Category: media

Not getting enough TV? One company wants to help, offering TV programming at the gas pump. “Pumping gas is boring and mundane. We live in a very can’t-sit-still, multi-stimulus environment. We are convinced that people will be very favourable to this experience at the gas station.”

Each year hundreds of families flock to Hollywood in the hopes of making stars of their children. “Some industry people attribute the flood of green arrivals to their exposure to behind-the-scenes TV programs, star biopics, celebrity news shows and teenage entertainment magazines, which give the untutored a sense of confidence about the way show business works.”

The Da Vinci Code has passed $400 million at the box office overseas. “Sony forecast the film version of Dan Brown’s best-selling novel will “in the next couple of days” surpass 2002’s “Spider-Man” (overseas gross of $417.9 million) and 2004’s “Spider-Man 2″ ($410.5 million) to become the studio’s biggest international hit ever.”

Los Angeles is losing the TV pilot business. A new study reports that filming is down “23 percent from last year’s levels, costing more than 1,000 jobs and draining up to $70 million” from the local economy. “Twenty-five other states have used tax incentives to lure away pilot production, which takes place from February through May.”

What are consumers allowed to copy and in what form? British MPs want producers to clarify. “The MPs’ report made several recommendations and called on the Office of Fair Trading hasten the introduction of labelling regulations that would let people know what they can do with music and movies they buy online or offline.”

“Does HBO’s signature show losing its way creatively signal bigger problems at the network? Frankly, the creative decline of “The Sopranos” (not to mention the quality nose dive of “Six Feet Under” before it died) is downright alarming, viewed in the context of other recent moves by HBO.”

“Daily newspapers are losing circulation, Hollywood advertising and their influence over moviegoers. As publishers struggle to hang on to their readers via online content, blogs and podcasts, some are replacing experienced critics with younger, less expensive models. Newspaper editors seem to believe hiring a younger critic will help them build a wider demo… But when established critics stop reviewing, they often leave behind a gaping hole.”

Pakistan has a small Christian community. But they’ve been protesting the movie. “Culture Minister Ghulam Jamal said the film was blasphemous. The screen adaptation of Dan Brown’s book revolves around the theory that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and their descendants survive today. A number of states in India have banned the film, although the federal censors have cleared it for release.”

“The release of the movie could have led to demonstrations and trouble,” said Andhra Pradesh’s special chief secretary, Paul Bhuyan. Andhra Pradesh is the seventh Indian state to have banned the screening of the film, which was released in May.”

As it turns out, gay people love Superman. Or, at least, an influential gay magazine says they do. And that brings up an interesting conundrum for Hollywood: in the aftermath of the national embrace of (and simultaneous backlash against) Brokeback Mountain, no one in the industry is quite sure whether a visible gay community embrace of a “straight” film will help or hurt the box office in the long run.