- Newsmaker: Business Riders of the (Electrical) Storm - Despite power alerts and rolling blackouts, California is surprising resistant to "electricity shock." Mitchell Benson, of the Wall Street Journal, says that a temperate climate and shifting work to off-peak hours have made the situation tolerable. What's more troubling is the unpredictability of blackouts.
Is It Curtains for Movie Theaters?
Is it "curtains" for neighborhood movie houses? Theater operators have gone into debt to build glitzy mega-plexes with plush stadium seating, digital sound, and gourmet concession stands. Supporters claim that mega-plexes benefit a fragmented audience, affording a combination of mainstream and specialty films. But in an age of cultural globalization, critics foresee shrinking choices. Will mega-plexes afford more supply for viewers' demand, or will they bring the decline of film culture? We ask those who make and distribute the movies.