For all of Apple’s resources and marketing might, Apple Music still can’t quite catch up to Spotify.

Apple announced this week that Music is now up to 27 million subscribers a couple years into its existence. But as this chart from Statista shows, Spotify has consistently kept its user growth up, with 50 million paid subscribers at last check.

That gap may be a problem for Apple’s next hardware product, the HomePod. While the new smart home speaker seems to sound superior to the competition, it’s not yet clear if it’ll be fully integrated with streaming services beyond Apple Music. That could leave a significant potential audience out in the cold; and it could force those users to turn to the Amazon Echo or the Google Home speakers instead.

Then again, Apple’s business has always been more about margins than massive scale — the precise opposite of Amazon and Google — so Apple might feel that nudging people toward its Apple Music service is worth the risk. Either way, the company is hoping the launch of new original shows will allow Music to finally gain some ground. 

SEE ALSO: How the Apple HomePod’s price compares to similar speakers — both smart and not-smart

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NOW WATCH: Here are all the major changes coming to your iPhone

The first drive-in theater opened in Camden, New Jersey, in 1933. For less than a dollar, the whole family could enjoy a B Hollywood movie from the comfort of their own car.

At the height of their popularity in the 1950s, there were almost 5,000 drive-ins across the US. Today there are just over 300 of them, which has left a lot of drive-in graveyards around the country.

For photographer Lindsey Rickert, drive-in theaters were a staple of childhood.

"There was something so special about the experience [of the drive-in]," she recently told Business Insider. In 2014, she ventured across the country for 65 days to document as many drive-in theaters — either in working order or abandoned — that she could find.

Ahead, see 10 of the most haunting images she took of those that have been left behind.

SEE ALSO: 10 mesmerizing photos of your favorite foods sliced directly down the middle

"Drive-in theaters were a staple in my childhood," Rickert said. "Playing tag under the big screen, eating way too much popcorn, and falling asleep midway through the double feature in a pile of blankets."

Rickert noted the entertainment that drive-ins could provide for families with younger children. "At a traditional theatre, taking the kids could be a difficult task ... But the drive-in catered to bringing the whole family," she said. "Kids could play on playgrounds often found under the screen while parents enjoyed a date night without having to pay a sitter."

The death of the drive-in came as real estate prices rose in the suburbs, walk-in theaters were built, and video rentals rose in popularity. Rickert noticed the change back then too. "As I got older, the surrounding drive-in theaters started to go dark and this American icon slipped my mind," she said.

Pokémon Go creator Niantic Labs is throwing its first real-world event for the game in Chicago next month, where it could finally unleash rare, "Legendary" creatures such as Mewtwo.

Niantic announced the event on Thursday alongside an in-game promotion for all 65 million users that starts June 13. New "collaborative" features are also being added in the coming weeks, which means we could finally see Pokémon trading.

The release of Legendary Pokémon has been highly anticipated since Pokémon Go was first made available nearly one year ago. It means that players will finally be able to catch creatures like Mewtwo and rare birds like Articuno and Moltres.

Here are the key details:

• An in-game "Solstice" event will take place on June 13. More fire and ice-type Pokémon will spawn during the event, and there will be additional XP bonuses for throwing Poké Balls and discounted Lucky Eggs.
• Following the Solstice event, Niantic Labs says it will release an update "focused on collaborative group gameplay," which could mean that trainer-to-trainer Pokémon trading will finally be added. The update could also pave the way for Legendaries, since multiple trainers will likely need to use their strongest Pokémon that normally sit in gyms to take down Legendaries together.

• The first-ever "Pokémon Go Fest" is happening in Chicago's Grant Park on Saturday, July 22. Tickets and more information for the event will be made available online on Monday, June 19 at 10:00 a.m. PST. Niantic has previously teased that Legendaries will be released during real-world events where lots of players are gathered, and Grant Park is capable of holding more than 10,000 people.
• Chicago won't be home to the only Pokémon Go event this year. Niantic says it will host real-world celebrations in shopping centers across Europe starting this month and a special "Pikachu Outbreak" event in Yokohama, Japan in August.

SEE ALSO: Here is every single Pokémon currently in Pokémon Go

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NOW WATCH: A psychologist explains why we need to 'catch 'em all' in 'Pokémon GO'

After years of piloting Mario over dangerous pits and through trillions of coins, Nintendo is finally letting you meet him in person. Fittingly, the first place you'll be able to do that is in Japan — where Super Mario was created, and where he will debut in a new Universal Studios Japan theme park.

His attraction is called "Super Nintendo World" — a riff on the name of the best Super Mario game ever made, "Super Mario World" for the Super Nintendo. The attraction is planned for a 2020 debut, with subsequent attractions to debut in Florida- and California-based Universal Studios theme parks.

In a new video that debuted this week, everyone's favorite fearless plumber offers a first look at the Mario-centric theme park attraction. Despite the naming convention, it looks as though "Super Nintendo World" is a recreation of Mario's Mushroom Kingdom rather than a hodgepodge of Nintendo's greatest hits.

In just the one image above, you can glimpse a menacing castle with a massive Bowser head, a traditional platforming area, a giant Toad, iconic yellow question mark blocks, and much more. 

Of note, the video depicts a computer graphics representation of what Universal Studios and Nintendo intend to create. Construction on the project began recently — photos of pieces of "Super Nintendo World" popped up on Twitter this week:

When Nintendo announced its partnership with Universal Studios in November 2016, the Japanese game company said it would have "something for everyone" at its attractions. Aside from the video game-centric trappings of the attraction, Super Nintendo World is said to feature, "multiple attractions, shops and restaurants." 

Perhaps this massive Toad house could be a restaurant?

We'll find out in a few years when Super Nintendo World is planned to open to the public — in 2020! 

Check out the whole video below:

SEE ALSO: Nintendo's new online service offers subscription access to classic games for $20 a year

DON'T MISS: Nintendo's bringing its iconic characters to Universal Studios theme parks all over the world

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NOW WATCH: Here's why Boeing 747s have a giant hump in the front

Stephen Colbert is very excited about former FBI Director James Comey's Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Thursday.

