Imax CEO expects “embarrassment of riches” from the movies’ launch in 2021

Despite the number of productions delayed this year by the coronavirus pandemic, Imax CEO Richard Gelfond said on CNBC Monday the New Year could prove to be a lucrative one for his company.

While studios paused recording, film releases were also delayed as cinemas closed across the country in response to the Covid-19 outbreak earlier this year. Gelfond expects at least some of the revenue that was missed in 2020 will be amortized if optimistic forecasts to contain the global health crisis work as hoped and give Imax a boost when movie lovers look for immersive entertainment they can’t can at home.

“In a way, 2021 is an embarrassment of wealth when things open at the beginning of the year,” he said in an interview with Closing Bell. “There is a lot of content, and that applies worldwide.”

Highly anticipated films Gelfond is betting on release next year include “Top Gun: Maverick”, “Black Widow” and “Fast & Furious 9”. Each of their planned releases for 2020 has been postponed to 2021. Imax also has contact with overseas box offices with locations in 82 countries where other films are also lagging behind, Gelfond said. North America accounts for a third of Imax’s global business.

Imax had its most successful year in 2019 with box office sales of $ 1.035 billion. It was the second year in a row that the company had revenues of more than $ 1 billion. This streak was broken in 2020.

Imax sales reached $ 395.7 million in 2019 for three consecutive years of at least $ 370 million. Sales have suffered heavily in the last three quarters and are 70% lower than in the same period last year of 70 months.

“Fortunately, there is already a large backlog of films,” said Gelfond.

As vaccination campaigns begin around the globe and health professionals plan potential reopening schedules, companies are planning when to expect business to rebound to pre-pandemic levels.

Gelfond plans to improve business at the Imax theaters by the summer with the launch of Top Gun: Maverick starring Tom Cruise and Jennifer Connelly.

“I think by then you will be nearing 100% and then it will surely be fully open by the fourth quarter,” he said. Given the optimism that the US economy will recover quickly after the country hits ideal immunity levels, “I think it is very likely that things will open up here from the second quarter onwards.”

Imax’s shares rose 4% on Monday to trade at $ 17.70. The stock has fallen 13% since the start of the year.

Trump is embarrassed when greater than 100 Republicans within the Home vote to overturn his NDAA veto

Trump’s veto on the NDAA was overridden in the House when more than 300 House members and over 100 Republicans voted to override his veto.

Here is a snapshot of the vote count:

Trump’s veto never had a snowball chance of being upheld. It’s an embarrassing defeat for a president who has only lost since November 3rd. Trump lost to Joe Biden at the ballot box. He lost nearly 60 legal challenges in the judicial system elections. Now he’s shown that his power is so limited that only 66 Republicans in the House voted with him to maintain his veto.

Veto overrides are always embarrassing for presidents, but the NDAA overrides are especially bad because the veto was made for petty and selfish reasons. Trump vetoed the entire NDAA and put the troops at risk because he wanted Confederate names to stay on military bases and he’s furious on Twitter for checking it out.

The loss in the house was bad for Trump, but nothing compared to the vote that could be awaiting him in the Senate.

For more discussions on this story, join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC groups.

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jason

Mr. Easley is the Founder / Executive Editor, White House Press Pool, and a Congressional Correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a bachelor’s degree in political science. His thesis focused on public order with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and professional memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and the American Political Science Association

12 Christmas Dates’ Garrett defends his seek for love

Imagine your favorite Hallmark movie come to life. In the picturesque, snow-capped mountains of Austria, HBO Max’s 12 Christmas dates follow three main roles:Chad Savage, Christian Believe Fernandez and Garrett Marcantel– when they set out to find true love. Or at least someone special to bring home for the holidays.

And while Faith and Chad’s endings on the show were TV magic, thankfully Garrett looked a little different. Presented with six applicants, the real estate developer who came out gay five years ago … didn’t pick anyone. Now that fans (and his dates) are questioning his decision, the 29-year-old looks back on his proverbial journey and why he has no regrets.

Before the pandemic, I was living my normal life in NYC when I received a DM request on Instagram. The news was about a Christmas dating show and I thought it sounded like a scam. I mean a Christmas dating show? Come on. But shortly after, I received a follow-up email from the same person and they seemed pretty serious about talking this through. I thought to myself, “OK, I’ll give you 10 minutes and listen to it.” I didn’t know how those 10 minutes would change my life …

On the way to 12 days of Christmas I had no expectations. I was open and viewed it as the beginning of an adventure. It was such a random opportunity that I thought maybe something very special was about to unfold. I love meeting new people and living in a castle. When I heard the dress code was suits and tuxedos, I thought why the hell not?

