canceled

The debate about whether the biggest pop star can be canceled is settled with a box office of 217 million in one weekend

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97 million dollars in its first weekend in the United States. 217 million worldwide. ‘Michael’, the biopic of Michael Jackson that has taken years to reach theaters between lawsuits, reshoots millionaires and a third act rewritten from scratch, has just broken all records for musical biographical cinema. Critics destroy it with 38% on Rotten Tomatoes, but the public fills the theaters. Which, alone, says more about the state of popular culture than any analysis. Unexpected record. The initial projections The domestic opening grosses for ‘Michael’ were around $50-60 million, which would have already been a record in the profitable genre of biopics of pop artists. The final result (97 million in the United States and 217 globally) has far surpassed it. The previous record belonged to ‘Straight Outta Compton’, the biopic of rappers NWA, which opened with 60.2 million in its first week in the US. ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ premiered with 51 million, although it reached 900 globally. Criticism no. Something that had greatly dampened these expectations was the low critical ratingbut the CinemaScore score (the actual audience satisfaction index in the theater) was A-, very notable. The difference between critical opinion and commercial results reflects a reality we have already talked about and that has had another very recent example-type, ‘Super Mario Galaxy’. And like that one, this ‘Michael’ has a very clear type of audience in mind: the fans. A long way. ‘Michael’ has had one of the most complicated productions in recent Hollywood. With a budget of $200 million, making it one of the most expensive biopics in history, the film had a third act depicting Jackson’s 2005 sexual abuse trial and subsequent acquittal. Lawyers for Jackson’s estate discovered a clause in the 1993 agreement with Jordan Chandler, one of the children whose father sued the singer, that expressly prohibited his on-screen representation in any form. Production was halted and went through an additional 22 days of filming, which added $15 million to the budget. This is what causes the film to end abruptly on the 1988 ‘Bad’ tour, suggesting that the singer’s story will continue in a subsequent film. The question is how the producers will manage to tell the most problematic part of Jackson’s life. Who watches over the watchers. It is not the first time that Jackson’s heirs (who are not his living relatives, but a trust administered by executors that is currently considered one of the estates most profitable in history, above Elvis or Prince, and which functions for practical purposes as a company that exploits the “Michael Jackson” brand) is fighting a legal battle to control the story. The most revealing case is that of ‘Leaving Neverland’the documentary released on HBO in 2019 that collected the detailed testimony of those who claimed to have suffered sexual abuse by the singer when they were children. He estate sued HBO, alleging that the documentary violated a non-defamation clause included in a contract signed by the platform in 1992 for the broadcast of a Jackson concert in Bucharest. The litigation dragged on for years, until in October 2024 both parties they reached an agreement which included the removal of the documentary from all media platforms. streaming officials in the United States. As of today, ‘Leaving Neverland’ is not legally available on any streaming service. streaming North American (in Spain it can be seen on Movistar Plus+). The image of the star. Anyone might think that the fame that Jackson projects with all these legal conflicts is not the most appropriate for a biopic that also wants to safeguard a non-conflictive image. But fans should not be underestimated when they move en bloc: in 2019, when ‘Leaving Neverland’ aired, there were reactions that then seemed signs of a turning point in Jackson’s fame: stations around the world stopped broadcasting his music, Pepsi canceled licensing agreements, sales and streaming of his catalog fell 4%. However, seven years later, all is forgiven or, at the very least, forgotten: his catalog is worth $1.5 billion (Sony Music paid 750 million dollars for half of it in 2024). And at the time of his death in 2009 his heirs, the aforementioned estatereceived 500 million dollars in debts. Now the exploitation and image rights of the singer are valued at 2,000 million. History repeats itself. It’s a pattern we already know with other biopics: ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ avoided the most controversial aspects of Freddie Mercury’s life, including his hedonistic way of dealing with his sexuality. Elton John’s ‘Rocketman’ was a bit tougher and didn’t do as well at the box office, but it was still a considerable success, especially among critics. ‘Elvis’ avoided the many chiaroscuros in Presley’s life and triumphed in awards and the box office. The formula of the heir- or family-approved musical biopic, focused on music and celebratory versions of the artists’ lives, has proven to be more profitable than more cumbersome alternatives. Moral: there are cancellations… and cancellations. The figures of streaming of Jackson’s catalog fell for months after ‘Leaving Neverland’, but made a full recovery in 2020 and has been on an upward trajectory for years. ‘MJ the Musical’ has been on Broadway since 2021 earning more than a million dollars weeklywith imminent adaptations around the world. The Las Vegas show signed by Cirque du Soleil about Jackson has just extend your contract until 2030. The truth is that for an artist of this scale, cancellation operates in a different dimension. The cultural debate exists (and will continue to exist, with real accusers whose trial starts in November) but runs in parallel, without interfering with the economy of the phenomenon. It’s not that fans have forgotten about the controversy: it’s that there is a chasm between it and the market. In Xataka | The archive of disturbing paintings that Michael Jackson commissioned of himself

The Iran war has disrupted the jet fuel market. So Lufthansa has canceled 20,000 flights

