“A new sitcom has been commissioned by ITV” – the folks who bring us Downton Abbey – “which is set to feature Sir Derek Jacobi and Sir Ian McKellen as an elderly gay couple. The series, which is titled Vicious Old Queens, will feature both actors as an elderly gay couple living in London’s Covent Garden.”
Category: media
How Comcast Keeps Us Hooked On Cable
“Even as Verizon, Apple, Netflix and YouTube have tried to capture the living room, Comcast still dominates.”
In Turkish Films And TV, It’s Ottoman-ia
“Since the lavish, feel-good Turkish epic Conquest 1453 had its premiere this year, its tale of the taking of Constantinople by the 21-year-old Sultan Mehmet II has become the highest-grossing film in Turkey’s history … But its biggest impact may be the cultural triumphalism it has magnified at home.”
Do Movies Still Matter?
“Several industry groups, including the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which awards the Oscars, and the nonprofit American Film Institute, which supports cinema, are privately brainstorming about starting public campaigns to convince people that movies still matter.”
Copyright Run Amok – Faulkner Estate Sues Woody Allen Movie Over Quote
Faulkner Literary Rights, the company that controls works by that Nobel Prize-winning author of “The Sound and the Fury” and “As I Lay Dying,” has filed a lawsuit over Mr. Allen’s 2011 film “Midnight in Paris” and what it says is that movie’s unauthorized use of a line from Faulkner’s book “Requiem for a Nun.”
Australia’s Film Industry Should Probably Turn To China
“In less than two weeks, the shark-in-a-shop film Bait has become the most successful Australian movie ever released in China. Like the sharks themselves, nobody saw it coming, but the success of the 3D horror-comedy points to the potential rewards that await Australian filmmakers in the world’s fastest-growing movie market.”
Movies: SO Not Irrelevant! (Say Movie People)
“Several industry groups, including the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which awards the Oscars, and the nonprofit American Film Institute, which supports cinema, are privately brainstorming about starting public campaigns to convince people that movies still matter.”
Photographing Cinema’s Golden Age
“The whole process of film-making was recorded in exquisite black and white.”
World’s Oldest Voice Recording Can Now Be Heard
“It’s scratchy, lasts only 78 seconds and features the world’s first recorded blooper. The modern masses can now listen to what experts say is the oldest playable recording of an American voice and the first-ever capturing of a musical performance, thanks to digital advances that allowed the sound to be transferred from flimsy tinfoil to computer.” (Audio here)
Media Industry Is Booming In India (But There Are Problems…)
“India, according to the Indian Readership Survey, has more than 82,000 newspapers in many languages, with a total daily circulation of 107m. Taken together, the diverse minority languages account for the most vigorous growth in circulation and revenues.”