“Americans spent an estimated $280 million at the movies from Friday to Monday, surpassing the previous high of $255 million set in 2007, before the recession, and blowing by 2010’s paltry $192.7-million take.”
Tag: 05.31.11
Coming Soon To Your Multi-Plex – Broadway Shows
“Chalk up the rise of the phenomenon to better technology and a desire on the part of movie theaters for so-called alternative content — a way to attract new customers with interesting offerings other than movies.”
Louisville Orchestra Submits Plan For Exiting Bankruptcy
“The plan submitted Monday outlines how the orchestra proposes to pay off its creditors and its estimates of its cash flow over the next 12 months. The orchestra also submitted a disclosure statement with more detailed financial information, including historical data.”
Billion-Dollar Broadway: Another Lucrative Season
“Broadway had another billion-dollar season between late May 2010 and Sunday, with shows grossing $1.08 billion – 5.9 percent more than the total for the 2009-10 season – and playing to more than 12.5 million people.”
Religious Experiences Shrink Part Of The Brain (Oh, God …)
“A study links life-changing religious experiences, like being born again, with atrophy in the hippocampus.”
Movies May Soon Use Completely Digitized Actors
“Picture this: it is 2016 and Brad Pitt’s latest heist film, Ocean’s Fifteen, is a roaring box-office success … except the man himself never set foot in front of a camera. Instead, Pitt’s digital image was recreated on screen by teams of visual effects artists, leaving the actor free to work on other projects. This scenario is quite plausible.”
Summer TV – It’s Not Stupid Anymore
“Take note, the days when summer TV was a wasteland of repeats and previously unseen rubbish are over. Summer is no longer all dumbed-down TV all the time. A lot of smart TV is coming over the next few months.”
Top Met Opera Stars Drop Out Of Japan Tour Over Fears Of Radiation
“The brightest star of the Metropolitan Opera’s tour to Japan, Anna Nebtrebko, dropped out at the last minute over concerns about radiation, as did Joseph Calleja, a leading tenor, Met officials said on Monday. They joined Jonas Kaufmann, another tenor who pulled out over concerns follow the March earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown.”
Fair Use? Er… I’d Rather Not
“A rarely discussed form of self-censorship happens routinely on college campuses. Professors and graduate students choose not to tackle academic arguments that involve music, movies, or other forms of popular culture. They worry that including relevant clips in their work means the hassle and expense of getting copyright permission for each snippet.”
College Libraries Afraid To Digitize Because Of Copyright Laws
“Many colleges now have the ability to digitize a wide variety of collections for broad use but frequently back away. And that reluctance harms scholarship, because researchers end up not using valuable documents if they can’t afford to fly to a distant archive to see them.”