Latest news with #RobertJordan
GMA Network
11 hours ago
- Business
- GMA Network
Americans slow to book summer travel amid discount hunting
Tourists gather to watch the sunset over the south rim of Grand Canyon National Park near Tusayan, Arizona, May 16, 2025. REUTERS/ Rebecca Noble NEW YORK — This year's hottest summer travel trend? Waiting for deals. Americans are scaling back travel plans from flights to drives or waiting to book only if the price is right, a tell-tale sign of an industry slowdown that's got travel companies worried. Hotel summer bookings are either flat or falling from last year, and airline bookings are down even though airfares have also declined, as economic concerns fuel a pullback in spending. Travel companies including Delta Air Lines, Marriott International, and online travel agency Booking Holdings have withdrawn or revised their 2025 annual forecasts as US demand softens. Airbnb flagged shrinking booking windows as consumers take a "wait-and-see" approach and book trips closer to their check-in dates. That has left companies with less visibility into the second half of the year. Delta said in early April it was premature to project the full year given macroeconomic uncertainty. United Airlines said there's a reasonable chance that bookings could weaken. "It's very clear that consumers are waiting to make decisions, including for the summer," Southwest Airlines CEO Robert Jordan said at the Bernstein Annual Strategic Decisions Conference in late May, adding that demand was stable but lower than expected in January. US summer flight bookings are down 10% year-over-year, according to Flighthub, an online travel agency, even though airfares have dropped. "You can't keep an airline seat on the shelf in a warehouse. If you don't fill that seat tomorrow and the airplane flies, it's gone," Steve Hafner, CEO of Kayak, a Booking Holdings unit, told Reuters. Average summer flight prices declined 7%, with flights to long-haul destinations like Sydney, Australia 23% cheaper year-over-year, according to Kayak. Hotel bookings have "actually fallen off and it gets weaker like a month out," Hyatt Hotels H.N CEO Mark Hoplamazian told an audience at the NYU International Hospitality Investment Forum on Tuesday. "By the time you get to that month, it recovers." Summer bookings in major US cities are flat-to-down year-over-year, according to data from CoStar. Average room rates are expected to rise roughly 1.3% in 2025, down from a 1.8% increase in 2024. "We're not getting that crazy pricing power we got in the early days of the recovery," Marriott CEO Anthony Capuano said, adding that the company was still seeing revenue per available room increase. Weaker dollar Travelers may start to find deals, such as a free third night for staying two nights, as hoteliers look to fill rooms, said Jan Freitag, national director of hospitality analytics at CoStar Group. That's what Jackie Lafferty is hoping for. Her summer plans have shifted from a possible family vacation in Hawaii or Florida to her home state of California instead. "By the time we broke down the cost of the flights, the hotel and the rental car, it looked expensive, it felt unreasonable," said Lafferty, a Los Angeles-based public relations director. The dollar's weakness has driven up the cost of overseas vacations. In March, American travelers surveyed by Deloitte had planned to increase budgets for their longest summer trip by 13%. By April, Deloitte's survey found Americans planned on spending about the same as last year. "The dollar is just not going as far and I think people are starting to realize that," said Chirag Panchal, CEO of the Ensuite Collection, a Dallas luxury travel concierge. The dollar has fallen about 10% since mid-January, when it was its strongest in more than two years. Panchal's clients, who had booked big trips to Europe last year, are either staying domestic or going to closer destinations like Canada or the Caribbean. "We might go international at the end of the summer. If we do, it will be last-minute and spur of the moment based on cheaper flights," said Rachel Cabeza, 28, an actor and fitness instructor based in New Jersey. For now, her only summer plan is a getaway to Martha's Vineyard in nearby Massachusetts. — Reuters
