Showbiz Sandbox 644: The Golden Globes Lose Their Luster

January 11, 2024

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association held its first Golden Globes awards ceremony under a new and supposedly improved organization under new ownership. Organizers scrambled to find both a network to broadcast this year’s show, not to mention a host. In the end, the winners weren’t surprising with “Oppenheimer” and “Succession” each taking home five, but the show itself was incredibly bland.

Realistically, neither the Golden Globes or groups like the National Society of Film Critics are good predictors of which films will be favorites at this year’s Academy Awards.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including the best selling books of 2023, a major radio station operator files for bankruptcy and Prince’s “Purple Rain” heads to Broadway.

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Showbiz Sandbox 643: Linear Television Viewership Sinks to New Lows

January 3, 2024

Two annual ratings roundups of television viewing in the United States show that audiences for traditional broadcast and linear cable are in serious decline. The list of the 100 most watched broadcast episodes is mostly sports. And the top ranked channels reveal cable isn’t even really trying to program their networks anymore.

Meanwhile, the domestic box office managed to surpass $9 billion for the first time since the COVID pandemic, with Universal Pictures taking over for Disney as the top earner.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including Gérard Depardieu stirs up more controversy, Taylor Swift sets more sales chart records and Paramount Global is looking for a buyer.

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Showbiz Sandbox 642: What Netflix Subscribers Really Watch

December 19, 2023

Last week Netflix released a huge data dump detailing the viewership of all its programming for the first six months of 2023. The streaming giant is calling it a victory for transparency. While it’s a long way from the granular detail the industry has long sought, it does reveal that almost nobody watches 25% of the 18,000 on the serverice. We discuss other findings the metrics reveal and why Netflix is suddenly so open about releasing data.

Meanwhile, the guilds have started to weigh in with their picks for the top films of this year and providing us with a list of documentaries you should catch up on.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including why Mayim Bialik is out as host of “Jeapordy,” the 25 films added to this year’s National Film Registry and the (legal and professional) verdict on actor Jonathan Majors.

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Showbiz Sandbox 641: Red Sea Film Festival Highlights Emerging Film Market

December 13, 2023

In its third year the Red Sea International Film Festival continues to build on its reputation for programming some of the most engaging and important movies being made in the Middle East. Held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, RSIFF has gone a step further by financially backing productions from the region, which until five years ago didn’t even have movie theaters.

Meanwhile, the awards season is revving up with numerous film critics societies weighing on their top movies from the past year. Plus the Golden Globes announced their nominations for next year’s ceremony.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including how a 65-year-old Christmas song becomes only the third holiday tune to top the Billboard charts, bundling comes to streaming services and Disney’s Bob Iger says the ABC television network is not for sale.

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Showbiz Sandbox 640: Hollywood Has Always Been Addicted To Sequels

November 28, 2023

If moviegoers have grown tired of endless sequels and franchise reboots, as some will have you believe, then Hollywood studios may be in big trouble. In 2024, a new sequel will be released every other week, including another Godzilla movie, Dune 2, a new Ghostbusters, a new Kung Fu Panda, another Mad Max film, Deadpool 3, Inside Out 2, the next Planet of the Apes movie and a new Despicable Me. Yet, Hollywood’s love affair with sequels is as old as the film business itself.

Meanwhile, in the music industry, comedian Bo Burnham hit a landmark on the Billboard charts, the performing rights organization BMI ditches its nonprofit status, and musical duo Daryl Hall and John Oates are suing each other.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including Disney’s horrible year continues with its latest animated film, Taylor Swift gives herself a birthday present and spending on productions for streaming services hits an all time high in Europe.

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Showbiz Sandbox 639: Hollywood Deals With Post-Strike Fallout

November 21, 2023

Hollywood’s dual writers and actors strikes may finally be over, with significant gains in earnings, residuals and AI protections, but the many systemic issues that caused the labor disruption aren’t entirely history. As more of the details of the SAG-AFTRA contract become public we take a look at what they mean for actors and the industry at large.

For instance, how is a hit show going to be defined and how will the new agreements affect upcoming negotiations with unions representing crew, casting directors and teamsters? And why does actress Justine Bateman believe the new contract doesn’t go far enough in addressing synthetic performers?

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including why Spotify is leaving Uruguay, Amazon threatens the United Kingdom over production incentives and the latest Marvel film collapses at the box office.

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Showbiz Sandbox 638: What the Actors Won in Their New Contract

November 14, 2023

After 118 days the actor’s strike finally came to an end as SAG-AFTRA reached an agreement on a new three-year employment contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). Entertainment attorney Jonathan Handel joins us to explain all of the major achievements in wages increases, residuals and artificial intelligence protections the union negotiated, while highlighting the significance the contract will have for the entire industry in future years.

Meanwhile, women dominated this year’s Grammy nominations which were announced last week. Seven of the eight nominees in the big categories of song, record and album of the year are by women or female groups. The only male nominee? Jon Batiste who won big last year.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including why a satellite radio service is moving to your phone, the poor opening of Marvel’s latest superhero movie and how third quarter earnings announcements from entertainment companies underscores the industry’s current generational disruption.

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Showbiz Sandbox 637: Spotify Fighting Fraud With New Payment Plan

November 7, 2023

Spotify is changing how it pays out royalties in an effort to deter fraud, demonetize the flood of new music that almost no one listens to and frustrate those gaming the system. None of the changes will alter the amount of money paid out in royalties each year. But Spotify believes the move may add up to $1 billion a year going to actual musical artists, rather than con artists.

Meanwhile, the actors’ strike continues despite word that SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP were close to a deal on a new three-year contract. Word is that one of the remaining sticking points has to do with how artificial intelligence can be used to create performances in future productions.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including a new Broadway season ramps up with plenty of new productions, Live Nation reports record earnings thanks to sales of concert tickets and Britney Spears becomes a bestselling author.

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Showbiz Sandbox 636: Why Streaming Subscriptions Are Getting More Expensive

November 1, 2023

When Netflix announced its earnings for the third quarter of 2023 it also confirmed that it would be increasing prices for those that don’t want to view ads. Amazon recently said it would also be raising the price for the ad-free tier of Prime Video. It turns out these streaming services have discovered they make more revenue per subscriber when they are willing to watch ads. Now all they need to do is scale their advertising subscriber-base.

Meanwhile, there are signs that talks to settle the actors’ strike may be going well. Though the strike’s damages have already been done with studios postponing releases until 2025 and television ad rates plummeting.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including why music publishers are taking legal action against artificial intelligence companies, how record labels are trying to prevent artists from re-recording their albums and the untimely death of Matthew Perry.

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Showbiz Sandbox 635: Deciphering Hollywood Hits and Misses

October 17, 2023

Hollywood studios often try to camouflage the success or failure of their movies. Sometimes they claim a film is unprofitable, yet go on to make several sequels, as Nu Image did with the “Has Fallen” franchise. Other times a studio insists a movie is a modest box office hit despite paying hundreds of millions for the underlying property, as with Universal Pictures’ recent “The Exorcist: Believer.” It many not matter to moviegoers, but it does to those with profit participation.

There is no denying that Taylor Swift’s “Eras Tour” concert film is a huge success after its weekend in cinemas around the world. Though it didn’t live up to early box office forecasts, its opening was three times bigger than any concert movie in history. It became the highest grossing such film of all time in North America after just three days.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including the latest on the actors’ strike, some questions over Spotify’s audiobook offering and Microsoft finally completes its acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

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