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The war in Iran has punished many sectors, but few have been as shaken as aviation. First for the closure of much of the Middle East airspace, causing the worst crisis that airlines have suffered since the pandemic, and later due to fear of an escalation in the price of flights. Now to these fears we have added another one that is already taking shape: the cancellation of thousands of servicesconvicted of the scarcity of jet fuel. Lufthansa just demonstrated How serious is that threat? The (other) hangover of the Iran war. That the war in Iran threatens to impact airports around the world is nothing new. In fact he already did it in its first barswhen Tehran launched a series of attacks on the rest of the Persian Gulf countries that they blocked part of the region’s air traffic and hubs as important as the terminals in Doha or Dubai. Over the last few weeks, however, two major threats have been taking shape, especially considering that we are on the verge of summer and the international flow of tourists. has been growing for years: that the war skyrocket the price of flights or (even worse) that forces Cancel services. Checking the grills. Proof of how real (and well-founded) these fears are is that between March and April several airlines have acknowledged that they will have to retouch their grills. On March 17 for example Reuters revealed that SAS, a Scandinavian company, planned to cancel a thousand flights due to the rise in fuel prices. Delta Airlines, Air Canada, Cathay Pacific either Air New Zealand They have taken similar measures, tweaking their operations. Even the Dutch KLM has had no choice but to suspend 160 services scheduled for April. One figure: 20,000 flights. If there is a company that has shown how critical the situation is, it is the German Lufthansa, one of the largest airlines of the world. Financial Times (FT) has advanced that the company will cancel around 20,000 flights between May and October to save fuel, which represents one of the biggest cuts in the sector to adapt to the war in Iran. To be more precise, the German company will eliminate 120 daily flights starting next week and will dispense with those routes departing from Munich and Frankfurt that are not profitable. Trimming will be applied well into the fall. “The price has doubled”. “In total, about 20,000 short-haul flights will be eliminated from the program through October, equivalent to approximately 40,000 metric tons of jet fuel, the price of which has doubled since the outbreak of the conflict with Iran,” explains the company, which has confirmed the cancellations coinciding with a summit of the EU focused on war. Click on the image to go to the tweet. Fuel for six weeks. Lufthansa’s decision is much better understood if one takes into account the latest wake up call of the International Energy Agency (IEA), which a few days ago warned that the jet fuel reserves that Europe manages guarantee operations only in the short term. The notice came from the mouth of the organization’s executive director, Fatih Birol, who took advantage an interview with the Associated Press to warn of the coming panorama. “We are in a critical situation and this will have serious consequences for the global economy. The longer this continues, the worse it will be for economic growth and inflation around the world. Some countries may have more energy than others, but none, absolutely none, is immune to the crisis,” Birol reflected. before stopping at the specific case of Europe and the aeronautical sector: “We have perhaps six weeks of jet fuel. Is it the only warning sign? No. Apart from Birol or the trickle of cancellations announced by airlines such as KLM or Lufthansa, there are other indicators that reveal the extent to which the sector views its jet supply with concern. The EU is already being considered impose a mandatory fuel distribution, in an effort reminiscent of that deployed during the pandemic. Not only that. In Brussels it is already spoken to look for alternative supply sources, such as jet fuel produced in the US, or the release of strategic reserves. Click on the image to go to the tweet. Tickets 24% more expensive. In the United Kingdom, airlines have asked also to the authorities to relax noise regulations or reduce taxes on flights to address supply shortages. It makes sense considering how the war is impacting prices. The BBC has disclosed a study by the consulting firm Teneo that estimates that the conflict is already being felt in air fares: on average, it estimates that the cheapest tickets are 24% more expensive than a year ago, which is explained both by the price of fuel and the route diversions caused by the war. A percentage: 40%. If the war in Iran has served anything, it is to understand (remember, rather) the strategic role that the Strait of Hormuz plays in global supply chains. Its waters not only circulate the fifth part of the world’s oil and LNG, as well urea moves for fertilizer, helium for technology industry…and (exactly!) good part of aircraft fuel. It is estimated that more than 20% of the jet fuel transported by sea last year was channeled through the strait. If we talk about Europe, that percentage is even bigger. The war has not only hit that traffic, strangled by the closure of Hormuz, it has also paralyzed supplies from Kuwait, heavy weight of the sector, and has led other countries to apply protectionist policies. For example, China it did not take long to prohibit exports of diesel, gasoline and jet fuel. As if all of the above were not enough, kerosene itself and its nature complicate the picture: Fuel cannot be stored for long without degrading, making their supply chains more sensitive to disruptions like those caused by war. Are these all warning signs? No. With summer just around the corner and a million-dollar … Read more

Sony and Honda have canceled Afeela, their first electric car. One more example of China’s triumph where others fail

