Showbiz Sandbox 650: “Oppenheimer” Gives Christopher Nolan His Oscar Moment
March 12, 2024
As expected, “Oppenheimer” dominated the 96th Academy Awards winning seven categories including Best Actor, Best Picture and, for Christopher Nolan, Best Director. “Barbie” only picked up a single trophy for Best Original Song. Anne Thompson, Indiewire’s Editor-at-Large attended this year’s Oscar ceremony and joins us to describe what it was like to be in the room where it happened.
Meanwhile, a recent Supreme Court ruling ending affirmative action based college admissions has led to a reverse discrimination lawsuit against CBS by a script coordinator of the show “SEAL Team.” The outcome could determine whether it becomes the first of many more such legal actions.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including how the BBC is going all in on the streaming service BritBox, the launch of a new author driven publishing house and Kanye West’s latest album tops the charts despite not being on streaming services.
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Showbiz Sandbox 646: A Slimmed Down Sundance Still Shines
January 30, 2024
This year’s Sundance Film Festival reflected the current state of the contracting industry itself, offering fewer films at fewer venues for fewer in-person attendees. Yet, as festivals like Sundance work toward rekindling post-pandemic financial support, this year’s official selections were just as noteworthy as those that have appeared throughout its 40 year history. We’ll give you a rundown of the titles too look out for over the next year and fill you in on all the Sundance winners.
Speaking of winners, this year’s Oscar nominations were announced and they included a few titles from last year’s Sundance and Cannes film festivals. The only thing missing for most were nominations for “Barbie” director Greta Gerwig and its star Margot Robbie.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including Jon Stewart’s return to “The Daily Show,” the influential music website Pitchfork suffers layoffs and Netflix continues dominate the streaming landscape with a stellar quarterly earnings report.
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Showbiz Sandbox 630: Resurrecting Silent Films Can Be Profitable (Theoretically)
September 12, 2023
The 1923 silent film “The Spanish Dancer” starring Pola Negri is the latest restoration project being theatrically released by Milestone Film & Video, one of the key players over the past 30 years in resurrecting forgotten and neglected films. We are joined by Dennis Doros, the co-founder of Milestone, who tells us how he turned a labor of love into a viable business.
Meanwhile, unlike the carriage dispute between Disney and the cable provider Charter Communications, which was settled early this week, the writers and actors strike against Hollywood studios and networks appears to have no end in sight.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including the winners of this year’s Venice Film Festival, a new artist-centric royalty scheme for music streaming and how criminals are using Spotify to launder money.
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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 353: Streaming Giants Raise Ante at Sundance Film Festival
January 30, 2017
As if it wasn’t difficult enough for distributors to find a commercial title amidst the hundreds of films premiering at the Sundance Film Festival each January, video streaming companies such as Netflix and Amazon have entered the bidding causing acquisitions prices to rise for the entire market. Anne Thompson, Indiewire’s editor-at-large, has just returned from Sundance where she reports most of the films were good, though maybe not good enough to win any Oscars in 2018.
As for this year’s Oscars, the frontrunners became a little more clear with the Producers Guild and Screen Actors Guild handing out their awards over the weekend. “Hidden Figures” surprised many by taking home the SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture during a politically charged ceremony.
Speaking of industry unions, the Directors Guild of America has signed a new contract with producers that gives its members significant raises in subscription video-on-demand residuals. This is welcome news for directors who missed out on sharing in DVD and Blu-ray revenue over the past decade.
Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment news stories including the launch of a brand new vinyl record factory, Jeffrey Katzenberg’s new venture and streaming music company Tidal finds a new investor.
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Showbiz Sandbox 352: 2017 Academy Award Nominations Launch #OscarsSoDiverse Trend
January 24, 2017
When the 2017 Oscar nominations were announced this week the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences managed to avoid a third straight year of controversy over all-white acting nominees. Among this year’s honorees are six African American actors, setting a record for the most in a single year. Hopefully this is a sign more racially diverse films are being produced.
What the Academy did manage to overlook however, were films with huge audiences. Despite nominating nine films for Best Picture Oscars, not a single one has surpassed the $100 million mark (yet).
Meanwhile, in over in the music business, album sales have never mattered less. These days it’s all about music publishing, which can be a true goldmine. Just ask Paul McCartney who is suing Sony/ATV to regain the publishing rights to the Beatles catalogue.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including Jerry Seinfeld’s new Netflix deal, the death of 3D television and NBC renews one of its biggest hits for two more seasons.
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Showbiz Sandbox 348: Hollywood Studios Get Serious About Shortening Theatrical Windows
December 19, 2016
Studios have been itching to shorten the theatrical release window for their movies since the moment they learned how much money they could make on home video. Of course, cinema owners aren’t too keen on the idea and refuse to book films that can be viewed at home less than three months after they hit theaters. With reports that Apple is talking to Hollywood in hopes of getting early access to movies for iTunes, have the stakes been raised?
Oscar season is heating up as the guilds begin weighing in. First up was the Screen Actors Guild who announced the nominees for their annual awards helping confirm a few front runners. When it comes to foreign language features, the Academy narrowed the list of eligible contenders down to nine, leaving out a few of this year’s favorites.
Meanwhile the Library of Congress announced a selection of 25 titles to enter the National Film Registry including silent films starring Buster Keaton, “The Princess Bride”, “Thelma & Louise” and “Rushmore”.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including the executive shakeup at Warner Bros. Pictures, Julia Roberts comes to television and Amazon goes global with its video streaming service.
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Showbiz Sandbox 246: The Emmys Have A Hopeless Scheduling Problem
August 26, 2014
It’s bad enough that the Emmy Awards honor the exact same talent and television shows every year. Now, the Emmys are really growing stale by handing out prizes to shows that finished airing before last year’s ceremony. Unfortunately, as television migrates to year round programming, there is no good time to schedule the Emmys which would make them feel more timely or relevant.
The industry-at-large was likely glad to see at least one aspect of the Emmys go unchanged as shows from broadcast and cable networks continue to win the most awards over shows from streaming services such as Netflix, which went home empty handed. There also, thankfully, seems to be a voter backlash against shows positioning themselves in odd categories.
Meanwhile, August has proven to be the cruelest month for show business with the untimely death of actor Robin Williams and the passing of Hollywood legend Lauren Bacall, among others.
Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment news stories including Amazon public relations battle with Hachette over e-book pricing, Jimmy Fallon comes out on top in the late night television war, and Anne Rice’s Vampire Lestat may see new life on the big screen.
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