Whatever the case, this underlines how vital control over IMAX screens has become to the theatrical release calendar. So much so that it's pushed Disney to pull a stunt like this.
It's an industrial matter first. But it's also (more excitingly) a cultural one too (end 🧵)
I'll admit, when I saw the announcement video I thought it was the new title for that Vision Disney+ series they keep threatening to make
How this will actually work isn't really clear yet. Is this a new layer of branding *on top of* existing PLF names like RPX or UltraScreen? Something only rolled out for #Doomsday and #SecretWars?
Exhibitor PLFs are the great IMAX imitators. And they are also a rather incoherent assemblage of technologies. Clearly, Disney hopes that slapping another brand label onto these screens will direct audiences to what have always been an attempt to tap into IMAX's larger (ha) appeals
IMAX screenings now routinely make up an oversized proportion of most films' box office compared to the overall screencount. Avengers will no doubt make a pretty penny, but clearly Disney/Marvel is sweating over missing out on this revenue
Disney's, uh, questionable move to pit #AvengersDoomsday against Dune 3 this December is complicated by Dune's 3-week hold on #IMAX theaters. IMAX, as both a material and discursive ideal of large-screen theatrical cinema, may be an ancillary release format, but it's increasingly vital
Disney's announcement at #CinemaCon yesterday of an "InfinityVision" branding initiative for Premium Large Format screens is a totally bizarro move that also underscores some essential conditions of the 2020s theatrical exhibition business🧵
thewaltdisneycompany.com/news/infinit...
And also, y'know, Titanic just fcking rules 💯
This afternoon at 4:15: Come see me, @ptklein.com, and Sarah Sinwell discuss independent theatrical film exhibition! Session M8, sponsored by @misig-scms.bsky.social #scms26
Every month, streaming gets a bit closer to good old fashioned pay TV. Now seemingly every service pairs its scripted entertainment with lowbrow reality fare and live sports.
Once again sharing my annual advice for conference-going: Be sure to eat a vegetable every once in a while. It's easy to get to Day 3 feeling like garbage and then realize you've only eaten granola bars and bar food. Eat a plant when you can. (And drink water and not just coffee!) #SCMS26
If you’re headed to the @scmstudies.bsky.social conference in Chicago this week, I’ve put together this feed that pulls in every post tagged with #SCMS26 to make it easy to connect and follow along!
Say hey if I’ll see you there! ✌️
It's SCMS conference week! A good time to recirculate this 2023 document: "Tips From SCMS Members for Having
a Productive and Supportive In-Person Conference" docs.google.com/document/d/1...
🎬 Grad students of #SCMS2026 — come say hello!
Save the date: Thursday, March 26, 8-9 pm at Fairmont International Ballroom
Join us for drinks, conversation, and community at the Graduate Student Reception.
iPad kids are a villain the Academy needs to condemn, it's a perfect pick
I just find it funny that people think the guy who made ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER somehow needs to be clearer about where he stands politically.
By my count, that's four genuinely excellent Best Picture winners in a row now? Either the Academy has genuinely turned a corner or we're on a collision course towards something far, far worse than Green Book
“Roughly $24 billion of Paramount’s takeover financing is coming from the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia. [The] journalist-killing kingdom is poised to become a part-owner of one of the world’s most influential news organizations.”
HE NEVER MISSES
Look, I'm not saying that I'm excited. But an exercise in Saturday morning cartoon plotting and wall-to-wall creature design also feels like a perfectly legitimate direction for a Star Wars flick (y'know, a *children's* series) to take?
It is simply not true that LLMs are "black boxes." Not knowing everything about something doesn't make it a black box. The architecture was developed prior to their invention. They are iterated via intentional design. This is not a black box. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
Thread
When you're a pet owner (especially of two), there are days when it is more glaringly apparent that you're sharing your home with two animals. Today has been one of those days...
Underrated
No one mourns the "Wicked."
Ehrlich's videos are always joyful tributes to cinema in all its genres, modes, and national and industrial permutations. A great lunch break watch!
Criticisms are warranted, but Kennedy endured viciously misogynistic attacks from "fans" over the course of her tenure at Lucasfilm. An important cornerstone of the so-called culture wars
Worth remembering that despite many missteps, Kathleen Kennedy also shepherded one of the best big-budget studio films of the 2010s (The Last Jedi, a franchise best) and perhaps the single best television series to debut so far this decade (Andor)
variety.com/2026/film/ne...
This has a long history, from "safe zones" during the when cropping and pan-and-scan was common for TV broadcasts and home video to the 50s widescreen boom when projection equipment and screen dimensions varied wildly.
Once more, the material conditions of exhibition matter!
