The International Union of Cinemas (UNIC), the body representing European cinema trade associations and operators, today issued a statement condemning Universal Studios' reported decision to stream movies the same day they are released to theatres. Here is the UNIC statement:
Steve Munga is a truly inspiring entrepreneur. Four years ago he realized his dream and opened his first movie theatre, CineKin, and his first movie distribution company, MSKD, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. That they were the first movie theatre and distribution company opened in the country is only part of the story. To full appreciate the importance of that, it helps to first have a better understanding of the continent of Africa and, in particular, the country that is the DRC.
The Movie Studio, a vertically integrated motion picture production company, has signed a licensing agreement with FilmHub, an online marketplace for film creators and streaming services. Per the agreement, The Movie Studio will license FilmHub’s catalog for viewing on The Movie Studio App, which is available on Google Play and the App Store. The Movie Studio will also license its catalog to FilmHub for distribution via its online film marketplace.
Some event cinema distributors and their partners are getting creative in these challenging times. This Thursday, April 2, the Los Angeles-based event cinema distributor Abramorama and The Dollywood Foundation will present an online book-reading series entitled Goodnight with Dolly. Abramorama was originally scheduled to release the documentary The Library That Dolly Built in more than 330 cinemas on April 2. Due to the current COVID-19 crisis, the film will instead open nationally the week of September 21, to commemorate the Library’s 25th anniversary.
Wez Merchant, the founder and managing director of the public relations company Strike Media has a plan to support motion picture distributors during the COVID-19 crisis. He is launching a free newsletter that would include all the home entertainment, video on demand and premium video on demand movies being released each week.
For the first time in its seven-year history, the Digital Cinema Distribution Coalition has begun to pay all its customers rebates. After recently paying back its founding investors – AMC Theatres, Cinemark Theatres, Regal Entertainment Group, Universal Pictures and Warner Bros. – initial investments in full, DCDC is now fulfilling the promise it made to all of its customers when it was formed to pay them rebates pursuant to the same mathematical formula in each of their agreements.
The Network of Independent Canadian Exhibitors has submitted evidence to the nation’s Competition Bureau regarding their access to films in Canada. Across the country, independent cinemas are coming together to decry prohibitive practices, which the association sees as unfairly blocking audiences from the choice of where to see a movie. They single out Cineplex for the blame.
In 2018, a total of 696 European films were theatrically released in at least one of the 15 non-European markets, a new report shows. This is the largest number of European films released outside Europe in the past five years and represents about nine percent of the total number of European films on release worldwide. European films represented 18 percent of the tracked number of films on release in the 15 non-European sample markets. The European Audiovisual Observatory has released an updated edition of the report entitled The Circulation of European films outside Europe.
The Norwegian Film Institute has selected Nagra’s media asset management platform DVnor Organizer for secure storage and one-click distribution of its films to more than 170 film festivals worldwide. The system will enable the NFI to receive, store and distribute new cinema titles in high-quality from all the major Norwegian film producers and production companies, as well as store more than 300 catalogue titles. It will also provide subtitling packages in different languages.
QSC’s Q-SYS Development team has been honored with a Technology and Engineering Emmy Award for its work on the Q-SYS Audio, Video and Control Ecosystem. The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences will honor Q-LAN network media distribution technology specifically in the category of Development of Synchronized Multi-Channel Uncompressed Audio Transport over IP Networks at the 71st Annual Technology and Engineering Emmy awards to be presented April 19 during the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas.
