Trying to Woo Warner Bros. Shareholders

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  While they haven’t formally upped their current all-cash bid for Warner Bros., Paramount has sweetened the deal a little with a ticking fee. To fill us in on this latest development, we have Blake & Wang P.A. check entertainment lawyer Los Angeles USA, Brandon Blake.                                                                     Brandon Blake Ticking Fee Offer   While the underlying $30 all-cash bid per share will stay in place, they have added a new $0.25 per share ticking fee payable to the shareholders for every quarter the deal Paramount wants with Warner Bros. Discovery has not closed, with the timeline starting on the last day of this year.   This should come out to around $650M in value per quarter and, at a deeper level, is also something of a flex from Paramount that it...

Sony Pictures Takes a Dip, Even As Sony Group Grows

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  Although the Sony Group overall reported strong gains in its latest earnings report, Sony Pictures Entertainment didn’t fare quite so successfully. Brandon Blake, see entertainment lawyer Los Angeles with Blake & Wang P.A., fills out the details.                                                                        Brandon Blake Revenue Dip Despite $2.3B in revenue overall and $197M for the third quarter, Sony Pictures Entertainment was down 12% on last year, and 11% for the quarter. In quite stark contrast, the Sony Group as a whole saw a 22% growth. They also reported a drop in marketing costs for their theatrical fare, although a decrease in sales still pulled down overall operating income.   However, with some perspective, that looks a little less like a failure. The same quarter la...

Connect Ventures, From the CAA, Adds to Leadership

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 Connect Ventures, the venture capital arm of the CAA, has built out its leadership team further. Brandon Blake, our entertainment attorney from Blake & Wang P.A, tells us more about the change. Brandon Blake Post-Expansion Leadership Connect Ventures was the CAA’s first expansion into venture capital, founded in 2020 as a joint venture with New Enterprise Associates. It works as an investment vehicle, helping to start up and grow early-stage consumer businesses not just for media and entertainment, but also sports, gaming, health and wellness, and e-commerce.   Their team is now joined by both Nicole Quinn and Michael Blank as managing partners, while Adam Friedmann from the CAA joins as a venture partner. He will be their daily lead for both Hollywood talent management and sports representation. NEA Remains New Enterprise Associates remains as a partner, although together with the CAA, this is something of a relaunch of the firm to be a proper new entrant in...

The Box Office Bounce is Heading Up

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  The box office and its recovery have been a major worry for most entertainment players since the COVID closures contributed to an industry-wide shakeup. Despite some ups and downs, however, the trend has been up, and it should be a good year for theatrical, as Brandon Blake, USA-based entertainment lawyer Los Angeles at Blake & Wang P.A.                                                                     Brandon Blake Strong Stable Slate   Notably, this will be the very first year after the closures where we have the thing most essential to box office success: a reliable and stable slate with real weight behind it. The early 2020s, obviously, had COVID-linked disruptions to filming, and the box office moved right on to the dual strikes of 2023, further impacting the flow of films. With a full sl...

Avatar Continues its Box Office Streak

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  With two new releases performing as anticipated, and Avatar still powering up numbers, it’s another good January weekend for the box office. Here’s a look at the last weekend’s box office, from Brandon Blake, USA based entertainment attorney Los Angeles with Blake & Wang P.A.                                                                           Brandon Bake Winning Streak   Avatar: Fire and Ash may bring no surprises with its success, but there’s certainly plenty of victory in its current numbers. Ending the January box office in No. 1 for the fourth weekend in a row, it managed to bring in $21.3M over 3,700 screens. That brings its total cume to date to $342.6M in the US. It’s a little behind the first 2 films, but given the film made it to the coveted $1B mark in just thr...

Your Oscar Race Round-Up: What’s Looking the Hottest?

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  Award season is progressing full speed ahead, with the buildup to this year’s Oscar ceremony. While it’s always possible for a new upset to derail the awards train, Blake & Wang P.A. review entertainment lawyer Los Angeles in USA, Brandon Blake, looks at the films that have had success so far, and how we might see the converted golden statues awarded this March.                                                                        Brandon Blake   The Last Stretch for Contenders   With the formal awards show set for 16 March this year, we’ve seen a few unexpected contenders issue their own challenge to what looked like a very solid Best Picture lineup late last year.   One to watch: Blue Moon . From the Sony stable, this film has picked up a lot of positive word of mouth,...

Will The Coming Mergers Impact Sundance?

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With the interesting developments around bids for Warner Bros. Discovery, it’s looking like a complicated festival season. But what will these major shifts among the traditional Hollywood studios mean for the coming film festival season? Brandon Blake, review here entertainment attorney Los Angeles USA with Blake & Wang P.A., offers his thoughts on these changes.                                             Brandon Blake   Upcoming Lineups, Looming Chaos Just ahead of Sundance releasing its 2026 plans, which will be its last year in Park City, we have a very unusual M&A landscape, where a somewhat hostile set of dueling bids has eclipsed the fact that Warner Bros. is heading for new ownership entirely. Warner Bros. has not been a major festival name for some time now. But it’s a chaotic merger (and that’s being kind), and the likelihood of escaping its impact ...