Audio Video News

P<I>atrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spinner, Levar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, F. Murray Abraham, Donna Murphy, Anthony Zerbe. Directed by Jonathan Frakes. Aspect ratio: 2.35:1 (anamorphic). Dolby Digital 5.1. 108 minutes. 1998. Paramount 335887. PG. $29.99.</I>

Planet Hollywood in New York hosted the world premiere of <I><A HREF="http://www.shootyoudown.com">underdogs</A></I> at the New York International Independent Film Video and Arts Festival this past weekend, but, in an effort to get the film from the launch party into the market, the writer-director has listed the rights to the romantic comedy on <A HREF="http://www.ebay.com">eBay</A>.

Network television may be on the decline, but the film industry is stronger than ever. American movie fans bought almost $3 billion worth of movie tickets over the summer of 1999, exceeding the all-time high of $2.6 billion, set the previous year. This year, 11 movies pulled in more than $100 million each, and ticket sales for the year to date are up 6%.

According to a report issued last week by <A HREF="http://www.alliedworld.com">Allied Business Intelligence</A>, a worldwide conversion from traditional analog broadcasts to digital images is creating a windfall for those producing consumer set-top boxes. Findings in the report, "Digital Set-Top Boxes: World Markets, Architectures, and Vendors," also indicate that the global installed base of digital set-top boxes will reach 252 million units by the end of 2004. The report states that two key factors driving the demand will be the use of digital set-top boxes by both DBS and cable subscribers. Growth in terrestrial digital TV decoder boxes is likely to be significantly slower, according to the research.

Hayward, California-based <A HREF="http://www.runco.com/">Runco</A>, one of the premier manufacturers of video projectors, has announced the VX1, a high-brightness, high-resolution projector that the company claims is about the same size and weight as much-lower-resolution LCD projectors. The VX1 is based on <A HREF="http://www.ti.com/">Texas Instruments</A>' one-chip Digital Light Processor (DLP) technology.

Because they missed their opportunity to distribute the original film the first time around, <A HREF="http://www.cinemanow.com/">CinemaNow</A> and <A HREF="http://www.trimarkpictures.com/">Trimark Pictures</A> announced last week that they have acquired all rights to several spoofs of <I><A HREF="http://www.blairwitch.com/">The Blair Witch Project</A></I>, with negotiations already underway to acquire several more. The original <I>Blair Witch</I> film has been put on a fast-track schedule for release on DVD in time for Halloween, including the requisite "Newly Discovered" footage, Internet links, and other special features.

California's Assembly Appropriations Committee has unanimously voted in favor of legislation that will treat celebrities' images as copyrighted property. SB 209, nicknamed "the Astaire Bill," was passed 30-1 by the state's Senate on April 5, and will now move to the full Assembly for a final vote.