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Honda has encountered a wall called the electric car. One that has carried out the development of three of its own electric cars, another that was underway with Sony and that will have an impact on its accounts of about 22.5 billion dollars. The situation, it seems, is not the best. Honda’s jump to the electric car It seemed like an immutable reality just seven years ago. Seven years may seem like a long time but in automotive industry terms it is just the usual jump between two generations of cars. Perhaps that is why the plans, in addition to being immovable, seemed risky. In October 2019, the company announced that From 2022 it would only sell electric cars in Europe. Our continent seemed to be moving towards the electric car under pressure from regulations. Tesla was booming and the companies thought that this was the best path for our market. Today, Honda’s catalog for our country does not have a single electric car. In these years, the Honda e has obtained a very discreet result, victim of a very high price. He e:Ny1, a sort of electric HR-V, is also no longer available after selling an almost negligible number of cars in our country. Along the way, they announced the development of three new electric cars for the US market, all with a groundbreaking and futuristic aesthetic. Also a car that would arrive together with a collaboration with Sony. All of this has been cancelled. The Chinese surprise Much has changed in recent years so that Honda has gone from targeting only the electric market in Europe, developing three new cars with this technology for the United States and another with Sony, to canceling everything. And the company confirmed a few days ago that he reversed his electrical project. First with the cancellation of cars designed only for the American public. The move almost seems logical. The country still does not clearly embrace the electric car and Donald Trump is giving wings to keep every combustion car alive and without any effort. With a country of enormous distances and a charging network that remains insufficientthe electric car continues to have significant pitfalls. This cancellation has had two clear consequences. The first is an impact on Honda’s accounts of more than 20,000 million dollars. How we have the case of Stellantisthis money is not a direct loss, it is the sum of the investments already made, the fines to be paid to suppliers for unfulfilled agreements and the money that is not received from the sales that had been estimated, among other items. The second impact is that Afeela 1 has also been cancelled. This car was born from a collaboration between Sony and Honda. At CES 2023 It was already announced that it would arrive in 2026. Last year, at the same fair, the car was priced for the US market: $89,900 for the “cheap” version and more than $100,000 for the “face.” This year, at CES, we had no news. Less than three months later we know that the project has been canceled because, among other things, it rode the same platform as Honda’s other three electric cars. Once this was cancelled, producing a single car with a single platform was economically unviable. Sony’s car was sold as a leap forward for Hondaa preview of where the market was going to go. The intention was that Honda would provide the hardware and its knowledge making cars, Sony would provide the software and its experience getting the most out of elements such as cameras or sensors. Qualcomm and Epic Games were also supporting the project, the latter company creating an on-demand mobility service for the vehicle. The evolution of the automobile industry has attracted various technology companies. First it was Dyson the company that surprised us by announcing its own electric car. We know that Apple has tried to bring its own car forward and along the way he has left 10,000 million dollars. Microsoft was an investor in Cruise before its closure. Google is making efforts with autonomous cars. This company also wants Android Automotive be an essential part of the future of the electric car. Of all these companies that have been involved in the development of electric cars, all of them have failed. Only Google with Android Automotive seems to be building a long-term ecosystem, which Apple doesn’t seem to be getting it with CarPlay either. We are not talking about companies that supply hardware to automotive companies like Qualcomm or Nvidia, we are talking about companies that also they get involved in the development of a car through their software services or their knowledge to take advantage of that hardware. And, here, China is leading the market. What Sony and Honda intended was to demonstrate that two leading Japanese companies still had enough muscle and knowledge to produce a ground-breaking and competitive electric car. At that time, Xiaomi has built it itself. And Huawei is giving a lesson in China on how to take advantage of these collaborations. Right now, this last company collaborates with Toyota on the latest electric vehicles they have launched for the Chinese market. Its cars have their own ecosystem developed by Huawei that relies on, among other things, the electric motors that Huawei also develops. That is, the Chinese company is in charge of providing its parts and its software knowledge for the ultimate control of them. Huawei and Xiaomi are taking over the operating systems of Chinese electric cars with HarmonyOS and HyperOS. Both companies have extensive experience designing interfaces and digital experiences for the user, an essential service in China to sell electric cars and where Europe, Japan and the United States are still in their infancy, if we compare ourselves to what we see there. Specifically, Huawei has spread its tentacles in the industry until getting its hands on Toyota developments and having cars on the street that will rival Porsche, like the Aistaland GT7sedans that … Read more

This Star Trek movie was canceled in 1977 because science fiction had no future. Two weeks later Star Wars premiered

