Movies

LOS ANGELES — Universal Pictures took a victory lap over “Trolls World Tour” on Tuesday morning, saying that the film’s successful video-on-demand release had proved a new business model. The studio vowed to make more movies available without an exclusive theatrical run, even when theaters reopen.AMC Theaters, the largest theater operator in the world, took the studio’s assertion as a declaration of war.Adam Aron, AMC’s chief executive, told Universal late on Tuesday that it would no longer book any of the studio’s films. Universal is home to the “Jurassic World,” “Fast and Furious” and “Despicable Me” franchises. The studio also owns Focus Features, a specialty division.“With this proposed action to go to the home and theaters simultaneously, Universal is breaking the business model and dealings between our two companies,” Mr. Aron wrote in a letter to Donna Langley, Universal’s chairwoman. “It assumes that we will meekly accept a reshaped view of how studios and exhibitors should interact, with zero concern on Universal’s part as to how its actions affect us.”Mr. Aron called Universal’s plan “categorically unacceptable” and said AMC would also boycott any other studio “contemplating a wholesale change to the status quo.” More

The Oscars are making history again, but there’s a catch.As movie theaters across the globe remain closed due to the coronavirus, the motion picture academy met Tuesday to approve several new rules and changes for the next Oscars telecast. Here’s the big one: For the first time, a streaming film may skip a theatrical release entirely and still remain eligible for the Academy Awards. “The academy firmly believes there is no greater way to experience the magic of movies than to see them in a theater,” the academy president, David Rubin, and chief executive, Dawn Hudson, said in a joint statement. “Our commitment to that is unchanged and unwavering. Nonetheless, the historically tragic Covid-19 pandemic necessitates this temporary exception to our awards eligibility rules.”The rule change is not expected to last beyond the 93rd Academy Awards, which are still scheduled for Feb. 28, 2021. It also comes with a strict stipulation: Only films that had a previously planned theatrical release are still eligible for Oscar consideration. That rule will bar traditional TV movies from entering the Oscar fray, but it may also complicate award-season bids for independent films that were banking on a buzzy fall-festival debut to net a distributor and release date. The academy also noted that the rule would remain in effect at least as long as theaters were closed under federal, state and local guidelines. More

“System Error,” a documentary now available on demand, uses a series of quotations from Karl Marx to offer diagnoses of the modern economy. Its central idea is that “growth,” as an economic mantra, has become such an article of faith globally for politicians and financiers that they have become blind to its potential limits and consequences. Toward the end, the movie, directed by Florian Opitz, projects a world in which capitalism will devour itself: Thanks to automation, jobless workers won’t have the wages to pay for the goods that ostensible prosperity has produced.Tim Jackson, an ecological economist at the University of Surrey in England, says that in nature, mechanisms that grow unchecked “end up basically killing their host.” The film lays out the environmental effects of rapid transformations in agriculture and transportation, and it notes ways in which markets and trading have become divorced from the public and the broader economy.[embedded content]If the movie’s points can be well taken, its rhetorical strategies are often facile. An Airbus executive in China talks about economic progress and the profound shift from bicycles to cars there — but then is pressed to admit that traffic jams are “a real headache in Beijing.”The CNBC correspondent Bob Pisani says it is difficult to engage viewers with the ambiguities of markets — that he can’t go on television and say “there is no real meaning of anything that’s happening today.”But it is easy to make seemingly uncritical financial-sector boosters look like fools; it is harder to grapple thoroughly with economic trade-offs. The subject matter of “System Error” is better suited to tables and charts, not a movie that uses editing tricks and an anxious score to goose its points.System ErrorNot rated. In English, German, Portuguese and Mandarin, with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 35 minutes. Rent or buy on Amazon, iTunes and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators. More

Here are a few of the best events happening on Tuesday and how to tune in (all times are Eastern Standard). Updated daily.‘Melrose Place’ Cast Reunites8 p.m. on YouTubeThe stars of the soapy 1990s prime-time drama “Melrose Place” — Josie Bissett, Thomas Calabro, Heather Locklear, Marcia Cross, Laura Leighton, Doug Savant, Grant Show, Andrew Shue, Courtney Thorne-Smith and Daphne Zuniga — will reunite on Tuesday for the first time in years to reminisce about their time at the notorious West Hollywood apartment complex. The reunion is part of “Stars in the House,” an online show hosted by Seth Rudetsky and James Wesley. Viewers will be able ask questions and interact with the hosts and cast in real time, and the event supports The Actors Fund.When: 8 p.m.Where: The Stars in the House YouTube channelMarisa Tomei and Oscar Isaac in ‘Beirut’7:30 p.m. on YouTubeOn Tuesday evening, the actors Marisa Tomei and Oscar Isaac will come together for a special benefit reading of Alan Bowne’s acclaimed play “Beirut,” one of the first plays to address the impact of AIDS on a heterosexual relationship. Tomei is reprising her performance from 1987, when she appeared in the MCC Theater’s One-Act Play Festival. The actor Patrick Breen will also take part. A limited number of tickets will be available for $5 each. Additional tickets will be available at $15 and $25 on a first-come, first-served basis. Proceeds will support MCC’s Be Our Light Campaign and will be matched dollar-for-dollar by the board of the MCC to help the theater.When: 7:30 p.m.Where: The MCC Theater’s YouTube channel. Buy tickets here.Dashboard Confessional’s Chris Carrabba Performs8 p.m. on Dashboard Confessional’s websiteFeeling emo lately? Who could blame you. Lean into those vibes on Tuesday with Dashboard Confessional’s Chris Carrabba, who will be performing an intimate career-spanning set. All profits from the event — called “As Social As I Get Now” — will benefit Music Health Alliance, and Spotify will be matching donations through their Covid-19 Music Relief project. Pay-what-you-want tickets start at $5. At the end of the livestream, fans will get a preview of the band’s upcoming Spotify singles.When: 8 p.m.Where: The Dashboard Confessional website. Buy tickets here. Health care workers can get free tickets; here’s how.Story Time With Tom HardyNow on BBC iPlayerCalling all children, and anyone who enjoys Tom Hardy’s soothing voice. Every day this week, Hardy, an Oscar-nominated actor, will be reading a story from his garden, with his French bulldog, Blue, nearby. The readings are part of the “Bedtime Stories” series on CBeebies, the BBC’s children’s channel. Hardy — who first appeared on CBeebies in 2016 and is the channel’s most popular “Bedtime Stories” reader — wanted to play a part in keeping children entertained at this challenging time, the BBC said. On Monday, he read “Hug Me” by Simona Ciraolo. Today’s story is “Under The Same Sky” by Robert Vescio and Nicky Johnston. Later this week, he’ll read “There’s a Tiger in the Garden” by Lizzy Stewart, “Don’t Worry, Little Crab” by Chris Haughton, and “The Problem With Problems” by Rachel Rooney and Zehra Hicks.When: Every day this weekWhere: Free on the BBC iPlayer app, and at 1:50 p.m. each day on CBeebies.Peter Libbey contributed research. More