Category: media

“As Hollywood increasingly looks to the summer months for big returns, the drive-in exhibition model has unexpectedly moved into a position of box-office clout. “

“Far from being killed by the internet, television viewing has never been more popular. Some in the industry claim TV is now set to be the dominant partner, creatively at least.”

Mark Kermode: “This has become the shrieking refrain of 21st-century film (anti)culture – the idea that critics are just too clever for their own good, have seen too many movies to know what the average punter wants, and are therefore sorely unqualified to pass judgment on the popcorn fodder that “real” cinema-goers demand from the movies. This is baloney.”

“If you strip away the art that the folks in the Creative Arts part of the Emmy world are responsible for, those programs would be pretty naked as an art form.”

“These two film-review aggregators, Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes, are becoming increasingly influential as studios look to such sites to help create a critical chorus for films, especially for the growing area of online home video.”

“The box-office taint on movies with a perceived political bent, combined with the budget pressures that combat narratives bring, have made many contemporary war stories seem too risky for the studios.”

A.O. Scott: “For those of us who believe that any movie worth seeing is worth arguing about – and vice versa – summer can be a season of malaise. … So it is cause for rejoicing when something” – i.e., The Help, The Future, and The Tree of Life – “comes along that raises hackles and polarizes opinions, stirring up passionate quarrels, both private and public, in which more seems to be at stake than who liked what.”

Sean Hood: “When you work ‘above the line’ on a movie (writer, director, actor, producer, etc.) watching it flop at the box office is devastating. I had such an experience during the opening weekend of Conan the Barbarian 3D.”

“The Nordicity study, based on numbers from 2004-05 to 2007-08, found that for every $1-million of a TV series’ or movie budget, a Canadian project created about double the jobs of an international co-production. But the study also found that majority Canadian co-productions, in which Canada was the lead partner, also generated double the number of jobs as minority co-productions.”

“This is the most toxic issue in television right now. Women viewers are coveted by broadcasters and advertisers and vast amounts of money are spent on creating shows to reach these viewers, and yet the number of women involved seems to be diminishing.”