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(11/28/07 2:37am)
LOS ANGELES – The first day of talks since movie and TV writers went on strike produced no public updates or word if any progress was made – but it did trigger a promise to meet again.\nThe writers and Hollywood studios were set to resume talks Tuesday, said a person familiar with the contract negotiations who was not authorized to speak publicly and requested anonymity.\nOn Monday, neither the writers union nor the group representing studios would comment on the negotiations or even reveal their location.\nPicketing resumed in Los Angeles and New York and writers kept up an aggressive Internet-based virtual picket line that capitalizes on the very medium at issue in the contentious negotiations.\nThe Writers Guild of America went on strike Nov. 5 over payment for work aired on the Web. Writers want more money when TV shows and films are sold on Internet sites such as Apple Inc.’s iTunes.\nStudios, networks and producers, represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, say it is too early to know which business model will succeed on the Web. They want flexibility to experiment without having to be locked into payment formulas.\nThe last talks broke off Nov. 4. At that negotiating session, writers had dropped a demand to increase residual payments from DVDs and producers had agreed in principle to pay writers when advertising-supported episodes were streamed over the Web.\nAs the strike enters its fourth week, writers have stepped up their use of blogs, short videos, MySpace pages and other Web-based methods aimed at keeping their ranks together and reaching a wider audience, including TV viewers who will soon have to settle for reruns of their favorite prime time shows.\nThe guild’s East and West coast branches have posted strike schedules, press releases and other information on its official Web sites.\nBut soon after the strike started, other sites sprang up, including one maintained by strike captains and another hosted by writers for “Late Show with David Letterman.”
(11/07/07 3:16am)
LOS ANGELES – Production of the hit show “Desperate Housewives” and at least six sitcoms filmed before live audiences will be halted as a result of the writers’ strike – developments that raised the stakes Tuesday in the walkout targeting movie studios and TV networks.\nProducer Alexandra Cunningham said “Desperate Housewives” will stop production on Wednesday after running out of scripts. Shows that have already been completed won’t last until Christmas, she said.\n“It’s unfortunate. We want to get back to work,” Cunningham said.\nSitcoms that will stop the cameras include “Back to You,” starring Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton, which will not return from a planned hiatus, said Chris Alexander, a spokesman for 20th Century Fox Television.\nStar Julia Louis-Dreyfus said production also stopped on her CBS show, “The New Adventures of Old Christine.”\nIn addition, “Til Death,” which airs on Fox, and “Rules of Engagement,” ‘’Two and a Half Men” and “The Big Bang Theory,” all on CBS, will also end filming, according to people familiar with production of the shows who were not authorized to be quoted and requested anonymity.\nNetwork officials referred calls to the individual companies producing each show. It was not immediately clear how many of the programs might already be finished.\nThe sitcoms are typically written the same week they are filmed, with jokes being sharpened by writers even on the day of production.\nThe disclosures came during the second day of the strike by the Writers Guild of America against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. Pickets returned to studios in Los Angeles and New York.\nIn Toluca Lake, near Warner Bros. studio, writers converged on a house serving as a location shoot for “Desperate Housewives.”\n“We write the story-a, Eva Longoria,” about 30 strikers chanted, referring to a star of the hit ABC show.\n“It is a very serious business,” said Larry Wilmore, a writer on “The Daily Show,” explaining that protesters were marching “so we can get back to being funny.”\nShooting continued Tuesday inside the house despite the protests, said Chandler Hayes, a spokesman for ABC.\nMarc Cherry, executive producer and creator of the show, said the writers had his blessing to picket as long as they were respectful to the actors.\nThe strike began Monday after last-minute negotiations failed to produce a deal on how much writers are paid when shows are offered on the Internet. No new negotiations were scheduled.
