Tag Archives: Disney

Culture

Stranger Things Tops List Of Most Popular TV Series But Who’s Next?

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From Stranger Things dropping the first teaser for its final season to Sex Education Season 4, September is shaping up to be an exciting month for TV fans. New research has revealed the most popular TV series and Stranger Things tops the list. *costs are listed in USD

Our friends at Spin Genie have looked at a range of factors including the cost of the pilot episode, annual Google searches, number of Instagram posts and TikTok views as well as the IMDb rating of the world’s most popular TV series to determine the most successful series of all time. 

The most Googled TV shows:

RankShowAnnual Google searches
1Stranger Things191.3 M
2Game Of Thrones69.2 M
3The Walking Dead54.1 M
4Bridgerton22.5 M
5The Witcher21.7 M
6Westworld17.1 M
7The Mandalorian15.7 M
8Narcos11.0 M
9Orange Is the New Black10.3 M
10 13 Reasons Why10.2 M

The most searched for TV show is Stranger Things, with over 191 million annual searches. The show is also Instagram’s most popular TV show with over 15.5 million hashtagged posts on the app.

Taking the second spot is Game Of Thrones which receives nearly 70 million Google searches each year. The series was a worldwide success, with media attention lasting for eight years while the show was on air, drawing over 18.1 billion TikTok views and 13.8 million Instagram posts.

The Walking Dead takes the third spot with 54.1 million Google searches annually. The Walking Dead revolutionised the zombie apocalypse genre and captured the attention of millions of viewers across the world.

The research also revealed the top 10 most successful TV shows of all time: 

Rank Show Pilot BudgetGoogle SearchesInstagram PostsTikTok ViewsIMBD RatingSuccess Score 
1Game of Thrones$10.0M69.2M13.8M18.1B9.29.64
2Stranger Things$6.0M191.3M15.5M130.2M8.78.10
3The Mandalorian$12.5M15.7M2.4M4.6B8.77.86
4The Walking Dead $3.4M54.1M7.9M21.0B8.17.50
5Narcos$2.5M11.0M722.3K44.7M8.86.43
6Bridgerton $7.0M22.5M737.0K17.4B7.46.19
6Westworld$25.0M17.1M410.0K277.7M8.56.19
8The Witcher$10.0M21.7M1.3M3.3B8.16.07
9House of Cards$5.0M7.0M454.4K145.3M8.75.84
10The Crown $13.0M589.2K571.3K 5.1B8.65.83

Game of Thrones tops the list of the most successful TV shows, scoring 9.64 out of 10. The series is the highest-rated of any of the TV shows on the list, with an IMDB rating of 9.2 out of 10 and has also inspired 13.8 million Instagram posts, the second highest total of any shows. 

In second place is Stranger Things with a score of 8.1. The popularity of this series has influenced the charts, with Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill re-entering the charts after appearing on Stranger Things. The series has more Google searches and Instagram posts than any other show in this study, even though the pilot episode budget was just $6 million. 

Rounding out the top three with a success score of 7.86 is The Mandalorian. The Disney+ exclusive’s third season stars Pedro Pascal, and the show’s pilot episode is reported to have cost $12.5 million.  The series has 15.7 million annual Google searches, 2.4 million Instagram posts and an impressive 4.6 billion TikTok views.

Further findings:

  • Vinyl has the most expensive pilot episode of any of the TV shows profiled. Created by Mick Jagger and Martin Scorsese, the first episode cost a reported $30 million but failed to generate enough attention for a second season. 
  • When it comes to TikTok, The Walking Dead tops the list as the most popular TV series totalling more than 21 billion views on the platform.
  • Narcos has the cheapest pilot debut of the series profiled, costing $2.5 million. Despite this, the show has gained a following of fans and has over 722,000 Instagram posts about it. Narcos also achieved a high rating of 8.9 on IMDB. 
Art

Beautiful Minecraft Coffee Table Book Features Stunning In Game Built Art

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Twelve years ago to the day,  back in the year 2009 – a Video game called #Minecraft was unassumingly released. The sandbox video game became the second best selling PC-based game in history and was bought by Microsoft for $2.5B usd in 2014. 