"It's the most magical night of they year, because it's Comey testimony eve," the host said on Wednesday's episode of CBS's "Late Show."

Leading up to what Colbert also referred to as "Washington's Super Bowl," he commented on Comey's prepared statement released on Wednesday.

"There’s a lot of weird stuff in these documents," he said.

For example, Comey details a private dinner he had with Trump in January amid reports that the president's campaign was compromised by contacts with Russian officials and that the president had cavorted with Russian prostitutes.

According to Comey, Trump told him "he had nothing to do with Russia. Had not been involved with hookers in Russia."

To which Colbert joked, "Comey replied, ‘I understand, Mr. President, but I just asked what you had for breakfast?'"

In another meeting, Comey said that the president told him, "I need loyalty, I expect loyalty." Comey remarked, "I didn’t move, speak, or change my facial expression in any way during the awkward silence that followed."

“Basically, Comey treated Trump like the T-rex in 'Jurassic Park,'" Colbert said. “It makes sense, they both have the same sized hands."

Also, Colbert found it funny that Comey said Trump kept referring to the controversy over potential connections between his campaign and Russian officials as the "cloud."

"Mr. President, that’s not a cloud," Colbert said. "Meteorologists call that a s--tstorm."

Watch the video below:

SEE ALSO: Samantha Bee believes she knows the 'real' story behind Trump's 'covfefe' tweet

DON'T MISS: Stephen Colbert unleashes on Trump's $2 trillion budget mistake

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NOW WATCH: CLAPPER: Watergate 'pales' in comparison to Trump-Russia investigation

By the end of 2017, Netflix will have released 1,000 hours of original shows and movies.

Halfway through the year, Netflix has already had some big moments, like making its global game-show debut with "Ultimate Beastmaster" and sparking discussion and controversy with "13 Reasons Why." And there have also been some marquee cancellations, like "The Get Down" and "Sense8." (Expect more.)

But there are still at least 20 shows that Netflix has confirmed it will release before the year is up as it spends $6 billion on content.

To help you keep track, we've updated our list of shows Netflix has confirmed — for certain — are coming out in 2017. This excludes movies and kids' shows, as well as shows that might not come out until 2018 and beyond.

Here are the 20 shows we know Netflix is putting out before the end of 2017, along with their release date, if available:

SEE ALSO: It would take you over 41 days to binge-watch all the original shows and movies Netflix will release in 2017

"Orange Is the New Black" (season 5) — June 9

Netflix description: "Piper Chapman doesn't deserve her prison sentence. Of course, every one of her fellow inmates thinks the same thing."

"GLOW" (season 1) — June 23

Netflix description: "Inspired by the real story of the 1980s female wrestling league, the series — set in Los Angeles and showcasing big hair and body slams — will be the fictionalized story of an out of work actress who finds one last attempt to live her dreams in the form of a weekly series about female wrestlers."

"Castlevania" (season 1) — July 7

Netflix description: "Inspired by the classic video game series, 'Castlevania' is a dark medieval fantasy following the last surviving member of the disgraced Belmont clan, trying to save Eastern Europe from extinction at the hand of Vlad Dracula Tepe himself."

There you were, living in a reality where laptops had a single screen. And then Razer introduced this monstrosity, and suddenly a paradigm shifted. 

Behold:

That's right, folks: Razer is taking the bold step of not just doubling, but outright tripling the number of laptop screens. This is Project Valerie, a super bizarre concept from a company known for making very nice, very expensive gaming hardware. 

SEE ALSO: This massive $9,000 laptop with a curved screen is the most absurd computer I've ever used

The first thing you'll notice, of course, is the three-screen concept. In total, the screens create a massive 11520 x 2160 display.

Razer's calling it "12K," which isn't exactly accurate. These are three 17.3-inch discreet displays, each offering 4K visuals.

So, how does this work? The screens are automated — you push a button and they extend out:

Sony is dominating Microsoft when it comes to the video game console wars. It's no contest: Sony's PlayStation 4 is outselling Microsoft's Xbox One by 2-to-1 in North America. Things are more dire in Europe. 

As Sony put it in a recent interview with Time Magazine: "In Europe, it's really been fortress PlayStation by at least 3-to-1 in unit sales." Woof.

There are a variety of reasons for Sony's success with the PlayStation 4, prime among them the $400 price point of the PS4 at launch — a $100 price drop compared to Microsoft's $500 Xbox One. Both consoles are dramatically less expensive now, yet Sony maintains its sales lead month after month in no small part due to the tremendous momentum it built early on. 

But Microsoft's been making smart moves to re-capture consumer interest since the lukewarm launch of Xbox One in 2013. One of the company's smartest moves to date, in fact, is something that Sony outright disregards: the concept of backwards compatibility.

The term itself is a snoozer, but what it means for you is simple: The games you already own from previous consoles work on the new one. 

Announced in June 2015, Microsoft's Xbox One is able to play a huge portion of the Xbox 360 game library (so-called "backwards compatibility"). If you already own the game digitally, you simply download it to your Xbox One. If you own the disc, you put it in your drive, download a digital copy of the game, and you're good to go. Maybe you just want to play a game from the previous console that you don't own? You can buy it through the Xbox One and play it there.

It's a service that few gamers will ever use. Just under 2% of time spent by Xbox One owners using the console is spent playing Xbox 360 games, according to a recent study by Ars Technica.

This is actually the reason that Head of Global Sales and Marketing at Sony International Entertainment Jim Ryan cited when asked by Time Magazine about a similar concept on PlayStation 4. With Sony's rich history of games, from the first PlayStation through to the PlayStation 3, why not introduce backwards compatibility on the PS4? 

"It is one of those features that is much requested, but not actually used much," Ryan said. He's not wrong!

And yet, it's a crucial sell point for the Xbox One that Sony is choosing to ignore.

If owners aren't actually using the feature, why bother supporting it? The answer is simple: It makes people feel good.