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In the mid-1970s, ‘Star Trek‘ was experiencing a unique phenomenon in the entertainment industry. The original series, canceled in 1969 after three seasons of discreet audiences, had found an unexpected second life. Continuous reruns and fan enthusiasm (the first phenomenon of its kind to develop pop culture) encouraged Paramount to extend the original mythology. In 1976, a full-page advertisement appeared in ‘The New York Times’ proclaiming the imminent production of a Star Trek film: ‘Planet of the Titans’, and which aspired to take the franchise into uncharted cinematic territories. The origin. Producer Gerald Isenberg assumed executive control of the project in July 1976, intending to transform ‘Star Trek’ into a first-rate cinematic event. To direct, Paramount hired Philip Kaufman, a filmmaker whose profile was unconventional for a franchise. Kaufman would direct acclaimed works such as ‘Chosen for Glory’ and would delve into a science fiction very different from ‘Star Trek’ in the remake of ‘Invasion of the Ultracorps’ in 1978. But by 1976 he had already directed the western ‘No Law or Hope’ and the arctic adventures of ‘The White Dawn’. Chris Bryant and Allan Scott, British writers of the superb and extremely rare ‘Shadow Menace’, were chosen as scriptwriters. The conceptual basis of the project was nourished by ambitious sources: Kaufman and Isenberg structured the narrative inspired by the novel ‘The Last and the First Humanity’ by Olaf Stapledon, which traces human evolution over billions of years. As a scientific advisor, Paramount hired Jesco von Puttkamer, a NASA engineer. Ralph McQuarriewhose conceptual work for ‘Star Wars’ was then in full development, would do the designs. The conflicts. Creative tensions quickly emerged. Kaufman aspired to create a cinematographic work that would dialogue with ‘2001: A Space Odyssey‘ in visual and philosophical complexity. Gene Roddenberry, creator of the original series, defended its essence. Bryant and Scott they were trapped between these two incompatible visions, trying to balance the artistic ambitions of one and the fidelity of the other. The budget, initially set at three million dollars, rose to 10 million. What was it about? Captain James T. Kirk has disappeared three years ago, during a rescue mission near a black hole. The Enterprise remains operational, but Spock has returned to Vulcan. When Starfleet detects anomalous energetic emissions coming from the same black hole where Kirk was lost, Spock rejoins. They discover a planet trapped inside the black hole, the mythical home of the Titans, an ancient civilization possessing technology superior to that of humans. The planet is being inexorably sucked into the black hole. Spock locates Kirk, scarred by years of isolation and transformed by cosmic forces. The planned outcome was the most radical bet: to escape collapse, the Enterprise deliberately enters the black hole, emerging not in its time, but in our prehistory. The crew discovers that they themselves are the Titans of mythology. Kirk is Prometheus, the bringer of fire to early humanity. The script does not clarify whether the crew would finally manage to return to their time or would be trapped observing the slow development of human history that they themselves had started. Kirk is dead. But… why make a movie in which the legendary Kirk is practically absent? William Shatner’s contract with Paramount had expired, leading Bryant and Scott to develop a first draft that eliminated Kirk. After several weeks of work, the studio informed them that an agreement had been reached and that Kirk should be reinstated as the lead. This twist forced a substantial rewrite of the material. And the situation with Leonard Nimoy was even more complex: the actor withdrew from the project due to a conflict over the unauthorized use of his image as Spock in a Heineken advertisement, but an agreement was finally reached. The cancellation. Bryant and Scott submitted their first completed draft on March 1, 1977, after months of intense creative negotiations, but ultimately walked away from the project. Kaufman personally took on the rewrite of the script. His version intensified the role of Spock and developed the dynamic with a Klingon played by none other than the legendary Toshiro Mifune. Just when he was convinced he had found the definitive story, he was told that Paramount had canceled the project. This happened in May 1977, just seventeen days before the premiere of ‘Star Wars’. Kaufman would always remember the phrase that a studio executive told him as justification for the cancellation: “there is no future in science fiction.” Why was it cancelled? They converged different factors: the increase in costs, the fear that ‘Star Wars’ would saturate the science fiction market and the belief that they had distanced themselves too much from the original series. When ‘Star Wars’ grossed more than $775 million worldwide, Paramount pitched ‘Star Trek: Phase II,’ a television series planned as the flagship of a new company television network. It would also be cancelled, although one of its scripts would eventually become the basis for ‘Star Trek: The Motion Picture’, released in December 1979. The legacy. ‘‘Planet of the Titans’ was not the first failed attempt to bring ‘Star Trek’ to the cinema, but rather one more link in a chain of frustrated projects that reflected Paramount’s uncertainty about how to capitalize on the franchise: there are cases as popular as the legendary and disturbing film ‘The God Thing’, written by Roddenberry himself in 1975, or the many attempts to recruit science fiction authors to contribute ideas for films, as happened with Harlan Ellison in the late seventies. And although something remained from the film in the future after the cancellation of ‘Planet of the Titans’ (for example, the concept designs They were reused in 2017 in ‘Star Trek: Discovery’), this cursed movie is the perfect example of what ‘Star Trek’ has always been. A sign that there are more ways to do science fiction outside of spectacle pulp of Star Wars and, at the same time, the confirmation that it is very complicated to do so. In Xataka | More and more … Read more

