VIDEOAGE "PAPER CLIPS": A WEEKLY PRESS REVIEW
PROGRAMMING
Fox's The O.C. ended its third season last spring with the fiery death of troubled waif Marissa Cooper and started its fourth season with, well, few people who seem to care. The primetime soap, which premiered in early November, drew just 3.4 million U.S. viewers, landing it in 98th place in the ratings. Other series heading into November sweeps with uncertain futures include Fox's Happy Hour and 'Til Death and NBC's Twenty Good Years and 30 Rock.
E! Online
An ogre-ific Christmas? ABC is planning Shrek the Halls, a half-hour special based on the Shrek movies that's sure to join A Charlie Brown Christmas in the pantheon of holiday classics. Slated to air in December 2007, Shrek the Halls will feature the voices of Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy and Antonio Banderas, each of whom will reprise their film roles.
E! Online
Total number of viewers for Saturday night's Gemini Awards (Canada's equivalent of the Emmys) fell significantly from last year. Total viewers numbered 203,000, down 28 percent from 281,000 in 2005. Canadian broadcaster Global, which aired the awards, offered no explanation for the drop for the 21st annual broadcast. The awards were held for the first time in Richmond, British Columbia, a switch from its traditional site of Toronto, Ontario.
The Globe & Mail
BUSINESS
Swisscom, Switzerland's dominant telecommunications company, has launched a TV-over-broadband service that offers more than 100 TV channels and more than 70 radio stations. The company's existing high-speed Internet customers will be able to watch and record those stations through its $24-a-month Bluewin TV service. Video-on-demand will cost extra. The launch of the service was delayed a full year because of technical difficulties, including problems with the development of software designed by Microsoft Corp. for the set-top box.
Examiner
CONTROVERSY
The Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's Court has heard a copyright lawsuit filed by Guangdong Zoke Culture Development Co. against Shanghai Tiange Technology Inc. for distributing a film without permission. Zoke claims it owns rights to distribute Hong Kong movie Sha Po Lang on the Internet, while Tiange offered free online access to the film on the site www.5see.com without permission. The plaintiff seeks 200,000 yuan in compensation. The defendant said the site was registered by a former employee in the name of the company, who didn't inform the company.
Shanghai Daily
MERCHANDISING
Lost fans will soon be able to play their very own at-home versions of the marooned-on-a-mystical-desert-island game with the launch of the first official toy line based on ABC's action-adventure series. Created by Spawn comic book artist Todd McFarlane, the line includes collectible figures of some of the show's most popular characters, including Jack, Kate, Locke, Charlie, Shannon and Hurley, as well as a hatch playset.
E! Online
FILM
A Chinese and a Canadian film company are teaming up to produce a 3D animated feature film with an estimated budget of 100 million yuan (US$12.7 million). Wuhan Digital Media Tech Engineering Co. will join forces with Canadian partner Joee Studios in Vancouver. Both companies will finance the film, titled Seven Degrees Celsius, with Joee mainly responsible for marketing. The comedy tells the tale of two different colonies of bacteria who work together to overcome adversity in a refrigerator set to the title's temperature.
People's Daily Online
Horror auteur Guillermo del Toro's latest feature Pan's Labyrinth, which was shot in Spain, tells the tale of a little girl during the Spanish Civil War, who accompanies her mother and new fascist step-father to a remote area in northern Spain. While the movie seems to start off based in reality, it soon veers off into del Toro's signature brand of supernatural terror. The movie is set for wide release later this month.
International Herald Tribune
Goa Minister of Art and Culture Digambar Vasant Kamat launched the website of the 37th annual International Film Festival of India Goa, 2006. Kamat, who stated that a major initiative is now under way to ensure participation of regional film societies on a large scale, also debuted the festival's poster, which depicts the ancient Indian concept of "Vasudeva Kutumbakam," meaning "the whole world is one family."
The Hindu
NEW VIDEOAGE FEATURE FOR YOU
Check out VideoAge International's" new website feature, the Water Cooler, a weekly news report tackling the most intriguing news in the industry.
This week's story is a wrap-up of the American Film Market in Santa Monica, CA.
You can access it by logging on to www.videoage.org
and clicking in the Water Cooler box.
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