Consumer spending on digital home entertainment surged to $48.7 billion last year, up 24% from 2018, according to a new report from the Motion Picture Assn. Worldwide theatrical ticket sales were $42.2 billion, up 1% from the prior year, said the MPA, the Washington-based lobbying group that represents the major Hollywood studios and Netflix. – Los Angeles Times
Category: media
Gov’t Of Catalonia Paid For Documentaries Saying That Cervantes, Shakespeare, Columbus, And Leonardo Were Catalan
The government of the independence-minded Spanish region gave €3 million in subsidies to media companies connected to the New History Institute (INH) and paid €184,000 for the rights to six INH documentaries — films arguing that Cervantes and Shakespeare were a single individual who wrote in Catalan (and that the Spanish Inquisition suppressed his true identity), that Leonardo da Vinci was Catalan, and that not only was Christopher Columbus Catalan but Erasmus of Rotterdam was his illegitimate son. – The Guardian
US Movie Theatres Want To Stay Open During Virus Measures
Almost all cinemas in China — the world’s second-largest moviegoing market behind North America — went dark more than a month ago because of the virus, while all of Italy is now quarantined. Historically, firms in the U.S. have vowed to stay open during various outbreaks, even if business slows to a standstill. – The Hollywood Reporter
A Takeover, And A Crisis, At France’s Best-Known Journal Of Filmmaking
Cahiers du Cinéma, which launched the French New Wave and gave the world the concept of the auteur, was purchased last month by a consortium that includes some of France’s top movie producers. The new owners, hoping to make the studious, and studiously independent, Cahiers more “chic” and “central,” want to invite directors to write for it and to launch a partnership with the Cannes Festival. The entire editorial staff has resigned. – The New Yorker
Video Gaming’s First Superstar Auteur
“How do you explain Hideo Kojima to someone who has never picked up a PlayStation controller? His admirers have often compared him to filmmakers: Quentin Tarantino, David Lynch, George Lucas, James Cameron. … Perhaps more notable than his resemblance to any particular film director is the fact that such a comparison would be made at all.” – The New York Times Magazine
Americans Are Still Going To The Movies
North American audiences are not staying away from theaters amid virus concerns, according to the weekend’s box office numbers. Disney and Pixar’s “Onward” topped the charts as expected and the Ben Affleck basketball drama “The Way Back” also opened normally. – Washington Post
Movie Industry Has Lost $5 Billion In Coronavirus Closures
Widespread cinema closures across China, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan and South Korea have already done drastic damage to the global box office, with one consulting firm suggesting that the loss during China’s new year holiday alone amounts to around $1bn. – The Guardian
The Women Making Simulated Sex Safer For Actors
Picture doing this job: “Alicia Rodis walks onto set in New York with a mission: to oversee the shooting of a very complex – and daring – group sex scene for a TV series on a major US network. She’s there to make sure the director observes the intimacy boundaries set by each of the 30 actors taking part. She keeps track of the conditions of their consent on a big spreadsheet, to make sure everyone is comfortable when the camera rolls.” – BBC
Quibi Is Coming Hard And Fast, Whatever It Actually Is
The short-video media service debuts in April with 50 shows and a lot of Hollywood stars. But seriously: What is it? First of all: Quibi is short (of course) for Quick bites. Cute. – The New York Times
Iran To Imprison Director Who Just Won Golden Bear At Berlin Film Festival
“Mohammad Rasoulof’s [one-year] sentence came from three films he made that authorities found to be ‘propaganda against the system,’ his lawyer [said]. … Rasoulof [received] the Berlin Film Festival’s top prize for his film There Is No Evil. The film tells four stories loosely connected to the use of the death penalty in Iran and dealing with personal freedom under tyranny.” – Yahoo! (AP)