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April 2, 2017
‘The Mummy’ Trailer: Sofia Boutella’s Monster Comes Alive in New Look at Tom Cruise–Starring Reboot — Watch
If you’re part of the Save Brendan movement, you may want to turn back now lest any news of the impending “Mummy” reboot starring Tom Cruise upset you. Universal has released a new trailer for the film, which reimagines the famous movie monster as a woman played by Sofia Boutella of “Star Trek Beyond” and “Kingsman: The Secret Service.” Watch below.
READ MORE: ‘The Mummy’: Tom Cruise Introduces Frightening New Footage in CinemaCon Video
Alex Kurtzman’s film is part of the Universal Monsters shared universe, which will also include new takes on the Invisible Man (Johnny Depp), Frankenstein’s monster (Javier Bardem) and Dr. Jekyll (Russell Crowe), among others; not part of the continuity, it seems, is 2014’s poorly received “Dracula Untold.” That makes “The Mummy” — which also stars Annabelle Wallis, Jake Johnson, Courtney B. Vance and Crowe — the new franchise’s starting point.
Unlike the most recent “Mummy” series, which starred Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz, this new iteration is set in the present day. Universal will release “The Mummy” in theaters on June 9.
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Source: IndieWire film
April 2, 2017
Marvel Executive Says Comic Readers ‘Didn’t Want Any More Diversity’ or Female Characters
Despite comic book movies being a constant presence in multiplexes, it appears that sales of actual comic books aren’t keeping pace with their silver screen adaptations. That’s true of Marvel, at least, whose cinematic universe seems likely to keep expanding until it swallows us all and experiences an inevitable, merciful heat death.
In a new interview, the company’s vice president of sales says that readers might not be fully onboard with the more diverse approach Marvel has adopted in recent years.
READ MORE: Joss Whedon Set to Write and Direct ‘Batgirl’ Standalone Feature for Warner Bros.
“What we heard was that people didn’t want any more diversity. They didn’t want female characters out there. That’s what we heard, whether we believe that or not,” said David Gabriel.
“I don’t know that that’s really true, but that’s what we saw in sales. We saw the sales of any character that was diverse, any character that was new, our female characters, anything that was not a core Marvel character, people were turning their nose up against. That was difficult for us because we had a lot of fresh, new, exciting ideas that we were trying to get out and nothing new really worked,” he continued.
READ MORE: ‘Iron Fist’ Almost Cast Lewis Tan in Lead Role
A number of superhero movies not about white dudes are slated for release in the next few years: “Wonder Woman,” “Black Panther,” “Captain Marvel,” “Batgirl.”
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Source: IndieWire film
April 2, 2017
‘The Zookeeper’s Wife’ Lures Crowds to Jessica Chastain and World War II
Hungry for fresh nourishment, specialty audiences flocked to new World War II drama “The Zookeeper’s Wife” (Focus Features), directed by Niki Caro and starring Jessica Chastain.
While smart-house moviegoers can be discerning — see Fox Searchlight’s “Wilson” — the holocaust drama overcame modest reviews to score in wider initial release. The dearth of other product should help Focus to find bigger success ahead.
READ MORE: ‘The Zookeeper’s Wife’ Director Niki Caro Has a Plan for Fighting Hollywood’s Gender Gap
New openings finding niche interest were led by “David Lynch – The Art Life” (Janus) as smaller films continue to struggle.
At a time of dwindling movie ad revenue, streaming service Netflix took out two full-page ads for five films in both the New York Times and Los Angeles Times. They touted four Sundance debuts: “The Discovery” starring Robert Redford and Rooney Mara, which played limited theatrical dates with no grosses reported, U.S. Dramatic Grand Prize Winner “I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore,” “Burning Sands” and “Deidra & Laney Rob a Train.”
Courtesy of Netflix
Notably Netflix also promoted producer Steven Spielberg’s three-episode Hollywood World War II documentary “Five Came Back,” based on Mark Harris’s book, which played the IFC Center and Laemmle’s Monica in order to qualify for film awards, along the same lines as Oscar-winner “O.J.: Made in America.”
