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Disney+ Subscribers Surge as Netflix Stumbles

Photo: Reuters
Photo: Reuters
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Disney+ Subscribers Surge as Netflix Stumbles

Photo: Reuters
Photo: Reuters

The Disney+ streaming service saw its number of paying subscribers leap beyond expectations in the last quarter, as rival Netflix's client count ebbed, results showed Wednesday.

The number of people subscribing to Disney+ topped 152 million, up some 31 percent from the same period a year earlier, the entertainment giant said in an earnings report.

Disney's bottom line was also boosted by rising revenue from its theme parks, which showed signs of recovering from stifled attendance during the pandemic, AFP reported.

Better-that-expected earnings reported by Disney came as many of the tech titans that flourished during the pandemic curb costs in the face of inflation and people get back to living life in the real world instead of online.

Disney shares were up more than 6 percent in after-market trades that followed release of the earnings figures.

"We had an excellent quarter, with our world-class creative and business teams powering outstanding performance at our domestic theme parks, big increases in live-sports viewership, and significant subscriber growth at our streaming services," said Disney chief executive Bob Chapek.

The 14.4 million Disney+ subscribers added in the recently ended quarter raised the overall number of subscriptions to its streaming services, which include Hulu and ESPN+, to 221 million, Chapek added.

The overall number of subscribers to Disney streaming services topped those of Netflix for the first time.

"Investors will breathe a sigh of relief from Disney’s robust fiscal (quarterly) earnings," said Insider Intelligence principal analyst Paul Verna.

"The streaming figures will be seen as an indicator of the health of the market, especially after lackluster subscriber figures from Netflix and Comcast."

Disney also announced that an ad-subsidized version of its streaming television subscription service will be offered in the United States starting December 8 at a monthly price $3 less than the ad-free offering.

- K-pop and superheroes -
Taking a page from Netflix's playbook, Disney has been investing in shows created in places outside the United States.

The company plans to "step up" investments in such local original content, Chapek said, pointing out a film concert and docu-series focused on South Korean music sensation BTS.

He expressed confidence in Disney theater films in the works, including an eagerly anticipated "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" addition to its Marvel superhero line-up.

A trailer for the Black Panther film logged more than 170 million views in the 24 hours after its release, Chapek said.

"Disney still faces economic uncertainty and intense competition, but performance should at least temporarily put to rest some of Wall Street's gloomier perceptions about the company, and more broadly about the entertainment industry," said Paul Verna, an analyst at Insider Intelligence.

Rival Netflix has reported losing subscribers for two quarters in a row, as the streaming giant battles fierce competition and viewer belt tightening, though the firm assured investors of better days ahead.

The loss of 970,000 paying customers in the most recent quarter was less than expected, leaving Netflix with just shy of 221 million subscribers.

"Our challenge and opportunity is to accelerate our revenue and membership growth... and to better monetize our big audience," the firm said in its earnings report.

After years of amassing subscribers, Netflix lost 200,000 customers worldwide in the first quarter compared to the end of 2021.

Netflix said in its earnings report that it had expected to gain a million paid subscribers in the current quarter.

Netflix executives have made it clear the company will get tougher on sharing logins and passwords, which allow many to access the platform's content without paying.

In an effort to draw new subscribers, Netflix said it will work with Microsoft to launch a cheaper subscription plan that includes advertisements.

The ad-supported offering will be in addition to the three account options already available, with the cheapest plan coming in at $10 per month in the United States.

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Entertainment

Broadway Musical ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ to Debut in Riyadh on October 14

A general view of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (SPA)
A general view of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (SPA)
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Broadway Musical ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ to Debut in Riyadh on October 14

A general view of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (SPA)
A general view of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (SPA)

The Royal Commission for Riyadh City (RCRC) announced on Monday that the Broadway musical "The Phantom of the Opera" will be performed in Riyadh, at The Arena Riyadh from October 14 to December 5.