New York is investigating potential Covid vaccine fraud, in response to Cuomo

Andrew Cuomo, Governor of New York State, speaks at a press conference in New York City on September 8, 2020.

Spencer Platt | Getty Images

The New York attorney general is investigating whether a health clinic in the state has fraudulently received Covid vaccine doses and distributed them to the public, Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Monday.

Cuomo declined to provide details of the investigation as it is ongoing. However, he noted that it is the ParCare Community Health Network, which the state has identified as a health care provider in Orange County, New York. ParCare allegedly misrepresented itself to the state health department in order to receive vaccine doses, Cuomo said.

New York State Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker said in a statement released over the weekend that the clinic may have “diverted” it [the vaccine] to the public – contrary to the state’s plan to administer it first to frontline healthcare workers and residents and nursing home workers. “

Because vaccine doses are so scarce, states are rationing vials to specific priority groups before making them more widely available.

ParCare said Monday in a statement to CNBC that it would “actively work with the investigation”. A representative from the clinic added that “Cuomo himself emphasized the importance of getting all the facts and that making the facts available to the state is exactly what we have done and will continue to do.”

It is among the earliest cases of suspected fraud in the US related to Covid vaccines, but it is unlikely to be the last, Cuomo said, adding that fraud involving a valuable commodity is “almost an inevitable function of human nature ” be.

“We want to send a clear signal to the providers that we will find out and will be prosecuted if you break the law on these vaccinations,” Cuomo said at a press conference on Monday. “You will see more and more of it. The vaccine is a precious commodity and you have a lot of people who want the vaccine.”

New York State Police have conducted a criminal investigation, Cuomo noted, and will refer the case to New York AG Letitia James, whose office has not returned CNBC’s request for comment.

To send a clear signal to potential vaccine mockers, Cuomo said he would sign an executive order on Monday setting out the consequences of defrauding the state in the distribution of vaccines. He said the state could fine violators up to $ 1 million and revoke the health care provider’s license to practice in New York.

“We mean this very seriously,” he said. “We’ll find out and it’s not worth risking your license and any possible civil and criminal penalties.”

Cuomo described the penalties as “the strictest in the nation,” adding that New York is taking a “hyper-cautious, hyper-vigilant” approach.

“We put the penalties in place. We put the security in place, but when you deal with thousands of people, hundreds of organizations, and one valuable asset, expect some level of fraud,” Cuomo said. “As surely as night follows day, you will have people cheating on the government.”

“I understand the value of a vial,” he added. “Some of these vials can make 10 vaccines. You could sell that one vial, so I understand the temptation.”

Biden invokes the Protection Manufacturing Act to advance Covid vaccine manufacturing

President-elect Joe Biden plans to enact Defense Production Act to boost coronavirus vaccine production after taking office next month, a member of his Covid-19 advisory team said Monday.

“You will see how he invokes the Defense Production Act,” said Dr. Celine Gounder, member of Biden’s Covid-19 Advisory Board, during an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box”. “There it should be ensured that the personal protective equipment, the test capacity and the raw materials for the vaccines are produced in sufficient quantities.”

The War Manufacturing Act, which allows the president to force companies to prioritize manufacturing for national security, could help the U.S. secure components and specialty products that manufacturers need to make the Covid vaccines. Biden’s team has weighed up whether to invoke the vaccine-making law, NBC News reported last week.

The New York Times reported last week that Pfizer, which makes one of the two emergency Covid vaccines approved in the United States, was in September calling on the Trump administration to help the pharmaceutical giant source some supplies needed for production however, disappointed by a lack of answer.

White House officials have not returned CNBC’s request for comment.

For weeks, the US has been negotiating with Pfizer about additional doses of the vaccine in addition to the original 100 million doses the US set. Last week Pfizer announced it had signed a contract to ship an additional 100 million cans to the US by July.

The Times reported, citing people familiar with the negotiations, that under the deal, the US government had agreed to enact the Defense Manufacturing Act to “provide better access to around nine specialty products for Pfizer Manufacture of the vaccine will be needed “.

Pfizer representatives have not returned CNBC’s request for comment.

A representative from the Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement to CNBC that the Trump administration has invoked the Defense Production Act 18 times in relation to vaccine production.

“Efforts to expand production capacity across the country’s pharmaceutical manufacturing base include: improving facilities and production lines with specialized tools and personnel, optimizing the supply chain for raw materials, investing in the production of consumables such as vials and syringes, and increasing the capacity / Finish lines, “said the spokesman.

