3D Movies Seem To Be Losing Their Allure "On the big family films there seems to be a lower proportion of people opting to choose 3D. There were very successful films like Madagascar 3 and Brave, and only about a third of their total revenue came from 3D ticket sales."

BBC 06/14/13

email this story | Posted 06/17/13@04:32AM

Gamers Rally Against Microsoft "Innovation" "Microsoft is promising new experiences with the Xbox One, which will require a constant Internet connection, because hundreds of thousands of machines in the cloud will enhance an individual console's computational power. But players seem to be hearing only what is being taken away by Microsoft's online monitoring of their gaming: the ability to resell or give away your games to whomever you choose, whenever you choose."

The New York Times 06/15/13

email this story | Posted 06/17/13@04:27AM

PBS' NewsHour Struggles To Survive "A deep financing crisis forcing layoffs and other cutbacks this week, some public television employees believe that format -- and a general unwillingness to embrace the digital realities facing journalism -- may be jeopardizing the program's future."

The New York Times 06/15/13

email this story | Posted 06/17/13@04:23AM

Can Another Damned Serial Killer TV Show Actually Be Good For Women? "The show brings up countless grisly detective show tropes, only to explicitly shatter them."

Salon 06/16/13

email this story | Posted 06/16/13@06:41PM

Secret Power Struggles Fill Back Rooms Of The Academy The new Oscars prez will be in place "to finish a $300 million movie museum whose 200 or so employees will line up with an existing academy staff about 260; to sort out contract renewals for two top executives; and to wrestle anew with perennial questions about the sustainability of the academy's crown jewel and primary source of income, the annual Oscar ceremony."

The New York Times 06/16/13

email this story | Posted 06/16/13@06:07PM

How Hollywood Made NSA Surveillance Feel Acceptable (Thanks A LOT, Guys) The NSA and Hollywood "have been feeling each other up at arm's length for decades, but after the 9/11 era, the romance became official."

The Guardian (UK) 06/16/13

email this story | Posted 06/16/13@06:03PM

Note To Self: Do Not Believe Historical TV Shows Are Actually About History Blackadder, the (hilarious) British series, "can be viewed as a kind of satire of school history books and the weird mishmash of fact and exaggeration that is left in many people's heads a couple of decades after their last history lesson."

BBC 06/14/13

email this story | Posted 06/16/13@08:50AM

It's The Golden Age Of Television, Blah Blah Blah -- Really? "People really got smart about this and realized that the material should dictate the medium, not the other way around. That all of our shows here would not make good movies."

Los Angeles Times 06/14/13

email this story | Posted 06/16/13@08:35AM

Yep, Hollywood Is Totally Broken (And You Know Why: Technology) "There was none of the extra cash that fueled competitive commerce, gut calls, or real movies, the extra spec script purchase, the pitch culture, the grease that fueled the Old Abnormal: the way things had always been done. We were running on empty, searching for sources of new revenue."

Salon 06/15/13

email this story | Posted 06/16/13@08:01AM

Spielberg Predicts Collapse Of The Movie Industry "Steven Spielberg on Wednesday predicted an "implosion" in the film industry is inevitable, whereby a half dozen or so $250 million movies flop at the box office and alter the industry forever."

The Hollywood Reporter 06/13/13

email this story | Posted 06/14/13@07:55AM

Should We Expect More From Minority Producers? "I put my hand up and admit I do expect more from minority producers. Is it fair? No, not really. Yet it is a symptom of a bigger problem."

New Statesman 06/07/13

email this story | Posted 06/13/13@07:23AM

Study: TV Talent Shows Boost Arts Participation "A quarter of UK adults have taken more of an interest in singing, dancing and other areas of the performing arts because of reality TV shows, new research has revealed."

The Stage 06/11/13

email this story | Posted 06/13/13@06:35AM

Greece's Public Broadcaster Will Be Back Soon, Say Officials "The government promised to relaunch ERT within weeks, saying it was taken off air so suddenly only due to fears that workers would damage state equipment. ... Many Greeks have little love for ERT journalists and the state broadcaster is often cited as an example of inefficiency, overspending and jobs given in return for political favors. ... About 2,000 of its 2,600 employees are non-journalists."

Reuters 06/12/13

email this story | Posted 06/13/13@12:57AM

Pay Your Interns, Judge Orders Hollywood Studio "A Federal District Court in Manhattan ruled on Tuesday that Fox Searchlight Pictures violated federal and New York state minimum wage laws by not paying production interns who, Judge William H. Pauley III said, were effectively regular employees on the set of Black Swan."