Produced by Broadway Entertainment Group by arrangement with the Really Useful Group, the show is part of RCRC’s Riyadh Life sector to provide entertainment options in line with the objectives of Vision 2030 Quality of Life program.

The iconic musical will be performed 59 times; it consists of 100 cast, crew and orchestra members, and more than 230 intricately designed costumes.

The musical won more than 70 international theater awards, including seven Tony Awards on New York’s Broadway and four Olivier Awards in London's West End.

Entertainment

Writers Guild and Hollywood Studios Reach Tentative Deal to End Strike

People walk outside Paramount Studios after the Writers Guild of America (WGA) said it reached a preliminary labor agreement with major studios in Los Angeles, California, US, September 24, 2023. REUTERS/David Swanson
People walk outside Paramount Studios after the Writers Guild of America (WGA) said it reached a preliminary labor agreement with major studios in Los Angeles, California, US, September 24, 2023. REUTERS/David Swanson
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Writers Guild and Hollywood Studios Reach Tentative Deal to End Strike

People walk outside Paramount Studios after the Writers Guild of America (WGA) said it reached a preliminary labor agreement with major studios in Los Angeles, California, US, September 24, 2023. REUTERS/David Swanson
People walk outside Paramount Studios after the Writers Guild of America (WGA) said it reached a preliminary labor agreement with major studios in Los Angeles, California, US, September 24, 2023. REUTERS/David Swanson

Union leaders and Hollywood studios reached a tentative agreement Sunday to end a historic screenwriters strike after nearly five months, though no deal is yet in the works for striking actors.
The Writers Guild of America announced the deal in a joint statement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the group that represents studios, streaming services and production companies in negotiations.
“WGA has reached a tentative agreement with the AMPTP,” the guild said in an email to members. “This was made possible by the enduring solidarity of WGA members and extraordinary support of our union siblings who joined us on the picket lines for over 146 days.”
The three-year contract agreement — settled on after five marathon days of renewed talks by WGA and AMPTP negotiators that was joined at times by studio executives — must be approved by the guild's board and members before the strike officially ends, The Associated Press reported.
In a longer message from the guild shared by members on social media, the writers were told the strike is not over and no one was to return to work until hearing otherwise, but picketing is to be suspended immediately.
The terms of the deal were not immediately announced. The tentative deal to end the last writers strike, in 2008, was approved by more than 90% of members.
The agreement comes just five days before the strike would've become the longest in the guild's history, and the longest Hollywood strike more than 70 years.
As a result of the agreement, nightly network shows including NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” could return to the air within days.
But as writers prepare to potentially crack open their laptops again, it’s far from back to business as usual in Hollywood, as talks have not yet resumed between studios and the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. Crew members left with no work by the stoppage will remain unemployed for now.
“SAG-AFTRA congratulates the WGA on reaching a tentative agreement with the AMPTP after 146 days of incredible strength, resiliency and solidarity on the picket lines,” the actors union said in a statement. “While we look forward to reviewing the WGA and AMPTP’s tentative agreement, we remain committed to achieving the necessary terms for our members.”
The statement said the guild continues “to urge the studio and streamer CEOs and the AMPTP to return to the table and make the fair deal that our members deserve and demand.”
The proposed solution to the writers strike came after talks resumed on Wednesday for the first time in a month. Chief executives including Bob Iger of Disney, Ted Sarandos of Netflix, David Zaslav of Warner Bros. Discovery and Donna Langley of NBCUniversal reportedly took part in the negotiations directly.
It was reached without the intervention of federal mediators or other government officials, which had been necessary in previous strikes.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass issued a statement congratulating the two sides on the deal and said she is hopeful the same can happen soon with actors.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom did the same, saying writers "went on strike over existential threats to their careers and livelihoods — expressing real concerns over the stress and anxiety workers are feeling. I am grateful that the two sides have come together.”
About 11,500 members of the Writers Guild of America walked off the job May 2 over issues of pay, the size of writing staffs on shows and the use of artificial intelligence in the creation of scripts. Actors, who joined the writers on strike in July, have their own issues but there have been no discussions about resuming negotiations with their union yet.
The writers strike immediately sent late-night talk shows and “Saturday Night Live” into hiatus, and has since sent dozens of scripted shows and other productions into limbo, including forthcoming seasons of Netflix's “Stranger Things," HBO's “The Last of Us,” and ABC's “Abbot Elementary," and films including “Deadpool 3” and “Superman: Legacy.” The Emmy Awards were also pushed from September to January.
More recently, writers had been targeting talk shows that were working around strike rules to return to air, including “The Drew Barrymore Show,” “ Real Time With Bill Maher ” and “The Talk.” All reversed course in the face of picketing and pressure, and are likely to quickly return now.
The combined strikes made for a pivotal moment in Hollywood as creative labor faced off against executives in a business transformed and torn by technology, from the seismic shift to streaming in recent years to the potentially paradigm-shifting emergence of AI in the years to come.
Screenwriters had traditionally gone on strike more than any other segment of the industry, but had enjoyed a relatively long stretch of labor peace until spring negotiations for a new contract fell apart. The walkout was their first since 2007 and their longest since 1988.
On July 14, more than two months into the strike, the writers got a dose of solidarity and star power — along with a whole lot of new picketing partners — when they were joined by 65,000 striking film and television actors.
It was the first time the two groups had been on strike together since 1960. In that walkout, the writers strike started first and ended second. This time, studios opted to deal with the writers first.
The AMPTP first reached out to suggest renewing negotiations in August. The meetings were short, infrequent, and not productive, and talks went silent for another month.

