“In stark contrast to thrillers like Sicario, where a shootout breaks out on the El Paso bridge in broad daylight, boredom is often the worst-case scenario for people who actually live along the border, at least on the U.S. side. And a flurry of new films is now correcting the record.” - Texas Observer
North America has 5,691 fewer screens compared with pre-COVID times, according to research by media consultancy Omdia. Box office grosses haven’t rebounded either. Ticket sales in 2024 fell to $8.7 billion, a 23.5% drop from pre-pandemic levels. It’s a far cry from the nearly $11 billion the industry was generating. - Variety
“Republicans, don’t miss this opportunity to rid our Country of this giant SCAM, both being arms of the Radical Left Democrat Party,” he wrote in a post on Truth Social. - The Daily Beast
“Deloitte predicts that the industry will shift away from standalone subscription services towards aggregation, similar to traditional pay TV packages. SVOD platforms need aggregators as they reach saturation in major markets and seek creative ways to reach new audiences and reduce churn.” - The Hollywood Reporter
"Since (host Dennis) Moore’s termination, the Tribune spoke to nine WFMT employees, current and former, many of whom shared Moore’s concerns about the station’s increasing marginalization within its parent company. … (His) dismissal, they say, only aggravated long-held anxieties and worries about job security.” - Chicago Tribune
“RFE/RL has, for decades, operated as one of the organizations that Congress has statutorily designated to carry out this policy. The leadership of USAGM cannot, with one sentence of reasoning offering virtually no explanation, force RFE/RL to shut down — even if the President has told them to do so,” the judge wrote. - CNN
PBS is practicing answers with lawyers. NPR executives are preparing to monitor the fallout. Members of Congress are promoting the star witnesses ... as if they were combatants in a prizefight. They’re all getting ready for a hearing on Wednesday ... organized by Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene.” - The New York Times
Director Michael Lockshin and Luminosity Pictures are suing two producers who argue that their purchase of the rights to make an English-language film adaptation of the classic Soviet novel means that Lockshin’s Russian version cannot be released in the U.S. Lockshin and Luminosity maintain that the book is in the public domain. - Variety
Stephen Sackur — whose interviewing style gave the long-running show its reputation for forthright, even confrontational questions holding public figures from Britain and abroad to account — says, “I feel really, really cross at incredibly dumb decisions made by management that I fear is not doing the right thing for the BBC.” - The Guardian
Truly, how can one act without dental veneers? Apparently, “the current trend is shifting away from ‘catalog' smiles.” Perfect, but not too perfect. - El País
“The real appeal of the Criterion Closet is emotional. It’s a place to let your movie obsessions—your obscure taste, your love of cult classics, your knowledge of directorial deep cuts—run wild and then be recognized for them.” - The Atlantic
One enforcement agency director said, "Companies should set rates independently of each other so pay is competitive - not doing so could leave workers out of pocket.” - BBC
“I’m most excited for people to walk away with a sense of, ‘Oh my God. These people are so creative. There’s so much that you can do with Sora,’” said one Sora “artist.” - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo)
“They eventually opted to axe costly exterior scenes in Wolf Hall: The Mirror and The Light, meaning almost everything in the Tudor drama, screened by the BBC, became ‘conversations in rooms’ instead.” - BBC
