Current Event #1

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118052902?refCatId=13

This summer, Hollywood will face many international market challenges with its summer releases, which are predicted to make billions of dollars globally.  This summer the producing companies will have to dodge around summer events like the Euro Cup the Summer Olympics, which take up a good portion of time and attention during the summer months, taking away from the time people spend going to see movies globally.  There are many big title movies scheduled to come out this summer, including "The Dark Knight Rises," "The Amazing Spider-Man," "The Avengers," and "Bourne Legacy," as well as several lesser-grossing films like "The Dictator," "G.I. Joe: Retalliation," and "Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted."  Some other animated films like "Brave" and the next installment of "The Ice Age" are also set to come out internationally, especially during the breaks of international schools. China has begun to become a big spender on the movies Hollywood shows internationally, especially with the recently released "Hunger Games." However, as China and Russia also begin to expand their markets, the European countries are getting tougher and tougher to add to the market, especially France and Germany who are focusing more on their home-grown movies.  China may also be imposing a blackout month in July to support its local film producers, which could be harmful for Hollywood's films. 

I chose this article because I love going to see movies, and I love to know which movies are coming out for the summer.  The article was interesting because I don't know much about the internation market for our own Hollywood movies, and I've never thought about how other entertainment programs like the Eurocup or the Olympics take away from the movie business.  The article was pretty well written, and gave a lot of information that I didn't already know.  I just recently went to the midnight premier of "Hunger Games," which I thought was really well done.  I'm super excited to see some of the movies coming out this summer, especially "The Dark Knight Rises."