Entertainment

Lauryn Hill, Red Hot Chili Peppers Draw Fans to Rainy Central Park Aid Fest

Lauryn Hill performs with Pras Michel and Wyclef Jean of the Fugees at the Global Citizen Concert in New York, US, September 23, 2023. REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs
Lauryn Hill performs with Pras Michel and Wyclef Jean of the Fugees at the Global Citizen Concert in New York, US, September 23, 2023. REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs
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Lauryn Hill, Red Hot Chili Peppers Draw Fans to Rainy Central Park Aid Fest

Lauryn Hill performs with Pras Michel and Wyclef Jean of the Fugees at the Global Citizen Concert in New York, US, September 23, 2023. REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs
Lauryn Hill performs with Pras Michel and Wyclef Jean of the Fugees at the Global Citizen Concert in New York, US, September 23, 2023. REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs

Lauryn Hill, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Jungkook drew tens of thousands of fans to Central Park on Saturday despite torrential rains, as part of a marathon concert urging global development aid.

Majestic rap icon Lauryn Hill graced the stage as her seminal album "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" turns 25, performing her smash single "Doo Wop (That Thing)" and reuniting The Fugees during the Global Citizen festival in New York.

The legendary hip-hop trio performed tracks including "Killing Me Softly" and "Ready Or Not."

"Africa needs to control their own natural resources. Haiti needs to control their own natural resources. The world, we need to stop famine," said member Wyclef Jean to cheers, as fans waved their lit phones.

The message was in line with the aims of the day, which marries musical performance with calls to increase funding against global ills including poverty and climate change.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers closed out the night with a set throwing back to their classics including "Can't Stop," "Scar Tissue," "Dani California," "Snow (Hey Oh)" and "Californication."

And Jungkook had the poncho-clad crowd screaming and swaying along as he serenaded them with hits including "Still With You."

Wearing acid-wash jeans and a brown shirt, the megastar told fans it was necessary to "make an impact together to make sure everyone, everywhere has access to their basic rights like food and education."

He wasn't billed as a headliner but Jungkook was a major draw of the night: many drenched concertgoers streamed out of the park just after his set ended, even though the evening at that point was scheduled to continue for another three hours.

Earlier Anitta brought her impressive twerks and dance party of a show to the stage, performing hits including her recent "Funk Rave."

