Following the announcement of a Fox, Disney, and Warner Brothers Discovery sports streaming service, FuboTV has filed a $1 billion lawsuit seeking to halt the development of the platform. Plus, Sony’s Madame Web struggles appear to be symptomatic of a much bigger superhero problem. Where has the studio gone wrong? Kim Masters and Matt Belloni dive in.
Unsportsmanlike conduct? FuboTV claims that the still untitled sports streamer would keep an “iron grip on sports content to extract billions of dollars in supra-competitive profits.” “They are claiming that this is putting them at a huge disadvantage. And that these companies have twisted their arm to carry expensive stuff they don't want. And now they're saying this is an antitrust problem, and that this needs to stop,” Masters explains.
Fair play? Belloni says that the companies behind “Spulu,” (sports Hulu) as Hollywood has nicknamed the mega streamer, have a case to be made. “I think these companies will argue that it's their right to put together a package that they want to put together if they want to do it. If others don't want to subscribe to them, they could not subscribe,” Belloni says. “It'll be an interesting challenge and see what a judge thinks of this.”
Madame Mediocre? Sony’s track record of live action Marvel films has been spotty at best, which won’t cut it in the midst of waning box office results for superhero movies. “The Sony Marvel spin off universe has sort of been the redheaded stepchild of the superhero genre, and I think they're walking into a general superhero fatigue, where it's gotta be great; You can't just release a superhero movie now and expect audiences to show up,” Belloni explains.