Opening
The Zookeeper’s Wife (Focus) Metacritic: 58; Festivals include: Cinequest 2017
$3,349,000 in 541 theaters; PTA (per theater average): $6,191,000
Coming in #10 overall despite playing in only 541 theaters, New Zealand “Whale Rider” director Niki Caro’s variation on the Holocaust rescue theme (this time involving a Warsaw zoo) drew strong response despite tepid overall reviews. Movie star Jessica Chastain pulled audiences — while pointing out on NPR that this rare war film told from a woman’s point of view was mostly reviewed by men.
This compares well to “Woman in Gold” starring Helen Mirren exactly two years ago, which Weinstein opened in 258 theaters to a similar gross of $2.1 million. Chastain’s “Miss Sloane” (Europa) expanded to 1,845 theaters in December and only grossed $1,648,000, so this is a huge improvement, with a decent 31 per cent Saturday uptick slightly better than “Gold” had its initial weekend, which suggests it’s playing well.
What comes next: This will certainly get wider play. Caro meantime is slated to directed Disney’s $100 million-plus live-action “Mulan.”
David Lynch – The Art Life (Janus) Metacritic: 76; Festivals include: Venice 2016, South by Southwest 2017
$12,156 in 1 theater; PTA: $12,156
Leading up to the return of “Twin Peaks” and paralleled by a four-film retrospective on another screen at New York’s IFC Center, this documentary about Lynch’s early creative life up to his feature debut “Eraserhead” yielded a strong response.
What comes next: Though Janus is associated with the Criterion Collection and its significant streaming and DVD outreach, the movie will go out in to theaters nationwide. Los Angeles opens on April 14.
Cezanne and I (Magnolia) Metacritic: 53
$(est.) 16,500 in 2 theaters; PTA: $(est.) 8,250
Veteran French director/writer Daniele Thompson (whose “Avenue Montaigne” grossed $2 million a decade ago, almost unimaginable for a subtitled film in the U.S. nowadays) imagined the friendship of the great painter and Emile Zola. Mediocre reviews did the film no favors, but its two-theater Manhattan opening showed a major jump on Saturday. That suggests interest among upscale older viewers who often support films on creative and artistic subjects.
What comes next: Los Angeles opens this Friday.
“The Death of Louis XIV”
The Death of Louis XIV (Cinema Guild) Metacritic: 69; Festivals include: Cannes, Toronto, New York 2016
$(est.) 8,000 in 1 theater; PTA: $(est.) 8,000
Spanish director Albert Serra (“Birdsong”) has been a strong festival favorite in recent years. This French film featuring the legendary Jean-Pierre Leaud recreating the final days of the Sun King opened at New York’s Lincoln Center. This niche item takes place in a single room with Louis bedridden and attended to by a range of palace figures. That makes the gross more impressive, even if it won’t extend far beyond high-end cinephiles.
What comes next: A range of bookings, many non-theatrical, lie ahead nationally.
God Knows Where I Am (Bond 360) Metacritic: 67; Festivals include: Hot Docs, Hamptons 2016
$(est.) 5,250 in 1 theater; PTA: $(est.) 5,250
This documentary about a bipolar woman who fell through the cracks of New Hampshire social services scored a date at New York’s Lincoln Plaza Theater after some festival play. For a minimally low scale released film, this is a respectable gross.
What comes next: Los Angeles is the next of a wide array of full-week and limited showings booked around the country ahead.
“Carrie Pilby”
Carrie Pilby (The Orchard) Metacritic: 52; Festivals include: Toronto 2016
$(est.) 14,500 in 6 theaters; PTA: $(est.) 2,417
Bel Powley (“The Diary of a Teenage Girl”) stars in this New York story about a 19-year-old British Harvard graduate. The film opened in four cities in advance of its VOD date to mixed reviews and modest interest.
What comes next: VOD starts on Tuesday.