Brazil's biggest pop star called attention to the importance of protecting the Amazon rainforest, reminding fans it's "the lungs of our planet."

Just prior to kicking off her booty-shaking set, she said that governments must do more to "protect the people there, the indigenous people, the communities there... whose only reality is the Amazon."

Rappers including Busta Rhymes and Common put on a tribute to the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, one of many the city has hosted in recent months.

Taking place since 2012 as world leaders gather in New York for the UN General Assembly, Global Citizen distributes free tickets to supporters who pledge to take actions such as sending letters to their governments in support of development aid.

Pledges came from leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron, who announced via video message a $150 million commitment to the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), AFP reported.

"We have to fight together against poverty, climate change and for biodiversity," Macron said. "This is why we want to take our part as well."

The Rome-headquartered IFAD is an arm of the United Nations aimed at addressing poverty and hunger in rural areas of developing countries.

Along with Macron, the organization said Norway had pledged $90 million to IFAD.

Entertainment

Movie Review: St4llone, St4tham Are Back in ‘Expend4bles,’ Yet Another Expend4ble Sequel

This image released by Lionsgate shows Sylvester Stallone in a scene from "The Expend4bles." (Lionsgate via AP)
This image released by Lionsgate shows Sylvester Stallone in a scene from "The Expend4bles." (Lionsgate via AP)
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Movie Review: St4llone, St4tham Are Back in ‘Expend4bles,’ Yet Another Expend4ble Sequel

This image released by Lionsgate shows Sylvester Stallone in a scene from "The Expend4bles." (Lionsgate via AP)
This image released by Lionsgate shows Sylvester Stallone in a scene from "The Expend4bles." (Lionsgate via AP)

It’s a throwaway line, but maybe a bit too meaningful, under the circumstances. “Gravity is setting in,” says Barney, Sylvester Stallone’s aging character in “Expend4bles,” when someone asks how he’s doing.

Indeed. Gravity is setting in throughout “Expend4bles,” a movie whose most enticing mystery is not the secret identity of its shadowy villain, but how you pronounce the film’s title. Are we supposed to enunciate the mid-word numeral, or is it merely visual? Is this what stands for a smart new spin on a tired franchise? Will we soon have “My Big F4t Greek Wedding”? Are these questions supposed to distract us from how stunningly mediocre the film is?

Perhaps we digress. This is, obviously, the fourth “Expendables” film, but our considered scientific opinion is that you needn’t see the first three to catch up. True, there’s no explanatory intro, but if you’ve seen earlier “Expendables” films, you’ll know there’s not much to know. These guys are the indestructible mercenaries who swoop in – literally, on Barney’s turboprop plane – to do dirty work in miserable places. The body count is head-spinningly high (this film, directed by Scott Waugh, returns to an R rating after a switch to PG-13 for the last installment). The dialogue is head-spinningly mundane. The flow of testosterone is, well, head-spinning.

Leading the pack, as ever, is Stallone’s Barney Ross and his expert knife-wielding best bud, Lee Christmas — Jason Statham, reveling in his Cockney charm and smiling more than usual. (This is not a bad thing. Statham has a nice smile. This may be the only good thing.) Also back are Dolph Lundgren’s Gunner and Randy Couture’s Toll Road.

And now, perhaps in a nod to the previously unrecognized fact that half the human race is female, we have Megan Fox as mercenary leader Gina. More on her in a bit. Also providing new blood is Andy Garcia as a prickly CIA handler, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson as an ex-Marine and new team member, and two martial arts stars: Iko Uwais as ruthless arms dealer Rahmat, and Tony Jaa as quiet warrior Decha. Other additions: Jacob Scipio is the son of Antonio Banderas’ character from the last film, and Levy Tran is a new female teammate, adept with a whip chain.

Got all that? In a prelude scene in New Orleans, we reconnect with Barney, who now has salt-and-pepper hair, and a bad back — so bad, he enlists Christmas to help him recover his prized skeleton ring at a biker bar, which he’s lost in a thumb-wrestling contest. The thugs dispatched and the ring collected, it’s time to get back to work.

