Showbiz Sandbox 414: The MoviePass Effect Is Real and Here To Stay
June 25, 2018
The film industry can say what it wants about MoviePass, and it’s said plenty, but the subscription moviegoing service has made a huge impact on the market since lowering its price to just under $10 per month. Though skeptics abound on whether the company is financially sustainable, the subscription model it has popularized is quickly becoming a standard offering. Just last week AMC Theatres, the world’s largest cinema chain, announced its own subscription plan to compete directly with MoviePass.
Meanwhile, China is realizing that its growing movie and television industry is becoming overcrowded. With tens of thousands of film and TV companies having sprung up over the past decade and hundreds of films going unreleased each year, there is a fear that the country could be experiencing a media bubble that is about to burst.
Back in the United States, celebrities are suddenly are shocked to discover that the Fox News channel is peddling in propaganda and is not so concerned with actual news. While this may have been the case since the networks inception, creatives are now threatening to walk away from business with Fox Studios. Quick, somebody tell them that Fox Studios is about to have a new owner.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including the above average TV ratings for World Cup matches, “Roseanne” officially gets a spinoff series and a Michael Jackson musical may soon be coming to Broadway.
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Showbiz Sandbox 384: NBC Has A Big Megyn Kelly Problem
October 16, 2017
NBC forked over millions of dollars to steal Megyn Kelly away from Fox News and then realized they had nowhere to put her. First the network gave Kelly a primetime news show opposite the ratings powerhouse 60 Minutes. When that move prove disastrous NBC shoehorned Kelly into the third hour of their hit morning program, “Today,” only to see the shows ratings plummet.
Marc Berman, the editor-in-chief of Programming Insider, joins us to analyze what went wrong with bringing Kelly to NBC, why putting a former political news anchor into a morning show was a bad fit, and what the network can do to save the “Today” show before Kelly brings down ratings any further. Berman believes if NBC doesn’t act soon, they could get lapped by the likes of CBS.
Speaking of public implosion swof media fixtures, the Harvey Weinstein scandal has moved beyond the movie mogul himself to encompass a culture of sexual harassment that pervades Hollywood. We’ll discuss a plausible idea that Hollywood could take toward ending such behavior.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including how Spanish language network Telemundo is gaining ground on its rival Univision, why the ratings of a CW show were significantly boosted by binge viewing on Netflix and YouTube views may soon be included in determining Billboard’s weekly music charts.
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Showbiz Sandbox 378: ESPN Goes Looking For Some Fights
August 28, 2017
In the midst of a blockbuster boxing match viewed around the world between welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. and MMA champion Conor McGregor, ESPN announces they spent a small fortune to secure the worldwide rights to future bouts. The network plans on providing access to the fights on their recently announced streaming service, with ESPN even getting a potential piece of any fights that go the pay-per-view route.
The Mayweather vs. McGregor match was faulted for causing the North American box office to dip to it’s lowest level in 16 years this past weekend. In fact, box office receipts which will not surpass $4 billion for the first time since 2006 thanks to an attendance decrease of 25%. Maybe MoviePass, a subscription moviegoing service, will help fill cinemas now that they’ve lowered their price to $10 per month.
Meanwhile “Handbook for Mortals” took the young adult book genre by storm over the last week, and not in a good way. The debut novel topped the New York Times bestseller list for that genre its first week out without anyone ever having heard of the book or its unknown author. Controversy ensued.
Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including why the issue of on-set safety has gotten a lot of attention after Tom Cruise got injured making the next Mission: Impossible movie, the big editorial changes at the Los Angeles Times and how “The Walking Dead” has inspired another lawsuit.
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Showbiz Sandbox 369: When the Punishment Doesn’t Fit the Comedy
June 5, 2017
Kathy Griffin and HBO’s Bill Maher learned first-hand last week just how easy it is to cross the line wherein one’s jokes and antics go from being humorous to offensive. But after apologies are issued and near-term financial repercussions are suffered, should the careers of boundary pushing comedians really come to an end because of one regrettable mistake?
Meanwhile with Apple introducing a ton of new hardware at its Worldwide Developer Conference, the company is actually reaping more rewards from its content business. In fact, last quarter Apple earned more from selling content than most media conglomerates earned during the same period.
We’ll also tell you why the beloved radio DJ who helped discover acts such as the Sex Pistols and the Ramones is leaving his weekly show after 40 years. (Hint: It wasn’t his decision.)
Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including journalist Megyn Kelly’s anticipated return to television, a non-English single tops the Billboard charts and big name musical acts hold a benefit pop concert to raise money for victims of a terrorist attack in Manchester.
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Showbiz Sandbox 357: Oscars Can’t Win For Losing This Year
February 27, 2017
In a moment that will be discussed for years to come, this year’s Academy Awards ended with the wrong film being announced as the Best Picture winner. Ultimately it wasn’t “La La Land” that took home the prize as many predicted, but rather the socially conscious, racially diverse indie film “Moonlight” that won the award. Anne Thompson, Indiewire’s editor at large, tells us that by choosing “Moonlight” for its top award the Academy was making a statement about who they want to be as an industry.
Thompson also brings us backstage at this year’s Oscars, walking us through how such a huge mistake could actually happen, and what it was like in the press room when the error became apparent. Naturally, we touch on the some of this year’s Oscar winners as well.
Meanwhile, the way movies get distributed continues to be a contentious topic in Hollywood, with studios and cinema owners reportedly in negotiations on an agreement that might see new releases available for home viewing in as little as two weeks.
Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment news stories including how Netflix continues to book comedians, CBS cancels a brand new series and Beyoncé cancels her Coachella gig.