If you're one of the tens of millions of people who bought an Xbox 360 or a PlayStation 3, you no doubt spent even more money buying into their game libraries. Maybe you bought a few games, or maybe you bought dozens. Either way, those games become distinctly less useful when you buy a new game console. For one, it's likely that you outright unplugged your older game console — TVs only have so many inputs, and people only have so much space in their home entertainment setups. 

You could trade them in, but what if they were digital games? With the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, the vast majority of games were available both in retail stores on disc and as downloadable purchases. Do you just say goodbye to those games? The idea of a persistent digital library has become more and more normalized these days — when you move from an old phone to a new phone (or an old tablet to a new tablet), there's an expectation that your digital software library will come with you (from games to apps to music and beyond). 

Microsoft is embracing this philosophy with its push toward backwards compatibility. Sony, bizarrely, doesn't seem to even grok why backwards compatibility is important to players. While Ryan is technically correct that few players actually use backwards compatibility, the impact such a service has is one of those un-quantifiable metrics that makes a tremendous difference in perception.

Say you're a teenager asking your parents for a PlayStation 4 for a birthday present. Say your parents already bought you a PlayStation 3 years earlier, and a smattering of $60 games. "Does the PlayStation 4 play all those old games you own?" is a reasonable question your parents could ask, and it cuts to the heart of why something like backwards compatibility matters so much. 

You may not care about those old games. You may never play them again, in fact. But you paid for them, and the value of being able to play them again is meaningful even if you have no intention of actually playing them.

That Sony seemingly misses this concept now is strange at best — this is a company that put backwards compatibility into every PlayStation home console with the exception of its most recent console, the PlayStation 4.

Things get even weirder when you see the rest of Ryan's answer to the question about backwards compatibility.

"I was at a 'Gran Turismo' event recently where they had PS1, PS2, PS3 and PS4 games, and the PS1 and the PS2 games, they looked ancient, like why would anybody play this?," he told Time Magazine.

To be completely clear, this is the head of PlayStation's global marketing and sales expressing that he doesn't understand why anyone would want to play classic PlayStation games — games that people grew up with, that hundreds of people worked to create, that hold a special place in the hearts of millions. Beyond being an outrageous thing to say from a public-relations perspective, it demonstrates a lack of understanding that reflects poorly on the entire PlayStation team at Sony.

Support for backwards compatibility won't turn around Microsoft's sales problem with the Xbox One, but it does set a strong foundation for the future of Xbox as a digital platform.

More importantly, Sony's lack of understanding the importance of such a service puts Microsoft in a position to reclaim the hearts and minds — and wallets — of game console buyers in the long term. 

SEE ALSO: The PlayStation 4 is selling about twice as fast as the Xbox One

DON'T MISS: Sony explains why it's rejecting the core philosophy behind Microsoft's next Xbox, 'Project Scorpio'

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: 5 hidden features to get the most out of your Xbox One

First, 10 episodes of the new season of  "Orange is the New Black" were stolen by hackers who demanded Netflix pony up a ransom to keep the hackers from releasing the episodes to the public.

Then, a massive hack called "Wannacry" affected thousands of people by encrypting their computer and demanding a ransom (paid in Bitcoin, no less). 

Next up: video games.

Famed Polish game development studio CD Projekt RED — most well-known for its massive action-RPG series, "The Witcher" — says that several hacked files are being held hostage by hackers.

"An unidentified individual or individuals have just informed us they are in possession of a few internal files belonging to CD Projekt RED," a statement posted by the company on Twitter reads. "Among them are documents connected to early designs for the upcoming game, 'Cyberpunk 2077.'"

It's not clear what type of "internal files" the statement is referring to — they could be early concept art of the game, or gameplay footage, or any other number of things. The only description CD Projekt RED offers of the stolen files is vague: "The documents are old and largely unrepresentative of the current vision for the game."

One thing is clear from the statement — CD Projekt RED isn't paying.

"We will not be giving in to the demands of the individual or individuals that have contacted us," the statement reads, "which might eventually lead to the files being published online." That's especially meaningful when it comes to "Cyberpunk 2077" — outside of a single teaser trailer, little is known about the upcoming game. 

Here's the full statement from CD Projekt RED:

And here's the full trailer for "Cyberpunk 2077" — the game has no release date, but it's planned for launch on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

SEE ALSO: A hacker has leaked 10 stolen episodes of 'Orange Is the New Black’ season 5 after Netflix allegedly refused to pay ransom

DON'T MISS: Hackers are holding a Disney movie for ransom, according to CEO Bob Iger

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NOW WATCH: Watch Apple’s video that shows a post-apocalyptic physical App Store

Before Joel Edgerton became a well-known actor with incredible performances in movies like "Warrior," "The Gift" (which he also directed), and last year's Oscar-nominated "Loving," the Australian played a young Uncle Owen in the "Star Wars" prequels "Attack of the Clones" and "Revenge of the Sith."

Though he got very little screen time and even less dialogue, Edgerton is part of the "Star Wars" saga and with Disney/Lucasfilm's endless plan for "Star Wars" sequels and anthology movies, the actor believes he can show up again. 

"I like the idea that Uncle Owen is one of those guys who has done some super cool s--- but has just never bragged about it," Edgerton told Business Insider while promoting his new movie "It Comes at Night" (opening in theaters on Friday). 

The character is best known as the moisture farmer who raised Luke Skywalker after Luke's father, Anakin, turned to the Dark Side and became Darth Vader. As Luke grew up, Owen kept him busy on the farm, though he had aspirations of going off and fighting the Empire.

A standalone movies fans want to see is one on Kenobi, which Ewan McGregor — who played Kenobi in the prequels — has said he wants to do. And Edgerton believes he should be in it, too.

"My idea is that he could go out and have some adventure and then he comes back and slips back into that unassuming moisture farmer role," Edgerton said. "Everyone talks about Obi-Wan being super cool, Owen secretly knows that he was there, and he did some of the cool s---, too."

But if Lucasfilm isn't into an Uncle Owen storyline, Edgerton has already made his case to "Star Wars: Episode IX" director Colin Trevorrow that he's willing to think outside the box.