In keeping with our look back celebration, let’s check out this wonderful book for Minecraft lovers everywhere: Beautiful Minecraft ($19.95, 112 pp., 4C, hardcover).

minecraft book page example1

As they pore over the pages in this remarkable collection, Minecraft lovers of all stripes will find themselves immersed in a world of astonishing creations like floating steampunk cities, massive alien worlds, detailed classical sculptures, fantastical landscapes, and architectural marvels. The sculptures and scenes throughout the book are built from thousands to millions of blocks and represent months and even years of design work on the part of their creators.

I wanted to show how a video game can become a true artistic medium…how players can become artists.

beautiful minecraft book cover“Beautiful Minecraft is the sort of thing that fans of the game are sure to love because it brings them even closer to the game they love,” said No Starch Press founder Bill Pollock. “Since my first visit to MineCon in 2011, I’ve been inspired by the passion Minecraft fans have for something that is much more than a game. Beautiful Minecraft shows us how in game creations can be high art, and the results are nothing less than amazing.”

For the Silo, James Delaney-author, managing director of BlockWorks: a team of Minecraft artists from around the world. BlockWorks has created artwork for companies like Disney, Microsoft, Warner Brothers, and The Guardian.

Publisher: No Starch Press
Author: James Delaney
Print ISBN: 978-1-59327-765-9
Price: $19.95
Specs: 112 pp., 4C, Hardcover

You Might Also Be Interested In:

other cool books via no starch
The Game Console by Evan Amos
The Arduino Inventor’s Guide by Derek Runberg and Brian Huang
The Hardware Hacker by Andrew “bunnie” Huang

Available in fine bookstores everywhere and from http://www.oreilly.com/nostarch, or by contacting marketingdirector@thesilo.ca

About No Starch Press
No Starch Press has published the finest in geek entertainment since 1994, covering topics like LEGO, hacking, science, math, and programming for all ages. Our titles have personality, our authors are passionate, and our books tackle topics that people care about.

Culture

Reboot Canadian Content Policy For Digital Age Says C.D. Howe Institute

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Canada should ditch Canadian content tools that are ill-suited for the digital age, says a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute.

Image result for author Daniel Schwanen
Daniel Schwanen

In “Choosing Canada: Canadian Cultural Policy in the Twenty-first Century” author Daniel Schwanen sets out a plan to bring Canadian content policy into step with developments such as the emergence of digital competitors for Canadian viewers, including Netflix, Spotify and YouTube.

Unfair Competition

These digital competitors, notes Schwanen, are unconstrained by Canadian content requirements facing traditional TV or radio distributors. The consequence is a “slow bleed” in audiences for licensed TV broadcasters and radio stations while audiences for non-regulated digital channels (many based outside Canada), are rising sharply.

Trends

These trends negatively impact the revenues of traditional conduits for culture and information as advertising revenues migrate to digital channels. Compounding burden on traditional broadcasters, regulators maintain out-dated quotas of Canadian content in prime time and requirements to help fund Canadian TV and film production, whereas their emerging competitors on digital platforms are not subject to these rules. Furthermore, foreign online services such as Netflix are not required to charge their Canadian customers the Goods and Services Tax, unlike their Canadian competitors.

Image result for disney+

“As Canadians embrace new technologies and platforms to access their entertainment and information, the ability of quotas to affect Canadians’ viewing or listening habits is rapidly diminishing,” said Schwanen. Indeed, 2013 marked the first year in which the number of Canadian households subscribing to internet services exceeded the number of traditional television subscribers. Although 75 percent of Canadian households still subscribed to cable or satellite television distribution services in 2016 – down markedly from 83 percent only four years before – 87 percent of Canadian households subscribed to internet services. In the economy more generally, the culture, entertainment and information services offered online through digital technologies have boomed relative to other economic activities, and in particular relative to traditional cultural and information businesses.