22,000 million in the air and two other factories canceled

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A little more than five years ago, a star was born. FCA and PSA announced their merger under the name of Stellantis. The result was a gigantic conglomerate. In these five years Stellantis has never managed to position itself as an alternative to Volkswagen or Toyota by sales volume but its structure is enormous, with 14 brands in its portfolio. The first steps were hopeful. The company marked record yearswith profit margins that They were the envy of the sector and a strategic plan that embraced the electric car. A decision that even before the merger of both automotive groups seemed like the right path. Carlos Tavares led a reconversion based on the reuse of platforms for their generalist brands and deep electrification. So much so that they pointed to a date: In 2030 they would only sell electric cars in Europe and half of sales in the United States would also be electric cars. The strategy was in line with the plans of the European Union. But manufacturers have not offered products that live up to what the customer expected in terms of price and/or autonomy. European regulators, after much pressure from automakers (from which Tavares distanced himself on several occasions), have ended up making the rules a little more flexible. The ban on selling combustion engines is maintained in 2035 unless they are met some very strict exceptions. Yes indeed, the path to get there has been made slightly more flexible. All of this has had a direct consequence on a company that focused on finances and regulations, forgetting about customers, that regulators had room to change their minds and about their own history. Yestellantis tried to sneak in the electric Fiat 500 with a shoehorn in the United States. Eliminated mythical V8 engines of Dodge or RAM in that same country to comply with emissions. He threw 3,000 million euros into the trash with the development of electric cars for Maserati that will never see the light of day. And now, with Europe accepting the electric car at a more contained speed than expected, Stellantis assumes a amortization of 22,000 million euros in its accounts and the cancellation of new factory openings in Germany and Italy. The last chapter Of a story that has no end. At the moment it is the last chapter written but it will by no means be the last one that we have news of. And Stellantis and the electric car continue to leave enormous rivers of ink in their wake. Last Friday, February 6, Stellantis shares fell up to 27% in a fateful day for the company. The movement in the stock market was the immediate consequence of show some not very optimistic numbers. When presenting results, the company confirmed that an adjustment of 22,000 million euros was going to appear in its accounts. Those 22,000 million euros have a culprit: electric car. And it is that the company confirmed that in 2025 they would present losses in their income statements, assuming an impact on them of around 22,000 million euros. Actually, of those 22,000 million euros, 6,500 million are hard cash. Cash. Real money, to put it simply. These are the 6.5 billion euros that the company will have to pay in the next four years to those affected who will suffer the cancellation of their plans or the readjustment in the production of electric cars. The rest of the money corresponds to the forecasts that Stellantis expected for the future. That is, sales that will not be consolidated because, simply, these new models will not be manufactured or their production will be reduced. These types of announcements have a direct impact, again, on the stock market because the company not only sends the message that its profits will be slimmer in the future, it also confirms that its real value is lower. “The charges announced today reflect the cost of overestimate the pace of the energy transition that distanced us from the real-world needs, means and desires of many car buyers,” said Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa in words reported by Financial Times. Among the cancellations, Stellantis confirmed that it was canceling the construction of two new gigafactories in Europe, specifically those in Termoli (Italy) and Kaiserslautern (Germany). For the first of them, Stellantis planned a conversion to produce electric cars while building a gigafactory next to it. Now, this second option has already been ruled out and it remains to be seen what the future is of a factory that has been producing engines for Fiat for more than half a century. One of the options that Stellantis had chosen was to once again produce Fiat 500 hybrids and thus keep this engine plant alive. Both this factory and the second canceled plant, the German one, not only impact Stellantis. The company had a 45% stake in ACC, a joint venture made up of TotalEnergies (30%) and Mercedes (25%), which was going to be in charge of building three gigafactories in Europe. For this they had raised 4,000 million euros in capital but the Italian and German project have been paralyzed since 2024. Now, ACC has confirmed its cancellation and that the French plant will begin with a production equivalent to 13 GWh, very far from the maximum of 40 GWh for which it is designed. That is to say, Stellantis planned to embrace the electric car that was not being produced. To do this, it intended to build up to four gigafactories in Europe (Spain, France, Germany and Italy). Of them, only the Spanish and French are still running. Photo | Stellantis In Xataka | If Tavares is out of Stellantis it is because of a giant problem in the United States. One that already forces us to give away electric cars

The remake of ‘Prince of Persia’ aimed to be the turning point for Ubisoft. It has been canceled along with other titles

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There are games that are not only played, they are remembered. ‘Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time‘ belongs to that category and for years was one of Ubisoft’s calling cards in its most inspired stage. Its remake, announced after a streak of ups and downsaimed to serve as a bridge between that legacy and a new stage for the company. What its cancellation reveals is just the opposite. Ubisoft is going through a period of harsh changeswith delays, cuts and decisions that reflect the extent to which the group is reviewing priorities to adapt to a tighter economic and creative scenario. The announcement came todayJanuary 21, coinciding with the presentation of financial results, and marks a turning point in the group’s strategy. Ubisoft announced a “reset” on a global scale that includes a new creative structure, a deep review of its game portfolio and an adjustment to the size of the organization. The company places these decisions in a more demanding market context, with higher costs and a “more selective” AAA. according to your own diagnosis. The stated objective is to gain agility, accelerate decision-making and guide the business towards what it defines as a more player-centered model. Cascading cancellations and delays. The restructuring has immediate consequences on the catalog. Ubisoft confirmed the cancellation of six games in development, including Prince of ‘Persia: The Sands of Time Remake‘, along with three new unannounced IPs and a mobile project. In addition, the company has decided to delay another seven titles to, as it explains, ensure that its new quality thresholds are met. One of those games, initially scheduled for fiscal year 2026, now moves to 2027, a move that directly impacts its short- and medium-term planning. A new internal map by brands and genres. One of the most profound changes affects how Ubisoft is organized internally. The company is reorganizing its production model to group its teams into five “Creative Houses”, each focused on specific franchises and genres, and supported by a “Creative Network” of studios to support production. The first brings together brands such as ‘Assassin’s Creed’, ‘Far Cry’ and ‘Rainbow Six’, while others group together sagas such as ‘The Division’, ‘Ghost Recon’ or ‘Splinter Cell’. ‘Prince of Persia’ is integrated into the fourth of these units, along with Rayman, Anno or Beyond Good & Evil, with its own leadership and greater creative autonomy. Beyond the canceled or delayed games, the restructuring implies profound changes in the company itself. Ubisoft has reiterated its intention to close studios, reorganize teams and reduce costs continuously over the coming years. In its plan, the company sets a reduction in its cost base of at least one hundred million euros by the end of its 2025-2026 financial year, and adds another two hundred million additional euros to be cut over the following two years. The group admits that the process will be difficult, but presents it as a necessary step to regain stability in a market that is increasingly less tolerant of errors. A new creative focus for the coming years. Looking ahead to this stage, Ubisoft states that it will concentrate its efforts on large open worlds and games as a service. At the same time, he has indicated that he will accelerate investments in “player-oriented generative AI”, a formulation with which he points to uses aimed directly at the player, without yet specifying how it will translate into specific titles. The company also recognizes that the revision of its roadmap will have effects on the release schedule and its financial forecasts. It is, in practice, the price assumed for the model change. Images | Ubisoft In Xataka | Sony has come up with something taboo in the world of video games: that AI starts playing for you when you crash

