“While US and Canadian movie-goers spent $US9.78billion ($13.7 billion) on tickets last year, Hollywood revenue from the rest of the world eclipsed that figure, jumping to a record $US9.9 billion. That represents a 4percent increase over 2007 and means in the past two years foreign box office receipts have grown by a healthy 15percent. The result is that Hollywood is now forced to consider what the rest of the world wants to see.”
Tag: 01.07.09
France’s Plan To Help Economy: More Spending On Culture
“The French government has allocated an extra €100m to the ministry of culture to spend on arts and museums. The supplementary funding, which complements the 2009 Culture budget of €2.9bn, is part of a plan to help revive the ailing economy.”
Russia’s Art Boom Scales Down
“Many sponsors have withdrawn quickly from the art field, and many people have lost jobs in the Moscow art scene… Collectors have scaled back purchases, as seen by the results of the Russian art auctions in London at the end of November. But many non-profit art projects are going forward.”
Where Government Support For The Arts Is Up
The federal cultural budget of Germany has been increased–the fourth time in a row–by 3.5%, reaching €1.14bn in 2009.
Scientist: Stonehenge’s “Perfect” Acoustics Made It Ancient Concert Venue
“Using cutting-edge technology, Rupert Till, an expert in acoustics and music technology at Huddersfield University in northern England, discovered that Stonehenge’s megaliths reflect sound perfectly, making the stone circle an ideal setting for listening to repetitive trance rhythms.”
Author Admits Story Wasn’t His
Neale Donald Walsch published a story written by Candy Chand as his own. “Finding it utterly charming and its message indelible, I must have clipped and pasted it into my file of ‘stories to tell that have a message I want to share.’ I have told the story verbally so many times over the years that I had it memorized … and then, somewhere along the way, internalized it as my own experience.”
Bouncing Canadian Dollar Killing Concert Biz
“For years, the Canadian dollar trailed behind the U.S. dollar, but U.S.-based booking agents and acts traditionally seek the same advance and payment guarantees in Canadian cities as they get in American cities. The problem for Canadian concert promoters is that while they collect gate receipts in Canadian money, they pay out fees for acts in U.S. funds.”
Canada’s New Telefilm Chief Set To Shake Up Movie Industry
“For me, commercial means we are going to find an audience for our films. That people are going to want to pay to see our movies. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.”
A British “City Of Culture”?
After Liverpool’s success as European City of Culture in 2008, the British government is “expected to outline plans to establish a British City of Culture prize, to be awarded every four years. The winning city could gain the right to host a number of key events.”
Music Downloads Up 33 Percent In 2008 In UK
Digital tracks now account for 7.7 percent of all album music sales. More than 115 million singles were sold across digital and physical formats.