Replies to post #105238 on Mike The Pike Productions Inc (fka MIKP)

[Nikodemos]

What no one is REALLY TALKING ABOUT whereas the STRIKE is concerned!!

First, ownership: Streamers, Studios, WALL ST., & Executives (who are FED by this model) are focusing on profits. They can REDUCE labor costs, royalty payments, etc., & HAVE!! But they think they can do better. And, they will.

BACKGROUND: Before COVID there were Anti-Trust Rules & Laws in place GOVERNING the entertainment industry. Specifically, prohibiting STUDIOS from owning Theaters, Theater Chains, &/or any portion thereof, etc.. When COVID came, the Studios & Streamers were able to unravel those antitrust rules.... (see more below). They can NOW own theaters! Times have changed. But it GREATLY informs & imho DRIVES their forward-looking & long-term strategy...


Which means that STUDIOS, STREAMERS & EXECS aren't JUST going after the labor force, forcing them into financial hardships as the strike continues (without so much as a conversation: Ownership has NOT formally sat the writers down to BEGIN NEGOTIATIONS & have ZERO PLANS to; as the WRITERS strike reaches ~80-days already). "OWNERSHIPS" plan is to wait until the Holidays. MANY of the studios, execs, etc., were PLANNING this for a LONG TIME. Even at THIS YEARS 2023 CANNES FILM FESTIVAL: Foreign, half-finished, & very incomplete movies were going UP FOR SALE & doing VERY VERY WELL -- because the execs were COMMITTED to this course of action. Planned & have been executing, gobbling up MORE CONTENT than usual... (at Cannes).
for the duration.

So starving out the UNION members & putting labor in a bad spot is PART of the strategy -- The OTHER is the theaters who will NOT receive a constant FLOW of NEW FILMS & CONTENT. Which also STARVES THEATERS & THEATER CHAINS!! Chains that Studios & Streamers (who distribute some films through this channel) have to PAY OR SHARE ~30%-40% of their TICKET SALES with!!


So the Studios, Streamers & Execs are MOTIVATED to depress that market WITH UNCERTAINTY as well; so that they can BUY UP theaters, theater chains, etc., at STEEP DISCOUNTS! Soon. And, they can INSTANTLY recoup the 30-40% of the ticket sales they will NO LONGER be beholden to share!!


Moreover, you'd think with COMMERCIAL Real Estate prices in the shitter it would be something they could DO NOW & be profitable with -- even if they BUILT THEIR OWN from scratch. But why do that when they can get DEPRESSED REAL ESTATE, an already built & operational facility/chain, & PROFIT from the real estate, add the (30-40%) revenue stream, control the distribution & ensure a much larger profit for the companies & their shareholders!






Federal Judge Approves End of 71-Year-Old Rules Barring Studio Ownership of Movie Theaters

The Justice Department filed to end what’s commonly known as the Paramount consent decrees in November

A federal judge has approved the termination of the Paramount consent decrees, the set of 71-year-old antitrust rules that ended the Old Hollywood studio system and barred studios from owning movie theaters.

Not only does the ruling clear the way for movie studios to take ownership of movie theater chains, it also removes (with a two year sunset period) the previous restriction on practices for distribution known as “block booking” and “circuit dealing” that used to be commonplace as far back as the 1940s.

“Because changes in antitrust law and administration have diminished the importance of the Decrees’ restrictions, while still providing protections that will keep the probability of future violations low, the Court finds that termination of the Decrees is in the public interest,” U.S. District judge Analisa Torres wrote in a ruling Friday.....

https://www.thewrap.com/federal-judge-approves-termination-of-71-year-old-rules-barring-studio-ownership-of-movie-theaters/



Which should UNDERSCORE THE FACT that there is ZERO incentive for these Studios & Streamers to make a deal right now. They have already stock-piled content, they already have people accustomed to streaming from home, & waiting THROUGH the Holidays puts MAXIMUM PRESSURE on the labor, commercial real estate, theaters & theater chains & in ONE FELL SWOOP they can start buying up (&/or partnering with Theater Chains) as they make a deal & move on with MORE PROFITS, a larger investment in depressed real estate, with the MEANS TO INCREASE it's value as they start making the kinds of BIG BUDGET, profitable movies they have always made...





The PROBLEM for MIKP is NOT JUST that (as they've disclosed in their audited filings) the strikes will impact going-forward projects, but that ALSO MEANS: No revenues! They have ALSO SAID they have NO MONEY! And they've INCREASED THE A/S to 5.1 BILLION (so they have shares). The problem is that shares will very likely be issued. How else -- with NO PRODUCTION & without PROFITS -- are they going to PAY THEIR BILLS?

But the problem is that by the time the STRIKES end, & productions can begin again,... (if the system isn't broke, disrupted, etc.) they STILL won't have ANYTHING to monetize for MONTHS!! And by then, the ADDITIONAL shares issued, will be coming off RESTRICTION -- & pressuring the MIKP share price!! Also, BECAUSE that is THE CASE,.... Why would the price appreciate? Meaning, with NO PRODUCTION, no REVENUES, & NO PROFITS --- Why is the price going to GO UP!! Such that the LOWER the price remains the MORE SHARES the company HAS TO DILUTE.

And the more shares, the more overhead, the higher the Market Cap goes without the PRICE going anywhere... & it is a BAD vicious cycle that is VERY LIKELY to end in ANOTHER R/S. Despite what the "ceo" says....


Let's hear a contrarian argument. But ONLY on the points of this discussion please!! I'm not interested in the back-&-forth name-calling. The ONLY ONE I've ever spoken to derogatorily is Mark, for the ~~13++ BILLION shares he's already put out & the 16.1 BILLION he's AUTHORIZED, the R/S, DTCC Chill, SEC SUSPENSION for STOCK FRAUD & all the rest. And that R/S was here, he's done the same elsewhere... Mark is no saint!