Why Krafton "made a sizeable bet" on IndiaKrafton India CEO Sean (Hyunil) Sohn discusses the impact of BGMI on the local market, the support the company is offering startups, and prospects for Palworld Mobile Feature by James Batchelor Editor-in-chief Published on Dec. 13, 2024 The launch of PUBG Mobile, later redeveloped into Battlegrounds Mobile India after it was banned by the government, was a turning point for that nation's games industry.Still one of the nation's most popular games, BGMI is handled by Krafton India the Korean publisher's subsidiary dedicated to this region and continues to drive the company's strategy in the area.During my time at India Game Developer Conference, I caught up with Krafton India CEO Sean (Hyunil) Sohn, who is also in charge of operations in MENA and previously worked at the company's headquarters.Our conversation explored how the PUBG firm approaches this market, the opportunities that lie ahead, and how India fits into Krafton's global strategy. The interview below has been edited for brevity and clarity.How big a market is India for Krafton?So it's been three and a half years since we started the operation in India. The main product that we are servicing is BGMI Battlegrounds Mobile India which is the Indian version of PUBG Mobile. That accounts for more than 95% of our revenue from India. Sean (Hyunil) Sohn, Krafton IndiaWe also have a corporate development team which has invested roughly $170 million into India's startup ecosystem, including gaming, esports and also digital content platforms. So that's a quick summary of what we are doing in India.When it comes to global revenues, India accounts for roughly 10%, give or take. Not as big as Korea, China or the US, but the market is growing at double digits while the global gaming market especially more mature markets like China or the US grows only maybe 3% or 4% per year.Compared to other global gaming companies, we made a sizable bet on the India market, and we have a sizable team based out of Bangalore.What have been the biggest lessons you've learned since setting up in India?For the publishing side, one of the lessons that we learned I mean, we kind of knew it before, but now we know it much more clearly is that India is still yet to develop a more [varied taste for games]."We are very lucky that we have a good, sizable cash cow [in BGMI]"Obviously shooter games like BGMI are super popular here, as well as card games and old board games like Ludo or Rummy these are big in India, but other genres like strategy, MOBA, and sports, are still much smaller than in the global market. We've launched new strategy games, we've also invested in a sports game company called Nautilus Mobile [developer of Real Cricket] but it's not very sizable. So you need to be a little patient and you need to bring something very specific for local tastes. Otherwise the ROI might not be as good as other, bigger markets.How do you make games that specifically target the Indian market effectively?We are very lucky that we have a good, sizable cash cow [in BGMI] which can sustain the team and also we can use those financial resources to bring more titles to the market. We have that strength. But you need to have a local team on the ground.It's a chicken and egg issue of whether you have big enough revenue from the market to justify your investment in setting a team or allocating a lot of your time to managing the market but we have a chicken anyway, so we can try to lay more eggs.How have you approached BGMI differently to PUBG Mobile?The core gameplay is the same but there are negative perceptions towards gaming [in India] in general and also shooter games like BGMI. So we tried to bring in some safeguards or solutions to the concerns that the government or general public might have. Also, we tried to make it more localised so that people don't feel too uncomfortable, so we tried to change or remove certain global features for the local market.[Editor's note: Examples include changing 'Kills' to 'Finishers', removing blood effects, and the addition of a warning before each match that this is a virtual simulation not based on the real world. There are also age restrictions, time limits for younger players, and BGMI players are only able to be matched with other users in India.]BGMI has been credited for driving a shift in India, encouraging players to spend less time on real-money games and more on midcore titles. We've even seen a bunch of India-developed rivals to BGMI emerging. What is it about the game that's making midcore more popular, and what can companies do to capitalise on this?Indian gamers have a very sophisticated demand for good quality gaming content and there are not many local game developers who can actually make a game to satisfy that level of demand. There are quite a few good gaming studios from India, but what they are producing might not be good enough or large enough to cater to the local demands.Indian gamers are still trying to play global games more but global game companies don't really pay too much attention to the local taste of the market. I believe there are not many global gaming companies like us to have a local team and to do some differentiated marketing for the consumers.And while there are more gamers who are enjoying midcore games, that doesn't necessarily mean that there [aren't] many more games which are actually successful today. Sports games like FC Mobile and eFootball, some of the racing games like Asphalt 9 and Need for Speed, they are actually doing better and better. So we can see that gamers are actually wanting that kind of game now. Battlegrounds Mobile India accounts for the vast majority of Krafton's revenue from that market, but the company is exploring other projects | Image credit: KraftonWhy is Krafton investing so much in an emerging market like India?The emerging gaming markets, like India, Latin America and Southeast Asia, are more significant than before in terms of economy. And there are a lot of different cultural or economical backgrounds between these emerging markets and global mature gaming markets. India and MENA, or even including Latin America or some parts of Southeast Asia, have a significance in showing that there