This means a trip to Libya, where aforementioned arms dealer Rahmat (Uwais) is securing detonators for a nuclear weapon. CIA handler Marsh (Garcia) needs the Expendables to stop him. The other thing you should know is that Barney is determined to unmask a shadowy figure codenamed Ocelot who’s maybe pulling all the strings.

Not surprisingly, the Expendables run into resistance. The body count mounts, and then something happens that will change the trajectory of the film. We can’t give it away, but let’s just say it brings Statham’s Christmas to the forefront for much of the film.

But he makes an early error that sidelines him for a bit. Leading the next stage of the mission will be Gina (Fox), his ex (or maybe current?) girlfriend. Gina is introduced to us the only way a woman in a testosterone-dripping franchise like this can be: Sexy AND crazy, yelling like the dickens in a hot little dress. She also wears an absurd amount of makeup, including on the mission. Apparently, there’s a brand of matte lipstick that holds up very well through mortal combat. Which is convenient if your ex-boyfriend may or may not be showing up.

All this action takes place on a freighter where the aforementioned nuclear bomb is being stored. It includes countless killings and also a motorcycle chase (on a freighter!) It all gets very tiresome.

It doesn’t help that the special effects sometimes seem thrown together with about as much care as the script. Some of the most obvious green screens provide inadvertent comedy. As for intended comedy, the only truly funny scene is when Christmas, sidelined, tries out a job as security detail for an obnoxious social media influencer.

The likable British action star is having a busy year. In “Expend4bles,” as mentioned, they let him smile a lot, and it’s a nice touch. Still, if there’s an “Expend5bles,” they’re gonna need more than a Statham smile and another mid-word numeral in the title.

Entertainment

No Deal Yet as Hollywood Writers, Studios Talk for Third Straight Day

SAG-AFTRA actors and Writers Guild of America (WGA) writers walk the picket line outside Disney Studios in Burbank, California, US, July 25, 2023. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo
SAG-AFTRA actors and Writers Guild of America (WGA) writers walk the picket line outside Disney Studios in Burbank, California, US, July 25, 2023. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo
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No Deal Yet as Hollywood Writers, Studios Talk for Third Straight Day

SAG-AFTRA actors and Writers Guild of America (WGA) writers walk the picket line outside Disney Studios in Burbank, California, US, July 25, 2023. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo
SAG-AFTRA actors and Writers Guild of America (WGA) writers walk the picket line outside Disney Studios in Burbank, California, US, July 25, 2023. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

Striking Hollywood writers and top studio executives met for a third straight day on Friday, ending with a decision to continue talks on Saturday as they try to end a work stoppage that has shut down film and TV production for months.
While workers across the entertainment industry waited for word of the outcome, no agreement was announced as the strike reached its 144th day.
The WGA said in a statement early on Saturday that the two sides would meet again on Saturday, Reuters reported.
Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger, Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos, Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav and Donna Langley, chairman of Comcast's NBCUniversal Studio Group, took part in the talks with the Writers Guild of America (WGA) for a third day.
Representatives for the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents the studios, had no comment.
While the two sides met, union members turned out in large numbers in response to an appeal from WGA negotiators on Thursday to flood picket lines outside the studios.
In the crowd outside Netflix on Friday was "Mad Men" creator and writer Matthew Weiner, who like others voiced optimism that the recent talks signaled progress was being made.
"I'm hopeful," Weiner said of the possibility that the strike could be coming to an end. "I would like to go back to work and I would like to start mending these relationships."
Roughly 11,500 WGA members walked off the job in May, demanding higher pay and residuals in the streaming TV era plus limits around the use of artificial intelligence.
Producer and WGA member Al Septien, also picketing outside Netflix on Friday, said he wanted to get back to work, but only under the right terms.
"We've been out here a long time. We don't want to fold for a less-than-fair and good contract for the writers,” he said.
The SAG-AFTRA actors union also is on strike after walking off the job in July.

