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A new K-Pop group that I have come to adore, NewJeans, just released a new EP and some music videos for the new tracks just in the last week. And one of them featured an intense cameo by someone whose name sounded familiar, but I was unable to retrieve the memory until just this morning, when it hit me: “Wait, I think that’s the guy Alyssa couldn’t stop raving about in Shang-Chi!”. Tony Leung said he was happy to participate pro bono in NewJeans’ “Cool With You” as a thank you to his Korean fans, and goddamn, that guy has charisma. Anyway, I just felt like mentioning it here because it’s the little connections between otherwise separate spheres of my life that can bring such delight and joy, and thanks to all of you for being part of this one. I haven’t seen Shang-Chi, but I will take the opportunity of a relatively relaxing day to watch one of his movies.

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perhaps even more than a little tired of MCU-centric episodes, but good episode nonetheless.

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An end credit bit! Was that your first?

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Homage to the MCU!

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I would bet this release model will also increase the VOD numbers too, as they will have a number of weeks of free advertisements before it comes at home where there is more competition for eyeballs.

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Absolutely: one big criticism of the day-and-date model is that it radically reduces the "waterfall" (that is, the stream of revenue) by essentially eliminating a window.

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I wonder if same day releases will be a leading indicator that the studio doesn't have faith in the movie, like Labor Day releases you guys talked about.

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Yeah, I mean, there's kind of already that model, just for smaller movies. For example, UNDER THE SILVER LAKE got dumped to DirecTV when A24 lost faith in its ability to sell the movie to general audiences.

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