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Netflix’s ‘The Irishman’ debuts in select theaters November 1st
We've been waiting for the debut of Netflix's The Irishman -- Martin Scorsese's crime drama starring Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci -- for two years. And the film has reportedly been in the works for almost a decade. As we learned last month, The Irishman will get a swanky world premiere as the New York Film Festival opener on September 27th. Now, Variety reports that it will land in theaters as a limited release on November 1st. It'll hit the streaming service just a few weeks later, on November 27th.
Regal Cinemas unveils its unlimited movie subscription service
Regal Cinemas is the latest company to offer an unlimited movie ticket subscription service. The details of its new Regal Unlimited program were posted on its website today. The service isn't up and running just yet, but according to Deadline, it should launch in less than a week.
MoviePass founder's next big idea: Free movie tickets for watching ads
Stacy Spikes just wants to get people to the movies. As the co-founder and CEO of MoviePass, he helped popularize the idea of cinema subscriptions. (This was before MoviePass brought in a new CEO and his ambitious -- but ultimately unsustainable -- $10 monthly plan.) As he pondered his next endeavor, he started noticing just how many ads we're subjected to in theaters, something that seems especially egregious as ticket prices keep climbing. And that's not counting the product placement we see in films.
China's Netflix equivalent just opened its first cinema
China's Netflix-like service, iQiyi, wants to bring on-demand movies to real-life movie theaters. The company just opened its first brick and mortar cinema to show online movies in an offline environment, complete with complete with popcorn, fancy seats and Dolby and THX sound.
MoviePass no longer lets you see the same movie more than once
MoviePass just instituted a new change to its terms of service and the company will now prevent subscribers from seeing the same movie more than once. iMore spotted the update and reports that the new limitation will apply to all subscribers, new and existing. MoviePass' website says, "We recently updated our Terms of Service to reflect that MoviePass subscribers are only permitted to see a select movie in theaters once with your MoviePass. We hope this will encourage you to see new movies and enjoy something different!"
cPass wants to be the European MoviePass for all entertainment
It might surprise you to learn that MoviePass has been offering unlimited movie tickets as a monthly subscription for over five years now. But the name only really rocketed into the public consciousness last summer, right after the price per month dropped below $10. MoviePass struggled to keep up with the wave of new interest, and its continued rapid growth caught the attention of many. Enter cPass, a new service hoping to fill a MoviePass-shaped hole in Europe. Only it doesn't want to limit itself to movies. Co-founder brothers Puya and Pedram Vahabi hope cPass will become an all-you-can-eat subscription for all kinds of entertainment.
MoviePass adds Landmark Theatres to its subscription service
MoviePass, the popular cinema subscription service, just added another large theater company to its roster. While some movie theater groups, like Cinemark, have begun to offer their own (far less generous) take on the idea, others are jumping onboard. MoviePass announced its partnership with Landmark Theaters, known for its indie films and noticeably absent from the service. The agreement integrates MoviePass into Landmark Theatres' ticketing system, adding e-ticketing, advanced screening reservations and in-app seat selection to the movie-going experience.
'Star Wars: Episode VIII' is called 'The Last Jedi'
Holster those blasters. Turn off your lightsaber. Something important has just happened. The powers that be at Disney and Lucasfilm have decided to reveal the full name for Star Wars: Episode VIII today, which graces movie theaters on December 15th, 2017. Ready? The Last Jedi. Yep, that's it. We know little else about the movie, other than it'll feature one mister Luke Skywalker and the new generation of galactic butt-kicking heroes, Rey, Finn and Poe. Oh, and presumably the angst-ridden Kylo Ren will show up too. If you're keeping count, there's just 326 more days to wait...
MoviePass unveils new prices, starting at $15 a month
MoviePass's new CEO, Mitch Lowe, has made good on his promise to reach a $20 plan. The cinema subscription service now starts at $15 a month for two films in markets where tickets are relatively cheap (read: far away from large cities). In slightly more expensive areas it'll start at $18 a month for two films, and in the most expensive markets like NYC and LA, it starts at $21 a month. Sure, that's far more limiting than MoviePass's original all-you-can-eat plans, but Lowe says he's hoping to attract subscribers who only have time to hit the theater a few times monthly.
AMC decides not to let people text in theaters after all
Well, that was fast. Just two days after AMC CEO Adam Aron said he was considering ways to let patrons use phones in theaters, the company has decided to put the kibosh on that divisive -- and potentially terrible -- line of thinking. "With your advice in hand, there will be NO TEXTING ALLOWED in any of the auditoriums at AMC Theatres," Aron said in a statement posted to the company's Facebook page. "Not today, not tomorrow and not in the foreseeable future."
Tarantino explains why he thinks 70mm is better than digital
Famed film director Quentin Tarantino is well-known for his purist cinematic tastes and revelry of antique movie production techniques. His fondness for old-school cinema is on full display in his upcoming release, The Hateful Eight, which is being captured only in 70mm and shown as glamorous "roadshows". While the rest of the industry films almost exclusively in digital these days (not to mention that movie houses have long since mothballed their 70mm projectors) Tarantino has been dead set to make this movie on film. In the Fandango featurette below, he explains his reasoning for this insistence and why it's good for the fans.
Netflix's 'Beasts of no Nation' already has 3 million views
With Netflix's first theater-ready film, Beasts of No Nation, content chief Ted Sarandos broke a long-standing company rule not to reveal viewing numbers. "It is worth sharing that this movie, in North America alone, has over 3 million views already," he told Deadline. Netflix racked up those figures in two weekends, and the Cary Fukunaga directed film, starring Idris Elba, was the top Netflix movie in its first week of release. The service helped it along with a strong launch, though. "We focused on making the film available to all 69 million Netflix subscribers around the world, in more than 50 countries," Sarandos said.
