ACORN TV
Programming from several countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Italy, Ireland, New Zealand, and UK. AMC Networks chief Josh Sapan told The Hollywood Reporter that Acorn TV has "among the lowest churn" among major services owing to its focus as well as viewers' "dedication and affinity" for its content.

These days, the multiverse is everywhere. In both “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and “Multiverse of Madness,” it provides the corporate excuse to import characters from other franchises, previous iterations of the same franchises, and even franchises that don’t exist yet. But it’s also the ultimate embodiment of an idea that has growing appeal in popular culture for other reasons. In chaotic times, the potential of other realities can be an enticing proposition. On the surface, the existence of the multiverse means that nothing is permanent and everything is fungible. Who wouldn’t want an edit function for their own life?...

Telemundo is no stranger to streaming video. It’s been in the space for a decade, often as a producer of content for other services. This year, however, the NBCUniversal-owned Spanish-language media company is planning a renewed push into streaming, with a slate of content and new streaming brands that it will fully control. Those launches include the previously-announced Tplus, but also a new 24-hour streaming news service called Noticias Telemundo Ahora, which will launch in partnership with NBC News Now, the NBC News Group’s free streaming service. It’s all part of what Telemundo Enterprises chairman Beau Ferrari frames as a strategy to “super-serve the full spectrum of Hispanics on streaming.” That includes young and old, Spanish-speakers and those who are multilingual, cord-cutters and cord-nevers, but also those who still watch linear television...

Why do consumers in the U.S. and other parts of the world pay for streaming service BritBox International? It might simply come down to providing a British-flavored form of escapism through its deep library of Brit hit programming from the likes of ITV and the BBC, according to one top executive. “It is clearly an alternative for a group of people,” Reemah Sakaan, the CEO of BritBox International, said at the Media and Telecoms 2022 & Beyond conference...

AMC hosted more than 60 screenings of “Multiverse of Madness” last Thursday at New York’s AMC Empire 25, packing showtimes end-to-end over 12 hours. It’s only one of several multiplexes that Disney staged a veritable takeover of to roll out the Marvel sequel. As major circuits across the country devoted most of their auditoriums to the Sorcerer Supreme, other theatrical releases were put on the back burner with limited showtimes for 72 hours. “Multiverse of Madness” played in 4,534 theaters over the weekend, making it the seventh-widest release in the history of the domestic box office...

The Palm Springs area will live up to its reputation for seediness under the cover of never-ending nights — irony intended — as the Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival returns to town for its 22nd annual marathon of vintage crime dramas this weekend. Leonard Maltin and TCM “Noir Alley” host Eddie Muller will be among the guest hosts joining festival curator Alan K. Rode for a four-day deep dive into the dark that kicks off Thursday night with the 1949 Nicholas Ray film whose title pretty much says it all about the genre being celebrated: “They Live by Night.” After opening night, the programming for Friday and Saturday features a healthy four films a day, with three to wrap up the festival on Sunday. Tickets are $14.50 for individual screenings, $149 for a weekend-long festival pass including opening night party, and $45-55 for Wednesday’s Victoria Mature pre-festival performance...

Cinema box office in China fell back to the lower depths over the weekend, with just $8.9 million of revenue across a country of 1.3 billion inhabitants. Business continues to be badly hit by COVID-related closures as the disease shows signs of spread around the country, while slowly diminishing in Shanghai where there was a full lockdown that lasted many weeks. Business appeared to spike upwards a week earlier, driven by the May Day holiday. But Chinese state media reports that the Sunday to Wednesday May day period was down 82% compared with last year. The latest weekend box office total (Friday to Sunday) was the second lowest this year. And the year-to-date total has stalled at $2.25 billion, according to data from the Artisan Gateway distribution and exhibition consultancy. That is 34% behind the equivalent 2021 total...

Film and TV workers will finally be able to take off their masks, as the entertainment unions and the studios have agreed to relax the industry’s COVID protocols. The loosened regulations will also mean less frequent testing during productions, though workers will still be required to get tested before starting a new job. The industry’s COVID protocols were set to expire on April 30, but were extended by a week as the studios and unions continued to negotiate modifications. The relaxed rules on masks and testing apply only in areas that have low COVID hospital admissions — meaning the rules could be reimposed if there is a surge in hospitalizations. Employers are also given the power to require masking and increase testing frequency if circumstances change....

Europe’s movie production levels bounced back to pre-pandemic levels in 2021. The continent’s box office, however, lagged way behind, gross revenues coming in at less than half those before COVID-19, according to the 2022 edition of Focus – World Film Market Trends. Top performing European movies in Europe were led by “No Time To Die,” France’s “Kaamelott: First Instalment” (2.8 million admissions), “The Father” (2.4 million), “BAC Nord” (2.2 million) and “Another Round” (2.0 million)...