Category: media

“With at least 70 movies in the 3-D pipeline — including many similar conversion projects — studios and theater owners are betting heavily that audiences will snap up increasingly expensive 3-D tickets. It remains too early to tell whether audiences will rebel at 3-D and what some experts are calling 3-D Lite (movies shot the normal way and converted afterward).”

In the 1980s Disney’s historic animation business was struggling. Then the theatre people arrived…

“Doing television, especially nerd television — two nerds, talking about film culture high and low — means working in a suspended Willy Loman state of feeling “kind of temporary” about yourself (Arthur Miller’s indelible phrase) and your future. The contract says 13 weeks at a time. The marketing chief promises “a soft launch” in terms of promotion, with the implication that “soft” will be the operative word with the promotional follow-through.”

“Among those coming out against the proposed markets … are the Directors Guild of America, the Independent Film and Television Alliance, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and the National Assn. of Theater Owners. The groups sent a letter to the [Commodity Futures Trading Commission] criticizing the idea.”

“Among movies previously envisioned as 2-D productions, Sony is planning a 3-D reworking of its 2011 vampire story ‘Priest,’ while Warners has similar stereoscopic plans for the last two ‘Harry Potter’ films, 2011’s ‘Sucker Punch’ and ‘Green Lantern.’ But the tactic does have its doubters, including ‘Avatar’s’ own.”

“ABC’s Modern Family, Fox’s Glee, HBO’s In Treatment, Kermit and company and Craig Ferguson were among the 36 recipients of Peabody Awards.” Other winners include PBS documentaries Jerome Robbins – Something to Dance About and Inventing LA: The Chandlers and Their Times, public radio host Diane Rehm and the websites of NPR and Sesame Street.

“Of the four films chosen to open and close the Hong Kong International Film Festival, three are by local women. The fourth is by a man who goes by the name of ‘Scud.’ Three out of four is a high proportion for any city, particularly one famous for its macho cinema, where the men are gangsters and kung fu masters and the women are merely pretty.”

“The upturn is welcome news to tens of thousands of workers who work behind the scenes on film sets and who’ve been hard hit by a production downturn over the last two years caused by labor unrest, recession and the migration of work outside of California.” Still, “on-location shoots remain well below the levels of 2007.”

“The elimination of Saturday delivery would mean that Netflix subscribers will have to endure two consecutive days of no service–nothing to scoff at in a time when consumers have come to expect high speeds and (nearly) instant gratification. And Saturday is a big movie day….”

“Using the scrollwork designs and microscopic detailing of the Book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript of the Four Gospels likely dating to the early 8th century, ‘The Secret of Kells’ … evokes the feel of Celtic tradition and a culture long past.”