It’s been quite a while since Paramount Pictures decided to cede the blockbuster ground to other Hollywood studios, and to content itself with a product comprising something less than top-flight material and A-list stars. But “after many years of putting out formulaic, B-grade thrillers fueled by a philosophy of sticking to mid-range budgets and lesser-known stars, Paramount is on a mission to turn things around,” and they’re putting out the word that they’re not afraid to spend whatever it takes.
Tag: 03.31.04
TV: It’s A Gay Old Time
Gay culture is hip on TV, where it’s become a popular part of mainstream TV fare. Why? “A number of factors have coalesced to fuel the mainstream media’s appetite for all things fabulous. Not least the fact that gay culture is frequently viewed as more trend-savvy, fashion-forward and rampantly creative than the rather dreary heterosexual one – which, quite frankly, is screaming out for a good zhuzhing.”
Get Your Budget Opera Here
Raymond Gubbay’s new Savoy Opera is preparing to make its debut. But can the company succeed as London’s third opera house? “Their idea is to present accessible opera sung in English for the price of a West End show (highest ticket price £49.50, whereas at the Royal Opera the best seats for the most sought-after shows cost £170). They want to tempt in the sort of audience who might go to Holland Park Opera or Gubbay’s Albert Hall extravaganzas, but who might find the aura associated with Covent Garden or the Coliseum off-putting.”
A Skylon In London’s Future?
“An ambitious plan to recreate the Skylon, the glittering spaceship-like spearhead which once rose over London as a symbol of Britain’s postwar resurgence, has been put to the South Bank Centre. The structure, 88 metres (290 feet high) in internally lit aluminium-clad steel, would rise again near the Royal Festival Hall, upriver from the London Eye, only yards from where it stood as one of the two centrepieces of the Festival of Britain. The original Skylon, built in the last year of the postwar Labour government and immensely popular as a futuristic shape, was vengefully scrapped, cut in pieces and sold as ashtrays by an incoming Conservative administration.”