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.

the Television Academy has announced a tighter Emmys eligibility window next year. On Wednesday, the organization shared that the Board of Governors approved a decision to eliminate the Hanging Episode Rule. The rule, which is still in effect for prospective 2022 Emmy nominees, allowed for series to still premiere episodes after the May 31 eligibility deadline as long as the final episodes were posted on a platform for Academy members to see before that May deadline, and premiered to the general public before nominations-round voting began on June 16...

The script for “Top Gun: Maverick” pulls from Kilmer’s real life, with Iceman also having cancer and communicating through typing. Kilmer gets to say one brief line of dialogue, but his speaking voice was created by artificial intelligence. Kilmer announced in August 2021 that he had partnered with Sonantic to create an A.I.-powered speaking voice for himself. “In the end, we generated more than 40 different voice models and selected the best, highest-quality, most expressive one,” said John Flynn, CTO and cofounder of Sonantic...

Versus Entertainment has brought on board Decentraland and Lumiere to develop metaverse and NFT angles for its ongoing film project “The Infinite Machine.” “The Infinite Machine” is a film adapted from Camilla Russo’s book of the same title which is now being produced by Versus with Ridley Scott’s production company Scott Free. It tells the story Vitalik Buterin, the controversial co-founder of Ethereum, the world’s second largest digital asset. Decentraland operates a virtual world that uses open-source technology, allowing it to be expanded by member users. The platform is also owned and operated by the same users, using blockchain, rather than by a parent company. The agreement between Versus and Decentraland will see the film and its NFT collection developed and integrated into the Decentraland metaverse. Lumiere, a Hong Kong- and Singapore-based entertainment specialist, is supporting the project by developing and integrating the experience of the film and engaging its audiences into the Decentraland metaverse...

Bad Robot and Warner Bros. Television are teaming up with Apple TV+ to create a new live-action "Speed Racer" series. Apparently in the works for quite some time now, the project has been given a full series order. In terms of the talent involved, Ron Fitzgerald and Hiram Martinez have been recruited to serve as co-showrunners, writers, and executive producers, with Abrams executive producing as well. The "Speed Racer" franchise is based on the classic Japanese manga originally created by Tatsuo Yoshida under the title "Mach GoGoGo," which was subsequently adapted as an anime series known as "Speed Racer" in 1967. As shown in the Wachowskis' film, the story follows the exploits of brilliant driver Speed Racer (owner of the beautifully designed Mach 5 car) and his close-knit team made up of his father Pops and brother Spritle, girlfriend Trixie, and, uh, his pet chimpanzee named Chim-Chim...

Disney's Winnie-the-Pooh is a comfort character for many. For much of the character's 98-year history, the A.A. Milne and E. H. Shepard creation was known as a cuddly bear with a love for "hunny," whose kindhearted thoughtfulness reflected in his friendships with other creatures in Hundred Acre Wood. Sometime in January 2022, the Winnie-the-Pooh universe entered the public domain — except for Tigger's character, which is still copyright protected — meaning anyone can take the essence of the character and transform it into anything they deem fit, as long as it is original...

According to HarperCollins’ Book synopsis: "In addition to being among the most celebrated of contemporary filmmakers, Quentin Tarantino is possibly the most joyously infectious movie lover alive. For years he has touted in interviews his eventual turn to writing books about films. Now, with 'Cinema Speculation,' the time has come, and the results are everything his passionate fans — and all movie lovers — could have hoped for. Organized around key American films from the 1970s, all of which he first saw as a young moviegoer at the time, this book is as intellectually rigorous and insightful as it is rollicking and entertaining. At once film criticism, film theory, a feat of reporting, and wonderful personal history, it is all written in the singular voice recognizable immediately as QT's and with the rare perspective about cinema possible only from one of the greatest practitioners of the artform ever."...

The artist, who is credited as an effects illustrator and designer on George Lucas' 1977 "Star Wars" film, says the final product we see today was designed during crunch time in just one night. According to Johnston, producer Gary Kurtz came to him one evening with an initial design for the "Star Wars" logo. This precursor to the blocky, striking font we now know sounds admittedly pretty terrible. "It was on one line and it was very thin, hairline letters with pointed ends on the W and everything," Johnston says. He says that Kurtz was somewhat panicked, and told Johnston the team had already shot the iconic scrolling introduction that would open the film but needed the logo to finish the film's opening shot. "We need this tomorrow," he apparently said. "Can you fix this?” Johnston told Kurtz he couldn't fix the logo, but he could totally redesign it. Kurtz gave Johnston the okay, but warned that the logo had to be done by 10:00 in the morning the very next day. The "Star Wars" logo is now arguably among the most recognizable in the world...