Through Operation Warp Speed, the U.S. government invested in the efforts of six companies to bring a Covid vaccine to market, but only two have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration: Pfizer’s and Moderna’s. A concern of Pfizer’s appeal to the Defense Manufacturing Act is that it gives preference to the manufacturer over others and provides Pfizer with unfair access to required vaccine components.

Gounder did not explain how or whether Biden intended to apply the law fairly. Her comments come as she and other Biden advisors question the vaccination schedule set by President Donald Trump and his health officials.

Less than 2 million people had received the vaccine as of Saturday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This is well below the government’s previously set target to vaccinate 20 million people before the end of the month, despite Adm. Brett Giroir, deputy health minister, has stated that there are delays between states and the CDC data.

Trump coronavirus vaccine tsar Moncef Slaoui told reporters during a press conference Wednesday that the surge in vaccinations has been slower than expected.

“We are here to help states accelerate appropriately,” he said. The goal of 20 million vaccinations is “unlikely to be achieved”.

Lori Loughlin was launched from jail after nearly two months in jail

It looks like Lori Loughlin’s vacation behind bars came to a quick end after spending nearly two months in a California jail for her role in the college admissions scandal.

According to TMZ, actress Lori is now out after checking in on October 30th. She was originally supposed to surrender to the authorities on November 19, but turned around almost three weeks earlier. Now that she’s not there, she’s released under supervision for two years and given 250 hours of community service.

Her husband, who is still behind bars, was sentenced to five months in prison. He surrendered to the authorities in November.

As previously reported, both Lori and her husband Mossimo Giannulli were guilty of their roles in the college admissions scandal in May. In addition to serving time behind bars and doing community service, Lori was fined $ 150,000 and Mossimo was fined $ 250,000.

While they were both in prison, their daughter Olivia Jade joined Jada Pinkett Smith, Willow Smith and Adrienne Banfield-Norris on the Red Table Talk, where she spoke for the first time about her family’s involvement in the scandal.

During her interview, Olivia Jade said, “It has been difficult for anyone, no matter what the situation, you don’t want your parents to go to jail but I think it is necessary that we keep going and moving forward. What happened was wrong and I think everyone in my family can look at it and be so confused that was a big mistake, but I think what is so important to me is to learn from the mistake. Not getting embarrassed and punished and never getting a second chance … I’m 21. I feel like I deserve a second chance to pay back myself to show that I’ve grown. “

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JPMorgan acquires vital bank card rewards enterprise with a guess whereas touring

JPMorgan Chase has agreed to buy one of the largest third-party credit card loyalty providers to bet that pleasure travel will rebound strongly after the coronavirus pandemic subsides, CNBC has learned.

The bank agreed on Monday to acquire the technology platforms, travel agent, gift card and points business from cxLoyalty Group, a privately held company based in Stamford, Connecticut, according to a person with direct knowledge of the business.

JPMorgan is adding approximately half of the company’s 3,100 employees to the deal and will be building a new business within its retail division, reporting to Marianne Lake, director of consumer credit for the bank. The transaction will close this week, but the person declined to say how much the bank paid.

“People around the world want to vacation and travel again, and hopefully this will become a reality for many in the near future,” Lake said in a statement. “By taking over the travel and rewards business from cxLoyalty, our millions of Chase customers will be able to improve their experience once they are ready, comfortable and confident.”

JPMorgan had partnered with cxLoyalty for its popular credit card rewards program until the bank switched to Expedia in 2018. Now, finally, the bank will again be using cxLoyalty as the technology platform for their travel program, with an emphasis on personalized recommendations based on users’ travel history.

A major reason JPMorgan had to buy the business was that by acquiring cxLoyalty’s technology it will have both ends of a two-way platform. With millions of credit card users and direct relationships with hotel and airline companies, the bank can ultimately receive unique offers from these partners.

The reward company serves many of the largest US card companies, including Citigroup, Capital One, US Bancorp, and Mastercard. According to its own statements, the cxLoyalty Group has a total of 3,000 customers and marketing partners who serve 70 million consumers.

The deal will make Todd Siegel, CEO of cxLoyalty Group Holdings since 2013, head of the new JPMorgan business, according to a separate statement. JPMorgan is not buying the company’s other main business, but rather the Global Customer Engagement Division.

Retail leads the best way as girls tackle the function of CEO

When it became known in late November that Lauren Hobart would take over the management of Dick’s Sporting Goods in early 2021, the American company reached another important milestone for inclusivity, which was largely driven by retailers.

