ByteDance may be preparing for a global launch of TikTok Music service, according to trademarks filed in several countries found by TechCrunch. The China-based conglomerate has filed TikTok Music trademark in countries like the U.K., Singapore, New Zealand, Mexico, Malaysia and Costa Rica.
All of these trademark filings include similar text about the application’s functionality of listening to music, creating playlists, commenting on songs and participating in karaoke.
The trademark application says it would allow “users to purchase, play, share, download music, songs, albums, lyrics, quotes, create, recommend, share his/her playlists, lyrics, quotes, take, edit and upload photographs as the cover of playlists, comment on music, songs and albums.”
ByteDance already operates a music streaming service called Resso in India, Brazil and Indonesia, and a former ByteDance employee told us it had previously considered bringing this service to more markets under a “TikTok Music” title. Specifically, it had been considering launches in mature markets like the U.K. and Australia, the source said.
Resso has identical features to the ones described above, with TikTok-like vertical scrolling to go through songs, the ability to change cover photos for playlists, lyrics displayed on the lock screen, and comments on songs and albums.
Since its launch in 2020, Resso has seen solid progress in its existing markets, mobile data indicates. According to analytics firm Sensor Tower, the company saw 42.3 million downloads from the App Store and Google Play from January to May this year — growth of 19% year over year for the same period. The music streaming app has had 184 million overall lifetime downloads, as well.
TikTok, meanwhile, has had a major impact on the music industry with many hits being driven by different viral videos on the platform. A report released by the company last year suggested that 175 songs that trended on the short-video platform ended up on the Billboard 100 chart. In addition, a recent report published by a U.K.-based music investor noted that songs that are popular on TikTok drive additional views on YouTube and streams on other music streaming platforms, like Spotify. Record labels are also benefitting from TikTok’s success in the music sector. Reports estimate that TikTok paid $179 million to recorded music right owners in 2021.
ByteDance would want to grab all that traffic and streaming money from its own music service, and its recently launched music marketing and distribution platform SoundOn. Last week the company launched a pre-release feature so the artists can “leak” their songs to the TikTok audience before the official release.
The launch of TikTok Music would mean an additional revenue stream for ByteDance and a complete music solution service that can offer artists solutions to publish their songs through SoundOn, market them on TikTok and get people to listen to whole songs on TikTok Music/Resso. This service would directly compete with music streaming giants like Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer and Pandora.
Today’s “Pokémon Presents” livestream wasn’t as chock-full of news as previous announcements about the upcoming Nintendo Switch games “Pokémon Scarlet & Violet.” Last time, we learned that the generation 9 games will be the iconic franchise’s first real attempt at an open world RPG (“Legends Arceus” doesn’t count), and will also feature a multi-player co-op mode.
But so far, the new Pokémon announced for the Paldea region — based off of the Iberian peninsula — just do not miss. Remember Lechonk? Remember Quaxly, which looks like a DALL-E recreation of Donald Duck?
We learned today that Pokémon can now “terastallize” — or, turn into Swarovski crystal-like versions of themselves — but what’s more exciting is this guy. Fidough. A fairy puppy who helps you cook. Excuse me?
Fidough’s skin has elastic qualities and is both firm and soft at the same time. When these Pokémon become excited, they intimidate their opponents by puffing up their bodies to appear bigger. Fidough ferments things in its vicinity using the yeast in its breath. The yeast is useful for cooking, so this Pokémon has been protected by people since long ago.
Yes, this new friend can help you brew kombucha. And it can also fight battles for you. Great stuff, all around.
The only other new Pokémon we learned about is Cetitan, a “Tera Whale Pokémon” that lives in the snowy region of Paldea. Cetitan isn’t quite as exciting as Fidough, but we’ll give him a chance. Look how weird its mouth is!
Cetitan need to have tough muscles to be able to support their immense bodies, and physical attacks using their bodies have incredible power. They also migrate around the snowy regions, protected by a thick layer of fat.
Image Credits: The Pokémon Company
Finally, the livestream confirmed that like the Alola, Galar, and Hisui regions, the Paldea region will feature variants of previously-discovered Pokémon.
