IATSE Tries to Unionize Robot Chicken Studio Stoopid Buddy

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Stoopid Buddy Stoodios, the stop-motion studio behind Adult Swim's Robot Chicken and other animated projects, may be about to unionize. Cartoon Brew has a source on the inside who cites low staff wages and an unpopular health insurance plan as catalysts for a current unionization push by IATSE. If the effort succeeds, Stoopid Buddy would become the first unionized stop-motion shop in the U.S. [Cartoon Brew]

Manchester by the Sea Leads 2016 Gotham Award Nominations

Writer-director Kenneth Lonergan's widely acclaimed Manchester by the Sea was nominated for a total of four Gotham Awards, which are given out by the Independent Filmmaker Project. It's competing for the top award with Kelly Reichardt's Certain Women, Richard Linklater's Everybody Wants Some!!, Barry Jenkins' Moonlight, and Jim Jarmusch's Paterson.  [Variety]

Doctor Strange, Fantastic Beasts and Rogue One to Drive Q4 Imax Revenue

Imax beat consensus estimates with reported quarterly revenue of $86.6 million in Q3, while per-share earnings of 12 cents matched Wall Street forecasts exactly. Earnings for the quarter were down significantly compared to the previous year, when Imax earned 17 cents per share, but executives said box office returns in Q4 should be strong. Imax CEO Richard L. Gelfond is also touting plans for Imax VR, currently in testing. [The Wrap]

This New MFT Lens Has a 250° Field of View

 

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Entapano says its forthcoming ~$3700 Entaniya 250 Fisheye MFT can see behind itself. The company — which to date has specialized in fisheye lenses for GoPro cameras — says the lens can be used with the Blackmagic Micro Studio Camera to create "one-shot VR" with a 250-degree horizontal field of view, or 360-degree VR when two lenses are used back-to-back. It's supposed to be available by the end of the year. (We'll see.) [PetaPixel]

Fixing Dorothy's Oz Slippers to Cost $300,000

The Smithsonian Institution has started a Kickstarter campaign seeking to raise $300,000 to repair and preserve the ruby-red slippers worn by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz. Two conservators and five scientists are expected to work on the project for as long as a year, and a new temperature-controlled display case will be built. Does that sound like a lot of money for a pair of shoes? Well, consider that it cost more than $700,000 to conserve spacesuits originally worn by Neil Armstrong and Alan Shepard, and more than $21 million to preserve the American flag that flew over Fort McHenry and inspired the U.S. national anthem "The Star Spangled Banner."  [The New York Times]

Tonight's Fox Rocky Horror Remake Earns Mixed Reviews

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Reactions have varied among critics reviewing tonight's Fox broadcast of The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let's Do the Time Warp Again, a remake of the midnight-movie classic originally released in 1975. The New York Times laments that star Laverne Cox "never does quite catch up to" Tim Curry, who earned a massive cult following for his performance in the original film. The Daily Beast calls it "The Rocky Horror Time Warp We Never Needed." And Mashable says it's baffling that Fox didn't mount the show live, a la previous forays into televised musicals including NBC's The Sound of Music and Fox's Grease. However, while Entertainment Weekly complains the new production "plays it safe," it also says it's "never not fun" and sometimes "delightful" and rates it a B overall. And TV Guide acknowledges the middling reviews, but cites "five things to appreciate" in the show.