Canadian Movie Box Office Down Slightly In 2011 "Gross box-office revenue in Canada for the year totalled $1.001-billion, a 3 per cent decline from 2010. Canadian films accounted for about 3 per cent of that, grossing $28.3-million in total, down 16 per cent from the $33.5-million tallied in 2010."

The Globe & Mail (Canada) 02/09/12

email this story | Posted 02/09/12@08:02AM

America's Global Blockbusters Are No Longer Set In America "Last year's top five had one film, the fourth Twilight, with a US setting; two, if you count the last Transformers, which really belongs to the multimillion-dollar globetrotters that rule the roost now. The new orthodoxy is: if a film is set in America, with strong American themes, the less chance it stands in the new globalised mainstream."

The Guardian (UK) 02/08/12

email this story | Posted 02/08/12@11:53PM

Foreign Countries Ban American Movies For The Darnedest Reasons Sure, it makes sense that India would forbid The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - all that rape and violence. But Burma/Myanmar banned The Simpsons Movie over pigment, the French government cut the entire second half of an African art documentary, Ireland banned the Marx Brothers' Monkey Business for anarchy, and China blocks all films depicting time travel.

The Atlantic (Flavorwire) 02/06/12

email this story | Posted 02/08/12@11:52PM

Top-Rated Part Of SuperBowl 2012? Madonna "Overall, Madonna's show was more popular viewing by nearly a 16 percent margin over the game itself - and TiVo said it wasn't because so many viewers rewound to watch rapper M.I.A give them the finger, though the company is checking to see if the controversy encourages those who recorded the Super Bowl to go back to that moment and see it for themselves."

The Hollywood Reporter 02/07/12

email this story | Posted 02/07/12@06:54AM

M.I.A.'s Middle Finger Salute During Super Bowl Broadcast Unlikely To Rouse FCC "Right now, the U.S. Supreme Court is in the midst of considering the FCC's constitutional allowances to police indecency, and until that happens, the rulebook is in flux as the 2nd Circuit has already struck down some of the agency's policies on naughty words on broadcast television."

The Hollywood Reporter 02/07/12

email this story | Posted 02/07/12@06:49AM

Verizon And Redbox Join Forces To Compete With Netflix "Verizon Communications Inc and Coinstar's Redbox unit have formed a joint venture to sell video services aimed at competing against video rental giant Netflix Inc. The venture will combine the Redbox DVD rental kiosk business with an Internet video offering from Verizon, including mobile offerings, in the second half of the year."

Reuters 02/06/12

email this story | Posted 02/06/12@11:59PM

Meanwhile, Netflix Is Morphing Into A TV-Streaming Company "More than 60% of the 2 billion-plus hours of video streamed by Netflix subscribers during the fourth quarter of 2011 originated on the small screen." So the company is quickly adding content to its streaming library, including old, now-cancelled programs as well as a made-for-Netflix series.

Los Angeles Times 02/05/12

email this story | Posted 02/06/12@11:55PM

Béla Tarr Says He Has Quit Filmmaking The 58-year-old Hungarian director, best-known (or most notorious) for the seven-and-a-half-hour Sátántangó, has confirmed that his most recent work, The Turin Horse, is his last. "It is an extraordinary move from a man who has won rabid devotees as a standard-bearer for art-house modernism."

The New York Times 02/05/12 (includes slideshow)

email this story | Posted 02/05/12@11:57PM

Iranian Hardliners Dismiss Foreign Film Oscar Favorite As 'Dirty Movie' "The backlash [against Asghar Farhadi's A Separation] was apparent on state-run television recently when Masoud Ferasati, an Iranian writer whose views are close to those of the Islamic regime, said: 'The image of our society that A Separation depicts is the dirty picture westerners are wishing for'."

The Observer (UK) 02/05/12

email this story | Posted 02/05/12@02:07PM

The Dardenne Brothers On Directing Child Actors "Many directors have said that you can't direct a child. ... It's a delicate balancing act. If you direct or instruct him too much, he's a child doing what an adult is telling him to do."

Slate (Financial Times) 02/04/12

email this story | Posted 02/05/12@11:40AM

What The Posters For The Best Picture Nominees Should Really Say The Guardian has mocked up a few entertaining suggestions. For example, a tagline and title for The Help: "You're welcome, black people. - White People Solve Racism"

The Guardian (UK) 02/03/12

email this story | Posted 02/05/12@10:47AM

Cast The 2012 Republican Primary! (HBO, Are You Listening?) It's the party game for non-Super Bowl fans! When Newt Gingrich suggested this week - in all seriousness - that Brad Pitt should play him in a biopic, Slate staffers got the idea of deciding (a) which actor each candidate thinks should play him/her, and (b) which actor really should play which candidate.