The Blackcoat’s Daughter (A24) Metacritic: 73; Festivals include: Toronto 2015; also available on Video on Demand
$(est.) 13,000 in 24 theaters; PTA: $(est.) 542
This Canadian boarding school thriller starring “Mad Men” ingenue Kiernan Shipka predates director Osgood Perkins’ Sundance 2017 award-winner “I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House” (Netflix). Although reviews were decent, through A24’s partnership with DirectTV, “Blackcoat’s Daughter” has already been showing for several weeks, so ticket sales were minimal.
What comes next: A long home streaming life.
All This Panic (Factory 25) Metacritic: 72; Festivals include: Tribeca 2016
$(est.) 2,250 in 2 theaters; PTA: $(est.) 1,125
Two New York area theaters including the prime IFC Center opened this documentary following several local teen girls as they come of age. The results were minimal.
What comes next: Likely not to expand much beyond its home turf.
Donnie Darko (Arrow) (reissue)
$53,200 in 21 theaters; PTA: $2,533
A 4K restoration of Richard Kelly’s 2001 cult film opened in multiple cities showing both the original Sundance as well as the 20 minute longer director’s cut. It scored a credible sampling in advance of further limited showings.
What comes next: Expect this to get further attention, including streaming.
International Releases
The Devotion of Subject X (China Lion/China) – $330,000 in 43 theaters
Naam Shabana (Big Pictures/India) – $(est.)175,000 in 92 theaters
Guru (Big Sky/India) – $(est.) 130,000 in 91 theaters
Northern Lights: A Journey to Love (ABS/Philippines) – $(est.) 110,000 in 56 theaters
The Prison (Well Go/South Korea) – $(est.) 80,000 in 23 theaters
“Wilson”
Week Two
Wilson (Fox Searchlight)
$115,000 in 311 theaters (+1); PTA: $370; Cumulative: $592,300
This Woody Harrelson curmudgeon comedy marks the nadir of an already weak period for the normally reliable Fox Searchlight. This adaptation of Daniel Clowes’ graphic novel got holdovers at its multi-hundred theaters, but many had only partial shows, with overall an average of around 40 tickets sold all weekend.
I Called Him Morgan (Submarine Deluxe)
$20,437 in 5 theaters (+4); PTA: $4,087; Cumulative: $40,546
Two Los Angeles theaters were among the four added to last week’s strong New York exclusive date for this documentary about the tragic 1960s nightclub slaying of a prominent jazz musician. Results aren’t at the same level but show enough interest to justify further expansion.
Slamma Jamma (River Rain)
$(est.) 3,500 in 12 theaters (-490); PTA: $(est.) 292; Cumulative: $(est.) 2,000,000
This faith-based prison sports film claimed nearly $1.7 million last weekend. That figure was unverified, and was likely bolstered by group sales and other special promotions. But whatever led to that number wasn’t repeated — and led to one of the biggest second weekend drops ever.
“T2 Trainspotting”
Ongoing/expanding (grosses over $50,000 in under 1,000 theaters)
T2 Trainspotting (Sony) Week 3
$400,000 in 140 theaters (+81); Cumulative: $1,178,000
While it’s the biggest fish in the specialized sea at the moment, the two decade later update to Danny Boyle’s breakout success is doing only modest business compared to both the original and the international (mostly British) performance of this film.
The Last Word (Bleecker Street) Week 5
$212,527 in 289 theaters (-91); Cumulative: $1,483,000
This Shirley MacLaine comedy has delivered only half as much as the same distributor’s older audience favorite “I’ll See You in My Dreams.” Two years ago that romance starring Blythe Danner had reached $3 million after five weekends despite having played fewer theaters. Weaker reviews is part of the reason, but “Hello, My Name Is Doris” filled this slot last year with only slightly favorable critical response to far better results. This seems to be another sign of specialized decline and/or greater competition from mainstream films.
Lion (Weinstein) Week 19
$211.980 in 175 theaters (-145); Cumulative: $51,131,000
After nearly five months of play, Weinstein’s Dev Patel-starrer is around after nearly all other Oscar contenders have dropped away. It’s outgrossing both “Moonlight” and “Manchester By the Sea.”
Kedi (Oscilloscope) Week 8
$165,500 in 105 theaters (-13); Cumulative: $2,041,000
Broadway had “Cats,” the specialized world has “Kedi.” This surprise documentary success — from Turkey and subtitled — has passed the $2 million mark, which is rare for specialized films these days. This and “The Eagle Huntress” will prompt a run on animal-related international animal centered films.
Personal Shopper (IFC) Week 4
$159,450 in 150 theaters (+43); Cumulative: $791,973
Following a similar release pattern to the previous Olivier Assayas/Kristen Stewart collaboration “Clouds of Sils Maria,” this latest effort is grossing close to the same total after their respective fourth weekends.
La La Land (Lionsgate) Week 17
$142,000 in 143 theaters (-69); Cumulative: $150,469,000
A month after the Oscars, Lionsgate is still playing this movie in theaters only (a calculation likely made with expectations of a Best Picture win). Nonetheless the movie has added $10 million to its impressive domestic total, and stands at over $430 million worldwide.
A United Kingdom (Fox Searchlight) Week 8
$87,000 in 86 theaters (-73); Cumulative: $3,703,000
With similar appeal (plot, director, reviews, capable distributor) and bigger stars, this period interracial drama will end up grossing nearly $7 million less than “Belle” three years ago.
“Frantz”
Frantz (Music Box) Week 3
$85,250 in 37 theaters (+27); Cumulative: $184,461
French veteran Francois Ozon’s latest entry expanded this weekend, with better than average results among subtitled releases. This won’t rank among the director’s biggest domestic successes, but continues Music Box’s track record of maximizing their efforts despite a tricky market.
I Am Not Your Negro (Magnolia) Week 9
$(est.) 80,000 in 46 theaters (-39); Cumulative: $(est.) 6,782,000
Raoul Peck’s acclaimed James Baldwin documentary continues its lengthy run. It’s unlikely that any 2017 documentaries will be able to match its total.
The Sense of an Ending (CBS) Week 8
$80,000 in 88 theaters (-147); Cumulative: $1,236,000
Jim Broadbent and Charlotte Rampling combined failed to spark a significant response to this British drama which is fading out after reaching all key theaters.
Raw (Focus) Week 4
$70,435 in 42 theaters (+15); Cumulative: $303,573
The well-received French contemporary cannibal story continues its modest but steady run. It remains a niche item, with subtitles likely reducing its appeal to genre fans.
Song to Song (Broad Green) Week 3
$58,747 in 95 theaters (+15); Cumulative: $325,909
It’s hard to imagine a Terrence Malick film, particularly with as strong a cast as this, faring so poorly. Even compared to his last two post-“Tree of Life” films, this is a disaster.
Also noted
Moonlight (A24) – $48,000 in 69 theaters; Cumulative: $27,775,000
Paterson (Bleecker Street) – $33,782 in 31 theaters; Cumulative: $2,115,000
Source: IndieWire film
April 2, 2017
‘The Square’: Ruben Östlund’s Elisabeth Moss–Starring ‘Force Majeure’ Follow-Up Goes Inside Wild Art World
Word on the street is that “The Square,” Ruben Östlund’s follow-up to “Force Majeure,” is likely to premiere at Cannes next month. We’ll know for sure when the official announcements start rolling in, but in the meantime we’ll have to content ourselves with a few official stills as well as photos and videos from Plattform Produktion, the production company responsible for bringing the film to light.
Avail yourself of them below, with thanks to the Film Stage.
READ MORE: ‘Force Majeure’ Director Teases His First English Language Project, ‘The Square’
Here’s the synopsis: “‘The Square’ is set in a renowned museum where an artist exhibits an installation meant to promote altruism, providing people with a symbolic space where only good things can happen. The movie’s protagonist is the manager of the museum who hires a ruthless PR firm to build some buzz around the installation but things get out of hand when the museum’s PR team goes too far with their publicity plans, sparking a public uproar and exposing the hypocrisy of the media. Moss will play a reporter who is on the beat of the exhibit.”
