“Even in a case where a star comes on first, … the casting director has to build an entire world around them — not just actors who fit each individual part but combine to form a harmonious vision, one that can be disrupted by a single off-key line.” - Slate (MSN)
“The Bethlehem-based organization, which includes PBS39, WLVR radio and the Lehigh Valley News website, will lose about half of its workforce, which had stood at 41. It also cut back on some PBS programming ‘to align expenses with sustainable funding.’” - The Morning Call (Allentown, PA) (MSN)
The overlooking of the Good Witch was truly Wicked. Then again, crowd pleaser Wicked: For Good got basically nothing overall, so maybe it’s time to reconsider that shunned Academy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Popular Film category …just sayin’. - Deadline
For anyone fantasizing about Hollywood as some liberal bulwark, though, the 2024 election brought that idea to an abrupt halt. The industry’s era of progressive sincerity, and much of its wariness toward conservative-coded content, has evaporated. - The New York Times
Under the agreement, the BBC will grow its number of YouTube channels to 50, which includes those operated by commercial arm, BBC Studios. New specialist channels will include BBC3’s Deepwatch (working title), featuring new and existing documentaries. Seven children’s channels will be launched (as well).” - Deadline
Director Ryan Coogler’s Mississippi Delta vampire epic has surpassed the 14-nomination record jointly held by All About Eve, Titanic, and La La Land. Paul Thomas’s black comedy action thriller One Battle After Another scored 13 nods. (includes complete list of nominations) - Variety
“The country’s premier showcase for independent film is also in a time of profound transition after decades of relative stability. The festival is … forging forward without its founder, Robert Redford, who died in September. Next year, it must find its footing in another mountain town, Boulder, Colorado.” - AP
Nielsen says streamers logged 55.1 billion minutes on streaming services on Christmas, breaking the previous high — set on Christmas in 2024 — by 3.9 billion minutes. That amounts to 54 percent of all TV use during the day, also an all-time high for streaming services. - The Hollywood Reporter
Because viewers give a “very different level of attention” to a movie at home versus in a theater, Netflix wants to push the action set pieces toward the front. He said there are behind-the-scenes discussions about reiterating “the plot three or four times in the dialogue” to account for people being on their phones. - Variety
“Netflix’s all-cash offer of $27.75 per share replaces its previous offer of $23.25 in cash and $4.50 in Netflix common stock per share. The sweetened offer comes as rival bidder Paramount continues pushing its own all-cash offer for all of Warner Discovery. The value of Netflix’s offer remains $72 billion.” - The Wall Street Journal (MSN)
"When this deal closes, we will own a theatrical distribution engine that is phenomenal and produces billions of dollars of theatrical revenue that we don’t want to put at risk. We will run that business largely like it is today, with 45-day windows." - The New York Times
“The Oscar field has included one international director for seven straight years, making it likely that dissident filmmaker Panahi, a vocal critic of Iran’s authoritarian regime, earns a nomination for his blistering movie about resistance.” - Los Angeles Times
Three companies “produced between seven and 10 telenovelas a year between them, a volume that would leave Miami the primary center of production of Spanish-language productions in the United States. No other place in the country had anything like it.” What happened? - El País English
“The smaller cousin of the famed Vegas attraction would offer the same features as the original and be the first in a ‘global network’ of mini-Spheres, which the company wants to also call Sphere.” - Washington Post (Yahoo)
“If you can’t tolerate autonomy, love it and set it free, if you can’t relish it for its very ugliness, its deathiness, then you are missing some qualities of authenticity and of wisdom.” - The Guardian (UK)
