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James Cameron producing history of sci-fi series for AMC
AMC is producing a six-part series on the history of science fiction in collaboration with one of its most prolific modern purveyors, James Cameron. Tentatively titled James Cameron's Story of Science Fiction, it will examine the history of science fiction from the early days of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne to the pop-culture juggernaut it is today. "When I was a kid, I basically read any book with a spaceship on the cover and I saw 2001: A Space Odyssey many, many times," Cameron said in a statement
Google Fiber finally adds AMC to its TV lineup
While most of us are still waiting for Google Fiber to reach our town, many of the people who have its TV service were waiting for something else: AMC. Now, after nearly four years of waiting and an overwhelming number of requests on Google's forums, they have it on channel 288. While adding the channel post-Mad Men and Breaking Bad feels a little late, AMC does have The Walking Dead and Better Call Saul, to go with newbie series Preacher and Feed the Beast.
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."
AMC is considering letting people text in movie theaters
Just as AMC was starting to win customers back by replacing every old seat in its auditoriums with recliners, the company wants to destroy that good will among moviegoers. That's because CEO Adam Aron thinks letting people use their phones during a movie would be a good idea. "When you tell a 22-year-old to turn off their phone, don't ruin the movie, they hear 'please cut off your left arm above the elbow,'" Aron tells Variety. "You can't tell a 22-year-old to turn off their cellphone. That's not how they live their life." Yes, he actually said that.
BT exclusive 'Fear The Walking Dead' to premiere on August 31st
When BT announced it had teamed up with AMC to bring exclusive US shows to the UK, all eyes were on when Fear The Walking Dead, a new spin-off of the popular zombie drama The Walking Dead, would reach our screens. Turns out we'll only have to wait a few more weeks for the BT exclusive to make its debut, after the broadcaster shared news that the show will premiere on August 31st at 9pm.
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.
AMC's 'Humans' is an android story that's really about us
Early on in AMC's newest sci-fi show, Humans, a teenager wonders aloud if there's any point in going to college and spending years training to be a neurosurgeon. After all, why invest all that time and work when an advanced android, which are commonplace in the show's world, can be programmed with those skills almost instantly. Call it the death of human expertise. Meanwhile, her mother is worried that her family's new "synth" (the show's term for androids) might replace her; her father hopes it can bring her family back together; and her teenaged brother is having sexually confused feelings about their attractive new robot helper. In Humans, the problems of the near future are practically indistinguishable from the issues we're facing today. And that's a big part of why the show works so well.
BT grabs 'Walking Dead' spin-off exclusivity in AMC channel deal
While Sky finances its own original TV content, it also imports blockbuster US series including Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire and Silicon Valley for its Sky Atlantic channel. BT's tried to keep up by offering Netflix on its set-top boxes, but its latest deal could give it much sounder footing. The company has teamed up with AMC, maker of Breaking Bad, Mad Men and The Walking Dead, to launch a new UK AMC channel on BT TV.
Recommended Reading: The new and improved 'Halt and Catch Fire'
Recommended Reading highlights the best long-form writing on technology and more in print and on the web. Some weeks, you'll also find short reviews of books that we think are worth your time. We hope you enjoy the read. Hard Reboot: The Excellent Season 2 Makeover of 'Halt and Catch Fire' by Andy Greenwald Grantland Despite an interesting premise, AMC's Halt and Catch Fire never really took off during its first season. The show that chronicles the effort to reverse engineer an IBM PC in a Texas garage got a full revamp for season two, though, and Grantland's Andy Greenwald explains how the changes have drastically improved the series for version 2.0.
Hulu's the exclusive online home of 'Seinfeld' and 'Fear the Walking Dead'
It may be a fraction of Netflix's size, but Hulu is no small fry when it comes to the online video business. At an advertising conference in New York, the company has revealed that it has won the exclusive streaming rights to Seinfeld. It's a big deal for the outfit, since Sony had reportedly offered the series to every online media company, including Netflix, but all had balked at a reported cost of between $700,000 and $1 million per episode. If those figures are close to being true, and Hulu is staying tight-lipped, then the site will have paid out anything between $130 and $180 million just for the show about nothing.
AMC's channels come to PlayStation Vue
If you were intrigued by PlayStation Vue as a substitute for cable TV but refused to sign up until you could watch The Walking Dead, it's time to hop aboard. Sony has added AMC Networks to Vue's channel roster, giving you AMC proper as well as IFC, Sundance and WEtv. Be prepared to pony up if you just have to catch Portlandia, though -- while you'll get AMC and WEtv in the base Access package, IFC and Sundance are only available if you've subscribed to Core or Elite. This certainly isn't the best deal if you care about AMC or IFC above all else (Sling TV offers it as part of its $20 bundle), but it'll make Vue a better value for your cord-cutting dollar.
Sling TV now includes AMC and IFC in its $20 cord-cutter package
If you're still hearing arguments against cord cutting, your frenemies are probably saying that you can't watch Better Call Saul, Mad Men and Portlandia without resorting to piracy. Now that IFC and AMC are joining Sling TV's basic $20 a month "Best of Live TV" package, you can shove their words right back into their stupid jerk faces. For the moment, you'll only be able to watch the shows as they're broadcast, but Sling is promising that on-demand services are coming soon. In addition, the long-promised "Hollywood Extra" bolt-on will launch, offering movie content from EPIX and Sundance TV. We'd make a labored pun about you slinging your cable subscription into the trash, but someone else probably already did it.
