Countless ways to remember Elvis

The King may be gone (or not, depending on whom you ask), but his music lives on. Elvis Presley fans in his hometown of Memphis, Tenn., marked the 40th anniversary of his death this past week with a vigil at Graceland and a concert hosted by his ex-wife, Priscilla Presley, that featured videos of his performances accompanied by a 40-piece ensemble. The concert was a stop on the “Elvis: Live in Concert” tour that wraps up Saturday in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Presley remains a media curiosity, even four decades after his death, which journalists commemorated this week with articles about everything from his connections to African-American culture to his growing fan club in Qatar—and, of course, the theory he is still alive.

Last month, Presley’s archivist, Ernst Jorgensen, released a box set of every recording the singer made before he signed with RCA Records and became a sensation. Elvis Presley: A Boy from Tupelo includes outtakes, live recordings, and radio broadcasts recorded from 1953 to 1955. The set also includes a 120-page book of photos that Jorgensen crowdsourced from fans who saw Presley perform in the early days. The music, Jorgensen said, shows the genius of Elvis and his contemporaries in birthing a new genre of music. “He didn’t just get lucky,” Jorgensen told the Los Angeles Times. “Chuck Berry didn’t just get lucky. Little Richard didn’t just get lucky. They adjusted to a new form of music that wasn’t like any other form of music. They did something original, something that affected everything that came later.”

An AMC movie theater Flickr/Photo by Samantha Celera

Box office blues

Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, and the brave soldiers at Dunkirk could not save the box office from a summer slump. This summer’s movie ticket sales trail last year’s by 12.4 percent, or $500 million, as viewers increasingly prefer at-home, web-based entertainment from Netflix, Amazon, and other providers. AMC, the largest theater chain in the United States, saw its stock price fall recently because of slow sales and its forecast for “a very challenging” third quarter.

While a few individual films, like those referenced above, had strong showings the last three months, overall the season had fewer blockbusters than last year and more underperforming titles. Pirates of the Caribbean, Transformers, and The Mummy all released unimpressive franchise installments. The earlier success of 2017 movies such as Beauty and the Beast, Get Out, and The Fate of the Furious have held the year’s overall decline to just 4.2 percent behind last year. And a few more big flicks anticipated this fall, especially Justice League and The Last Jedi, could further buoy sales. But it’s a sign of the times that the silver screen has to work so hard to keep up with the small screen—a trend that’s not likely to reverse soon.

An AMC movie theater Flickr/Photo by Samantha Celera

Grey’s creator cuts the cord

While home entertainment is winning the battle over where people watch movies and shows, Netflix is fighting for control over what people watch. The streaming company just orchestrated a coup by bringing producer Shonda Rimes over from ABC. Rhimes’ current offerings on the network, including Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, and How to Get Away with Murder, will stay put, but she plans to produce new shows for Netflix. Rhimes’ defection came on the heels of an announcement by ABC owner Disney that it plans to start two new streaming services, one for children’s movies and one for sports content from ESPN. That means no more Disney or Pixar movies on Netflix starting in 2019.

Swift vindication

A jury sided with Taylor Swift and her family this week in a civil lawsuit over an alleged sexual assault. DJ David Mueller sued the pop star for $3 million, saying her accusation that he groped her during a 2013 photo-op cost him his job and livelihood. Swift countersued for a symbolic $1, saying she wanted to set an example for victims of sexual assault. A jury in Denver ruled this week that Mueller did touch Swift inappropriately and that Mueller’s job loss was not the fault of Swift’s mother and radio liaison, who reported the incident to his bosses.

Keep on the sunny side

The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam orchestrated a live event on Facebook this week to allow people to view all five versions of the painter’s Sunflowers masterpieces side by side. Vincent van Gogh painted the works between 1888 and 1889 while he lived in Arles in the south of France. The artist painted them to impress his friend and fellow impressionist painter Paul Gauguin. A recording of the event and more details about each of the paintings are available online.