on Aug. 7 laid to rest rules enacted in the era that brought us “Gone with the Wind.” Known as the Paramount Decrees, they ended the dominance of a handful of Hollywood studios over the production and distribution of movies.
Walt Disney and others may now be permitted to snap up movie theaters. The question is whether they will want to. Exhibitors like AMC Entertainment were already under pressure before Covid-19 from the rise of Netflix and Amazon.com. Today’s digital distribution makes theater-only premieres far less relevant. The pandemic has justDisney, Comcast-owned Universal and others – including Paramount Pictures – are choosing instead to debut movies on their own streaming services.
Financing is the biggest issue for developers. A lockdown-induced recession means banks are prepared to provide less funding and are valuing properties more conservatively, according to property experts. That means developers have less cash to invest. But the pandemic and uncertainty around Brexit may also put off the super-rich, too. Last year, a buyer considered an offer of 200 million pounds for the same property,Mayhem in Minsk.
The virus is weakening the grip of Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko. The country’s president won are-election victory on Sunday. Critics reckon the vote was rigged and his victory has been undermined by clashes between thousands of protestors and police, which resulted in at least one death.
Even though Lukashenko is holding onto power for now, the scale of the protests is arguably the biggest challenge he has faced in his 26-year rule. Summer clashes in Belarus were prompted in part by anger over the president’s mishandling of the Covid-19 pandemic. Lukashenko refused to impose a lockdown, instead recommending vodka and saunas as remedies. Leaders elsewhere who have downplayed the threat from the disease, such as Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega or even U.S.
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