(11/06/07 1:05am)
LOS ANGELES – Film and TV writers resolved to put down their pens and take up picket signs after last-ditch talks failed to avert a strike.\nThe first picket lines were set to appear Monday morning at Rockefeller Center in New York, where NBC is headquartered.\nIn Los Angeles, writers were planning to picket 14 studio locations in four-hour shifts from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day until a new deal is reached.\nThe contract between the 12,000-member Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers expired Oct. 31. Talks that began this summer failed to produce much progress on the writers’ key demands for a bigger slice of DVD profits and revenue from the distribution of films and TV shows over the Internet.\nWriters and producers gathered for negotiations Sunday at the request of a federal mediator.\nThe two sides met for nearly 11 hours before East Coast members of the writers union announced on their Web site that the strike had begun for their 4,000 members.\nProducers said writers refused a request to “stop the clock” on the planned strike while talks continued.\n“It is unfortunate that they choose to take this irresponsible action,” producers said in a statement.\nProducers said writers were not willing to compromise on their major demands.\nWriters said they withdrew a proposal to increase their share of revenue from the sale of DVDs that had been a stumbling block for producers. They also said the proposals by producers in the area of Internet reuse of TV episodes and films were unacceptable.\n“The AMPTP made no response to any of the other proposals that the WGA has made since July,” writers said in a statement.\nThe strike is the first walkout by writers since 1988. That work stoppage lasted 22 weeks and cost the industry more than $500 million.\nThe first casualty of the strike would be late-night talk shows, which are dependent on current events to fuel monologues and other entertainment.\nDaytime TV, including live talk shows such as “The View” and soap operas, which typically tape about a week’s worth of shows in advance, would be next to feel the impact.\nThe strike will not immediately impact production of movies or prime-time TV programs. Most studios have stockpiled dozens of movie scripts, and TV shows have enough scripts or completed shows in hand to last until early next year.
(11/05/07 1:54am)
LOS ANGELES – Hollywood writers and studio representatives began last-ditch negotiations Sunday in an effort to prevent a strike, the writers union said.\nA federal mediator called the meeting between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television producers at an undisclosed location.\nThe writers’ contract expired Oct. 31, and they plan to strike at 12:01 a.m. Monday if a deal cannot be reached. The first picket lines would be seen at New York’s Rockefeller Center, followed by picket lines at various locations in Los Angeles, the guild said.\nThe writers want more money from the sale of DVDs and a share of revenue generated by the sale of TV shows and films over the Internet. The studios say the demands are unreasonable and would hamper attempts to experiment with new media.\nThe last time writers went on strike was in 1988. The walkout lasted 22 weeks and cost the industry about $500 million.\nWGA board members voted unanimously Friday to begin the strike unless studios offered a more lucrative deal. The two sides have been meeting since July.\n“The studios made it clear that they would rather shut down this town than reach a fair and reasonable deal,” Patric Verrone, president of the western chapter of the guild, said at a news conference.\nThe first casualty of the strike would be late-night talk shows, which are dependent on current events to fuel monologues and other entertainment.\n“The Tonight Show” on NBC will go into reruns starting Monday if last-ditch negotiations fail and a strike begins, according to a network official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to comment publicly.\nComedy Central has said “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and “The Colbert Report” would likely go into repeats as well.
(11/01/07 3:11am)
LOS ANGELES – Hollywood writers have a revision ready for TV and movie producers.\nContract talks resumed on Wednesday, with the Writers Guild of America ready to submit a revamped contract proposal with the hope of avoiding a strike after the current pact expires at midnight.\nDetails of the proposal were not released.\nProducers said they would consider the revision but won’t agree to anything that would restrict their ability to experiment with new Internet and other digital delivery options for films and TV shows.\n“We will not ignore the challenges of today’s economic realities, the shifts in audience taste and viewing habits, and the unpredictability of still-evolving technology,” the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers said in a prepared statement.\nA key issue in negotiations involves giving writers more money from the sale of DVDs and the distribution of shows via the Internet, cell phones and other digital platforms.\nA federal mediator joined the talks for a second day.\nIt was unclear when writers might walk off the job if a new deal isn’t reached. More than 5,000 guild members recently voted, with 90 percent authorizing negotiators to call the first strike since 1988, \nif necessary.\nThe union has set a meeting of its 12,000 members for Thursday night at the Los Angeles Convention Center.\nJonathan Handel, an entertainment lawyer who served in the 1990s as an associate counsel \nfor the writers guild, said it was in the union’s interest to delay a walkout, perhaps by five days or more.\n“The writers guild has two weapons: One is a strike, the other is the threat of a strike. It has no reason to toss that weapon away without using it for a bit,” Handel said.\nThe WGA also has to be wary of bad publicity.\n“If the guild waits, it’s easier to use the presence of the mediator to its advantage.” Handel said. “It can say, ‘Even with the mediator in the room, the studios are refusing to make a decent deal.’”\nA strike by writers would not immediately have an impact on film or primetime TV production. Most shows have enough scripts in hand to get them though early next year.\nAfter that, networks might turn to reality shows, news programs and reruns to fill \nthe airwaves.\nMajor Hollywood unions have lined up behind the writers.\nTeamsters Local 399 said in a Web posting that as a union, it has a legal obligation to honor its contracts with producers. But the local, which represents truck drivers, casting directors and location managers, said the clause does not apply to individuals, who are protected by federal law from employer retribution if they decide to honor picket lines.\nMembers of the Screen Actors Guild have also voiced strong support for writers, but officials with that union have said its 150,000 members were obligated to report to work if writers strike.
