“Movie theaters cut print show times as Web gains - Register Citizen” plus 4 more

Movie theaters cut print show times as Web gains - Register Citizen
History takes holiday in 'Basterds' - Beacon News
Movie Review: 'Shorts' - Delaware County Daily Times
McFarlane Starts Writing New Spawn Movie - Superhero Hype!
NORM: Movie killer cut fingers off body - Las Vegas Review Journal

Movie theaters cut print show times as Web gains - Register Citizen

Posted: 22 Aug 2009 10:53 PM PDT

In this photo made Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2009 the movie listings in that day's edition of The Washington Post are shown in Washington. Kansas City-based movie theater chain AMC pulled its listings from The Post last month, prompting the newspaper's ombudsman, Andrew Alexander, to deflect readers' ire in his blog. (AP Photo/Kevin Vineys)

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Filmgoers who have long turned to the local newspaper to find theaters and show times for movies may have to start looking elsewhere as theater chains rethink the value of paper and ink in a digital age.

The top two U.S. chains, Regal Entertainment Group and AMC Entertainment Inc., have begun in recent months to reduce or eliminate the small-type listings showing the start times for movies at individual theaters. Theaters typically must pay newspapers to print that information.

Looking to cut costs, the theater chains are instead directing consumers to their Internet sites or third-party sites, like Fandango, Moviefone or Flixster, which offer those listings for free and make money from the fees they charge for selling advance tickets to movies. Many of those sites also feature film reviews and movie trailers.

The effort may be gaining some traction, as U.S. Internet traffic to AMC's Web site rose 21 percent in July compared with a year ago, according to comScore Inc., while visits to Regal's Web site were up 18 percent.

The Newspaper Association of America doesn't track revenue that newspapers generate from print movie listings, but believes the amount is relatively small. Yet every dollar counts as newspapers are forced to cut staff, reduce the frequency of print editions or even close completely amid the recession.

And readers have come to expect such listings. Seeing them curtailed or disappear could give them yet another reason to abandon their subscriptions.

"For a reader, some things that are ads are actually considered news," said Mort Goldstrom, the NAA's vice president of advertising. "Ads for concerts and things at clubs, for restaurants and movies — that's a reason people read."

He said the pullback in listings will hurt theaters by reducing their visibility among potential customers, sending those dollars to competitors that still buy listings or to other sources of entertainment like plays or clubs.

Readers formulating weekend plans "may look at something broader than Moviefone," he said. "That's the piece that newspaper Web sites have and niche (entertainment) publications have."

Kansas City-based AMC helped shine a spotlight on the trend last month when it pulled its listings from The Washington Post, prompting the newspaper's ombudsman, Andrew Alexander, to deflect readers' ire in his blog.

"Most readers believe that it was the newspaper's decision," Alexander wrote, comparing it to The Post's recent move to cut back on the newspaper's television listings. "In fact, movie listings in the print product are paid advertising, and it was AMC's decision to stop paying."

The Post declined further comment, and Alexander wrote in his column that the newspaper wouldn't tell him either how much revenue the AMC ads provided.

AMC spokesman Justin Scott said daily movie listings are expensive and the theater chain believes that that money would be better spent promoting its value programs or other theater events.

"In an era when many moviegoers are using alternative resources to access show times, AMC has chosen to reallocate its show-time information methods," Scott said.

Scott wouldn't say where else AMC has cut its listings and how much it has saved. But he said "so far we've seen no impact on attendance."

Regal, based in Knoxville, Tenn., said its in-theater and online surveys found 60 percent to 80 percent of respondents saying they received their movie listings online.

"So we've evaluated our newspaper strategy on a case-by-case basis and in a number of markets have eliminated our newspaper ads," spokesman Dick Westerling said, adding that in other markets Regal theaters run movie listings only on the weekends.

The company has eliminated ads in such markets as San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis and Orlando, Fla. Westerling would not disclose how much Regal spends on movie listings, but he said ticket sales haven't significantly changed.