Reuters
15 hours ago
- Business
- Reuters
Americans slow to book summer travel amid discount hunting
NEW YORK, June 3 (Reuters) - This year's hottest summer travel trend? Waiting for deals. Americans are scaling back travel plans from flights to drives or waiting to book only if the price is right, a tell-tale sign of an industry slowdown that's got travel companies worried. Hotel summer bookings are either flat or falling from last year, and airline bookings are down even though airfares have also declined, as economic concerns fuel a pullback in spending. Travel companies including Delta Air Lines (DAL.N), opens new tab, Marriott International (MAR.O), opens new tab, and online travel agency Booking Holdings (BKNG.O), opens new tab have withdrawn or revised their 2025 annual forecasts as U.S. demand softens. Airbnb (ABNB.O), opens new tab flagged shrinking booking windows as consumers take a "wait-and-see" approach and book trips closer to their check-in dates. That has left companies with less visibility into the second half of the year. Delta said in early April it was premature to project the full year given macroeconomic uncertainty. United Airlines (UAL.O), opens new tab said there's a reasonable chance that bookings could weaken. "It's very clear that consumers are waiting to make decisions, including for the summer," Southwest Airlines (LUV.N), opens new tab CEO Robert Jordan said at the Bernstein Annual Strategic Decisions Conference in late May, adding that demand was stable but lower than expected in January. U.S. summer flight bookings are down 10% year-over-year, according to Flighthub, an online travel agency, even though airfares have dropped. "You can't keep an airline seat on the shelf in a warehouse. If you don't fill that seat tomorrow and the airplane flies, it's gone," Steve Hafner, CEO of Kayak, a Booking Holdings unit, told Reuters. Average summer flight prices declined 7%, with flights to long-haul destinations like Sydney, Australia 23% cheaper year-over-year, according to Kayak. Hotel summer bookings in major U.S. cities are flat-to-down year-over-year, according to data from CoStar. Average room rates are expected to rise roughly 1.3% in 2025, down from a 1.8% increase in 2024. "Travel is certainly under some pressure because people are not feeling as comfy as they once did," said Michael Chadwick, CEO of Fiscal Wisdom Wealth Management. Travelers may start to find deals, such as a free third night for staying two nights, as hoteliers look to fill rooms, said Jan Freitag, national director of hospitality analytics at CoStar Group. That's what Jackie Lafferty is hoping for. Her summer plans have shifted from a possible family vacation in Hawaii or Florida to her home state of California instead. "By the time we broke down the cost of the flights, the hotel and the rental car, it looked expensive, it felt unreasonable," said Lafferty, a Los Angeles-based public relations director. The dollar's weakness has driven up the cost of overseas vacations. In March, American travelers surveyed by Deloitte had planned to increase budgets for their longest summer trip by 13%. By April, Deloitte's survey found Americans planned on spending about the same as last year. "The dollar is just not going as far and I think people are starting to realize that," said Chirag Panchal, CEO of the Ensuite Collection, a Dallas luxury travel concierge. The dollar has fallen about 10% since mid-January, when it was its strongest in more than two years. Panchal's clients, who had booked big trips to Europe last year, are either staying domestic or going to closer destinations like Canada or the Caribbean. "We might go international at the end of the summer. If we do, it will be last-minute and spur of the moment based on cheaper flights," said Rachel Cabeza, 28, an actor and fitness instructor based in New Jersey. For now, her only summer plan is a getaway to Martha's Vineyard in nearby Massachusetts.
