Search gets surpassed

By James DeRuvo (doddleNEWS)

While Google is still the 800 pound gorilla on the interwebs, a new survey shows that social media is the preferred way that online audiences are finding and viewing new content. Will search fade away as more users get social?

All of these findings indicate that consumers want a more social way to easily discover video on mobile. Telly’s findings support Adobe’s April 2013 study that stated, “social engagement jumped from 42% to 70% in terms of how likely referrals on networks like Facebook were to prompt a video viewing completion.” It’s clear that social influence plays a strong role in video viewership on mobile. – FStoppers

According to a new study put out by Telly, of the 221 million mobile users in the United States, over 1 in 3 are watching video on mobile devices. And of those who are watching sites like YouTube, Blip and Vimeo, tw0-thirds (52 million) of users are discovering videos primarily through social media. In fact, search comes in a distant third, just ahead of the dreaded “other” in how users are finding their video entertainment online.  How are mobile users watching their videos? Well, nearly half are watching on Android handsets, while only 36% are viewing videos on an iPad or iPhone. That makes sense since Android devices in aggregate have more owners than iOS devices (although more own iPads or iPhones when you look at each device individually).

Drilling deeper into the study, users say that most of them get their video recommendations from social networks like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, while about 54% get them through email or sharing with friends and family. Even SMS texting gets over 40% of the vote. Age wise, video viewers are three times more likely to be between the ages of 18-44, with families driving nearly half of online video traffic. And men are 10 percent more likely to be watching videos than women. And what’s interesting is that 10% say they would watch more video on mobile devices if they received more personal recommendations. In other words, they only watch what their friends suggest they watch.

The study is important for filmmakers, because it allows them to leverage the most effective tools for getting word out about their latest projects, and it allows budding new shooters to leverage tools that have become second nature to them, since odds are, they’re part of the audience as well.  And it also points to why becoming what is known as a “youtuber” is rapidly regarded as a legitimate filmmaking career choice… it’s where the eyeballs are.

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Google’s discussions with Waze, which one of the sources told Reuters remained fluid and could change in tenor at any time, come amid reports Facebook is willing to pay $1 billion for the crowd-sourced service, which relies on information provided by its 47 million members to craft its mobile-oriented maps.

By buying Waze, the Internet search giant would prevent the company from falling into the hands of Facebook, which is delving deeper into mobile technology as it tries to grow its user base.

Mapping services are among the five most-used applications on smartphones and are crucial to engaging and retaining mobile users. The key advantage of owning, rather than licensing, a mapping service is that it allows for the product to be tailored and personalized for users.

“Whoever holds the mapping data is going to be a hot commodity,” said Brian Proffitt, author of several books on mobile technology and an adjunct instructor of management in the University of Notre Dame. “As larger vendors acquire mapping data, businesses and consumers will discover that it’s more difficult to gain free access and correct errors.”

Waze’s real-time traffic information, generated continuously from data on users’ smartphones about traveling speed and direction, is considered a particularly valuable asset that poses a threat to the search giant’s existing offering, Google Maps.

“Sometimes the best offense is defense,” said a third source close to the situation, explaining Google’s motivation to acquire Waze.

Still, Marcus Thielking, co-founder of rival mapping service, skobbler, said Facebook could easily develop a real-time traffic service similar to Waze’s, thanks to its massive social network of more than one billion users.

As a result, he said, it would be “shortsighted” for Google to acquire Waze strictly to keep it away from Facebook.

“I can’t really see much sense in a Google acquisition, especially not at a price that’s close to what we’re talking about,” said Thielking.

Indeed, deals are heating up in the tech-startup space. This week, Yahoo Inc announced a $1.1 billion acquisition of widely used blogging service Tumblr, in one of the largest purchases this year of an Internet company.

Due diligence between Waze and Facebook had been under way and a term sheet signed after six months of discussions, Israeli business daily Calcalist reported this month.

But talks stalled over Facebook’s demand that the Waze team, working in Israel, relocate to California, the publication reported days later.

Last year, Apple Inc began offering its own maps, in competition with Google’s more widely used application.

There had been media reports earlier this year that Apple was in talks to acquire Waze, but both companies declined to comment on Friday.

Google also declined to comment.

MAPPING CONUNDRUM

Waze has enjoyed years of spectacular growth. About 12 percent of its users hail from the United States, and it also has high penetration in Italy and Brazil. Its user base has skyrocketed to 47.5 million now, from about 7 million in 2011.

Four-year-old Waze was the brainchild of Ehud Shabtai, a software engineer with a degree in philosophy and computer science from Tel Aviv University, who hit upon the idea when he realized commercially available GPS software could not reflect real-time conditions speedily enough, or provide certain useful data – such as speed traps.

According to Waze’s website, Shabtai teamed up with entrepreneurs Uri Levine and Amir Shinar to found Waze in 2008. It has raised $67 million in funding to date from firms including Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Blue Run Ventures, Hong Kong media and real-estate mogul Li Ka-shing’s Horizon Ventures and semiconductor company Qualcomm Inc. According to Calcalist, Microsoft Corp owns 10.2 percent of the company, but Waze did not comment on that.

Waze Chief Executive Noam Bardin and a small staff now operate out of their U.S. headquarters in Palo Alto, California, while about 90 employees are based in home country Israel.

The startup partnered with Facebook in October 2012, when Waze released an updated version of its app that allowed users to share their drive with their Facebook friends.

(Editing by Bernadette Baum)

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Roaring into theaters Friday, the movie is expected to generate $80 million or more over the Memorial Day weekend – astounding numbers for a franchise that is more than a decade old, and isn’t “Star Wars” or “Indiana Jones.”

Even more astonishing, Universal’s “Fast” films are the rare series that seem to pick up steam with each new sequel. And with its multi-ethnic cast and foreign settings, it’s been hailed as a model for how to build a franchise that can appeal to audiences across the globe.

But what is lost in all the hype is that the cars and criminals series almost sputtered to a stop before it could kick off its latest victory lap, with some at Universal fretting the series had run out of gas after its first two installments: The studio even considered releasing sequels on DVD without a theatrical run.

Instead of throwing the race, Universal decided to give the films a new look and direction – with a crucial assist from original series star, Vin Diesel.

“The talk internally was that the franchise was played out,” Jeffrey Kirschenbaum, Universal Pictures co-president of production, told TheWrap. “At that point we were weighing whether to go straight to video or not for future sequels. We weren’t sure what we were going to do.”

The makeover returned the series to its heist roots and played down the underground street racing scenes that had dominated the second and third installments.

After the original cast was jettisoned and the action moved to Japan in “The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift, the movie still tested respectably with audiences despite all the changes. Yet Universal felt that the sequel needed more pop.

To that end, Universal Chairman Adam Fogelson and Co-Chairman Donna Langley prevailed upon Diesel to return to the series that helped make him a star, if only for a fleeting cameo. The response from preview audiences to his few minutes of screen time was electric, Kirschenbaum recalls.

“It was like a rock concert,” he said. “The audience went ballistic.”

Kirschenbaum said that the reaction gave Universal the confidence to effectively reboot the series with its original crew of racers, cops and thieves including star Paul Walker. At the same time, the studio decided to drill down into those elements that set it apart from summer blockbusters headlined by white males, namely a cast that included Asian, African-American and Latino actors like Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Michelle Rodriguez and Sung Kang.

“We’re the Benetton of casting,” Kirschenbaum said. “We’re one of the few franchises that has Spanish spoken throughout it.”

The result is a cast that looks like many of today’s moviegoers – social media savvy, ethnic and frequently bilingual.

The new strategy reached its apotheosis with “Fast Five,” which added Dwayne Johnson to mix, set the film in Rio and drew more than $632 million worldwide, nearly $270 million more than what the next highest grossing film in the franchise had netted. Internationally the film continued to pick up steam, more than doubling the previous high-water mark for foreign grosses on a “Fast” film.

“They have done a brilliant job of managing and expanding this franchise with a principle for international success – set it exotic, make it erotic,” Bill Block, founder and CEO of the film production company QED International, said.

