AMC Offers Private Theater Rentals Starting at $99, As Cinemas Continue To Struggle

Mega-chain AMC has begun to offer the option through its site, with prices for renting out a theater starting at a surprisingly reasonable $99 (though not in New York, Alaska and Hawaii). Split among ten friends, and you’re already paying less than a normal movie ticket. From a report: Attendees can invite as many as 20 people to a screening, which…

Anthony Fauci on the Coronavirus and the Prospects for a Vaccine

In the video here, you can watch excerpts from New Yorker journalist Michael Specter and Fauci’s conversation, which encompassed the hard lessons of the AIDS epidemic, Americans’ fraught relationship with scientific and medical authority, and possible time lines for the development and distribution of a coronavirus vaccine. The key questions, Fauci told Specter, are not just when a vaccine will be…

All Regal and Cineworld Movie Theaters To Close Until Further Notice

Regal Cinemas, a subsidiary of Cineworld Group, said it will shut down all 536 locations on Thursday until further notice. The closure reflects “an increasingly challenging theatrical landscape” due to the COVID-19 pandemic and is temporary, the chain said. NPR reports: Regal is shutting down theaters again less than two months after it started to reopen U.S. locations in late August….

After ‘No Time To Die’ Postponement, Hundreds of US and UK Movie Theatres Postpone Reopening

An anonymous reader quotes the Hollywood Reporter: Following the delay of more Hollywood tentpoles — including James Bond film No Time to Die — mega-movie theater chain Cineworld is planning to keep all of its locations in the U.K. and the U.S. closed for the time being, The Sunday Times reported on Saturday. The British-based company is the largest circuit in…

New James Bond Film ‘No Time to Die’ Is Delayed Until 2021

The next big Hollywood movie release, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s James Bond flick “No Time to Die,” is being delayed again, Bloomberg reported Friday, citing a person with knowledge of the situation, a result of the woeful economics that studios are facing because of the pandemic. From a report: “No Time to Die” will be released in 2021, said the person, who asked not…

Facebook Rebuts Netflix Documentary ‘The Social Dilemma’

Facebook on Friday offered a rebuttal to the hit Netflix documentary-drama, “The Social Dilemma.” The movie revealed, perhaps for the first time to some viewers, how social networks use algorithms to keep people coming back. It also addressed how tech companies have influenced elections, ethnic violence and rates of depression and suicide. Some viewers said they were deleting Facebook and Instagram…

New Reality Show’s Prize? 10 Days on the International Space Station

CNN reports:
A planned reality show will seek to give the winner of its on-air competition “the greatest prize ever given out on Earth” — a 10-day stay on the International Space Station… The production company’s press release said that the team is “now looking for global brand and primary distribution partners.” Space Hero is planning to open the application process for…

10 proofs the Moon Landing was real, debunking conspiracy theories

How is the flag waving on the Moon? Why aren’t there any stars in the Apollo photos? EarthSky debunks these Moon Landing conspiracy theories and more. Source: https://earthsky.org/uncategorized/10-proofs-the-moon-landing-was-real-debunking-conspiracy-theories…

AI tool improves video footage by editing out unwanted objects

Hollywood movie studios invest significant time and money editing out unwanted objects from video footage – a new AI tool can do the same job at a fraction of the cost Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2254351-ai-tool-improves-video-footage-by-editing-out-unwanted-objects/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…

Is Planet Nine a Black Hole?

“Astrophysicists have recently begun hatching plans to find out just how weird Planet Nine might be,” reports the New York Times. Long-time Slashdot reader fahrbot-bot shares their report:
Although it is probably wishful thinking, some astronomers contend that a black hole may be lurking in the outer reaches of our solar system. All summer, they have been arguing over how to find…