Entertainment

Amazon to Start Ads on Prime Video from 2024

FILE PHOTO: The logo of Amazon is seen, November 15, 2022. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Amazon is seen, November 15, 2022. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol/File Photo
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Amazon to Start Ads on Prime Video from 2024

FILE PHOTO: The logo of Amazon is seen, November 15, 2022. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Amazon is seen, November 15, 2022. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol/File Photo

Amazon.com said on Friday Prime Video shows and movies will include limited advertisements from early 2024.
The US tech giant said the advertisements will be introduced in the United States, the UK, Germany and Canada in early 2024, followed by France, Italy, Spain, Mexico and Australia later in the year.
Amazon will roll out an ad-free subscription tier for an additional $2.99 per month for US Prime members. Prime subscription in the US costs $14.99 per month or $139 per year.
Live event content such as sports will continue to include advertising even if the subscriber has paid for the ad-free plan, Amazon said.

Entertainment

Japan TV Network Will Acquire Totoro Creator Studio Ghibli as Animation Studio Prepares for Future 

Hayao Miyazaki of Japan, director of the animated film "Ponyo," poses at a special screening of the film in Los Angeles on July 27, 2009. (AP)
Hayao Miyazaki of Japan, director of the animated film "Ponyo," poses at a special screening of the film in Los Angeles on July 27, 2009. (AP)
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Japan TV Network Will Acquire Totoro Creator Studio Ghibli as Animation Studio Prepares for Future 

Hayao Miyazaki of Japan, director of the animated film "Ponyo," poses at a special screening of the film in Los Angeles on July 27, 2009. (AP)
Hayao Miyazaki of Japan, director of the animated film "Ponyo," poses at a special screening of the film in Los Angeles on July 27, 2009. (AP)

Studio Ghibli, the famed Japanese animation studio of Hayao Miyazaki, will become a subsidiary of Nippon Television Network Corp., both sides said Thursday.

Succession worries had been a priority at Ghibli, as Miyazaki has turned 82, and producer Toshio Suzuki is 75, the companies said in a joint statement.

The boards of both companies agreed at meetings Thursday that the major commercial broadcast network will become Studio Ghibli’s top shareholder, with a 42.3% stake. Financial details were not given.

Nippon TV said it will send executives to support Ghibli’s management, while honoring its creative independence so it can focus on animation and other artistic projects.

The deal was first discussed last year at an “onsen” hot springs, the companies said, when Suzuki asked Nippon TV executive Yoshikuni Sugiyama for help in managing Ghibli. Sugiyama promised to give support.

Miyazaki’s son Goro is also an animation director and has been mentioned as a possible successor. But he had expressed doubts, saying the responsibility was too great.

Ghibli and Nippon TV have collaborated in the past, since “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind” aired on TV in 1985. Nippon TV has also helped produce various Ghibli works, starting with Miyazaki’s 1989 “Kiki’s Delivery Service.” It also helped set up the museum devoted to Ghibli works in Tokyo.

Earlier this year, Miyazaki finished “The Boy and the Heron,” completed after seven years. It is based on a book but is also loosely based on Miyazaki’s wartime childhood. The Japanese title, which better expresses its theme, translates to: “How Will You Live?”

Miyazaki won an Oscar for his 2001 “Spirited Away.” He has occasionally declared he was retiring but has always returned to his craft.

He has produced an extensive range of animation works enjoyed by adults as well as children, including “My Neighbor Totoro” and “Ponyo.”