When Disney canceled Kimmel for comments about Trump, the greatest victim was another: his streaming service

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Last week was frantic to Jimmy Kimmel: In just a few days, a joke about the Charlie Kirk murder He caused his dismissal, generated protests throughout the country and returned to the program. And, apparently unrelated, Disney raised prices of its streaming platform. Everything was connected in a process that may have cost the company more than she expected. What happened. Although reality bifurcó in multiple ways, summarizing, Late Night’s presenter Jimmy Kimmel was suspended on September 17 by Disney after jokes about the murder of Charlie Kirk in which accused the government of instrumentalizing his death. The dismissal generated immediate criticisms for alleged political censorship under pressure from the Trump administration and the Federal Communications Commission of the United States after the suspension were the pressures of the latter to companies that were waiting for the granting of permits for mergers. Kimmel returned on September 23after they accentuated The protests that accused the government of pressing private entities against political enemies. How much it cost Disney. The Boicot public ads by stars and Influencers They did Bag to Bag to Disneywith a cost of about 5,000 million dollars in stock value. The casualties were estimated around a million, but journalist Marisa Kabas has obtained more precise informationwhich has echoed media such as discussing film or engadget: they became 1.7 million subscribers who canceled their service between September 17 and 23, 436% above the usual cancellation rate. But the thing had to get worse, because Disney was about to make an unexpected ad. A climb. Kabas herself also advanced Monday night to the official announcement: Disney was about to announce an increase in prices of her services of streamingand possible, that could have accelerated the decision of ABC (property of Disney) to return the program to Kimmel. They are ups between two and three dollars for the different Disney+ and Hulu packages, and obviously, it was planned long before the death of Charlie Kirk: the avalanche of cancellations due to the problem with Kimmel was only an addition to those that the company would already foresee when announcing the increases. Too much for a single company, which has rushed to return the presenter as an emergency measure. The question is … why didn’t they delay the announcement of the climbs? Throw forward. There is talk of several possible reasons to, despite the image crisis, continue with the ads, most of the Disney category as a great corporation with hardly any waist to quickly react to these viral phenomena. On the one hand, Disney traditionally announces this type of increase in Octoberwith the beginning of his new fiscal year. This calendar has been respecting for years, it is a rigid program that does not fit for image crisis. On the other hand, it was possibly notified of clients and interested parties, without contemplating postponements. Finally, there is the most important thing: it is a calculated risk, and Disney needs money. Despite the cancellations, the company decided to maintain the increase in the hope of stabilizing income. In addition, he avoided setting a dangerous precedent, to give in external pressures. Disney, Annus horribilis. It is not being a good year for Disney’s finances. Kimmel is only the last disaster (and all the fall remains) of a 2025 that started with a couple of powerful cinematographic failures: ‘Captain America: Brave New World’with lower performance than expected, and ‘Snow White‘, A critical and box office puncture that has even led to rethinking the future of some remakes of real image classics. Neither ‘Thunderbolts‘He has won the expected. And Pixar and Star Wars, the other powerful franchises of the house, go through a popular pothole. Of course, not everything has been disasters: ‘Lilo & Stitch‘It has been one of the box office pumps of the year and a good 2026 is expected, with the new deliveries of’Avatar‘(which arrives in December this year) and’Avengers‘(already for December that comes). Header | Anthony Quintano In Xataka | The streaming economy is completely broken and things will only get worse within the coming years

Byd promised them very happy with his new plant in Mexico. He has just canceled all his plans

