Category: Movies

Premium VOD Likely To Fizzle As Movie Industry Regroups

Movie theaters face a lot of problems but competition from premium VOD probably won’t be one of them, Moody’s Investors Service says in an industry report today. The debt rating company says that studios probably will continue to wait more than four months before offering new films to cable and satellite VOD “because it is in their economic interest to do so.”…

https://www.deadline.com/2011/07/report-premium-vod-likely-to-fizzle-as-movie-industry-regroups/

Disney film studio layoffs expected soon

Walt Disney Studios plans to cut as much as 5% of its worldwide workforce as early as next week, according to people with knowledge of the situation who requested anonymity because they had not been authorized to discuss the matter.

The movie studio would eliminate up to 250 jobs from its staff of about 5,000 people globally, the sources said. Several Disney insiders say the bulk of the cuts will be in Burbank…

3-D Starts to Fizzle, and Hollywood Frets

Has the 3-D boom already gone bust? It’s starting to look that way – at least for American moviegoers – even as Hollywood prepares to release a glut of the gimmicky pictures.

“Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” sold just 47 percent of its North American tickets in 3-D. Ripples of fear spread across Hollywood last week after “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” which cost Walt Disney Studios an estimated $400 million to make and market, did poor 3-D business in North America. While event movies have typically done 60 percent of their business in 3-D, “Stranger Tides” sold just 47 percent in 3-D. “The American consumer is rejecting 3-D,” Richard Greenfield, an analyst at the financial services company BTIG, wrote of the “Stranger Tides” results.

One movie does not make a trend, but the Memorial Day weekend did not give studio chiefs much comfort in the 3-D department. “Kung Fu Panda 2,” a Paramount Pictures release of a DreamWorks Animation film, sold $53.8 million in tickets from Thursday to Sunday, a soft total, and 3-D was 45 percent of the business, according to Paramount.

Consumer rebellion over high 3-D ticket prices plays a role, and the novelty of putting on the funny glasses is wearing off, analysts say…

https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/30/business/media/30panda.html?_r=1&ref=arts

‘Hangover 2’ Can Be Released With Tyson Tattoo, Judge Says

A St. Louis federal judge has ruled that “The Hangover 2” can be released on schedule this week despite a tattoo artist’s lawsuit over the inclusion of a Mike Tyson-style tattoo on the face of Ed Helms’ character.

But the tattoo artist is claiming victory because the judge said he had a strong likelihood of ultimately winning his copyright claim against Warner Bros.

Pete Salsich, an attorney for artist S. Victor Whitmill, said U.S. District Court Judge Catherine D. Perry declined his motion to prevent the release of the film this weekend because innocent third parties — theater owners — would be harmed.

But Salsich said the judge agreed in open court that the copyright claim was strong, saying, “Most of the defendant’s arguments against this are just silly. Of course tattoos can be copyrighted.”…

https://www.thewrap.com/movies/article/hangover-2-can-be-released-tyson-tattoo-judge-says-27658

‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’: 30 years later, a stuntman’s memories

Next month marks the 30th anniversary of “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and we’ll be looking back on that sparkling film with special features. Monday, an exclusive excerpt from “The True Adventures of the World’s Greatest Stuntman,” the just-published memoir by Vic Armstrong, the stunt coordinator and stunt double who Martin Scorsese has called “a legend in the film world.” Armstrong has portrayed James Bond, Superman and Flash Gordon – at least when the action was underway – but his signature screen success came while wearing a fedora in three Indiana Jones films…

https://herocomplex.latimes.com/2011/05/23/raiders-of-the-lost-ark-30-years-later-a-stuntmans-on-the-set-diary/

Dear 3D, Please Die Already (Again)

Let me tell you young’ens a story about the ancient year of 1983. I was a very young and impressionable little film freak, but even I could smell the stink from the pile of 3D movies that was hitting the screens. Jaws 3, Friday the 13th Part 3, Amityville, Parasite, Spacehunter, Starchaser, Comin’ at Ya!, Treasure of the Four Crowns … and those were the good ones. Yes, for about 18 months, the 1950s sensation was back, and it sucked.

3D was invented as one of several gimmicks created to keep moviegoers distracted from how awesome television is. And then it came back in the ’80s to try and distract people from those new-fangled VHS machines and high-tech video game set-ups like the Atari 2600. And now it’s back for an extended stay because someone in Hollywood looked around and said “Crap! There are way too many entertainment options these days! We need to dust off our secret weapon! Yes, my brilliant fellow studio executives, we must resort to 3D again. We’re desperate.”

Now, however, we have all sorts of allegedly dazzling technology that will allow 3D to be well and truly “immersive,” which isn’t exactly what the creators of Amityville 3D were going for, so surely this is a welcome return. Computer technology will allow 3D to become mainstream, commonly accepted, and perhaps even awesomely popular! Plus they charge a few dollars more for the 3D screenings! Everyone wins!

Oh, except for my assertion that 3D sucks…

https://www.movies.com/movie-news/new-news/dear-3d-please-die-already-again/2965