News Round Up 2020

[BriarRabbit]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1305868981685944320

"This is the way" to do Star Wars.

 

[The Pho]

SeaWorld News

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/bus...0200915-72m2hwjcqzfavjce3irq3mq7ti-story.html

 

[jknezek]

SeaWorld News

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/bus...0200915-72m2hwjcqzfavjce3irq3mq7ti-story.html

Someone besides private equity is going to have to buy SeaWorld/Busch Gardens. I can't imagine who, but private equity isn't going to keep pouring money down that hole. There has to be a way to make that business work, and the infrastructure is worth too much just to shut it down, but it's really ugly what's happened to that brand and business.

 

[CastAStone]

Someone besides private equity is going to have to buy SeaWorld/Busch Gardens. I can't imagine who, but private equity isn't going to keep pouring money down that hole. There has to be a way to make that business work, and the infrastructure is worth too much just to shut it down, but it's really ugly what's happened to that brand and business.

Depends on the PE firm. There are going to be a lot of situations like this in Restaurants, Retail, Travel and Entertainment over the next 12 months - SeaWorld was pre-pandemic a profitable company (unlike Hertz, which may go under) that was not staring down a black hole of long term revenue declines (unlike say a Lord & Taylor which is going under), and whoever buys it will merely need to keep it afloat until such time that the pandemic is no longer impacting travel decisions. It doesn't need a house cleaning or to be stripped to pieces.

Now I think SeaWorld may be more likely than others to avoid a sale or bankruptcy, but this logic applies industry-wide - if it was profitable and showed revenue growth pre-pandemic, it is far more likely than not to survive, even if it has to shed debts in a bankruptcy and/or change hands in order to do so.

 

[OSUZorba]

Depends on the PE firm. There are going to be a lot of situations like this in Restaurants, Retail, Travel and Entertainment over the next 12 months - SeaWorld was pre-pandemic a profitable company (unlike Hertz, which may go under) that was not staring down a black hole of long term revenue declines (unlike say a Lord & Taylor which is going under), and whoever buys it will merely need to keep it afloat until such time that the pandemic is no longer impacting travel decisions. It doesn't need a house cleaning or to be stripped to pieces.

Now I think SeaWorld may be more likely than others to avoid a sale or bankruptcy, but this logic applies industry-wide - if it was profitable and showed revenue growth pre-pandemic, it is far more likely than not to survive, even if it has to shed debts in a bankruptcy and/or change hands in order to do so.

If they get bought, I'd would bet it would be out of Chapter 11. I wouldn't think they'd be very attractive with their current balance sheet.

 

[CastAStone]

If they get bought, I'd would bet it would be out of Chapter 11. I wouldn't think they'd be very attractive with their current balance sheet.

I tend to agree, they have basically no book value but are currently trading at twenty something dollars a share because the investment community seems to believe that they have sufficient financing in place (or available to add) to bridge them until their revenue picks back up. If that doesn’t turn out to be true though the company is effectively worthless and would either have to go chapter 11 or potentially be sold for $1 plus assumption of all debts.

 

[Gusey]

2 of the Boo You You floats in calvacade form can be seen in this video from earlier today
1:38:01 Villains
1:25:09 Nightmare Before Xmas

 

[rteetz]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1305927264475983872

 

[rteetz]

News

https://blogmickey.com/2020/09/gala...s-trading-post-replaces-wonderground-gallery/

 

[soniam]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1305927264475983872

I’m not gung ho to be in a theater. We did see Tenet though. I’m glad that I don’t have to feel compelled to go now. However, I miss movies in theaters a lot. I guess we will see about No Time to Die. We want to see that. Rewatching all of the old ones right now, including the one with George Lazenby.

 

[soniam]

News

https://blogmickey.com/2020/09/gala...s-trading-post-replaces-wonderground-gallery/

Love Wonderground Gallery. Can’t they put SWGE merch somewhere else and support local artists with the gallery. I’m sure the artists could use the business right now,

 

[rteetz]

View this content on Instagram

View this content on Instagram

 

[jknezek]

I’m not gung ho to be in a theater. We did see Tenet though. I’m glad that I don’t have to feel compelled to go now. However, I miss movies in theaters a lot. I guess we will see about No Time to Die. We want to see that. Rewatching all of the old ones right now, including the one with George Lazenby.

Dedication right there...

 

[tlmadden73]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1305927264475983872

You'd think Black Widow is more likely to have streaming "premier early access" success than Mulan, so I am surprised they aren't going to try that at least. I can see why they want to delay it to be in a "real" theater .. but is that model ever going to come back they way it used to be? I can't see it for a LONG time.

Even if theatres are opening up (still not here in NC) . they are going to open up with 25-50% capacity .. thus not the box office numbers they are used to. Besides .. even if opening up, I think theatres are "out of sight, out of mind" .. meaning the public may just not feel the need to go "out" to see a movie as much anymore after getting used to the ease (and cost savings) of home streaming.

