Category: media

Two years – that’s about the time it takes to get a movie made.  “Literary material into movies usually only happens after there’s a disaster for the studios at Oscar night.” Thus a new crop of movies based on literature hits the screens.  New York Times

Global competition for movie production is heating up. Hollywood wants tax credits, Australia just built a movie production megaplex. And Britain has…made a DVD promoting the British industry.  BBC

Last month’s Net-Aid concert is said to have attracted huge global TV ratings, 2.3 million web hits. But show only “netted” about $1 million in contributions from those watching/listening.  Washington Post

Young Broadcasting came out of nowhere to pay record $823 million for San Francisco NBC affiliate. Now it has a big rock to push uphill to make it work.  San Francisco Chronicle

Sixty international broadcasters assembled in London to organize the BBC’s year-end, 28-hour TV millennial bash “2000 Today.” Messages from the Pope, UN Secretary are a given, but “seven virgins go into a cave and …”?  Variety

Columbia University study looks at how the arts are covered in American media. Newspapers have failed to keep up with cultural boom. – Seattle Post-Intelligencer 11/16/99

AND:  Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Houston Chronicle, CBC, New York Times, Boston Globe (second item), Artswire, MSNBC, Houston Press (third item), The Idler and a contrary view

    ALSO: Read the report

Pokemon movie racks up biggest opening-week box office ever for movie released outside of summer.  Variety

For the first time since 1983, the NBC Thursday-night lock on TV ratings was broken. “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” is hot.  Variety

With six sound stages, a “backlot” of movie-associated attractions, shopping village, cinema complex, and a “creative campus”, Fox Studios Australia is a serious new studio. Is Hollywood worried?  London Sunday Times

Just being dreadful isn’t the only reason some movies pass by the theaters and straight to the video racks. Sometimes it’s a niche thing.  San Francisco Chronicle