Saturday Hot Links

Time for the 350th installment of Saturday Hot Links, your week’s essential reading about movies, TV, streaming, Hollywood, and other things of writerly interest.

Can the 2018 Box Office Keep Up Its Record-Breaking Momentum?

Summer Box Office Heats Up, But Some Studios Left in the Cold.

North American Box Office Hits Record $3.33 Billion in Second Quarter.

San Diego Comic Con 2018 schedule, exclusives, and everything else you need to know.

South Korean Exhibition Giant CJ CGV to Triple Global Screen Count by 2020.

More Sony Layoffs In Picture In Drive To Up Profit Picture?

Weinstein Co. Lays Off More Than 20 Employees.

There Are Only 153 Days a Year When Work Actually Gets Done in Hollywood.

MGM Hikes Debt Capital to $2.5 Billion.

Warner Bros Proposes $100 Million Aerial Tramway Between Hollywood Sign and Burbank Lot.

Disney is Supporting Young Women Filmmakers From Around the World.

Disney Pushes ‘Indiana Jones 5’ a Year to 2021.

The Beautiful, Ugly, and Possessive Hearts of ‘Star Wars’.

Imagine Opens Applications For Inaugural Creative Boot Camp Impact 1.

Thai Cave Rescue Movie in Early Stages of Development.

‘Eighth Grade’: How a Twentysomething Dude Made the Year’s Best Film About Female Coming-of-Age.

Bo Burnham’s Eighth Grade Is a Haunting Portrait of Adolescence.

David Cronenberg Says Cinema Isn’t Dying, It’s “Changing, Evolving”.

Jason Blum Has a Secret for Making Great Horror Films: Hire from TV.

A ‘Die Hard’ Virgin Watches the Film for the First Time on Its 30th Anniversary.

How ‘Die Hard’ Changed the Action Game.

Where Has Blockbuster Romance Gone?

Independent Movie Theaters Can Survive the Rise of Streaming.

There is Literally No Good Reason to Remake ‘Child’s Play’.

A Guide to Magical Realism in Film.

The Birth and Legacy of Cinema Verité.

The Transformation from Novel to Arthouse Film.

Alamo Drafthouse Leads U.S. Theater Chains in Eliminating Plastic Straws

Blockbuster Video’s Last Two Alaska Stores To Close, Leaving A Lone Oregon Outlet.

BAFTA Announces Student Film Winners.

Meet Canadian cinema’s Class of 2018.

Dwayne Johnson’s $12 Trillion Movie Damage Bill.

MoviePass Parent to Raise $1.2 Billion in Bid to Keep Company Growing.

A Hollywood Scammer Is Busy Impersonating Kathleen Kennedy, Amy Pascal.

Laura Dern: #MeToo Has Already Changed the Way Hollywood Treats the Next Generation.

Sera Gamble, Amy Berg, Lauren LeFranc on Showrunning Post-Me Too.

Emmy Nominations 2018: Complete List.

Emmy Nominations 2018: The Surprises and the Snubs.

Emmys: Netflix and HBO Set to Compete on Equal Footing.

Megan Amram’s Emmy nom, for “An Emmy for Megan,” is a big meta-victory.

How Netflix Broke HBO’s 17-Year Emmys Streak.

Netflix is Wiping Out All of Its User Reviews Next Month.

HBO’s Push to Get Bigger and Broader: 7 Burning Questions.

TV Dramas Are Too Quiet.

Twitter to Purge Locked Accounts From Follower Counts, Warns of Potential ‘Significant Drop’ in Followers.

Twitter nixes 70M accounts in two months amid crackdown.

Rise: China’s Tech Sector Squares Up to Silicon Valley.

Screenwriting Master Class tip of the week

Every fall, I offer the Core curriculum: Eight one-week online classes covering everything you need to know — and more! — about screenwriting theory. Here is the 2018 schedule:

August 27, 2018 — Core I: Plot

September 10, 2018 — Core II: Concept

September 24, 2018 — Core III: Character

October 8, 2018 — Core IV: Style

October 22, 2018 — Core V: Dialogue

November 5, 2018 — Core VI: Scene

November 19, 2018 — Core VII: Theme

December 3, 2018 — Core VIII: Time

You can enroll in one class to focus on a particular problem area for you. Or you can take multiple classes. And if you’re feeling really ambitious because you know how important it is to have a clear take on the craft of screenwriting, consider the Core Package. All eight classes at nearly 50% off their retail price.

It may seem early to discuss the upcoming Core classes, however they have a way of filling enrollment, so I wanted to folks a heads-up.

For more information on the Core curriculum, go here.