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– Hey, what are you doing this weekend? – Oh, not much. I’m just going for a movie preview. – Oh, where to go? – Facebook.

You might be having this conversation in the very near future. Soon you will be able to buy a ticket and watch a movie on Facebook. The streaming giant has landed the exclusive creative rights to The Outsider, a documentary about the construction of the 9/11 Museum in New York City. It will premiere on Facebook on August 19, with a ticket priced at US $ 3.99. The documentary will then be released in select theaters and other streaming platforms in September.

Facebook is very serious about its streaming ambitions and is willing to spend a lot of money on hooking users.

Facebook will provide paid promotion to help market the event. The tech giant has pledged not to take any shares in paid events or independent creator income until 2023.

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As with any other paid event on Facebook, the film’s distributors, a global film distribution company called Abramorama, set the price for the premiere.

This has the potential to disrupt the streaming space, as releasing movies on Facebook could make content distribution much cheaper for smaller filmmakers and independent studios. Brokering distribution agreements is a difficult business, especially in smaller markets. But that goes away when you strike a deal with a platform that has over 2.8 billion users around the world.

Facebook isn’t the only entity trying to disrupt the streaming space. Even actors want to take matters into their own hands, as studios start releasing films simultaneously in theaters and on streaming platforms, sometimes without renegotiating contracts with their artists accordingly.

Actor Scarlett Johansson sued The Walt Disney Company last week, claiming that the decision by media and entertainment conglomerates to release her Marvel superhero film Black Widow, in which she plays the title character, simultaneously in theaters and on the Disney + streaming platform cost him tens of millions of dollars in compensation.

Ms Johanssons costume said that Disney had promised that Black Widow would receive an exclusive theatrical release for around 90 to 120 days and that her pay based largely on ticket-related bonuses was wiped out as a result. of the hybrid output.

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Making Black Widow available on Disney + could cost Ms Johansson more than $ 50 million, according to two people briefed on her contract, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private deal. This is what Ms. Johansson would have earned if Black Widow had approached $ 1 billion in worldwide ticket sales; Captain Marvel and Black Panther both crossed this threshold during the prepandemic release.

Note that Johansson’s dissatisfaction was not as much with the simultaneous release as it was with Disney not renegotiating his contract after the pandemic. Black Widow was originally scheduled to be released only in theaters in May 2020. Disney has had to postpone the release three times since. After finally getting a hybrid release last month, Black Widow earned $ 80 million at the U.S. box office in its opening weekend and an additional $ 60 million through Disney +.

Now, Disney isn’t the only studio that has gone for a hybrid release model. In fact, it was rival WarnerMedia that put the cat among the pigeons first when it announced last December that it would be releasing its entire 2021 movie list in theaters and on its HBO Max streaming service. After an outcry from major actors, producers and directors, WarnerMedia renegotiated their contracts, apparently paying $ 200 million in total.

Disney, however, has done no such thing. In fact, Johanssons follows said his requests in recent months to renegotiate his contract have been largely ignored. Disney responded to the lawsuit by saying it was particularly sad and distressing in its callous disregard for the horrific and prolonged global effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

He claimed he had fully lived up to Johanssons’ contract and added that Black Widow’s release on Disney + has dramatically improved his ability to earn additional compensation on top of the $ 20 million she has received to date. . Disney + subscribers must pay an additional $ 30 to watch the movie and have permanent access.

So if the studios are playing hard and holding all the cards when it comes to where they release their movies, where are the actors going in the age of streaming? Well if you are Reese Witherspoon you can start your own independent entertainment business.

Last week, Witherspoon sold his Hello Sunshine media company to a firm backed by private equity giant Blackstone Group for around $ 900 million, the Wall Street Journal reported. Hello Sunshine has produced hit shows like HBO Big Little Lies and Apple TV + The Morning Show. The new media company will be led by former Disney executives Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs.

How will this affect the streaming war?

Mr Mayer said the new company, like Hello Sunshine, will be free to license programs to any studio or network, giving it an edge over the big studios that need to power their own streaming services.

Big players don’t allow their content outside of their own walled gardens, Mr Mayer said. And this is where an independent, large-scale entity like ours can really have an edge in the market.

The streaming war is escalating. Take your popcorn.

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