Salon 06/12/13

email this story | Posted 06/13/13@12:53AM

Trauma Queens: Women Who Love Law & Order: SVU Emily Nussbaum: "The audience was two-thirds female, young women, for the most part - the same demographic that drives fan fiction, romance novels, and vampire stories. 'Oh, you enjoy this, do you?' an angry john says, in the SVU pilot. 'Is this how you get your rocks off?' He's talking to some detectives, but he might as well have been addressing viewers, for whom the show's pulp appeal was simultaneously addictive and faintly shameful."

The New Yorker 06/10/13

email this story | Posted 06/13/13@12:46AM

Chicago WBEZ Public Radio Ditches Its Arts Critics "They want audience participation. They want call-ins. Given that, they don't have any use for experts."

Chicago Reader 06/11/13

email this story | Posted 06/12/13@09:20AM

Greece Shuts Down Its Public Broadcaster For Reorganization "The Greek government has shut down the public broadcaster ERT, calling it a 'haven of waste'. ... While all 2,500 employees would be sacked, [said a government spokesman,] they would be paid compensation and would be able to apply for work when the corporation relaunches as a smaller, independent public broadcaster."

BBC 06/11/13

email this story | Posted 06/12/13@12:55AM

Why Does Hollywood Kill Off Its Gay Characters? "Since Philadelphia there have been, by my count, 257 Academy Award-nominated portrayals of heterosexual characters, and 23 of gay, bisexual or transsexual characters. Of the heterosexual characters, 16.5% (59) die. Of the LGBT characters, 56.5% (13) die. Of the 10 LGBT characters who live, only four get happy endings. That's four characters in 19 years."

The Guardian (UK) 06/11/13

email this story | Posted 06/11/13@08:35AM

Russian LGBT Film Festival Declared 'Foreign Agent' And Fined "A St. Petersburg LGBT film festival has been branded a 'foreign agent' and fined 500,000 rubles ($15,500) under a recently adopted law which is largely seen as a tool to crack down on nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)."

The Hollywood Reporter 06/07/13

email this story | Posted 06/11/13@12:54AM

XBox Takes A Swing At Classical Music "The game aims to put players into that oversized starry blue hat of Mickey Mouse's, letting them conduct a virtual orchestra with their hands in front of the Xbox camera, changing the feel of the music to fit their whims."

Wired 06/09/13

email this story | Posted 06/10/13@02:28PM

Google Can Now Predict Movie Box Office With Amazing Accuracy "Google says that four weeks before a film is released, search volume for its trailer can predict its opening box office with 94 percent accuracy when factoring in its status and the time of year."

Huffington Post 06/06/013

email this story | Posted 06/10/13@07:31AM

You're Making A Movie About A Political Philosopher - How Cinematic Is *That*? What you need are some gossipy letters, a few love affairs, and the trial of the century.

Los Angeles Times 06/09/13

email this story | Posted 06/09/13@06:45PM

Stuck in 'Women's Work' Roles In Canadian Film "In an industry that's so dependent on women in front of the camera - hello, Rachel McAdams, Jessica Paré, Kim Cattrall - the situation for Canadian women behind the camera is a bit of a horror movie."

The Globe & Mail (Canada) 06/08/13

email this story | Posted 06/09/13@06:30PM

In The Era Of Remixing, Fans Make Series Their Own "Bootleg efforts are requiring producers of original content to grapple with what this means for their art form and how it affects their relationship with their fans."

The New York Times 06/09/13

email this story | Posted 06/09/13@05:47PM

The Metafunding Of A Documentary About Kickstarter "The film, 'Kickstarted,' is to chronicle the rise of this revolutionary form of financing creative projects by focusing on the people behind some of the most high-profile campaigns." You can help fund the film on Kickstarter, of course.

Los Angeles Times 06/07/13

email this story | Posted 06/09/13@09:01AM

So, How *Was* That 'Red Wedding' Episode Filmed? [Major Spoilers In Article] "'I wanted then to move into unusually bright light, by Game of Thrones' standards, for the feast,' McLachlan said. 'I had the art department add a great deal more candlesticks and torches than they wanted.'"

Canada.com 06/07/13

email this story | Posted 06/09/13@08:33AM

How A Turkish Game Show Undermined Censorship Of The Protests "The country's three main television networks (including CNN Turkey) have almost completely ignored the demonstrations ... That's because government censors are allowed to restrict news media when 'public health and morals, national security, public order, public safety, and the unity of the land are at stake.' But that didn't stop one wily show from finding its way around the media blackout."

The Atlantic 06/06/13

email this story | Posted 06/07/13@01:02AM

Hollywood's Over-40 Actresses Are Refusing To Fade Away Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy "are but two of the over-40 actresses whose careers aren't just thriving but dominating big castings in Hollywood. For decades, middle-aged actresses largely were relegated to the sidelines in studio films, fighting for supporting roles." No more.