The first new variant is Paldean Wooper, which… Honestly, I’m undecided whether this delights or horrifies me. It’s compelling, at the very least.
Image Credits: The Pokémon Company
Our formerly bright blue, boisterous buddy now looks like it rolled in a vat of mud. That’s because… it did.
In ancient times, Wooper lived underwater in the Paldea region. After losing in a struggle for territory, it seems they began living in bogs on land. To keep from drying out while living on land, they began to cover their bodies with a poisonous film. Their gills have hardened thanks to living on land for so long. Their bodies are heavy and they move slowly, but they can protect themselves by shooting powerful poisonous liquid from their gills.
So, now Wooper is a poison/ground type, as opposed to water/ground. At least now it won’t get completely obliterated by grass attacks, but… at what cost? A “struggle for territory”? Is Wooper okay?
Image Credits: The Pokémon Company
Oh, also, apparently the legendary Pokémon Koraidon and Miraidon can turn into motorcycles and airplanes. Sure, I guess.
Netflix filed a lawsuit this weekend against two TikTok stars in their early twenties, Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, alleging that their Grammy-winning “Unofficial Bridgerton Musical” project infringed on the copyright of Netflix‘s original series “Bridgerton.”
Early last year, the songwriting duo started penning impressive ballads about the popular Netflix show for fun, posting them on TikTok. Their videos were so popular that Barlow and Bear released an entire musical soundtrack based on “Bridgerton,” then beat out legends like Andrew Lloyd Webber to win the 2022 Grammy Award for Best Musical Album. The moment was a milestone, demonstrating the impact of social media on pop culture.
If this project has been gaining steam for over a year, why would Netflix sue now? On July 26, the duo staged a sold-out performance at the Kennedy Center in New York City, featuring The National Symphony Orchestra and a collection of Broadway guest stars. With tickets ranging between $29 and $149, plus VIP upgrades, Netflix put its foot down after “repeated objections,” demanding an end to these for-profit performances.
Based on novels by Julia Quinn, “Bridgerton” has shattered viewership records for Netflix originals. In a time of financial strain and subscriber loss for the streamer, the Regency-era romance is important IP.
Barlow and Bear’s lawyers first approached Netflix in March 2021, asking for the streaming giant’s blessing of a recorded album and a charity show. Netflix, according to its own characterization in its lawsuit, said that it wouldn’t authorize the activity, but also wouldn’t “[stand] in the way.”
For Netflix, the Kennedy Center performance was a step too far. Barlow and Bear did not have permission from Netflix to stage their ticketed event, but according to legal experts, Netflix’s permission is irrelevant to the question of copyright infringement.
“It’s a very interesting fair use case,” said Casey Fiesler, an assistant professor at the University of Colorado Boulder who studies internet law and fandom. “This is what law school exams are made of.”
Is the ‘Bridgerton Musical’ legal? It’s complicated.
“Barlow & Bear’s conduct began on social media, but stretches ‘fan fiction’ well past its breaking point,” Netflix’s lawsuit reads. “It is blatant infringement of intellectual property rights.”
But the legal reality isn’t as cut-and-dry as Netflix’s complaint makes it out to be.
Historically, fan works have sometimes been deemed legal under the fair use doctrine, which states that some copyrighted material can be used without explicit permission.
“I’ve seen a lot of people implying that because [Barlow and Bear] are commercializing it, that means it’s not fair use,” Fiesler told TechCrunch. “Whether something is commercial or non-commerical is part of a fair use analysis, but it’s part of only one factor.”
Fair use analysis looks at the purpose of a work (is it for-profit?), the amount of copyrighted material it uses, the nature of the work (how transformative is it?), and how the work might economically impact the original.
Fiesler told TechCrunch that there have been many examples of commercial fan works that were determined in court to be fair use, though there isn’t as much case law and precedent, since these disputes are often settled before they reach a judge.
In 2015, a federal judge in New York ruled in favor of “3C,” an off-Broadway play that offered a dark, more adult spin on the 70s television show “Three’s Company.” The “Three’s Company” copyright holder alleged that the production qualified as infringement, but the judge wrote in a lengthy ruling that the play was a “highly transformative parody,” so it didn’t pose a market threat to the original show.
