Showbiz Sandbox 648: Judging This Year’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Nominees

February 20, 2024

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame announced their 2024 nominees, including some musical acts previously shortlisted for inclusion. Musician and music writer Sal Nunziato joins host Michael Giltz to argue over which of these acts should be included in the Hall of Fame and why. Plus they give us a rundown of their favorite albums from the past year.

Meanwhile, “Oppenheimer” solidified itself as the obvious and only leader during this year’s awards season by winning seven BAFTA awards, including Best Film. At this point, the movie seems destined to top the upcoming Academy Awards.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including the math behind this year’s movie release schedule, how Microsoft is spreading some Xbox love and ESPN is going long on college football.

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Showbiz Sandbox 647: Disney Teams Up For Sports Streaming Service

February 13, 2024

Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox are teaming up to deliver a new subscription streaming service that will combine all of their sports programming on a non-exclusive basis. It will have 14 channels including ESPN, ABC, FS1, Fox, TNT and TBS. The surprise announcement has generated more questions than answers, especially over whether any antitrust laws are being broken.

Meanwhile, awards season chugs along with the Directors Guild of America handing out its top prize to Christopher Nolan for “Oppenheimer.” Plus, the Oscars add a new category for casting directors.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including why Universal Music pulled all of its music from TikTok, Disney invests in “Fortnite” developer Epic Games and Paramount starts pulling content off its streaming service.

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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 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 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 633: Dissecting the New Writers Guild Contract

October 3, 2023

The Writers Guild of America released details of the new contract they negotiated with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers ending their historic 148 day strike. The 94-page document is filled with big gains for writers in pay and protection from artificial intelligence. It’s also a compromise to the deal the WGA initially sought from the AMPTP, as is to be expected.

Meanwhile the Golden Globe Awards has christened two new categories; one for cinematic and box office achievement (which makes no sense) and another for best performance ni stand up comedy on television (which seems like a good idea).

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including why Juilliard’s acting program is about to get a lot cheaper to attend, how artificial intelligence is augmenting a classic Ingmar Bergman film and Beyoncé is bringing a movie of her Renaissance tour to cinemas.

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Showbiz Sandbox 628: An Inside Look at Streaming’s Microscopic Residual Payments

August 30, 2023

The recent success of the television series “Suits” on Netflix has shined a spotlight on how much money writers make on a cable or broadcast hit versus one on a streaming service. Last week one of the show’s writers revealed the vast difference in residual payments he received between linear and streaming underscoring why the WGA is currently on strike.

Meanwhile, with the WGA and SAG-AFTRA striking in strong solidarity, the AMPTP has hired a public relations crisis management firm. Studios, realizing the strike shows no sign of ending, have begun postpone tentpole releases such as “Dune 2” into 2024.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including how Amazon has shown interest in partnering with Disney on ESPN, how preview screenings are messing up box office calculations and why musicians seem to be dumping manager Scooter Braun.

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Showbiz Sandbox 624: Hollywood Is Bungling Its Barbenheimer Momentum

August 2, 2023

The idea of counter-programming the simultaneous global release of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” over the same summer weekend always seemed like a gamble. But somehow Greta Gerwig’s comedy about a popular toy doll and a Christopher Nolan’s biopic of the renowned nuclear physicist wound up becoming a worldwide phenomenon breaking all sorts of box office records over its first two weeks. Now, instead of capitalizing on this success, Hollywood studios are determined to drag out a dual strike with writers and actors which shows no sign of ending anytime soon.

Having joined the Writers Guild of America on the picket lines, SAG-AFTRA continues to make its case in the court of public opinion. Unfortunately, producers (meaning studios, streamers and networks) aren’t ready to start negotiating a compromise.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including country music’s big moment, why Disney CEO Bob Iger called in some former senior executives to consult with the company and how video streaming is hitting new heights.

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Showbiz Sandbox 623: Actors Join Writers In Historic Dual-Strike

July 18, 2023

Film and television production ground to a halt last week in Hollywood (and elsewhere) when actors joined the already striking writers on the picket line. This marks the first time in 63 years that the Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild has been on strike at the same time and it is an existential moment for the entertainment business which could set the tone for labor relations for decades to come. Entertainment attorney and journalist Jonathan Handel drops by to give us all the details.

Meanwhile, the Emmy Award nominations were announced last week, though thanks to the ongoing strike(s) who knows when the ceremony will be held. What we do know based on the nominations is that in a world of peak TV, Emmy voters watched about…four shows last year!

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including why Disney is looking to sell off certain television assets, the BBC finds itself embroiled in another scandal and Taylor Swift becomes only the third artist to ever have four albums in Billboard’s top ten in a single week.

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