Category: media

Movie Theatres With Shaking Seats Are Gimmicky – And Also A Good Education In Filmmaking

Basically, The NYT says, you could easily tell how bad Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker was by going to a theatre with 4DX technology. The experience “should really be considered an intellectual exercise. Sure, the wind occasionally makes it hard to hear dialogue, and the flashing lights take you out of the movie when they light up the theater’s walls. But a lot of thought is required to artfully complement a film by adding multisensory elements. Especially when the film itself lacks artfulness.” – The New York Times

Hank Azaria Says He Will Stop Voicing Apu On The Simpsons

But will Apu be retired from the show, or will the show get a new voice actor – perhaps an Indian American voice actor? This has been a long time coming. “In 2017, the comedian Hari Kondabolu’s documentary The Problem With Apu forced Mr. Azaria, who is white, to reckon with his portrayal of the Kwik-E-Mart owner who speaks with a pronounced Indian accent. The film attempted to trace the origin story of Apu and put the character in a broader context of Hollywood depictions of Indians.” – The New York Times

Stephen King’s Twitter Comment About The Oscars Gets At One Of The Academy’s Deepest Problems

These guys just will not accept responsibility. “Diversity is too often discussed as something separate from, or even in conflict with, artistic virtue. It is treated as an abstract concept meant to materialize without industry gatekeepers and Oscar voters, such as King, challenging their own possibly narrow views and instituting different practices. Put more plainly, the lack of representation is regularly talked about as a problem, but one for someone else to solve and for other institutions to address.” – The Atlantic

Hollywood Preps For A Writers’ Strike, But The Landscape Has Dramatically Changed Since The Last One

Streaming was barely a thing back in the day of the last big strike – but it still cost everyone a lot of money and time. “Studios, production companies and guild members are all eager to avoid a sequel to the last major disruption that cost the state an estimated 37,700 jobs and $2.1 billion in lost output from late 2007 through the end of 2008, according to a 2008 Milken Institute report.” – Los Angeles Times

Disney Drops “Fox” From 20th Century Fox Name

The Walt Disney Company bought most of Mr. Murdoch’s entertainment assets last year in a $71.3 billion deal. That included the 20th Century Fox studio and its art-house sibling, Fox Searchlight. On Friday, the employees at the main movie studio arrived to a new email format (@20thcenturystudios) without the Fox. A Disney spokesman confirmed that both labels would drop Fox from their logos. Disney had no further comment. – The New York Times

Hollywood Is Turning To AI To Decide What Movies To Make

No, machines aren’t writing usable scripts. (Yet.) But we all know about projects that seemed terrific on paper but turned out to be disastrous bombs — and about sleeper hits that seemed very niche but caught on. Now companies like Cinelytic and ScriptBook say that their AI software can analyze the qualities of a script and cast, compare them with large quantities of data on what films have and haven’t attracted a sizable audience, and predict how well a given project will do. And these companies claim far higher accuracy rates than those of human studio execs. Journalist Steve Rise investigates. – The Guardian

Hollywood Talent Agencies Face Uncertain Times

Agencies are under growing pressure “to scale up and adapt to a changing media industry. The rise of streaming and the expected decline of TV packaging — where agencies collect fees for packaging talent on shows — combined with the effects of the longstanding writers boycott, have squeezed talent agencies, some of which have weathered high-level executive turnover, laid off workers and cut back on overtime pay for assistants.” – Los Angeles Times

How To Save The Oscars From The Academy

At the moment, the Oscars reflect the Academy, but the Academy reflects nothing but its august name; plausible deniability and the shunning of responsibility are built into the current system. Paradoxically, counting only votes from members with a stake in the image of the industry put forth by the industry would cast onto the Oscars the sharp light of accountability, would be, in effect, a truth-in-awards program.” – The New Yorker