Analysts predict that “Fast & Furious 6,” which exports the action to the United Kingdom and the Canary Islands, could top them all and gross more than $700 million globally.

“They’ve managed to make each movie better than the last,” Kevin Goetz, chief executive office of the movie market research firm Screen Engine, told TheWrap. “Each sequel feels cool and distinctive and that’s rare. I’ve worked on a lot of franchises that just simply diminish with each film. With ‘Fast’ they seem to be re-imagining the series with every installment.”

The studio’s inclusive approach to casting has turned out to be smart business: Latinos make up 17 percent of the population in the United States and Canada, but comprise 26 percent of ticket buyers, according to a recent study by the Motion Picture Association of America.

Moreover, the movie business grows more globalized each year with foreign markets accounting for 70 percent of the overall box office, making the “Fast” franchise’s international approach the envy of other studios.

“Fast Five” was able to target the Latino community, which represented 33 percent of its U.S. audience. With the return of Rodriguez, Universal hopes to pull off a similar opening for “Fast & Furious 6.” To aid the cause, a Spanish-speaking Diesel presented footage from the film at the Billboard Latin Music Awards.

“Their marketing never feels like pandering; Latinos go to the ‘Fast’ movies because they’re included,” Alex Nogales, president and CEO of the advocacy group, the National Hispanic Media Coalition, told TheWrap. “When you look at this kind of attendance, we hope that studios will become emboldened and it will serve as a lesson to filmmakers about what the Latino moviegoing public can do.”

The “Fast” films have also outraced the pack with social media outreach on Facebook and Twitter. Universal said it gave “Fast & Furious 6″ the largest social media campaign for any film in its history, successfully building its digital support group from five million Facebook fans when “Fast Five” opened in 2011 to 34 million fans to date.

The cast itself as played the important role as ambassadors for the series, regularly tweeting about the film and interacting with fans. It helps that Diesel boasts 42 million Facebook “likes” on his official page, while Johnson has attracted over 4 million followers on Twitter.

Online feedback has influenced the films, too. Fan requests on Twitter and Facebook led the “Fast” team to revive Rodriguez’s character after she had apparently been killed off in the fourth film and helped spur Universal’s decision to accelerate shooting on the next film. Now, part seven will hit theaters in 2014 instead of slogging through the standard multi-year hiatus between “Fast” productions.

According to Kirschenbaum, the most frequent feedback it receives is desire for less lag time between installments: He said fans keep saying after the release of each “Fast” film, “we want to see the next movie right now, we don’t want to wait.”

Even rival producers tip their hats to the “Fast” franchise. J.C. Spinks, the executive producer of “We’re the Millers” and “The Hangover III,” which goes up against “The Fast & The Furious 6″ at the box office this weekend, praised the series’ longevity and the producers’ push to keep topping themselves.

“It’s a well-oiled machine,” he said. “A lot of movie franchises get to three. Not too many get to six.”

The post How an extreme movie makeover saved ‘Fast & Furious’ from going direct to DVD appeared first on Doddle.

With all the hype surrounding Marvel’s The Avengers 2, it seems Bryan Singer is feeling a little left out over at Fox.

The filmmaker’s time travel epic, X-Men: Days Of Future Past, is set for release next summer.

However, it seems every time Avengers director Joss Whedon announces a new nugget of casting gold, Singer pipes up on social media to steal some of the spotlight.

Just to be clear, despite X-Men being a Marvel creation, studio Fox have always owned the film rights, a bit like a distant cousin who never calls.

Now, just weeks after Whedon announced that Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch would appear in his 2015 sequel, Singer has now disclosed that the former will feature in his film, played by actor Evan Peters (Kick-Ass).

Another bit of comic book clarification is needed. In the Marvel universe, the characters mentioned are in fact the son and daughter of X-Men antagonist Magneto. But, they also later team up with the Avengers.

Here is Singer’s tweet:

“Before he was an #Avenger, he was just a REALLY fast kid. Thrilled to say #EvanPetersis joining #XMen #DaysOfFuturePast as #Quicksilver.” (Editor’s note: Singer changed his Tweet a little bit, dropping the first part about “an Avenger.”)

With Fox (they also own the Fantastic Four) and Sony (Spider-Man) both possessing Marvel properties, there was always eventually going to be politics involved, somewhere down the line.

Kevin Feige, Marvel’s President of Production, recently confirmed to /Film that both studios own the rights to the brother/sister duo, but have reached an agreement of their use.

He said: “We both have [Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch]. There’s a specific arrangement with those two characters that would allow us to use them with “Avengers,” but not discuss or reference their mutant or Magneto-related lineage. They can use them as mutants and as Magneto’s relatives, but cannot have anything to do with “The Avengers.”

Hitflix have developed this point, re-iterating that both franchises will present different versions of the same characters, and that Bryan Singer had already developed a special action sequence for Quicksilver.

In other X-Men news, Singer has been making good use of his Twitter account, regularly posting images from the set of the Days of Future Past.

The new film will involve time travel, meaning the actors from Matthew Vaughn’s hit prequel, First Class (2011), will come face to face with their older selves from the original trilogy.

While speaking with SFX, The Usual Suspects director revealed how excited he was about the film.

He said: “It’s not just another X-Men film; it’s not just about the combined cast as there will be certain technologies and other stuff that we haven’t seen before in the X-Men films.

“There are also issues of time and we’re messing about with that. I think we’ve got it figured out. I pitched it to James Cameron when I was in New Zealand last year and he said, ‘Yes, that makes sense.’”

“We wanted an opportunity to bring some of the favorite older and younger characters together.”

He added: “We also wanted to play with the notion of different times and stuff like the way that time affects destinies. It enables the film to not just be a sequel to First Class or X-Men 3 but to actually be its own thing.”

Well if the time travel story line gets the Cameron seal of approval, then Singer must be on to winner.

Of course, Singer is an accomplished filmmaker in his own right, having presided over one of the best superhero films ever in X2 (2003)

Probably the biggest headache the director has to deal with is incorporating so many characters, and big time actors, into one film.

The sizeable cast includes; Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy,Peter Dinklage, Evan Peters, Nicholas Hoult, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Hugh Jackman, Anna Paquin, Ellen Page and Halle Berry.

X-Men: Days of Future Past will be released on July 18, 2014.

Sources: SFX, Digital Spy, Hitflix, /Film

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Just as the face of television has morphed over the past decade, so has the face of the Emmy Awards. “Back in 1977, when the Academy was formed, we began with network broadcast, syndication and PBS,” John Leverence, the senior vice president of awards at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, told TheWrap. “But that has changed significantly.”

The new landscape is reflected in the TV Academy’s mission statement: “The mission of the Academy is to promote creativity, diversity, innovation and excellence through recognition, education and leadership in the advancement of the telecommunications arts and sciences.”

“It’s no longer the television arts and sciences, but the telecommunications arts and sciences,” said Leverence. “We now have stuff above and beyond where we began.”

With the caveat that definitions are fluid, the landscape is changing and the field is so vast that we can’t cover every possibility, here are the types of programming eligible for Emmys:

Programs that originally aired on broadcast television between 6 p.m. and 2 a.m. during the eligibility period, which this year is June 1, 2012, through May 31, 2013.

Netflix’s “Arrested Development” just made it under the wire, debuting on the streaming service this coming Sunday.

Shows on basic cable or premium cable during the same period.

Shows available via interactive cable. This is where the potentially game-changing “Development” and “House of Cards” come in.

Programs that receive a limited theatrical release before their television debuts. Shows are supposed to have “originally aired on television,” but there’s some wiggle room for things like HBO documentaries that quietly pay for Oscar-qualifying theatrical runs before their television debuts. Seven-day, two-city awards-qualifying runs are allowed, as are seven-day, 10-city runs to satisfy a distributor or financier.

International productions, if they are the result of a co-production between U.S. and foreign partners and have a commitment to air on U.S. television.

Short-form animated and live-action programs that originally aired on television or on the internet. The categories are typically dominated by short-form work from Comedy Central, the Disney Channel and the like on the animated side, and webisodes on the live-action side, but Leverence said that YouTube and Funny or Die videos also qualify.

