The legendary Marvel Comics, “which owns the rights to the Spider-Man character, has seen its fortunes soar from the “Spider-Man” movies. Over the last four years, thanks in large part to a steady stream of Spidey-related revenue, Marvel has gone from losing tens of millions of dollars a year to turning a profit of $152 million on revenue of $348 million in 2003.”
Tag: 07.19.04
New High-Tech Kick For Arthouse Movie Theatres
The new owners of Landmark Theatres art movie houses “plan to bring big-media ideas of vertical integration to the art house world. The new owners are importing digital technology to Landmark’s 204 screens by equipping each of the 57 theaters in 21 markets with high-definition digital projection by year’s end.”
A Change In Emphasis For NY Historical Society (Is That OK?)
Is the New York Historical Society changing its focus because a donor has dangled a prized collection in front of it? Critics suggest that the collectors chose the society “because its history of financial weakness has left it malleable.”
Duncan: Broadway Is Broken
Sandy Duncan despairs over the state of the Broadway theatre business. “Once an industry run by producers with vision and heart, she says, Broadway has devolved into a business now run by ‘money men who don’t have an eye for the product. It used to be that producers would make a profit, with the idea that they would put that money into a new show. Now, they want to make a killing, and so they’re flogging these shows into 10-, 12-, 14-year runs. It hurts the whole creative community’.”
Poll: Agatha Christie Is Tops At Detective Fiction
A British poll places Agatha Christie as the country’s most popular detective story writer. “Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, came second in the poll of 1,500 people, followed by the United States writer Patricia Cornwell, who was voted into third place for her novels about the forensic psychologist Kay Scarpetta.”
‘Lolita In Teheran’ Is Not Current History
Azar Nafisi’s memoir ‘Reading Lolita in Tehran’ of life and book groups after the Iranian revolution may be a huge bestseller in the United States, but it has yet to be translated into Persian. As a result, almost no Iranians have even heard of the book. Fewer still have read it. Among those who have, however, reactions might fairly be described as mixed.”
Elder Re-signs With Hallé Orchestra
Conductor Mark Elder re-ups as music director of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester. “Elder, music director since 2000, is now acknowledged as the conductor who has probably established the closest rapport with the Hallé since Sir John Barbirolli led it to glory in the postwar years. He has won critical acclaim for his concerts in the Bridgewater Hall and for his recordings on the Hallé’s own label.”
Inside The Philadelphia Orchestra’s Contract Talks
The Philadelphia Orchestra’s negotiations over a new musicians’ contract is contentious. Management wants to cut costs: “Among the options on the table is slashing the minimum salary for musicians by 10 percent, to about $95,000. Another is reducing the orchestra’s size by 10 percent.” The orcehstra also wants to do away with practices such as “paying players 701/2 and older both their $100,000-plus salaries and their $50,000-plus pensions. Management says there are 13 players in that category.”
America – Where We’re Encouraged To Do Anything But Read
Why aren’t we reading more, asks Carlin Romano? Our media encourages us not to. “We’re left with a general media environment in which the readerly commit a kind of cultural suicide in pursuit of the less readerly. In magazine and newspaper offices across the country, well-educated editors stuff their publications with pieces about trash movies, hip-hop hotties, reality-TV spinoffs, and ingénue profiles — then go home and read a book. As print people drive their hordes toward nonprint media, TV folks — supposedly a dimmer breed — cleverly ignore the competition, rarely acknowledging what’s in the local papers and almost never devoting a minute to a nonpresidential book.”
Did Dr. Seuss Take The Fun Out Of Reading?
“When you can point the finger at televisions, and now computers, as the obvious hijackers of the reading habit, why focus on a favorite book? Because the arrival of the cat marked the moment when the traditional line between primer-reading and pleasure-reading began fading rapidly—and along with it a crucial prerequisite (as well as product) of being a real reader: a sense of privacy…”