He said that the company has also tapped social networks, such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, to communicate listings with customers who sign up for updates.

Carmike Cinemas, a Columbus, Ga.-based chain that operates primarily in smaller towns, also has cut back on newspaper ads in some markets, in most cases just buying listings on the weekends.

"Out of the 50 markets where we've done drastic reductions, I've received one complaint," said Dale Hurst, Carmike's director of marketing. "I'm not trying to be a soothsayer but everyone seems to be going high-tech. They want it now."

Some newspapers don't charge for movie listings, considering them akin to community meeting notices or television listings. In markets where the listings are free, Regal and AMC said they've continued to run movie listings. The NAA's Goldstrom said, though, that he knew of no newspaper that has dropped fees as a result of the theaters' pullback.

Movie studios, meanwhile, have been cutting their own newspaper advertising as well. The newspaper trade group said national movie-related display advertising totaled $141.5 million in the first quarter of 2009, or 51 percent lower than five years ago.

Ken Doctor, a media analyst with Outsell Inc., said some newspapers have responded by teaming up with Web sites that sell movie tickets, gaining a small revenue stream on each ticket sold, or by selling movie studios sponsorships for parts of their Web sites. For example, he noted that The New York Times displays small ads for movies when a user wants to e-mail a news story to a friend.

In general, though, Internet ad rates haven't matched what print commands.

And as social-networking sites like Twitter and Facebook become the place to learn about which movies are hot and where they're playing, he said, newspapers and their Web sites risk losing their readers if they cannot quickly figure out how to tap in.

Andrew Lipsman, director of industry analysis for comScore, said the online sites have become more interactive than newspapers. Although newspapers may try to add similar features to their own sites, he said, the damage may be done.

"Once a behavior has moved from the print medium to online, in many cases people go to the online brands," Lipsman said. "They won't necessarily go to the newspaper."

AP-ES-08-22-09 0005EDT

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History takes holiday in 'Basterds' - Beacon News

Posted: 23 Aug 2009 01:59 AM PDT

Quentin Tarantino fans will probably love his new World War II film, "Inglourious Basterds." It's chock-full of the Tarantino trademarks: the genre-bending, black humor, quirky characters and cartoonish violence.

History buffs, however, are in for a shock. Tarantino cheerfully and breathtakingly rewrites some key facts about that most sacrosanct of wars. The end result is more revenge fantasy than history, as the film's Jewish characters wreak deadly havoc on their Nazi oppressors, and do so with gusto. "Holocaust movies always have Jews as victims," Tarantino complained in a recent interview in "The Atlantic." "We've seen that story before. I want to see something different."

