SUPER BOWL DELAY SHEDS A LITTLE DARKNESS ON THE RATINGS

Thanks to that 34-minute delay due to an electrical outage at the New Orleans Superdome — cause: still unknown — CBS can now claim the record for the most viewers during primetime (7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. on Sundays) in history. The reason is that during previous Super Bowl nights, the post-game “special episode” always […]

OPENING CEREMONY PRAISED; NBC SCORNED AT OLYMPICS’ START

If NBC was hoping to win back the goodwill and admiration of viewers with its $1-billion Olympics package, it certainly got off on the wrong foot on Friday as it delayed the telecast of the Opening Ceremony until primetime in the U.S., refused to make it available online, and actively policed the Internet to make […]

LET THE OPENING CEREMONY BEGIN

Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle has said that he is aiming to create a “live film” spectacular at London’s Olympic Stadium tonight (Friday) for his “Isles of Wonder” opening ceremony. While some news outlets have estimated that 4 billion people will be watching his production (the London Daily Mail put the possible number at 8 billion, […]

DC COMICS HALTS SALES OF LATEST BATMAN ADVENTURE

DC Comics, which is owned by Warner Bros., the company that produced The Dark Knight Rises, has sent out a notice to comic-book retailers asking them to withhold sales of the latest issue of Batman, Incorporated for a month. The notice said, “Out of respect for the victims and families in Aurora, Colorado DC Entertainment […]

NO BOX OFFICE REPORTS FOR DARK KNIGHT RISES THIS WEEKEND

Warner Bros. announced late today that they will not be releasing box office figures for The Dark Knight Rises until Monday “out of respect for the victims and their families.” The Hollywood Reporter quoted a studio spokesman as saying that it would be “insensitive” to be talking about the numbers in light of the midnight […]

TIME WARNER’S BEWKES: “NETFLIX IS OUR FRIEND”

While only a year ago Time Warner chief Jeff Bewkes was saying that Netflix was “like the Albanian army [trying] to take over the world” and predicting that the world — meaning media conglomerates like his — was bound to win. The company’s Warner Bros. unit has imposed a 28-day delay on the release of […]

WILL ANONYMOUS GO WIDE? THAT IS THE QUESTION

The wide release of the Shakespeare drama Anonymous set for October 28 is, well, not to be. According to the Los Angeles Times, Sony plans to open the Roland Emmerich drama, which raises the question of who really wrote Shakespeare’s plays, in just 250 theaters, after tracking surveys of movie audiences proved to be “soft.” […]

JACKSON HOSPITALIZED; HOBBIT DELAYED AGAIN

Production of The Hobbit, the two-part prequel to the Lord of the Rings saga, which has been delayed numerous times by a dispute over distribution rights, wrangling over union representation, and most of all by the financial health of MGM, has been delayed yet again — this time by the physical health of producer-director Peter […]

GOOGLE TV ADMITS IT’S NOT READY FOR PRIMETIME

On virtually the eve of its introduction of its Google TV Web-to-TV software, Google has told television manufacturers who had planned to integrate it into their new TV sets that the software is not ready and has asked them to delay their introductions, the New York Times said today (Monday). The report indicated that the […]

SONY WITHHOLDS KARATE KID FROM NETFLIX FOR 28 DAYS

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment apparently wants to see whether withholding DVD titles from Netflix for 28 days will boost sales. It said Wednesday that it plans to release some DVDs to the online rental company on the same day they hit retailers and others four weeks later. The first movie being delayed is The Karate […]

Next Page »