But some commercial fan works didn’t fare as well in court. “Prelude to Axanar,” a short film based on “Star Trek,” premiered at San Diego Comic Con in 2014 after raising over $100,000 from fans on Kickstarter. The short film was so successful that its creators decided to make a feature-length film called “Axanar,” which raised over a million dollars from fans. The filmmakers assumed that they were protected by fair use, but when Paramount sued them, the judge sided with the copyright holders.
“Copyright law only used to be relevant to professional artists […] and lawyers,” said Fiesler. “Before the internet, why would you have to know anything about copyright law?”
But as fan communities emerged online, even teenage fan fiction writers have had to navigate the tricky territory of sharing derivative art. It’s not uncommon to see copy-pasted diatribes on fan fiction websites in which the author states that they “do not own” characters like Dean Winchester, but, from a legal standpoint, these disclaimers don’t accomplish much. Though it’s not inherently illegal to monetize fan works, the popular fan fiction website Archive of Our Own (AO3) prohibits its writers from soliciting monetary tips from readers to avoid murky legal situations.
“There’s a very strong non-commercialization norm in many fan communities,” said Rebecca Tushnet, a Harvard Law School professor who is on the legal team at the Organization for Transformative Works (OTW), which runs AO3 (Fiesler also works with OTW, but neither she nor Tushnet speak on behalf of the group).
With some notable exceptions (looking at you, Anne Rice), fan works have generally slid under the radar, so long as they’re not monetized. But once a fan creator starts making money, the copyright holder might start paying closer attention.
“When a work is commercial, it has to do a lot more in terms of adding something new — criticizing, parodying, or shedding new light on the original,” said Tushnet. “Your average work of fan fiction is not commercial.”
“Bridgerton” isn’t the first media property to inspire a collaborative musical on TikTok. Stemming from a serendipitous viral moment, “Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical” premiered as a one-night charity livestream for the Actors Fund in January 2021. For that production, the question of fair use wasn’t relevant, since the copyright holder Disney did not sue.
“Although we do not have development plans for the title, we love when our fans engage with Disney stories,” Disney said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times. “We applaud and thank all of the online theater makers for helping to benefit the Actors Fund in this unprecedented time of need.”
In 2009, students at the University of Michigan wrote and performed “A Very Potter Musical,” a parody of the “Harry Potter” books (which starred a then-unknown Darren Criss, who is now an Emmy and Golden Globe winner). When the young theater troupe uploaded the performance to YouTube under the name Team Starkid, it went viral enough for Warner Brothers to notice. Though the “Harry Potter” copyright holder never sued Starkid, its members have stated that they reached an agreement with Warner Brothers to not charge admission for any “Harry Potter”-related performances.
Similarly, as soon as Barlow and Bear began to profit off of their “Bridgerton”-inspired songs, their work became a target for Netflix. Is turning a TV show into a musical transformative enough to be considered fair use? That’s up to a judge to decide, but Tushnet doesn’t think it’s a particularly strong argument.
“Whether it’s parodic or not, you want to do something noticeably different from [the original], other than just translating it into a new medium,” Tushnet told TechCrunch.
What’s next for the TikTok musical
Barlow and Bear’s legal team has not yet responded to Netflix’s complaint. They could settle with Netflix, or they could possibly take the case to court (Barlow and Bear did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment).
“The only argument I can imagine them making is a fair use argument.” Fiesler said.
Netflix’s complaint doesn’t argue against a fair use case, since Barlow and Bear haven’t made that claim yet. But Netflix does nod to a potential economic loss from the unauthorized musical, which could become relevant in a case against fair use.
To capitalize on the popularity of the series, Netflix produced an event in March 2022 called the “The Queen’s Ball: ABridgerton Experience” in six cities, hosting a Regency-era ball. According to Netflix, the unofficial musical “undermines” the company’s ability to host in-person, immersive “Bridgerton” events.
TikTok is making way for new fandom communities that are growing independent of decades-old fan networks like AO3, Tumblr or even LiveJournal (RIP). The downside is, though, that fans lose the institutional knowledge of long-time fandom denizens who have fought to protect non-commercial fan works for so long.
