Showbiz Sandbox 587: How To Succeed on Broadway After a Global Pandemic
June 28, 2022
With this year’s Tony Awards having been doled out, the 29 shows currently running on Broadway are taking stock of what’s working, which ones should stick around and which should stop raising their curtains. At least 14 have announced closing dates or are expected to soon, including some big musical productions. Others are recasting their big stars. But hope springs eternal on Broadway as new plays and musicals gear up to light up the Great White Way.
Meanwhile, “Top Gun: Maverick” has crossed into the billion dollar club making it the first film in Tom Cruise’s career to hit such a milestone. The actor showed up at CineEurope last week for a bit of a victory lap. We’ll bring you all the latest news from the event.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including the future of K-Pop superstars, BTS, the winners of this year’s BET awards and Apple’s big bet on sports broadcasting.
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Showbiz Sandbox 293: Why Forecasting Box Office Has Become So Difficult
September 7, 2015
Though this year’s North American summer box office may wind up being the second biggest on record at $4.4 billion, movie studios are finding it far more difficult to predict opening weekend grosses. An article in the Hollywood Reporter details how tracking pre-release box office has become unreliable in an age when social media buzz and movie review aggregation have become so prevalent.
Word-of-mouth can now spread so quickly that movies like “Ted 2” can be doomed 24 hours after release, opening 33% below its estimated $50 million first weekend gross. And it’s not just flops that suffer tracking mishaps, as evidenced by “Jurassic World” bowing to $208 million, 60% more than originally anticipated.
Until now, Apple hasn’t had to worry about movie box office or even television ratings, but all that might change if rumors the company is getting into producing original content are at all true.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including why Aretha Franklin wound up in court last week, why DreamWorks is leaving Disney and who the Academy selected to produce next year’s Oscar telecast.
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