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In February 2024, the rumor that Byd was interested in building a factory in Mexico began to gain strength. And, contrary to what usually happens in other cases, for last year there was already talk of possible locations and even the jobs that were going to be created in a specific installation. None of that will happen. Canceled. At least in the short term. Because according to Stella Li, BYD vice president, they are “waiting for greater security before making a decision”, in words collected by Bloomberg. And, according to LI, all brands “are rethinking their strategy” because geopolitical motifs that have “a great impact on the automobile industry.” The answer comes just when the company seeks its expansion in America. To do this, a factory is raising in Brazil (in which they were accused of hard treatment to their workers) but wanted to take Mexico as a basis for an expansion in North America. USA. The biggest problem for this expansion seems to be the Government of Donald Trump. The US government is using tariffs as a pressure measure against other countries, which directly impacts the automobile industry. In order for these tariffs not to impact vehicles, Byd would have to ensure that the components used do not pass through the neighboring country since would make the final product. Without the possibility of selling cars in the United States, playing with the price is key to competing with maximum guarantees in Mexico. And not just the United States. Although the cancellation, at least temporary, of the Mexican factory of byd seems to focus on the US administration, Financial Times He assured a few months ago that China also did not see with good eyes The implementation of the company to the south of the country since they believed that it could be a risk of industrial espionage. Everything indicates that, once confirmed that Byd could not sell their Chinese cars in the United States as a result of the New standard approved by the then executive of Joe Bidenfrom the Asian country they wanted to throw the brake. In June 2024 There was already talk that the country that Donald Trump now runs was Byd’s true goal on his arrival in Mexico. Advanced? What is not entirely clear is to what extent the company’s plans were advanced. A little later, Already in August last yearIt seemed that we had three candidates to host the arrival of the Byd factory. Then it was said that all locations were in the center of the country but Reuters It didn’t give more data. In January, the plant size began to speculate. It was said that the factory would use 10,000 people And that would bend the one that Tesla had planned to build in Nuevo León and that, finally, Nor has it finished getting ahead. Months later, Trump would hit the manufacturers hard that produce totally or partially in Mexico The cars sold in the United States. However, Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexican president, already pointed in March that “they have a proposed investment, but it was never something formal”, in relation to the possible locations that could be of the plant. Now, it does not seem to continue advancing in the short term. Photo | Byd and Roger CE In Xataka | We tried the eye of God with which byd wants to break the market: autonomous driving for a 9,000 euros car

China is building the fusion-fission reactor that the US canceled decades ago. The future of nuclear energy depends on your fate

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In the newly built Yoohu scientific island, next to the city of Nancheng, China advances discreetly in its plans to materialize a project that the United States explored and abandoned decades ago: the hybrid fusion-fission reactor. Xinghou-1. His name means “spark”, and is inspired by an appointment by Mao Zedong: “A single spark can set the entire meadow.” But it’s no small thing: it has behind An investment of more than 200,000 million yuanthe equivalent of 28,000 million dollars. The objective: build a hybrid central with 100 megawatts of electrical power, 300 megawatts of thermal power and, most importantly, a plasma energy gain factor (Q) greater than 30. An unprecedented achievement that could redefine the future of nuclear fusion nuclear energy. What all this means. To understand the magnitude of this objective, you have to put it in context. The nuclear fusion, the same process that feeds the stars, promises clean energy without the radioactive waste of current nuclear fission. The great challenge is get a fusion reaction to generate more energy of which consumes. The National Ignition Facility of the United States achieved in 2022 a historical milestone with a value q of 1.5demonstrating for the first time a net energy gain. The International Experimental Thermonuclear Reactor (Iter), a gigantic multinational project that is being built in France, aspires to achieve a Q> 10 to demonstrate the viability of large -scale fusion. Xinghuo, however, points to a Q> 30, the threshold that experts consider necessary for a merger plant to be commercially profitable. How does China plan to make this giant leap? The answer is in your hybrid approach. A fusion-fission reactor. That is, a reactor that uses the high energy neutrons generated by a fusion reaction (the “spark”) to bombard a mantle of fistible material such as uranium. This triggers a fission reaction that greatly multiplies energy production. In essence, use the fusion as a catalyst to make the fission much more efficient. The Xinghuo-1 project has already entered into the initial phase, which includes the tender and evaluation of its environmental impact. Its development is in charge of the state company Nuclear China Industry 23 Construction Corporation (CNI-23) and the private company Lianovation Superconductor. The road that the United States abandoned. The concept is not new. During the 1970s and 1980s, the United States Department of Energy investigated hybrid reactors before political priorities changed. Concerns about nuclear proliferation (hybrids can be used to produce plutonium) and a strategic commitment to “pure fusion” such as the definitive and cleaner solution led to the abandonment of this line of research. United States, and with it much of the West, They put all their chips on projects like the iter. China, on the other hand, has seen a shortcut in the hybrid model. While pure fusion follows decades away from its commercialization, a hybrid reactor like Xinghuo could connect a merger plant to the electricity grid much earlier. As soon as in 2030, According to SCMP. A coordinated national commitment. Xinghuo is part of a well -financed fusion ecosystem. China also maintains the East project, a Tokamak fusion reactor that has been able to maintain a 100 million degrees plasma for more than 17 minutes. The Huanliu-3 project, a newer and more powerful tokamak in experimentation phase. And the CFETR project, A large -scale pure fusion reactorconsidered the Chinese equivalent of Iter. The success of Xinghuo not only depends on its own advances, but also on the development of a complex industrial supply chain for key components such as superconductor magnets and the thermal vacuum chamber. If China makes Xinghuo work, either in 2030 or 2035, the implications would be seismic. They would demonstrate the viability of a route to commercial fusion energy that the rest of the world abandoned long ago. He could put Beijing years, if not decades, ahead in the energy race. Image | Xinhua In Xataka | The largest nuclear fusion project fails before the first ignition: Iter delays one of its key milestones at 2033