“I personally kind of hope that [the case] settles,” said Fiesler. “If this went to court and Netflix won, I might worry a little bit about precedent-setting for future fan works.”
Today, Disney+ released a new trailer for the Star Wars series “Andor,” while also revealing that the premiere will be postponed to September 21 to accommodate a three-episode premiere. So not only will the series be the longest live-action Disney+ season with 12 episodes, it will also be the first time Disney+ has had a live-action premiere that was more than two episodes.
“Obi-Wan Kenobi” was the first live-action Star Wars show to premiere with multiple episodes, with two episodes released on May 27. The show was also delayed, making room for the second episode, but only by two days.
The fourth live-action Star Wars series to debut on the platform, “Andor,” was initially slated for an August 31 release, which would have occurred two weeks after the “She-Hulk” August 17 debut. This would have made August 2022 the first month ever to release both a Marvel and Star Wars series on Disney+.
Alas, Disney+ wanted to set a different milestone and compete with its rivals with a longer premiere instead of the typical one-per-week release strategy.
Plus, if “Andor” had kept its August 31 date, the spin-off would have to face intense competition with HBO’s “Game of Thrones” spin-off, “House of the Dragon,” premiering 10 days prior on August 21, along with the September 2 debut of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” on Amazon Prime Video.
The new trailer was full of new footage from the upcoming series.
In this current climate, Roku needed a win. Despite the company reporting total net revenue growth of 18% year-over-year to $764 million– a nice increase from $737.7 million last quarter—the company missed Wall Street’s expectations. Analysts expected revenue of $805 million, which would have reflected 25% year-over-year growth.
What is to blame for missing the mark? Roku said in its letter to shareholders, “There was a significant slowdown in TV advertising spend due to the macro-economic environment, which pressured our platform revenue growth. Consumers began to moderate discretionary spend, and advertisers significantly curtailed spend in the ad scatter market (TV ads bought during the quarter). We expect these challenges to continue in the near term as economic concerns pressure markets worldwide.”
During a conference call with reporters, CFO Steve Loudon said, “The severity of the pullback in the ad scatter market was not expected…This is a broad-based significant pullback.”
The company anticipates revenue in the third quarter to rise 3% from 2021 to $700 million, well below analysts’ expectations of $898.3 million.
Roku shares plummeted 25% to $63.80 in after-hours trading on Thursday. The stock is down nearly 63% so far in 2022.
During Q1 2022, the company only added 1.1 million incremental active accounts. This time around, Roku touted user growth this quarter, with 1.8 million accounts added, bringing the total to 61.3 million.
“While our revenue and gross profit growth have slowed, we continue to win advertising share and grow active accounts,” the company added. “We remain confident in our industry leadership in TV streaming, the size of the opportunity in front of us, and our unique assets, including the Roku TV OS, The Roku Channel, and our ad platform.”
Streaming hours saw a slight decrease of 0.2 billion from last quarter, with 20.7 billion hours in Q2 2022, a year-over-year increase of 19%.
Roku believes that there is room to grow engagement and reminds investors that the Roku operating system continues to be the number one selling smart TV system in the U.S. and remains a “leader” in free, ad-supported TV streaming with The Roku Channel.
And although the ad environment continues to be challenging, Roku boasted that it surpassed a milestone of $1 billion in total commitments during this year’s Upfront and closed deals for the 2022-2023 TV season with all seven major agency holding companies. Twenty-five percent of these advertiser commitments were new, the company said.
When it comes to free streaming hub The Roku Channel, the company reported a growth in platform revenue of 26% year-over-year to $673 million, which was lower than expected, the company admitted.
On June 28, Roku partnered with NBCUniversal Local to bring several NBC local news channels to The Roku Channel. The partnership marks the first time that local news programming will be available for users on an ad-supported service.
On June 16, Roku entered into an agreement with Walmart, a first-of-a-kind partnership, to make TV streaming the next e-commerce shopping destination.
In May, Discovery+ became The Roku Channel’s first premium subscription offering. That same month, Roku launched Apple’s premium music subscription service, Apple Music, on the Roku Platform worldwide.