What Is True Demand?

The report proposes an approach focused on more deliberately linking offerings of Canadian content with the potential demand for them. The report’s recommendations for regulators include:

  • Focusing the funding framework for public cultural agencies and cultural subsidies, including that of the CBC, on the production, dissemination, and exhibition of original artistic or literary works for which a commercial market is not yet established or for which there is a clear public rationale (e.g., educational, informational, or community benefits).
  • Establishing an arms-length “Canadian Connections Fund” that would replace some existing subsidies with support for initiatives that promote non-commercial Canadian content with Canadian audiences.
  • Working with Canadian broadcasters and distributors to facilitate the “discoverability” of Canadian content on digital platforms (through, e.g., search engine optimization, targeted online advertising, mobile applications, and the translation of Canadian works for both foreign and domestic audiences).
  • Eliminating mandated funding of Canadian content and Canadian content quotas for broadcasters while ensuring a level playing field for federal taxation applicable to digital media services purchased by Canadians
  • Reducing foreign investment restrictions applying to cultural industries, with the aim of attracting investment in Canada.

Read the Full Report

Art

Book Snobbery, Fairy Tales And Reality

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“The way to read a fairy tale is to throw yourself in.” ― W.H. Auden

“In a utilitarian age, of all other times, it is a matter of grave importance that fairy tales should be respected.” (Frauds on the Fairies, 1853)” ― Charles Dickens, Works of Charles Dickens

“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.” ― Albert Einstein

i dream of genie with blue djinn and darrens living room

I was “that child”, the one who wanted fairy tales and magic to be real. As far back as I can remember I dreamed about having supernatural powers (always good of course…well, almost always) having carpets that flew, potions that could transform anyone or anything, the ability to speak to animals. I never understood why Darren and Samantha worked so hard at concealment. Or why Jeannie didn’t dump the Major and go back to live with the Djinn….I mean, LOOK at the decor!!!! Who wouldn’t rather have scarves and pillows and elaborate brass lamps instead of that godawful avocado and mustard vibe?

Music for a fairy tale. Click me.
Music for  fairy tales. Click me.

Books fueled this. Small witches, talking mice, flying nannies, rings and boxes and mysterious rooms and islands all combined in a grand and glorious stew. Why couldn’t I have a wizard for a teacher? (maybe I would have learned math) Why couldn’t bullies simply be turned into flowerpots? Alas, eventually the adulting creeps in. And people stop being indulgent about your whimsy. And your imagination….

You stop inviting your friends over to play make believe. Or, at least, they stop accepting. And you are encouraged to put away childish things. To accumulate the right kind of books….improving books. High tone books. Books with Purpose. The wishing frogs and tall towers and magic mirrors are packed away… Book Snobbery. Where Fantasy books in the annoying “Y.A.” category are barely tolerated. Stuff and Nonsense.(keeping it G rated here. I expect points…) Children should be encouraged to read whatever they reading-on-the-buswant and adults should enjoy the same free pass. You should be proud of displaying your book on the bus whether you are reading Kafka or Twilight. There are life lessons to be found in fantasy. Fairy tales teach you that sometimes bad things do happen. (The original version of some of the most beloved and well known can be a bit brutal.

For example, the Ugly Stepsisters in Cinderella actually cut their toes off to fit into the slipper. Kiddiewinkle Disney this ain’t.. ) But good and kind usually triumph. Sometimes help can come from unexpected areas. And there is always a way out of the woods. I do live in the real world. Drive. Work. Pay taxes. Cook, clean, shop. Watch the political situation (although “real” and politics lately….never mind) When I sit at a stop light I do not think a gnome is changing the colors. I rarely look for dragons. But I still yearn for them. Magic is everywhere and everything. It may not have glittery wings, it may not be vanquished with a sword, there might not be a house dropped on it or a incantation spoken…..but it is here.