(08/25/06 3:55am)
LOS ANGELES -- While the messy divorce between Tom Cruise and Paramount Pictures won't sink Cruise's career, it still points to a sea change in an industry that has tolerated celebrity misdeeds, as long as they didn't hurt the bottom line.\nThe 14-year relationship between Cruise's production company and Paramount exploded Tuesday after Sumner Redstone, chairman of Paramount parent Viacom Inc., said Cruise's recent behavior, such as jumping on Oprah Winfrey's couch and aggressively advocating Scientology, was "creative suicide." Redstone said such displays cost the studio up to $150 million in lost ticket sales for Cruise's last film, "Mission: Impossible III."\nRedstone may have been basing some of his reaction on the fact that negative public perception of Cruise has soared in the past six months in the closely watched Q Scores, which rate celebrity popularity. They indicate that negative perception of Cruise jumped nearly 100 percent since mid-2005, while positive perception fell about 40 percent.\n"He's definitely at his low point in terms of consumer appeal, among both males and females," said Henry Schafer, executive vice president of Marketing Evaluations Inc., the Q Scores company.\nWhether that means moviegoers are spurning his films is a different matter, says film producer Peter Guber, who has worked with Cruise in such movies as "Rain Man" and a "A Few Good Men."\n"One would have to believe he will remain luminous in the near term," said Guber, chairman of Mandalay Entertainment Group and host of AMC's "Sunday Morning Shootout."\n"He didn't go out and kill somebody. He didn't drive drunk. He didn't beat up his wife," Guber said. "I think he will remain a top star in the business and command a great deal of attention and bring in a great deal of revenue."\nThe public is notoriously fickle when it comes to movie stars, although Cruise has sustained broad popularity longer than most.\nAnd Cruise does not face the same kind of challenge confronting Mel Gibson, who spouted anti-Semitic remarks after being stopped for drunk driving.\n"It's probably going to take more time to get back to where he was in consumer popularity," Schafer said of Cruise. "If he comes out in the next year or so with a big hit movie, that will help."\nThe acrimonious split comes at a time when studios are slashing costs, especially the kind of huge paychecks that stars such as Cruise have commanded, even for production deals. Paramount was reportedly paying his company, Cruise/Wagner Productions, $10 million dollars a year to develop new projects.\nStudios are no longer the private domains of moguls who often inserted a "morals clause" into star contracts and could scuttle a career based on bad behavior.\nNow, studios are part of huge public media conglomerates under enormous pressure from profit-obsessed shareholders.\nStars are also under intense scrutiny by celebrity-driven tabloids and Web sites. Recently, a studio executive openly chastised Lindsay Lohan for late-night carousing that delayed production of her latest film.
(11/17/05 6:31pm)
LOS ANGELES -- Hollywood writers and actors are calling for a code of conduct to govern a growing trend of hidden advertising in TV shows and films, and they say they will appeal to federal regulators if studios don't respond.\nThey also want their share of the billions of dollars in advertising revenue generated by what they write and act in, their unions say.\nAdvertising has been creeping into programming for years, blurring the lines of ads and entertainment. It can be as simple as a Coca-Cola cup prominently displayed on "American Idol."\nBut increasingly, the products are becoming integrated into story lines as well.\nThe character Gabrielle on "Desperate Housewives" was seen last season as an auto show model touting Buick. Some reality shows base entire episodes on contestants working with sponsors. Contestants on "The Apprentice," for example, have been given tasks involving Burger King, Home Depot and the DVD release of the latest "Star Wars" film, among others.\nThe Writers Guild of America planned to release a study Monday calling for a code of conduct that would mandate full disclosure of all product integration deals at the beginning of a program so viewers would know they will be "subject to hidden or stealth advertising," according to a news release.\n"Just as there is an established right to truth-in-advertising, there should be a similar right to truth-in-programming where advertising is concerned," said Screen Actors Guild President Alan Rosenberg.\nThe code would also require the issue to be discussed in bargaining with the studios to give actors, writers and directors a voice in how products are woven into the plot.\n"We are being told to write the lines that sell this merchandise and to deftly disguise the sale as a story," the study states.\nThe effort is part of a larger push by the WGA to unionize writers, producers and editors who work on reality TV shows.\nThe guild has said that many of the "unscripted" shows are actually carefully crafted by editors who often write specific dialogue or piece together bits of video to tell a story.\nA representative of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents film and TV studios, did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment Sunday.\nNick Counter, the AMPTP's president, has called the WGA's aggressive stance on the issue "an unfortunate tactic," in the past.