Interactive media productions of all kinds – webisodes, apps, etc.- that are tied to a television program or series, and original interactive productions. The interactive Emmys expanded from one to two awards this year, and the official rules detail four specific areas in which the jury can single out programming in the Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Media category.

Commercials between 30 seconds and two minutes in length that originally aired during primetime to more than 50 percent of U.S. households or the potential television audience.

Shows that air during the daytime or don’t air at any specific time, because they’re internet- or on-demand-based, if they have the characteristics of a primetime program. “When we switched over to internet eligibility, we lost our temporal distinction between Primetime and Daytime Emmys,” Leverence said.

“For atemporal mediums like Netflix and the internet, we drop back into our generic identifying mode.” In other words, if it has the characteristics of a primetime program–a police procedural, a drama series, a comedy of the short that typically airs in the evening – it qualifies.

“Usually, awards are very reactive,” said Leverence of the rules that anticipated shows like “House of Cards” and “Arrested Development.” “But now, it looks like for once in our life, we were a little bit ahead of the curve.”

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For a franchise like “Fast & Furious” keep growing as it enters its second decade and sixth installment is nearly unheard of in Hollywood, where sequels tend to burn hot and fast, dying out quickly. Yet Universal Pictures has adroitly managed the car racing series by tapping into international markets, catering to under-appreciated moviegoing audiences and recognizing the power of Diesel fuel – Vin Diesel that is.

Here are six takeaways from the “Fast & the Furious” franchise’s success for rival studios trying to engineer their own box office Maserati’s.

Vin Diesel Is an A-Lister, Get Used to It

He may not wield the clout or boast the magazine covers of a Depp or a Pitt or a Smith, but make no mistake, Diesel is a star. After getting lost on the C-list in the mid-aughts and seeing his once white-hot career fizzle out with bombs like “Find Me Guilty” or artistic embarrassments like “The Pacifier,” Diesel cannily returned to the franchise that made him a powerhouse with 2009′s “Fast & Furious.”

In the process, he helped the series consistently build its audience with each new film, allowing the franchise to gross nearly $1.6 billion globally. With this September’s “Riddick,” Diesel will see if he can revive another of his action franchises that has run out of steam. If he can pull it off, that will give him two massive tentpole roles in his quiver. Few actors other than Robert Downey Jr. with “Sherlock Holmes” and “Iron Man” can match that kind of track record.

The U.S. Is Nice, But Foreign Countries Are King

Though “The Fast & The Furious” started out as a depiction of L.A. street racing, few franchises have done a better job of embracing the global marketplace. Starting with 2006′s “The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift,” the third film in the franchise, the series has traipsed around the globe, conveniently stopping in many of the movie business’ most important emerging markets. Along the way, the crew of car racers and thieves have evaded the law in exotic settings like Brazil, Mexico and, in the latest iteration, Spain and the United Kingdom.

With 70 percent of box office revenue coming from abroad, an international flavor is not an longer exotic icing on any big-budget confection. It’s an essential ingredient to making the sprawling community of moviegoers feel like they are watching their dreams and lives reflected back to them on the big screen.

The reward for this cosmopolitanism? “Fast & Furious 6″ is off to a white-hot start at the foreign box office; its opening in the U.K. and Ireland last Friday gave Universal the studio’s biggest opening day ever in that market with $4.6 million. “Fast Five,” the previous film in the franchise, more than doubled the largest foreign gross in the franchise’s history and most box office analysts predict the latest adventure will eclipse the last film’s $416 million international take.

Newsflash! Latinos Go to Movies

Latino audiences have pushed “The Fast & The Furious” series into rarified blockbuster terrain. Thanks to stars like Michelle Rodriguez, and a healthy amount of Spanish dialog, the films have gone out of their way to court this too often neglected demographic.

Pay heed studios! Latinos represent just 17 percent of the U.S. population, yet account for 26 percent of ticket sales, according a study by the Motion Picture Association of America. In the case of “Fast Five,” catering to this crowd resulted in a monster turnout, with Latinos representing 33 percent of its opening weekend U.S. audience.

…Oh, And So Do Women

Casting women as more than scantily clad helpmates and arm candy has further broadened “The Fast & The Furious” franchise’s appeal.

Women represent 51 percent of the U.S. population and 52 percent of the moviegoing public, but according to a 2012 study by the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University, only 11 percent of the protagonists in top grossing films are female.

Yes, Vin Diesel and Paul Walker are the top-billed stars in the series, but what’s refreshing about “Fast & Furious 6″ is that Rodriguez and co-star Gina Carano have roles that are integral to the action. In fact, Jeffrey Kirschenbaum, Universal Pictures co-president of production, told TheWrap that the most recent “Fast” film is the highest testing among women.

He added that the on-screen throw down between Rodriguez and Carano is a key selling point of the film and “trumps” the fight between Diesel and Dwayne Johnson that was a heavily promoted part of “Fast Five.”

Don’t Idle at the Starting Line

Beginning with the fourth film in the series, 2009′s “The Fast & the Furious,” Universal has rigidly adhered to a release schedule of one “Fast” picture every two years. The studio is accelerating the schedule with “Fast & the Furious 7,” which will roar into theaters in 2014, roughly a year after the sixth film was unleashed on the summer box office.

At CinemaCon, the annual exhibition trade show in Las Vegas, Diesel told theater owners that the studio was able to rush into production on a follow-up to “Fast & the Furious 6″ because they had carefully mapped out a direction for the series. In a digitally connected age where platforms like Twitter and Facebook have intensified the rate at which entertainment and media is anticipated, consumed and discussed, it is critical that studios move nimbly to exploit buzz before this morning’s hot thing become that afternoon’s tired idea.

Allow a Director to Grow With a Franchise

Justin Lin didn’t have the kind of CV that would instantly make a studio feel comfortable about handing over the keys to one of its crown jewel franchises.

When Universal tapped the UCLA grad to inject new life into the “Fast” series, Lin was best known for the Sundance breakout “Better Luck Tomorrow” and the James Franco bomb “Annapolis.” But whatever studio executives saw Taiwanese-born director has allowed the series to reach new heights.

Under Lin, the four “Fast” films he has directed have grown more global in scope, more financially successful, more technically audacious and more critically acclaimed. The decision to move up production on “Fast & the Furious 7,” so it can open next year, means that he will have to yield the director’s chair to James Wan (“Saw”), but studio executives and producers tell TheWrap that after the success of the “Fast” movies, Lin can write his own ticket.

“He’s on the A-list,” a rival studio executive enthused. “If he wants to do a Bond film, he can. If he wants to do a Chris Nolan-type ‘Inception’ movie or a smaller personal movie, he can. Everyone wants to work with him.”

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In “Weekend of a Champion”, the Polish-French filmmaker Roman Polanski follows Stewart, his long-time friend, as he prepares to drive in the 1971 Monaco Grand Prix, at a time when the risks to drivers were far greater than they are now.

Polanski said he had forgotten about the film, which was screened at the Berlin film festival in 1972 but never released, until a recent call from a processing lab holding the footage.

He decided to resurrect it, adding a sequence where he and Stewart reunite more than 40 years later to discuss how the sport has changed.

“Back in the day, it was much freer. People could practically, or almost, walk onto the track. Now it’s a bit NASA, a bit Martian,” Polanski said after the revised version premiered in Cannes on Tuesday.

Three-times world champion Stewart, now 73, said Formula One had always been at the sharp end of technology, “but I think the racing is still as good today as ever, maybe even better”.

“The animal is the same, the driver has the same mentality, the same type of person,” he told Reuters in an interview.

British director Stephen Frears’ documentary “Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight” aims to bring public attention to the boxer’s court battle after he refused to fight in the Vietnam War, a stand that made him known far beyond his sport.

HERO AND VILLAIN

Ali refused to be conscripted into the U.S. military in 1967, on the basis of his religious beliefs and his opposition to the war. A hero to a growing anti-war movement, vilified by others, he was found guilty of evading the draft.