"I saw Colin yesterday, I was like, 'Dude. "Star Wars." Me.' And he's like, 'You have already been in the "Star Wars" world,' and I was like, 'Yeah, I could be someone else,'" Edgerton said.

"My pitch to all of them is there's definitely some Owen possibilities," Edgerton went on to say, "but also, I was only in the movie for a pinch of time. How about I play someone else? I can do Boba Fett. I'll just never take off the mask."

SEE ALSO: Daniel Craig didn't break character or his weird voice while shooting 'Logan Lucky'

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NOW WATCH: This man played Barney the dinosaur for 10 years — here's what it was like

Hilary Swank has a mantra: "Make a choice, make it happen."

Talking about her new fashion line, Mission Statement, the actress told Man Repeller's Leandra Medine that it's important to pick and choose from the advice given by your family and friends.

"You just have to make sure that the people around you are trying to help you on the journey that you want and not the journey that they necessarily want for you," she said. "You have to know when to bring their voices in and when to listen to your gut."

Swank, who won an Oscar for her leading role in the 2004 film "Million Dollar Baby," went on to say:

"Because at the end, all you have is the choice that you made for yourself. And that's the mantra that I live by: make a choice, make it happen. Be really clear about what it is you want in your life and then work towards that every day – and be open-minded when something else comes! So that you go, 'That's actually a great idea, and if I wouldn't have been open minded, I wouldn't have thought about that.'"

The also 42-year-old told Man Repeller that the advice she would have given herself in her 30s is that "such a big part of living your dream — which is different for everybody — is navigating the business side of work."

She said:

"I started acting when I was fifteen and I thought it was going to be all creative and telling stories, but there's a whole business side that you have to navigate. It's just part of it. And once you understand that and accept the reality that you can't only do things you want to do, that part of life is sucking it up and doing stuff you don't want to (and that's never going to change), you feel much better. It's art and commerce, that's the way it's always been. But I think if you have good people around you to help with stuff you're not as good at, you can focus more (but not entirely) on other things."

Read the full post on Man Repeller »

SEE ALSO: 32 life lessons I learned by age 32

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NOW WATCH: Learning to celebrate failure at a young age led to this billionaire's success

You might have to take a long afternoon nap or have a giant cup of coffee before watching the season-seven finale of "Game of Thrones" later this summer. According toWatchers on the Wall, the finale episode of the beloved HBO series' latest season will be a record-breaking 81 minutes long.

Quite a few epsiodes in the shortened season will be longer than we've seen in the past, with all but one reportedly being well over 50 minutes long. The sixth and penultimate episode of the season will be 71 minutes long.

This isn't the first time "Game of Thrones" has done long episodes, but an 81-minute one is the longest, next to the season-six finale, "The Winds of Winter," which was 68 minutes long. And the creators packed a lot of death (and other things) into that one. 

A lot can happen in 13 minutes on any TV show, especially "Game of Thrones." We're hoping for 13 minutes of Lady Mormont yelling at Littlefinger, but it will probably just be even more death. Season seven premieres with a 59-minute episode on July 16. 

SEE ALSO: All the 'Game of Thrones' deaths, ranked from least tragic to most tragic

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NOW WATCH: Here's how Jay Z and Beyoncé spend their $1.16 billion

Sam Elliott is known for his deep drawl and a look that seems to be right out of a John Ford Western, thanks in large part to that mustache. It's led to four decades of steady work that has given us memorable supporting performances in movies like “Mask,” “Road House,” “Tombstone,” and “The Big Lebowski.”

But now Elliott finally has the floor to himself with his new movie, “The Hero” (in theaters on Friday). Starring as Lee Hayden, a washed-up movie star of an iconic Western struggling with the grind of the business and mortality, Elliott delivers a tour-de-force performance.

Elliott talked to Business Insider about his own career struggles — including the time he thought he “f---ed” himself out of a career — how he’s finally come to terms with his cowboy typecasting, and what he thinks of working with Bradley Cooper, who is making his directorial debut with a remake of “A Star Is Born.” 

Jason Guerrasio: Did it take some convincing to do this role or were you game from the start?

Sam Elliott: I was game from the beginning. I met [“The Hero” director] Brett Haley on another film a couple years prior. It was a picture that starred Blythe Danner called "I'll See You in My Dreams" and it was really a great experience working with Brett. We traveled a lot doing promotion for that film. We got to know each other fairly well and during the course of that, sitting next to each other on a plane or sitting around having a drink or dinner, we got to like each other and he and his writing partner Marc Basch came up with this idea for “The Hero.” I don't even know if Brett told me he was going to write something for me, but they gave me a presentation and I was in. It was very much close to home in some respects and in other respects not like me at all. I think every actor's dream is somebody writes something specifically for them. I've had people write parts for me over the years but I've never had anybody give me a script that I was on every page that was written with me in mind.

Guerrasio: And you got the plus of working with Nick Offerman again.

Elliott: I love Nick. I think on some level Nick is probably responsible for whatever's going on with my career right now.

Guerrasio: Really?

Elliott: I think probably. I've never asked Nick this but when I went and did "Parks and Rec," it was to play Nick's doppelganger. I can't imagine that those writers and producers didn't got to Nick and say, "Who do you want to play this character, since it's a reflection of you?" And I think Nick was the one who came up with it.

Guerrasio: You guys have such a comfort together on screen —

Elliott: And it's off screen as well.

Guerrasio: I could almost see you two smoking weed and watching old movies on a lazy day like your characters do in the movie.

Elliott: Well, I think you're right.

Guerrasio: You mention that some things about Lee hit close to home. You said once in an interview that in promoting one of your first movies, 1976’s "Lifeguard," "I kind of fucked myself out of a career on that level from being too honest and too opinionated." Is it fair to say you gave Lee that?

