That’s not a typo. The country’s total movie ticket revenue for the past 20 days is down from $1.52 billion for the same period last year to $3.9 million, and the movie industry there may need a government bailout. – The Hollywood Reporter
Category: AUDIENCE
Peak TV? Yes – Here’s How Many Shows Were Available To Watch Last Year
Folks like to joke that there’s just too much TV to watch, but rarely do they back it up with facts. Now, they can. According to new data from Nielsen, there were 646,152 unique programs available in 2019 across network TV, cable, streaming services, and every other kind of outlet. – Wired
A Human Response To Amazon’s Algorithms: Custom-Designed Book Subscriptions
Two bookstores in England are offering book(s)-of-the-month services in which, after some discussion with the customer, a knowledgeable staffer selects and ships books the staffer thinks the individual recipient will like. – The Guardian
Meet Seattle Opera’s Scholar In Residence, First Of Her Kind In The U.S.
“As scholar in residence, [Naomi] André acts as an adviser to help Seattle Opera become more inclusive, both for audiences and behind the scenes. … Her most visible role involves a series of free, public community conversations that invite audiences to question problematic social themes and portrayals of marginalized communities in opera while appreciating the artistic elements that continue to hold up.” – The Seattle Times
Could The Success Of ‘Parasite’ Finally Convince Americans To Accept Subtitled Films?
Actually, U.S. viewers were getting more comfortable with subtitles even before Parasite became this year’s Oscar hit. That’s thanks to two major entities: the FCC and Netflix. – The New York Times
Why’s New Zealand Rescuing The Classical Radio Station And Not Ours? Ask Māoris
With a public outcry having convinced Radio New Zealand’s management not to eviscerate its classical service, advocates for the country’s Māori-language radio stations are arguing that they have been underfunded for decades and deserve a fair share of broadcasting resources. – The Spinoff (New Zealand)
How Instagram Is Changing Theatre
“Instagram is absolutely shaping the theatre industry,” says Jay Armstrong Johnson, who recently played Raoul in Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. Johnson notes that Instagram has become “a necessary app, a connecting device” not just for fans and those without access to the arts, but also “to other artists, which has often led to new projects and/or collaborations.” – American Theatre
Bay Area Theatre Folk Are, Well, Ambivalent About Little Clapping Man In SF Chronicle’s Reviews
One local company head says that the “wild ovation” man can be very helpful, as can the step below, but anything lower stops single-ticket sales dead. The Chronicle‘s arts editor grants that some critics and theatermakers have mixed (at best) feelings about it, but that many readers love it. Critic Lily Janiak worries that it can encourage readers to stop reading. And ACT artistic director Pam McKinnon says the little guy is “a white supremacist icon.” – American Theatre
First Major Arts Venue To Make All Its Performances ‘Relaxed’
Starting this month, London’s Battersea Arts Centre is making all its events “relaxed performances” — at which audience members may enter, leave, move around, and sometimes make noise, and first developed for neurodivergent patrons. – The Times (UK)
Parasite Has Won So Much More Than Best Picture
The thing about Parasite is that even before it became the first non-English language film to win a Best Picture statue, it “had already earned all the accomplishments that really matter; it didn’t need an Oscar.” Or maybe it did, or the Oscars needed Parasite. “In taking home the Best International Film trophy and also claiming the biggest honor of the night, Bong’s movie made the Oscars slightly less local.” – The Atlantic