(11/18/04 5:09am)
LOS ANGELES -- Following the lead of record companies who curtailed rampant Internet piracy by targeting even small-time file swappers, Hollywood studios have launched a first wave of lawsuits against people who allegedly downloaded recent films such as "Spider-Man 2" and "Troy."\nThe seven major studios filed the lawsuits for federal copyright infringement on Tuesday in Denver, New York City, San Francisco and St. Louis. Lawsuits may have been filed in other cities, but the Motion Picture Association of America, which represents the studios, declined to say how many were filed and where.\n"It's not important," said John Malcolm, senior vice president and director of worldwide anti-piracy operations for the MPAA. "It doesn't matter if it's 10 lawsuits or 500 lawsuits. The idea here is that there is no safe harbor."\nThree lawsuits, obtained by The Associated Press, were filed in federal courts in Denver and St. Louis. Two lawsuits were filed in Denver against 22 defendants, while the one in St. Louis targets 18 individuals.\nThe St. Louis lawsuit is brought against "John Doe" defendants, including four people who are allegedly in possession of one pirated film each. Some of the Internet addresses for the defendants can be traced to high-speed Internet connections made available by Charter Communications, a cable television company based in St. Louis.\nThe defendants are accused of offering the movies over peer-to-peer file-sharing programs.\nLike similar lawsuits filed by the record industry against downloaders of music files, the studios say they will be able to identify the individual defendants later.\nEach of the lawsuits lists only a handful of films allegedly offered for downloading online, including "Troy," from Warner Bros., "Spider-Man 2," from Columbia Pictures and "Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen," from The Walt Disney Co.\nThe lawsuits seek injunctions against the defendants. Copyright law also provides for penalties of up to $30,000 for each motion picture traded over the Internet, and up to $150,000 if such infringement is shown to be willful.\nMalcolm said more lawsuits would be filed in additional cities if the current legal action does not stem illegal downloading.\nThe MPAA is running the risk of being seen as too heavy-handed, especially by suing people who have downloaded a single movie, said Wendy Seltzer, a staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.\n"We don't think for any industry that suing its fans is the best approach to new technologies," Seltzer said.\nAs part of its larger effort to combat piracy, the MPAA also said it would step up its educational campaign and offer a free computer program that sniffs out movie and music files on a user's computer as well as any installed file-sharing programs.\nThe MPAA said the program is expected to be available for download within a week. It has licensed rights to the program, which was first developed in Denmark.\nInformation detected by the file-detection program would not be shared with it or any other body, the MPAA said, but could be used to remove any "infringing movies or music files" and remove file-sharing programs.\nThe trade group said the program would be available for the Windows computer operating system on a special Web site established to educate consumers about copyrights.\nThe program could be a useful tool for parents, especially if they discover from a lawsuit that their child has been downloading pirated movies from the Web, Seltzer said.\nThe trade group said it would also join with the Video Software Dealers Association to place educational materials in more than 10,000 video stores nationwide. The materials will include anti-piracy ads that are also playing in theaters.\nWith increasing success, entertainment companies are taking matters into their own hands to fight back against Internet pirates.\nThe recording industry has successfully seeded hundreds of thousands of degraded, counterfeit copies of music files across popular file-sharing networks to frustrate computer users: These songs, for example, play for a few seconds normally then loop the same lyrics or play static.
