June 7, 2013
Google boasts predictive powers for box officeNEW YORK (AP) — Google says in a new study all the online searching and trailer-watching moviegoers do ahead of a film’s release can have significant predictive powers at the box office.
The search company on Thursday published a “Quantifying Movie Magic” study that surveyed 99 of the top-grossing films of last year. Google says that four weeks before a film is released, search volume for its trailer can predict its opening box office with 94 percent accuracy when factoring in its status and the time of year.
The Mountain View, Calif.-based Google Inc. says searches for a film’s title two weeks ahead of opening can predict box office with 92 percent accuracy.
Hollywood distributors rely on advanced metrics and a handful of research firms to predict opening weekend box office figures.
Motorola Mobility says it has settled with TiVoLOS ANGELES (AP) — Motorola Mobility said Thursday that it has reached a settlement with digital video recording pioneer TiVo Inc. ahead of a patent trial that was to start in a Texas court next week.
“We’re pleased that all parties involved have reached an agreement to resolve pending litigation,” Motorola Mobility spokesman William Moss said Thursday in a statement.
The spokesman didn’t put a monetary value on the settlement. A TiVo spokesman declined to comment.
TiVo Inc., which is based in Alviso, Calif., has been suing pay TV companies that it says use its patented technology in DVRs. Last year, it reached a $250 million settlement with Verizon.
Motorola Inc. split into two in early 2011: Motorola Mobility, which housed its cellphone and cable set-top box divisions, and Motorola Solutions, a maker of police radios, bar code scanners and other products for clients such as city and state police forces and private companies.
Google Inc. bought Motorola Mobility in 2012 for $12.4 billion but sold its set-top making unit to Arris Group Inc. of Suwanee, Ga., in April.
Arris said in its quarterly earnings filings in May that as part of its $2.4 billion purchase of the unit, Google agreed to cap Arris’ liability for any intellectual property lawsuit payments at $50 million.
An earlier Bloomberg report of the settlement sent TiVo’s shares up 8.3 percent to close at $13.71. The shares rose another 1.8 percent in after-hours trading to $13.96.
Google shares closed up 0.6 percent at $864.64 and were up another 16 cents at $864.80 after hours.
Arris Group shares closed up 2.6 percent at $14.65 and were inactive in extended trading.
Jughead! Live-action Archie comics movie planned
NEW YORK (AP) — Archie’s old Riverdale gang is headed to the big screen.
Archie Comics announced Thursday that Warner Bros. will produce a live-action film based on the comic’s characters, including Archie, Betty, Veronica and Jughead. It will be the first feature film for the 72-year-old comic.
Directing will be Jason Moore, who helmed the 2012 high school musical comedy “Pitch Perfect.” ”Glee” writer Robert Aguirre-Sacasa is penning the script. Aguirre-Sacasa is also writing a zombie series for the comic, titled “Afterlife With Archie.”
In a statement, Aguirre-Sacasa promises the film will be “the ultimate teenage movie.”
The Archie comics have previously spawned several animated TV series since the 1960s. In 1990, NBC aired the TV film “Archie: To Riverdale and Back Again.”
Venezuela frees US filmmaker jailed as alleged spyBy Frank Bajak
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — A U.S. filmmaker jailed for alleged espionage in Venezuela was expelled from the country and returned to the United States in a gesture that could signal a thaw in tense relations between the two countries.
The release of Timothy Tracy, 35, occurred just hours before the top diplomats of both countries agreed during a meeting in Guatemala to discuss restoring ambassador-level relations.
It was secured with the help of former U.S. Rep. William Delahunt, who has long worked to improve often strained U.S.-Venezuelan ties and was hired by Tracy’s family as an attorney in the case.
“He’s been informally advising us since pretty much the onset and we retained him last week,” Tracy’s sister, Tiffany Klaasen, said of Delahunt, a member of the U.S. delegation at the March funeral of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
Both she and Delahunt also credited the U.S. State Department.
The U.S. government and friends had ridiculed the idea that Tracy was spying in Venezuela. His family said he had been making a documentary about the human costs of Venezuela’s deeply polarized society.
