These days, most discussions about film and new media revolve around digital distribution. But this emphasis often misses the point.

The Internet brought more changes to the business of making movies than merely the prospects of watching them online. The advent of social networking, the rise of the blogosphere and the public's growing comfort with online interactivity all contributed to strategies for getting movies made, period, no matter where they got shown. 

Theories are quickly turning into practice.

The news this week that Mike Tyson's 4-year-old daughter Exodus died in a sudden home accident marks a horrible personal tragedy for the victim's family.

They deserve the right to mourn in private. However, Exodus' death signals a new challenge for the retired boxer that's immediately visible to the public, and unavoidably ripe for psychological scrutiny. Audiences can find Tyson telling his story on the big screen, which directly informs this recent, morbid chapter.

When the trailer for Werner Herzog's upcoming Nicolas Cage vehicle, "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans," showed up on YouTube last Thursday, movie buffs were baffled.

Ostensibly a remake of Abel Ferrara's harrowing 1992 cop drama with Harvey Keitel in the lead role, the new version appears to spin the source material into the unlikely mold of a black comedy.