GoKawiil
Tech News
The New York Times Company is in exclusive negotiations to acquire Letterboxd, the film-focused social network, in a deal valued around $330 million. Sony Pictures and A24 had also been floated as potential buyers before talks with the Times advanced. Under the discussed terms, Letterboxd's co-founders would keep running the company but report to a Times Company executive, while adopting the Times' ad technology.
TRM Labs and Chainalysis both said with high confidence that the Lazarus Group, a North Korean state-linked hacking unit also known as TraderTraitor, was behind a $6.3bn theft from the Binance cryptocurrency exchange. The group has previously been blamed for other major cyberattacks, including the 2014 Sony Pictures breach.
Sony Pictures Entertainment has acquired the film rights to indie horror game Mouthwashing, with Karyn Kusama attached to direct, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Matt Manfredi and Phil Hay will write the screenplay, and Scott Derrickson will produce. The game, originally released on PC in 2024, has just expanded to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5 and Xbox platforms.
Sony Pictures has dropped a new trailer for Jumanji: Open World, director Jake Kasdan's third film in the rebooted franchise, which hits theaters December 25. The film reunites Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black and Karen Gillan, with a plot in which the Jumanji game escapes its console and spills into the real world, continuing a thread set up in a mid-credits scene from 2019's Jumanji: The Next Level.
Letterboxd, the film-tracking social app founded in 2011 by Matthew Buchanan and Karl von Randow, is reportedly being shopped for more than $300 million. Potential buyers named include The New York Times, A24, and Sony Pictures, according to a Times report. The company is projected to earn about $15 million this year and has grown to 30 million users, up from 1.8 million in 2020.
Aaron Sorkin has written and is releasing 'The Social Reckoning' through Sony Pictures on October 9, a follow-up to his 2010 film 'The Social Network' that examines how Facebook has evolved into a driver of extremism and division. The film's trailer debuted the same week Meta agreed to pay up to $18 billion in penalties tied to claims its platform harmed children.
Sony has activated free, ad-supported TV (FAST) channels on PlayStation 5 consoles in the United States, adding a media tab with more than 100 live channels and on-demand content from Sony Pictures Television. The lineup spans movies, TV shows, anime, news, sports, documentaries, gaming and comedy programming, including titles like Community, The Walking Dead and Naruto. Sony says it will keep updating the service and plans to expand it to Canada and other markets.
Shailene Woodley has spoken about her experience being cast as Mary Jane Watson in 'The Amazing Spider-Man 2,' a role that was ultimately removed from the finished film. Her scenes were filmed but left on the cutting room floor as the studio shifted the sequel's focus.