"Released in 1998, the film about one man living in a fabricated reality concocted by TV producers made an impact, but ... in subsequent years, it has come to embody a myriad of cultural anxieties – about omnipresent surveillance, mass voyeurism, and the reality TV craze that has swept the globe." - BBC
Though initially conceived as a cash-in on the popularity of science fiction in the aftermath of Star Wars, Alien grew from a hugely successful film into not only a franchise but a whole universe. - The Conversation
Unable to turn a profit, team owners are cutting costs by laying off employees and ending contracts with star players. In some cases, they are selling their teams and sometimes at a loss, offering a blunt reality check to people who believed e-sports could be the next big thing in entertainment. - The New York Times
"Eight months after Italy took a sharp turn to the right, the government headed by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni ... is wreaking havoc at state broadcaster RAI, prompting the abrupt exit of several executives and TV personalities and causing alarm within the country’s film and TV sectors." - Variety
"(The $10-monthly) Basic level gets you one to three movies a month. ... A $40 Pro account will get 30 movies a month — (roughly) a movie a day, depending on the month. The company says its $20 tier is the most popular, at three to seven a month." - TechCrunch
Tech industry players have been selling the promise of a future in which AI is an essential tool for every part of Hollywood production, from budgeting and concept art, to script development, to producing a first cut of a feature film with a single press of a button. - The Guardian
"TV writers ... have been trying to undo misconceptions about their jobs, which they say were never particularly glamorous even in the heyday of network TV. In the age of Netflix and Disney Plus, many writers say, grueling workloads and vanishing job security threaten the entire profession." - MSN (The Washington Post)
Regardless of the movie's critical reception, the music is pretty good. "With the help of a renowned dance company, an 86-person orchestra and a well-traveled percussionist, the new movie manages to elevate the cherished compositions into musical numbers that are aurally sumptuous and visually spectacular." - Los Angeles Times
Anatomy of a Fall director Justine Triet is the third woman ever to win the prize. The courtroom drama, which stars German actress Sandra Hüller, also the star of the runner-up film at Cannes, tells the story of a writer accused of her husband's murder. - BBC
"Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Alison Mackenzie signaled on Thursday that she'll dismiss the suit, finding claims that the movie depicts sexual acts are a 'gross mischaracterization' of the scene. She said in a tentative ruling that the claims 'arise from protected activity' under the First Amendment." - The Hollywood Reporter
It’s one of the best years in recent memory for Cannes, which seemed revitalized as it finally shook off the hangover of the pandemic. It’s anybody’s guess which film will take the Palme. - Toronto Star
Even when braced for it, the institute’s findings are staggering: In the 101 top-grossing G-rated films from 1990 to 2005, just 28 percent of speaking characters were female. Even in crowd scenes — even in animated crowd scenes — male characters vastly outnumber female ones. - The New York Times
"RadioNewsAI, an AI-generated news service developed in the Netherlands, is being shopped to stations in the U.S. The product allows local stations to deliver newscasts using an AI-generated voice based on RSS or website feeds." - Inside Radio
"I'm proud to own the failure," says the co-founder of the short-lived short-form video studio. "I'm not proud of the failure. But I'm proud of what we tried. It was a moonshot. It wasn't fun failing — I don't recommend it — but it's going to come." - Variety