The airlines that most canceled flights over 2024, exhibited in this graphic

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You reserve a flight, you make plans and, suddenly, you receive the worst Notification on mobile: Your flight has been canceled. It is not as common as delays or endless queuesbut when it happens, it can ruin a trip in a moment. For aeronautics, 2024 was a complex year due to errors such as Crowdstrike that demonstrated the Fragility of airports around the worldbut also to adverse weather situations and even geopolitical incidents. And in this graphic of Visual Capitalist The 15 airlines with more cancellations are exhibited during 2024: The data. Canceling a flight is not easy, so it is something that companies do not do not be totally necessary. They have to deal with the expenses of the passage (such as claims), but also with the expenses in airports for occupying the terminal, among others. There must be a reason for weight as a climatological issue, concern for security or some technical problem in the ship that pushes the company to make that decision. They can also be administrative errors such as schedules, maintenance delays or lack of personnel. Very located. As can be seen, most airlines are headquarters and operate mainly in the regions of Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa. On the list only two European and one American sneak. In addition, although Chinese companies are not those that lead the list, the number of travelers who move and the flight cancellation rate is quite significant. Perspective. Now, the graph must be accompanied by a table in which it clarifies what is the cancellation rate. In it, the total flights of each company and cancellations are exposed to obtain a percentage. First of all, here we leave the table: company Region country Flights cancellation rate Dana Air Middle East and Africa Nigeria 2,396 33.9% Lion Air Asia-Pacific Indonesia 125,550 16.7% Wings Air Asia-Pacific Indonesia 62,176 16.3% Air Austral Middle East and Africa France 7,628 14.9% Chongquing Airlines Asia-Pacific China 57,868 14.8% OPE AIR JET Asia-Pacific Indonesia 89,453 14.7% Air Seychelles Middle East and Africa Seychelles 16,069 10.1% Batik Air Asia-Pacific Indonesia 97,320 9.4% Winair Latin America Netherlands 25,802 6.3% Cape Air North America USA 83,101 6.1% Kenya Airways Middle East and Africa Kenya 46,578 4.9% Ural Airlines Europe Russia 61.021 4.8% Shenzhen Airlines Asia-Pacific China 277,688 4.6% China Air Asia-Pacific China 612.920 4.1% It is what allows to see more clearly the impact of the 813 canceled flights of Dana Air compared to the 2,396 total flights in front of those of a giant as an Chinese Air that “only” canceled 25,359 flights of a total of 612,920. It is still a burial, but it is not such a significant percentage of the total. Specific challenges. Now, what are these cancellations, especially some as striking as those of Dana Air? Two factors come into play here: the specific challenges and those that are common. In the case of the African company, the thing comes from afar. In July 2022, its air transport license was paralyzed by regulators due to financial problems and security concerns. They returned to operations a few months later, but in February 2023, the six aircraft of their fleet were held on land due to problems with maintenance. And, in 2024, a incident On the Lagos track he raised concerns about the security measures of the airline, reasuring the suspension of his licenses. In the case of the Russian Ural Airlines, the cancellations are due to the fact that it was that year in which the European Union He added to the list of sanctions due to the war between Russia and Ukraine. And others more common. Apart from the unforeseen events, sanctions and negligence on the part of the companies, we see that small airlines have many problems to maintain their travel calendar. The funny thing is that there is a simple and understandable explanation for travelers: those that cover Indonesia, for example, must deal with the challenge of operating in archipelagos with more than 17,000 islands in which extreme climatic conditions are frequent. In the case of the Cape Air (American) and Winair (Dutch), the explanation is also logical: they fly to complex areas of the Caribbean. Winair’s case is logical because it has a fleet of only eight planes and flies, above all, between destinations of the Sotavento Islands of the Minors, home of one of the most dangerous airports in the world, the Juliana Princess. By zones. Beyond the cancellations of the airlines that track from Ciriumthe data of the difference between territories with China at the head is interesting, more than one point of difference from the second, which is Latin America: Region Total flights canceled rate Asia-Pacific 12,489,263 315,317 2.52% Latin America 2,898,438 42,407 1.46% North America 9,925,300 135,744 1.37% Europe 8,529,261 90,134 1.06 Middle East and Africa 2,758,152 26,793 0.97% In the end, the data is there and, although there are reasons for flight cancellation that are understandable due to maintaining the passage, when it touches us it is not a dish of good taste. In Xataka | There are people getting free flights and money at the expense of airlines. Your superpower: be very patient

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