It worked overseas: the Warner Bros. blockbuster has grossed $207 million altogether, but less than $30 million of that has been in the U.S. Worse, the much-touted $20 million first-weekend domestic gross turns out to have been heavily padded. These figures are scaring studios off their major release schedules. “Now the question isn’t whether theaters can return to normalcy,” writes David Sims, “but whether they can survive this pandemic at all.” – The Atlantic
Category: AUDIENCE
As Ever More Viewing Happens Online, Will The French Drift Away From Dubbed Films And TV?
“As streaming platforms take over more and more of the screen time in France, some fear the curtain will fall over the French dubbing industry as more people get used to watching subtitled versions of films rather than the VF (version française).” In fact, the voice-over/dubbing industry is growing, with demand for its services high. Here’s why. – The Local (France)
Goodreads Is A Hopeless, Malfunctioning Mess. Is There Another Option?
The site was a great idea when it was launched in 2007; by 2013, when Amazon bought it, there were 15 million users. But the new owners seem to have done little with it: users frequently can’t find titles they want or get messages sent to other members; the site design “is like a teenager’s 2005 Myspace page”; Amazon either can’t or hasn’t bothered to create an algorithm that doesn’t spit out countless irrelevant recommendations. “But new competitors continue to enter the book-tech fray, and one in particular is beginning to make waves.” – New Statesman
Time To Stop Apologizing For Online Performances And Start Turning Them Into A New Genre
Peter Dobrin: “We should think of this as a research-and-development phase long overdue. Online performances won’t sink or swim based on how well they replicate live ones. … More important … is the question of whether a new breed of production designers and directors can give viewer-listeners something different from live performance.” – The Philadelphia Inquirer
BBC Gets 15,000 Complaints After Dance Group’s BLM Performance
The dance group, who won the talent show in 2009, took to the stage with a politically charged performance during the ITV show’s semi-finals this month. It depicted a white police officer kneeling on the Diversity star and temporary BGT judge Ashley Banjo, echoing the killing of the unarmed black man George Floyd in the US. – The Guardian
First Hollywood Blockbuster “Tenet” Earns $2000M Worldwide, Only $6.6M In US
The time-bending sci-fi thriller Tenet generated $6.7 million in the U.S. and Canada during its second weekend of release, representing a 29% drop compared to opening weekend. Initially, Warner Bros., the studio behind “Tenet,” touted a $20 million debut. But a closer dissection of those numbers reveal they were heavily spun to include weekday preview screenings and the long holiday weekend. In reality, “Tenet” only made about $9 million between Friday and Sunday. – Variety
Theatre Sells Cardboard Audience Cutouts For Empty Seats
Since the theatre is only being filled to one-third capacity, the cutouts will fill the remaining seats, and the cost will go toward supporting the theatre. – Broadway World
Just Because Film Festivals Move Online It Doesn’t Mean Unlimited Tickets
“A lot of filmmakers feel like, ‘I don’t want to put it online, I don’t want to risk somebody being able to copy it or download it.’ So I think there’s also caps for those reasons, to protect the filmmakers and their work.” – Toronto Star
How The Big Museum Audiences Have Changed Since Reopening
For the Met, long-haul travel is typically responsible for most of their visitors, who come from abroad. But with international plane travel halted, there’s a new focus on New Yorkers, which now make up over 90 percent of entrants. – Washington Post
How To Remake American Theater In The Wake Of COVID? Five New York Times Critics Offer Their Ideas
“Things clearly had to change — and with the enforced pause of the pandemic, the opportunity has now arrived in the nick of time. If ever there was a need, and a moment, to fix the theater, this is it. So for the six-month anniversary of the shutdown, The New York Times asked its theater critics … what those fixes might look like.” – The New York Times