Whether that "something different" will work for audiences remains to be seen. Here's a guide to determine where the film bends the historical record and where it breaks it.
Q. Was there a squad of Jewish-American soldiers sent into Nazi-occupied France to exact revenge on Germans?
A. No. Brad Pitt's avenging Tennessee hillbilly is a product of Tarantino's imagination, as is Pitt's squadron of 'Basterds,' (the misspelling is Tarantino's) a fearsome group of Jewish-American soldiers committed to hunting down Nazis. But journalist Kim Masters recently wrote on The Daily Beast Web site that a secret group of largely Jewish commandos did exist, though in the British, not the American, military. Her father, Peter Masters, had been one of them.
Called the X-Troop, Masters's unit was comprised of European-born refugees who had fled the Nazis into England. Their fluency in German helped them stage daring reconnaissance missions into enemy territory, and allowed them to capture and interrogate German soldiers.
But there's a key difference with the film's commandos, as Kim Masters notes. Her father's X-Troop did not take scalps, carve swastikas into Nazi foreheads, or bash in German heads with a baseball bat. That's pure Tarantino.
Q. The film's most sinister character is Col. Hans Landa, the SS officer responsible for rounding up Jews in France. Was he a real person?
A. Landa is a fictional character, but men like him certainly operated in France. Chosen for their adherence to "racial purity" and their devotion to Hitler, members of the SS were primarily responsible for implementing the anti-Jewish policies which culminated in the Final Solution. Like the fictional Landa, they were cold, efficient, and ruthless in hunting down and exterminating Jews throughout Nazi-occupied Europe.
Q. Diane Kruger plays Bridget von Hammersmark, a German actress who spies for the Allies. Is she a real person?
A. Von Hammersmark is imaginary, though her glamour and beauty evoke the popular German actress, Marlene Dietrich. Dietrich, however, was never a spy. She left Germany for fame in Hollywood in the 1930s and became an American citizen in 1939. When the war began, Dietrich made clear her hatred of the Nazi regime, and spurned invitations by Nazi officials to return to her homeland. Instead, she raised money for U.S. war bonds, and entertained American troops for the USO.
Q. In the film, a German soldier named Fredrick Zoller becomes famous after American and British troops from a sniper's tower. Did anyone like him exist?
A. The most celebrated German snipers operated not in France, but on the Russian Front. The closest historical model for Zoller is Matthias Hetzenauer, a young Austrian sniper who was credited with at least 345 kills on the Eastern Front, all before his 21st birthday. Hetzenauer was awarded the Iron Cross, but German Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels never based a film on his exploits, unlike the fictional Zoller.
Q. Speaking of Goebbels, the movie indicates that he aspired to be a German version of famed Hollywood producer David O. Selznick. Any truth to that?
A. There is, actually. As minister of propaganda he ruthlessly controlled all of Germany's media and became a master propagandist. But Goebbels liked to imagine he was providing simple, entertaining films to Germans, rather than overtly political ones. Goebbels's diaries showed that two of his favorite films were Selznick's "Gone with the Wind" and Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs."
Q. Two of the film's characters use film reels to start a fire. Were reels that flammable?
A. Absolutely. Before the 1950s, motion pictures were reproduced on nitrate film, which is highly combustible and could ignite under the heat of the projection lamp. Theater fires, then, were not uncommon, and once begun were extremely hard to contain, since nitrate creates its own oxygen as it burns. To make matters worse, as nitrate film ages it emits a gas which can spontaneously combust. In 1978, the National Archives lost 12 million feet of old newsreel footage when the nitrate film reels auto-ignited deep in the film vaults.
Starting in the early 1950s, film companies switched to an acetate-based or polyester-based film, which is far safer.
Q. Without revealing any spoilers, is the ending of the film based on facts?
A. None whatsoever. I can't deny the visceral satisfaction I felt as the film rollicked towards its conclusion, but it was startling to watch Tarantino abandon any fidelity to history there. To his credit, though, Tarantino warns us at the start not to take it all too seriously. He opens the film with those time-honored words, "Once upon a time..." "Inglourious Basterds" may be set in World War II, but it isn't history; it's fantasy. And in Tarantino's hands, it's one wild ride.
Cathy Schultz is a history professor at the University of St. Francis. Reach her at cschultz@stfrancis.edu

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Movie Review: 'Shorts' - Delaware County Daily Times

Posted: 23 Aug 2009 02:20 AM PDT

By Jake Coyle, Associated Press

Click to enlarge

In this film publicity image released by Warner Bros., from left, Rebel Rodriguez, Leo Howard, and Trevor Gagnon are shown in a scene from "Shorts." (AP Photo/Warner Bros.) ** NO SALES **

NEW YORK — The basic structure of "Shorts" — advertised in its title — might make you think Robert Rodriguez has made the kids equivalent of "Pulp Fiction," the fractured narrative classic by his buddy and frequent collaborator, Quentin Tarantino.

But Zed's still dead, baby.

Rodriguez mashes up "Shorts," fast-forwarding, rewinding, pausing and following tangential story lines. But the editing high jinks fail to do much for "Shorts."