(03/04/04 5:26am)
PHILADELPHIA -- Michael Eisner faced a rebuke of his leadership of The Walt Disney Co. Wednesday as 43 percent of shareholders withheld their support for him in a vote at the company's annual shareholder meeting.\nThe size of the no-confidence vote against Eisner was larger than many had been expecting and represented a victory for shareholder activists Stanley Gold and Roy E. Disney, former board members who have been leading a revolt against him.\nEisner is running for re-election unopposed, so his job is not in immediate danger. But the depth of shareholder dissatisfaction with him could lead to other changes, such as a separation of the chairman and CEO roles, both of which he currently holds.\nIn his opening remarks, Eisner defended his 20-year record at the helm of Disney. Eisner, his voice hoarse, said: "I love this company. The board loves this company. And we are all passionate about the output of this company."\nEisner acknowledged the performance at Disney's ABC network was "disappointing," but he also told the shareholders Disney has "the management skills and creative talent to continue its growth path."\nGold and Disney went slightly over the 15 minutes they were allotted at the meeting to present their case against Eisner, saying it was not sufficient for the company simply to split the roles of chairman and CEO.\n"Michael Eisner must leave now," Gold said. "We see today's meeting as a first step toward saving the company. ... We are seeking real and meaningful change."\nSeveral major pension funds representing millions of Disney shares joined the disaffected camp and said they would withhold their approval from Eisner and several board members to press for greater board independence.\nEisner defended his management team, saying, "Disney's record of creating value is indisputable. ... We are a very well-managed company."\nDisney executives noted the company's stock has risen more than 40 percent in the past year and the company has said earnings per share will rise 30 percent this year and by double digits through 2007.\nCharles Elson, the director at the Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware, called the 43 percent withholding figure against Eisner a "phenomenal number."\n"The board and Mr. Eisner have to step back following something as stunning as that. ... It means that some sort of change has to take place on the board and at the upper managerial levels."\nDisney is under intense pressure from state pension funds and proxy advisory firms to split the chairman and CEO jobs. It has been unwilling to do so, and as late as Tuesday, Disney board member George Mitchell defended the company's decision to name him the "presiding director" with powers to chair meetings of the board's independent members outside the presence of Eisner and other managers.\nMitchell has said the company felt it would be best to wait until at least 2006, when Eisner's contract expires, to decide on splitting the roles. But as support for that action is growing, the board may be forced to act earlier, naming a different board chairman and keeping Eisner on as chief executive.\nComcast Corp., the cable television giant that last month made an unsolicited bid for Disney that was promptly rejected, urged the Disney board to take a new look at the proposal in light of the opposition shareholders demonstrated against Disney's leadership.\nComcast said it would not sweeten the offer, originally valued at $54 billion. "The ball we think is very much going to be in Disney's court," Cohen said.\nShares of Disney fell 11 cents to $26.65 Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange.\n-- Associated Press Business Writers Seth Sutel and Rachel Beck in New York contributed to this report.
(02/24/04 4:27am)
LOS ANGELES -- A federal judge ruled Friday a software program that copies DVDs illegally violates the copyrights of Hollywood studios.\nJudge Susan Illston ruled in San Francisco software made by Chesterfield, Mo.-based 321 Studios violates the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which prohibits the circumvention of anti-piracy measures such as the Content Scramble System protecting movies on DVDs.\nThe judge ordered the company to cease making or distributing such software within seven days of her order.\nThe company said it would appeal the ruling and ask for a stay during the process.\n"Despite today's ruling, 321 stands firm in our vow to fight the Hollywood studios in their effort to take away our customers' digital rights," said Robert Moore, president of 321 Studios.\nThe software company had argued that its products merely give consumers fair use of the movies they've purchased -- backing up expensive copies of children's movies in case the originals get scratched or copying snippets of films for educational and journalistic use.\nBut the studios said the software unfairly uses unauthorized keys to unlock the copy protection software built into the DVDs -- the same keys that duly authorized DVD players use to play the movies.\nIn her ruling, Illston agreed with the studios that the software violates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the law does not violate the right to free speech or interfere with the fair use rights of consumers.\n"While 321's software does use the authorized key to access the DVD, it does not have authority to use this key, as licensed DVD players do, and it therefore avoids and bypasses (the Content Scramble System)," the judge wrote Friday.\nThe Motion Picture Association of America, which represents the studios named in 321's lawsuit, praised the ruling.\n"Today's ruling sends a clear message that it is essential for corporations to protect copyrighted works while facilitating the enjoyment of entertainment offerings through new digital technologies," MPAA President Jack Valenti said.\nGroups that had joined the lawsuit in support of 321 said the ruling hurts the legitimate rights of consumers to make backup copies of DVDs they buy legally and urged reforms to the existing law.\n"In passing the (Digital Millennium Copyright Act), Congress certainly did not intend to eliminate all consumer copying," said Cindy Cohn, legal director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "This court's reading of the statute in the 321 Studios case allows a ban on any tool that enables consumers to copy their DVDs"
