Category: media

“A slyly subversive look at the reclusive state by the Russian filmmaker Vitaly Mansky, [Under the Sun] had been scheduled to be shown at the museum’s 2016 Doc Fortnight festival” in February. But assistant curator Sally Berger, spooked by the Sony Pictures hack allegedly associated with the 2014 satire The Interview, decided to drop Under the Sun from the schedule.

Disney’s rebound has led to increased one-upmanship within the Mouse House. According to one source, “Pixar’s attitude is, ‘We’re Pixar.’ And Disney is like, ‘Well, then, why don’t you have the highest-grossing animated film of all time?’ ”

“At the start of 2015, a new Canadian law came into effect called the notice-and-notice system. It requires that all internet service providers forward copyright infringement notices to customers suspected of downloading unauthorized content like movies and TV shows. The purpose of the notice system is to discourage piracy — not to get cash. But right away, some anti-piracy companies started sending letters to suspected pirates, asking them to pay a settlement fee — sometimes hundreds of dollars.”

“At the moment, Netflix has a negative cash flow of almost $1 billion; it regularly needs to go to the debt market to replenish its coffers. Its $6.8 billion in revenue last year pales in comparison to the $28 billion or so at media giants like Time Warner and 21st Century Fox.”

Streaming services would be placed under the sort of obligation to support domestic production that already applies to media companies such as the BBC. If the rules are adopted, a minimum of 20% of the catalogue of Netflix and the like would have to be “European”.

“Dory” will demolish the nine-year-old record for best domestic animated opening, set by “Shrek the Third” in 2007 with $121.6 million. “Minions” was the second largest at $115.7 million, followed by Disney/Pixar’s “Toy Story 3” with $110 million.

“We crunched the global box office numbers (courtesy of BoxOfficeMojo.com) for series and franchises that have at least three installments and are still ongoing. (Hence, no “Avatar” or “Lord of the Rings.”) Then we factored in more diffuse criteria, like longevity (how many could you conceivably make?) and merchandisability (does anyone want toys?). And what we came up with was our movie franchise power list, or the 25 Most Powerful Franchises in Hollywood.”

“Why the sudden spike? For starters, Hollywood values Vancouver for its trained crews, studio space and a record for handling such major productions as next month’s feature Star Trek Beyond, or the Ryan Reynolds blockbuster Deadpool, which hired more than 2,000 local cast, crew and extras. Geography gives B.C. another upside.”