By Lindsey Bahr, AP Film Writer
The 2020 theatrical release calendar is getting even slimmer in the wake of the announcement that Regal cinemas are temporarily closing, although AMC, North America's largest theater chain, says it will remain open.
Warner Bros. said late Monday that its sci-fi pic "Dune" will now open in October 2021, instead of this December. The studio also pushed back its "Matrix" sequel by 8 months to late 2021 and "The Batman" to 2022.
AMC Entertainment reiterated its commitment to stay open and cited a slew of upcoming new releases that it will be playing, including this weekend's new films "The War With Grandpa," with Robert De Niro, and "Yellow Rose." Roughly 80% of its U.S. locations are currently open.
With the recent exit of the next James Bond film, that leaves a mere handful of big films set to still open in 2020: Pixar's "Soul," on Nov. 20, Universal's "The Croods: A New Age," on Nov. 25, Disney's "Death on the Nile," on Dec. 18 and Warner Bros.' "Wonder Woman 1984," at Christmas. It's an extra hit to the ailing theatrical industry, which endured six months of closures and has had a difficult time restarting business during the pandemic with key markets like New York still closed and an ever-changing release calendar.
Business has been so shaky that on Monday Cineworld Group Plc said it would temporarily close its 536 Regal cinema locations in the U.S. and 127 Cineworld and Picturehouse venues in the U.K. on Thursday. And last week leading groups representing movie theaters, movie studios and directors issued a dire plea to Congress for financial help for cinemas. They said nearly 70% of small and mid-size theaters could face bankruptcy or closure without assistance.
AMC CEO Adam Aron said in a statement that the company's agreement with Universal Studios to shorten the theatrical window, "puts AMC in a position where we can open our theatres when others may feel the need to close."
AMC, Aron said, will share in home video on demand revenues with Universal.
South Korea fines Meta $15 million for illegally collecting information on Facebook users
South Korea's privacy watchdog on Tuesday fined social media company Meta 21.6 billion won ($15 million) for illegally collecting sensitive personal information from Facebook users, including data about their political views and sexual orientation, and sharing it with thousands of advertisers.
It was the latest in a series of penalties against Meta by South Korean authorities in recent years as they increase their scrutiny of how the company, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, handles private information.
Following a four-year investigation, South Korea's Personal Information Protection Commission concluded that Meta unlawfully collected sensitive information about around 980,000 Facebook users, including their religion, political views and whether they were in same-sex unions, from July 2018 to March 2022.
It said the company shared the data with around 4,000 advertisers.
South Korea's privacy law provides strict protection for information related to personal beliefs, political views and sexual behavior, and bars companies from processing or using such data without the specific consent of the person involved.
The commission said Meta amassed sensitive information by analyzing the pages the Facebook users liked or the advertisements they clicked on.
The company categorized ads to identify users interested in themes such as specific religions, same-sex and transgender issues, and issues related to North Korean escapees, said Lee Eun Jung, a director at the commission who led the investigation on Meta.
"While Meta collected this sensitive information and used it for individualized services, they made only vague mentions of this use in their data policy and did not obtain specific consent," Lee said.
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