Why Sequels Will Never Die

The collapse of movie audiences, which far pre-dates Jaws and summer blockbusters, requires studios to heavily market their films since Americans’ default position on movies these days is not to see them. Studios have cannily created a summer of tent-pole features to focus audience attention on a handful of months when we’re taught to expect to go to the movies. Iron Man III would probably make a billion dollars if it were released on a Tuesday morning in March. But lesser films might benefit from debuting in a season when audiences are predisposed to going to the movies.

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Forget the Microsoft Soap Opera. It’s the Verizon Deal That Matters

To be sure, Microsoft’s purchase of Nokia’s cellphone business makes for a better story. The $7.17 billion deal spans the big-time patent wars, a simmering drama over the CEO succession plan at Microsoft, and the tragic spectacle of two aging tech giants flailing around in search of relevance — not to mention all those shiny gadgets.

But as that melodrama unfolded, some real money was being spent elsewhere in the mobile game. In what’s being described as one of the biggest deals in corporate history, Verizon agreed to pay $130 billion to British telecom Vodafone in order to buy out the multinational’s stake in Verizon Wireless, the second largest wireless operation in the U.S.

More at wired.com

ET, IT…and the rest