Showbiz Sandbox 182: Last Year’s Movies Provide A Wealth of Riches
February 18, 2013
For the past four years blogger Aaron Rich has been reviewing the movies he sees on his blog All The Movies I Watch, with a strong emphasis on independent and international titles. Last year he saw more than 500 films and says it was a good year for movies, as long as you ignored what Hollywood had to offer. Rich joins us to discuss some of his best (and worst) movies of 2012, many of which may be unfamiliar to you.
As we roll towards another Oscars ceremony, it looks as if Ben Affleck’s “Argo” is poised to take home the year’s biggest prize; Best Picture. This past weekend it topped the Writers Guild Awards, along with “Zero Dark Thirty”. We have a few last minute predictions for who might be picking up this year’s Academy Awards.
At some point all of this year’s movies will wind up on video services such as Netflix. Yet we’ll never know how popular they are on Netflix because the company won’t divulge viewership numbers. This is making it very difficult to determine whether its own original programming, such as “House of Cards”, is a success.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including how movie ticket prices went up in 2012, how Universal Music Publishing Group hopes to capitalize cover versions of its songs on YouTube, and why rock legend Chubby Checker is suing a software developer for stealing his name.
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Hulu Has the Whole Criterion Collection This Weekend
http://www.vulture.com/2013/02/criterion-collection-hulu.html
‘Die Hard’ Rockets to No. 1 With Biggest Bow of 2013
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/foreign-box-office-die-hard-422041
WGA Awards: ‘Zero Dark Thirty,’ ‘Argo’ Take Top Screenplay Honors
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/wga-awards-zero-dark-thirty-422048
The Best Films Of 2012
http://allthemoviesiwatch.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-best-films-of-2012_2.html
The Worst Films Of 2012
http://allthemoviesiwatch.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-worst-films-of-2012.html
More Cash for Covers
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB1000142….
DOJ Clears Random, Penguin Merger
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/industry-….
DC Comics Under Fire for Hiring Anti-Gay Author Orson Scott Card to Write Superman
http://www.wired.com/underwire/2013/02/orson-scott-card-superman/?cid=co5823024
DreamWorks Plans Three Theme Parks in Russia
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/dreamworks-plans-three-theme-parks-421900
DreamWorks Could Have Aaved U.S. Jobs If They made ‘Kung Fu Panda 3’ in U.S., Not In China
http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2013/02/14/source-dreamworks-could-have-saved-us-jobs-if-made-kung-fu-panda-3-here-and-not/
Movie Ticket Prices Slightly Higher in 2012
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/movie-ticket-prices-slightly-higher-420485
Paul Schrader’s ‘The Canyons’ Gets Picked Up By IFC
http://www.indiewire.com/article/paul-schraders-the-canyons-gets-picked-up-by-ifc
Chubby Checker Sues Penis-Measuring App of the Same Name
http://www.gigwise.com/news/79572/chubby-checker-sues-penis-measuring-app-of-the-same-name
Amazon’s Hulu Move: In-Season Streaming of CBS’s Under the Dome
http://paidcontent.org/2013/02/11/amazon-gets-its-first-in-season-streaming-exclusive-with-cbss-under-the-dome/
Netflix Says “House of Cards” Is Its Most-Watched Program
http://allthingsd.com/20130212/netflix-house-of-cards-its-most-watched-program/
For House of Cards and Arrested Development, Netflix Favors Big Data Over Big Ratings
http://gigaom.com/2013/02/12/netflix-ratings-big-data-original-content/
DreamWorks Animation To Develop First Netflix Original Kids’ Show
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-dreamworks-animation-to-develop-first-netflix-original-kids-show-20130211,0,3746061.story
Fall 2012 TV Body Count Study Results
http://www.funeralwise.com/studies/tv-body-count-study-results-fall-2012
It was a very good year for movies…unless you were a Hollywood studio, in which case you made a lot of bad movies and a lot of money. Actually, that’s a good year as far as they’re concerned. But if you want suggestions on indie films worth your time, check out our interview with blogger Aaron Rich on the best movies of the year (he should know, he saw more than 500 in 2012!) and compare his list to mine.
Michael… why not list out a few of your favorite films from 2012 right here in the comments? I’m sure listeners would love to hear which films you think are worth seeing.