Elliott: I think it was there in Lee in some level. Maybe not to the degree that I was speaking of myself. There's a third quotation to that scenario, it's "honest, opinionated, and not very smart." All at the same time. And that's a lethal combination and I'll tell you what it came out of — it was the way Paramount chose to market that film. I'd spent six weeks on set with a guy named Dan Petrie who I have the greatest respect for, he's no longer alive, he directed the film. And we took that whole movie serious, even though it was a fluffy treatment because it was set on a beach. But it was about a guy who was at a point in his life that he had to make up his mind about what he wanted to do: be a lifeguard or get a real job. And when the marketing campaign came out I was on the road for a long time and every time we'd go into a city and start an interview people would start the interview by saying, "This movie is nothing like I expected it to be," based on the marketing, and we would go into this long discussion about the f---ing marketing. [Laughs] It was never positive. So in the end I never worked for Paramount again.

Guerrasio: So you were bitter.

Elliott: I wasn't bitter, it just irked the s--- out of me is the truth of it. It wasn't personal to anybody.

Guerrasio: But did you bring some of that into the Lee character?

Elliott: I suppose so. In that one conversation in the beginning of the movie when his agent calls him in the car about this group that wants to give him a lifetime achievement award and Lee's like, “Great but how about a f---ing job, you got a script for me?" I've had those times. I've had those periods in my career when I was sitting around waiting for a phone call and had an agent who was doing the same thing rather than going out there to shake the bushes looking for a job for me. It's a frustrating game, that's the downside of this business — the rejection.

Guerrasio: It's a helpless feeling because, like you say, you don't know if your agent is doing their job.

Elliott: Right. That's just the reality of it. And I don't know if I f---ed myself out of a career, how you phrased it, but the truth of it is I'm glad it's come now. And I suppose the work I've done over the last couple of years, all of a sudden I'm getting more attention than I've gotten in a long time.

Guerrasio: In my opinion, that’s because everyone can see your work through streaming and it's always showing up on cable.

Elliott: I think you're absolutely right, it's like it never goes away.

Guerrasio: One standout is playing The Stranger in "The Big Lebowski."

Elliott: Yep.

Guerrasio: That will be played until the end of time. And that's one where the Coens didn't just write the part for you — your name was in the script when describing the character.

Elliott: That's right.

Guerrasio: I mean, you can't really say no to the job when your name is in the script.

Elliott: You can't. And how do you say no to the Coen brothers, period? Even when your name isn't in the script.

Guerrasio: And I believe you were on the set of John Milius' movie "Rough Riders" when you got the script.

Elliott: That's right.

Guerrasio: What's crazy about that is Milius was one of the people the Coens modeled The Dude after.

Elliott: Yes he was. It all interconnected on some level. This goes back to "Tombstone." A guy named Jim Jacks, who produced "Tombstone," was a friend of the Coens. He's no longer alive, but Jim told me once while we were sitting at a pool in Tucson, he said, "You know who really loves you is the Coen brothers." And I said, "Yeah, right." And he said, "No, one of these days they are going to write something for you." And I just passed it off. So I'm down there doing "Rough Riders" with Milius and here comes this script and they delivered it up to the set and I couldn't wait to read it. At the time, I felt I was boxed into this Western thing and I felt a Coens script will definitely be a total departure from this Western thing that's got me. And I f---ing open the script and there's that character. He's a drugstore cowboy but he's still a cowboy. But after that I never once had any feeling that I'm boxed in with Westerns. Looking back on the long haul in my career, little films, big films, TV, the Western thing has been really good to me.

Guerrasio: Let me throw this hypothetical at you: If "Road House" and "Tombstone" are on TV at the same time, which one are you going to sit back and watch?

Elliott:“Tombstone.” No doubt.

Guerrasio: Do you have any animosity toward “Road House”?

Elliott: Oh, none. Not at all. If I could sit down and watch all those scenes with Patrick [Swayze] and myself I would watch “Road House.” But “Tombstone” is a different animal.

Guerrasio: Have you shot "A Star is Born" yet?

Elliott: I’m working on it right now. I literally have one more day on it.

Guerrasio: Give me your thoughts of Bradley Cooper as a director.

Elliott: Bradley is more than capable as a director. I think he's a great director. I don't know how he does it. I've gone to set when I'm not working just to watch him in action. He covers it all and boy the pressure is on him and he's delivering this amazing performance in which he's singing and playing the guitar. I mean, that guy is driven. He's super intelligent, has an incredible work ethic. He just wants it to be real, that's what he's striving for, some kind of honesty. And he's pulling it off. And Stefani [Lady Gaga] is equally incredible. She's going to surprise a lot of people with her acting ability. It's an amazing experience to be with them both.

Guerrasio: And I'm assuming you aren't a cowboy in this one so I'm excited to see that.

Elliott: Me too!

SEE ALSO: The 10 biggest box office bombs of 2017 so far

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Taylor Swift, it seems, has apparently shaken off her reservations about subscription music services.

All of the pop star's older songs and albums will be available through Spotify and similar services starting at midnight Friday, Swift's management team announced Thursday via its official Twitter account.

Swift made the move to celebrate the fact that she'd sold 10 million copies of her "1989" album and had reached 100 million in song sales, according to the tweet.

"Taylor wants to thank her fans by making her entire back catalog available," her management team said in the tweet.

It was unclear from the tweet what time zone Swift's management meant when it said her catalog would be available at "midnight." But a spokesperson for Amazon said the pop diva's "1989" album will be available on its Amazon Music Unlimited and Prime Music services starting at 9 p.m. PT Thursday, which would be midnight ET Friday. Amazon's services already offered five of Swift's older albums.

Swift pulled her music from Spotify and other streaming services in late 2014 in a dispute over how much she was being paid when her songs were played. Spotify made a "come back" playlist for Swift right after she left the service.

Despite her stance toward Spotify, Swift's albums have been available through Apple Music since it launched.

SEE ALSO: Apple Music is still well behind Spotify, and that may be a problem for the HomePod

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Sirius XM will invest $480 million in internet-radio pioneer Pandora, the companies said in a joint statement Friday.

Pandora will also sell Ticketfly, the ticketing startup it bought for $450 million in 2015, to Eventbrite for $200 million.

Pandora stock was up around 5% Friday morning.

