Blu-ray’s victory in getting Warner Brothers to drop the HD-DVD may not be enough to fend off obsolescence. As Dawn C. Chmielewski reports in the Los Angeles Times, downloads, cable, and satellite delivery of HD movies might make the whole HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray battle moot anyway. But sales of these next-generation discs fell short of… Read More »Is Blu-ray Victory Too Late?
At one time, the summer 2009 movie season was scheduled to kickoff with two high-profile 3-D films competing over the growing, but limited number of 3-D screens, until one moved to an earlier release. Now, the showdown will be averted altogether. Leslie Simmons reports. James… Read More »Cameron’s “Avatar” Pushed Back to December 2009
And March will get a boost a big movie month. Josh Friedman reports in the Los Angeles Times that DreamWorks Animation, which has its films distributed by Viacom’s Paramount, is moving the release of "Monsters vs. Aliens" up to March 27, 2009 to give it some time on the limted number of 3-D screens before… Read More »May 2009 3-D Film War Averted
Last year, after the Viacom/CBS split, Paramount Parks was sold to Cedar Fair, which also owns the Knott’s theme park properties. Since then, it was announced that the formerly-Knott’s-like Camp Snoopy-thened theme park at the Mall of America, which has lost that theme, would gain a new theme – Spongebob Squarepants, a Viacom property. Now… Read More »Paramount & Theme Parks – Another Chapter?
Thomas S. Mulligan, Charles Duhigg and Claudia Eller of the Los Angeles Times profile Viacom (Paramount) and CBS Chairman Sumner Redstone and News Corp (Fox) Chairman Rupert Murdock. With institutional shareholders – who are often disinterested in the particulars of content and day to day studio operations – in charge of most of the big… Read More »Two Men Who Wield Studio Power Like Walt
Yahoo! Inc. Chief Executive Officer Terry Semel has said ‘no way’ to running the Disney Company going forward. Semel ran Warner Bros. in the 90s and has been talked about as a likely successor for Michael Eisner. Sherry Lansing, current chair of Viacom’s Paramount Pictures and old buddy of Michael Eisner, has just announced her… Read More »Will the Next CEO please stand up.