The company also announced a multi-year extension with Amazon for their distribution agreement.
During NewFronts, the company announced two new co-production deals with Marquee Brands and Milk Street Studios, giving The Roku Channel over 3,000 episodes of library content as well as seven new original series starring food and lifestyle personalities Martha Stewart, Emeril Lagasse, and Chris Kimball.
If you’ve ever wondered if you can survive the deadly game of Red Light, Green Light with the robot girl in “Squid Game,” then you might have the chance to find out. Netflix has partnered with interactive gaming and technology company Immersive Gamebox, formerly Electric Gamebox, to bring “Squid Game” fans a real-life experience.
Immersive Gamebox built the game based on “Squid Game” in-house with its game content studio. The title joins a library of licensed IP games, including a life-size “Angry Birds” game via the recent partnership with Rovio Entertainment.
Since it is a licensing deal, the “Squid Game” experience will deliver revenue for Netflix as the company gets a slice of the admission pie. And as we all know, Netflix is in need of revenue and subscriber growth.
Immersive Gamebox told TechCrunch that it is not disclosing partnership financials.
Set to launch on September 21, Immersive Gamebox is turning the most-watched Netflix series “Squid Game” into a life-sized, interactive format. The hour-long immersive digital game will have you competing against friends to survive all six challenges from the show—Red Light, Green Light, Dalgona, Tug of War, Marbles, Glass Bridge, and Squid Game. Similar to the actual show, the only way you can advance to the next round is if you pass. Every time a player doesn’t “survive,” you lose “lives,” and every time you win, you earn money in what the company calls your “piggy bank.” (Note: Immersive Gamebox will not be handing out real cash. After all, the experience is just for fun).
Plus, with 3D motion tracking visors and touch screens, players can enjoy the experience without having to wear bulky headsets.
The multiplayer game can be played by a minimum of two adults and a maximum of six. The company recommends that players 16 years old or older may participate. The “Squid Game” experience is available at all Immersive Gamebox’s locations across the U.S. and Europe, which include Utah, Illinois, Texas, California, Colorado, and Virginia, as well as London and three other venues in the UK. To book a game, players must pay for tickets that range from $24.99 to $39.99 (£20.62 to £32.98).
It will also be available at its new New York location, which just opened today. The new venue is in the Lower East Side of New York City at 81 Essex St.
“People are constantly seeking new and different ways to remain invested in their favorite content. To reimagine Netflix’s most popular show in an entirely new format offers customers more ways to stay connected to Squid Game,” said Will Dean, CEO, of Immersive Gamebox, said in a statement.
Image Credits: Immersive Gamebox
It’s safe to say the Korean drama made a big impression on viewers, as the hit series had 1.65 billion hours viewed in the first four weeks of release. Not to mention the hundreds of people dressing up as the characters for Halloween last year and the TikTok trend called the “Squid Game” challenge that flooded the app in September 2021.
While this multiplayer game will be nowhere near the insanity that was MrBeast’s recreation on YouTube, which gave 456 competitors the chance to win $456,000, nor will it be like the upcoming Netflix game show “Squid Game: The Challenge,” with a cash prize of $4.56 million, Immersive Gamebox offers an experience to customers that Netflix is likely hoping will remind them that it is still the top streaming service with a little over 220 million subscribers.
Netflix has built experiences around its properties before, like the “Stranger Things” immersive experience in New York, London, and San Francisco, as well as a “Bridgerton” experience in Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Chicago.
Netflix will be giving its spy thriller “The Gray Man” its own universe. The film was just released on the platform last week and is already a global hit, garnering broadly positive reviews. Seemingly inspired by “John Wick,” the action movie starring Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans will get its very own sequel and spin-off under Netflix’s umbrella, the latter written by the team behind “Deadpool.”
The sequel is currently in development, and Gosling and directors Joe and Anthony Russo (“Avengers: Endgame”) will return. The Russo brothers, AGBO’s Mike Larocca, and Joe Roth and Jeffrey Kirschenbaum are producing. Stephen McFeely, the co-writer of “The Gray Man,” is writing the sequel.
