Showbiz Sandbox 119: Thompson On Toronto and Telluride

The Toronto International Film Festival has become a mandatory stop for studios opening awards contenders in the fall. The last four best picture winners at the Academy Awards, including The King’s Speech, all played in Toronto. Along with the smaller, cozier Telluride Film Festival, Toronto is where some films first start picking up awards buzz. Anne Thompson, editor of IndieWire’s Thompson on Hollywood, just returned from both festivals and provides a few details to those of us who weren’t lucky enough to go.

The Emmy Awards were held on Sunday evening and once again “Mad Men” and “Modern Family” won top honors. Though many of the award winners were predictable, there were still a few surprises, such as Melissa McCarthy from the sitcom “Mike & Molly” walking off with lead actress in a comedy. The Emmy telecast itself however was a bit of a “train wreck”.

Netflix continued to top headlines this past week after their stock price plunged 19 percent upon lowering their subscriber projections. Apparently their higher prices have scared off potential customers and caused a few to abandon the video rental service. Now Netflix has announced they will split their business in two, renaming the DVD-by-mail service Qwikster.

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Showbiz Sandbox 94: Charlie Sheen Is More Entertaining Than The Oscars

The 83rd Annual Academy Awards are finally over and, as expected, “The King’s Speech” took home most of the top prizes, including Best Picture. IndieWire’s Anne Thompson gives us her take on all the winners and losers, not to mention the poorly received Oscar telecast. One day before the Oscars Anne was at the Independent Spirit Awards and she reveals what the attendees were up to during the commercial breaks.

Remarkably actor Charlie Sheen just about managed to upstage the Oscars, and he wasn’t even there. Though that may be the only place Sheen could not be found. He continued his oddball antics by calling into radio shows, texting gossip websites and appearing on news programs causing CBS to ceased production of “Two And A Half Men”. The question on everyone’s mind now is just how much money does the network stand to lose by dumping the hit show.

Speaking of money, we discuss the music industry’s top earners in 2010 and how some of them made the list without releasing an album. We review all the week’s entertainment news including Broadway’s new number one show, plans to take “American Idol” voting online and the sale of troubled home video giant Blockbuster.

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Showbiz Sandbox 90: Pick Up Artists Score At Sundance

The Sundance Film Festival was held in Park City, Utah over the past two weeks and word is that this year’s official selections were well worth the trip. Just back from the festival, Anne Thompson of IndieWire’s Thompson On Hollywood blog fills us in on all the buzzworthy films and why so many of them were picked up for distribution. Could it be the death of independent film has been greatly exaggerated?

After winning top prizes at the Director’s Guild and Screen Actor’s Guild over the weekend “The King’s Speech” has overtaken “The Social Network” as the favored Best Picture Oscar winner. More often than not Academy members follow the guild’s lead when doling out trophies in major categories, but that doesn’t mean they won’t have a few surprises in store.

Netflix continues to do battle with HBO, not only over the networks own content, but also over Warner Bros. films. Meanwhile, rumors abound that Amazon may soon be joining Netflix in the video streaming business.

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Showbiz Sandbox 74: Showbiz News Gets A Reboot

Anne Thompson of Thompson On Hollywood discusses her new role at IndieWire and the recent shuffle of entertainment journalists between media outlets. She gives us her take on the future of IndieWire and the current state of entertainment news coverage.

The Social Network continues to clean up at the box office and if a recent screening of the film for Academy members is any indication, the movie may continue its successful run during awards season. Hopefully, the producers will remember to pay the cast. This seems to be an issue for the cast of the Academy Award winning film “Crash”. Just ask Matt Dillon who is suing producers over the films profits.

The FCC still hasn’t approved the Comcast – NBC Universal merger, though that hasn’t stopped Comcast’s Steve Burke from taking over the reins of the organizations. He takes the place of former NBCU head Jeff Zucker who received a two year paid vacation to the tune of $7.8 million per year. Maybe Zucker can help Google TV get off the ground during his downtime.

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Showbiz Sandbox 72: Grading The Toronto and Venice Film Festivals

After attending both the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals over the past month Anne Thompson of IndieWIRE may need a little time off. But since Thompson is entering the hectic Oscar season there’s no rest for the weary. She stops by to tell us about all the great films she saw in Venice and Toronto, as well as the amazing number of acquisitions. Based on Thompson On Hollywood, it was a great year at TIFF.

Ben Affleck’s second film as a director, “The Town” premiered at Toronto to rave reviews and this past weekend it surprised a few industry watchers by topping the box office.

During Big Deal or Big Whoop we argue about the week’s top entertainment headlines, including why celebrities like George Michael and Lindsay Lohan can’t seem to stay out of jail. The departure of Warner Bros. Records chairman Tom Whalley is our Inside Baseball topic, along with Google’s plans to take on Apple’s iTunes.

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Showbiz Sandbox 64: Buzzing About Comic-Con, Digital Comics and E-Books

Geoff Boucher of the Los Angeles Times, Alex Billington of First Showing and Anne Thompson of indieWIRE all attended the 41st annual Comic-Con. They stop by to fill us in on all the the movies and television shows that managed to generate a lot of buzz (as well as a few that fizzled). We recap the pop-culture convention’s highlights and breaking news items.