At the height of his career, he was stripped of his world heavyweight title and barred from the ring for nearly four years while his ultimately successful appeal worked its way up to the Supreme Court.

The film, made for Time Warner’s HBO cable network and screened at Cannes on Wednesday, stars Christopher Plummer and Danny Glover, but no one plays Ali, now 71, who has suffered from Parkinson’s disease for three decades and appears only in archive footage.

Frears said he had wanted to highlight the case after discovering how badly Ali had been treated, and had received Ali’s approval when he showed him the film two weeks ago.

“I just had no idea that that was the story, but nobody did, nobody realized,” Frears said.

Pele, 72, was in Cannes to discuss a film about his life being made by Hollywood producer Brian Grazer, maker of “Apollo 13″ and “A Beautiful Mind”, to be released next year as Brazil hosts the 2014 soccer World Cup.

“Pele” focuses on the Brazilian star’s rise from an impoverished childhood to lead his country to its first World Cup victory, in Sweden in 1958.

A documentary called “Pele Forever” was made about his life in 2004, but he said the new one aimed to inspire young people, many of whom are facing bleak prospects.

“The way we constructed the film is for the new generation,” he told Reuters in an interview.

(Additional reporting by Rollo Ross and Johnny Cotton; Writing by Belinda Goldsmith; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

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The videogame industry, which has struggled with declining sales as gamers migrate to mobile and social media platforms, is hoping for a strong finish to 2013 with the release of new titles like Take-Two Interactive Software’s “Grand Theft Auto V” and Electronic Arts Inc’s “Battlefield 4.”

New gaming consoles like Microsoft’s Xbox One and Sony Corp’s Playstation4 are expected to launch in coming months. Investors hope the advent of new gaming hardware will give the video game industry a shot in the arm.

GameStop raised the lower end of its full-year earnings forecast to $2.90 to $3.15 per share, from $2.75 to $3.15 per share previously.

“The expectations are that we’re going to have a tough first half until we see titles like Grand Theft Auto and new consoles,” Chief Financial Officer Robert Lloyd told Reuters.

Sony Corp said in February it would release its next-generation PlayStation this year, its first videogame console in seven years. And on Tuesday, Microsoft unveiled the Xbox One, its first new gaming console in eight years, making its strongest push so far to dominate consumers’ living rooms with an array of exclusive media and video game content.

GameStop shares, which have risen about 46 percent in the last three months, were trading flat at $36.20 in the afternoon.

Analysts say there remained confusion over whether Microsoft planned to take a cut on revenue for used games played on the Xbox One, following news reports that suggested the software company may charge used-game users a fee.

“It appears that Microsoft will assign a unique ID to each game disk loaded onto the Xbox, which could require a second user to pay Microsoft a fee to access Xbox services,” R. w. Baird analyst Colin Sebastian said in a note on Tuesday.

GameStop executives said they would wait for the software company to communicate that.

“The majority of how the stock is going to trade is going to be the market interpretation of how “Xbox One” is going to handle used-game sales,” National Alliance Securities analyst Mike Hickey told Reuters.

Total U.S. sales of videogame hardware and software in April saw a 25 percent drop, following a downward trend that has continued month over month since last year, according to a report by market research firm NPD.

Quarterly profit of the world’s largest video games retailer fell to 46 cents per share, but beat analysts’ estimates of 40 cents per share.

The company, which said its year-to-date market share of PS3 and Xbox 360 software in the United States was 47.7 percent, reported first-quarter revenue of $1.87 billion. Mobile sales rose 290 percent to $46.8 million.

Analysts on average were expecting sales of $1.82 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Quarterly profit fell to 46 cents per share, but beat analysts’ estimates of 40 cents per share.

For the second quarter, GameStop expects earnings of 1 cent per share to 7 cents per share. Analysts are expecting a profit of 8 cents per share.

(Reporting by Chandni Doulatramani in Bangalore and Malathi Nayak in San Francisco; Editing by Roshni Menon and Alden Bentley)

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Aubuchon decided to leave the show after two seasons to pursue his dream of writing a science fiction novel – something that he would be unable to do while on the very challenging show.

“This is a very difficult show to work on,” Aubuchon admitted to TheWrap. “And the truth is I did feel burnt out after this season.”

“There were a lot of reasons why the last season was frenetic and chaotic and difficult,” series star and executive producer Noah Wyle told The Wrap. “But, much like the alliance with the Volm, it’s proven to be advantageous.”

“It’s a tough one,” he said. “Remi, in a lot of ways, knew our show like nobody has and saw greater possibilities for the storytelling than anyone has ever envisioned.”

Aubuchon leaves after a very ambitious third season for the TNT series as it jumps seven months and reveals that the group stays on in Charleston – with Wyle’s Tom Mason as the Resistance’s new President – and makes alliances with the rebel skitters and the newly arrived (and technologically advanced) Volm.

“The proof’s in the pudding,” Wyle told TheWrap. “We created a really good season and Remi is directly responsible for it. So, I’m sorry to see him go.”

Former “Battlestar Galactica” executive producer and “Caprica” co-creator David Eick will replace the departing showrunner. Aubuchon personally recommended his replacement and told us that while he won’t have a formal role on Season 4, Eick has already bounced ideas off of him.

Wyle met with the new showrunner last week. “I have great confidence in David Eick coming on,” Wyle said.

“He’s coming with great passion and a lot of really great ideas. And the truth is this show has had a lot of fathers along the way already and maybe that’s just the nature of the beast.”

The post ‘Falling Skies’ Star Noah Wyle on Showrunner’s Departure: ‘It’s a Tough One’ appeared first on Doddle.

Satellite operator DirecTV and cable operator Time Warner Cable Inc also put in bids, one of the people told Reuters.

Hulu was put on the auction block this year for the second time after disagreement between owners News Corp and Walt Disney Co on how best to operate a Web service that streams TV programs and other videos, Reuters previously reported.

In April, Chernin placed a bid for $500 million, plus an unspecified additional sum to cover Hulu’s debt and programming commitments.

Representatives of Guggenheim, Time Warner Cable and DirecTV had no comment. A spokesman for Chernin could not be reached.

Hulu says on its website that it has more than 3 million subscribers paying $7.99 a month for its premium service and that it generated revenues of around $700 million last year. It sells advertising for its free service.

It is being advised in the sale by Guggenheim Partners, a separately funded group from the digital media unit that placed the bid.

The Los Angeles Times initially reported the bids On Thursday.

(Reporting By Ronald Grover. Editing by Andre Grenon and David Gregorio)

The post Hulu video site auction attracts four bidders – sources appeared first on Doddle.

The 38-year old actor has been on TV since 1999 and landed some supporting film roles. But it wasn’t until he was cast as the cocky Phil in the 2009 buddy comedy, “The Hangover,” that he found mainstream success.

The movie, about four men who try to piece together the events of a wild bachelor party in Las Vegas, became an unlikely hit, grossing more than $467 million at the worldwide box office and spawning a franchise.

After “The Hangover Part II” took the actors – Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis and Justin Bartha – to Thailand on yet another wild bachelor party, they decided to return one last time in “The Hangover Part III,” out in theaters on Friday.

“We really didn’t let any day pass without taking stock of what we have because of these movies, and how special our bond is,” Cooper told Reuters about filming the final installment.

“It really is a once-in-a-lifetime thing and to be able to do a third one and go out knowing it’s over, hopefully we’re going out on a high note.”

In the final film of the franchise, the wolf pack are unwittingly lured back to Las Vegas in a full circle from the first film, in a hunt for the elusive and eccentric Mr. Chow (Ken Jeong).

Cooper said that while the first two films had become box office hits with similar storylines, it was important that the third film found a new plot.

“There was a lot of pressure to make sure it was going to be fresh, that it was going to deviate from the structure of the first two,” the actor said.

DRAMA AND DIRECTING

After landing leading roles in 2010′s reboot of “The A-Team” and 2011 action-thriller “Limitless,” Cooper reached a career high this year with an Oscar nod for best male actor for his role as bipolar Pat in “Silver Linings Playbook.”

