Article Credit: https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/16/20916237/fortnite-chapter-2-new-map-season-11-black-hole-design-epic-games

Writing from the point of view of someone who has never played the game, but has only watched bits and pieces of their brothers scream at the screen in frustration I acknowledge the fact that I will probably butcher some of these terms and phrases about the game- so bare with me.

Tuesday morning, players returned to their game after a meteor struck the island, ending in a gaping black hole that apparently “sucked up the map,” and left what I assume was the majority of all pre-teen and teenage boys quaking in their basements staring at a blank screen. The “relaunch” featured a completely different island and doubled as the release of the next season, titled: Fortnite Chapter 2. The update basically features new challenges, an updated interface and slight changes to gameplay in general. In the words of many, “Fortnite is exciting again.”

This stunt is considered one of the “most groundbreaking” events from Epic Games thus far. With numbers dropping even after what seemed like a successful e-sports tournament and more, this move by Epic easily placed the game back on top where it will hopefully stay.

The article points out that Fortnite was losing favor with players and streamers before the launch of this new season. This was due to a lack of updates, especially on the map and perhaps just the interface in general. The gaming and live-streaming industries are booming. E-sports is huge, Twitch is huge, and I do not see this trend dying out anytime soon. While this is a good thing for companies like Epic Games, it also brings the heat. The pressure is on for game designers to release cutting edge updates and new games.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjcgM61-J_lAhVig-AKHbRaCpEQjRx6BAgBEAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fdeadline.com%2F2018%2F06%2Fmoviepass-amc-theatres-new-movie-ticket-subscription-service-1202414051%2F&psig=AOvVaw0mDnDIiAwEnNtPbg1QR6GZ&ust=1571286450035395

In the weird world of movies, streaming, and television, one of the top names in film has made the switch to streaming: AMC. Movie fans will be able to rent and buy movies in the comfort of their own homes from one of the United States’ largest movie theater chains. The movie theater company, AMC Entertainment, will roll out an iTunes-style video store in the United States starting October 15th. The service is said to offer over 2,000 films to rent or purchase and will have a similar layout to iTunes, Amazon, and other video-on-demand retailers.

In light of the new streaming service companies like Disney, Warner Bros., Universal, Sony, and Paramount have all made deals with AMC for catalog and new-release movies. Ron Sanders, president of worldwide distribution at Warner says, “For us, it’s all upside. Most of our other big digital partners are focused on multiple other categories — music, books. The great thing about AMC is that movies are the whole focus.” Mr. Aron, an executive at AMC says, “Our theater business is mature. There is a high-growth opportunity in this digital expansion.”

In my opinion, I think this is a great move from AMC. With the expansion of technology and streaming, movie theaters have become less and less popular. AMC moving into the streaming game opens up a whole other world for them. The article talks a little bit about the company using this service hand-in-hand with their AMC Stubs program and I think that’s a great idea. In the article it says, “AMC Stubs members bought about six million tickets to ‘The Lion King’ over the summer. When ‘The Lion King’ becomes available digitally on Tuesday, ‘those people will all get a personalized message from AMC saying that they can now enjoy it at home through AMC Theaters On Demand.'” I think this is such a good idea and even if a small percentage of the people who receive the message rent or purchase The Lion King, the company will still be generating more revenue (after factoring in costs of content acquisition).

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/kevin-feige-upped-chief-creative-officer-marvel-1247801

A reign of supreme control over one property is fairly rare in today’s media environment, unless your name is Kevin Feige. Feige’s upward movement through the ranks of Marvel Studio’s Entertainment division is unprecedented, yet undeniably deserving.

The President of Marvel Studios has now added Marvel Chief Creative Officer to his title, overseeing all creative decisions aligned to Marvel’s storytelling and content creation platforms. This includes the heavily imbalanced Marvel TV division as well as the animation generator Marvel Family Entertainment.

It’s been a busy year for Marvel and the Walt Disney Co. and nothing has come without a myriad of headlines. After a plethora of box office success with record-breaking hits such as Avengers: Endgame, Captain Marvel, and Spider-Man: Far From Home, Feige has been credited as a leader in innovation and strategy when producing his films. His recent success has even led him to lay the foundation of producing a new Star Wars picture. Though after the resurgence and recovery of the immediate fallout between Disney and Sony over the Spider-Man rights, it seems as if Feige’s influence and formula success was too difficult for either side to overlook. Feige controls the game, and I don’t think anyone is complaining.

Feige’s prowess and progressive stature is something that I have never witnessed within one media company. He produces results–most of which accumulate billions of dollars–and has consistently developed, well received, quality content for a staggering ten year stretch. All of which are unheard of and some would say could never be done under one property. Yet Fiege’s success as a producer has more than likely given Disney the growth and revenue needed to become such a progressive powerhouse themselves, attributing to their acquisition of Fox and launching their own streaming service. Most of the popular properties that Disney+ is advertising are under Feige’s creative control and connected to his established universe such as the announced Loki, Hawkeye, and Wanda Vision Marvel series.

Feige’s track record is impressive and Disney relies on him to continue to develop stellar content across its spectrum of entertainment properties. In order for Disney and Marvel to creatively innovate themselves, Feige needs to have full oversight. The decision was simple and gives Disney and Marvel a greater opportunity to explore new directions and creative capacities now that Feige is in full command.