A record 41 female CEOs will soon lead Fortune 500 companies, provided no additional appointments or departures are made, as Hobart takes over as Dick’s current CEO Ed Stack in February. Ten will be responsible for retailers.

Recruiters and consultants say that customer facing companies are realizing they need a top executive who understands the American consumer and that most of the people who make purchasing decisions in households are women.

Hobart will join a list that includes Kohl’s CEO Michelle Gass, Gap CEO Sonia Syngal, Best Buy CEO Corie Barry, and the new CVS Health CEO Karen Lynch, who will take over Larry Merlo on February 1st.

“There are definitely intentions,” said Lorraine Hariton, CEO of Catalyst, which promotes the advancement of women in the workplace. “More and more companies are trying to mirror their customers.”

“In many cases, in order to become CEO of a Fortune 500 company, they work their way up within the company,” said Hariton, citing Best Buy’s Barry as an example. She entered the electronics retail business in 1999 and was promoted to chief financial officer, a position she held a little over four years before becoming CEO in June 2019.

The upheaval many retailers are facing as the rapid growth of e-commerce is transforming the industry has also left an opportunity for some companies to mess things up and choose a female executive director, recruiters say. The so-called glass cliff is not a new phenomenon. It refers to women who take on leadership roles in times of crisis or downturn.

“Retail has changed a lot too,” said Hariton. Some companies could try to attract someone “from the outside with different minds,” she said. “Women tend to be socialized to have more empathy and more collaboration – interpersonal skills that are really important traits.”

Jill Soltau, CEO of JC Penney, took over the company in 2018 when the crippled department store chain posted quarterly losses and closed hundreds of stores. She is in the process of getting Penney out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy. To be successful, she must recruit shoppers in Penney’s stores to buy clothes at a time when clothes sales are declining.

Tapestry CEO Joanne Crevoiserat took over the leadership position earlier this year after former boss Jide Zeitlin resigned on allegations by a woman he posed as a photographer more than a decade ago.

Elizabeth Stephenson, executive director of consumer products practice at AlixPartners, says that some of the most recent CEO appointments have only found talented women who have been in leadership positions for years.

“Over time, there has been a real insight into getting women into the right developmental experiences to prepare them for these CEO roles,” she said. “And I think you see this virtuous cycle come to a head.”

There was also an urge to get more women into boardrooms. Nasdaq made a proposal earlier this month that would require its 3,000-plus companies listed on the stock exchange to improve boardroom variety by adding at least one woman and at least one minority or LGBTQ person to their boards of directors. If approved by the SEC, the new regulations would require all companies listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange to publicly disclose their diversity statistics.

According to the annual Crist | Kolder Volatility Report, which tracks executive moves at S&P 500 and Fortune 500 companies, retail has the largest proportion of female board members at 32.8%. That is better than female representation on boards of financial companies with 26.5% and technology with 25.8%, according to Crist | Kolder.

Women can be a “secret weapon” in boardrooms, said Katherine Black, a consumer practice partner at Kearney, a global management consultancy. Prior to consulting, Black was a retail manager at Macy’s and Kroger.

“In some cases, it can be a disadvantage for women leaders not to have as complex networks in certain places as old boys,” she said.

However, this can be seen as a key benefit when a retailer is going through a trend reversal, said Black, “Typically, someone needs to think about something really fresh and different and be ready to do something else and move on.” away from the norm. “

It’s worth noting that the number of women running the largest US companies is still modest. Further advances are expected to be made in the coming years, which may still be driven by retailers.

“There will continue to be an acceleration of women into these leadership roles, and as far as retail goes, I think we may see more of that as so much change is happening in retail right now,” said Hariton of Catalyst.

“When you are able to not just source broadly within your organization but also go beyond hiring from within, you will have the opportunity to deal with more diverse candidates and female candidates. We can continue with the turmoil in retail.” to see it outperform in terms of women’s inclusion. “

These are the movie star weddings we won’t anticipate in 2021

After it turned out that the third time wasn’t the charm of the Bachelor in Paradise success story, the shopkeeper more or less abandoned an attempt to find a new place for his Dallas vows, which had been since the original May date was pushed back several times. “I didn’t postpone my wedding once, not twice, but three times, and you know what? We even had to change a fourth date, but we didn’t even send out invitations for it,” she revealed on her What a Girl Wants podcast August.

But it’s not the wasted postage stamps or the belated clothes dreams that make them weep. “It was just really crazy because we had this great master plan that we would get married in May, that we would travel around the world this summer, and when autumn came we would have a family,” she said. “Now that autumn is approaching, I’m kind of sad because I had this master plan that I would get pregnant right away and we would have a baby in 2021, but that’s not the case.”