Cooper credited the film for changing perceptions about his talents.

“There were people going ‘wow, I didn’t know you could do that,’ and I thought ‘yeah, did you think I was Phil?’ It was interesting,” he said.

“The Place Beyond The Pines” saw Cooper in a rare dramatic role, playing a police officer struggling to come to terms with killing a suspect while on duty.

Cooper said the role was “really tricky” and came to him at the right time in his career, when he was looking for a challenge and wanted to take risks with a complex character.

“It was not the role that a young male leading man would want to take, because there was nothing flashy…but it was a great acting challenge,” Cooper said.

The actor, who was thrust into the spotlight in 2011 as People Magazine’s ‘Sexiest Man Alive,’ said he has set his sights on stepping behind the camera one day, though for now, he is in demand for roles in upcoming films by Steven Spielberg and Cameron Crowe.

“I can’t pass that up, but at some point I have to direct, because that’s really the only way I think,” Cooper said.

(Editing by Paul Casciato and Bernadette Baum)

The post Bradley Cooper back for one last Hollywood ‘Hangover’ appeared first on Doddle.

That’s a strong number for midnight shows on a hump day, though it can’t compete with the $10.4 million “The Hangover Part II” generated in late night screenings when it hit theaters two years ago. That figure stands as a record number for an R-rated release.

The latest “Hangover” sequel will expand to 3,555 theaters nationwide on Thursday in advance of Memorial Day Weekend. The holiday will be a particularly stacked one for big budget movies, as Universal’s “Fast & Furious 6″ and Fox’s animated “Epic” debut on the weekend as well and “Star Trek Into Darkness” and “Iron Man 3″ are expected to continue drawing crowds.

Box office analysts project “Hangover Part III” will generate $75 million over the long weekend, less than the $135 million the previous installment in the Wolf Pack saga generated in 2011. However, the competition for male moviegoers was not as fierce as it will be this year. “Fast & Furious 6″ is expected to lure in many of the same ticket-buyers and is on pace to win the weekend with an $80 million or more haul.

“The Hangover Part III” is co-produced by Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. and brings back stars Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis and director Todd Phillips. It also returns the action to Las Vegas following an excursion to Bangkok in “Part II.”

The post Box Office: ‘Hangover Part III’ Grosses $3.1M at Late Night Showings appeared first on Doddle.

Brian Krzanich, Intel’s new CEO

By Noel Randewich - SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) Intel Corp’s new chief executive, Brian Krzanich, has launched a sweeping reorganization of the world’s top chipmaker and created a unit aiming to retake the top chipmaker’s lead in mobile and semiconductor innovation.

The shakeup, announced internally just days after the 30-year veteran took the helm, places most of Intel’s main product groups directly under his supervision and hands its sprawling global manufacturing operation to new president Renee James, said a source close to the company, who declined to be identified.

Details of the reorganization were outlined in an internal memo sent to employees on Monday. It was described to Reuters by a company source and details of the reorganization, which is effective immediately, were confirmed by spokesman Chuck Mulloy on Tuesday.

“As your CEO I am committed to making quick, informed decisions. I am committed to being bolder, moving faster, and accepting that this means changes will be made knowing that we will listen, learn and then make adjustments in order to keep pace with a rapidly changing industry,” Krzanich said in the email, according to the source.

Krzanich officially took over as CEO last week and said that under his leadership, the top chipmaker will be more responsive to customers in an intensified focus on the fast-growing smartphone and tablet market where it lags rivals.

The chipmaker’s main product groups – including the PC client group, mobile communications and data centre unit that previously reported to Intel Architecture group chief Dadi Perlmutter – now report directly to Krzanich.

Intel has called the shots in the personal computer industry for decades, but it was slow to react to the explosion of smartphones and tablets. The latter two markets are now dominated by competitors like Qualcomm Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, which design their chips using architecture licensed from ARM Holdings Plc.

James, formerly head of the software arm, will now also oversee the company’s sprawling global manufacturing operations and take on additional parts of security efforts.

Mulloy said Intel presidents have traditionally been responsible for managing the manufacturing operations.

James will also lead corporate strategy and planning. Her previous job as Intel’s software chief has been taken over by Doug Fisher, a senior executive from that group.

Mike Bell will head up Intel’s newly formed “new devices” group,” which Mulloy said will focus on emerging product trends.

Herman Eul previously shared responsibility for Intel’s mobile communications group, which makes smartphone chips, with Bell, and he will now take full responsibility for that business.

Shares of Intel were up 0.2 percent at $24.13 (15.91 pounds) on Tuesday afternoon on the Nasdaq.

(Editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Matthew Lewis)

The post Exclusive – Intel CEO shakes up units, creates ‘new devices’ group appeared first on Doddle.

The consensus on Tom Cruise’s Oblivion was that it was either a hodge podge of various sci-fi films before it, or it was honoring them, but it was quite entertaining. Tron: Legacy director Joseph Kosinski delivered a fun popcorn film that debuted in April before Iron Man 3 could dominate the box office, and did respectable business. But of course, there are other opinions on the matter, namely how Oblivion should have ended. Enjoy Friday’s Funny Feature!

The post Friday’s Funny Feature – How Oblivion Should Have Ended appeared first on Doddle.

With Superman reboot Man Of Steel nearly upon us, and the Dark Knight trilogy complete, constant speculation surrounds the future of the DC universe.

Indeed, since the emergence of Marvel and Disney’s The Avengers tentpole franchise, Warner Bros. are under even more pressure to create a more long term strategy.

Now, after numerous Justice League rumors, Clark Kent himself Henry Cavill, while speaking with SFX, has suggested that a Batman and Superman crossover movie may be a more viable option.

He said: “I think it would be really interesting with the age-old Batman/Superman conflict, because they are two different sides of the same coin and their methods are entirely different.

“And I think it would actually make for an interesting story as to why, first of all, they were going head to head and how. I think that would make a great story.”

Of course, considering Cavill’s Superman debut has yet to be released, he has about as much clout at Warner Bros. as Joel Schumacher’s art department.

But there is no doubting that the British actor may be on to something. In fact, the very mention of it, casual or otherwise, all but proves he has not signed on for a Justice League film.

How can I be sure? Well, he also added: “Who knows, I’m sure there’s all sorts of ideas being thrown around at Warner Bros right now.”

So after several false starts it seems the studio have yet to put any concrete ideas in place. Gangster Squad writer Will Beall had been hired to create a JL script, however there were reports earlier this year that Warners and DC were not happy with the result.

The potential for both Batman and Superman meeting on screen has been muted for more than a decade now.

Before Mad Max director George Miller’s infamous 2008 Justice League debacle, Warner Bros. had developed a crossover film titled, Batman vs. Superman: Asylum, when both franchises were in hiatus.

In 2002, big budget maestro Wolfgang Petersen (Das Boot, Perfect Storm) was originally attached to helm the project, which had been penned by Andrew Kevin Walker (Se7en).

However, when Petersen dropped out in favor of Troy (2004), Warner’s President Alan Horn lost his nerve and decided to keep the two properties separate, with Christopher Nolan helming Batman Begins, and Bryan Singer directing Superman Returns.

And, that reluctance still seems to be the evident, even today.

What makes Superman and Batman distinct from any Marvel property, is that they have both been gigantic cash cows for 35-years and 24-years respectively. They have never needed each other before, and it seems the studio will not be pressurised into something that may jeopardies both franchises.

Man of Steel director Zach Snyder has previously hinted that he has simply left the story open to the possibility of a wider DC universe. It now seems like, rather than being coy, Snyder was actually telling the truth.

Also, Warner’s have been burned badly before with the infamous Superman IV: A Quest For Peace (1987) and the universally hated Batman and Robin (1997). With that in mind, the studio will be waiting to see how this summer’s reboot performs before making any big moves.

Snyder’s Man of Steel, which has a budget of over $175 million, will be released on June 14th.

Stay tuned for more crossover developments, if they happen.

Source: SFX

The post Henry Cavill Wants a Batman vs. Superman Film appeared first on Doddle.