The fancy cutting doesn't obscure that this family adventure film is essentially about a group of kids who end up with a "wishing rock," a rainbow-colored stone that grants the holder any wish. And as tends to happen with such things (be they oil lamps or monkey paws), trouble ensues.

Our main character and narrator is Toe Thompson (Jimmy Bennett), a bullied but undaunted kid who prides himself on his spotless braces. He's tormented by a group led by Helvetica Black (Jolie Vanier), who must be one of the few characters named for a font. Vanier plays her with a permanent Veruca Salt-esque scowl.

Thompson's only friend seems to be Loogie (Trevor Gagnon), an eager boy who brightly spouts whatever wisdom he's amassed in his young life and is forever imploring his two brothers to put down their video games and play outside.

They live in a neighborhood called Black Falls, a mostly realistic but colorfully exaggerated Texas suburb. All the adults work for Black Box Industries, a corporate monolith run by Mr. Black (James Spader), a black-clad and ruthless CEO.

In one of the film's highlights, Spader plays Black with a flip tyranny, threatening his workers in the pursuit of making the Black Box — a contraption that morphs into just about anything — to live up to "the highest standards of wow."

Thompson's parents are among those who work for Black. Played by Leslie Mann and Jon Cryer, they fear losing their jobs at any moment and almost never put down their cell phones or laptops.

William H. Macy plays Black's inventor, Dr. Noseworthy, who's so paranoid of germs that he and his son never leave their airtight, spotless house.

Just about all the above characters at one point or another get their hands on the wishing rock. No one figures out the best way to use it, but one thing is clear: The kids know how to wish much better than the adults.

In "Shorts," the parents are the ones filled with worry, obsessed with their jobs and tethered to technology. The smartest person in the movie is a baby, accidentally made sage by an errant wish.

Working on his own lot outside Austin, Texas, Rodriguez has previously made popular kids movies, most notably the "Spy Kids" trilogy. He curiously alternates between incredibly stylish, sometimes gory films ("Desperado," ''Sin City") and kids fare.

Rodriguez should be applauded for his intense effort to see the world from a young person's perspective. The director (who also, as usual, serves as writer, producer, co-editor, cinematographer and composer) draws heavily from his five children; the idea of "Shorts" was dreamed up by his son, Rebel.

Because of his careful attention to his children's ideas — as well as his self-sufficient, independent filmmaking — a good spirit pervades "Shorts." But it becomes too cartoonish, too scattered to register much.

Somewhere around the time a giant booger runs riot through the town, one wishes for a bit more adult supervision.

"Shorts," a Warner Bros. release, runs 89 minutes. One and a half stars out of four.

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McFarlane Starts Writing New Spawn Movie - Superhero Hype!

Posted: 22 Aug 2009 11:43 PM PDT

Posted by: ThisIsMike on August 23, 2009 at 02:35:11

Yawn.

Posted by: Ram on August 23, 2009 at 02:35:18

FIRST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by: qwerty keyboard on August 23, 2009 at 02:35:31

I heart u

Posted by: Wildsyde7 on August 23, 2009 at 02:35:39

Nice, hope its better than the last one.

Posted by: Eric on August 23, 2009 at 02:37:41

"Like the film, Departed."

Haha, what does that have to do with Spawn???

Posted by: Urban Legend!! on August 23, 2009 at 02:38:18

Great news! Hope it makes the character justice.

S to the P to the A to the WN!!! Go Spawnie!!!!

Posted by: Batchat on August 23, 2009 at 02:38:28

always thought spawn had potential for a cool film. It's funny how many similarities I see between him and Deadpool. Scarred face, healing ability, big guns, similar mask..

Posted by: mojojackson on August 23, 2009 at 02:38:52

Please don't let Michael Jai White play Spawn again.

Posted by: AlSimmons on August 23, 2009 at 02:43:36

Agreed. I hope they get it right this time.

The first one was crap.