“We are so appreciative of the enthusiasm that fans across the world have had for this film,” Joe and Anthony Russo said of the movie’s warm reception. “With so many amazing characters in the movie, we had always intended for The Gray Man to be part of an expanded universe, and we are thrilled that Netflix is announcing a sequel with Ryan, as well as a second script that we’re excited to talk about soon.”
The streaming service has been on shaky ground recently and is hoping for the new IP to become a major spy franchise that new and returning subscribers will want to see. Viewers are drawn to franchises, with Paramount’s Sheridan universe (“Yellowstone”) getting spin-off after spin-off and rival Disney+ punching out hits like “The Mandalorian,” “The Book of Boba Fett,” and “Loki.” Disney had the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the spotlight at Comic-Con over the weekend, announcing multiple projects that fans are eager to watch, including a revival of “Daredevil,” which Netflix canceled back in 2018.
Anxious to collect more hits in order to keep up with rivals, Netflix spent $200 million on “The Gray Man” — the most expensive film the company has ever made. The streaming giant is likely banking on the movie’s success to pick itself up after its not-so-promising second quarter. The question remains if Netflix can pull it off, but this isn’t the streamer’s first attempt at a big budget movie franchise either. Netflix dropped $450 million for the rights to “Knives Out 2” and “Knives Out 3.” The company also commissioned sequels and spinoffs for Zack Synder’s “Army of the Dead.”
On the original series side of things, Netflix has seen success with its mega-hits “Stranger Things” and “Squid Game.” “Stranger Things” will be getting a fifth season and a spin-off, the Duffer Brothers, confirmed last month. Netflix also announced a second season of “Squid Game,” plus a game show that aims to break reality TV records.
Still, with a loss of 970,000 subscribers, Netflix is feeling the pressure to perform. Maybe the company hopes that bringing Ryan Gosling and his Ken doll-like hair on board could be the solution to its woes.
Disney+ made its debut at San Diego Comic-Con 2022 (SDCC) and gave Marvel fans a whole bunch of shows to look forward to. This marked Marvel Studios’ first appearance at the event in three years, and boy did they deliver.
Marvel Studios officially revealed the first looks for all the new original animated series coming to Disney+ on Twitter. “Spider-Man: Freshman Year” is set to premiere in 2024, “X-Men ‘97” will arrive in the fall of 2023, season two of “What If…?” gets released in early 2023, among other announcements like “Marvel Zombies” and the very adorable “I Am Groot” trailer.
Disney+’s animation panel at SDCC highlights the streamer’s dedication to animated original series that many subscribers love as well as its commitment to continuing the Marvel franchise.
The studio shared new information about “Spider-Man: Freshman Year,” such as the second season being called “Spider-Man: Sophomore Year.” There were also reports that the prequel series will have an appearance from Charlie Cox, who plays Daredevil. This makes sense as (spoiler, sorry) the character Matt Murdock was shown in a post-credit scene in “Spider-Man: No Way Home.”
Talk of recognizable villains appearing in the new Spider-Man series was also circling about, such as Dr. Octavius, Chameleon, Speed Demon, Scorpion, Butane the Pyromaniac, Harry Osborn, and Amadeus Cho.
Last year, “What If…?” premiered an episode titled “What If…Zombies?,” introducing the zombie concept to the Marvel Cinema Universe. The animated original series “Marvel Zombies” is now official and will explore the undead side of the superheroes. It will premiere exclusively on Disney+. No release date has been announced.
Originally released in 1992, “X-Men: The Animated Series” had 76 episodes before it was canceled in 1997. This new version called “X-Men ’97” promises to be a return of the superhero mutants that is sure to fill the hearts of many 90s kids who grew up with the show.
The company then revealed the trailer for “I Am Groot,” the collection of five original shorts streaming on August 10. This will be the only “Guardians of the Galaxy” spinoff set to premiere in 2022.
Disney+ announced yesterday that “Deadpool,” “Deadpool 2,” and “Logan” were appearing on the platform. This may have parents running to fix their parental control settings due to the R-ratings while others can now have a Wade Wilson and Wolverine marathon.