By James DeRuvo (doddleNEWS)

Known as “the other half of your camera,” Red Giant has released BulletProof media management software into public beta. The app is designed by Red Giant to be the bridge between cameraman and editor, with features included to catalog and color correct on set footage and then upload it to media servers for editors in post-production.

… we think BulletProof is pretty awesome – and we want your help to make it even more awesome by testing it out, contributing feature ideas, and letting us know what works for you and what doesn’t. – Red Giant Software

Originally unveiled at NAB last month, BulletProof is designed for filmmakers, videographers and editors to provide a suite of options that will enable workflow from set to post production to be streamlined with greater organization.  It supports a variety of DSLRs and cameras on set, including Canon, Nikon, and even GoPro.   As time goes on, it’s likely that Red Giant will expand their camera support database, but for the public Beta, they are looking to runners and gunners to do the heavy lifting of testing.

BulletProof contains four main components to its media management philosophy including Backup of media clips, Organizing and cataloging clips with folders and playlists, Reviewing of files – even while backing up,  Color correcting with non destructive first pass adjustments that also add metadata, and then exporting and queing of all media files via its Delivery module.

As users export footage, all of Slate Info, EXIF data, Markers, In & Out points and Organize Badges are brought into Premiere Pro with XMP formatting. Red Giant plans to have XML support later in the year along with Windows versions as well.  BulletProof also supposrt PreoRes for Final Cut users.

The BulletProof beta is here and we want you on our team. Over the next few months, we’re listening to creative professionals who actively shoot, capture and prepare footage for post-production. We’re offering you “pre-release” or beta versions of BulletProof, and your feedback will go directly into improving BulletProof.

Red Giant is looking for users to test out the Beta and provide feedback regarding Compatibility requests, Bugs, or Usability issues.  In order to download and test out the software, you need to create a Red Giant account at the link below.  Users are then encouraged to participate in discussions at the BulletProof Beta Forums, as well as making bug reports and feature requests.  You can access the beta Software files at the links below:

• Download BulletProof Beta
• Red Giant BulletProof (Beta)- Download it now for FREE! – Red Giant Blog
• Bullet Proof Beta User Guide available here.

In addition, Red Giant has prepared a series of how to videos on Vimeo will will walk users through the process of installing and getting started with the BulletProof Software.  Sadly, only Mac OS X is currently supported, but there are plans to release a Windows version after BulletProof is launched later this year.  Remember though, while Red Giant wants users to try their software on their own footage, this is still a Beta version of the software, so as the website says … Play At Your Own Risk!

Hat Tip – NFS

The post BulletProof Goes to Public Beta appeared first on Doddle.

Countless action directors aspire to the big, dumb fun that these last few franchise entries have provided, but whereas most of them only get “dumb” and maybe “big” right, director Justin Lin and his crew deliver fun, fun, fun. (And nobody takes anybody’s T-Bird away.)

“Furious 6″ (as the film is called in the opening credits) opens with criminal and street racer Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel), his girlfriend Elena (Elsa Pataky), Dom’s sister Mia (Jordana Brewster) and Mia’s husband (and Dom’s former nemesis turned best bro) Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) living the good life in the Canary Islands, enjoying the spoils of the big Brazilian bank job from “Fast Five” and avoiding extradition.

Thankfully, their bliss comes to an end when federal agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) shows up with an offer that Dom and Brian can’t refuse; Hobbs needs their help in taking down international no-goodnik Owen Shaw (Luke Evans), and the fact that one of Shaw’s henchmen appears to be Dom’s girlfriend Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) – thought to have been killed two movies ago in “Fast & Furious” – compels the hot-rodders out of retirement to rescue her.

Nabbing Shaw means putting the band back together, so Tej (Ludacris), Han (Sung Kang), Gisele (Gal Gadot) and Roman (Tyrese Gibson) are all called in from their respective exiles to pitch in. Shaw has his own Benetton-ad-ready group of multi-ethnic henchmen, while Hobbs has his own backup, the hard-kicking Riley (Gina Carano of “Haywire”).

There’s a lot of running around regarding the McGuffin device that Shaw wants to steal so he can do very bad things, but that’s not what “Fast & Furious 6″ is really about; it’s really about driving really fast through Picadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square and zipping along Spanish expressways while being shot at by a tank. And Lin and his team do an extraordinary job of staging the ever-escalating action sequences, up to a jaw-on-the-floor finale involving various four-wheel vehicles in and around a cargo plane that’s trying to take off.

Not that all of the film’s thrills are tied in to combustible engines. Getting to see Carano and Rodriguez (two of the screen’s reigning bad-asses of any gender) go mano-a-mano twice counts as some kind of action movie landmark, and we also get Joe Taslim of the exhilarating “The Raid: Redemption” using his not-inconsiderable martial arts skills as one of Shaw’s men. (The non-action casting is fairly creative as well, with Thure Lindhart, an Independent Spirit Award nominee for last year’s powerful “Keep the Lights On,” popping up in a supporting role.)

When the craziness slows down and people actually talk, the theme of family is constantly underlined, to the extent that my seatmate suggested a drinking game for every time the word “family” is mentioned. Nonetheless, while Diesel and Walker have a fairly limited skill set as actors, they are put to good use here, and six movies in, they’ve definitely established themselves and their co-stars as a cohesive unit.

The crazy gender politics of the “Fast and Furious” movies remain on display, and not just through the macho posturing and the bikini-clad car models writhing in slow motion. Every joke, insult or threat in the movie seems to revolve around the feminization if not outright emasculation of men. It’s the sort of overcompensating we’ve come to expect from a series that critic Jennifer Smith once called “tender and homoerotic” and that spawned the “SNL” parody “The Fast and the Bi-Curious.”

“Fast & Furious 6″ serves up a big plate of entertainment. Its makers never pretend it’s a steak, but they’re happy to offer up a big fat juicy hamburger with extra cheese.

The post Movie Review: Fast & Furious 6 appeared first on Doddle.

Click for larger

By Mark Hodge (doddleNEWS)

Maniac is the latest attempt by Elijah Wood to break away from his cuddly Frodo Baggins image, a role which is hanging like a proverbial ring around the actor’s neck.

Directed by Franck Khalfoun (Wrong Turn At Tahoe), the film is a remake of the 1980 ultra-violent cult horror of the same name. The new red band trailer shows Wood as a psychotic knife wielding killer. Here is the NSFW, red band trailer:

Of course, similar techniques, such as the now ubiquitous ‘found footage’ style, have been wildly popular, especially within the horror genre.

And, the signs actually look good for the film, which was made with a modest $6 million budget.

Critics and audiences alike have responded well during previews, with The Lord of The Rings star Wood’s performance being singled out for praise.

The rest of the cast is made up of mainly actresses including Nora Arnezeder, Liane Balaban, Megan Duffy and America Olivo.

The movie, which is produced by Alex Aja (P2, Piranha), is released on June 21st. Here is a synopsis:

A 21st century Jack the Ripper set in the present day, MANIAC is a reboot of the cult film considered by many to be the most suspenseful slasher movie ever made. Frank (Elijah Wood, in a tour de force performance) is the withdrawn owner of a mannequin store, but his life changes when young artist Anna appears asking for his help with her new exhibition. As their friendship develops and Frank’s obsession escalates and the number of victims increases, it becomes clear that Frank is far more dangerous than he seems. With a pulsating electronic score by Rob, the film is an intimate, visually daring, psychologically complex and profoundly horrific trip into the downward spiraling nightmare of a killer and his victims.

Hat tip: /Film

The post Red Band Trailer: Maniac Remake appeared first on Doddle.

Photo Credit – EOSHD

Comparing with Canon’s C300 and 1D-C

By James DeRuvo (doddleNEWS)

Here’s your daily dose of Magic Lantern Raw stories. With fewer new developments coming out now that the builds are becoming more stable and being ported over to other Canon models, we’re starting to see more and more test footage.  The other day we saw a comparison of the ML Raw with the Panasonic GH2 rocking the Driftwood hack.  And today, we have comparisons of the 5D3 Raw with professional grade cameras, such as the Canon C300 and the 1D C. And yep, you guessed it, Magic Lantern is keeping up with the big boys.