could be some different trends in the gaming industry.I used to read GamesIndustry.biz for many, many years, but now I'm spending less time on your newsletter and site because gaming journalists from mature markets do not really look at the emerging markets with the same level of detail. I mean that's very natural, but these markets are becoming bigger and growing faster.We want to build a good model case for emerging markets so that we can apply a similar way of setting up an organisation and expanding the market, doing something with a more localised approach which appeals to the local taste and so on. That's what we are trying to do in India and MENA. Hopefully, we can learn and build a case from here and apply that in other emerging markets so that Krafton's global presence can become more universal. We are currently more centered in North America, China and Korea those are our key core markets but the other markets are also growing.How does Krafton acquiring studios like Tango Gameworks benefit regional operations like Krafton India?In general, acquiring good studios who are able to create new IPs is a big plus for Krafton. Tango Gameworks showed they have the capacity... Hi-Fi Rush may not be a blockbuster success, but there are some core fans who like the art style and the gameplay, so maybe that's why our HQ team saw the potential and did the acquisition. That will strengthen our capacity for generating new IP.We also have other projects which are converting IPs from PC and console to mobile. That's another area where we see big potential."The emerging gaming markets, like India, Latin America and Southeast Asia, are more significant than before in terms of economy"How does India factor into Krafton's M&A strategy?In India, there are a few studios that are quite good but they are now either very self sustainable or they have been acquired by a bigger European company like Stillfront. So there are not that many studios which you can or would want to acquire.But obviously we are trying to see what's in the market. Maybe there are very early stage companies with some experience on their team, but we are trying to help them to build something on their own with our incubation program or equity investments. We are continuously doing that.Krafton recently signed a deal with Pocketpair to bring Palworld to mobile. Given how popular anime and some Japanese media is in India, do you expect that to perform well here?I believe so. Pokmon might not be that big in India compared to Korea, Japan or the US, but it's a common psychology that gamers or young people generally like to have some sort of virtual pet on their phone or in games. So it has that universal appeal for gamers. I mean, there are a lot of other reasons why Palworld on PC was so successful, but that's also one of the core things which people liked. If you can transfer that well to a mobile platform, more customized for mobile gameplay, then obviously that will work.

If you missed the first sale on the 2024 Kindle PaperwhiteAmazon, Best Buy, and Target for $134.99 ($25 off). Thats still $5 shy of its all-time low, but its a pretty good discount this early into its life. You can also get it without ads at Amazon for $154.99 ($25 off).RelatedTheres not much incentive to upgrade if you already own an older Paperwhite, but if youre an avid reader, youll likely appreciate the newly minted seven-inch display, which is the biggest of any Paperwhite to date. Its also 25 percent brighter than the previous model and features a higher contrast ratio, allowing for improved readability. The jump from 10 weeks of battery life to three months is a more substantial upgrade as is a new processor, which supposedly makes a big difference when it comes to page-turning speeds but well need to finish putting Amazons latest e-reader through its paces before rendering our final verdict.However, despite the iterative nature of the aforementioned updates, theres a good chance the 12th-gen Paperwhite is going to remain the best option for most people. Amazons new entry-level Kindle is a bit smaller (and slower), and while the jazzy Kindle Colorsoft offers the best color screen on an e-reader so far, it will run you an extra $120 over the Paperwhite. Thats a lot for a non-essential upgrade.Kindle Paperwhite (2024) $135$16016% off$135$135$16016% offAmazons latest Paperwhite features a larger seven-inch display and noticeably faster performance. It also boasts longer battery life than the previous model, retains IPX8 waterproofing, and includes a USB-C port.More deals to beat the holiday crunchNow through December 25th, Grid is taking $100 off its Grid 1 frame which bears the iPhone 2Gs guts for all to see when you use Verge-exclusive code TV100, which drops it to $299. You can also use code TV20 to take 20 percent off any other product in the studios online store, so long as its not part of an ongoing promo. Grids disassembled, explosive displays offer a museum-style look at the components that make up some of the most iconic gadgets to hit the scene over the years. Theyre also a great gift for wannabe tinkerers who appreciate the beauty of circuitry, especially since theyll arrive before Christmas if you act fast enough.If you dont need a robot vacuum that can sweep your baseboards or empty its own bin, the Eufy 11S Max is on sale at Amazon and Walmart for $129.99 ($120 off), which is one of its better prices to date. The entry-level robovac isnt the smartest option available, but its at least aware enough not to bump into walls or tumble over stairs. The 11S Max offers good carpet and hard surface cleaning with relative quietness, too, and its 600ml bin is roomy enough to go through several cleanings before it needs to be dumped.A small, fast charger like Ankers Prime Charger can come in handy if youre traveling for the holidays. Luckily, Amazon and Anker are selling the 100W GaN charger for a record-tying $45.99 ($39 off), the latter with promo code WS7DV2FXJI84. Ankers charger is thin enough not to horde all the space on a wall socket yet fast enough to charge almost anything (laptops included). It has three ports (two USB-C and one USB-A) to cover your charging needs, along with a folding prong for convenient storage.