Slate 02/03/12

email this story | Posted 02/05/12@10:44AM

Film School-As-Deeply-Seductive-Drug "Film school can be a cruelly Darwinian place, with the push-and-pull of competition and friendship, multiple layers of contest and reward, and a rigid hierarchy in which some write and direct and others find themselves unloading trucks and picking up coffee. Students want to be clever, perfect, special, the best. Competition infuses and informs every aspect of the experience."

LA Review of Books 02/01/12

email this story | Posted 02/03/12@08:46AM

Piracy Is The New Radio? "Comparing piracy to radio is a smart way of looking at the issue: in the early days of the music business, when live performances and record sales were the main revenue generator for artists and publishers, radio itself was seen as a form of piracy (as sheet music was before that)."

GigaOm 02/03/12

email this story | Posted 02/03/12@06:42AM

Survey: TV Viewers Want Better Actor Credits "According to the survey, the majority of television viewers believe credits are important for both actors and audiences and more than half would like to see credits available online as well as on television."

The Stage 02/02/12

email this story | Posted 02/02/12@09:14AM

Digital Forensics - Reconstructing The Artist's Process "Born-digital materials allow access to these kinds of revisions, and the timing, much more than paper drafts would have."

The New York Times 02/01/12

email this story | Posted 02/02/12@09:10AM

Writer Sues Weinstein Company Over Royalty Payments For "The Reader" Bernard "Schlink, who filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday, claims he is entitled to between 2.5 percent and 5 percent of gross receipts from the film, which won Kate Winslet an Oscar for best actress, based on a $1.5 million option deal he signed in 1998 with the Weinsteins' former company Miramax."

The Hollywood Reporter 02/01/12

email this story | Posted 02/02/12@08:28AM

Britain's Young Black Actors Should Go To America, Says Top British Black Actor David Harewood, Birmingham-born star of US cable series Homeland: "Unfortunately there really aren't that many roles for authoritative, strong, black characters in this country. We just don't write those characters, that's a fact. ... I would encourage, particularly young, black actors, to get to America ... as quickly as they can."

The Telegraph (UK) 01/31/12

email this story | Posted 02/02/12@12:06AM

Film Banned For Blasphemy Finally Cleared For UK Release "The controversial short film Visions of Ecstasy has been given an 18 certificate by the British Board of Film Certification (BBFC), after being denied one for 23 years and becoming the only film banned in Britain for 'blasphemous libel'."

The Guardian (UK) 01/31/12

email this story | Posted 01/31/12@11:50PM

New "Micro-Licenses" For Copyright Aim To Get You To Pay For That Soundtrack For Your Wedding Video "Industry watchers say that many potential licensees have been perplexed by the complexity of rights management since different copyrights exist for the lyrics, score and recording of a song. That means that three or more parties might have to give permission before a track could be used."

BBC 01/30/12

email this story | Posted 01/31/12@04:53AM

Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Film Banned In India "Oscar-nominated crime thriller The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo will not be shown in India after director David Fincher refused to cut scenes depicting rape and sexual intercourse."

The Guardian (UK) 01/30/12

email this story | Posted 01/31/12@12:05AM

Agnieszka Holland Unexpectedly Meets Subject Of Her Latest Film In Darkness "tells the true story of a small group of Jews who hid in the sewer system below Lvov for 14 months and survived the German occupation of Poland during World War II." Holland had presumed that, by now, everyone in that group had passed away. Then she received an e-mail from Long Island ...

The Wall Street Journal 01/27/12

email this story | Posted 01/31/12@12:00AM

Videogamers Go On Non-Killing Spree "Videogames have long been assailed for their violent themes and gruesome imagery. But a small slice of players has embraced a new strategy: not killing. They are imparting real-world morals on their virtual-world characters and completing entire games on a 'pacifist run" - the term for beating a blood-and-guts adventure without drawing any blood."

The Wall Street Journal 01/31/12

email this story | Posted 01/30/12@11:49PM

Netflix Starts Streaming Original Series "Lilyhammer" is the first of five original series Netflix is developing as exclusive content for its 23.5 million streaming subscribers. The company, based in Los Gatos, Calif., is betting its future on streaming original content after losing nearly 2.8 million DVD-by-mail subscribers during the fourth quarter of 2011.

The Wall Street Journal 01/30/12

email this story | Posted 01/30/12@06:34AM

DreamWorks Has Successful Movies, And No More Funding "Can a faltering film industry sustain a company that insists on making ambitious, Oscar-caliber, studio-size films -- but without the deep pockets of a Viacom, which owns Paramount Pictures, or a News Corporation, the parent of 20th Century Fox?"

The New York Times 01/29/12

email this story | Posted 01/29/12@08:38PM

When Parker Posey's Worried About Indie Films, It's Time To Get Stressed "(Independent movies) used to be made to say something, to make us question our culture, to wake us up. But I don't see that anymore," says Parker, star of such indie faves as television's Parks and Rec and many a Christopher Guest movie.