Super League Gaming brings competitive 'Minecraft' to American movie theaters
Arcades used to be the go-to place for gamers to come together and test their skills in friendly matches. While quarter-fuelled cabinets have fallen in popularity, the online eSports scene has exploded, resulting in huge tournaments and sell-out crowds. Super League Gaming, despite its name, wants to recreate the social, recreational arcade atmosphere for a new generation of games and players. For starters, it's planning a 28-city tour in the US, where it'll be hosting Minecraft competitions inside 80 AMC, Cinemark and iPic movie theaters. The game isn't exactly known for its competitive multiplayer, but organisers hope to stir up some friendly rivalry with PVP matches and casual building sessions.
Amazon plans to release 12 movies a year in theaters and on Prime
In recent years, Amazon and Netflix have created original content to get more subscribers, grow revenues and set themselves apart from not only from each other, but major cable channels like HBO. Examples include House of Cards, Orange Is The New Black and Transparent. Amazon has always suggested it may look to expand beyond TV and into movies, but only now has it revealed its plan to do exactly that. In a release today, Amazon Studios said it will 'begin to produce and acquire original movies for theatrical release and early window distribution on Amazon Prime Instant Video."
Movie theaters ban Google Glass and other camera-toting wearables
Many individual American movie theaters are already hostile to guests who use wearables like Google Glass, and they've now made that opposition official on a national level. Both the Motion Picture Association of America and the National Association of Theater Owners have instituted a "zero-tolerance" rule that bans recording-capable wearables during showings. While the policy doesn't say exactly what qualifies, it's clearly targeted at Glass and other headgear. It could technically include camera-equipped smartwatches like the Gear 2, although you probably won't have to worry about stowing your timepiece.
Big theater chains team up against Netflix's first movie
Unsurprisingly, there's one group that's not at all excited to hear Netflix and IMAX are arranging for the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon sequel to hit theaters and streaming at the same time: movie theater owners. According to the LA Times, Regal, AMC, Carmike and Cinemark have all stated they don't plan to screen Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Green Legend on their IMAX screens when it arrives next year, while Variety notes Canada's Cineplex and Europe's Cineworld are also staying away from the flick. The studios blocked a planned experiment to sell Tower Heist viewing for $60 a pop (honestly, they saved everyone there) back in 2011, but it seems doubtful they'll be able to intimidate Netflix into backing down.
Twitter and Vine: coming soon to a theater near you
Silence is golden, reads your local theater's pre-film PSA: please turn off your mobile device. It's a courtesy to other moviegoers, of course, but a deal between Twitter and theater advertising firm National CineMedia could tweak this gold standard. According to Variety, the pair are working on a one-minute weekly pre-roll show that culls movie-focused content from Twitter and Vine, featuring a stream of hashtagged tweets from viewers. The initiative is set to launch this summer, giving viewers what NCM reps are calling "an original look inside the world of movies." It's no marquee billing, but if you're dying to put yourself up on the silver screen, you'll soon have an official, easy route. Seriously though, turn your phone off. The movie's starting.
MoviePass launches iPhone app and card combo, takes unlimited viewing to all US theaters
While MoviePass was in early beta, it got more than a small amount of pushback from theaters that didn't like someone changing the price formula without their explicit say-so. The company just found an end-run around that conspicuous obstacle. It's releasing both an iPhone app and a reloadable card that, when combined, let MoviePass' effectively unlimited subscription model work at just about any US theater. The app unlocks the card for a specific showing; after that, it's only a matter of swiping the plastic at a payment kiosk like any old credit card. It's not as sophisticated as NFC or Pay With Square, to be sure, but it should keep the rude surprises to a minimum. Both the iOS app and the card require an invitation to the $30 monthly service if you're eager to get watching movies today. If either is too limiting, there's promises of both an Android app and wider availability in the future.
Star Wars Episode II and III 3D re-releases officially dated for theaters in September and October 2013
Before Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace came back to the theaters earlier this year converted for 3D, the plan was to bring the other five movies to theaters one at a time each year, but that has apparently changed. At the Star Wars Celebration VI event in Orlando (where we first found out about the Blu-ray release two years ago) Lucasfilm announced that Episodes II and III in 3D will be released in theaters back to back in fall of 2013, arriving September 20th and October 11th, respectively. Missing so far from the announcement? A reason for the back-to-back release or any word on Blu-ray 3D plans. In lieu of more details, although it means Attack of the Clones will come back later in the year than Phantom Menace did, with any luck this accelerated schedule is a good omen for the original trilogy's return. Of course, we'll have to wait and see what magic can be worked with those older film and special effects elements, however IGN apparently found an early preview of the Episode II 3D footage to be promising. [Thanks, Rachael]
4D technology coming to 200 US cinemas to help you feel and smell the action
Booming 64-track soundtrack at the cinema making you yawn? Already jaded about 4K , 3D and high frame-rates? If so, a company called CJ Group out of Korea may be able to blast you from your stupor -- it's bringing so-called 4D to nearly 200 theaters stateside. That extra 'D' won't let you warp spacetime, but instead will bring your other senses into play with seats that move and thump, smells from things like flowers or gunpowder, and artificial wind, rain and lightening. All that extra stimulation could bump the freight of a seat by around eight bucks, and movie house owners will need to shell out half of the $2 million cost to retrofit each salon. But CJ Group claims it's been hugely popular in markets like Asia and Mexico, so theaters there have quickly recouped the cost. Of course, you wouldn't want all that strang and durm on certain films, but lots of cinematic squealers could use a good dose of extra lipstick.