READ MORE: Elisabeth Moss to Star in Ruben Östlund’s ‘Force Majeure’ Follow-Up ‘The Square’
Claes Bang, Elisabeth Moss and Dominic West star in the film, Östlund’s English-language debut. Interested parties should make their way to Plattform’s Instagram, which has many more short videos.
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Source: IndieWire film
April 2, 2017
‘Shazaam’ Is Real: College Humor ‘Finds’ Long-Lost Sinbad Genie Movie That Doesn’t Actually Exist
If you thought the “Shazaam” phenomenon was over, what with the fleeting nature of the never-ending meme cycle, then you may have mixed feelings about an April Fool’s video released by College Humor yesterday. Presented as two minutes of found footage from the film in question — a nonexistent and vaguely racist conflation of “Kazaam,” in which Shaq plays a genie, and Sinbad’s ’90s oeuvre — the video asserts that “Shazaam” does in fact exist.
READ MORE: Sinbad’s ’Shazaam’: Inside the Internet’s Conspiracy Theory About a Non-Existent Movie
Complete with a faux tracking effect and snippets of a cereal commercial, the video finds two kiddos rifling through boxes in their garage when they happen upon a lamp that’s sure to raise alarm bells in anyone who obsessively watched “Aladdin” as a child. Out pops the eponymous wish-granter, played by the star of “Houseguest” and “First Kid” himself, here to make the dreams of two siblings come true.
That’s the assumption, at least, as only two minutes of “Shazaam” have been recovered by the sleuths at College Humor and we’re left wondering as to what the kids might actually wish for. Watch below.
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Source: IndieWire film
April 1, 2017
Watch: How to Choose the Right Lens for Your Project
There are so many options when it comes to lenses, so how do you know which one to buy?Lenses come in all shapes and sizes. Some come chock full of …
Source: CW’s Flipboard Feed
April 1, 2017
Mastering Depth of Field – Part 1
Whether you’re producing short films, shooting weddings, or creating a family video, every shooter wants to be able to direct the viewers’ attention …
Source: CW’s Flipboard Feed
March 31, 2017
SXSW Alumni Film Releases – April 2017
Discover some of the SXSW alumni films on release this month, such as COLOSSAL, DAVID LYNCH: THE ART LIFE, and FREE FIRE. Continue on for a complete list with trailers and more info.
ACCIDENTAL COURTESY: DARYL DAVIS, RACE AND AMERICA
Documentary Feature, World Premiere, 2016
Website | Trailer
Idiosyncratic and provocative, protagonist Daryl Davis offers a conduit to difficult, nuanced questions about race in fragile society seeking answers more urgently than ever.
Now on Netflix
CLAIRE IN MOTION
Narrative Feature, World Premiere, 2016
Website | Trailer
A delicate, enigmatic performance from Breaking Bad’s Betsy Brandt anchors this poignant mystery that gradually reveals a world of devastating secrets.
Blu-ray/DVD available April 11
COLOSSAL
Narrative Feature, 2017
Website | Trailer
Anne Hathaway stars with Jason Sudeikis in one hell of a riff on the Godzilla-style monster-movie, directed by cult favorite Nacho Vigalondo.
In Theaters April 7
DAVID LYNCH: THE ART LIFE
Documentary Feature, 2017
Website | Trailer
A rare, intimate look at the creative process of cult filmmaker and painter David Lynch, revealing as much about the man as it does about his artistic output.
In Theaters March 31
FREE FIRE
Narrative Feature, US Premiere, 2016
Website | Trailer
Pithy one-liners fly as fast as the bullets in Ben Wheatley’s grand guignol-meets-Peckinpah opus, Free Fire.
In Theaters April 21
THE MOST HATED WOMAN IN AMERICA
Narrative Feature, World Premiere, 2017
Website | Trailer
Melissa Leo adds another powerhouse performance to her resume in this Austin-set biopic made all the more potent by the fact that it’s based on a true story.
Now on Netlix
NEWTOWN
2016
Website | Trailer
A film that we shouldn’t need, but one that couldn’t be more timely. Newtown is a sensitive, and devastating snapshot of the complex relationship between Americans and guns.
