Hollywood
Latest
Hollywood forces VidAngel to stop streaming its movies
The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Warner Bros, Disney and Fox have won an injunction against "family values" streaming service VidAngel. In the aftermath, VidAngel has announced that it will "cease streaming all works for which it has not obtained licensing." The company has also pledged to appeal, taking the fight all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary.
Actors are now virtually immortal in California
Someone once said that we're all just meat being shoveled into a grave, but that doesn't really apply to Hollywood actors. That's why the state of California has passed a law barring websites like IMDB from publishing the ages and birthdates of performers. From January 1st, 2017, sites that have anything to do with the employment of thespians will also have to remove existing data within five days of a request. But this isn't simply a sop to appeal to the vanity of your average crop of A-listers, but a serious attempt to deal with age discrimination in Hollywood.
Apparently, that 'Monster Hunter' movie is still happening
Films based on video games really don't have the best track record. From 1993's Super Mario Bros. to this year's Warcraft, these movies almost always seem to lack whatever it is that resonates with fans of the games they're based on. What's the next potentially disappointing adaptation? Monster Hunter, apparently. Speaking at Tokyo Game Show, Capcom's Ryozo Tsujimoto revealed that a live-action adaptation is currently under development.
Technicolor is building VR and AR projects for companies
For several years Technicolor has been providing video content for Hollywood movie studios. Now, it'll be working on virtual reality and augmented reality projects as well. The company is opening the Technicolor Experience Center in Culver City, California, to develop technology, platforms, and content for VR and AR.
Kodak resurrects Super 8 with a new video camera
Kodak hasn't made a Super 8 camera since 1982, however the company announced on Tuesday at CES 2016 that it will debut a prototype video camera designed by Yves Behar that utilizes the venerable analog medium. Citing the preference towards physical media of many Hollywood directors -- including the likes of Steven Spielberg, JJ Abrams and Quentin Tarantino -- Kodak says that it will launch multiple Super 8 cameras, film development services and post production tools as part of its Super 8 Revival plan.
Can a screenplay algorithm save Hollywood?
Hollywood may be full of focus groups and statistical analysts, but deciding which movie to back still comes down to the gut feeling of a cigar-chewing studio mogul. Now, a Belgian startup is hoping that its algorithmic script-reading software can know, with a far greater certainty, if a screenplay is going to be a success or not. ScriptBook is the brainchild of Nadira Azermai, who plans to unleash the software to the public for the first time at next February's Berlin Film Festival.
Paramount tries bringing movies home faster than ever
Despite attempts by Mark Cuban, Comcast, Netflix and others over the years, movie studios and big theater chains have combined to keep the "release window" in place -- until now. That window is the period of time between when a movie premieres in the theaters until you can actually buy or rent it to watch at home, and since the dawn of VHS it's usually remained at about 90 days or so. Now the Wall Street Journal says Paramount is testing out a plan with AMC and Cineplex to release a couple of movies in theaters just six weeks after they premiere instead of three months.
I visited Jurassic Park in VR and tried to pet a dino
Imagine you're in a dense forest with the largest lizard-like creature that has ever walked the planet. It's just you and the Apatosaurus, one of the many dinosaurs featured in Jurassic World. You sit and watch her sleep from a few feet away. It's strangely calm, but you want to plan your escape anyway. You look around and see a Jeep with a bold red stripe on your left. There's nothing but lush sunlit trees to your right. In front of you, the giant sprawled on the ground starts to move a little. You should probably panic, but the creature doesn't scare you. Not yet. She slowly wakes up and notices you. As she plonks her heavy feet on the ground, you cringe reflexively. Her long reptilian neck swoops in to sniff you. Her nostrils flare and her big blue eye looks right at you. Now you're scared. But you reach out to pet her, anyway.
'Vidity' 4K movies you can download are coming later this year
At CES the long-brewing alliance to push Hollywood movies you can legally download, store and play across different devices finally surfaced, and now its system has a brand name: Vidity. As we learned in January, this is the doing of the Secure Content Storage Association -- a team up behind movie studios (Fox, Warner Bros.) and storage manufacturers (Western Digital, Sandisk) to create a system where users can download movies in the highest possible quality like 4K Ultra HD and HDR. Samsung was the first to announce its Ultra HD TVs with the M-Go app will use the spec, but other big names like Vudu, Kaleidescape, LG, Universal, Comcast and Sprint are on board too. So far 4K movies have generally been all about streaming, but now between Ultra HD Blu-ray and Vidity there are a couple of new options coming.
He made Tom Cruise 'forget the mouse.' Now it's our turn.
In a way, John Underkoffler's like Hollywood's own Wizard of Oz. He's the man behind the curtain responsible for infusing blockbuster fantasy with real-world tech. He created the futuristic UI in Minority Report, worked on the timeline for Hulk's transformation and found a Soviet fusion reactor to blow up Stark Industries in Iron Man. He also recently received the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award for his work as an interface designer both in films and in the real world.
Movie streaming service Popcorn Time blocked by UK court
Popcorn Time has painted a rather large target on its back with its movie-streaming service. Due to its questionable legality, movie studios have sought to block the service, but a shift to Bittorrent-based distribution has allowed it to continue operating while Hollywood scrambles a response. One place the studios have been able to deal a blow, however, is in the UK, where they've managed to restrict access to the original Popcorn Time client.
With Story Studio, Oculus VR embarks on its Hollywood takeover
Around the time Oculus VR began experimenting internally with the creation of tech demos, investor Marc Andreessen, impressed with what he'd seen, urged Brendan Iribe, Oculus VR's CEO, to show them off to Hollywood. Andreessen believed the medium was a perfect fit for that industry. Iribe, in turn, showed his company's prototype Rift technology to an unnamed, major Hollywood director. That director, responding the way most do when they first encounter modern-day virtual reality, enthusiastically implored Iribe to join forces and create a feature film with it. Iribe immediately balked and shot down the offer. "I don't know the first thing about movies," he says of that initial conversation. That was then. Today, Oculus VR plans to figure out the entertainment industry in a big way. With Story Studio, an in-house innovation lab focused on exploring and sharing tools and techniques to craft entertainment experiences within VR, the Facebook-owned company is embarking on a different path. Outside "guest directors" will be brought in to work with the studio and lead Creative Director Saschka Unseld, a former Pixar director, in what is essentially a VR workshop. And along the way, Oculus hopes to refine what it means to inhabit VR on a cinematic level, beginning with its first animated short, Lost, which will debut at Sundance.
Director Shawn Levy on why he left the Minecraft movie
Night at the Museum director Shawn Levy has left the Minecraft film adaptation, citing creative differences with the game's developer, Mojang. "[Warner Bros.] asked me to develop how might this ever be a story for a movie, because it's a non-narrative game," Levy told the Wall Street Journal. "We came up with an approach that felt good to us, and I discussed it with Mojang ... and they were like, 'That doesn't sound like what we want ... If we're going to see a movie get made, we don't know what we want but that doesn't feel right.'" Levy claims he had four other movies in various stages of pre-production at the time, and that instead of moving forward with the Minecraft film, he opted to pursue those other projects. Despite his choice to walk away, Levy realizes how important the property is to its fans and how much goodwill (not to mention money) is riding on a feature film adaptation of the beloved sandbox game. "I feel like I've let the children of America down," Levy laughed, before pointing out that another director will likely take his place at the helm of Minecraft very soon. [Image: Mojang]
Follow updates from only celebs you choose with Popeek
Popeek is a free app for iPhone that creates a personalized feed of Hollywood news tailored to you based on the celebrities you choose. When you select which people you're interested in, the app gathers links from Facebook and various news sources and puts them all in one place. It can even alert you of new updates as well. The Popeek app doesn't have much to it. When you open the app for the first time and log in, more than a few familiar faces should appear in the Explore section. This is where you select which celebrities you want to follow in your main feed. There's the A-list names such as Beyoncé, Angelina Jolie, Jay-Z, Justin Bieber, Kanye West, Katy Perry and then there's some lesser known folks like Lionel Messi and Bar Refaeli thrown in for some variety. Right off the bat, I wasn't impressed with the number of celebrities available to follow in Popeek. In fact, I can actually count how many celebrities there are in total: 33. Considering just how many people in Hollywood there are and how much coverage sites like TMZ spews out every day, that's a very small number. I selected a few celebrities at random to see what came up in my feed. It was a decently aggregated collection of Facebook posts, tweets and links from Hollywood websites like E! Online, Perez Hilton, Just Jared and some others. Each post comes with a like button, comment button and share button attached at the bottom for some social flair. Posts in Popeek like tweets actually just pull the number of favorites the tweet has into the app, so it's not just exclusive engagement from Popeek users. However, if you do like something in the app, it shows up in a collection of reverse chronological likes on your very own profile page. Where Popeek fairs a bit better is on individual celebrity profiles. The My Peeks section lists the celebrities you're keeping up with, but tapping one will show only content from them. Even better, the menu to the right of the profile grants access to a fan wall where Popeek users post messages, tour dates, videos, a Wikipedia bio and a store. Unfortunately, the fan wall, tour dates and store sections replaced any meaningful content with a "Coming Soon!" banner. Alerts in my experience were sporadic. I'm not entirely sure how the app chooses which news to alert you of, but I followed four celebrities and only received one alert in 24 hours for an insignificant news story involving Jennifer Lawrence. Popeek seems like an app that's ripe for potential, but its limitations are too much of a hindrance to give it a wholehearted recommendation. The main problem is the severely lacking library of celebrities. If you're passionate about keeping up with a wide range of celebrity gossip, chances are you won't enjoy much of what this app has to offer because it's truly minimal right now. I'd say Popeek is worth revisiting a few updates down the road once the content is built up. If you don't want to wait, get it for free in the App Store.
Report: Dead Rising movie digs up a director
Zach Lipovsky has been tapped to direct the straight-to-Crackle Dead Rising movie adaptation we mentioned a few months back, according to The Wrap. If the name doesn't ring any bells for you, don't worry, it shouldn't. Lipovsky began his Hollywood career as a child actor before moving into visual effects. It's only recently that Lipovsky has segued into the director's chair and the vast majority of his work to date has been in TV movies. His most notable credit is Leprechaun: Origins, a recent reboot of the cult-classic Leprechaun horror franchise starring Dylan Postl, a diminutive professional wrestler better known to fans of the WWE as "Hornswoggle." While Lipovsky's IMDB listing doesn't offer much hope for the Dead Rising adaptation, the film is being produced by Contradiction Films, the same people responsible for the surprisingly good Mortal Kombat: Legacy web series. Hopefully, the positive karma from that project carries over to Capcom's timeless tale of survival among hordes of the hungry dead. [Image: Capcom]
I'd like to apologize to Kim Kardashian
I've been hard on Kim Kardashian. Well, not necessarily hard on her as a person, but I've always written about her iOS game, Kim Kardashian: Hollywood, in a negative way. I apologize for that. I still think the app itself is the kind that appeals to the lowest common denominator, and wouldn't bother wasting a dime on it, but for the first time since KK: Hollywood became a hit, I now have what I can only describe as some much needed perspective. That perspective came in the form of a quarterly earnings report from Candy Crush publisher King Digital Entertainment. In its report, King noted some disappointing numbers, including a 12% drop in paying users. Analysts have cried foul and recommended investors to hold off on King at the moment, and the company's stock has taken a beating as a result, down almost 25% as of this writing. But where does Kim Kardashian fit in? Well, her wickedly popular celebrity simulator, Kim Kardashian: Hollywood has been sucking up loads of cash from App Store customers, and according to King, some of that cash was supposed to be going to them instead. "Competition within casual gaming is intense," the report reads, "with Kim Kardashian: Hollywood and 2048 going after the same demographics." King is blaming its failing App Store strategy -- which consists entirely of copying existing game concepts and rehashing them -- at least partly on Kim Kardashian's app. Thank you, Ms. Kardashian. To be clear: I'm not thanking the newlywed celebrity for costing King money, because I honestly don't believe KK: Hollywood is to blame for King's woes. What I am thankful for is the opportunity to view her celeb simulator in a new light. I still don't consider KK: Hollywood to be much of a game, but that doesn't really matter. What it is, is original, well made, and an absolute cash cow that deserves to be raking in money just like it has been. With a celebrity of the caliber of Kim Kardashian attached to it, the game had a pretty good chance of becoming a hit, but it was by no means a guarantee. In short, the Kardashian app was more of a risk than anything King has created in the 11 years the company has been around. Despite a US$7 billion IPO and more investors than any company could possibly know what to do with, King has yet to risk its now plummeting stock price on anything even remotely resembling an original idea. Now they're paying for it. Kim Kardashian -- whether or not she was deeply involved with how her game actually plays or not -- was able to do it on her first try. Bravo, Kim. Bravo.
Fatal Frame haunts Japanese theaters on September 26
Proving once again that Japan gets all the cool stuff, the upcoming Wii U Fatal Frame sequel is to be accompanied by a Fatal Frame feature film, both of which are currently exclusive to the island nation. Though entirely in Japanese, the above trailer does offer hope that the film's creators have managed to capture the game's aesthetics and key themes. Spooky yet commonplace buildings? Check. Overly complex, anachronistic cameras? Check. Dour, possibly spectral Japanese girls? Check and double check. The trailer does take an odd tonal shift at the 1:00 mark thanks to a weirdly upbeat pop song, but that brief moment of levity is quickly silenced by a pile of teenaged corpses. While it's possible that this Fatal Frame film adaptation might come to the West, fans shouldn't get their hopes up. 2008's Fatal Frame 4: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse remained in Japan despite claims from Koei Tecmo that the game would reach both Europe and North America, and the publisher has yet to make any mention of an English-language localization for the upcoming Fatal Frame 5. [Image: Koei Tecmo]
Facebook wants to get Hollywood directors and studios interested in the Oculus Rift
Those virtual reality tie-ins that were all the rage at Comic-Con (Pacific Rim, X-Men, Sleepy Hollow) could just be the tip of the iceberg for the Oculus Rift. Judging by the response they garnered the partnership seems like a no-brainer, and The Information reports that Oculus' new owner Facebook has been meeting with studio execs and individual directors to create special content for the headset. Even though we've already seen examples of how to bring recorded video and live events to VR from companies like Next 3D, the focus here seems to be on companion shorts to start. That's just one way Zuckerberg & Co. can recoup their $2 billion investment, the only question now is what can Hollywood dream up to take advantage of the headset's immersiveness -- and keep from wasting the opportunity as its done so often with tech like 3D and IMAX.
Kim Kardashian is one of the four horsemen of the App Store apocalypse
Kim Kardashian's has an app -- which should have been the first sign that we were approaching a dark time in the App Store -- and that app is so successful that it is on its way to raking in a total of $200 million in revenue by the end of the year. What in the name of Angry Birds is happening to the App Store? First, let's talk about the app itself: In Kim Kardashian: Hollywood your only real goal is to become famous. Not actually famous, just fake app famous. You do this by buying goofy clothes, getting clingy with other celebrities, getting fans for doing absolutely nothing meaningful, and -- of course -- by spending real-world money on in-app "Star Packs" in order to do these things. It's about as much of a "game" as filing your taxes would be if that activity somehow included poorly-drawn cartoon characters. The app appears to be quite the addictive experience, as many of the App Store reviews bemoan the impact the game is having on users' bank accounts. Tracie Morrissey from Jezebel knows this feeling well, having recently admitted to blowing a whopping $500 on in-app purchases. It would be nice to think that celebrity alone isn't enough to drive an app to massive financial success, but that seems to be exactly what's happening with Kim Kardashian: Hollywood. There's really no reason to even consider playing it unless you possess and almost unhealthy adoration for the titular gal, and that alone has been enough to suck millions and millions of dollars out of customers. If you have the money to burn, I can't really judge you for blowing it on an app -- I've been known to drop embarrassing amounts of cash on old video games, and that's not much different. But if you find yourself writing an App Store review blaming the app for the fact that you can't pay your rent, you might want to seek professional help.
Report: Thief movie under way from Vertigo, Prime
A Thief film is in development from Vertigo and Prime Universe, Hollywood news site Tracking Board reports. Adrian Askarieh and Roy Lee, two of the people behind film adaptations of Deus Ex and Minecraft, are tagged to produce. There's no extra juice to the report, but we can imagine what a Thief movie would look like: Garrett, the brooding and highly trained medieval burglar, is on a mission to steal an expensive trinket from a castle overlooking a seedy village. After an hour of establishing his sad backstory, Garrett sneaks past the guards, kills a few (silently), and makes it to the grand ballroom that houses the shiny object. He approaches it, reaches out a steady hand, and then – a voice interrupts him. He turns, only to be immediately blinded by the regal beauty of the queen. His heart is forever stolen. Tagline: Who's the real thief? What. A. Twist. (Please, Askarieh and Lee, don't do anything like that. Not that you would, but ... please.) [Image: Square Enix]
