Recent Disney films like the animated “Strange World,” with its gay teenage protagonist, have become cultural flash points. But “Pocahontas” prompted a full-blown fracas. - The New York Times
It seems odd to think that in a year with two massive strikes and 20 fewer movies released than in 2019, the industry might be looking profitable. But the "scheduling" of Christmas and New Year's has theatre owners stressed. - Variety
Who could have predicted that on Netflix, Ginny & Georgia's numbers would be so far ahead of The Witcher - or The Crown? (Anyone who remembers the Nielsens from the first age of Prestige TV, of course.) - The Verge
"It's really common to see violent scenes, ... but as soon as sex comes up, that becomes a really big complicated issue, whereas we're so desensitized to everything else." - CBC
VHS tapes are back, baby. And DVDs, Blu-Rays, cassette tapes, essentially anything that a streaming corporation can't surveill - or suddenly yank away. - Washington Post
No, not its mojo dojo casa house - though it's likely the Barbie movie will eventually stream there because studios have started offering older shows to the OG streamer again. Why? "They missed the money too much." - The New York Times
Jason Jacoby Lee, who is non-verbal but recently learned to communicate through pointing to letters on a board, says of Extraordinary Attorney Woo, for instance: "It is painful to watch." - Teen Vogue
While Google says the final shape of its AI product is far from set, publishers have seen enough to estimate that they will lose between 20% and 40% of their Google-generated traffic if anything resembling recent iterations rolls out widely. - The Wall Street Journal
"The Georgia film and TV tax credit creates 34,354 jobs per year, according to a new state audit of the program — about half the figure reported by an industry-funded study last month. The audit also concluded that the credit ... returns just 19 cents to state coffers for every dollar spent." - Variety
In September, the CEO resigned and then commited suicide. Two weeks later, the board announced that an audit found "questionable, unauthorized or improper" expenditures, the finance director had quit, and the budget was immediately cut by 30%. Police are investigating; community members are telling the entire board to resign. - WCBU (Peoria)
When Parasite director Bong Joon-ho accepted his Oscars in 2020, he told the audience, "Once you overcome the one-inch tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films." Yet that was just the point when American moviegoers were finally overcoming their aversion to reading-while-watching. - The Guardian
As 2023 ends, the country’s TV and telecom regulator is at odds with American streamers over how much cash they are now obligated to fork over to subsidize local film, TV and music producers. - The Hollywood Reporter