Under the terms of the Sirius XM investment, a subsidiary of the satellite-radio powerhouse will buy issued series A convertible preferred stock of Pandora, representing 19 percent of the company's current outstanding shares.

The deal comes after private equity firm KKR & Co LP agreed last month to invest $150 million in Pandora.

KKR's agreement gave Pandora a 30-day-period to look for an alternative deal. This period was set to expire on Thursday, and so Sirius XM was racing late on Wednesday to beat that deadline and clinch its own investment in Pandora, sources told Reuters. But on Thursday, Pandora announced that it had extended the deadline “to explore interest expressed by a strategic investor in making a substantial minority investment in Pandora, in lieu of the KKR investment.”

We now know that investor was Sirius XM.

To sell or not to sell

Pandora has endured on-an-off M&A chatter for months, as it tries to re-invent its business with the launch of an on-demand competitor to Spotify and Apple Music. That product finished its rollout in April.

Liberty Media, which controls satellite-radio Sirius XM, has been seen as the only real buyer in town.

That means Pandora has had to endure stock swings whenever Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei talks publicly about the company — which is often. Maffei reportedly made an informal offer for Pandora at roughly $15 a share early last year. But in March, Maffei said that Pandora was “overvalued,” and that $10 per share was something that could work. The $480 million deal came after Pandora rejected an offer from Sirius to buy the entire company for $8 a share, sources told CNBC.

The new investment also includes terms that prevent Sirius XM from picking up over 31.5% of Pandora without Pandora's board signing off, according to Variety.

Still, any partnership between Sirius XM and Pandora would be a boon to both companies, given that they target a common audience. Pandora is seeking to become more popular with drivers, many of whom subscribe to Sirius XM, while Sirius XM is looking to expand its internet and mobile presence.

(Reuters reporting by Aishwarya Venugopal, Liana B. Baker, Greg Roumeliotis, and Julia Love)

SEE ALSO: Here are all the confirmed original shows coming to Netflix in 2017 — and their release dates

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NOW WATCH: Here's why Steve Wozniak used to wait in line overnight for new Apple products

Marc Summers hosted Nickelodeon's "Double Dare" for about a decade. The popular kid's trivia show included bizarre — and often messy — physical challenges as well as an elaborate obstacle course. Summers recently performed a one-man stage show about his life that has been turned into a documentary called "On Your Marc," which will premiere this fall at Alamo Drafthouses around the country. We spoke with him about his OCD, what it was like working on "Double Dare," and what people can expect in the new film.

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Following is a transcript of the video:

On your mark.
Get Set.
Go!

Hi there. My name is Marc Summers. You may know me from "Double Dare." You may know me from "What Would You Do." Perhaps you watch the Food Network and watched me do "Unwrapped."

But I've been around for a while.

"Welcome to 'Double Dare.' This is the show where we run through a crazy obstacle course, and in the process win 8 fabulous prizes!" 

"Double Dare" started on October 6, 1986, in Philadelphia, of all places. They had auditioned 1,000 people in New York, didn't like anybody, moved to LA. I was the first person to audition, and I got the job.

It was fun. We started off doing 4 shows a day, then 5 shows a day, and we got up to 6 shows in one day. Times 5 days, that was 30 shows a week.

The contestants were chosen by a contestant coordinator — such a great name — who worked in Philadelphia. And the thing that made us distinctive, over anything that was on the Disney Channel, was we used real kids. We didn't have the blonde-haired, blue-eyed a perfect child. Our kids had acne, and their hair was messed up. And I think the kids at home related more to the people that we had on our show than anything that was currently running on Disney at that time.

"Answer that question or take the physical challenge."

The big keyword was "physical challenge." You wanted to take a physical challenge, and the kids at home wanted you to take the physical challenge. And then after that, it was going to the obstacle course. You win 8 obstacles in 60 seconds or less, you go to Space Camp.

"On your mark. Get set. Go!"

Favorite physical challenge of all time on "Double Dare" was "Pies in your Pants." There was a catapult over here. You'd put a pie down, you'd shoot it up in the air, somebody had clown pants, and they had to catch 3 pies in their pants in 30 seconds or less.

The one thing that I had trouble with physical challenges, was pet food. You see, if you open up a can of dog food, I pretty much lose it. And so they kept trying to get me to do this physical challenge, and as soon as I walked over to the set, and there was all this dog food, I almost lost it. I puked, almost. And I had to go outside, and they had to change the physical challenge.

So here's the thing I didn't know when I started "Double Dare," is I had this little thing called Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Now mine was about neatness and orderliness, but it was a little bit about staying clean and not getting messy. So here I am, age 34, finally got my first show on television. I didn't know that it involved all this mess.

So people say to me all the time, "Well you must have hated it." I didn't. You know, think about it. I've been around in LA for about 13 years, it was my first real job on television. So I was happy as hell to have it. And so the slime didn't bother me in any way, shape, or form. Now, after the show, did I want to get showered and get that stuff off me? Absolutely.

I think you're always a little OCD if you've had it. So I always say I'm 80 percent cured and 20 percent every now and then it sneaks back into my life. But very rarely.

James Taylor has a line in the song, "Fortune and fame, such a curious game. Perfect strangers call you by name." And that's it. You walk down the street and say "Hey 'Double Dare' guy. Hey Marc Summers! Hey Food Network guy!" So, you never get used to it. I can only tell you, it’s never comfortable.

We were in a restaurant not too long ago, and there was a guy who said, "Well, you remember me?" And I went, "Umm… no." And he goes, "Come on!" And I said, "No." And he goes, "The Bodacious Tatas?" I went, "What's that?" "That was our team name." I said, "Oh, you were on 'Double Dare'?" "Yah." He says,"You don't remember me?" I said, "How old were you?" "11." "How old are you now?" "30." "OK, let me figure that out." "11 to 30, uh yeah, there's a reason I don't remember who the heck…" And he got all bent out of shape. He got all angry with me that I didn't recognize him and the days he was on.

"I'll be asking you a question. If you don’t know the answer and think the other team doesn't have a clue, you can dare them to answer it for double the dollars. But be careful, because you can always double dare them back."