Following the early morning expulsion, Secretary of State John Kerry met with Venezuelan Foreign Minister Elias Jaua on the sidelines of a regional gathering in Guatemala and agreed, said Kerry, to “begin to change the dialogue between our countries and hopefully quickly move” to appoint ambassadors, which they have lacked in each other’s capitals since 2010.
Delahunt acknowledged the coincidence of Tracy’s release but said “no conditions” were set by Kerry for the meeting with Jaua.
He said he had intervened on Tracy’s behalf with officials in Venezuela, who he said did not include President Nicolas Maduro, but “I want to keep those discussions private.”
“On both sides there is a desire to have an improvement in the relationship based upon respect, and that’s what’s important,” Delahunt said.
He suggested it might help that Kerry, then a Massachusetts senator, met Maduro a decade ago when Delahunt took a delegation of Venezuelans including Maduro on a trip to his district in Cape Cod, Massachussetts.
The trip was part of efforts by the “Grupo de Boston” in 2002-2003 to salve internal tensions in the socialist-run South American country after a failed coup against Chavez that was initially recognized by the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush.
Tracy’s expulsion was initially tweeted by Venezuela’s interior minister, Miguel Rodriguez, who described Tracy as having been “captured doing espionage in our country.” He had previously accused Tracy of funding opposition student groups.
Attorney General Luisa Ortega said in a statement Wednesday that she had asked for the case against Tracy on charges including conspiracy and criminal association to be shelved, even though “there were elements that could incriminate him.”
Family and friends say the Hollywood producer and small-time actor had been in the country since October making a documentary about Venezuelan politics when he was arrested on April 24 at Caracas’ airport as he tried to leave the country to attend his father’s 80th birthday in suburban Detroit.
U.S. President Barack Obama had deemed “ridiculous” allegations by Venezuela that he was a spy. Friends said Tracy hardly spoke Spanish and had been very open about his work as he met with Venezuelans on both sides of the country’s deep political divide.
Tracy’s previous production work had included script consulting on “American Harmony,” a documentary about barbershop quartets, and a History channel reality TV show about stock car racing called “Madhouse.”
Friends said the Venezuela documentary was Tracy’s first big foray into international affairs although he did produce last year a show about smuggling on the northern U.S. border.
“He literally has no political agenda. He is very sympathetic to all sides,” his friend Aengus James, director of “American Harmony,” said after Tracy’s arrest.
Tracy’s co-producer on the Venezuelan documentary, Ricardo Korda, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the two met in 2001 while students at Georgetown University and that the film’s working title is “Connecting the Dots.”
U.S.-Venezuelan relations have been especially tense in recent months. Maduro expelled two U.S. military attaches in March on the same day Chavez died, accusing them of trying to foment instability, and Tracy’s arrest came amid domestic political turmoil over the opposition candidate’s claim that Maduro, Chavez’s hand-picked successor, stole the April 14 special presidential election. The state electoral council said Maduro won by a 1.5 percent margin.
The Obama administration has backed opposition candidate Henrique Capriles’ call for a full recount. The Maduro government has not complied, however.
Klaasen said the family spoke frequently to Tracy while he was held.
“He was treated very well,” she said. “I was never concerned for his safety.”
Klaasen said that even after Tracy was transferred last week to a notoriously unruly prison, El Rodeo, the family was assured he was in no danger.
She said she understood from Tracy’s lawyer in Caracas that he was isolated in El Rodeo in a cellblock for foreigners.
James said in an email late Wednesday night that Tracy had arrived, safe but exhausted, in Florida, where he planned to stay for a few days.
Amazon and Viacom reach multiyear licensing dealSEATTLE (AP) — Amazon.com Inc. and Viacom Inc. said Tuesday that they reached a deal on an expanded multiyear digital video licensing agreement that will bring hundreds of shows from Viacom’s Nickelodeon, MTV Comedy Central and other channels to Amazon’s video steaming service.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
The deal comes just days after the expiration of New York-based Viacom’s licensing deal with Netflix Inc. Netflix had been paying Viacom for the right to show a broad range of its programming, but the companies couldn’t come to an agreement before the deal expired at the end of May.