DVD Available April 4
PUNCHING HENRY (previously AND PUNCHING THE CLOWN)
Documentary Feature, 2016
Website | Trailer
A darkly comic, semi-autobiographical trip into the mind of hapless comedy chancer Henry Phillips.
Blu-ray/DVD available April 18
T2: TRAINSPOTTING
Documentary Feature, 2016
Website | Trailer
Danny Boyle revisits with a long awaited sequel to perhaps his most beloved film, still as anarchic and wildly inventive as ever.
Now in Theaters
WAR ON EVERYONE
Narrative Feature, North American Premiere, 2016
Website | Trailer
Violent, profane, offensive, and wholly irresponsible…War on Everyone is a blast.
Blu-ray/DVD available April 11
WE ARE X
Documentary Feature, 2016
Website | Trailer
A technicolor journey into the world of X Japan frontman Yoshiki as he emerges from an almost implausible string of personal tragedies to bring his iconic band back to the limelight.
Blu-ray/DVD Available April 25
The post SXSW Alumni Film Releases – April 2017 appeared first on SXSW.
Source: SxSW Film
March 31, 2017
Filmmaker in Focus Series: Grand Jury Winners
Ever wonder how a filmmaker comes up with a story? Their motivation? Over the past several months SXSW has reached out to several filmmakers and asked questions about the stories behind the stories. With our Filmmaker in Focus blog series we will feature directors from our 2017 film festival lineup.
First up, interviews with our SXSW Grand Jury winners, Ana Asensio for Most Beautiful Island (Narrative) and Jairus McLeary for The Work (Documentary).
Most Beautiful Island
Q: Tell us a little about your film?
A: “Most Beautiful Island was inspired by my own life experiences, and the challenges I encountered when I first arrived to New York City. It’s a very personal film for me and I wanted it to feel intimate, immediate, and a little gritty, so we shot in mostly handheld on Super 16mm.”
Q: What motivated you to tell this story?
A: “I wanted to tell a different immigrant story – the story of women coming to New York City hoping to start a new life, or follow a dream. Of women not escaping poverty, but rather educated, accomplished women risking a more secure life at home for a difficult, unpredictable, and possibly dangerous life in New York City with no family and no safety net. We often don’t think of these individuals as “immigrants” since they don’t take on the typical jobs that we associate with that term, however, they do live in vulnerable situations. Why would they choose to go through struggles in New York City when they don’t “need to?” I wanted to look at a day in the life of one of these women and examine the challenges and opportunities she encounters.”
Q:What is your spirt animal?
A:“NYC subway rats.”
The Work
Q: Tell us a little about your film?
A: “The film follows three men from the outside as they experience four days with the inmates of a level-4, maximum security prison. What began in Folsom State Prison is something akin to a group therapy circle nearly twenty years ago with a handful of convicts and concerned citizens from the outside, has become a one of a kind rehabilitation program jointly operated by private citizens and the convicts themselves with permission from the prison administration. Shot inside a single cinderblock room over the course of one of the program’s biannual, four day long events, the obvious differences between the convicted men and the three men from the outside begin to disintegrate as each man comes to find a deeper understanding of himself, collective realizations that may challenge our ideas of social identity, incarceration and rehabilitation.”
Q: What motivated you to tell this story?