(07/24/03 1:17am)
LOS ANGELES -- The movie industry is trying a new tactic in its war against people who download pirated copies of films over the Internet -- it's asking nicely.\nMovie studios will launch a campaign Tuesday that includes television ads and in-theater spots featuring makeup artists, set painters and other crafts people saying that piracy robs them of a living.\nThe Motion Picture Association of America also has developed a curriculum on copyrights for use in classrooms by Junior Achievement. The "Digital Citizenship" program covers the history of copyright and culminates with a nationwide contest in which students suggest ways to persuade peers that swapping illegal copies of music and movies is not only illegal, but wrong.\n"I don't expect anyone to have sympathy for me or for other executives," said Peter Chernin, president and chief operating officer of News Corp., whose Twentieth Century Fox studio made the spots. "What we are endeavoring to do is both communicate that it's wrong and also communicate that there are human stakes and that those stakes are not just millionaires making less millions."\nThe film and music industries have been aggressive over the past year or so in enforcing their copyrights in the courts, as well as lobbying for tougher laws to punish those who swap music and movie files over the Internet.\nWhile copies of popular blockbusters can be found on the Internet -- sometimes days before the movie is released to theaters -- computer copies of films are still too large to download easily and are often poor quality copies made using hand-held camcorders.\nMusic files, by contrast, are smaller and are CD quality. That fact led to services such as Napster, which was shut down after legal action taken by the music industry.\nMovie studios believe they still have a few years before Internet connections become fast enough to threaten them in the same way. Studios are experimenting with new business models, including making films available legitimately online through services such as Movielink.\n"We're not sitting on our hands like the music business did," Chernin said.\nUltimately, studios will succeed only if they move quickly to offer legitimate alternatives that consumers want, analysts say.\n"It may just be that consumers aren't quite ready yet to turn to the Internet for movies," said Fred von Lohmann, a lawyer for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "But when they are, the answer will be to offer them a compelling legitimate alternative, not telling them to behave themselves."\nThe 30-second television ad will have its first run Thursday night on all the broadcast networks and most cable channels during their first prime time break, sometime after 8 p.m. The first of several trailers will begin running Friday in most major theater chains around the country.\nThe first trailer features David Goldstein, a set painter who says that piracy hurts him more than film industry executives. Each ad ends with the tag line, "Movies. They're worth it."\nThe campaign also will include a Web site that outlines the moral implications of illegal downloading as well as the legal and practical consequences.\n"Taking something that doesn't belong to you is wrong," said Jack Valenti, president of the MPAA. "It's in the long term interest of people to understand there is no free lunch"
(05/22/03 12:50am)
LOS ANGELES -- The Walt Disney Co. will test two technologies this fall -- movie downloads and self-destructing DVDs -- designed to broaden the distribution of its films and boost profits by cutting out the middleman.\nThe first service, called "MovieBeam," will beam films to consumers to boxes atop their TVs.\nDisney will launch it in Salt Lake City and two other markets yet to be announced. Viewers will need to rent set-top boxes available at consumer electronics stores that plug into a television like a DVD player.\nPricing of movies will be similar to a rental at a video store. Viewers will be able to watch a rented film as many times as they wish in a 24-hour period.\nMovieBeam intends to offer another alternative for movie fans who can now get video-on-demand from cable companies or via Internet through such services as Movielink.\nIn August, Disney also will begin selling self-destructing DVDs that will allow viewers to buy a movie for slightly more than a video rental. Once the package is opened, the DVD can be played for 48 hours, after which a chemical is released that renders the disc useless.\nBoth systems, Disney says, are designed to eliminate the inconvenience of visiting a video rental store, such as Blockbuster, to rent and return movies.\nBlockbuster might not be too worried about MovieBeam, because it is making an increasing amount of money on DVD sales -- and MovieBeam does not plan to make films available until after they have debuted in video stores.