Social media first presented itself as a new wave of populist content, eccentric infotainment. But look at that: Social media is now shot through with sketches and music videos made by rich personal brands and consumed by a passive audience that gets iron-skilleted with ads. - Wired
"Oscar-winning Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar will not be making his English-language feature directorial debut with A Manual for Cleaning Women, which has Cate Blanchett set to star and produce under her Dirty Films." The director said, "Unfortunately, I no longer feel able to fully realize this film." - Deadline
... for the ones that will screen a free video feed of the ceremonies. Those will be smaller chains (e.g., Vue, Picturedrome, Reel); the big ones (Cineworld, Odeon, etc.) will simply close all day Monday. - Variety
This was one of the worst Emmys telecasts in recent memory. Not in the “claws are out” way that people tend to pounce on award shows for being out of touch. It’s the opposite. The awards of this awards show were beautiful. They were meaningful. - The Daily Beast
"After Netflix's record-tying performance in 2021, HBO reasserted its dominance in its now-annual battle with Netflix for supremacy in the realm of prestige TV. ... (The network) collected 12 of the 25 statuettes awarded at Mondays ceremony." - CNN
Runway's "Text to Video" demonstration reel shows a text input box that allows editing commands such as "import city street" or "make it look more cinematic" (applying an effect). It depicts someone typing "remove object" and selecting a streetlight with a drawing tool that then disappears. - Ars Technica
“Like Netflix, Amazon had been systematically undervaluing imputed license fees on theatrical films where it was both the producer and the distributor,” wrote WGA West leaders in a memo to members, first reported by Deadline. The guild filed its arbitration claim against Amazon in 2020. - Seattle Times
There are so, so many series out there - 500 or more, and "the crush of programming means that even worthy shows struggle for recognition." - Seattle Times (AP)
MoMA makes a case for including games in the permanent collection - and a case that says humans respond the same way to video game art as they do to sculptures, paintings, and prints. - Wired
"Pandemic-induced production delays, jittery Hollywood studios continuing to postpone blockbuster release dates, and a wider lack of mid-budget fare – from rom-coms and buddy movies to dramas – will push back the timeline on a full recovery for cinema owners until possibly 2024." - The Observer (UK)
Filmmaker Laura Poitras' All the Beauty and the Bloodshed takes home the top prize, rare for a documentary. "The film examines Goldin’s art, life and her activism in protesting the family and Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, for their roles in the opioid crisis." - The New York Times
There’s a lot of discussion today, including in Congress, about why parts of the web are so toxic and what to do about it—better content moderation? Updated monopoly laws?—but it seems that no one wants to say that the problem is that the web was commercialized in the first place. - The New Republic
It was the lowest haul since 2001, when summer movies earned $3.34 billion at domestic theaters. The summer season typically accounts for about 40% of annual box office receipts, Comscore says. - The Wall Street Journal