A: “I was among the group of civilian volunteers who were invited to the very first 4-day event inside Folsom State Prison in 2000. My father was one of the guys that was recruited to come in from the outside and he invited me. Although I trusted him implicitly, the weight of what I didn’t know about the inside of a maximum security prison made me say no. It wasn’t until the third time he asked me that I said yes. By that time I’d confronted the reality that I’d just been unconsciously filling the vacuum of my own ignorance with fiction gleaned from movies and television, and I realized that it was my obligation to fill it with objective fact. Afterwards I was floored and that feeling never went away no matter how many times I went back. For the convicts who lived there, their commitment to honesty could well result in their own death once a session was over and indeed did. Their willingness to lay bare their emotions was truly a matter of life and death. That intensity spread to the rest of the room that inside or outside became irrelevant and the heart of what was at stake was the personal integrity of the rest of your life. Over the years my brothers, my father and I returned, and I was continually shocked by the level of insight I gained about myself alongside men that were more than what I had initially judged they were. I came to understood that my judgments were a uninformed a choice I’d made. At first that choice embarrassed me, but as time went on, I understood that it was one that that every man in that room, both free and incarcerated admitted to making about each other at some point. So after I got involved in filmmaking, there simply came a time where I had to at least try to tell this story, this story of people who were trying to do something together that changed the way they saw one another and in so doing, were able to change their behavior. We were fortunate enough that the men trusted us so that when they were ready to tell their story we were able to find the right people to help do that.”
Q:What is your spirt animal?
A:“Man. Over the years I’ve found myself at different kinds of events and been inspired by indigenous rituals that draws on some of those inner archetypes… But lately, I feel like Hannibal Buress is my spirit animal. Maybe that’s just wishful thinking.”
Explore More Content From SXSW 2017
Get inspired by a multitude of diverse visionaries at SXSW – browse more 2017 Keynotes, Featured Sessions, Red Carpets, and Q&A’s on our YouTube Channel.
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The post Filmmaker in Focus Series: Grand Jury Winners appeared first on SXSW.
Source: SxSW Film
March 31, 2017
A Look At The Network Of The Global News Landscape
The digital age has helped to transform the way people receive their daily news and how stories spread. When print was the main method for delivering news, publications would credit the originating outlet with a little blurb like “as stated in The Wall Street Journal.” Digital news stories, however, generally include a hyperlink to the initial story and sometimes links to competing outlets that covered the current story in more detail. This linking creates a web of interconnected global news that allows researchers to understand news outlets and the bodies that direct global news.
The GDELT Project, an open global database of society by Google Jigsaw, monitors global broadcasts, print, and online news from every country in more than 100 languages. What they’re doing is identifying what drives our global society by looking at the people, locations, organizations, quotes, images, themes, and events happening every second of the day. The goal is to create a free open platform for analyzing the entire world.
The project is explained as so:
“The GDELT Project is an initiative to construct a catalog of human societal-scale behavior and beliefs across all countries of the world, connecting every person, organization, location, count, theme, news source, and event across the planet into a single massive network that captures what’s happening around the world, what its context is and who’s involved, and how the world is feeling about it, every single day.”
Last April, GDELT began to document a list of all the hyperlinks it could find in the body of every online article while ignoring extraneous links found on the page in the headers, footers, navigation, and the like. This allowed them to analyze article linking procedures and form a link graph depicting how each news site is connected to the sites its articles linked to.
GDELT looked at 121 million online articles containing hyperlinks in the article body over a 10 month period. Altogether, the articles contained 727,275917 links and culminated in 13,380,807 different couplings, meaning one site had one or more links to another. Although no system can survey every daily online news coverage in the world, it is possible to look at a significant sample from close to every country in the world.
Exploring the online news network allows researchers to look at the global news landscape on a macro-level. This creates a better understanding of the linking structure in the online news community. In order to focus on this network, GDELT filtered the 727 million outlinks to narrow their analysis to links that were also monitored by Google News over the same 10-month period.
The resulting visualization of their analysis shows 10,000 of the most substantial connections between news outlets. Each outlet is represented by a node with the lines between each node representing pairs of outlets that frequently link to each other. Outlets that linked to each other more regularly than to others are grouped together and tagged in the same color. Larger nodes were assigned to news outlets with a higher PageRank, meaning they are considered more “globally important” than other outlets.
From the graph, it can easily be seen that high-PageRank outlets—the “global media core”—are exceedingly interlinked, meaning they regularly cite each other more rather than linking to smaller local outlets. At the same time, the small outlets tend to link to major outlets rather than to other small outlets.
You can click on the image for the full resolution version or check out the interactive. Also be sure to check out the project page for more information.
[Via: Forbes]
Source: Visual News