Tag Archives: mpaa

Chris Dodd Steps Down from the MPAA, Chris Rivkin To Succeed Him

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Former U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd, Chairman & CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), has announced that he will step down from his position as CEO on September 4 and from his position as Chairman at the end of the year. The MPAA board has named Charles Rivkin, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs, as Dodd’s successor. Rivkin was also the former Ambassador to France and served under President Obama in both positions. Ambassador Rivkin will join MPAA September 5, and the two executives will work together to complete the transition by the beginning of next year.

Dodd has served as Chairman & CEO of the MPAA since March of 2011. During Dodd’s tenure the organization focused on the digital age and expanded US presence into China. The organization also cracked down on piracy and caused around 1,500 websites to be blocked as well as criple their profitability by working with payment processors. That initiative was not without controversy.

Rivkin most recently served as Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs from 2014 to 2017. Previously, he was U.S. Ambassador to France and Monaco, and before entering public service, Rivkin spent nearly twenty years in the creative sector as CEO of The Jim Henson Company and W!ldBrain.

Batman: The Killing Joke Gets an R Rating

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Batman The Killing JokeIt shouldn’t be a shock to anyone but Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has accepted an “R” rating from the MPAA for their upcoming animated film, Batman: The Killing Joke. I say it shouldn’t be a shock since the original source material graphic novel is what I’d consider an “R” rating as well. This is the first non-PG/PG-13 rated movie in the nine-year and 26-film history of the DC Universe Original Movie franchise.

Batman: The Killing Joke, one of the best-selling graphic novels in history, tells the tale of The Joker’s origin story – from his humble beginnings as a struggling comic, to his fateful encounter with Batman that changes both of their lives forever. It also contains some of the most controversial material in comics history. The graphic novel won two Eisner Awards and was written by Alan Moore 28  years ago. It is consistently a top selling graphic novel, with this film being greenlit in 2013 and announced in July 2015.

Actors Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill reprise their Batman: The Animated Series roles as Batman and The Joker, respectively.

Animation visionary Bruce Timm guided the DC Universe Original Movie franchise for its initial 16 films, then returned last summer with his own original story, Justice League: Gods & Monsters. Timm takes the reigns once again for Batman: The Killing Joke, reuniting a trio of actors (Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill & Tara Strong) from the game-changing Batman: The Animated Series cast to add even greater reverence to this heralded tale. Recognizing the fans’ dedication to the highly acclaimed graphic novel, Timm has worked meticulously to accurately maintain the intense adult content of The Killing Joke.

At this time, there are no plans for an edited, PG-13 version of the film according to Warner Bros. announcement.

Batman: The Killing Joke also features the voices of Tara Strong, as Barbara Gordon and Ray Wise as Commissioner Gordon.

The film’s World Premiere will take place at Comic-Con International this summer, and see a subsequent release in 2016 on Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD and Digital HD. Tat relase date will be announced at a later time along with what other content we can expect.

Around the Tubes

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It’s new comic book day! What’s everyone excited for this week? We’ve got reviews (and of course previews) to help you decide.

Here’s some news from around the web that you can check out while you decide what you’re going to get this week.

Around the Tubes

CBR – Superheroes soar into New-York Historical Society – This is pretty cool!

Comichron – July 2015 comics sales estimates online: Archie #1 tops 100k copies – Some good sales data for those that are interested!

GamePolitics – Google, Facebook, and Twitter fight the MPAA in court – Seriously MPAA!?

Around the Tubes

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It’s new comic book day tomorrow! Is everyone recovered from Free Comic Book Day?

Around the Tubes

GamePolitics – GamerGate D.C. gathering targeted by bomb threat – Proof it was an anti-GG person? Assholes do exist, could have been a person just doing it for the lulz.

Comic Vine – Machinima Developing Multiple DC Properties for the Web – They need a solid hit after their layoffs.

The Mary Sue – Joss Whedon Has Deleted His Twitter Account After the Domestic Debut of Age of Ultron – Interesting….

iO9 – New Star Wars Photos Reveal The Villain, A Space Pirate And Lots More – Getting so excited for this film.

GamePolitics – Report: MPAA funding pro-copyright protection research to influence political policy – Shocker!

 

Around the Tubes Reviews

CBR – All-New Captain America #6

CBR – Convergence: Shazam #1

CBR – Daredevil #15

Nothing But Comics – Dead Drop #1

Comic Vine – Fight Club 2 #1

Comics Alliance – Fight Club 2 #1

Comic Vine – Sons of the Devil #1

The Anti-IP Turn for the GOP Lasts Less than 24 Hours

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Though Democrats are generally thought of as the party of “Hollywood” hosting numerous fundraisers are bigwigs’ houses, it shouldn’t be forgotten along with their “free market” and “pro-big business” stances, the Republican party also tends to support strong protections for intellectual property.

That’s why it was interesting on Friday when the conservative Republican Study Committee released a brief with reasonable and smart reform suggestions towards how we handle intellectual property in this country. The report was released to the House Conservative Caucus and various think tanks and laid out “three myths about copyright law” and some ways to go about correcting the broken system.

The paper also suggests four potential solutions:

  1. Statutory damages reform — in other words, saving average folks the legal headaches and crippling fines
  2. Expand fair use
  3. Punish false copyright claims – something that’ll save us from false mass take downs
  4. Heavily limit copyright terms, and create disincentives for renewal – supporting creativity

Late Saturday, the document disappeared, less than 24 hours from when it was posted. A memo was sent around as to the reason.

From: Teller, Paul
Sent: Saturday, November 17, 2012 04:11 PM
Subject: RSC Copyright PB

We at the RSC take pride in providing informative analysis of major policy issues and pending legislation that accounts for the range of perspectives held by RSC Members and within the conservative community. Yesterday you received a Policy Brief on copyright law that was published without adequate review within the RSC and failed to meet that standard. Copyright reform would have far-reaching impacts, so it is incredibly important that it be approached with all facts and viewpoints in hand. As the RSC’s Executive Director, I apologize and take full responsibility for this oversight. Enjoy the rest of your weekend and a meaningful Thanksgiving holiday….

Paul S. Teller
Executive Director
U.S. House Republican Study Committee
Paul.Teller@mail.house.gov
http://republicanstudycommittee.com

Leaks and reports from the inside instead point to something more insidious than “adequate review.” It turns out the RIAA, MPAA and the entertainment bullies lobbyists didn’t take too kindly to the report, demanding it be removed. These are the same organizations that blamed us techies for our unwillingness to discuss these issues during the SOPA/PIPA battles of last year. Here, they’ve stifled an honest look at a system that’s gone completely off the rails and needs to be reformed. Interestingly, a viewpoint and idea track that could help with the Republican’s issue of youth vote. It showed a generational divide on the issue and for once was a policy that sided with the younger generation, as opposed to the Hollywood overlords.

You can read the document yourself below: