Or, if not the entire movie-theater business, at least AMC. The pandemic had made the already-difficult financial situation of the world's largest cinema chain disastrous. But the same amateur stock-traders on the subreddit r/wallstreetbets who put GameStop in the news this week bought lots of stock in AMC as well. As a Bloomberg columnist put it, "Six hundred million dollars in debt, vaporized by Reddit enthusiasm." - Slate
"The kinds of movies that traditionally contend for awards — mid-budget dramas with recognizable stars and respectable historical subjects or social themes — were thin on the ground throughout the year, though a handful did show up on Netflix. The audience and the industry floated in a strange pandemic limbo." - The New York Times
"Many deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals have welcomed the increase in visibility that deafness and hearing loss have enjoyed on TV lately. … But for many who use devices like cochlear implants or hearing aids, onscreen representation still falls short by not reflecting enough of their experiences. … Deaf characters tend to be portrayed onscreen as people who sign and don't speak," whereas implant users usually speak and often don't know ASL. - The New York Times
"With digital, there is no such thing as authenticity. You are trusting that it is what it is. I feel eventually no matter how convincing it may seem, what we are experiencing through media could be something engineered against our best interests in some way. Even if one doesn’t care about the big picture, when it is proven that media can be changed like this, it loses validity and in our minds our trust in it erodes." - Medium
With ongoing uncertainty about the future course of the pandemic, Cannes organizers decided they had no choice but to change this year's dates from May 11-22 to July 6-17. "The move, while expected, will have a domino effect across the festival circuit." - The Hollywood Reporter
"The third season of the award-winning podcast, which arguably set in motion the current boom for non-fiction audio series, was set in the Cleveland justice system. Unlike the first two seasons, which featured one case, it looked at the system overall." HBO's adaptation, a limited series, will focus on one Cleveland police officer and the young man he's accused of beating. (Among the executive producers is basketball superstar Lebron James.) - Deadline
The director, Sarmad Khoosat, is (or was) a popular member of one of the country's most beloved entertainment families; the film itself, Zindagi Tamasha (in English, Circus of Life), has been approved by three different boards of censors and a committee of senators, and it won a big prize at one of Asia's most important film festivals. But, based on a trailer, a far-right Islamist party has declared the movie blasphemous and incited a vicious campaign against the director (including multiple threats of beheading) that, perhaps not coincidentally, echoes the screenplay's plot. - The Guardian
Even as the studio insists that its streaming strategy is a one-off response to the pandemic, it might not be able to rebuild those bridges. Seeing the backlash is just another reason the rest of the industry’s major players continue to hold off from anything so drastic. Patience is hard, but it’s Hollywood’s surest path to profitability. - The Atlantic
In the interim, expect a flood of cable programming to start migrating over to streaming in anticipation for the day when cable is no longer a viable platform for networks to reach audiences. - Axios
Fernanda Valadez and Astrid Rondero, who directed and wrote the new film Identifying Features, "don’t believe Mexican storytellers have the luxury of creating apolitically. Not at a moment in history when thousands disappear or are murdered as a consequence of drug-related violence and the widespread state complicity that enables it. Neither of them set out to make movies with a social justice angle, but coming of age as artists in this environment urged them to confront the appalling national trauma." - Los Angeles Times
Lee's speech for the New York Film Critics Circle Awards was filmed on January 6 - the day when insurrectionists broke into the U.S. Capitol Building, hunting legislators and raiding offices. "We’re at the crossroads now. And everyone please be safe, this is not a game. These people have guns with ammunition. ... This president, President Agent Orange, will go down in history with the likes of Hitler. These guys, all his boys, they are going down on the wrong side of history." - USA Today
Director Tabitha Jackson was lucky in 2020 - her hiring was big news at last year's Sundance Film Festival. Then, of course, a global pandemic hit. "To say her inaugural year heading the most influential film festival in America was rife with unpredictable challenges is an understatement." - Los Angeles Times
And what Emerald Fennell delivers - which is something different - in Promising Young Woman. "How do you write a revenge movie that feels like something real and that is based in real trauma and grief? Because I suppose the other thing with the revenge that we don’t talk about very much is revenge and vengeance aren’t good things." - Vulture
Or at least AMC, despite its debt load and the damage from the coronavirus shutdowns. Adam Aron: "Some of my competitors, the ones caught up in the past, are saying that I’m the worst human being alive on the planet. ... But sometimes you have to stare change in the face, recognize that it has or soon will arrive, and reshape it to one’s own benefit." - The New York Times
The official Star Wars account (and thus, Disney) is backing its Star Wars: The High Republic Show host Krystina Arielle, a Black woman who tweeted last summer in support of Black Lives Matter. - BBC
