Streaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by and presented to an end-user while being delivered by a provider. The verb "to stream" refers to the. Jesse Tyler Ferguson is Fully Committed. A rare comedy, very well done. Broadway previews begin April 2, 2016 at The Lyceum Theatre. Strictly limited engagement. So-called "downvoting" is haunting movie marketers, but new Armenian genocide film 'The Promise' is trying to "fight fire with fire.". Regression is a 2015 Canadian-Spanish-American psychological thriller mystery film directed, produced and written by Alejandro Amenábar. The film stars Ethan Hawke.

Hollywood Is Losing the Battle Against Online Trolls. It had taken years — and the passionate support of Kirk Kerkorian, who financed the film's $1. The Promise, a historical romance set against the backdrop of the Armenian genocide and starring Christian Bale and Oscar Isaac, to reach the screen.

Producers always knew it would be controversial: Descendants of the 1. Armenians killed by the Ottoman Empire shortly after the onset of World War I have long pressed for the episode to be recognized as a genocide despite the Turkish government's insistence the deaths were not a premeditated extermination. The Promise, which opens April 2. But at the Toronto Film Festival premiere in September, producer Mike Medavoy watched the late billionaire's carefully laid plans upended by a digital swarm that appeared out of nowhere. Before the critics in attendance even had the chance to exit Roy Thompson Hall, let alone write their reviews, The Promise's IMDb page was flooded with tens of thousands of one- star ratings. All I know is that we were in about a 9.

Medavoy. Panicked calls were placed to IMDb, but there was nothing the site could do. One thing that they can track is where the votes come from," says Eric Esrailian, who also produced the film, and "the vast majority of people voting were not from Canada. So I know they weren't in Toronto."The online campaign against The Promise appears to have originated on sites like Incisozluk, a Turkish version of 4chan, where there were calls for users to "downvote" the film's ratings on IMDb and You. Tube. A rough translation of one post: "Guys, Hollywood is filming a big movie about the so- called Armenian genocide and the trailer has already been watched 7. We need to do something urgently." Soon afterward, the user gleefully noted The Promise's average IMDb rating had reached a dismaying 1. They know that the IMDb rating will stay with the film forever," says Esrailian. It's a kind of censorship, really."While the attack against The Promise is an extreme case, colored by decades of fraught discussion over the Armenian genocide, it highlights a growing problem in Hollywood. A search of 4chan reveals multiple campaigns against everything from Star Wars spinoff Rogue One to indie Holocaust- denier drama Denial to Justin Simien’s upcoming Netflix series Dear White People, many with step- by- step instructions on how to negatively impact films on sites like IMDb and You.

Tube. Once just a curiosity — for years, Korean fans made an annual ritual of vaulting K- Pop idol Rain to the top of the Time 1. Poll — online trolls now are a movie marketer's worst nightmare. In 2. Watch Mr. Church Online Forbes more. Ghostbusters became a magnet for a downvoting campaign from 4chan and Reddit users. They organized to give hundreds of thousands of "thumbs down" to the film's You.

Tube marketing materials — its first official trailer, the video of its theme song, even a clip of the cast on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Sony began releasing the film's trailers on Facebook, which has no "dislike" button, but by then the trolls had taken hold of the narrative. Watch Nine Dead HD 1080P. It's impossible to say whether they made an impact on the box office, but in the end, Ghostbusters lost an estimated $7.

Studios can't count on the websites hosting the ratings for help. When THR reached out for comment, a spokeswoman for Amazon- owned IMDb referred to the site's FAQ section, which notes that its ratings system is meant to aggregate public opinion. It uses a weighted average but doesn't reveal specifics about how a film's final rating is determined in order "to prevent abuse and minimize attempts to stuff the ballot or otherwise influence the integrity of the voting system."These types of attacks aren’t exclusive to IMDb. Amy Schumer posted a lengthy message on Instagram in March after news sites reported that her new Netflix stand- up special, The Leather Special, had a one- star rating on the streamer. The alt right organized trolls attack everything I do,” reads her post.

They organize to get my ratings down. Meeting in sub Reddit rooms.”  Netflix maintains that its star rating was not an average of all users' ratings but rather a personalized recommendation based on a user’s viewing history, past ratings and the ratings of other members with similar viewing habits.

But a search on Reddit yields multiple calls to downvote Schumer’s special, including several in a single forum with over 3. Netflix ditched its star ratings this month, replacing them with a percentage score of how likely any individual user is to enjoy a film. And for some Netflix members, Schumer’s stand- up special was upgraded from a low star rating to an overwhelmingly positive percent match score. So what's the best way to fight off an army of trolls? The only way may be to raise an army of your own. On IMDb, The Promise now has an average of 4. There are fewer than 1,4.

Esrailian doesn't pretend that all of those high ratings come from people who've seen and loved the film. But he'll take their votes nonetheless: "People realized you had to fight fire with fire."A version of this story first appeared in the April 1. The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.

FULLY COMMITTED Official Broadway Site. Starring five- time Emmy® Award nominee Jesse Tyler Ferguson and directed by Tony® nominee Jason Moore (Pitch Perfect, Avenue Q), FULLY COMMITTED is the “hilarious and touching” (Time Out New York) comedy that takes a sharp skewer to the backside of the restaurant biz.···························You think you’re having a bad day at work?

Meet Sam. He covers the red- hot reservation line at one of New York’s most exclusive restaurants, juggling desperate diners, scheming socialites, name- dropping wannabes, celebrity divas, panicked waiters and a fame- hungry chef. And in this side- splitting tour- de- force, Ferguson plays all 4. For the price of an entrée, FULLY COMMITTED serves up all the splendors and miseries of restaurant life prepared to a fare- thee- well” (New York Magazine). Don’t miss Becky Mode's “tasty concoction of a play” (Variety). Strictly limited engagement—get a table while you still can!