Rhode Island took its RIBridges system for applying for public assistance programs like Medicaid offline Friday following a cyberattack that may have exposed the personal data of hundreds of thousands of people, reports CBS affiliate WPRI 12. With its RIBridges system offline, Rhode Islanders wont be able to log into RIBridges web portal or app, used to apply for Medicaid, food stamps, and other state benefits, says a government site providing updates on the breach. Governor Dan McKee said during a press briefing that attackers may have gotten personal info like names, addresses, and social security numbers of those whove used the system between 2019 to now.State Chief Digital Officer and Chief Information Officer Brian Tardiff, who also spoke at the briefing, said the attack is not ransomware, but more of an extortion type activity by this cybercriminal group.The attack also affected HealthSource RI, Rhode Islands healthcare marketplace. The state hopes to get the system back online before the healthcare open enrollment period ends on January 31st, as WPRI writes. In the meantime, mail-in paper applications and instructions for using them are available at the states Department of Human Services website. The breach update site says that tomorrow, the state will publish the number of a call center for help with the breach, available from 11AM to 8PM ET Sunday morning and from 9AM to 9PM ET Monday through Friday after that. The Rhode Island government also plans to mail instructions for free credit monitoring to those impacted.

Neural networks have become foundational tools in computer vision, NLP, and many other fields, offering capabilities to model and predict complex patterns. The training process is at the center of neural network functionality, where network parameters are adjusted iteratively to minimize error through optimization techniques like gradient descent. This optimization occurs in high-dimensional parameter space, making it challenging to decipher how the initial configuration of parameters influences the final trained state.Although progress has been made in studying these dynamics, questions about the dependency of final parameters on their initial values and the role of input data still need to be answered. Researchers seek to determine whether specific initializations lead to unique optimization pathways or if the transformations are governed predominantly by other factors like architecture and data distribution. This understanding is essential for designing more efficient training algorithms and enhancing the interpretability and robustness of neural networks.Prior studies have offered insights into the low-dimensional nature of neural network training. Research shows that parameter updates often occupy a relatively small subspace of the overall parameter space. For example, projections of gradient updates onto randomly oriented low-dimensional subspaces tend to have minimal effects on the networks final performance. Other studies have observed that most parameters stay close to their initial values during training, and updates are often approximately low-rank over short intervals. However, these approaches fail to fully explain the relationship between initialization and final states or how data-specific structures influence these dynamics.Researchers from EleutherAI introduced a novel framework for analyzing neural network training through the Jacobian matrix to address the above problems. This method examines the Jacobian of trained parameters concerning their initial values, capturing how initialization shapes the final parameter states. By applying singular value decomposition to this matrix, the researchers decomposed the training process into three distinct subspaces:Chaotic SubspaceBulk SubspaceStable SubspaceThis decomposition provides a detailed understanding of the influence of initialization and data structure on training dynamics, offering a new perspective on neural network optimization.The methodology involves linearizing the training process around the initial parameters, allowing the Jacobian matrix to map how small perturbations to initialization propagate during training. Singular value decomposition revealed three distinct regions in the Jacobian spectrum. The chaotic region, comprising approximately 500 singular values significantly greater than one, represents directions where parameter changes are amplified during training. The bulk region, with around 3,000 singular values near one, corresponds to dimensions where parameters remain largely unchanged. The stable region, with roughly 750 singular values less than one, indicates directions where changes are dampened. This structured decomposition highlights the varying influence of parameter space directions on training progress.In experiments, the chaotic subspace shapes optimization dynamics and amplifies parameter perturbations. The stable subspace ensures smoother convergence by dampening changes. Interestingly, despite occupying 62% of the parameter space, the bulk subspace has minimal influence on in-distribution behavior but significantly impacts predictions for far out-of-distribution data. For example, perturbations along bulk directions leave test set predictions virtually unchanged, while those in chaotic or stable subspaces can alter outputs. Restricting training to the bulk subspace rendered gradient descent ineffective, whereas training in chaotic or stable subspaces achieved performance comparable to unconstrained training. These patterns were consistent across different initializations, loss functions, and datasets, demonstrating the robustness of the proposed framework. Experiments on a multi-layer perceptron (MLP) with one hidden layer of width 64, trained on the UCI digits dataset, confirmed these observations.Several takeaways emerge from this study:The chaotic subspace, comprising approximately 500 singular values, amplifies parameter perturbations and is critical for shaping optimization dynamics.With around 750 singular values, the stable subspace effectively dampens perturbations, contributing to smooth and stable training convergence.The bulk subspace, accounting for 62% of the parameter space (approximately 3,000 singular values), remains largely unchanged during training. It has minimal impact on in-distribution behavior but significant effects on far-out-of-distribution predictions.Perturbations along chaotic or stable subspaces alter network outputs, whereas bulk perturbations leave test predictions virtually unaffected.Restricting training to the bulk subspace makes optimization ineffective, whereas training constrained to chaotic or stable subspaces performs comparably to full training.Experiments consistently demonstrated these patterns across different datasets and initializations, highlighting the generality of the findings.In conclusion, this study introduces a framework for understanding neural network training dynamics by decomposing parameter updates into chaotic, stable, and bulk subspaces. It highlights the intricate interplay between initialization, data structure, and parameter evolution, providing valuable insights into how training unfolds. The results reveal that the chaotic subspace drives optimization, the stable subspace ensures convergence, and the bulk subspace, though large, has minimal impact on in-distribution behavior. This nuanced understanding challenges conventional assumptions about uniform parameter updates. It provides practical avenues for optimizing neural networks.Check out the Paper. All credit for this research goes to the researchers of this project. Also,dont forget to follow us onTwitter and join ourTelegram Channel andLinkedIn Group. Dont Forget to join our60k+ ML SubReddit. Trending: LG AI Research Releases EXAONE 3.5: Three Open-Source Bilingual Frontier AI-level Models Delivering Unmatched Instruction Following and Long Context Understanding for Global Leadership in Generative AI Excellence.The post Eleuther AI Introduces a Novel Machine Learning Framework for Analyzing Neural Network Training through the Jacobian Matrix appeared first on MarkTechPost.

