Category: media

“Oprah Winfrey plans to … retire the Chicago-based syndicated talk show that made her rich, famous and, if not a kingmaker, a maker of a media empire, several bestselling authors and perhaps even a U.S. President.” When her syndication contract ends in 2011, she will devote her energies to her new cable TV network.

“A medium-sized popcorn and medium soda at the nation’s largest movie chain pack the nutritional equivalent of three Quarter Pounders topped with 12 pats of butter, according to a report released today by the advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest.”

“A few weeks ago Crazy Heart was just another invisible movie, one with so little promise that the company that made it refused to put it into theaters. Now, suddenly, this low-budget film about a washed-up country singer finds itself at the heart of the Oscar race, with … its star, Jeff Bridges, a likely best actor candidate.”

“‘Analyses of 914 films released between 2001 and 2005 indicated that sex and nudity do not, on the average, boost box office performance, earn critical acclaim or win major awards,’ reports a new study titled ‘Sex Doesn’t Sell – Nor Impress’.”

“The lack of depth has led to a slew of awards-season chatter, from the expected downplaying — all categories are cyclical — to blanket explanations about studios making fewer awards movies in general. If the latter explanation were a factor, best actor also would be weak this year. It’s not. … So what’s really going on here?”

“More than 200 directors, producers and screenwriters withdrew 52 films from the [Thessaloniki Film Festival], undermining the state awards, which selects winners from Greek films that unspool at the fest.” Filmmakers were protesting the nation’s film funding laws.

“The WGA West’s 2009 Hollywood Writers Report finds ‘little if any’ improvement in employment and earnings for women and minority writers. The report … found that women scribes remain stuck at 28% of TV employment and 18% in features while the minority share has been frozen at 6% since 1999.”

“As DVD sales decline, Hollywood studios are looking for ways to get movies straight to consumers’ living rooms. This has some industry insiders worried that Hollywood is jeopardizing its most valuable asset: the theatrical release date. The movie industry is looking to change the way it distributes content.”

A “former head of Paramount Motion Pictures certainly sounded like the right man to build a huge movie and TV studio in Massachusetts,” but his $650 million plan for “14 sound stages and a virtual entertainment city in the woods of Plymouth” has been “marred by over-the-top claims, broken promises, legal infighting, and the chronic lack of one crucial ingredient: money.”

“Cable TV operator Comcast Corp. is expected to buy a controlling stake in NBC Universal, perhaps as early as next week, bringing the network of Johnny Carson, Jerry Seinfeld, Bob Hope, Milton Berle and Tom Brokaw under the corporate control of the company that owns the Golf Channel and E! Entertainment Television.”