\nWith the rising popularity of DVDs, movie studios are more interested in keeping a bigger slice of the pie. In Disney's most recent fiscal quarter, revenue from worldwide home video sales contributed the only bright spot as profits from its theme parks, television networks and consumer products divisions all lagged.\n"Unlike cable video-on-demand, where the customer gets VOD from his or her cable operator and the studios get paid a wholesale fee, this is a direct-to-consumer retail service where the consumer builds a relationship with us," Peter Murphy, Disney's chief strategic officer, said of MovieBeam.\nVideo-on-demand also allows consumers to watch movies any time of the day and fast forward, rewind or pause, just like a video.\nWith so many households already wired with cable or satellite boxes, VCRs and DVD players, Disney could have a tough time persuading consumers to try its new service.\n"It's very hard to see how consumers will make room for that alongside what they've already got," said Josh Bernoff, an analyst at Forrester Research.\nUnder the plan, the MovieBeam boxes will come pre-loaded with 100 films, and Disney will datacast about 10 new films each week using equipment attached to television transmission towers, most likely those of its own ABC network affiliates.\nDisney hopes to have deals to carry movies from other studios in time for the fall launch, according to people familiar with Disney's plans.\nBut Bernoff said, "I don't see the other studios being excited about helping Disney build a new distribution platform"
(05/20/03 9:50pm)
LOS ANGELES -- Hordes of fans took another trip down the rabbit hole with Neo, Trinity and the other characters of "The Matrix Reloaded," giving the sequel the highest opening weekend gross of any R-rated film on record.\nThe Warner Bros. sequel to 1999's "The Matrix" took in an estimated $93.3 million from Friday through Sunday, capturing 59.8 percent of the total gross of the weekend's top 12 films, according to studio estimates.\n"Matrix Reloaded" made mincemeat out of the previous R-rated weekend record holder, 2001's "Hannibal," which brought in $58 million. "Matrix Reloaded" opened in limited previews Wednesday night, and its total for all five days was estimated at $135.8 million.\n"Matrix Reloaded" becomes the second-highest first weekend grossing film of all time, behind last year's PG-13-rated "Spider-Man," which took in $114.8 million its opening weekend. "Matrix Reloaded" was rated R for violence and some sexuality.\nOverall, however, Hollywood revenues were down, with the top 12 movies grossing $162.6 million, off 4 percent compared to the same weekend last year.\n"Matrix Reloaded" audiences were split almost evenly between those under and over 25, and many theater owners reported a large number of families seeing the film, according to Warner Bros. research.\n"You had a whole legion of fans under 17 whose parents were obviously willing to take them to see this movie," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations Co. "You can almost call this an R-rated family film.\n"This just shows that ratings matter to a point, but if people want to see the movie, they're going to see the movie," Dergarabedian said.\nThe film is the second of a trilogy, which will wrap up in November with "The Matrix Revolutions."\nWarner Bros. held back on a major television ad campaign for the film, relying instead on word of mouth from the releases of the DVD of "The Matrix," of a video game based on the films and of a series of animated shorts.\n"The Matrix Reloaded" easily knocked its sci-fi rival, "X2: X-Men United," into third place. "X2" took in $17.1 million for a total three-week take of $174 million.\nA surprise was the resilience of the Eddie Murphy family comedy "Daddy Day Care," which only slipped 30 percent at the box office in its second week and retained its second-place showing with a three-day gross of $19.2 million, for a three-week total of $51.4 million.
(11/12/02 4:51am)
LOS ANGELES -- The anticipated online movies-on-demand venture formed by five major Hollywood studios was launched Monday, marking the first time a large supply of recent, popular films are available legally on the Internet. \nThe effort, called Movielink, allows people to download films over a high-speed Internet connection. It is the industry's alternative to the distribution of pirated films over peer-to-peer computer networks — services such as Napster that threatened the music industry. \nMovielink was formed last year and is owned equally by Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Warner Bros. \nMovielink offers individual titles for $1.99 to $4.99. The compressed files average about 500 megabytes in size and take about an hour to download with a high-speed DSL or cable modem connection. \nThe films can be watched using media players from RealNetworks Inc. and Microsoft Corp. The full-screen quality is roughly equivalent to that of a VHS tape, but suffers as the image is enlarged. Viewers can pause, fast forward and rewind the films. \nThe movies can be viewed an unlimited number of times during a 24-hour period. The movies delete themselves after the one-day license expires, and will sit on the computer hard drive for 30 days if not watched. \nMovielink is offering the movies in file formats developed by RealNetworks and Microsoft, which have their own copy protection and compression schemes. The files are encrypted and will not play the movie if it is sent to another computer. A small program called "Movielink Manager" tracks downloaded files and how long a user has to watch them. \nMovielink's launch is being closely watched because it is the first broad test of whether consumers will use the Internet to rent and watch movies. \nThe industry points to the availability of pirated first-run films as proof that such a market