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 645: Amazon Prime Video Set To Dominate Advertising Market
January 16, 2024
Unlike most major streaming services, which allow new subscribers to choose between a more expensive ad-free plan and a cheaper ad-supported tier, Amazon has taken an opt-out approach with Prime. When Prime Video begins streaming ads in late-January one of the biggest streaming services in the world with at least 150 million subscribers, will immediately become a major player in television advertising. Especially since most of its customers will decide not to pay extra to avoid ads.
Meanwhile the Emmys got slotted into January due to last year’s actors and writers strikes forcing the awards ceremony to compete with football playoffs and presidential election campaigns. Will anyone be paying attention to see who wins prizes for television series that aired two years ago? Or with guild awards nominations piling in has everyone already moved onto the Oscars.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including the deal Tom Cruise landed to make movies at Warner Bros., Harry Potter’s best selling video game and another former cable news anchor launches a program on X (née Twitter).
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Showbiz Sandbox 638: What the Actors Won in Their New Contract
November 14, 2023
After 118 days the actor’s strike finally came to an end as SAG-AFTRA reached an agreement on a new three-year employment contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). Entertainment attorney Jonathan Handel joins us to explain all of the major achievements in wages increases, residuals and artificial intelligence protections the union negotiated, while highlighting the significance the contract will have for the entire industry in future years.
Meanwhile, women dominated this year’s Grammy nominations which were announced last week. Seven of the eight nominees in the big categories of song, record and album of the year are by women or female groups. The only male nominee? Jon Batiste who won big last year.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including why a satellite radio service is moving to your phone, the poor opening of Marvel’s latest superhero movie and how third quarter earnings announcements from entertainment companies underscores the industry’s current generational disruption.
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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 629: Disney vs. Charter Feud Could Finally Unbundle Cable
September 5, 2023
Carriage disputes between cable companies and media companies are nothing new. They happen regularly around big events like the Super Bowl, FIFA World Cup or the Oscars. However this time Charter Communications, the second largest cable operator in the United States, has pulled all of Disney’s 19 networks from its service, refusing to pay the higher licensing fees, arguing that the bundled pay television business model no longer works. Settling the disagreement could significantly alter the future of the television landscape.
Meanwhile, Taylor Swift has conquered the album charts and football stadiums and now she’s going to conquer movie theaters. And with summer box office hitting $4 billion, Swift’s concert film comes at the perfect time, at least for those in North America.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including the Hollywood Reporter gets another editor-in-chief, more details about Kevin Costner’s departure from “Yellowstone” and Michael Mann brings his “Ferrari” to the Venice Film Festival.
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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 626: Will Disney’s Big Wager On Sports Betting Pay Off?
August 15, 2023
Though Disney had previously dismissed the idea of venturing into sports betting, saying it didn’t fit the company’s image, the media giant signed a billion dollar agreement this week with a little known online gambling company. The move comes as Disney’s linear television revenue is declining with no end in sight and losses for its streaming service continue to mount. Will ESPN Bet help bolster Disney’s balance sheet?
Meanwhile the dual writers and actors strikes continue though the AMPTP held what was reportedly a productive conversation with the Writers Guild over the past week. Hollywood will need to get comfortable with holding labor negotiations since more of its workers are opting to unionize.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including why Paramount is selling publishing giant Simon & Schuster, India has one of its biggest box office weekends of all time and why you might not want to work for Lizzo anytime soon.
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Showbiz Sandbox 593: This Year’s Emmy Awards Turns Into A Rerun
September 16, 2022
The 74th Annual Prime Time Emmy Awards were held this week and they managed to honor most of the winners from last year’s ceremony. The same shows, and at times the same actors, continue to top most of the big categories. This begs the perennial question, what is the actual purpose of the Emmy Awards?
Meanwhile, the world’s second largest movie theater chain officially filed for bankruptcy. We discuss what this will mean not only for Cineworld, but also whether the move will affect the industry-at-large.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including how “CoComelon” is creating video games for toddlers, the Sundance Film Festival names a new head director and a Bollywood movie tops the worldwide box office.
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Showbiz Sandbox 563: The Grammy Nominations Are Bigger and More Baffling Than Ever
November 30, 2021
When this year’s Grammy nominations were announced last week the Recording Academy made a last minute decision to expand some of its biggest categories from eight to 10 nominees. This allowed popular artists like Taylor Swift, Kanye West and Lil Nas X to be included in this year’s list. While this generates a small amount of grumbling, we discuss why it may not be such a bad move.
Meanwhile the Thanksgiving weekend helped the worldwide box office continue to recover from the ongoing pandemic. Still some industry watchers are dismayed that popular releases like Disney’s “Encanto” and the latest “Ghostbusters” aren’t opening to bigger numbers. Though, when you have studios claiming blockbusters such as the Queen biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody” are still in the red after earning nearly a billion dollars, would it really matter if they doubled their opening weekend gross?
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including how Adele got Spotify to stop shuffling around, The Weeknd breaks a long-standing record on the music charts and Netflix (sort of) becomes more transparent with viewership data.
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