Screen Geek
2 days ago
- Business
- Screen Geek
Amazon Prime Video Cancels Fan-Favorite Series After 3 Seasons
It looks like another fan-favorite Amazon Prime Video series has come to an end. This time the streaming platform decided this show was concluded after airing 3 seasons on their streaming platform. It looks like it took Amazon Prime 'lengthy deliberations' to come to this decision. The economic environment just wasn't feasible enough to keep this series going, apparently, as 'the streamer's executives' are said to have liked the series 'creatively.' While the series initially performed well, it seems as though ratings began to slip during its third season, leading to this tough decision. Though because they knew the end was coming, it's been said that 'the Season 3 finale was designed to offer some closure.' While fans would have no doubt liked to have had more seasons to continue the story – it's nice that the series will offer some kind of conclusion. As shared via Deadline: 'Prime Video will not be renewing The Wheel of Time for a fourth season. The decision, which comes more than a month after the Season 3 finale was released April 17, followed lengthy deliberations.' It's certainly an unfortunate announcement as The Wheel of Time had plenty of potential to continue running on the platform. The series, based on the book series by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson, is a fantasy drama that became Prime Video's most watched series premiere in 2021. It was also one of the Top 5 series launches of all time for Amazon Prime. As such, fans can continue to watch the existing three seasons of The Wheel of Time on Amazon Prime. Stay tuned to ScreenGeek for any additional streaming and television updates as we have them. It's certainly become a tough industry for high-concept shows like this to thrive, but at least fans got a worthwhile three seasons out of this particular property.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘The Wheel of Time' VFX supervisor Andy Scrase: ‘I always think of visual effects as the magic of filmmaking'
'Season 3 had a hardcore number for VFX,' Andy Scrase says about The Wheel of Time during our Gold Derby "Meet the Experts" VFX panel. It all began with the opening episode of the season, "To Race the Shadow." 'We had this really large magic battle. Once you come off a heavy Season 2, to go straight into it again on Episode 1, was probably our biggest challenge," says Scrase (watch the full interview above). "But, it felt like something that hadn't quite been executed on the screen before in terms of episodic TV.' The Sony series has been adapted for Prime Video by Rafe Judkins from the Robert Jordan fantasy novels of the same name. The recent third season covers events from the fourth and fifth books (The Shadow Rising and The Fires of Heaven). 'I've got respect for the source material. I try to stick to descriptions as close as I can. And if I feel like something's not going to be visually exciting enough, then I tend to bring in a bit more creative license,' Scrase says, adding 'that challenge is still the biggest thing. Getting something that looks very different to what's been seen before and reimagining that description Robert Jordan used in the books.' More from GoldDerby 'Gypsy' and 'Just in Time' producer Tom Kirdahy on serving a 'social and cultural need' through creative work TV Visual Effects supervisor roundtable: 'Black Mirror,' 'The Boys,' 'The Wheel of Time' 'The Boys' VFX supervisor Stephan Fleet explains why a one-minute shot 'took about 17 hours' to make One of the characters at the center of the story is Rand (Josha Stradowski), who learns he is the dragon reborn. Scrase loves that 'there's a real darker aspect to him. The male challengers in the show's abilities are corrupted by the dark one. I like the that there's more of a grey area with Rand. You don't know if he's going to save the world or destroy it. I think that makes it a lot more interesting.' In the season finale, "He Who Comes with the Dawn," Siuan (Sophie Okonedo) is falsely condemned and stilled of her power. "We ended up having these 'stilling arrows' fired at her and stick out of her. It felt barbaric," says Scrase. "The design of them, were very barbed, and there was Sophie's performance playing this moment of 'stilling.' Seeing how the audience reacted to it really did drive home how emotional that particular moment was.' He reflects, 'I always think of visual effects as the magic of filmmaking. We get to imagine and execute those things that just aren't possible to do in real life. Creating that stuff is great to be able to do.' This article and video are presented by Sony. Best of GoldDerby 'Étoile' creators on writing a show for 'genius' Luke Kirby How 'The Handmaid's Tale' series finale sets up 'The Testaments' TV Visual Effects supervisor roundtable: 'Black Mirror,' 'The Boys,' 'The Wheel of Time' Click here to read the full article.