Large Multimodal Models (LMMs) excel in many vision-language tasks, but their effectiveness needs to improve in cross-cultural contexts. This is because they need to counterbalance the bias in their training datasets and methodologies, preventing a rich array of cultural elements from being properly represented in image captions. Overcoming this limitation will help to make artificial intelligence more robust at dealing with culturally sensitive tasks and promote inclusivity as it increases its applicability across global environments.Single-agent LMMs, such as BLIP-2 and LLaVA-13b, have been the predominant tools for image captioning. However, they need more diverse training data to incorporate cultural depth. These models need to capture the subtleties of multiple cultural perspectives, and thus, the outputs appear stereotypical and unspecific. Besides, the traditional metrics of measurement, such as accuracy and F1 scores, do not capture the depth of cultural representation but instead emphasize the overall correctness. This methodological weakness hinders the ability of these models to produce captions that are meaningful and significant to different audiences.To address these challenges, researchers from the University of Michigan and Santa Clara University developed MosAIC, an innovative framework for enhancing cultural image captioning through collaborative interactions. This method utilizes a set of several agents who all have their own specific cultural identities but take part in organized, moderated discussions between them. Their dialogue is collected and condensed by a summarizing agent into a culturally enhanced caption. The framework uses a dataset of 2,832 captions from three different cultures: China, India, and Romania, sourced from GeoDE, GD-VCR, and CVQA. It also uses an innovative culture-adaptable evaluation metric to evaluate the representation of cultural components in the captions, thus providing a comprehensive tool for assessing output quality. This sets the benchmark in allowing agent-specific expertise and encouraging iterative learning toward better captions that are accurate and more culturally deep.The MosAIC system operates through a multi-round interaction mechanism where agents first independently analyze images and then engage in collaborative discussions to refine their interpretations. Because each agent brings its unique cultural perspective into the discourse, it contributes richness to holistic image representation. Elaborate methodologies, including Chain-of-Thought prompting, enable agents to create output that is well-structured and coherent. The model includes memory management systems that are used to track the discussion over several rounds without bias. The use of geographically diverse datasets ensures that the generated captions encompass diverse cultural perspectives, thus making the framework applicable in multiple contexts.The MosAIC framework significantly outperforms single-agent models in producing captions that are deeper and more culturally complete. It captures diverse cultural terms and integrates them very well into its outputs, achieving higher scores on cultural representation while remaining consistent with the content of the images. Human evaluations further validate its success, showing that its captions align closely with cultural contexts and far surpass conventional models in detail and inclusivity. The cooperative framework that supports this system is crucial for improving its capability to reflect cultural nuance and represents a milestone development in culturally conscious artificial intelligence.MosAIC addresses the critical issue of Western-centric bias in LMMs by introducing a collaborative framework for cultural image captioning. It achieves this through innovative interaction strategies, novel datasets, and specialized evaluation metrics that may be used to produce captions at once contextually accurate and culturally rich. This work forms a revolutionary step in the field, setting a foundation for further advancements in creating inclusive and globally relevant AI systems.Check out the Paper. All credit for this research goes to the researchers of this project. Also,dont forget to follow us onTwitter and join ourTelegram Channel andLinkedIn Group. Dont Forget to join our60k+ ML SubReddit. Aswin Ak+ postsAswin AK is a consulting intern at MarkTechPost. He is pursuing his Dual Degree at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. He is passionate about data science and machine learning, bringing a strong academic background and hands-on experience in solving real-life cross-domain challenges. [Download] Evaluation of Large Language Model Vulnerabilities Report (Promoted)

Meet OpenAIs New Feature: Projects in ChatGPT 0 like December 14, 2024Share this postLast Updated on December 14, 2024 by Editorial TeamAuthor(s): Gunal Hincal Originally published on Towards AI. This member-only story is on us. Upgrade to access all of Medium.On the 7th day of OpenAIs 12-day event, the Projects feature was unveiled, marking a new era in organizing your workflow. This feature is much more than a simple desktop folder for storing and organizing documents.The ChatGPT Projects Feature, allows you to interact with documents, guide your projects with custom instructions, and personalize ChatGPT for a more efficient workflow.What Does This Innovation Bring?Projects is a tool within ChatGPT that helps you organize your chats and related files. You can start by creating a new project from the Projects tab at the top of the left-hand menu.Heres how to create a project:1. Create a New Project: Click the + button in the left-hand menu to start a new project.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcB97h3vrzk2. Name and Color: Assign a name to your project and choose a color to customize your sidebar.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcB97h3vrzk3. Add Files: Upload your files to the project these could be documents, spreadsheets, code files, or presentations.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcB97h3vrzk4. Add Instructions: Provide ChatGPT with custom instructions for your project to utilize the model more effectively.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcB97h3vrzkThese features allow you to work in an organized manner within a single platform, offering the advantage of direct interaction with Read the full blog for free on Medium.Join thousands of data leaders on the AI newsletter. Join over 80,000 subscribers and keep up to date with the latest developments in AI. From research to projects and ideas. If you are building an AI startup, an AI-related product, or a service, we invite you to consider becoming asponsor. Published via Towards AITowards AI - Medium Share this post