Their year was not without milestones, however, the two are moving into their new Texas pad and are looking forward to celebrating with the entire Bachelor Nation in 2021. “We don’t want to get married without every single person we want there,” she told Brides. “And at the moment it is not possible, so we are ready to wait!

Trump indicators reduction and finance invoice

U.S. President Donald Trump leaves the White House in Washington, DC on December 12, 2020.

Aandrew Caballero-Reynolds | AFP | Getty Images

President Donald Trump signed a massive coronavirus support and government funding package on Sunday. For five days he panicked Washington by suggesting that he veto the bill, which he believed was a “disgrace”.

He declined to approve the legislation for days after receipt after exceeding a Saturday deadline to prevent an estimated 14 million people from temporarily losing unemployment insurance.

The move extends the extended unemployment benefits into March, but millions are expected to lose a week in benefits for these people as Trump was late in signing the bill. Unemployed Americans who are eligible for a $ 300 weekly allowance will also receive the extra money later than they could have.

The government would have closed Tuesday during a deadly pandemic if Trump hadn’t approved the legislation.

The president called the bill a “shame” on Tuesday evening – after Congress approved it after talks with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Trump claimed he opposed the bill because it included $ 600 instead of $ 2,000 in direct payments to most Americans and because the $ 1.4 trillion portion of government spending included foreign aid. The President’s White House has included these funds in its budgets, and Trump has largely stayed out of the legislative negotiations.

After Trump expressed support for larger checks, the Democrats adopted his stance. The democratically held house plans to vote on Monday on a measure to increase payments to $ 2,000.

In a statement on Sunday evening, Trump said the Senate would also “initiate the process for a vote that increases the checks to $ 2,000.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell mentioned no plans to include the legislation if the House passes it in a separate statement hailing the bill. Most of the Kentucky Republican Caucus has opposed major direct payments.

After Trump signed the bill, House spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Urged Trump to urge Republicans to support the bill in order to increase the amount of cash deposits. In a statement, she said, “Any Republican vote against this bill is a vote to deny the financial hardship of families and to deny the American people the relief they need.”

The president also said he would send Congress a “formal resignation” requesting that what he calls “wasteful items” be removed from the bill. Legislators cannot choose to cancel the previously approved money as the legislation passed both houses of Congress with overwhelming support from both parties.

Trump also said that “Congress” – without indicating whether both houses agreed to the plan – “promised” that the provision in Section 230, which provides internet platforms with legal liability protection, “will be reviewed and either terminated or fundamentally reformed”. He also claimed Congress would look into his baseless allegations that widespread fraud cost him the 2020 elections. As Congress drafted the coronavirus aid deal, Trump spent much of his time spreading conspiracy theories and trying to reverse the election results.

The White House had signaled for weeks that Trump would sign the pandemic relief bill passed by the divided Congress. His threat to defy the legislation shocked Capitol Hill and made Americans struggle to adjust their plans.

For example, the airlines had moved to bring back employees with $ 15 billion in wage support included on the bill.

Many economists and lawmakers have called the $ 900 billion coronavirus aid package inadequate. Still, it will send a dose of the help it needs as the virus overwhelms the health system and economy.

The measure provides for a weekly unemployment supplement of USD 300 per week until mid-March. It temporarily expands programs that allow freelancers and gig workers to get unemployment benefits and increases the number of weeks unemployed Americans can get help.

It sends $ 600 direct payments to most people and adds $ 600 for each child. The legislation provides for another round of small business support, the majority of which comes from $ 284 billion in Paycheck Protection Program loans.

Almost $ 30 billion will be spent distributing Covid-19 vaccines to ensure Americans can get free shots. The move also provides more than $ 20 billion in government testing and contact tracing efforts.

Together with the extension of the eviction moratorium, $ 25 billion will be spent on rental support. The airline’s payroll is part of a transportation relief of more than $ 45 billion.

The package also provides $ 82 billion for K-12 and higher education.

Democrats have announced that after President-elect Joe Biden takes office on Jan. 20, they will be quick to push for another relief bill that will be characterized by direct payments and state and local government aid. Your ability to pass a bill will depend in part on whether Republicans retain control of the Senate in two runoff elections on January 5th in Georgia.

“This relief legislation is a down payment of what is needed to destroy the virus, put money in the pockets of the American people, and honor our heroes – our healthcare workers, first responders, transit and sanitation workers, and teachers,” said Pelosi.