Unrelated to Marvel, Disney+ also released a short teaser for “National Treasure: Edge of History,” which sadly had no sign of Nicolas Cage but will introduce a new character Jess, played by Lisette Olivera. The show got its own panel at Comic-Con as well.
Disney+ strays further from its family-friendly image with the addition of “Deadpool,” “Deadpool 2,” and “Logan” arriving to the streaming service today, July 22. Alongside Disney’s announcement yesterday, the company invited users to revisit their parental control settings due to the sexual and violent nature of these films.
While the films have previously been available on Disney+ outside the U.S., these three titles are sure to upset parents in the U.S. who subscribed to the family-friendly service so their children could enjoy, well, family-friendly content.
“Deadpool” is arguably the most sexually inappropriate movie in the Marvel Cinema Universe, rated R for strong language, violence, sexual content, and graphic nudity. “Deadpool 2” has violence, strong language, and “brief drug material.” So, you can expect a plethora of f-bombs and inappropriate jokes. For instance, when Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) had baby-sized phalanges, he said, “I bet it feels huge in this hand.”
Meanwhile, “Logan” has brief nudity as well as the typical brutal violence that Wolverine brings.
The very R-rated superhero movies join the TV-MA-rated series “Daredevil,” “Jessica Jones,” “Luke Cage,” “Iron Fist, “The Punisher,” and “The Defenders,” which were added to the service in March. That same month, Disney+ updated its parental controls in order to welcome more mature titles without upsetting too many parents.
There was a false alarm in April when it was suspected Disney+ would be getting its first R-rated movie, “Kiss of the Dragon,” after it was mistakenly added to its sizzle reel on YouTube. “Kiss of the Dragon” was intended for Disney+ Canada.
Also, adult-focused films “Hot Shots” and “Hot Shots: Part Deux” were removed from the platform only a couple of days after Disney+ added them.
Disney’s Star brand in Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and other markets have mature titles such as “Alien,” “Terminator,” “Die Hard,” “Kingsman,” “Atlanta,” and more, which the company announced in 2020.
To celebrate the arrival of “Deadpool” and “Deadpool 2” on Disney+, fans at San Diego Comic-Con can get a free mini chimichanga, available at Seaport Village on July 22 and July 23.
Disney+ strays further from its family-friendly image with the addition of “Deadpool,” “Deadpool 2,” and “Logan” arriving to the streaming service today, July 22. Alongside Disney’s announcement yesterday, the company invited users to revisit their parental control settings due to the sexual and violent nature of these films.
While the films have previously been available on Disney+ outside the U.S., these three titles are sure to upset parents in the U.S. who subscribed to the family-friendly service so their children could enjoy, well, family-friendly content.
“Deadpool” is arguably the most sexually inappropriate movie in the Marvel Cinema Universe, rated R for strong language, violence, sexual content, and graphic nudity. “Deadpool 2” has violence, strong language, and “brief drug material.” So, you can expect a plethora of f-bombs and inappropriate jokes. For instance, when Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) had baby-sized phalanges, he said, “I bet it feels huge in this hand.”
Meanwhile, “Logan” has brief nudity as well as the typical brutal violence that Wolverine brings.
The very R-rated superhero movies join the TV-MA-rated series “Daredevil,” “Jessica Jones,” “Luke Cage,” “Iron Fist, “The Punisher,” and “The Defenders,” which were added to the service in March. That same month, Disney+ updated its parental controls in order to welcome more mature titles without upsetting too many parents.
There was a false alarm in April when it was suspected Disney+ would be getting its first R-rated movie, “Kiss of the Dragon,” after it was mistakenly added to its sizzle reel on YouTube. “Kiss of the Dragon” was intended for Disney+ Canada.
Also, adult-focused films “Hot Shots” and “Hot Shots: Part Deux” were removed from the platform only a couple of days after Disney+ added them.
Disney’s Star brand in Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and other markets have mature titles such as “Alien,” “Terminator,” “Die Hard,” “Kingsman,” “Atlanta,” and more, which the company announced in 2020.
To celebrate the arrival of “Deadpool” and “Deadpool 2” on Disney+, fans at San Diego Comic-Con can get a free mini chimichanga, available at Seaport Village on July 22 and July 23.
Marvel’s