Claudes New Feature Will Blow Your Mind! 0 like December 13, 2024Share this postLast Updated on December 14, 2024 by Editorial TeamAuthor(s): Gencay I. Originally published on Towards AI. Claudes Feature is Game-Changing and redefines AI OutputsThis member-only story is on us. Upgrade to access all of Medium.created with le-chatIf you have experience using LLMs like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, or others, you might experience long, boring, and unrelated outputs.I recall using these prompts after long and really long outputsbe concise. It looks like Claude hears all of us and creates this fantastic future that will increase your prompts' efficiency and save you a lot of time.Lets start!Claude 3.5 Sonnet Choose StyleClaude created this new feature, and you can choose the output style dynamically. Lets look deeper and click on it. Here is the screen we see now;Claude 3.5 Sonnet StylesAs you can see, there are four different styles;NormalConciseExplanatoryFormalI like formal. Why? Because some of us are using these while working, the outputs we have to share might be in a formal tone, so kudos to Claude's team for thinking about it. But if you see, there is one more thing to discover.You can also create and edit styles; lets click on them. Now, youll have the following screen to preview existing styles. Lets check Concise.Claude 3.5 Sonnet Styles CustomizationNow, youll have the following screen to preview existing models. Lets click on the short Read the full blog for free on Medium.Join thousands of data leaders on the AI newsletter. Join over 80,000 subscribers and keep up to date with the latest developments in AI. From research to projects and ideas. If you are building an AI startup, an AI-related product, or a service, we invite you to consider becoming asponsor. Published via Towards AITowards AI - Medium Share this post

Streaming Wars is a weekly opinion column by IGNs Streaming Editor, Amelia Emberwing. Check out the last entry: Star Wars: Skeleton Crew Yet Another Show Skipped Its Pilot Episode, and It's Worse for It.____ ruined my childhood has always been a really confusing phrase. A new piece of media viewed in adulthood has no weight over the memories or magic experienced as a child. But what does hit home is the idea that nostalgia is always up for sale for the highest bidder. Strangely, its often the same people insisting that a remake or reimagining can ruin the joy of their youth who will defend a studios right to rob the future generation of the same childhood glee to make a buck, but Im not here to fight with the wall. Im here to tell you Sesame Street is for sale. It was announced on Friday that the David Zaslav-headed Warner Bros. Discovery has planted a big fat For Sale sign on Sesame Street to shift its programming focus to adult and family fare. Family fare, in this case, means something for all ages rather than titles for the kiddos. This decision only impacts future episodes of the long-running kids program, as everything up to Season 55 of Sesame Street will remain on Max through 2027.Its a real have your cake and eat it too moment for Zaslav and Max. Ive never minced words when its come to exploring the unbearably crass way Warner Bros. Discoverys corporate overlord views art. The legendary and essential TCM channel was at risk before directors Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg and Paul Thomas Anderson swooped in to strike a deal to save the network. After that deal, Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group issued a statement acknowledging that TCM is a cultural treasure, but where was that devotion prior to three of the biggest names in Hollywood stepping in? More importantly, where is that understanding when it comes to essential programming like Sesame Street?PlayIm not so naive that I dont understand that Hollywood is a business, but Im also never going to accuse a studio that killed its own wildly popular branding to go with the name Max of making savvy business decisions. This Sesame Street deal lets Max keep the back catalogue of hundreds of episodes, meaning they understand the value of having something that parents can put on in the background to distract little Timmy, but dont see value in investing in future episodes from the childrens program. As weve launched Max though and based on consumer usage and feedback, weve had to prioritize our focus on stories for adults and families, and so new episodes from Sesame Street, at this time, are not as core to our strategy, a Max spokesperson explained to The Hollywood Reporter.My contempt for a sentence like new episodes from Sesame Street [...] are not as core to our strategy aside, I also simply dont understand how you can see value in holding 55 seasons worth of episodes while also not being willing to invest in a series future. But, at the end of the day, this could also be good news for the monolith of childrens programming. Nothing is safe or sacred under Zaslavs control at Warner Bros. DiscoveryA move to Apple TV+ to join the streamers robust childrens catalogue would likely be a boon for Sesame Street, especially given the fact that Apple TV+ seems to know what they have when it comes to prestigious and classic programming given that theyve held the rights for the Charlie Brown films for years. Ultimately, the move to put a for sale sign on one of the most beloved childrens programs of all time is yet another reminder that nothing is safe or sacred under Zaslavs control at Warner Bros. Discovery, but it may, at least, benefit Sesame Street if the show manages to find the right home. It also means that Max paid a premium to keep Sesame Streets back catalogue, so theres less of a chance that the episodes end up in purgatory like the rest of the shows and movies that Max and company have yeeted from existence. I hope Oscar the Grouch gives Zaslav what for on his last day.

