Netflix dumps blockbuster films in exchange for original content

Also, Obama to run wild with Bear Grylls, star songwriters line up for Spongebob musical and Forest Whitaker calls on politicians to do more for kids.

Netflix said it had decided to let go of blockbuster films such as Hunger Games: Catching Fire, above, and World War Z so that it can focus on original content. Photo by Murray Close

A big shake-up of online ­movie-streaming catalogues will see Netflix losing major films to Hulu. Netflix said it had decided to let go of blockbuster films such as Hunger Games: Catching Fire and World War Z so that it can focus on original content. Entertainment company EPIX subsequently said it was shifting partners to Hulu, which will pick up the licensing for major films that will be dropped by Netflix. "It will take us time to build a robust slate of original movies, but we're hard at work on it with such great stars and directors as Brad Pitt, Ricky Gervais, Judd Apatow, Angelina Jolie, Sofia Coppola and Adam Sandler," said Netflix content officer Ted Sarandos. One of the first Netflix original movies will be the satirical comedy War Machine, ­starring Brad Pritt, which will film extensively in Abu Dhabi next month. – AFP

Obama to run wild with Bear Grylls

Survival expert Bear Grylls has bagged his biggest celebrity yet for a walk in the wilderness – Barack Obama. The US president will meet Grylls during a visit to Alaska, to discuss climate change, then spend some time in the wilderness with him. US TV network NBC said Grylls will give the president a crash course in survival techniques for an episode of his show, Running Wild, which will be broadcast this year. Previous celebrity guests who have joined Grylls include actors Kate Winslet, Kate Hudson and Channing Tatum. "I will not deny your suspicion that there may have been some suggestions put forward by the Bear Grylls team that were not approved by the Secret Service," said White House press secretary Josh Earnest. "We have been able to work with the Secret Service to find a couple of interesting things" for the president to do, he added. It is "an admittedly unorthodox but legitimately interesting way for the president to reach an audience that obviously cares about conservation," he said. Before joining NBC, Grylls starred in the Discovery Channel's Man vs Wild series. –AP

Star songwriters line up for Spongebob musical

There's a SpongeBob musical in the works – but the music is no kiddie stuff. Children's TV channel Nickelodeon said it will produce the world premiere of The SpongeBob Musical in Chicago next summer, featuring original songs from John Legend, David Bowie, Cyndi Lauper, Dirty Projectors, The Flaming Lips, T.I., Plain White T's, They Might Be Giants, Lady Antebellum, Panic! At the Disco, and Aerosmith's Steven Tyler and Joe Perry. It will open in Chicago's Oriental Theatre on June 7, with an eye to moving to Broadway. Producers call it "a rousing tale of a simple sea sponge who faces the unfathomable. It's a celebration of unbridled hope, unexpected heroes, and pure theatrical invention." – AP

Forest Whitaker calls on politicians to do more for kids

Oscar-winning actor and UN goodwill ambassador Forest Whitaker has urged politicians around the world to speak out to help former child soldiers in Uganda, South Sudan and Myanmar, gang members in Mexico and the United States, and orphans in Syria and other countries.

He said many young people around the world feel marginalised because nobody listens to them and believe their only recourse is violence and extremism.

Whitaker is the special envoy for peace and reconciliation for the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and was the keynote speaker at the Fourth World Conference of Parliament Speakers held by the Inter-Parliamentary Union, which opened onMonday.

He said that he had found during a decade of work with young men and women that they share “deep and widespread discontentment with the political status quo” and are struggling “to define their identities and discover their purposes”.

“You have to help these people find their way so they can stand strong,” Whitaker told parliament speakers from more than 120 countries. “You have to demonstrate that everyone matters, and that every person in a democracy has power and efficacy. You have to convince them to hope again.”

Otherwise, he warned, extremism, intolerance, violence and racism will grow.

“We can’t give up on the current generation and simply try again on the next one,” he said. “We have to nurture those young women and men now.”

Whitaker won an Oscar for his portrayal of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in 2006's The Last King of Scotland. –AP