Twenty years ago, 60% of Americans said they would hesitate to see a movie if it were excessively violent. But according to an Associated Press poll released last week, a steady diet of action films over the last two decades have had a marked effect: Now, only 40% say that too much violence would keep them out of the theater.
Earlier this week the video-on-demand movie service called MovieBeam was reborn, and will offer movies from six major Hollywood studios in standard definition, and high definition movies from Warner Bros. and Disney. According to MovieBeam, Disney, Miramax, and Touchstone titles will be available day and date with the DVD release, while movies from other studios will conform to a 30-45 day window between DVD release and on-demand availability. Although MovieBeam has specified that around 10% of its titles will be in HD, there is no word yet as to whether the day and date titles specifically will be in HD.
Movielink has been part of Blockbuster for months now, but their own website was still up and running. Well, until now, that it. Movielink.com is officially closing on December 15, 2008. No more downloads through them, but all those movies will...
Breaking news out of E3. Sony's Playstation Network users can now rent or purchase movies and TV shows. Notice what I said. Now rent and purchase. Like, right now. Beyond Sony's own material, Turner, MGM, Fox, Lions Gate, Warner, Disney,...
Only three of the seven recent disc announcements highlighted here are releases on 4K Blu-ray but at least two of them support high dynamic range (HDR). The remaining four are slated for release (or have been recently released) on standard Blu-ray, DVD, and/or digital.
Films as physical commodities have begun to disappear, thanks to companies like <A HREF="http://www.harmonicdata.com/">Harmonic, Inc</A>. Eventually, most films shown in theaters—and many films viewed in homes—will be delivered not as film reels or video discs but as digital signals beamed from satellites.
Prior to the upcoming CEDIA (Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association) EXPO in early September, SpeakerCraft decided to jump the gun and make a couple of in-ceiling speaker announcements.
Digeo, the maker of the Moxi HD DVR and other products, has been acquired by Arris, an IP technology power. The acquisition may increase Moxi's penetration in the cable sphere.
The <A HREF="http://www.mpaa.org/">Motion Picture Association of America</A> (MPAA) has lauded a ruling by a Washington, DC federal appeals court. On Friday, February 16, the court upheld by a 2-1 vote a 1998 law that extended copyright protection for intellectual properties works by two decades. The extension was pushed through Congress by former president Bill Clinton, with strong backing from the Walt Disney Company, which feared that copyrights on icons like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck would soon move into the public domain. US copyright law now agrees with its European counterparts as a result of the revision.
The <A HREF="http://www.mpaa.com">Motion Picture Association of America</A> has issued a strident warning that "a growing global epidemic" of Internet movie piracy is harming the motion picture industry. Citing a survey of 3600 Internet users in 8 countries conducted by online research company <A HREF="http://otx2.otxresearch.com">OTX</A>, the MPAA reported that one in four Internet users (24%) has downloaded a movie and that 17% of those who had done soreported lowered attendance of theatrical films or purchases of licensed DVDs or videotapes.
The Motion Picture Association of America (<A HREF="http://www.mpaa.org">MPAA</A>) has partially caved into demands from voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to release screening copies of movies nominated for Academy Awards.
The <A HREF="http://www.mpaa.org">Motion Picture Association of America</A> (MPAA) is pushing for a crackdown on offshore industrial piracy, a phenomenon that is a way of life in many countries. The trade group estimates that the American video industry loses as much as $3.5 billion annually to illegal copying worldwide.
Movie studios, producers, writers, actors, and distributors are seeking a work- around of an edict issued only a couple of weeks ago by the <A HREF="http://www.mpaa.org">Motion Picture Association of America</A> (MPAA) that would ban free screening copies of Academy Award-nominated movies.
Say what you want. The MPAA is about as popular as the RIAA, more known as a policing agency tackling pirates and illegal downloads than a helpful ally - right up there with the IRS in a lot of people's minds. But, maybe the MPAA is beginning to...