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Business

GOOD 4 U: Hayley Williams has been given a writers credit on Olivia Rodrigo’s hit song

Olivia Rodrigo, the star of Disney Plus’s High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, released a popular song that is eerily familiar to Paramore’s “Misery Business.”

Rodrigo has now given writing credit to Paramore’s singer Hayley Williams and Joshua Farro, co-writers of “Misery Business.” “Good 4 U” debuted at number 1 and stayed in the top 5 since May.

The similarities between the two songs were so apparent that it became a trend on TikTok to dance to a mashup of the two songs.

It is not uncommon for songs to give credit to writers after a song is released.

25 August, 2021 0 comment

Business Entertainment Featured Television

Disney star Emma Stone upgrades her contract for ‘Cruella’ sequel

written by Ruben Jay

Emma Stone has renegotiated her Disney deal for a Cruella sequel.

Deadline is reporting that the Disney star has been granted a significant raise for the sequel. According to the report, Stone was paid $8 million for the first Cruella film and will receive “8 figures range.”

Stone had been rumored to sue Disney over her contract and follow the steps that Scarlett Johansson. Johansson is suing Disney for “breach of contract” as they did not give Black Widow an exclusive theatrical release or give her a percentage of the streaming revenue.

The deal with Disney is reported to be a “win/win” for both sides.

18 August, 2021 0 comment

Business

PepsiCo is releasing an alcoholic Mountain Dew

written by Ruben Jay

PepsiCo is teaming up with Boston Beer to release Hard Mtn Dew.

Over the last few years, “hard” beverages has been exploding. Between Truly Hard Seltzer to Hard Mtn Dew, your choice of non-beer and wine drinks has expanded. According to CNBC, the Hard MTN Dew will contain 5% alcohol. It will also reportedly have zero sugar.

Coca-Cola has also entered the alcoholic beverage market with their Topo Chico Hard Seltzer. Pepsi is also looking to sell a Rockstar branded hard seltzer.

PepsiCo also has Mtn Dew branded energy drinks.

17 August, 2021 0 comment

Business

Beyond Meat files trademark for dairy product

written by Ruben Jay

Beyond Meats has filed for a trademark for a new dairy product: Beyond Milk.

Dairy alternative products are on the rise. The news that Beyond may be entering the dairy market is huge.

According to Fox news, the application is for “goods and services.” The product would be god for ” making milk shakes; coffee or tea beverages with milk or milk substitutes.”

According to the same report from Fox News, alternative dairy products is an estimated $16 billion market.

17 August, 2021 0 comment

Business Entertainment

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow may leave the network

written by Staff Writer

The New York Post reports that Rachel Maddow may be leaving the network to pursue her own venture.

Maddow has been the number one rated host on the network for years. She has hosted The Rachel Maddow Show since 2008. The Daily Beast is reporting that Maddow’s contract ends early next year and the negotiation has been “heated.”

If she exits MSNBC, Maddow would likely start her own platform. Maddow may look at the Megyn Kelly format of podcasting and streaming. Maddow reportedly makes $7 million a year and is represented by Mark Shapiro.

“Nothing has been decided. We are deep into it with NBCUniversal and Rachel has an excellent relationship with them,” Shapiro told The Daily Beast.

14 August, 2021 0 comment

AEW Business Entertainment Wrestling

AEW Stars Cody & Brandi Rhode’s reality series, ‘Rhodes to the Top’ gets premiere date

written by Ruben Jay

TNT’s “Rhodes to the Top” Premieres September 29 at 10 p.m. The One-Hour Premiere Episode Will Debut Following “AEW: Dynamite” on TNT

LOS ANGELES (August 11, 2021) – During tonight’s action-packed episode of TNT’s “AEW: Dynamite,” it was announced that the one-hour series premiere of “Rhodes to the Top,” starring AEW’s Cody and Brandi Rhodes, will debut on Wednesday, September 29, at 10 p.m. on TNT.

“Rhodes to the Top” goes inside the lives of Cody and Brandi Rhodes as they navigate their growing family while helping to build AEW’s global wrestling empire. The additional four, 30-minute episodes will take viewers behind-the-scenes as the powerhouse couple manage their ever-busier lives inside and outside the ring, all the while surrounded by a colorful and often hilarious motley crew of wrestlers, family and friends who both support and test them at every turn. Married in 2013, Cody and Brandi have been on an unprecedented path to wrestling greatness – but will now face their newest and possibly biggest challenge yet – becoming parents.

“Rhodes to the Top,” from Warner Bros. Unscripted Television, is produced by Shed Media. The series is executive produced by Dan Peirson and Lisa Shannon of Shed Media, Bernie Cahill and Jon Kanak of Activist Artists Management, and Tony Khan, CEO, GM and Head of Creative of AEW. Additionally, Sam Berns and Paul Storck serve as executive producers with Berns as showrunner. Cody and Brandi Rhodes are repped by Hyperion, Activist Artists Management, and Morris Yorn Barnes Levine Krintzman Rubenstein Kohner & Gellman.