As part of the deal announced Tuesday, Amazon’s Prime Instant Video service will now offer unlimited instant streaming access to children’s shows such as “Bubble Guppies,” ”The Backyardigans” and “Blue’s Clues,” along with MTV and Comedy Central shows like “Awkward,” ”Tosh.0″ and “Workaholics.”
The Amazon service also will show future episodes of “Dora the Explorer,” ”SpongeBob SquarePants,” and “Fairly Odd Parents.”
In addition, select shows from Viacom’s Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. channels will be available through Amazon’s Kindle FreeTime Unlimited service, which includes a variety of children’s books, games, apps, movies and TV shows, the companies said.
New Godzilla movie to feature Oahu scenesHONOLULU (AP) — Oahu will be the backdrop this summer for movie scenes of a large, damage-prone star.
Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures on Monday said filming for its new Godzilla movie is planned for the island starting July.
Studio officials have picked several locations and filmmakers should be easy to spot, Hawaii film commissioner Donne Dawson told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser (http://bit.ly/10OdfFu).
“They’ll be filming in some very public places,” she said. “The public will have no problem observing filming activity. It is not going to be hidden away in the jungle.”
The monster itself may not be apparent. Godzilla will be computer-generated on screen.
“They will be doing a lot of shooting with a lot of people,” Dawson said. “It’s probably not going to be evident from the shooting what is actually going to take place on the screen.”
Filming on the movie began March 18 in Vancouver, British Columbia, under British director Gareth Edwards, who directed the 2010 movie, “Monsters.”
The Godzilla screenplay is by Max Borenstein, Frank Dara7/8bonte and Dave Callaham. It stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ken Wata7/8nabe, Elizabeth Olsen, Juliette Binoche, David Strathairn and Bryan Cranston.
Honolulu film commissioner Walea Constantinau said filming will be good for the local economy. Filming of two other recent movies, “The Descendants” and “Battleship,” has underscored the island’s value for making movies, she said.
“This is an indelible franchise that lives through history,” she said. “For us to be part of it, with Honolulu front and center in some of it, is an unbelievable marketing opportunity.”
Godzilla has been to the island before. Matthew Broderick starred in a 1998 version of the monster movie shot on Kauai and Oahu, one of 30 Godzilla movies filmed since 1954.
Salesforce.com buying ExactTarget for $2.34B
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Salesforce.com will spend more than $2.3 billion to buy marketing software company ExactTarget.
More than 6,000 companies use ExactTarget to manage their digital marketing, including Coca-Cola Co., Gap Inc. and Nike Inc.
Salesforce.com, a cloud computing company, will pay $33.75 per share. That’s a 53 percent premium to ExactTarget’s Monday closing price of $22.10. The companies put the deal’s value at approximately $2.5 billion.
The company has targeted the cloud marketing space for acquisitions as grows increasingly important to corporations. Salesforce.com bought Buddy media last year.
The buyout announced Tuesday has been approved unanimously by the boards of both companies and is expected to close by July 31.
Salesforce.com said that the acquisition is expected to lower its fiscal 2014 adjusted earnings by about 16 cents per share and increase its revenue by $120 million to $125 million. Adjusted earnings are now expected in a range of 31 cents to 33 cents per share on revenue between $3.96 billion and $4 billion.
Analysts expect earnings of 48 cents per share on revenue of $3.87 billion.
The transaction is predicted to reduce second-quarter adjusted earnings by approximately 5 cents per share, with results now anticipated between 6 cents to 7 cents per share.
Wall Street expects earnings of 12 cents per share.
ExactTarget Inc. has about 69.3 million outstanding shares, according to FactSet. Shares in the company jumped 53 percent, or $11.64, to $33.74 in early trading.
Shares of Salesforce.com Inc., based in San Francisco, fell 4 percent, or $1.68, to $39.36.
New NYC ads warn about sweet tea, energy drinks
NEW YORK (AP) — New York City’s campaign to cut consumption of sugary drinks now features ads warning people about sweet teas, sports and energy drinks and fruit-flavored beverages.