I always wanted to host shows, but I didn't get my first opportunity until I was 34. Prior to that, I was doing theater. I always wanted to be on Broadway, in a show. And one thing leads to another, and I was a stand-up comic, and I was a magician, and I was a game show host, and I was the food guy, and then I got hit with a couple of odd things. One was cancer, and the other one was a car accident, where I broke every bone in my face. So I cheated death twice, and I figured, well, if I'm going to do theater, now is the time.

So I did summer stock about 6 years ago. I played Vince Fontaine in "Grease." And I met a couple of guys who were young up-and-comers on Broadway. And I talked to them about doing a one-man show. And they wrote it for me, and we performed it last year at a place called Bloomington Playwrights Project in Bloomington Indiana. And then we did the Adirondack Theatre Festival. And we're now in conversations to take it around the country and also do it Off- Broadway.

So it involves many aspects of my life, prior to "Double Dare," after "Double Dare," the Food Network, and everything in between.

And currently there is a documentary coming out. It's called "On Your Mark," A little play on words of "Double Dare." 

We just made an arrangement with something called Alamo Drafthouse. These guys have the best movie theaters all around the country. And starting in October/November, we're going to launch this documentary that was shot behind the scenes of doing a one-man show and everything in between. So should be very interesting.

Here's a question I get all the time. If they brought "Double Dare" back, would I do it. And the answer is: absolutely. Why not?

We did a 30th Anniversary show that aired last Thanksgiving. It got huge numbers.We did a live Facebook thing. I still do appearances around the country. There's no reason not to.

I did it from '86 to about '96. And then it ran in reruns til about 2000. Somebody else tried it for a short time. Unfortunately, it didn't work out for them.

For whatever reason, I'm always thought of as the guy who hosted that program. There are constant conversations going on about bringing the show back. Will it happen? I don't know.

"When you hear this sound… it means the game is over."

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On Thursday night's episode of "The Late Show," host Stephen Colbert spoofed the historic hearing by former FBI Director James Comey.  

Having fun with the news, Colbert did a bit in which he inserted himself into the proceedings as one of the members of the Senate Intelligence Committee that questioned Comey.

Interrupting the opening remarks, Colbert took the floor and thanked the committee for letting him be there even though, as he said, "I’m here only because I won a radio call-in contest."

He then attempted to get Comey to say if he believes President Donald Trump colluded with the Russians. Then in a clip of Comey says he can't say in a public forum.

Colbert tries another way to get to the answer: "Let’s say you had an orange cat, really fat and lies a lot, would the cat enjoy drinking vodka?"

Comey, again, doesn't answer.

Watch the entire bit below:

SEE ALSO: Legendary actor Sam Elliott explains how he almost 'f---ed' himself out of a career

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NOW WATCH: This man played Barney the dinosaur for 10 years — here's what it was like

Jerry Seinfeld created havoc on social media when he refused to hug Kesha at a Washington, D.C., event earlier this week. But the comedian explained that his decision was pretty logical for him.

"When you get to be my age and you’ve done a couple things, you have your own reality," Seinfeld told Extra. "In my reality, I don’t hug a total stranger. I have to meet someone, say hello. I have to start somewhere."

It also happens to be a reason that would make sense on the comedian's hit TV show "Seinfeld."

Although Kesha has had multiple No. 1 hit singles and her album "Animal" charted high internationally, Seinfeld had no clue who she was.

"I’m 63, I don’t know every pop star," the "Seinfeld" and "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee" star said. "I don’t know everyone."

Seinfeld also called the pop star's timing "a little off" as he was in the middle of an interview on the red carpet. But Seinfeld had a chance to iron out the misunderstanding with Kesha later at the event.

"She was very nice about it, we laughed about it," Seinfeld said, though he emphatically confirmed that she still has not received a hug from him.

Watch Seinfeld's interview with Extra below:

SEE ALSO: How 'Seinfeld' went from a hated pilot people called 'not funny' to one of the biggest TV shows ever

DON'T MISS: Inside Jerry Seinfeld's $100 million decision to jump to Netflix

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NOW WATCH: Jerry Seinfeld got real with President Obama about being famous

Universal's Dark Universe — a series of movies that features the studio's classic monsters like Dracula, Frankenstein, and The Wolf Man — is not getting off the ground smoothly with its first title.

"The Mummy," starring Tom Cruise as an adventurer who uncovers the crypt of an ancient cursed princess, is receiving awful reviews leading to its opening on Friday, with a current score of 20% on Rotten Tomatoes. One critic went so far as to call it "the worst Tom Cruise movie ever."

"Obviously, that's disappointing to hear," director Alex Kurtzman told Business Insider on Thursday when hearing about the negative response from critics. "The only gauge that I really use to judge it is having just traveled around the world and hearing the audiences in the theaters. This is a movie that I think is made for audiences and in my experience, critics and audiences don't always sing the same song."

Kurtzman, who is best known for his credits as a screenwriter ("Transformers," "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," "Star Trek," "Star Trek: Into Darkness") and producer ("Now You See Me," TV shows "Scorpion" and "Hawaii Five-0"), said he doesn't read reviews. That's thanks to advice he took from a director he would only describe as "far more experienced than I am who has a very significant track record."

And he got honest about what it's like to read negative press about a movie you just made.

"It is the thing that kills your soul when you have just gone through an experience like this one we just went through," Kurtzman said.

"I'm not making movies for them," he said of critics. "Would I love them to love it? Of course, everybody would, but that's not really the endgame. We made a film for audiences and not critics so my great hope is they will find it and they will appreciate it."

Critically, "The Mummy" movies, going back to when Brendan Fraser was starring in them, have never been appreciated by critics. The 1999 "The Mummy" received the highest Rotten Tomatoes score at 57%. But audiences have come out to see them and that looks to be the case with this latest one.

Though projections have the movie, budgeted at $125 million, only making $35 million domestically over opening weekend, it could be saved internationally, as projections have the movie taking between $125 million and $135 million globally. If projections come in on the high side, the movie could bring Cruise his biggest global opening weekend of his career, passing the $167.4 million earned for 2005's "War of the Worlds."