With the new anime film The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim out now, a familiar argument has emerged in some circles regarding how, or why, a new story can be told from LOTR creator J.R.R. Tolkiens finite body of work. Based on Tolkiens appendices, the new film essentially takes basic facts from Middle-earth history and then fills in some of the blanks, telling a brand new tale about a young woman named Hra that takes place some 180 years before The Fellowship of the Ring.PlayAnd as we saw with the release of The Rings of Power Amazon Prime series, which is also painting in the margins of Tolkiens famous works, theres also an element of fandom who come out hard against a franchise if they dont like the way certain elements, characters, or what have you are being portrayed. Call it toxic fandom, call it the vocal minority, or just ignore it completely, but theres no denying that the internet has become a megaphone for such voices in a way that wasnt the case when the original Peter Jackson trilogy was released. Philippa Boyens, who co-wrote the story and produced The War of the Rohirrim, should know, as she also co-wrote Jacksons Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film trilogies. But she says she and her fellow filmmakers didnt take these types of reactions into consideration when making War of the Rohirrim.So it's nothing woke about this, guys, if you're out there! -Philippa BoyensI don't think you can, she recently told me. Tolkien didnt just write books. He wrote an entire mythology of vast, incredible work which is so detailed and so complex and works on so many different layers, and you can just leave that alone and not touch it. But he himself did not want that. And he himself said that he wanted other minds to come to it, bringing music and art and drama to it. So he had a sense of that at some stage, because I think what he knew about myth is it cannot be immutable.As Boyens says, the books arent going anywhere regardless of how many spin-offs or new adaptations are made in whatever medium.We can't do anything to those books, the writer continued. Those books are going to stand as these masterpieces hopefully until the end of time. We can't ruin them. So people who come at you saying, Oh, you ruined this or you ruined that, all we did was we presented you with an adaptation of this work. And some people will come to it and relate to it, and some people won't. And sometimes the criticism is justified and sometimes it isnt.The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim GalleryWith that philosophy also comes strict guidelines in terms of if, how, and when to change anything from pre-established works: Don't change things lightly, and dont do it for no reason.Make sure that you know what that reason is and it's a really good storytelling reason why you're having to make that change, she said. If you are adding, make it as authentic as you can possibly make it. So we didn't just draw upon owyn [from Lord of the Rings] for [a template for] Hra. We drew upon women from early English history that Tolkien himself would've been familiar with.Indeed, Boyens cites thelfld as an inspiration for the character, another daughter of kings, who her father dies, her husband is killed, her brother is besieged, her people are under attack, and she pulls them together. And first thing she looks to is their defenses. And then once she establishes those defenses, she looks to push them back. And that's a piece of real history. That's a character that we could draw on because it felt authentic. So it's nothing woke about this, guys, if you're out there!Ha! For even more on The War of the Rohirrim, check out Boyens and producer Jason DeMarco discussing how we can't ruin Tolkien's books.

I am old enough to remember when Wicked opened on Broadway. I was still in high school and what felt like a million miles away from New York City. Still, even from the relatively provincial wilds of North Carolina, I was aware something big had landed on the Great White Way; an event so extraordinary to my generation that virtually overnight every theater kid was singing Defying Gravity and Popular in the halls of Green Hope High, whether their classmates wanted to hear it or not.While there had been other hit musicals in my pint-sized life up to that pointthe Rent phenomenon of the 90s was still going strong, and Mel Brooks got his late-in-life embrace of respectability only a few years prior thanks to chorus girls belting Springtime to Hitler to gray hairsthis was clearly different. In fact, there had been no bigger musicals since the 80s blockbusters imported from the UKs West End almost 20 years prior. Those would have been your Cats and your Les Misrables. And of course The Phantom of the Opera. Indeed, the first musical I ever saw on the stage was one of that triohow could it not have been for a 90s kid?with Andrew Lloyd Webbers sweeping strings leaving me and other 12-year-olds balling by the time Christine Daa picked stuffy old Raoul over the Phantoms musical genius!I understand your pain, Phantom! a tween version of myself lamented at the time (probably)barely cognizant of the icky issues of consent and power which audiences in the 80s on through the 2000s glossed right over while making Phantom of the Opera a decades-long running smash. Even today, the show is still running on the West End while it only closed on Broadway last year, making it the longest running show ever in NYC. Well, at least until Wicked catches up.Which brings me to the other intriguing parallels between Phantom and Wicked. In the moment of their debuts on the stage1986 and 88 for POTO, depending on the continent, and 2003 in Wickeds heydaythey were the peak of pop culture synthesis; big splashy and brassy belters that articulated the values of the era with one high note after another. And yet, not by accident, both took nearly two decades or better to make it to the big screen (allowing enough time to soak in as many theater tickets as possible).But when Phantom of the Opera arrived in cinemas 20 years ago this month, it was received with a whimper and treated like an afterthought largely ignored by audiences