Of course, before Comic-Con invited movies and television shows to the party, it used to be about buying and selling comic books. However, as Alex Pham of the Los Angeles Times informs us, physical comic books may be an endangered item thanks to the growing popularity of digital comics. These newfangled comics have animation, sound effects and narration. Pham also explains how e-books are changing the future of how and what we read.

E-books were the source of major controversy in the publishing world this past week. Literary agent Andrew Wylie announced he would bypass traditional publishing firms and form his own digital publishing company to release e-book versions of his client’s work, including out of print work from the likes of John Updike and and Philip Roth. Rachel Deahl, senior news editor at Publishers Weekly, tells us why this move was so controversial within the publishing industry.

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Showbiz Sandbox 45: Changing Faces At Variety

Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland” took the top spot at the box office again this week, which might be why 3D is causing quite a stir at ShoWest this year in Las Vegas. J. Sperling Reich fills us in on what theatre owners are talking about at the annual convention.

This week Hollywood suffered another untimely death, this time it was actor Corey Haim at age 38.

In happier news (for some), Jay Leno seems to be doing quite well back in his old time slot. The late night funnyman went back to “The Tonight Show” and ratings soared. What does this mean for Conan O’Brien and his chances for launching a competing late night talk show?

In music news, Billboard published a list of the Top 40 Moneymakers of 2009. Its well worth checking out as you might be surprised who makes the list. (Although it’s no surprise that U2 tops the list.)

Finally, we are joined by indieWIRE’s Anne Thompson during our Inside Baseball segment to talk about why Variety, the industry’s top trade paper is laying off staff members, including Todd McCarthy, their top film critic. Is this a sign of impending doom for the daily?  Read more

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Showbiz Sandbox Special Episode: Are Bloggers Breaking The Rules?

When Anne Thompson posted a story on Thompson On Hollywood last week questioning whether entertainment bloggers follow journalistic rules she had no intention of opening a Pandora’s box.  Nor did she mean to call out, or deride James Rocchi, a freelance entertainment writer and critic whose work appears on MSN and in Mother Jones magazine.  But, by suggesting that today’s entertainment bloggers may not share the same journalistic ethics as their mainstream media counterparts, Anne highlighted an issue that few in the industry like to discuss.

What happens when a studio or network pays for a journalist to travel to cover a film or show, especially when that trip is to an exotic location like Bora Bora?  Should the journalist disclose the means behind their coverage to readers, or are readers smart enough to figure it out on their own?  Does such activity influce the journalist’s critical review?

Based on the number of lengthy comments from well known journalists and industry influencers that appear on Anne’s post, Full Disclosure: Bloggers Break Rules, it is safe to say that people have very strong and passionate opinions on thte topic.  That’s why we asked Anne to join us along with James for a special episode of Showbiz Sandbox to talk about her post at length.  Read more

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Showbiz Sandbox 17: Twitter Makes Movie Critics Important Again

Anne Thompson of “Thompson On Hollywood” joins us again this week, with big news of her own: Her blog is now a part of the indieWire network, where she will shine the Hollywood light on outlet which has traditionally covered the indie scene. Thompson can now be read at http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood, and you can always follow her on twitter at twitter.com/akstanwyck.

Speaking of Twitter, is the social media platform responsible for the successful opening weekend of “Inglorious Basterds”? “Bruno” and “GI Joe” plummeted at the box office within their opening weekends, and box office watchers posit that social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook have a lot to do with it. Bad news travels fast. Obviously so does good news – and the best news is that studios may have to start making – gasp – watchable movies!

Friday, August 21st was Avatar Day, when fans could hustle over to their nearest IMAX theatre to watch 16 minutes of 3D footage from James Cameron’s “Avatar.” Read more

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Showbiz Sandbox 12: I Want To Be Korbi!

Korbi Ghosh of Zap2it’s Korbi TV blog joins us this week to discuss a bunch of television news including the Emmy nominations.  Korbi‘s blog shares scoops, spoilers and breaking news with a community of fellow TV fanatics. She often appears on the TV Guide Channel, delivering her expert opinion on the television topic of the day and has filmed guest spot appearances on series such as “Scrubs” and “Greek.”  Michael Giltz, whose writing appears in the New York Daily News, the Huffington Post and the Advocate also joins us this week.

The Emmy nominations were led by “30 Rock” which garnered a total of 22 (plus, noms for supporting cast Jane Krakowski, Jack McBrayer and Tracy Morgan!) A surprise nomination for Jim Parsons for Actor in a Comedy Series (the the underrated “Big Bang Theory”), Simon Baker (“The Mentalist”),  and Farrah Fawcett, nominated posthumously for “Farrah’s Story.”  Snubbed one again were “Friday Night Lights,”  “Battlestar Galactica,” “So You Think You Can Dance,” and that show’s host, Cat Deeley. Read more

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