Posted by: SPAWNISDEAD on August 23, 2009 at 03:03:47

He is comparing it with The Departed because the story's main characters are going to be Sam & Twitch.
He also wants Dicaprio to play Twitch.
So sadly we are looking at a crime drama and just happens to have a hell spawn making cops lives a living hell.

Posted by: Ben on August 23, 2009 at 03:05:21

Todd seems to have fallen off ... is this a desperation move recalling an old property? I thought HBO Spawn was good, but wouldn't correspond to a cross-market desperation pitch.

Posted by: Good.is.dumB on August 23, 2009 at 03:10:53

YESSSS!!! i've been waiting for this news for a lonnnnng time. finally a real spawn movie is in the works

Posted by: yadda-yadda-yadda on August 23, 2009 at 03:13:56

@Batchat

Deadpool was created in 1991, when he first appeared in The New Mutants.

Spawn came out the following year.

Posted by: shikamarul on August 23, 2009 at 03:29:29

even in 1997, for me the movie is quite impressive in terms of storyline & special effects..since mcfarlane himself write the screenplay this movie is going to be great.if it flop anyway, it is faults from other parties(studio, director etc)

Posted by: zillaman on August 23, 2009 at 03:38:31

JUST DO IT AND HAVE LOT'S OF GORE AND HARCORE LIKE THE COMICS AND THOUG THIS WAS NEVER FOR LITTLE KIDS. GOOD FOR TMcF. THIS IS THE NEWS I LIKE. DISTRICT 9 HAS GIVEN US HOPE AND PUSH THE DOOR OPEND TO AN ADULT INTELIGENT LEVEL OF ENTERTAINMENT. THERE HAS TO BE A TIME WHEN DADDY CAN SAY TO WIFE AND KID'S IT'S DAD'S TURN NOW. CAN'T WAIT, I HOPE AND WISH TODD GOOD LUCK. WE NEED SPAWN.... BRAKE AWAY FROM ALL THAT STUPID TEEN GARBAGE THAT HAS EVERY ONE THINKING STUPID. ENOUGH! THERE CAN BE MORE SMART FILM'S IF PEOPLE ARE THERE TO SUPORT THEM, IF NOT WE WILL BE STUCK WITH OVER RATED CRAP LIKE 90210 VAMP I CALL TWILIGHT WHAT EVER AND 1000 THING'S I HATE ABOUT YOU, JUNOS LITTLE BASTARD, AND SO ON.... PLEASE PEOPLE EMBRACE THIS AND YOU WILL NOT REGREAT IT. DON'T GET STUCK ON STUPID!!!!!!!!!

Posted by: Sashman on August 23, 2009 at 03:55:10

Cool! Yes, the first movie was weak. But I still like it somehow. It is hard to force the complexity of the comic into a movie. The origin of spawn was weak, as was the whole movie.

But Spawn is and always will be one of the greatest comic book heroes of all time and its good to see him again. Let's hope they don't mess this up!

I think, another animated series would be better than a new movie. McFarlane should make a new animated series, because it is easier to tell good stories in many episodes than in 120 minutes. But we will see.

The first movie is from 1997. Damn, with today's special effects and CGI, Spawn has to be really, really awesome!!!

Posted by: todd raped spiderman on August 23, 2009 at 03:59:04

todd dude you suck your creations are pure crap on a stick. your comics suck big time ad that failed attempt at a movie based on sh it was just even bigger steamy sh it.
i hope you die in a fire todd mcfarlane!!! you and your collection of baseballs you tosser!!!

Posted by: Stanley Ipkis on August 23, 2009 at 04:04:02

Hope this one gets done right. The last movie was made too early. It needs to be brutal and unrated to be good. Like the HBO series. I got high hopes. But then again, I had high hopes for the last one also.

Posted by: deacon on August 23, 2009 at 04:07:30

ok is spawn a cousin brother to ghost rider? Are they actually related?

Posted by: Haraldo on August 23, 2009 at 04:11:04

TERRY CREWS FOR SPAWN!

