Looking at the eight years before and after #OscarsSoWhite, the USC study found that 8% of nominees between 2008 and 2015 were from underrepresented racial or ethnic groups. In the post-#OscarsSoWhite era between 2016 and 2023, that number increased to 17%. - Los Angeles Times
Neglected equipment, screens sagging or dusty with popcorn flecks, images that are too dark and sometimes bleed off the screen. "If a movie theater can't perform its most basic function and deliver a sharp, well-lit image, we might as well knock it down and put up a bank." - New York Magazine
On top of leading Black viewership among cable networks with 173,000 Black viewers on average in February — ahead of CNN’s 105,000 Black viewers and Fox News Channel’s 24,000 total viewers on average — MSNBC is also the home of the 10 highest-rated cable news programs among Black Americans. - The Wrap
"The show didn't just annoy Swedish viewers, though — it wholly divided them. Three Dads has become a sensation during a winter of political turbulence, where there's been an emerging sense that the culture wars are only getting started." - Slate
Although the link between J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy epic and Italy's far-right is not new, it's a phenomenon that has re-surfaced with new vigor since politician Giorgia Meloni was elected as the country's prime minister. - CBC
"In-flight licensing (is) unique in the licensing business in that it raises questions among everyday consumers — like how titles are chosen, why a given film might be censored, or why a show canceled and removed from, say, HBO Max might still be flying around the world." - Vulture
A ton of journalists on the games beat have suddenly found themselves out of jobs. The field is in the midst of a brutal, paradoxical contraction. The world’s power brokers are investing desperately in the games industry, but games media is another story entirely. - NiemanLab
"Imagine walking into a room to be confronted by Helena Bonham Carter, Meg Ryan, Ashley Judd and Michelle Yeoh. It would be a pretty intimidating prospect. Now imagine that these four world-famous, movie-star actresses were somehow combined into one person." - The New European
“The pendulum is swinging back to some sense of normalcy and balance as market watchers see theatrical box office returns from major releases in the post-pandemic era." - The Wrap
The Flemish half, that is. The Story of Flanders features lavish, unsparing reconstructions of historical scenes interspersed with commentary from scholars. It was funded by the Flemish regional government, led by a separatist party, and Flemings are having a hearty argument over whether the series is propaganda. - The Observer (UK)
The fundamental bet of Vice and its internet-born brethren, that new forms of distribution and content production enabled by the internet would transform media economics in a way that they were uniquely poised to capture, simply didn’t materialize. - The Wrap
"Warner Bros. Discovery filed a lawsuit against Paramount Friday, claiming the rival media company breached its half-billion-dollar exclusivity contract with HBO Max by airing South Park on its own streaming platform, Paramount+." - CNN
It’s easy to imagine many productive uses of the metaverse, from educational to virtual meetings to entertainment. And most of these are already underway in some form or another. The consumer opportunities are clear: “Every year, US$54 billion is spent on virtual goods.” - 3 Quarks Daily
And, from the super secret ballots revealed in their entirety here, it sure looks like Todd Field is going to win Best Director for TÁR. - Los Angeles Times
The game won't be ready for years - but by the time it is, players will have watched "content" for it on TikTok, read graphic novels, and more. "What if we try to build this IP slightly in reverse. ... What if we didn’t start with gaming?" - Los Angeles Times
