Category: media

“This past summer was the worst since 1997 for movie attendance, rattling the complacency of studios. For the 18 weeks from early May through today, domestic movie grosses are expected to total $3.6 billion (all figures U.S.), down 9 per cent from summer revenues of $3.96 billion last year, according to box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations. Attendance figures are even bleaker. Factoring in higher admission prices, the number of movie tickets sold should come in around 562.5 million, down 12 per cent from summer 2004. What went wrong?”

The California legislature is considering a bill that would give tax breaks to the movie industry and cost the state too much. “Opponents in Sacramento, citing data that shows entertainment jobs have increased compared to other industries, claim the state can’t afford to lose the $50 million needed to fund the program, especially, they say, because Schwarzenegger’s 2004–05 budget dramatically cut funds for schools and social services.

Director Steven Soderburgh says reality TV is less real than scripted movies or TV. Soderbergh slammed reality TV for being “as far from reality as you can imagine and more fictionalized than the movies you see.” “They’re forcing the issue onto characters,” Soderbergh said, contending reality TV’s goal is to “force these people to be humiliated.”

NBC edits out a comment criticl of George Bush by singer Kanye West on the network’s hurricane relief telethon Saturday night. “By censoring Grammy-winning rapper Kanye West’s remarks critical of President Bush during its West Coast feed of the program Friday night, the network violated the most moving and essential moment in an otherwise sterile, self-serving corporate broadcast.”

The FCC has granted a waiver to public broadcasters to allow them to raise money for hurricane relief. “In general, noncommercial stations are prohibited from engaging in fundraising activities on behalf of any entity other than the licensee where such activities substantially alter or suspend regular programming. However, the Commission has granted one-time waivers of its policy to permit noncommercial television stations to raise funds for local disaster relief in the wake of ‘extraordinary, widespread and catastrophic nature of the events precipitating the fundraising program’.”

Responding to Hollywood studios’ requests, an Indian court in Delhi court has “issued a warrant that empowers police to search for and seize pirated films anywhere in the city, an aggressive maneuver in the copyright wars. The type of court order involved, know as a general search and seizure warrant, is normally reserved for matters of national security, not copyright infringement.

Former model Jerry Hall won’t be seen in the London Underground anytime soon. “Ads for her new reality show, “Kept,” have been banned from London’s subway system because the poster — which shows Hall surrounded by several half-naked men with her holding a leash wrapped around their necks — violates a rule banning the use of people as sex objects.”

A sitcom about terrorists in America has been making the rounds of Hollywood. But though the scripts have won a lot of interest and admiration, the show hasn’t found a home. “Though a number of dramatic movies and mini-series about 9/11 are already being produced, executives who passed on “The Cell” told the writers they feared that Americans – particularly in New York and Washington – were nowhere near ready for a sitcom that could be seen as trivializing the attacks, even after four years.”

“The festival opened on Wednesday with the Hong Kong martial arts epic Seven Swords and runs until 10 September. There are 19 films up for competition, including Goodnight and Good Luck directed by George Clooney, Gwyneth Paltrow’s Proof and Terry Gilliam’s The Brothers Grimm. Security has been tightened in the wake of last month’s bomb blasts in London.”

Even as irritating and invasive pre-film ads become the norm in multiplexes across the country, art-house cinemas have mostly resisted the tug of money available from ad sales. But now, one of America’s largest art-house chains, Landmark Theatres, has struck a deal with Ford Motor Company to “sponsor” a series of featurettes scheduled to run before certain films. “Starting in October, the theaters will present preshow “making of” featurettes, and interviews with directors, and the carmaker might even arrange to admit patrons for free.” Ford is hoping the targeted approach will help it relaunch its Mercury line, and Landmark is hoping to avoid the acrimony garnered by more mainstream chains after the addition of ads to the theatregoing experience.