Disney CEO Suggests There’s No ‘Going Back’ To Pre-COVID Film Releases

As Disney prepares to release “Raya and the Last Dragon” in theaters and as a premium on-demand title this Friday, CEO Bob Chapek says that he thinks the experimentation his studio and others in Hollywood are doing with releasing movies during the pandemic will permanently change the movie business. From a report “The consumer is probably more impatient than they’ve ever…

Nearby black hole Cyg X-1 more massive than thought

New research suggests that the famous black hole Cygnus X-1 – first black hole ever detected and one of the closest to Earth – is farther away and much more massive than previously believed. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/cygnus-x-1-black-hole-more-massive-farther…

Disney+ Added Content Disclaimers to 18 Episodes of ‘The Muppet Show’

118 episodes of Jim Henson’s classic TV series The Muppet Show are now streaming on Disney+, writes the AV Club — but 18 episodes now begin with a content disclaimer… The text of the disclaimers, which cannot be skipped past and include little 12-second timers so you know that you have to sit through them, explain that the episodes feature “negative…

Martin Scorsese Argues Streaming Algorithms Devalue Cinema into ‘Content’

In a new essay for Harper’s magazine, Martin Scorsese argues the art of cinema is being systematically devalued and demeaned by streaming services and their algorithms, “and reduced to its lowest common denominator, ‘content.'” “Content” became a business term for all moving images: a David Lean movie, a cat video, a Super Bowl commercial, a superhero sequel, a series episode. It…

Quantum leap: how we discovered a new way to create a hologram

Once, holograms were just a scientific curiosity. But thanks to the rapid development of lasers, they have gradually moved center stage, appearing on the security imagery for credit cards and bank notes, in science fiction movies—most memorably Star Wars—and even “live” on stage when long-dead rapper Tupac reincarnated for fans at the Coachella music festival in 2012. …

Roku Plans To Produce Original Shows and Feature Films

Not content anymore with just streaming Hollywood’s old shows and movies, Roku is looking to produce originals: The company published a job listing for a lead production attorney, which spells out plans to build out an “expanding slate of original content.” From a report: This renewed push into originals comes just weeks after Roku acquired Quibi’s content library, for which the…

The Cinemas Now Hiring Out Their Screens To Gamers

Some movie theaters around the world are renting out their screens to gamers to bring in a new revenue stream amid the coronavirus pandemic. The BBC reports: With many cinemas across the country closed due to coronavirus restrictions meaning that they can only open with 50% capacity, and far fewer movies being released to tempt cinemagoers, CGV [South Korea’s largest cinema…

‘Meme Stock’ Rally Rescues AMC Theaters From $600 Million Debt

This week’s bizarre “meme stock” rally, which has delivered lottery-like windfalls for holders of GameStop stock, also wiped out $600 million in debt owed by the AMC theater chain. Polygon reports: That’s because, on Wednesday, a private equity firm named Silver Lake — and private equity firms are popularly considered the “bad guys” in this snobs-versus-slobs drama — elected to convert…

There’s Still No Sign of Privacy Labels On Most Google iOS Apps

As of December 8, Apple has been requiring developers to provide privacy label information to their apps, outlining the data that each app collects from users when it is installed. Many app developers have included the labels, but there’s one notable outlier — Google. schwit1 shares a report from MacRumors: Google has not updated its major apps like Gmail, Google Maps,…