Month: September 2011

Independent films are at last recovering from the slump

…It helps that films have become cheaper to make. Actors’ salaries remain depressed, and indies have become expert at exploiting competition between states and countries, which lavish subsidies on them. Most important, says Morris Ruskin, the head of Shoreline Entertainment, a glut of films commissioned in the era of loose credit has at last worked its way through the pipeline. “We’ve gone from a market that was saturated with films to a market that is hungry for them,” he says…

https://www.economist.com/node/21529072

Let this be a lesson to all Wedding Crashers fans: Just because Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn pull some hilarious pranks without legal consequence in their 2005 comedy does not mean that said hilarious pranks can be pulled without consequence in real life. Just ask 22-year-old University of Wisconsin student Luciana Reichel who has been jailed for 90 days and put on 30 months probation after playing a copycat Wedding Crashers practical joke on her roommate…

https://www.movieline.com/2011/09/wedding-crashers-copycat-crime-lands-university-of-wisconsin-student-in-jail.php#more

The board of trustees of the fund that provides health and pension benefits for SAG members announced Friday that there will be a “full review” of allegations that CEO Bruce Dow covered up a $5 to $10 million embezzlement scheme…

https://www.thewrap.com/movies/article/sag-pension-fund-board-pledges-full-review-embezzlement-charges-31066

Late Sunday night, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings took to the company’s official blog to explain further the recent news of Netflix’s streaming-DVD service split and pricing changes with yet another announcement: Within a few weeks, Netflix will split into two companies, keeping its name for streaming-only services and separating DVD rentals into a new separate company called Qwikster…

https://www.movieline.com/2011/09/netflix-announces-dvd-streaming-split-forgets-to-check-if-qwikster-is-taken.php

…The company’s down more than 13.7% in heavy volume early trading on a slightly up day for the overall market. Analysts are lining up to take their whacks at Netflix: Lazard Capital Markets’ Barton Crockett, who has a “neutral” recommendation, calls the company’s reduced 3Q subscription forecast a “rare, large and surprising misstep.”…

https://www.deadline.com/2011/09/netflix-subscriptions-falling-short-of-its-expectations-after-splitting-streaming-and-dvd-rentals/

Steven Spielberg looked to the past and the future of Indiana Jones at the 30th anniversary screening of “Raiders of the Lost Ark” in Los Angeles on Monday evening. The director also gave fans a rare insight into his friendship with George Lucas and a daffy impersonation of the mastermind behind the “Star Wars” universe…

https://herocomplex.latimes.com/2011/09/13/steven-spielberg-on-the-future-of-indiana-jones-video/

It’s been a few years since Tyler Perry was Hollywood’s most secret mogul. The Atlanta-based multihyphenate definitely took the industry by storm in 2005 when Diary Of A Mad Black Woman came seemingly out of nowhere to become a huge hit, but Perry has released nine more films since then, not to mention putting his name on not one but two hit TV shows. You probably know by now that Perry is a very successful, very rich man– but did you know he’s actually the richest in Hollywood?

Well, at least he was the highest paid between May of 2010 and 2011, according to a new list released by Forbes…

https://www.cinemablend.com/new/Tyler-Perry-Beats-Out-Jerry-Bruckheimer-And-Steven-Spielberg-To-Be-Best-Paid-Man-In-Hollywood-26783.html

3D technology is seemingly everywhere, but a new survey suggests that the appeal of the new technology is already in sharp decline…

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/8745169/Viewers-disillusioned-with-3D-films-and-TV.html