I feel the 5D Mark III in raw is both amazing and feature packed relative even to the professional $12k and $15k C-series offerings let alone other DSLRs. It is a dream for anamorphic shooters, offering very clean 2.5K anamorphic images with a 1280p vertical resolution. – EOSHD

Photo Credit – EOSHD

The test comes from the gang at EOSHD who found it on a German Blog.   And at a price of $15,000, you expect that the Canon C300 would come on top in terms of overall resolution.  And it does.  It minimizes moire, has sharper lines, and is clean and detailed thanks to oversampling of the 4K sensor that Canon uses in both the C300 and it’s bigger brother the C500.  However, what I didn’t see coming is that the 5D Mk. III, a camera that costs about 1/5 of the C300, with its free Magic Lantern Raw firmware update, is able to product an image that gets pretty close to that benchmark. A little bit softer, sure.

But it keeps up with moire and offers a competitive edge to white balance and detail.   And while both are shooting at 1080p, the Magic Lantern Raw hack can really shine when you add an anamorphic lens to the party, thereby yielding 1280p with a 1:1 crop.   That means you can convert back down to 1080p and end up with nearly lossless image thanks to the 5D3′s full frame sensor.

The Canon 1DC, another camera that will run you five times as much as the 5D3, by contrast has a much larger amount of resolution, thanks to it’s 4K sensor that offers a wide angle 16:9 aspect ratio.  This gives users a nice 2K image when shooting video, but also has a 1.3x crop due to it’s smaller APS-H sensor.  And when you shoot the two side by side, and grade to match the 1D-C’s Canon Log picture style, you get an image that is pretty darn close and even offers better detail.  That’s what awesome dynamic range from a full frame sensor buys you.

And Magic Lantern Raw also seems to invite less noise to the party, as the 1D C tossed in some banding and noise which, when viewed close up can be a bit distracting in an almost microscopic, artifacting like manner.  Then there’s color saturation.  The test shot black cars, exposed for daylight, so see how the hack would keep up.  And thanks to it’s raw zebra features, again the $3500 5D3 running an Alpha build of Magic Lantern Raw was able to provide a competitive black level, and not sacrifice any detail, whereas Canon Log ends up a tad flat.

Lastly, they tested the 5D3 upscaling power by shooting anamorphic to get the entire full frame sensor dump and then upscaled it to 2.5K on the width end.  Comparing it to the 1D C 4k cropped, and you end up with some degradation as the 4K 1D-C begins to flex it’s muscle.

But according to EOSHD, they think that’s largely due to the 1.3x crop factor of the APS-H sensor. And even then, the downside with the 1D C is that color grading is more problematic since it doesn’t have the range that Raw gives you. So if you’re shooting for skin tones, you’re far more likely to get what you’re looking for in the albeit “inferior” 5D3 rocking Magic Lantern Raw. “The cleanness of the full frame 1080p mode is also excellent on the 5D Mark III in raw,” concludes EOSHD, “ahead of any other DSLR on the market and so close to the $15,000 Canon C300 that in the real world it makes no difference.”

And it makes you wonder, since Canon was willing to sue Magic Lantern if they ever tried to hack the 1D X, what will they do now that Magic Lantern is making their $15,000 and above professional grade camera line potentially irrelevant?

The post Magic Lantern Keeps Up with the Big Boys appeared first on Doddle.

Will Oversee All Lucas FX Projects for Disney

By James DeRuvo (doddleNEWS)

ILM visual FX jedi John Knoll has been elevated to chief creative officer at Industrial Light and Magic, and will likely enjoy similar creative authority and responsibilities as John Lasseter, who oversees all projects at Pixar. Knoll, who has been visual effects supervisor at ILM since 1990, has been the guiding force behind George Lucas on all the Star Wars prequels. He has also been in charge of FX work on Pirates of the Caribbean, several Star Trek films, Speed Racer, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, and the upcoming Guillermo Del Toro monster flick Pacific Rim.

“In John I see a keen eye and an incredible mind for creative problem solving and that’s what visual effects are all about…” – Kathleen Kennedy, CEO Lucasfilm

In addition to overseeing FX work at ILM, and being largely in charge of all the CGI for the Star Wars Prequel Universe, Knoll also has the historic digital distinction of being the co-Creator of Adobe Photoshop, along with his brother Tom. The program, originally dubbed “Display,” by Tom Knoll who wrote it while in graduate school, was turned into a full fledged image editing app at John Knoll’s insistence.  Both too time off to collaborate on the app and the name was eventually changed to Photoshop.  It was purchased by Adobe in 1988.   But in all that time, Knoll still worked at ILM, writing plugins for Photoshop in his spare time. Soon, Photoshop became the industry standard.

In the film industry, Knoll got his start as a motion control camera operator on Captain EO for the Disney Company and Michael Jackson, and worked his way up several high profile projects until he landed a gig as CG Supervisor for James Cameron’s sci fi epic, The Abyss, which garnered Knoll his first Academy Award for visual effects.   He won his second Oscar for his work on Pirates of the Caribbean, and lead ILM to another Oscar for their work on Rango.

And even though he’s spent much of his career as a VFX supervisor, Knoll still likes to get his hands digitally dirty, having also worked as a simple fx artist on films like Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, and JJ Abrams Super 8. He is currently helping out with FX for Disney’s The Lone Ranger, starring Johnny Depp.

In his new capacity as Chief Creative Officer, Knoll will be involved in early creative planning for all ILM projects along with ILM president Lynwen Brennan.  But that Knoll also plans to make a small footprint on existing effects artists and their relationships with filmmakers:

“We have well-established supervisors here that certainly don’t need me to interfere with their project,” Knoll told Variety. “Michael Bay comes because he wants to work with Scott Farrar. J.J. [Abrams] comes to ILM because he has a great relationship with Roger Guyett. These things are already working and I don’t need to interfere. [My role] is just to help from a facilities standpoint to make sure they get the resources they need, and to troubleshoot problems.”

Knoll’s elevation to CCO, a title that Disney has only conferred on John Lasseter, signals it’s intent to continue to handle all of Star Wars Episode VII’s visual effects in house (which one would expect as a Star Wars effect not done by ILM would be a crime against God and man) and relying on Knoll’s steady hand to push the digital process forward.  And with his previous work on other J.J. Abrams projects, you can bet that the process will be pretty smooth.

The post John Knoll Elevated to Chief Creative at ILM appeared first on Doddle.

Fawaz Gruosi, the founder of the Swiss firm, said the necklace was part of the company’s 20th anniversary collection paraded by 20 models at the glitzy event at the Hotel Du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes outside Cannes on Tuesday night. Sharon Stone and Paris Hilton were among the guests.

Gruosi said 80 bodyguards, local police, hotel security, and De Grisogono staff had been on duty but when a check was made at the end of the night the diamond necklace was missing.

“We don’t know exactly what happened … it was one of the most beautiful items we had,” Gruosi told Reuters Television.

“The police are trying to figure out what happened.”

A Cannes police source said authorities were investigating whether it was a theft, a problem of inventory or a loss, the source said.

Another Swiss jeweller, Chopard, had gems worth $1.4 million (926 thousand pounds) stolen in the first week of the 12-day festival on the glamorous French Riviera, which attracts thousands of actors, filmmakers and journalists.

Police said the Chopard jewellery had been in the safe of a room at the Suite Novotel hotel in central Cannes, which had been rented by an employee of the jeweller.

The entire safe was removed from the wall and taken during the night of May 16. Someone entered without forcing the door or using the magnetic key card, a police source said.

A spokesman for Chopard, a sponsor of the Cannes festival, later played down the report, saying the value had been exaggerated.

Jewellers and fashion houses use the world’s largest film festival at Cannes as a promotional showcase, lending gowns and accessories to celebrities who are photographed on the famed red carpet and at parties along the palm-lined Croisette waterfront.

(Reporting by Rollo Ross and Matthias Galante Writing by Belinda Goldsmith; editing by Michael Roddy)

The post Cannes festival hit by second suspected jewellery theft appeared first on Doddle.