The city health department launched the TV and bus ads Monday. The spots say such drinks might sound healthy but are packed with added sugar and that can lead to obesity and other health problems.
The ads cost about $1.4 million. They further a “pouring on the pounds” campaign that dates to 2009.
The American Beverage Association says the ads oversimplify the causes of obesity.
The city and soft drink makers and sellers are in court over the city’s effort to cap the sizes of soda and other sugary drinks sold in many eateries. A judge struck down the measure, but the city has appealed.
Art Directors Guild to mount sci-fi exhibit
LOS ANGELES–The Art Directors Guild (ADG, IATSE Local 800) is mounting an exhibition of members’ work on sci-fi movies and TV shows at the newly opened Peninsula Museum of Art in Burlingame in northern California’s Bay Area from June 9 to August 25.
Some 150 paintings and drawings by the Guild’s production designers, art directors, scenic, title and graphic artists, set designers, illustrators, matte artists and digital artists, all of whom work in the movie and television industry, will be on display.
Mimi Gramatky, president of the ADG, and herself a production designer, will be at the opening. She said, “This is a wonderful opportunity for members of the public, particularly sci-fi fans, to see first hand the kind of work that goes into building the iconic worlds they end up loving.”
The Guild mounted similar exhibitions at the prestigious Eaton Science Fiction Conference in Riverside, CA, at the World Science Fiction Conference in Reno, NV and has fielded panels for the past seven years at Comic-Con in San Diego.
Among the movies to be represented in the exhibition are Real Steel, the original Tron and Tron Legacy, Avatar, Men in Black, 10,000 Days and the TV series Dr. Who, Firefly and Serenity. Star Trek will have an entire wall depicting art from both the TV and motion picture franchises, including the original TV series and the two latest movies.
The Peninsula Art Institute, housing 29 artists’ working studios, is also part of the museum, which opened its doors in March.
Online advertising in US rises 16 pct in 1Q
NEW YORK (AP) — New figures show Internet advertising in the U.S. is still growing at a robust clip as marketers pursue the growing online audience and data analysis helps to target their pitches at people most likely to buy their products and services.
A report released Monday by the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers says U.S. advertisers poured $9.6 billion into their campaigns during the first three months of the year. That’s up 16 percent from $8.3 billion at the same time last year.
For all of 2012, U.S. online advertising grew 15 percent.
The steady rise in online advertising has been a boon to Internet companies such as Google Inc. while hobbling other media outlets that relied on printed products.
Zynga to cut 520 jobs amid performance woes
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Online game maker Zynga says it is cutting 520 jobs, about 18 percent of its workforce, and closing several offices.
The San Francisco company is shedding costs in the face of a decline in the number of users of its games, which include “Farmville” and “Words With Friends.”
Zynga Inc. says the cuts announced Monday will save it between $70 million and $80 million a year and are expected to be largely complete by August. It expects a wider loss in its second quarter than earlier anticipated as a result of the moves.
The cuts come on the heels of earlier efforts to reduce overhead as demand for its games on the social-networking site Facebook fades.
Zynga’s stock fell more than 10 percent after Monday’s announcement.
Six Hollywood studios now have agreements with Kodak
ROCHESTER, N.Y.–Kodak has concluded a new agreement with 20th Century Fox to supply motion picture film to its movie and television studios.
“This is great news for our business,” said Andrew Evenski, president and general manager of Kodak’s Entertainment & Commercial Films Division, which includes the motion picture film business. “This agreement shows that this medium remains vital for studios and artists creating a variety of content for a global audience. Kodak is honored to continue supporting Fox and their content creation, distribution and archival needs.”
With the signing of this agreement, Kodak has now completed new contracts with six major Hollywood studios in the last year. The company previously announced agreements with Walt Disney Co., Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., NBC Universal Inc., Paramount Pictures Corp. and Sony Pictures.
Kodak continues to manufacture billions of linear feet of film every year, and the Entertainment Imaging division continues to be the largest driver of film manufacturing volume for Kodak into the future.
