“In decades past the role of academy president, which is unpaid, was largely ceremonial. But in recent years, as the organization has taken a series of dramatic steps to remake itself inside and out, the job has grown more demanding — and the public scrutiny has grown more intense.”
Category: media
The Rotten Tomatoes Excuse (It Doesn’t Hold Water)
“The wide dismissal of Hollywood’s working theory for its recent woes is generally right. Hollywood’s issues have more to do with competition than criticism. The cost to attend a movie has risen astronomically in recent years, while the alternatives have improved in stride. A 2014 poll found that Americans prefer to watch movies at home rather than in the theater. And Americans are going to the theater less often. To get audiences into theaters requires more incentive — not just a good review (or the absence of a bad one) but buzz, the sensation of attending an event.”
Why Do TV Reporters Stand Outdoors In A Dangerous Hurricane?
In the wake of Harvey and Irma, a lot of people are asking that question. The answer is that, basically, they do it so that we don’t.
Cable Weather Coverage – Is The Windswept Reporter Really Necessary?
“The tradition of television crews standing in the middle of a dangerous storm goes back decades, reflecting the hunger to be on the scene for a nationally significant event. But the news value of dangerous stand-ups — in which a correspondent is seen in the field talking to the camera — is increasingly being questioned, particularly with the rise of social media.”
What Explains Hollywood’s Summer Swoon? Structural Decline! (Sound Familiar?)
“To explain the bad news, movie executives are trying out fresh excuses (blame … Rotten Tomatoes?), while journalists are rehashing familiar criticisms (people are bored with sequels!). Both of these explanations are wrong. The subtler truth is that the domestic movie market is in a slow, decades-long structural decline.”
Stephen King Movie Opens With Biggest Box Office Ever For A Horror Movie
Warner Bros. and New Line’s adaptation of the Stephen King book is launching to $179 million worldwide, including a record-breaking $117 million North American debut. The movie is taking in an impressive $62 million from 46 territories abroad.
TV Ratings – We Have To Get Off Of Just Measuring The Linear (Live) Audience
“I don’t think the broadcasting narrative should be linear versus digital anymore, but rather linear plus digital,” NBC Entertainment Chairman Bob Greenblatt said during a panel. “I would love to get to a point where the live, same-day rating was the proverbial dinosaur instead of the broadcast network.” Executives from New York-based Nielsen, who appeared Friday at the press tour, acknowledged as much. They said they have answered the call by networks and ad agencies to provide “total audience data” that includes viewing on Internet-connected TV sets, digital devices and on screens seen outside the home.
It’s Unanimous: “The Shape Of Water” Wins Venice Film Festival
The world’s oldest film festival has crowned some contentious and controversial winners over the years, but this time, the press and the jury are in agreement: “The Shape of Water” was rapturously acclaimed by critics when it unspooled on the festival’s second day, and has been has been firmly installed as a Golden Lion frontrunner ever since.
In Defense Of ‘Confederate’, HBO’s Planned If-The-South-Won-The-Civil-War Series
When the planned series was announced, the backlash came quickly. Roxane Gay called it “slavery fan fiction,” and many observers argued that, post-Charlottesville, as one put it, “we’ve already seen episode one of Confederate.” Yet, as Gavriel D. Rosenfeld reminds us, there have already been several Civil War counterfactuals, and they’re by no means all apologias for the Confederacy.
Movies Are For Everyone, Right? Now, More Than Ever, No
“Conservatives have long railed against liberal Hollywood, and liberals have bemoaned the racism, sexism and militarism of Hollywood products, but through it all red and blue states have come together to produce plenty of box-office green. Movies are a common treasury for everyone to share. Is that still true? Was it ever?”