and awards voters at the time. Conversely, Wickeds popularity has never been bigger than when it grossed $450 million (and counting) in its first few weeks and became one of the possible frontrunners for Best Picture this awards season. What are the differences between these films that might explain the change in perception and reception, and what might it say about the state of the movie musical?Emphasis on CastingPerhaps the most striking difference between what were supposed to be two landmark adaptations of Broadway favorites is how they approached their casting. On paper, it would seem that director Joel Schumacherwho captained Webbers Phantom of the Opera to the screen after more than a decade of discussing the projecttook more risks. When Schumacher was caught in Webbers orbit, POTO was still the hottest ticket on Broadway where star Michael Crawford had just won a Tony to accompany his Olivier for playing the self-described Angel of Music. Webbers own wife at the time, Sarah Brightman, also originated the role of Christine in both London and New York.Yet it was the end of Brightman and Webbers marriage that caused Schumachers first stab at Phantom to be waylaid until the 2000s, and by the time the project rolled back around, a choice was made to cast primarily unknown talent. Emmy Rossum was only 17 when cast in the role of Christine Daa for the screen, with only one major film role on her resume up to that moment: as Sean Penns murdered daughter in Mystic River (2003). However, she was also filming The Day After Tomorrow while auditioning. Meanwhile Patrick Wilson was known on Broadway for playing Curly in a revival of Oklahoma! (the same production that made Hugh Jackman a star on the West End, in fact), as well as appearing in the original cast of The Full Monty. Neither though were a household name.The biggest and most important piece of casting, however, was that of relatively obscure Scottish actor Gerard Butler in the title role of the Phantom. Keep in mind this was nearly half a decade from 300s release, and the thing Butler was best known for at the time was playing a shirtless vampire in leather pants via Dracula 2000.Intriguingly, director Jon M. Chu took almost a diametrically opposed tact when tackling Wicked 20 years later. When it came to his two leading ladies, the filmmaker, Universal Pictures, and Wicked maestro Stephen Schwartz either only pursued or settled on major names in the modern world of social media users who would already be attuned to Wickeds theatrical and YA-adjacent roots. Think Cynthia Erivo, who won a Tony for tremendous work in The Color Purple, as Elphaba and Jonathan Bailey fresh off Netflixs steamy Bridgerton as Fiyero. But most obviously this applies to Ariana Grande, one of the most popular pop stars in the world in 2024, as Glinda, the Good Witch whose attire in the movie musical veers straight into princess iconography.At a glance, one might think Schumacher took greater chances than Chu. And yet, thats true in more ways than one. While Phantom of the Opera did not feature a starry cast, its ironic to know Webbers first choices for the roles of the Phantom and Christine were future stars of the Les Misrables movie, Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway. And when those didnt happen, he still went for a casting that would mirror Tom Hoopers later, highly divisive Les Mis film: he picked a movie actor who could not handle the musical material he was given.While Rossum proved a decidedly vulnerable and delicate Christine, befitting Schumachers snowy (and youth-obsessed) aesthetic, with a voice like a clarion bell, and Wilson likewise is a terrific tenor, in the crucial part of the supposed Angel of Music, Webber and Schumacher chose Butler, a talent with a voice solid enough to front a rock band in his school dayswhich was Butlers only singing experience before the filmbut woefully short of a character who has been performed by literal opera singers. On the one hand, this seemed to curiously confirm Webbers original vision of the Phantom never left.Indeed, before Crawford turned the Phantom into a tortured, aged loner with a maniacal laugh in the 80s, Webber originally cast former 1970s glam rocker Steve Harley as the Phantom, a role which he kept until almost the eleventh hour when legendary stage director Harold Prince replaced Harley with someone a little more tragic (and full-throated).Webbers ideal of the Phantoma misunderstood musical genius who can seduce any woman with the power of his talentapparently remained that of a sexy rock god, and Butler was cast to deliver exactly that. In one sense, it reveals a unique interpretation of the character by his musical patron thats antithetical to what Prince and Crawford turned into an icon on the stage. But it also was part and parcel of many movie musicals of the 2000s. The art form had only recently returned to popularity a few years prior to the POTO movie thanks to the success of Moulin Rouge! and Chicago, it also was recognized as a great place to cast starry talent like Catherine Zeta-Jones in her Oscar-winning role. After Chicago, the impulse time and again seemed to be to cast big names regardless of their musical talent in roles written for greater vocal ranges.And to be sure, Butler is not the worst offender in this regard. There is, after all, Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth in Mamma Mia! (2008) or infamously Russell Crowe in 2012s Les Mis, to name but a few. Nevertheless, Butlers rugged and untrained rock and roll voice literally tripped and faltered over high notes most stage Phantoms soared past. And for a character renowned for his musical gifts, its glaring.Conversely, 20 years later audience expectations from singing talent has seemed to grow. Whether this is a reflection of social media heightening an appreciation for a good singer versus a bad one, or simply because traditional movie stardom matters less in the 2020s, I am not sure. But while getting Ariana Grande to play Glinda in Wicked undoubtedly had a lot to do with that movies initial attention-grabbing following on IG, Grande also has the musical versatility of a stage soprano. Meanwhile Erivo is