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June 23 - June 29

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Apple Original Films in association with MARV announced that highly anticipated “Argylle,” from acclaimed director and producer Matthew Vaughn, will be released in theaters worldwide, in partnership with Universal Pictures, on February 2, 2024, before streaming globally on Apple TV+...

The Portland Art Museum’s film and new media hub, also known as PAM CUT // Center for an Untold Tomorrow, has announced new details for the Tomorrow Theater set to open in Portland, Oregon, this fall. The Tomorrow Theater will offer robust, participatory programming, serving as a model, both locally and globally, for the future of media arts and cinema. The space will function as a creative hub for artists and audiences across multimedia. Per PAM CUT, each evening will bring something different, through a variety show approach that incorporates at least two distinct art forms simultaneously. Embracing cinematic storytelling in all its forms — from film and series to animation and gaming, XR, performance, and audio stories — the events and happenings will be as varied as the artists and audiences on any given night. The full programming slate and partnerships will be announced this fall...

Texas has long been known as a film-friendly state offering a slew of tax incentives, grants and other attractive benefits to productions. The May 29 conclusion of the recent legislative session delivered filmmakers additional commitments for financial support in the coming year. Thanks to two bills, the statewide filming grant was raised to an all-time high of $200 million, a significant jump from the $45 million earmarked in the previous session. The legislature also agreed to conduct a lengthy investigation into the revenue benefits of creating a transferrable tax credit program in the future, similar to those that already exist in Georgia and Oklahoma...

Christopher Nolan said the writing has been on the wall about AI dangers for quite some time, but now the media is more focused on the technology because it poses a threat to their jobs. “The growth of AI in terms of weapons systems and the problems that it is going to create have been very apparent for a lot of years,” Nolan said. “Few journalists bothered to write about it. Now that there’s a chatbot that can write an article for a local newspaper, suddenly it’s a crisis.” Nolan said the main issue with AI is “a very simple one” and relates to the technology being used by companies to “evade responsibility for their actions.”...

After a golden age in the 1980s, Chinese filmmakers were quietly discouraged from dabbling in the sci-fi genre – it isn’t real science and authorities did not want youngsters to get confused. That stance changed during the last decade and the Shanghai International Film Festival has just hosted its first sci-fi week, comprising nearly a dozen film screenings and a trio of panel discussions featuring the new luminaries in the sector. Reasons for the revised position of China’s authorities are not hard to understand. Not only was Hollywood getting away with dominating a genre that was popular with Chinese audiences, China in the 21st century has become a global technology powerhouse. Its space program, in particular, is now among the most advanced, capable of a normalized rocket launch schedule, international co-operation and lunar and interplanetary missions...

The Board of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has revised the eligibility rules for Best Picture in a bid to bolster theatrical support for big pictures. Beginning in 2024 with the 97th Academy Awards, films seeking to earn the Oscar for Best Picture will no longer be eligible with just a one-week theatrical release in an approved city. However, to qualify now, the film will be required to maintain lengthier stay in theaters. After the one-week qualifying run, the film will be required to also meet other requirements which include: an "expanded theatrical run of seven days, consecutive or non-consecutive, in 10 of the top 50 U.S. markets, no later than 45 days after the initial release in 2024." For movies with expansions after Jan. 10, 2025, distributors must submit a plan to the Academy, and non-U.S. territory releases can count towards two of the 10 markets....