Here a link, there a link, everywhere a link-link
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(Yeh. Those who know a little about America’s Third World Countyâ„¢ will wince at that… )
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Following up on the movie/DVD tag thingy, Kim du Toit posted a link to a commentary by Howard Veit, who posted a link to a NYT article* that he scooped—the NYT article seemed almost like a followup to Howard’s blog post. heh
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Interesting comment from the NYT article:
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With box-office attendance sliding, so far, for the third consecutive year, many in the industry are starting to ask whether the slump is just part of a cyclical swing driven mostly by a crop of weak movies or whether it reflects a much bigger change in the way Americans look to be entertained – a change that will pose serious new challenges to Hollywood.ÂStudios have made more on DVD sales and licensing products than on theatrical releases for some time. Now, technologies like TiVo and video-on-demand are keeping even more people at home, as are advanced home entertainment centers, with their high-definition television images on large flat screens and multichannel sound systems.“It is much more chilling if there is a cultural shift in people staying away from movies,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of the Exhibitor Relations Company, a box-office tracking firm. “Quality is a fixable problem.”
IF the “quality” issue can be fixed (a doubtful assertion by Dergarabedian) it still leaves Hollyweird in a difficult position. (Almost said “delicate condition”–but Hollyweird would fix that with another abortion in a New York minute)
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Howard Veit’s post is much more insightful on the issue of quality.
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*Note: the NYT article requires registration to view. Ignore that. Go to Bugmenot and get a username/password.