Forbes
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
‘The Wheel Of Time' Deserves Another Season, Warts And All
The Wheel Of Time I understand why detractors of Amazon's Wheel Of Time series dislike the show so immensely. It runs roughshod over the source material, making too many changes to count. But it's also done something that I think is worth mentioning: The third season, which I liked a great deal, made me decide to get back into the books by Robert Jordan. Prior to Season 3, I had only read the first two novels. It took my half a dozen tries to get through the first one, The Eye Of The World, in part because I found it so derivative of Lord Of The Rings. The second book, The Great Hunt, was better but I still wasn't sure if I wanted to invest so much time into a new fantasy series, especially since I've heard from a lot of people that it drags to a slog somewhere in the middle. But Season 3, which had now moved past where I was in the books, rekindled my interest in the series. I burned through The Dragon Reborn (though I still think perhaps it should have been called The Stone Of Tear) and have been doing the same with The Shadow Rising. And I can finally say that the series has 'clicked' for me at long last. It has carved out its own space in the epic fantasy genre. Braid-tugging aside, Jordan's writing is engaging and his characters – especially Mat and Perrin – are compelling. The lore and magic and politics of the world grow more fascinating by the page. And I may not have picked these back up at all if Season 3 hadn't convinced me that this was, in fact, something special. Of course, now that I've read as far as I have, I see all the ways the show up to this point has mangled the story. Not because it's 'woke' (aside from a few casting choices, I think they've done a great job adapting a book series that was already very diverse with lots of strong female characters) but because they've taken out huge chunks of what actually happens, fast-forwarded a ton, and placed certain scenes down in completely different spots. Some characters are wildly different in the show and others get a lot of screentime that they probably don't need yet. Some choices, like making Moiraine and the Amyrlin Seat a romantic couple, feel out of place but not a huge deal in the big scheme of things. Others, like essentially taking away Mat's gambling and resistance to being part of the 'team', or effectively cutting the Stone of Tear and the sword Callandor, are frankly bizarre. Maybe it's because I don't have a lifelong love of these books that I can accept these changes. I don't like many of them, but I can accept them for two reasons: First, the show has gotten so much better since Season 1. Strip away the source material, and you have a really good fantasy show on its own merits – unlike Rings Of Power which is bad regardless of its fidelity to Tolkien. Second, I am able to say to myself 'This is just a different version of the story.' Specifically, this is a different version because it had to be. In a perfect world, Amazon would have greenlit fifteen seasons of this show from the outset with an unlimited budget and all the runtime they needed to cover the story. In the real world, that was never going to happen even if this was a hit. Live-action fantasy is too expensive. Even the most popular and successful fantasy show of all time, Game Of Thrones, was cut short. Even if they'd been given fifteen seasons, getting the cast to stick around that long would have been a miracle. They had to truncate and condense and make changes. Yes, we can question those changes, but the reality is even in the perfect scenario, what works on the page doesn't always work onscreen. This was far from the best we could have hoped for, but by Season 3 I think it was a lot closer. The cast was warming up to their characters. The writing was more confident. The special effects and costumes had improved. All across the board, The Wheel Of Time was headed in the right direction. And so of course Amazon canceled it, just when things were getting good. Fans have started a petition to save the series. It's a nice thought, though I've seen so many of these over the years and they almost never work. Occasionally another streamer will swoop in and save a show from certain death, but saving one that costs this much seems incredibly unlikely. The Legend Of Vox Machina I'll reiterate my own hopes, which are perhaps only a little less pie-in-the-sky: Let's start making animated versions of epic fantasy series instead of focusing so much on live-action. Live-action is expensive. Casting is hard and rarely not controversial (Game Of Thrones notwithstanding). Even strong series face all sorts of obstacles with budgets and cast down the road. Animated series can avoid so many of these pitfalls. They're cheaper, you can more easily replace a voice actor, children don't age out of their roles (looking at you, Bran Stark) and you can achieve the fantasy elements much easier and more effectively. A show like The Legend Of Vox Machina handles combat, dragons, magic and other fantastical effects so much better than Wheel Of Time or any other live-action fantasy. It just works better when everything is animated. CGI doesn't eat the whole budget up. Scale is less problematic. (Obviously this is not always true, as Netflix's Arcane was a wildly expensive show that went so far overbudget it was tragically condensed into two seasons, rushed awkwardly to an unsatisfying conclusion). I wish Amazon would reconsider at the 11th hour and decide to give The Wheel of Time another lease on life. I don't think they will, but the people behind the show and in front of the camera deserve another crack at it, and so do fans. In the meantime, I have a bunch more of these books to read and that makes me happy. Read my review of Joe Abercrombie's latest fantasy novel, The Devils, right here. And let me know what you think about all of this on Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook. Also be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel and follow me here on this blog. Sign up for my newsletter for more reviews and commentary on entertainment and culture.
