This coverage by Variety of the legal challenges to the Paramount-WB merger is intriguing.

Are blockbuster films a separate market? Or are they interchangeable with other forms of entertainment?

The $111 billion Paramount–Warner Bros. merger may hang on that question. On July 13, a coalition of 12 states sued to block the deal, arguing that it will lead to excessive concentration in the theatrical and basic cable markets. The strongest claim may be that the combined entity will control 30% of the market for “anticipated top-grossing films.”

📣 REMINDER: Next The Ark Mastodon watch / rewatch party will this upcoming Saturday, July 11th 3:00 pm EDT (UTC-4).

S1E7 A Slow Death is Worse

S1E8 Every Single Person Matters

I host there from my account @AlsoPaisleyCat@tenforward.social.

We took a hiatus for the US national holiday last week but will be continuing with the first season this Saturday.

Please feel welcome to join in. There’s a groupbot to help boost posts and federate. If you would like to participate or just lurk, please make a follow request to to the fedigroups bot and I will approve.

Just watched the Mainland Chinese movie Per Aspera Ad Astra on Netflix. It’s the summer movie I’ve been wanting.

It had a cinematic release earlier this spring and was released on Netflix June 18th.

While set in space, it’s focused on virtual reality and AI. Some have described as a mix of EEAAO and The Matrix. I’d add in a fair dose of high concept Star Trek too.

It’s a fun ride with a good message. Highly recommend it for sci-fi fans looking for a well executed story with competent problem solving and positive values.

Dylan Wang He Di, Victoria Song Qian and Wang Duo deliver a compelling and action packed tale. While I watched with subtitles because the cast all voiced their own parts in the original Mandarin, the English language dub is reportedly excellent. I found the special effects well done (but would really welcome the views of experts here ).

Here’s the synopsis from Netflix:

An AI system lets people live their dreams during space travel, but when a crisis arises a technician must enter the dreamscape to save the passengers.

And here’s a translation of the original promotion for the movie:\

High school student Zhang Qi Meng, focused on preparing for exams, is pulled out of the examination hall by a stranger named Brother Biao, who breaks through the window. He is then informed of a shocking fact: his world is just a virtual metaverse program. In reality, Qi Meng is an astronaut in hibernation, and at this moment, disaster is rapidly approaching their spaceship...

https://

Given the overlap between OG The Magic School Bus and science fiction / genre fans, this project from Legendary Entertainment to bring the show to the big screen in live action may be of interest.

Given the quality of Legendary’s Dune and Monsterverse productions, there’s reason to believe that it will be a cut above many other legacy IP adaptations.

I’ve undertaken on Mastodon to host watch/rewatch parties for seasons 1 & 2 of The Ark.

It’s a lower budget Dean Devlin created show produced for Syfy that’s distributed on a patchwork of streamers internationally.

It’s caught the interest of many longtime Star Trek fans. While the initial setting on Earth — that The Ark colony ship has left — was dystopian, the overall tone of the show is aspirational.

Its third season will premiere at the end of July.

This new listing of premiere dates through summer 2026 has a number of interesting confirmations and announcements for SciFi television fans:

• June 3:\ The Legend of Vox Machina (Prime Video, Season 4)

• July 13:\ Silo([Apple TV]

• July 23:\ Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (Paramount+, Season 5; final season)

• July 29:\ The Ark (Syfy, Season 3)

cross-posted from: https://startrek.website/post/39235955

Who knew that franchise-branded electric guitar peripherals were becoming a thing?

A Godzilla pedalboard would have been fantastic for garage bands back when GenXers were young…

EDIT: Found the wikipedia page for more info if anyone is curious.

Paramount subscribers suing over the WBDiscovery merger?

Are there Star Trek fans left subscribing who are doing this?

I can’t see the Yellowstone Sheridanverse base being concerned…

cross-posted from: https://startrek.website/post/38662450

An interesting choice of story to cover in ‘interesting times.’

From the article:

Like many of the other promoters at CinemaCon last week, The Anklercolumnist Richard Rushfield was handing out free swag. It was nothing fancy, just a pin that read “Block The Merger,” referring to the monumental unification of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery that is coming up for a vote this Thursday. But Paramount didn’t appreciate the gesture, and instead of ignoring it, pulled its advertising from The Ankler and told talent not to speak to their reporters. All that for a pin.

If this is the entertainment industry’s canary in the coal mine moment, that bird might already be on the floor of its cage. Paramount acting so quickly to punish a journalist that disagreed with the powers that be is a warning of the kind of management style that would control more than a third of the industry if the merger goes through.