exists. \n"Research tells us that between one-quarter to one-third of broadband users are interested in movies and either haven't had the content or have had a bad experience with pirated films," said Jim Ramo, Movielink chief executive. "There is, we think, pent-up demand from this target group for a reliable product." \nAnalysts are not so sure, although they praise the studios for embracing Internet distribution faster than their counterparts in the music industry. \n"You have to start to be in this channel or you'll lose the channel altogether," Black said. "But it's going to be a really small market. The majority of all movie watching is going to be taking place through traditional channels." \nThe company plans to test the service for 90 days to determine consumer preferences, such as whether people want films in letterbox or full-screen format. \nMovielink has about 170 titles, ranging from the recent films "A Beautiful Mind" and "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," to library titles such as "Blazing Saddles" and "Barbarella." \nStudios plan to provide films to the service about six weeks after they are released on DVD and home video. \nThe Walt Disney Co. and Fox Entertainment Group formed their own rival video-on-demand service but it was disbanded earlier this year after Fox pulled out, citing regulatory concerns. \nMovielink has been scrutinized by the antitrust division of the Justice Department, but Ramo said the investigation did not prevent the venture from launching. \n"The company is set up to be pro-competitive," Ramo said. He noted that studios will license films to Movielink non-exclusively. Some of the top movies, such as "Ocean's Eleven" and "The Majestic," also are available on the Internet service CinemaNow and on the cable service InDemand. \n"Whenever five studios get together, I think people will always want us to be vigilant in how we conduct our business practice and we intend to do that," Ramo said.
(08/30/01 5:21am)
LOS ANGELES -- When Hollywood publicist David Brokaw started in the business 30 years ago, his first boss gave him three pieces of advice. \n"He said, 'Always spell people's names correctly, call people back promptly, and read the trades every day,'" said Brokaw. \nThe "trades" are two newspapers, Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, which both have daily and weekly editions. Between them they have the circulation of a small-town daily -- Variety has a daily circulation of 34,420, compared to 31,713 for the daily Hollywood Reporter, according to the publications. \nBut the small town they cover is Hollywood and their influence can be considerable. \nNow both papers have become mired in controversy, including accusations of conflict of interest. The turmoil shows how the trades' role and readership are changing as the entertainment industry expands. \nEarlier this month, Variety editor Peter Bart was suspended because of offensive remarks attributed to him in an article in Los Angeles magazine. The highly unflattering profile said Bart made derogatory comments about homosexuals, blacks and other groups. \nMore damaging to the credibility of Variety are allegations that Bart wrote and sold scripts while directing his paper\'s coverage. \nAt The Hollywood Reporter, the editor and film editor resigned in April, a week after the labor reporter quit because the publisher would not run a story alleging that one of the paper\'s columnists accepted favors from a movie company. The columnist, George Christy, later took a leave of absence and his column was suspended while the charges against him are investigated. \nThe controversies expose the often cozy relationship between the trades and the entertainment industry. Observers say journalists are often seduced by their access to the rich and powerful, and begin to think of themselves as part of the industry they cover. \nStories abound about journalists with scripts under their arms who leave low-paid jobs for a chance at fame. \nThe trade papers have long been a curious mix of traditional journalism, influential columns and stories planted by publicists. In some ways, the papers serve as the industry's backyard fence, reporting on rumor and gossip for entertainment executives looking to keep abreast of, or make, the latest deal. \nA mention in Army Archerd's column in Variety can influence an actor\'s career. And each spring and summer, the papers nearly explode with extra advertising pages taken by studios and TV networks hoping to influence nominations for the Emmy and Academy awards. \nOver the past decade or so, both papers have become more credible sources of news, often breaking big industry stories and casting a critical eye on the business of show business. The current controversies may reflect this transition from the old "wink, wink" journalism to more hard-edged, objective reporting. \n"Increasingly, the people who cover these things are not people who are looking for a back-door route into an executive job or a job as a writer or producer," said Martin Kaplan, associate dean of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California. \n"But it's still a kind of mixture. Probably every issue contains some stories that are throwbacks to that old boys' network and stories the studios are furious about." \nAs the influence of the entertainment industry grows, the trades will likely come under more scrutiny. \n"The readership of the trades has broadened in the last 10 to 15 years," Kaplan said. "Everyone now knows the names of the executives and deal structures. So the trades come to be relied on not just as a vanity bulletin board for the studios and the agencies, but also as a vehicle for facts."