Entertainment

Sophie Turner Sues to Force Estranged Husband Joe Jonas to Turn Over Children’s Passports 

Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner attend the 2022 Vanity Fair Oscar Party following the 94th Oscars at the The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, California on March 27, 2022. (AFP)
Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner attend the 2022 Vanity Fair Oscar Party following the 94th Oscars at the The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, California on March 27, 2022. (AFP)
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Sophie Turner Sues to Force Estranged Husband Joe Jonas to Turn Over Children’s Passports 

Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner attend the 2022 Vanity Fair Oscar Party following the 94th Oscars at the The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, California on March 27, 2022. (AFP)
Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner attend the 2022 Vanity Fair Oscar Party following the 94th Oscars at the The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, California on March 27, 2022. (AFP)

Actor Sophie Turner sued her estranged pop star husband Joe Jonas on Thursday to force him to turn over the passports of the couple’s two young daughters so she can take them to England.

Turner, who was served with divorce papers this month after four years of marriage to Jonas, said in her petition that the couple had planned to raise their daughters in her native England. It also said that the girls, ages 3 and 1, “are both fully involved and integrated in all aspects of daily and cultural life in England.”

Best known for playing Sansa Stark on HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” Turner filed her petition in federal court in New York under the child abduction clauses of the Hague Convention, an international treaty aimed at compelling the return of a child taken from their country of “habitual residence.”

Turner, 27, says that she and Jonas, 34, made a mutual decision to raise their daughters in England and to relocate there in April of this year.

During part of August and September, while Jonas began a tour with his band the Jonas Brothers in the United States, Turner would be working long hours filming a television series in England. So, Turner said she and Jonas had agreed that the children would travel with Jonas and a nanny.

The plan was for Turner to travel to New York after filming wrapped on Sept. 14 to collect the children, but in the meantime “the breakdown of the parties’ marriage happened very suddenly,” Turner said.

According to Turner, Jonas filed for divorce in Florida on Sept. 1 and she learned about it through the media on Sept. 5. The pair issued a joint statement on their Instagram accounts on Sept. 6 saying they had mutually decided to amicably end the marriage.

Turner says she and Jonas saw each other on Sept. 17 — and she asked him for the children’s passports so she could take them back to England, but Jonas refused to turn over the passports of the girls, who were born in the United States, and have dual US and British citizenship.

The court filing says the girls are temporarily living with Turner in a Manhattan hotel. The Jonas Brothers were scheduled to perform in Philadelphia on Thursday and in Baltimore on Friday.

Jonas said in a statement that he is “seeking shared parenting with the kids so that they are raised by both their mother and father” and that he is “okay with the kids being raised both in the US and the UK.”

“This is an unfortunate legal disagreement about a marriage that is sadly ending,” he added. “When language like ‘abduction’ is used, it is misleading at best, and a serious abuse of the legal system at worst.”

Jonas said he did not surprise Turner with divorce papers but rather filed for divorce after what he said were “multiple conversations with Sophie.”

Jonas has been a pop idol since he and his brothers Nick and Kevin formed the Jonas Brothers in 2005. He and Turner met in 2016 and married in 2019.

Entertainment

 Striking Hollywood Writers, Studios to Meet Again Friday 

Strike signs await striking SAG-AFTRA actors and Writers Guild of America (WGA) outside Disney Studios in Burbank, California, US, July 25, 2023. (Reuters)
Strike signs await striking SAG-AFTRA actors and Writers Guild of America (WGA) outside Disney Studios in Burbank, California, US, July 25, 2023. (Reuters)
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 Striking Hollywood Writers, Studios to Meet Again Friday 

Strike signs await striking SAG-AFTRA actors and Writers Guild of America (WGA) outside Disney Studios in Burbank, California, US, July 25, 2023. (Reuters)
Strike signs await striking SAG-AFTRA actors and Writers Guild of America (WGA) outside Disney Studios in Burbank, California, US, July 25, 2023. (Reuters)

Negotiators for Hollywood's major studios and striking film and television writers plan to meet again on Friday, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) said in a statement.

The two sides on Thursday negotiated for more than 10 hours but failed to reach an agreement to end a months-long stalemate over pay and the use of artificial intelligence, CNN reported.

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Roughly 11,500 WGA members walked off the job in May, angered by how working conditions have changed in the streaming TV era.