The Hollywood Reporter 06/05/13

email this story | Posted 06/07/13@12:51AM

But Why Is Hollywood Minting Fewer 20-Something Megastars? "Well, the game has changed. The big movies are all franchises based on cultural properties, less star vehicles than spectacle machines." This, as it turns out, is not entirely a bad thing, especially for the actors.

The Atlantic 06/06/13

email this story | Posted 06/07/13@12:49AM

Sign Of The Times - Pix Of Movie A-Listers No Longer Move Magazines "Even a few years ago, the prize for a magazine editor was in luring an A-list Hollywood star onto the cover. But just as much critical attention has shifted to television from theatrical releases, readers are now more likely to pick up a magazine featuring a television actor, reality star or musician."

The New York Times 06/05/13

email this story | Posted 06/06/13@09:58AM

David Carradine's Last Movie Was Funded By Tax Fraud "Richard Driscoll's Eldorado was pegged to become a cult classic - the first British film shot in 3D set to be released posthumously as the last ever movie starring David Carradine. But after it was funded with £1.5 million taken from the taxpayer it never saw the light of day."

The Telegraph (UK) 06/05/13

email this story | Posted 06/06/13@12:58AM

We're Spending Trillions On Entertainment (And It's Getting Bigger) "Consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers has predicted that global spending for media and entertainment will reach $2.2 trillion in 2017, compared with $1.6 trillion in 2012. The U.S. is expected to remain the largest media market, with spending increasing 4.8% annually to reach $632 billion in 2017, up from the nearly $500 billion spent last year."

Los Angeles Times 06/04/13

email this story | Posted 06/05/13@06:10AM

Writers Guild Poll Names Best-Written TV Series Ever Members of the Writers Guild of America "evaluated hundreds of dramas, comedies, miniseries (six hours or more), daytime serials, animation, variety series, talk shows and kids' programs to come up with an unprecedented, exhaustive list of TV's top 101." Leading the pack was a certain New Jersey family.

TV Guide 06/03/13

email this story | Posted 06/05/13@12:57AM

Scientific Research Publishing Meets Online Video In JoVE, the Journal of Visualized Experiments, the first peer-reviewed scientific journal published in video, "the experimental portions of technical scientific papers, instead of being laid out in a couple of dense paragraphs, [are] videotaped and [move] from a necessary if clumsy part of the narrative to center stage."

Pacific Standard 06/04/13

email this story | Posted 06/05/13@12:50AM

Are Video Games Looking More Like Art? "Recently, a number of museums, including the Smithsonian and the MOMA, staged exhibitions featuring video games as art, throwing the topic into focus again."

Pacific Standard 06/03/13

email this story | Posted 06/04/13@09:31AM

Class War On The Multiplex Screen Andrew O'Hehir looks at a spate of new releases wherein Hollywood cinema (by no means for the first time) becomes "the space where the angry and confrontational politics of class conflict - which are almost entirely absent in the realm of, y'know, actual politics - can play out as dream or wish fulfillment, with no real-world consequences."

Salon 06/01/13

email this story | Posted 06/04/13@12:52AM

Is This The Point Where M. Night Shyamalan Went Awry? "Ten years ago, [he] was on top of the world, touted as 'the next Spielberg' by Newsweek." These days audiences are known to boo when they see his name in a movie trailer. Kyle Buchanan suggests that the turning point can be found in a weird little 2004 cable TV "pseudo-documentary".

New York Magazine 06/01/13

email this story | Posted 06/04/13@12:51AM

What It's Like To Act For Lars Von Trier Paul Bettany: "As an actor, I have questions. I want to know what I'm doing. And he simply wouldn't talk to me. You're not allowed to talk about the film and there is no rehearsal. ... He just stands there and says [mimics Danish accent]: 'Louder! Louder! Do it louder!' That's the extent of your collaboration. You know what it's like? It's like he's Jackson Pollock and you're on the sidelines, mixing his colours."

The Guardian (UK) 05/30/13

email this story | Posted 06/04/13@12:50AM

Pakistan Attempts To Revive Film Industry "Given the problems, it is remarkable that any feature films are being made at all. But a recent spate of ambitious productions has raised hopes that the moribund movie industry may be on the verge of a renaissance."

The Guardian (UK) 06/02/13

email this story | Posted 06/03/13@07:04AM

'Gatsby' Defies Critics: That's Boring, But Its Success Also Defied Predictions "BoxOffice.com at one point projected very soft opening-weekend sales of about $24 million. Early on, several studios were so worried about the movie's multiplex prospects that they passed on making it. Oops."

The New York Times 06/02/13

email this story | Posted 06/02/13@08:13PM