Writers poets, artists, storytellers; all know this on some level. Even if we disguise it.The human imagination is ancient. The roots of stories are found far back in oral traditions and the tales were only modified later to make them illustrations of good versus evil. We do research, we discuss, we delve and write learned papers. We collect quotes and materials, and most importantly buy the books buy the books buy the books…. Books are the real magic. The tangible, in your hands, in your face, take you wherever you want to go – Magic. Read it. Whatever the cover, whatever the rating.

If you like it, read it. Do not let any house of cards pompous proclamation tell you it’s wrong. Secretly we are looking for the elves. We want there to be fairies in the garden. We never see a shooting star without wishing. And if you are very, very lucky. You will never lose that. For the Silo, Jaye Tomas. 

 

 

Gaming

Bandai Namco & Behaviour releasing WARHAMMER 40K on New Gen Systems

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Lyon, FRANCE – January, 2015 – BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Europe and Canadian developer Behaviour announced today that Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade will be available for PlayStation®4, Xbox One and PC starting summer 2016.  For the first time, Warhammer 40,000 fans will join their favorite factions in the fiercest and most authentic Warhammer 40,000 battles ever realized in a massive online shooter.

Warhammer Eternal Crusade 1

Based on the multimillion-selling and extensive universe of Warhammer 40,000, Eternal Crusade will take gamers into a vicious battle between four factions of the 41st millennium in order to control a persistent world at war. Whether it is PvP (Player versus Player) or PvE (Player versus Environment) squads will have to work together and engage in massive battles and exterminate the other factions! To do so; fans can choose from twenty different sub-factions, earn hundreds of weapons, customization options and accessories drawn from 29 years of Warhammer 40,000 lore to create their perfect warriors!

 

 “It’s an honor to work on a Warhammer 40,000 game that’s already getting great community feedback on our pre-alpha. We can’t wait to share what we’ve built with a wider audience.” – Stephen Mulrooney, SVP Behaviour Digital

 

“We are delighted to start a new kind of collaboration with Behaviour Interactive. Thanks to our prevailing distribution network and structure, customers from almost 100 countries will have access to Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade! Last but not least; our team here at BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Europe is excited to work on the legendary Warhammer license.” Alberto Gonzalez Lorca, Vice-President of 3rd Parties and Southern Europe.

Bandai Namco Entertainment Logo

“We are really happy to have BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment on board as a partner to complement our collaboration with Games Workshop.”  Rémi Racine, founder and CEO, Behaviour

 

Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade will be available for PlayStation®4, Xbox One and PC Digital starting summer 2016.

 

 

For more information:

 

“PlayStation” is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade © Copyright Games Workshop Limited 2016.  Eternal Crusade, the Eternal Crusade logo, GW, Games Workshop, Space Marine, 40K, Warhammer, Warhammer 40,000, 40,000, the ‘Aquila’ Double-headed Eagle logo, and all associated logos, illustrations, images, names, creatures, races, vehicles, locations, weapons, characters, and the distinctive likeness thereof, are either ® or TM, and/or © Games Workshop Limited, variably registered around the world, and used under license. All rights reserved.

 

About BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Europe S.A.S.

BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Europe S.A.S., part of BANDAI NAMCO Holdings Inc., is a leading global publisher and developer of interactive content for platforms including all major video game consoles and PC, with marketing and sales operations in 50 countries across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Australasia.  The company is known for creating and publishing many of the industry’s top video game franchises, including PAC-MAN™, Tekken™, SOULCALIBUR™, NARUTO™, NARUTO SHIPPUDEN™, Dragon Ball®, GALAGA™, RIDGE RACER™ and ACE COMBAT™.

