“The first two “Left Behind” DVD’s have sold a combined six million copies, which represents nearly $100 million in consumer spending, according to DVD Exclusive, a trade journal.” But besides, DVD sales, churches across America, thousands of them, have signe don to show movies…
Tag: 11.13.05
Of Icons And Movie Stars
“At least for the moment, movie stars still serve as the gold standard of modern fame. Indeed, the rise of cheap, interchangeable, mass-produced celebrity may have endowed those whose primary medium is the big screen with a bit of added gravity, renewing their license to be taken (or to take themselves) seriously. Their fame remains a unique form of cultural capital, a resource that can sometimes be converted into influence or power.”
Most of Stolen Iraqi Art Still Not Recovered
Of the some 14,000 artifacts stolen in Iraq, only about 5,500 have been recovered. “US military sources say forces in Iraq have no systematic way of investigating the missing objects, and in the ongoing insurgency neither US or Iraqi forces can justify using scarce manpower to guard sites in the countryside, where widespread looting has continued since the March 2003 US invasion. Law enforcement organizations worldwide are chasing the lost items, but their representatives said there is no systematic coordination, and they are relying on a shifting set of ad hoc partnerships to bring the thieves to account.”
A Recorded History Of Washington’s National Symphony
Washington’s National Symphony provides a portrait of itself with a release of historical recordings showcasing its 75-year history. The discs take the group from its formative years under Hans Kindler and Howard Mitchell through the tenures of Antal Dorati, Mstislav Rostropovich and its current music director, Leonard Slatkin.
Three Small DC Theatres That Rock
Three small Washington DC theatres are making names for themselves. “What distinguishes Catalyst, Rorschach and Theater Alliance from the dozens of other upstart troupes is not only a certain consistency but also the sense that these three companies have broken through. In the choice of projects — whether an experimental twist on a classic, a resurrection of an obscure, centuries-old play or the first American presentation of a modern work by a foreign writer — there’s a level of daring in their offerings. The nerviness of some selections reflects an effort to challenge as well as to entertain.”
The Virtual Theatre Stage
“The Woman in White” is the first Broadway show in which “computer-animated images completely dominate the stage. Projections appear on six, 16½-foot-tall curved gray screens that move around the edge of the stage in a circle. Think of the computer animation in a Pixar movie like “Toy Story,” with a more realistic, less cartoonish look. The setting can change instantly: as two characters tour an estate, the actors stay put as the background dissolves from one room to another. Or, the animation can take the audience through a three-dimensional environment, over fields, houses, churches and graveyards.”
Why DVD’s Make Or Break A Movie Studio
“A typical studio movie costs nearly $100 million: an average of $63.6 million to make and $34.4 million to market. Theater exhibitors – Regal, AMC, Loews, and the like – generally keep 50 percent of their box-office sales, which means that a movie must sell nearly $200 million worth of tickets worldwide to return $100 million to the studio and thus break even in its theatrical release. Since few movies earn that much at the box office, the studios have increasingly relied on the home-video market, where the equation is much more in their favor, to help recover losses and make a profit.”
Where Are The New Great American Voices?
“American vocal training has long been bruited as the best in the world and is supposed to be better than ever. Yet there has been no commensurate rise in great new talents. One clear measure of the problem is the system’s inability to deal effectively with large voices and talents like Ms. Wilson’s. It seems to favor lighter, flexible voices that can perform a wide range of material accurately, rather than the powerful, thrilling, concert-hall-filling voices on which live opera ultimately relies for its survival.”
The Getty’s Very Bad Year
“The festering problems at the Getty Trust burst into view in October 2004, following the abrupt resignation of Getty Museum director Deborah Gribbon from one of the most coveted posts in the field. Without elaborating, Gribbon cited sharp philosophical differences with Munitz. Since then the scene has grown increasingly bleak. How did things get so bad?”
David Robertson – The Hope Of Classical Music?
“With an arrestingly open and curious mind, a rascally sense of humor and an energizing and controversial conducting technique, he has risen from relative obscurity to prominence in a few short years. Not only is he viewed by many as the savior of this once-major orchestra (St. Louis) crippled by deficits and a recent strike — it will give two concerts this week at Carnegie Hall — but the New York Philharmonic clearly has its eye and ear on him as a potential successor to Lorin Maazel, who is scheduled to step down in 2009.”