Soul? That seems like the perfect fit to just go straight to Disney+ (maybe premier access, but I personally would just wait until it is included) -- I doubt that would be a big hit in theaters anyway since it is an "original" (aka not an IP-based sequel) movie. The original Pixar movies (while very often AMAZING), often need some positive word of mouth to get box office numbers.

 

[CastAStone]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1305927264475983872

I hope I get to see Soul in a theater and I hope I get to do it safely.

 

[rteetz]

You'd think Black Widow is more likely to have streaming "premier early access" success than Mulan, so I am surprised they aren't going to try that at least. I can see why they want to delay it to be in a "real" theater .. but is that model ever going to come back they way it used to be? I can't see it for a LONG time.

Even if theatres are opening up (still not here in NC) . they are going to open up with 25-50% capacity .. thus not the box office numbers they are used to. Besides .. even if opening up, I think theatres are "out of sight, out of mind" .. meaning the public may just not feel the need to go "out" to see a movie as much anymore after getting used to the ease (and cost savings) of home streaming.

Soul? That seems like the perfect fit to just go straight to Disney+ (maybe premier access, but I personally would just wait until it is included) -- I doubt that would be a big hit in theaters anyway since it is an "original" (aka not an IP-based sequel) movie. The original Pixar movies (while very often AMAZING), often need some positive word of mouth to get box office numbers.

Disney 100% wants the theater experience to come back especially for marvel films. They’ll delay as long as they can.

 

[Tom_E_D]

I’m not gung ho to be in a theater. We did see Tenet though. I’m glad that I don’t have to feel compelled to go now. However, I miss movies in theaters a lot. I guess we will see about No Time to Die. We want to see that. Rewatching all of the old ones right now, including the one with George Lazenby.

Don't you mean especially the one with George Lazenby? Forget about him. It starred Diana Rigg.

 

[Greta]

Extending hours is a GOOD thing. Another step back to normal.

I get the feeling (anecdotally) that more people (not all, obviously) are feeling ready to go back now .. despite the reduction in hours and experiences. Cases are plummeting, no outbreaks associated with any of the parks after 2-3 months.

I know two families that are going in October and November despite the reductions. The first family have been many times and had a trip planned pre-Covid, so they don't really care about reduced experiences as they've done it all and will do it again. The second family (my sister-in-law) have only gone once before, so this is a big family trip for them ..though they are doing it a bit differently (by camping in their new camper at Fort Wilderness). Both are excited to go.

Heck the "low crowds" and "low waits" are probably more of a selling point (to those of us that monitor these things) than any discounts or commercials . I wonder if a lot of "wait and see" families may decide to keep their pre-covid planned trips for Oct - Dec and/or a lot of people may plan a last minute trip?

I am also an example of that first family. We are arriving Sept 30th and had this trip booked pre-covid. It is my 50th birthday and nothing is going to keep me from there

we have been several times and we have prepped our 14 year old daughter that this is going to be a different kind of Disney trip than we usually take (about every 2 years).
We are also staying at a Fort Wilderness cabin this time (new experience for us) and we think the early closure times will be spent at the resort tooling around in our golf cart enjoying camper’s Halloween decorations.

 

[tlmadden73]

Disney 100% wants the theater experience to come back especially for marvel films. They’ll delay as long as they can.

Right .. I feel Disney is in a catch 22. They want to make money off their movies sooner than later, but if they push too many things straight to VOD (at $30/family), they shift consumer patterns to expect MORE VOD and encourage them to NOT go back to the theaters when they do reopen.

I just wonder what the "temperature" is for people going back to the theaters. Unlike say live sports or vacations, it is something easily replaced (with home streaming/home theatres).

I guess, at least with Black Widow, they can sit on that for however long as they want since it is just a prequel and the start of Phase 4. Maybe this gives the MCU a much needed break before starting over.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Right .. I feel Disney is in a catch 22. They want to make money off their movies sooner than later, but if they push too many things straight to VOD (at $30/family), they shift consumer patterns to expect MORE VOD and encourage them to NOT go back to the theaters when they do reopen.

I just wonder what the "temperature" is for people going back to the theaters. Unlike say live sports or vacations, it is something easily replaced (with home streaming/home theatres).

I guess, at least with Black Widow, they can sit on that for however long as they want since it is just a prequel and the start of Phase 4. Maybe this gives the MCU a much needed break before starting over.

I get what you are saying of shifting patterns and more people doing the VOD going forward ... I do still think there will always be a place for big action movies (Marvel, Star Wars, etc) but theaters might evolve to cattering to just that and a lot of the "regular" movies shift to VOD (always be small art houses too of course)