11 August, 2021 0 comment

Business Entertainment

AMC and WarnerMedia strike a deal for an exclusive 45-day window of theatrical release

written by Ruben Jay

AMC announced today that they have struck a deal with WarnerMedia for a 45-day exclusive theatrical window for the year 2022.

AMC Entertainment’s CEO Adam Aron announced the deal on Monday’s earnings call. “We’re especially pleased Warner Bros. has decided to move away from day-and-date,” Aron said. “We are in active dialogue with every major studio.”

WarnerMedia upset many studios and theater owners when they announced its plan to release all their 2021 films on HBO Max for the price of their monthly subscription at the same time the films hit theaters. Disney+ has a similar model but they charge a $30 fee (per film) in addition to their subscription price.

Aron admitted that he disliked the plans to release films on streaming platforms and theaters at the same time. “An exclusive window is an important way to build big and successful franchises” Aron said.

Prior to the Coronavirus pandemic, theaters had a 90-day window of exclusive play. You can see the effects on the dual release with The Suicide Squad having an underwhelming opening weekend.

Time will tell if the 45-day window will help theaters stay competitive with streaming services.

9 August, 2021 0 comment

Business Featured Tech

iSEE YOUR PHOTOS: Apple says they will be scanning photos on their iCloud Servers

written by Ruben Jay

In an attempt to fight child porn and child trafficking, Apple announced a new program that will scan iCloud photos for “flagged” for child porn and missing children.

According to the New York Post, Apple plans to use the database at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to help find photos of missing children. Google, Microsoft, and other tech companies currently scan photos uploaded to their server, but Apple has not until now.

With this announcement, many commentators came out to wonder how long it will take for the government to force Apple to use this tool to peer into users phones for more incriminating content. Apple has refuted these claims on their website.

“We have faced demands to build and deploy government-mandated changes that degrade the privacy of users before, and have steadfastly refused those demands,” Apple wrote. “We will continue to refuse them in the future.”

The first round of this program will only scan content uploaded to iCloud but Apple does plan to expand that to “on device content as well.

During this process, Apple would scan iCloud photos and attempt to match them to photos in the database. Should a match be found, local authorities will be notified.

Those who oppose this new service say that Apple should create a tool to be able to report abusive content to Apple as opposed to scanning users devices. No word on if users would be able to opt out of this new service.

COMMENTARY: Here is the only problem I have: Where will this stop. I am 100% for Apple creating tools to help stop child porn from being distributed and to fight human trafficking, but will it stop at just this?

What is stopping Apple from going a few steps further and scanning users text messages for select words like “vaccine” or “Mask”? Will Apple be able to scan photos on their iClouds for users gun collections?

And let us take a second to think about the possibility of an Apple employee being able to hack the system to scan for users private, intimate, and maybe even consenting sexual content on their iCloud and saving them to their personal devices. We had a case not that long ago of Twitter employees hacking into users DMs and saving said content to their devices. While Twitter denied these allegations, it isn’t improbable to assume this could happen.

All in all, I would like to hope that Apple would not abuse this tool in the future.

9 August, 2021 0 comment

Business Entertainment Featured Film

WarnerMedia’s ‘The Suicide Squad’ under performs at the box office

written by Ruben Jay

WarnerMedia’s Suicide Squad has a less than stellar opening weekend at the box office.

The DC Comics film stars Idris Alba, Margo Robbie, and John Cena raked in $26.5 million in box office sales. The projected number from the studio was $30 million. While the revenue is not a total flop, it definitely is not what they were looking for.

For the record, WarnerMedia has committed all theatrical releases to their HBO MAX streaming service as well and those numbers are not reported.

8 August, 2021 0 comment

Business

Subway Franchisees want Megan Rapinoe off their commercial

written by Ruben Jay

Olympic soccer star Megan Rapinoe is in a footlong battle with Subway franchisees.

According to the New York Post, franchisees of Subway are wanting to get rid of Megan Rapinoe after he latest controversies at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. What was the controversy? Kneeling during the National Anthem at the Olympics.

According to the report, one franchisee claims a note was posted their door. The note reads “Boycott Subway until Subway fires the anti-American … Megan Rapinoe, the creep who kneels for our beloved National Anthem!”

The franchisee says “The ad should be pulled and done with,” the franchisee wrote of the Rapinoe spot. “It gets tiring apologizing.”

Other franchisees are upset that the focus of the ads are not the new changes made to Subway’s menu.

“Spending our money to make a political statement is completely and totally out of bounds,” an Arizona franchisee said on the NAASF blog about the corporate parent.

If Rapinoe loses her Subway gig, she still has many other endorsement deals.

7 August, 2021 0 comment