Category: media

For years, the perennially cash-strapped Oak Street Cinema has presented the most innovative and unexpected lineup of films available in Minneapolis, fighting to stay afloat with little to no money for advertising, modern projection equipment, or even, sometimes, heat. Despite all the challenges, Oak Street “has been racking up surprising attendance figures in recent months… Yet the future of the 91-year-old theater has never been chillier.”

Hollywood took in a record $25.8 billion in worldwide ticket sales in 2006. “Global sales rose 11 percent from $23.3 billion on a U.S. rebound from a decline in 2005 and because of gains in Russia, Germany, France and Brazil. Sales last year were bolstered by a larger number of films and higher ticket prices. Studios, including small, independent filmmakers, released 599 new movies, up from 535 in 2005.”

This would seem to be the best of times for foreign movie makers in Hollywood. But “while Hollywood history is full of outsider success stories, from Ernst Lubitsch and Billy Wilder to Ang Lee and Alfonso Cuarón, it is also littered with failures and flame-outs, though the disasters rarely get as much attention as the triumphs. In fact, a number of gifted foreign directors have struggled trying to make the transition to Hollywood.”

No doubt about it, movies are getting more complicated. “In the past, mainstream audiences notoriously resisted being jolted. Are moviegoers bringing some new sensibility to these riddling movies? What are we getting out of the overloading, the dislocations and disruptions?”

Plans are underway to allow movie theatres in America to download their movies from the internet. “The process, still in the early stages of development, would use satellite and broadband delivery systems to beam digital films directly to theaters, rather than have them copied onto hard drives and delivered by hand, as for the most part they are now.”

“But how well can TV play the Web’s game? A large part of the appeal of video-sharing sites is that anyone can upload a video in a heartbeat, and that clips of Mentos exploding and men dancing are just a click away. Though now more interactive with on-demand features, television offers far less freedom for the viewer.”

“Researchers found that white adolescents with the most exposure to R-rated movies were nearly seven times more likely to have started smoking compared to those with less exposure.”

“Documents revealed that stations received payments for playing songs by top recording artists such as Jennifer Lopez, John Mayer, Jessica Simpson, Maroon 5 and Franz Ferdinand. Clear Channel Communications Inc., CBS Radio Inc., Entercom Communications Corp. and Citadel Broadcasting Corp. have agreed to pay the broadcast regulator a total of $12.5 million US and provide 8,400 half-hour segments of free airtime earmarked specifically for independent record labels and local artists.”

“Montreal, it turns out, takes after the underdog Spartan army in skills and determination. Quebec’s combination of unmatched visual-effects expertise and an aggressive tax credit through the Quebec government make it a worthy competitor against giant forces of unlimited size and resources – namely, big Hollywood CGI studios.”

“When he arrived in Hollywood from Europe a year and a half ago, the French-born Philippe Martinez said he would revolutionize independent film. With a purported war chest of $200 million, he pledged not only to finance but also distribute a slate of filmmaker-driven movies. While studio-owned specialty film labels were succumbing to bottom-line calculations, Martinez said his company would be driven by a love of cinema.”