Lewis, 87, laughed his way through a news conference at the world’s top cinema showcase with non-stop one-liners about how much he was paid for “Max Rose”, his career’s ups and downs and his former partner Dean Martin, who died in 1995.

“When I arrived here and he wasn’t here, I knew something was wrong,” he quipped when asked about Martin, with whom he rose to fame in the 1940s and 1950s, first in television and then films.

The duo, in which singer Martin played the straight guy to Lewis’ slapstick comedy, split up acrimoniously in 1956 and both men went on to solo careers.

In “Max Rose”, written and directed by American filmmaker Daniel Noah, Lewis plays an ageing jazz pianist who learns that his wife of 65 years may have been unfaithful to him, making him wonder if their life together was built on a lie.

It is Lewis’ first film role since 1995′s “Funny Bones” and one he said could not resist because it was the best script he had read in 40 years. The film is holding its premiere at Cannes where it has a screening but is not competing.

“The wonderful thing about this script is that it is about elderly people who have been thrown away,” said Lewis, dressed in a bright red V-necked sweater and yellow shirt.

“It is a very different thing to do for the crazy clown that has been doing one thing for 60 years .. but it is an incredible movie that is going to give a lot of people a lot of pleasure, and that’s the idea and I will meet you all at the bank.”

Dodging any mention of retirement, Lewis said he looked back on his work with pride, citing his 1963 film “The Nutty Professor” and his performance in Martin Scorsese’s 1983 film “The King of Comedy”.

But he said there was one film which he regretted and would never see the light of day – the 1972 film “The Day The Clown Cried” which he both directed and featured as a circus clown imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp. It was shot in Sweden.

“It was all bad and it was bad because I lost the magic,” said Lewis. “You will never see it, no-one will ever see it, because I am embarrassed at the poor work.”

Lewis once stirred controversy by commenting that he did not find female comedians funny and he stood by this at Cannes despite coming under attack for this view over the years.

“I cannot sit and watch a lady diminish her qualities to the lowest common denominator,” he said. “My favourite female comedians? Cary Grant and Burt Reynolds.”

(Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)

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The list is compiled using data from independent and chain bookstores, book wholesalers and independent distributors nationwide.

Hardcover Fiction Last Week

1. “Inferno” by Dan Brown (Doubleday,

$29.95) -

2. “The 12th of Never” by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro (Little, Brown,

$27.99) 2

3. “Dead Ever After” by Charlaine Harris (Ace, $27.95) 1

4. “Silken Prey” by John Sandford (Putnam, $27.95) 3

5. “The Hit” by David Baldacci (Grand Central, $27.99) 4

6. “Whiskey Beach” by Nora Roberts (Putnam, $27.95) 6

7. “Daddy’s Gone a Hunting” by Mary Higgins Clark (Simon & Schuster, $26.99) 8

8. “Gone Girl” by Gillian Flynn (Crown, $25.00) 10

9. “A Delicate Truth” by John le Carré (Viking, $28.95) 7

10. “A Step of Faith” by Richard Paul Evans (Simon & Schuster, $19.99 5

Hardcover Non-fiction

1. “Happy, Happy, Happy” by Phil Robertson (Howard Books, $24.99) 1

2. “The Guns at Last Light” by Rick Atkinson (Henry Holt, $40) -

3. “Lean In” by Sheryl Sandberg (Knopf, $24.95) 2

4. “Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls” by David Sedaris (Little, Brown, $27.00) 3

5. “The Duck Commander Family ” by Willie & Korie Robertson (Howard Books, $23.99) 4

6. “Keep It Pithy” by Bill O’Reilly (Crown Archetype, $21.99) 8

7. “Waiting to Be Heard” by Amanda Knox (Harper, $28.99) 5

8. “Life Code” by Dr. Phil McGraw (Bird Street Books, $26.00) 11

9. “It’s All Good” by Gwyneth Paltrow (Grand Central, $32.00) 7

10. “Cooked” by Michael Pollan (Penguin, $27.95) 6

Week that ended May 19, 2013, powered by Nielsen BookScan (c) 2013 The Nielsen Company.

(Editing by Patricia Reaney and Maureen Bavdek)

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With that moment of dizzy romance, the fourth season of cult television comedy “Arrested Development” begins its comeback on Internet video streaming service Netflix on Sunday, some seven years after getting the axe on broadcast television.

“Arrested Development” tells the story of the riches-to-rags dysfunctional Bluth family, led by well-intentioned son Michael, played by Jason Bateman, who cannot sort out their lives after Bluth patriarch George Sr. is jailed for fraud.

Netflix, which has been adding original shows to its online television and film library, will make the entire 15-episode season available at 12:01 a.m. PST on Sunday, harnessing the trend of viewers ‘binge-watching’ TV series online and through DVDs.

The new season of the Emmy-winning series was written with binge-watchers in mind, Bateman, 44, told Reuters.

“This notion that you can release an entire season of a television show on one day and people can take their time to watch it or they can binge, informed the actual writing of this whole story,” he said.

The actor said that the new season would be similar to “one big episode,” just told in 15 half-hour episodes with storylines that are “completely intertwined and braided.”

“There are certain scenes that repeat in multiple episodes but are told from a different angle. That’s just something you couldn’t do on broadcast television,” Bateman said.

The show picks up seven years after the third season finished in 2006, and centers on Michael, handcuffed by his own pride and trying to piece his life back together as his son George Michael (Michael Cera) heads off to college.

“The seven years have been really tough on Michael as they have been on the rest of the family,” Bateman said. “He’s just trying to keep his head above water and not become an embarrassment like the rest of his family.”

THE CULT OF ‘ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT’

Although the critically praised series was canceled by the Fox network in 2006 due to poor ratings, “Arrested Development” was exalted to cult status by the legions of fans that discovered the show on DVD and Netflix.

Ahead of the new season, thousands of fans have lined up in New York and Los Angeles this month in a promotion for free chocolate-covered frozen bananas from the replica Bluth banana stand, famous in the show for containing emergency cash hidden in its walls by George Sr. (Jeffrey Tambor).

George Sr.’s catch phrase, “There’s always money in the banana stand,” even made it onto the floor of Canada’s House of Commons during debate this month over billions of dollars in unbudgeted money.

The new series will see returning cast members including Will Arnett, Portia de Rossi, Tony Hale and David Cross, and will feature several guest appearances including by Minnelli reviving her role as Lucille II, Ben Stiller as magician Tony Wonder and new additions Kristen Wiig and Seth Rogen.

The intention, once the show was canceled by Fox, was for creator Mitchell Hurwitz to develop “Arrested Development” into a film, but the years dragged on and the movie version never came to fruition. Bateman said there was never a doubt among the cast that the scheming Bluths would make a comeback.

“It was just a matter of timing,” he said. “We (the cast) had been talking about it every couple of months for seven years, so it always seemed like it was right around the corner.”

While “Arrested Development” is a redemption story of a loved show that fell victim to Hollywood’s economic hammer, it has also in part become a launching pad for its actors, especially Bateman, Arnett and Cera.

“Mitch just sort of handed all of us a career,” said Bateman, whose star had languished after several poor-performing TV sitcoms in the 1990s. Following “Arrested Development” he has landed prominent roles in films such as “Juno” in 2007, “Up in the Air” in 2009 and “Horrible Bosses” in 2011.

“I was given a second chance,” he said. “I really wasn’t doing anything before this show and it kind of hit the reset button for me and got rid of a lot of baggage I had associated with my name … My name was no longer in my way but a little more of an asset.”

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey, Editing by Piya Sinha-Roy and Paul Simao)

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Net income fell to $54.6 million, or 46 cents per share, in the first quarter, compared with $72.5 million, or 54 cents, a year earlier.

Revenue fell about 7 percent to $1.87 billion. Mobile sales rose 290 percent to $46.8 million.

Analysts on average were expecting earnings of 40 cents per share, on revenue of $1.82 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

(Reporting by Chandni Doulatramani in Bangalore; Editing by Roshni Menon)

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