one of the great Broadway talents of her generation.Some of the supporting cast, such as Michelle Yeoh and Jeff Goldblum, might be cast purely for their marquee appeal, but the biggest roles have talent that can broadly match audience expectation for a stage Elphaba or Glindawhich seems par for the course in a time where Steven Spielberg cast Rachel Zegler and Ariana DeBose in West Side Story, and actual Broadway star Anthony Ramos took over the role of Usnavi in In the Heights.A New Kind of Commercial AppealLest this article turn into a piece too critical of the 2004 Phantom of the Opera movie, it is worth noting that time has in some ways been crueler to the movie musical adaptation. Twenty years ago, Schumachers goal was to translate everything that made the stage show popular to the screen. One might argue that this is in itself a trap since a moment that sings on stage could fall flat on the screen (remember those candelabras rising from the water of the Phantoms underground lake?). Nevertheless, this is the M.O. of nearly every Broadway adaptation.So while its open to debate whether Schumacher successfully transferred the power of Hal Princes theatrical designs to the cinematic medium, you still had all the basics there: the tragic love story between the Phantom and his muse, a story full of melodramatic murder, mayhem, and falling chandeliers, and of course every luscious piece of pseudo-operetta Webber penned for the show. All that, plus the bittersweet ending.Meanwhile Wicked has come out in a very different context. Whereas two decades ago, a popular Broadway musical was just another type of story to interpret for the screen, one with a built-in and pre-existing audience who saw the show on stage, now it is something far more coveted: potentially valuable intellectual property. It is a brand in the same way Harry Potter is or Marvel; Coke and Pepsi. And the best way to exploit a brand is to expand on it and event-ize it as much as possible. Hence the opening title card of this Novembers musical smash where its confirmed youre actually watching just Wicked, Part 1. Aye, while being only four minutes shorter than the stage show, which includes an intermission, Wicked the Movie consists of only the first act, or roughly 60 percent of the musical.There are all sorts of explanations and rationalizations given in the press, but at the end of the day this comes down to the fact that like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, and The Hobbit, there is a lot more money on the table when you split a story into two or more parts.And to be fair, if you were ever to do that with a musical, its hard to think of a better one than Wicked. Defying Gravity is the greatest Act One showstopper this side of One Day More in Les Mis, and seeing how turgidly that aural epic was transferred as just a montage of close-ups in Hoopers 2012 film gives credit to Chus choices to turn it into a monumental climax in Wicked where Elphaba struggles with literal flight before looming large over her insecurities and oppressors.Its a hell of a mic drop. So much so, that one wonders if in the long run it might harm Wicked, Part 2. After all, its an open secret among theater fans that most of the musical bangers in Schwartzs songbook for the show are in Act One. There is nothing on the scale of Defying Gravity, Popular, or Dancing Through Life in the shows second act, which might be why Schwartz and Chu have already confirmed new songs have been written for Part 2.Whether they succeed or not, Wicked has turned into something more than a beloved film; it is now also a franchise. In the long term it remains to be seen whether that will help or hurt the movies joint legacy, but it certainly raises the popularity in the 2020s where audiences have been trained to thrill at the prospect of both a cliffhanger and a teaser for another one.Read more Timing Is EverythingIn the end, we must concede the different receptions between the Phantom of the Opera movie and the first half of Wickeds Hollywood plunge comes down largely to timing. Other creative choices beyond casting played a role as well. For as much criticism as Wickeds rather flat and washed out color palette has received, the film still has a certain grandeur befitting its story. The Phantom movies cinematography and hair and makeup choices, comparetively, always made the material seem more harlequin than it does on the stage.But these aesthetics matter less to audiences than how a film generally makes them feel, and Wicked came out at a moment where its finale of self-empowerment in the face of rising authoritarianism is liberating. Its wish-fulfillment. By contrast, the intentionally toxic relationship between the Phantom and Christine, a dynamic where the antihero grooms the heroine into thinking he might be the ghost of her dead father but also the specter of her ideal lover, had not fully aged out of the zeitgeist by 2004, but it was certainly a lot creakier-seeming than it appeared in the 80s and 90s.The stage show came out during a period where sweeping Gothic aesthetics and overwrought emotions were in vogue. Anne Rices vampire novels were bestsellers, Meatloaf was a pop star, and movies that ran the gamut from Francis Ford Coppolas take on DraculaDavid Bowie in LabyrinthInterview with the Vampire movie) off her feet. But 18 years after Phantom debuted on the West End, tastes had changed, and the Gothic revival of the end of the century ended.Which is a long way to say Phantom of the Opera looked like a blast from the past when it arrived in cinemas circa 2004. Wicked, on the other hand, deals primarily with something as timeless as profound adolescent friendships between young women, and the sense of losing touch with your youthful self. Plus, its once seeming window-dressed themes about standing tall against fascism have grown frightfully relevant over the last nine years. Hell, just the last month.The Wicked movie arrived at exactly the right moment whereas Phantom might have missed it years earlier when Schumachers first attempt to adapt it fell by the wayside. They can both have their fans, but it would seem Wickeds popularity was built to always defy gravity.