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Showbiz Sandbox 355: Adele’s Big Grammy Victory Is All In the Numbers
February 13, 2017
Though Beyoncé had been predicted to walk off with this years top Grammy Awards for her critically acclaimed album “Lemonade”, she was beat out by Adele who won five top awards for “25”. Rather than being racially motivated, as some would suggest, Adele’s Grammy success was buttressed by an album that sold 20 million copies making it by far one of the biggest albums of the last decade, topped only by sales of her previous release “21”.
Then there was the artist who has never sold a single record yet managed to win three Grammys this year. Chance the Rapper made history when he became the first artist to win a Grammy for a streaming-only album. “Coloring Book” won the Grammys for Best Mixtape and Best Rap Performance, while Chance the Rapper took home the prize for Best New Artist.
Meanwhile, the struggling entertainment conglomerate Viacom announced how it hopes to turn the company around. The company plans to focus on “silos” of branded properties which can be exploited across multiple platforms. This is the same strategy the Walt Disney Co. has used with great success; however Viacom’s existing properties are hardly as popular as Marvel or Pixar.
Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment news stories including plans to revive “American Idol” on television, Stephen Colbert’s “Late Show” tops Jimmy Fallon’s “The Tonight Show” for the first time and Aretha Franklin, the queen of soul music, announces her retirement.
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Showbiz Sandbox 354: Why the Entertainment Industry Should Care About Net Neutrality
February 6, 2017
President Donald Trump’s selection of Ajit Pai to chair the Federal Communications Commission has moved quickly to rollback consumer protection regulations long thought to be settled; specifically net neutrality. Rules put in place to ensure an open internet allowing every company to compete on equal footing could get thrown out for ones that favor four telecom giants. That could mean record labels, movie studios, streaming music and video providers wind up paying much more to reach audiences.
In addition, Pai threw out proposed rules that would have allowed cable subscribers to purchase their set top boxes. Consumers in the United States presently pay $200 or more per year to rent such equipment putting $20 billion annually into the pockets of video providers. Will legislative bodies in other countries take similar stances in the wake of such F.C.C. moves?
This all comes as streaming music revenue has helped slow or reverse years of declining income sales for record companies. Nielsen music reports that streaming platforms provided 38% of total audio consumption in 2016, up from 23% in 2014. In fact, these days a glut of streaming music providers are trying just about everything to differentiate themselves in what has become a crowded marketplace.
Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment news stories including Disney’s $100 million anti-poaching settlement with animators, Oprah Winfrey joins “60 Minutes” and which media outlets have backed out of the annual White House Correspondents Dinner.
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Showbiz Sandbox 347: Who Should Perform What at the 59th Grammy Awards
December 13, 2016
When the nominations for the 59th Grammy Awards were announced last week Beyoncé continued her annus mirabilis by picking up no fewer than nine nods including one for album of the year. She’s in the mix with the likes of Adele, Drake, Justin Bieber and Sturgill Simpson. With musical acts that include Rihanna, Kanye West and Radiohead also up for awards, producers have a wealth of talent to choose from when selecting performers for next year’s ceremony.
The Golden Globe nominations were also announced recently and this year the Hollywood Foreign Press Association actually managed to categorize their film entries properly, unlike last year when the space drama “The Martian” won the prize for best comedy.
Meanwhile, the 2016 Black List survey was published on Monday, highlighting some of the best unproduced screenplays from the past year. Nine of the last 18 Best Screenplay Oscars were featured on the annual list, including “Spotlight”, “Juno” and “Slumdog Millionaire”.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including the winners of the European Film Awards, why the CBS-Viacom merger collapsed and actress Emmy Rossum demands to be paid as much as her mail co-stars.
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Showbiz Sandbox 345: Awards Season Kicks Off With the Proper Spirit
November 28, 2016
Despite an endless debate as to precisely when the movie awards season begins each year, everyone agrees that the Independent Spirit Awards are one of the more important events. Though not all of the indie films honored by the Spirit Awards will go on to be nominated for Oscars, each year’s nominees provide a list of worthwhile movies on which to catch up.
With 2016 entering the homestretch Hollywood movie studios have begun releasing titles they hope will win big awards or big box office… or both. Disney continues to fire on all cylinders with it’s latest animated release “Moana” as well as “Doctor Strange” minting money during their record breaking year. And “Star Wars: Rogue One” is still a month off.
Meanwhile the media fallout from the U.S. presidential election continues to make headlines, not all of which are accurate. In fact, Facebook and Google are making efforts to crack down on fake news stories as news organizations begin to look at the role they played in recent political events.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including this year’s International Emmy Award winners, why television networks aren’t canceling this season’s failing shows and animator Hayao Miyazaki comes out of retirement to make another movie.
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Showbiz Sandbox 344: Did the Media Bungle The 2016 Election?
November 14, 2016
We don’t cover politics on Showbiz Sandbox per se, however we do provide analysis and commentary on the worldwide media and entertainment industries. Thus, we discuss the role, and some might say the culpability, of the news media in the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. While there is no doubt some divisiveness over the election of president-elect Donald Trump, there seems to be unanimous consensus that mainstream media blew it… bigly.
We also take a look at the impact the results of this year’s presidential election will have on the entertainment business. Deals currently in the works may have a tougher time getting approved, and decisions that passed years ago may be in danger of being overturned.
China meanwhile has passed a new film industry law intended to crack down on box office fraud and promote “core socialist values”. It weaves a new layer of protectionism into the business by requiring that two thirds of the country’s movie screens be reserved for Chinese films.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including the why IMDb is going to court over its right to post actors ages, Universal Pictures makes some changes at DreamWorks Animation and Robert Redford’s retirement plans.
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