 

About Behaviour:

 

Founded in 1992, Behaviour Interactive is Canada’s largest independent game developer, employing 325 talented people in Montreal (Quebec) and Santiago (Chile). The studio’s objective is to deliver high-quality and commercially successful games, while staying on the cutting-edge of the industry trends in the digital markets, and exploring fresh ideas and connected experiences to keep players entertained. Our studios work with the industry’s top publishers and licensors, including Activision Blizzard, Bethesda, Cloud Imperium, Disney, Dreamworks, EA, Games Workshop, Majesco, Microsoft, Nickelodeon, Paramount, Pixar, Sony, Starbreeze, Ubisoft and Warner.  For more information, please visit: bhvr.com. Eternal Crusade is produced by Behaviour Digital. Behaviour Digital Inc. is a subsidiary of Behaviour Interactive Inc whose mission is to “Create remarkable games we would play, our way.”

 

About Games Workshop:

Games Workshop® Group PLC (LSE:GAW.L) is based in Nottingham, UK. Games Workshop designs, manufactures, retails, and distributes its range of Warhammer® and Warhammer® 40,000® games, miniature soldiers, novels and model kits through more than 400 of its own Hobby centres, the Internet and independent retail channels in more than 50 countries worldwide. More information about Games Workshop can be found at www.games-workshop.com and further details about all of Games Workshop’s licensees and their products are at licensing.games-workshop.com

Vintage

Mickey Mouse Animation Cel Brings Ninety Eight Thousand Dollars At Auction

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An incredibly rare piece of animation history, an all-original, unrestored production cel and master background from Walt Disney’s 1935 classic “Mickey’s Service Station,” featuring Mickey Mouse and Goofy, realized more than $98,000 USD http://click.ems.ha.com/?qs=a0b6f777c8e9164555c159500ceacad54ad319a092d48c8921bd30eb14370065a07914702d97f374  at Heritage Auctions in New York on July 1, as part of the company’s $1.28+ million Animation Art Signature® Auction, at the Fletcher-Sinclair Mansion (2 E. 79th Street, at 5th Ave.).

We may never know who the artist is that made the auctioned off cel. Walt employed young, pretty women to work in the inking and cell departments. image: still from an early 1940's Walt Disney film explaining how cartoons were being made (watch this below)- "hundreds of pretty girls working in a brightly lit, air-conditioned room" says the narrator. CP
We may never know who the artist was that made the auctioned cel. Walt Disney employed many young, pretty women to work in the inking and cell departments. Image: Still from an early 1940’s Walt Disney film explaining how cartoons were being made. CP

100sOfprettyGirlsInkingDepartmentSaysDisneyVintageFilm

“It’s an extraordinary price for an extra ordinary piece,” said Jim Lentz, Director of Animation Art at Heritage. “This is really a Holy Grail piece of animation and one of the best I’ve ever seen, from one of the best early Mickey cartoons and one of the very last black and white Mickey cartoons before Disney changed everything by going to color.” Besides the rarity of the cel and the background, it is also believed that this is the only known black and white production cel featuring Goofy in private hands. In the classic cartoon Mickey (voiced by Disney himself), along with Goofy and Donald, do their best to find a squeaking sound in Pete’s roadster. Naturally, they take the car apart looking for the source of the annoying sound, which turns out to be a cricket.

The Bullwinkle Show Storyboard

One of the great surprises of the auction came in the form of a set of 1961 storyboards from The Bullwinkle Show (Jay Ward Studios), three extremely rare trimmed storyboards by Roy Morita for the episode “Buried Treasure,” on Ward Inc. storyboard paper, which crushed its $750+ USD pre-auction estimate to finish, amidst very spirited bidding, at $44,460 USD. One panel features Rocky and Bullwinkle, one has a close up of Bullwinkle, and one is an amazing drawing of Frostbite Falls, Minnesota, with the handwritten notation “B+R House” and an arrow pointing out the specific abode.