To help spark a deal, negotiations on Wednesday and Thursday were attended by Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos, Comcast's NBCUniversal Studio Group Chairman Donna Langley and Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav, according to a source close to the studios.

The SAG-AFTRA actors union went on strike in July, putting Hollywood in the midst of two simultaneous work stoppages for the first time in 63 years.

Entertainment

'Game of Thrones' Creator and Other Authors Sue ChatGPT-maker OpenAI for Copyright Infringement

George R.R. Martin speaks onstage at the “House of the Dragon” panel during 2022 Comic Con International: San Diego at San Diego Convention Center on July 23, 2022 in San Diego, California. Image: Getty Images/Kevin Winter via AFP
George R.R. Martin speaks onstage at the “House of the Dragon” panel during 2022 Comic Con International: San Diego at San Diego Convention Center on July 23, 2022 in San Diego, California. Image: Getty Images/Kevin Winter via AFP
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'Game of Thrones' Creator and Other Authors Sue ChatGPT-maker OpenAI for Copyright Infringement

George R.R. Martin speaks onstage at the “House of the Dragon” panel during 2022 Comic Con International: San Diego at San Diego Convention Center on July 23, 2022 in San Diego, California. Image: Getty Images/Kevin Winter via AFP
George R.R. Martin speaks onstage at the “House of the Dragon” panel during 2022 Comic Con International: San Diego at San Diego Convention Center on July 23, 2022 in San Diego, California. Image: Getty Images/Kevin Winter via AFP

John Grisham, Jodi Picoult and George R.R. Martin are among 17 authors suing OpenAI for “systematic theft on a mass scale,” the latest in a wave of legal action by writers concerned that artificial intelligence programs are using their copyrighted works without permission.
In papers filed Tuesday in federal court in New York, the authors alleged “flagrant and harmful infringements of plaintiffs’ registered copyrights” and called the ChatGPT program a “massive commercial enterprise” that is reliant upon “systematic theft on a mass scale”, The Associated Press said.
The suit was organized by the Authors Guild and also includes David Baldacci, Sylvia Day, Jonathan Franzen and Elin Hilderbrand among others.
“It is imperative that we stop this theft in its tracks or we will destroy our incredible literary culture, which feeds many other creative industries in the US," Authors Guild CEO Mary Rasenberger said in a statement. “Great books are generally written by those who spend their careers and, indeed, their lives, learning and perfecting their crafts. To preserve our literature, authors must have the ability to control if and how their works are used by generative AI.”
The lawsuit cites specific ChatGPT searches for each author, such as one for Martin that alleges the program generated “an infringing, unauthorized, and detailed outline for a prequel" to “A Game of Thrones” that was titled “A Dawn of Direwolves” and used “the same characters from Martin’s existing books in the series “A Song of Ice and Fire.”
In a statement Wednesday, an OpenAI spokesperson said that the company respects “the rights of writers and authors, and believes they should benefit from AI technology.
“We’re having productive conversations with many creators around the world, including the Authors Guild, and have been working cooperatively to understand and discuss their concerns about AI. We’re optimistic we will continue to find mutually beneficial ways to work together to help people utilize new technology in a rich content ecosystem,” the statement reads.
Earlier this month, a handful of authors that included Michael Chabon and David Henry Hwang sued OpenAI in San Francisco for “clear infringement of intellectual property.”
In August, OpenAI asked a federal judge in California to dismiss two similar lawsuits, one involving comedian Sarah Silverman and another from author Paul Tremblay. In a court filing, OpenAI said the claims “misconceive the scope of copyright, failing to take into account the limitations and exceptions (including fair use) that properly leave room for innovations like the large language models now at the forefront of artificial intelligence.”
Author objections to AI have helped lead Amazon.com, the country's largest book retailer, to change its policies on e-books. The online giant is now asking writers who want to publish through its Kindle Direct Program to notify Amazon in advance that they are including AI-generated material. Amazon is also limiting authors to three new self-published books on Kindle Direct per day, an effort to restrict the proliferation of AI texts.