As Disney shops the remains of the label, “initial discussions indicate a price of over $700 million for the Miramax name and its 700-film library…. Harvey Weinstein and Bob Weinstein, who founded Miramax in 1979, are not among the bidders — so far.”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
Classical Music, Giving The People What They Don’t Want
There is a widespread “idea that audiences should be open to new things, and that they should be convinced to give them a try.” And yet a person “who comes to the movie theater to see ‘Avatar’ is not necessarily going to be thrilled if I show him ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ instead, even if I’m convinced that he would really love it if only he would watch it.”
Some Push For Nielsen To Measure Online Viewers, Too
“[A] consortium of powerful ad agencies and TV networks [is] pressuring Nielsen to evolve along with the habits of television consumers, who don’t just watch shows on their television sets, but also on their laptops and other mobile devices. Right now, advertisers must cobble together data from a number of sources.”
In Amazon’s Game Of Chicken, Content Owners Won
“Macmillan’s success in bending Amazon to its will represents a tipping point in the book industry — a shift in power from online distributors to content owners, who after all, have an effective ‘monopoly’ on every product in their catalogs.”
How The iPad Has Already Changed The Publishing Game
Laura Miller: “Ultimately, if the iPad takes off, the Kindle is in serious trouble. In order to maintain the complete, current selection of titles that is one of its device’s great features, Amazon has to be willing to come to terms with publishers.”
When Hollywood Bothers To Depict The Working Class
“[T]he lead character … is usually played by a jaw-droppingly attractive star, who wins positive press for being willing to subvert her beauty in order to portray one of the great unwashed doing whatever it is they do out there in the dull diabetic landmass between Los Angeles and New York City. (Hiring ugly people to play working class is a job best left to the English.)”
The Met’s Thomas Campbell Looks Back On His First Year
“With hindsight, Mr. Campbell now sees a ‘silver lining’ to the turbulence of his inaugural year. He acknowledged, when asked, that the crisis had given him the opportunity to appoint a hand-picked team much sooner and less controversially than would have otherwise been possible.”
Analyzing The Smithsonian’s New Salinger Portrait
“[I]t was jarring to read obituaries of the 91-year-old Salinger last week accompanied by pictures of him in what appeared to be his early 20s. A portrait from a 1961 Time magazine cover reveals a slightly different Salinger: grayer, morose, perhaps beaten. The National Portrait Gallery unveiled the work by Robert Vickrey today.”
Artist Stephen Huneck, Creator Of Dog Chapel, Dies At 61
“Mr. Huneck shot himself, his wife, Gwen, said. She said he had been despondent over having had to lay off most of the employees of his art business [last month]. A largely self-taught carver, Mr. Huneck achieved a level of success that comes to few outsider artists.”
Is It Really Necessary To Attend Sundance In Person?
“Between Google alerts and Twitter, [a non-attendee] can get immediate feedback on his iPhone about what films and performances are generating buzz. More films than ever are quietly traded on DVD in Los Angeles before or during the festival, or screened outright for distributors in Hollywood. … [E]ven some of the bold-face names who had films screening at this year’s festival were absent.”