Posted by: Kardiak on August 23, 2009 at 04:12:56

Deacon... no... just... no

Posted by: Fanger54 on August 23, 2009 at 04:33:33

i actually got permission about a year ago to do a spawn short film, still working on it, cant find a good story to tell.. hope todd has better luck on his part... Spawn is a great character but hes hard to bring to the big screen...

Posted by: greens on August 23, 2009 at 05:02:17

martin sheen was in spawn and the departed. they should put him in this just to keep it up. and spiderman 3 was the best film ever made

Posted by: greens on August 23, 2009 at 05:03:41

yes it is 4:03 in the morning and ive had some to drink

Posted by: Mental on August 23, 2009 at 05:05:55

I would've cared about this seven or eight years ago. What's next, Swamp thing 3?

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NORM: Movie killer cut fingers off body - Las Vegas Review Journal

Posted: 23 Aug 2009 02:06 AM PDT

Police disclosed on Friday that Fiore was missing her fingers and teeth when her body was discovered in a suitcase in a trash bin in Buena Park, Calif.

Investigators used the serial numbers on her breast implants to identify her, The Associated Press reported, citing a spokeswoman for the Orange County district attorney's office.

Fiore was last seen two days earlier in San Diego with Ryan Jenkins, whom she married in March in Las Vegas. Jenkins was here competing as a finalist in the reality show "Megan Wants a Millionaire."

Jenkins, 32, a millionaire real estate developer, is accused of killing the Playboy model.

His boat was found in Washington on Thursday, and there was speculation that he crossed into British Columbia on foot. He grew up in Calgary, Alberta.

There are several other Las Vegas connections to Fiore.

Megan Hauserman, the star of VH1's "Megan Wants a Millionaire," is represented by the Las Vegas public relations firm, Wicked Creative.

Hauserman's premiere party was held earlier this month at Jet nightclub at The Mirage. Jenkins was not present.

Per direction from VH1, Hauserman is not responding to media requests, according to Wicked Creative president Stephanie Wilson. "Right now we've been asked that all inquiries about Megan go to VH1 until further notice."

VH1, on its Web site, offered condolences, saying, "Our thoughts go out to Jasmine Fiore's family, and more so with every saddening development we receive."

The Web site said the reality show has been postponed, not canceled.

JACKSON KIDS IN TOWN

Michael Jackson's three children, accompanied by Michael's brother Jackie and Joe Maloof, co-owner of the Sacramento Kings, had dinner Saturday in the private dining room at N9NE Steakhouse.

They stayed at the Palms for several months with their father late last year and earlier this year.

The children were spotted Thursday at Lake Las Vegas on a boat with a woman.

Joe Jackson has committed to attending the Jackson musical tribute/benefit at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Palms and indicated family members could be joining him.

Organizers are hoping to raise $100,000, with all proceeds from the various events going to the Clark County Public Education Foundation and earmarked specifically for music education programs. Ticket and event information can be found at VegasLovesMJ.com.

THE SCENE AND HEARD

Palms owner George Maloof will judge the 2009 Miss Universe Pageant at 9 p.m. today on NBC. The pageant is at the Atlantis Paradise Island in the Bahamas. Miss North Carolina USA Kristen Dalton won the Miss USA title in April at Planet Hollywood Resort.

SIGHTINGS

Jermaine Dupri, dining Saturday at RM Seafood (Mandalay Bay). He was in town to host Friday's reopening of Privé at Planet Hollywood Resort. ... David Hasselhoff, pulled on stage Friday at "Peepshow" (Planet Hollywood Resort). ... Lauren Conrad, formerly of "The Hills," at Tao (The Venetian) on Saturday with her mother.

THE PUNCH LINE

"Preliminary results are in for the Afghanistan election. Al Franken is ahead." -- David Letterman

Norm Clarke can be reached at 383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com. Find additional sightings and more online at www.normclarke.com.