Canada.com 01/29/12

email this story | Posted 01/29/12@08:26PM

Two Big Entertainment Unions Vote To Join Forces Both SAG and AFTRA boards voted overwhelmingly to merge the two entertainment groups into one. Now the merger idea goes before the memberships, which together are comprised of about 175,000 actors, extras, stunt performers, singers, dancers, broadcast journalists and talk show hosts.

Los Angeles Times 01/28/12

email this story | Posted 01/29/12@08:01PM

Why Wasn't That Will Smith Vehicle Called 'Tonight, He Comes'? (Because TItles Change, Thankfully) "When a secretary's typo changed the James Bond project Tomorrow Never Lies into Tomorrow Never Dies, I'd say she deserved a raise. And is there any question that the horror film originally called Hunter improved its box-office prospects when producers renamed it Predator?"

NPR 01/27/12

email this story | Posted 01/29/12@08:17AM

Will Amazon Beat Netflix, Apple And Everyone Else At Streaming? Amazon sure wants to - and it's poised to take over the streaming world, eventually. But Netflix, Hulu and Apple may have a few tricks up their sleeves.

Wired 01/28/12

email this story | Posted 01/29/12@08:07AM

These Actors May Be Dead, But Why Are They So Gone? "Many celebrated stars of earlier days are off the screen. And it breaks my heart to say their names. ... Unless you are film aficionados or watch Turner Classic Movies, these names are meaningless to those who could be my grandchildren."

National Post (Canada) 01/28/12

email this story | Posted 01/29/12@08:01AM

In A World Where Preview Voiceovers Are Performed By Men, Women Want In On The Action "What gender is the voice of God? The question has been pondered by mystics through the ages, but in the sanctuary of cinema the voice of a sonorous, authoritative, fear-inspiring yet sometimes relatable presence is, invariably, that of a man."

The New York Times 01/27/12

email this story | Posted 01/29/12@08:01AM

Why Doesn't Oscar Like Comedies? "After all, only one comedy has won Best Picture in the last 30 years. And Shakespeare in Love was a laugh riot, wasn't it?"

The Atlantic 01/25/12

email this story | Posted 01/26/12@11:55PM

Pakistani TV Program Plays Moral Police, Infuriating Many "Panting breathlessly and trailed by a cameraman, [a] group of about 15 women chased after ... girls and boys sitting quietly on benches overlooking the Arabian Sea or strolling under the trees. The women peppered them with questions: What were they doing? Did their parents know? Were they engaged?"

The New York Times 01/27/12

email this story | Posted 01/26/12@11:52PM

When Jim Henson Went Avant-Garde "In 1964, exactly a decade after creating his original Muppets for Sesame Street predecessor Sam + Friends, Jim Henson wrote, produced, directed, and starred in a short experimental film titled Time Piece, exploring in a visceral way the effect time-keeping has on all of us."

Brain Pickings 01/26/12 (includes video clip)

email this story | Posted 01/26/12@11:48PM

Arts On Demand - A New Hibrow Arts Service "Hibrow is the brainchild of film-maker Don Boyd, and allows members of the public to watch entire productions and performances from a variety of arts organisations - including the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh - whose productions have been captured by a specially assembled production team."

TheStage 01/25/12

email this story | Posted 01/26/12@09:52AM

Meet The Coppolas Of Brazil "Sometimes they limit themselves simply to producing movies, though on many other occasions they have also written, directed or actually filmed them. But by any standard the Barretos - Luiz Carlos and Lucy and their children, Bruno, Fábio and Paula - are the first family of cinema in Brazil."

The New York Times 01/22/12

email this story | Posted 01/25/12@11:46PM

What This Year's Oscar Nominations Say About The New Hollywood "Most of this year's nominees were developed by studios in-house, appearing to validate a renewed willingness in Hollywood to risk money on films that have little hope of breaking the $100 million ticket-sales barrier."

The Wall Street Journal 01/25/12

email this story | Posted 01/25/12@05:32AM

Hollywood's Take On Black Culture - More Yesterday Than Today? "It's easy enough to understand why -- the present is less comfortable, while the past offers the opportunity to show the struggles and hurdles for people of color. But where are the movies that chronicle today's African American experience? Or for that matter, films that offer any kind of serious look at any people of color, be they Asian, Latino or black?"

Los Angeles Times 01/23/12

email this story | Posted 01/24/12@09:07AM

The 2012 Oscar Nominations A list...

Los Angeles Times 01/24/12

email this story | Posted 01/24/12@09:01AM

This Year's Sundance - Subdued And Unenthusiastic "Enthusiasm for the movies here has been hard to come by, and disenchantment has been a more common response to the higher-profile films scheduled in the festival's Premiere section."

Boston Globe 01/24/12

email this story | Posted 01/24/12@08:59AM