Category: media

“Films that embody ‘conservative’ values such as capitalism and Christian belief are more likely to prove profitable than those which take a more ‘liberal’ standpoint, according to a US group called Movieguide, which promotes the former.”

“Cannes will bristle. The bigwigs at Venice may twirl. There’s a major new cinema event on the scene: the inaugural moustache film festival, to be held in Portland, Maine on 30 March. The festival is an offshoot of the annual Stache Pag, a moustache pageant showcasing the best in east coast facial hair.”

“Gross box-office revenue in Canada for the year totalled $1.001-billion, a 3 per cent decline from 2010. Canadian films accounted for about 3 per cent of that, grossing $28.3-million in total, down 16 per cent from the $33.5-million tallied in 2010.”

“Last year’s top five had one film, the fourth Twilight, with a US setting; two, if you count the last Transformers, which really belongs to the multimillion-dollar globetrotters that rule the roost now. The new orthodoxy is: if a film is set in America, with strong American themes, the less chance it stands in the new globalised mainstream.”

Sure, it makes sense that India would forbid The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo – all that rape and violence. But Burma/Myanmar banned The Simpsons Movie over pigment, the French government cut the entire second half of an African art documentary, Ireland banned the Marx Brothers’ Monkey Business for anarchy, and China blocks all films depicting time travel.

“Overall, Madonna’s show was more popular viewing by nearly a 16 percent margin over the game itself – and TiVo said it wasn’t because so many viewers rewound to watch rapper M.I.A give them the finger, though the company is checking to see if the controversy encourages those who recorded the Super Bowl to go back to that moment and see it for themselves.”

“Right now, the U.S. Supreme Court is in the midst of considering the FCC’s constitutional allowances to police indecency, and until that happens, the rulebook is in flux as the 2nd Circuit has already struck down some of the agency’s policies on naughty words on broadcast television.”

“Verizon Communications Inc and Coinstar’s Redbox unit have formed a joint venture to sell video services aimed at competing against video rental giant Netflix Inc. The venture will combine the Redbox DVD rental kiosk business with an Internet video offering from Verizon, including mobile offerings, in the second half of the year.”

“More than 60% of the 2 billion-plus hours of video streamed by Netflix subscribers during the fourth quarter of 2011 originated on the small screen.” So the company is quickly adding content to its streaming library, including old, now-cancelled programs as well as a made-for-Netflix series.