So despite the fun critics are having with the movie, Kurtzman may be getting the last laugh by Monday morning.

SEE ALSO: The 10 biggest box office bombs of 2017 so far

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NOW WATCH: Mayim Bialik from 'The Big Bang Theory' and 'Blossom' explains the science of nostalgia

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Snap's initial venture into TV-like programming is going well, Digidayreports. Snapchat Shows are posting strong viewership, it’s steadily adding new content from a solid roster of production studios, and partnering media companies are keen to produce even more Snapchat native content. This is all good news for a company that wants to position itself as TV for the mobile generation, in order to bank on the growth in mobile ad spend. 

Snap is:

• Partnering with established media companies. Since last fall, Snap has secured deals with 13 media partners to produce these video series. This includes partnerships with major broadcasters such as A+E Networks, NBC, the NFL, CBS, Turner, and Vertical Networks, which is a media company created by Elisabeth Murdoch, among others. Partnering with these companies — many of which can be classed as ‘legacy’ networks — is a path towards premium programming, and aligns with Snap’s strategy to draw TV ad dollars.
• Posting impressive viewership on Snap Shows. During Snap’s Q1 2017 earnings call, CEO Evan Spiegel said that they were drawing in audiences of 8 million people. Success stories include Vertical Networks’ "Phone Swamp," which gets 10 millions viewers per episode; A+E-produced "Second Chance,” which averaged 8 million viewers in its first season; and E! News’ "The Rundown," a twice-weekly entertainment and news show, which averages 7 million viewers per episode.
• Leveraging ephemerality to encourage viewership. Video episodes are posted in Snapchat Discover for a period of 24 to 48 hours and then disappear, giving people a reason to tune in, according to Digiday. This arrangement also mimics the appointment-style scheduling of shows on traditional TV, and Snapchat users can subscribe to certain shows and be notified when new episodes are up. All of this suggests that Snap has the user experience for mobile TV figured out, or that, at the very least, it has the edge in this regard over its rivals, like Facebook and Instagram.
• Building out a robust library of original video. So far, Snap has debuted 14 short-form video series on Snapchat Discover, its publisher section in the app. It currently airs one show a day in Discover and wants to ramp up to airing three shows a day by the end of the year. Broadening its content catalog, Snap is cementing its status as a video-centric mobile app, can cast a wider net to draw in new and diverse audiences, and keep existing audiences engaged with fresh programming.
• Touting an audience that’s young and hard to reach. The app reaches 45% of 18-34 years olds in the US on a given day — nine times more than the average daily reach on this demographic of the top 15 TV networks and nearly five times more than the top TV network. Indeed, 87% of Snapchat's daily users between 18-34 can't be reached by any top 15 TV network. At the same time, 61% of Snapchat’s 60 million daily US users can’t be found on YouTube, 46% aren’t on Instagram, and 35% aren’t on Facebook,according to App Annie. 

The race by social platforms to secure high-quality video programming is a major trend to watch. Snapchat, Facebook, and Twitter, and other more pure-play video platforms are engaged in this battle, the spoils of which are lucrative ad dollars. IDC estimates that global ad spend will grow from $652 in 2016 to $767 billion in 2020, with mobile being the fastest growing segment — it’s expected to grow nearly threefold from $66 billion in 2016 to $196 billion in 2020.

Over the last few years, there’s been much talk about the “death of TV.” However, television is not dying so much as it's evolving: extending beyond the traditional television screen and broadening to include programming from new sources accessed in new ways.

It's strikingly evident that more consumers are shifting their media time away from live TV, while opting for services that allow them to watch what they want, when they want. Indeed, we are seeing a migration toward original digital video such as YouTube Originals, SVOD services such as Netflix, and live streaming on social platforms.

However, not all is lost for legacy media companies. Amid this rapidly shifting TV landscape, traditional media companies are making moves across a number of different fronts — trying out new distribution channels, creating new types of programming aimed at a mobile-first audience, and partnering with innovate digital media companies. In addition, cable providers have begun offering alternatives for consumers who may no longer be willing to pay for a full TV package.

Dylan Mortensen, senior research analyst for BI Intelligence, has compiled a detailed report on the future of TV that looks at how TV viewer, subscriber, and advertising trends are shifting, and where and what audiences are watching as they turn away from traditional TV. 

Here are some key points from the report:

• Increased competition from digital services like Netflix and Hulu as well as new hardware to access content are shifting consumers' attention away from live TV programming.
• Across the board, the numbers for live TV are bad. US adults are watching traditional TV on average 18 minutes fewer per day versus two years ago, a drop of 6%. In keeping with this, cable subscriptions are down, and TV ad revenue is stagnant.
• People are consuming more media content than ever before, but how they're doing so is changing. Half of US TV households now subscribe to SVOD services, like Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu, and viewing of original digital video content is on the rise.
• Legacy TV companies are recognizing these shifts and beginning to pivot their business models to keep pace with the changes. They are launching branded apps and sites to move their programming beyond the TV glass, distributing on social platforms to reach massive, young audiences, and forming partnerships with digital media brands to create new content.
• The TV ad industry is also taking a cue from digital. Programmatic TV ad buying represented just 4% (or $2.5 billion) of US TV ad budgets in 2015 but is expected to grow to 17% ($10 billion) by 2019. Meanwhile, networks are also developing branded TV content, similar to publishers' push into sponsored content.

In full, the report: 

• Outlines the shift in consumer viewing habits, specifically the younger generation.
• Explores the rise of subscription streaming services and the importance of original digital video content.
• Breaks down ways in which legacy media companies are shifting their content and advertising strategies.
• And Discusses new technology that will more effectively measure audiences across screens and platforms. 

Interested in getting the full report? Here are two ways to access it:

1. Subscribe to an All-Access pass to BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report and more than 250 other expertly researched reports. As an added bonus, you'll also gain access to all future reports and daily newsletters to ensure you stay ahead of the curve and benefit personally and professionally. » START A MEMBERSHIP
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