What's on your HDTV: 'Better Call Saul', 'Bosch', 'Evolve', 'SNL'
Sure AMC's Breaking Bad spin-off premiered last night, but tonight Better Call Saul is settling into its regular timeslot, and we can't wait to see (spoiler) again. This weekend the NBA takes a break for its all-star weekend ans Saturday Night Live celebrates its 40th anniversary (on a Sunday), but we'll be stuck on Amazon Prime watching new episodes of its series Bosch. Gamers can expect Super Stardust HD to make the jump from PS3 to PS4, while Turtle Rock presents its Left 4 Dead followup Evolve. Look after the break to check out each day's highlights, including trailers and let us know what you think (or what we missed).
MoviePass' new subscription lets you watch any flick in any format
MoviePass' usual watch-every-day subscription is tempting, but it's limited to standard presentations. What if you want to see that shiny new blockbuster in an advanced format? That's where the company's new, experimental MoviePass Premium comes into play. Paying up to $45 per month lets you see a movie each day at an AMC theater regardless of the technology involved -- 3D, IMAX and AMC's own ETX are fair game. The main catch, aside from finding time to visit the theater that often, is the availability. Premium is currently in a trial phase in Boston and Denver, and it'll only be available elsewhere in the US if and when the test run proves successful. [Image credit: Jeff, Flickr]
Barely Related: Suicide Squad cast, Reynolds is Deadpool
This week, enjoy the good things, if you can. Welcome to Barely Related, a conversational Friday column that presents the non-gaming news stories that we, the Joystiq staff, have been talking about over the past week. And no, we're not stopping our focus on industry and gaming news. Think of this as your casual weekly recap of interesting (and mostly geeky) news, presented just in time to fill your brain with things to discuss at all of those weekend shindigs. Grab a fresh drink, lean back in your armchair, and get ready to talk nerdy with us.
AMC's unlimited ticket lets you watch 'Interstellar' as much as you want
Are you so enthralled with Interstellar that you're determined to see it a second, third or ninth time? AMC Theatres might have you covered. The chain has just unveiled its first-ever Unlimited Ticket for the sci-fi epic; if you're an AMC Stubs member, you can shell out between $20 and $35 (depending on the location) to come back to the theater as much as you want. If you've already seen the flick, you can plunk down $15 to upgrade. You'll have to watch at least twice for this offering to make sense, but that's not hard if you have friends who want to see the movie after you've already been.
Verizon's FiOS Xbox apps now let you watch 'The Walking Dead,' er, live
Verizon's FiOS app has been leading the way on the Xbox One live-TV front, and now it's getting a handful more channels in its stable. If you're a subscriber, you now have access to the likes of AMC HD, Showtime, Encore, Bloomberg TV and ten others. As Verizon tells it, this brings the total channel count to 88 across both the Xbox 360 and its younger brother, the Xbox One. Whether you're going to use them to keep up with the exploits of the Ricktatorship or Homeland, however, is up to you.
AMC adds recliners to its theaters in hopes that you'll ditch Netflix for a night
If you've given up on your local movie theater due to its lack of comfort and not the ever-increasing expense, AMC has a plan to lure you back. The second-largest movie chain in the US is shelling out $600 million to rip out old seating and replace it with recliners. That's right, pretty soon you'll be able to settle into a La-Z-Boy-esque seat for the latest three-hour installment of The Hobbit. The outfit has already converted some locations, seeing an average attendance increase of 80 percent. Major markets tend to have the most frequented theaters, so the project aims to revamp those venues that struggle, with a second stage of the face-lift going to big cities. Unfortunately, those recliners won't lean back as far, cutting down on the number of seats lost to the larger chairs. And as you might expect, a ticket price hike is said to be on the way after the renovations have been in place for a year.
AMC's plans for an internet TV service leak out, but don't expect 'Mad Men'
AMC's cable TV channel has evolved from the home of old movies to hosting TV series, topped by Mad Men, Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead. Now, the infamous "people with knowledge of the situation" have revealed that it's working on a new subscription internet service. First reported in The Information, the rumors suggest AMC will launch websites focused on specific categories, like documentaries or horror, possibly with the help of a web video startup it's invested in called DramaFever. That's one way to go of course, instead of the "some of everything" route currently dominated by Netflix, Amazon and Hulu. A Bloomberg report says it won't host licensed shows like Mad Men (already tied up in licenses to the other services) so it's unclear exactly what content they might have to start. AMC has two video on-demand channels already, and its cable experience should serve it well in the suddenly crowded internet market. If this is as good as it gets for the traditional cable bundle -- and AMC can't increase rates for its channel -- trying its hand on the internet could be a way to grow. Update: These sites probably won't have Breaking Bad spin-off Better Call Saul either, but AMC just announced that while the series' premiere is delayed until 2015, it has already picked the show up for a second season. [Image credit: Jordin Althaus/AP Photo/AMC]
AMC embraces the power of Tumblr to debut its new series 'Halt and Catch Fire'
A new television series chronicling tech and social media narratives pops up on the regular these days and AMC's upcoming "Halt and Catch Fire" is the latest entry into that sub-genre. In order to cultivate buzz for the series' debut in a couple weeks, the network is relying on shares and reblogs from its Tumblr page to get the word out. Between now and May 31st, eager viewers can snag an early look at the pilot on the aforementioned page. The show follows a former IBM executive's scheme to reverse engineer the IBM PC, and thus thrusting his current company into the personal computing fray for the 80s. According to TechCrunch, AMC has a number of advanced screenings planned at Apple, Twitter, Google and more as part of the pre-air promo effort amongst the tech community. If you're in need of a brief introduction, the trailer awaits on the other side of the break.
