For Universal Pictures, which raked in an oddly normal (thus deeply robust) box office total over the weekend for F9, "the opening success is vindication for a studio that in the early days of the pandemic decided to delay its potential blockbuster by an entire year — a move that was considered excessive when it was announced in early...
Director Quentin Lee: "Creating queer Asian content is hard because you're really hitting on two major issues of America that are challenging." But he and director Fawzia Mirza are two of many trying to change the (truly terrible) numbers. - NBC News
For one thing, "action games in particular—games where reflexes, reaction time, and hand-eye coordination are challenged, like in the now-retro classics Doom and Team Fortress Classic—provided tangible cognitive advantages that help us in everyday life." - Wired
The move is the latest in a series led by Recording Academy chief Harvey Mason, jr. that reflect an effort to at least calm some of the multiple controversies that have arisen around it over the past few years, ranging from Dugan’s extremely hostile termination to her predecessor Neil Portnow’s 2018 comment that females in the music industry need...
"More than 300 stations air the show, hosted by comedian and writer Ophira Eisenberg and featuring Jonathan Coulton as in-house musician. … However, 'despite the strong work of the team, AMA never quite found its full audience,' Grundmann wrote, 'and because of our limited resources, we're sunsetting the show.' The last episode will feed the weekend of Sept....
"As Hollywood faces a deteriorating relationship with China, it appears committed to keeping the flame alive even if that means going to humiliating lengths. … On June 11, Hong Kong authorities announced that any movie deemed 'a threat to national security' would henceforth be banned from distribution. … The policy, which mimics mainland rules that already have stifled the...
"Last year, EU countries agreed that 30% of offerings on streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime should be European-made. The concern among some EU capitals is that currently the UK makes up the vast majority of that 30%, despite Brexit. This month, EU diplomats were invited to discuss whether the 'privileges' the UK continues to enjoy were...
"The Atlanta-based TCM has long been the sanctuary of classic film on TV, presenting mostly pre-1980 movies commercial-free with a deep respect for moviemaking history going back to the silent film era. … TCM also appeals to an older audience that is more likely to hold onto its cable subscription than younger viewers who quickly adapted to streaming platforms....
The elections increase the number of women on the organization’s 54-member board from 26 to 31, marking the first time in the group’s 94-year history that its board has been majority female. The number of governors from underrepresented racial and ethnic communities increases from 12 to 15. - Los Angeles Times
The decision by the Television Academy settles the questions over "double-dipping," where a documentary that entered Oscar competition but did not get a nomination was (if it was later aired on television, as many are) allowed to submit for Emmy consideration. In an unrelated matter, the Academy also made a minor but notable change with respect to gendered acting...
"According to Roku, more active accounts streamed a Roku Original in the first two weeks on the Roku Channel than the number of Quibi accounts did on Quibi over the brief nine months of the app's lifetime. seems credible — but it's not a particularly high bar." - Variety
George Lucas’s original vision famously inspired an era of big-budget blockbuster movies whose creators, just as famously, eventually ran out of new ideas and came to rely on sequels and spin-offs. - The Atlantic
Screen nausea and social media compulsions are no joke, but the current self-loathing about the long year of screen time is misplaced. It was not lost time. - Wired
