Showbiz Sandbox 606: Beyoncé Makes Grammy History As Harry Styles Wins Album of the Year
February 8, 2023
Though Beyoncé led the 2023 Grammy Award nominations with nine nods, in the end she did not win the top prize for Album of the Year for “Renaissance.” Much to the dismay of some, that honor went to Harry Styles for “Harry’s House,” though Beyoncé did break the record for the most Grammy wins ever. We have a run down of all the winners and big surprises at this year’s Grammys.
We’re also joined by Sal Nunziato, whose blog Burning Wood has become a must-read for music aficionados. He and Michael Giltz discuss their favorite albums from the past year, and for once they are in agreement on most of them.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including why a Bruce Springsteen fanzine ins calling it quotes after 43 years, Spotify continues to struggle with profitability and how “80 For Brady” tries to woo older moviegoers back to theaters.
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Showbiz Sandbox 349: How the 2016 Box Office Defied the Odds
January 3, 2017
Apparently political pollsters aren’t the only forecasters whose predictions can be wrong. With fewer high profile blockbusters than 2015, some in Hollywood believed that the 2016 North American box office could surpass the previous year. However, a number of unexpected hits like “The Jungle Book” and “Deadpool” helped box office climb to a record high of $11.4 billion.
Meanwhile in China, the rapid box office growth that saw a 50% rise in 2015 slowed dramatically. In fact, the country’s box office actually fell in the last half of 2016, causing a modest 3% gain, year-over-year. We’ll explain what caused the Chinese box office to cool off so quickly and why there may be some good news buried in the financials.
Our resident theatre expert Michael Giltz will brief us on all the new productions opening on Broadway this spring. He’ll tell us which shows he would invest in (if he had the money) and which might be headed to a town near you when they go out on tour.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including this year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees, a banner year for cable news networks and how record labels are finally seeing some profits from streaming music revenue.
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Showbiz Sandbox 72: Grading The Toronto and Venice Film Festivals
September 21, 2010
After attending both the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals over the past month Anne Thompson of IndieWIRE may need a little time off. But since Thompson is entering the hectic Oscar season there’s no rest for the weary. She stops by to tell us about all the great films she saw in Venice and Toronto, as well as the amazing number of acquisitions. Based on Thompson On Hollywood, it was a great year at TIFF.
Ben Affleck’s second film as a director, “The Town” premiered at Toronto to rave reviews and this past weekend it surprised a few industry watchers by topping the box office.
During Big Deal or Big Whoop we argue about the week’s top entertainment headlines, including why celebrities like George Michael and Lindsay Lohan can’t seem to stay out of jail. The departure of Warner Bros. Records chairman Tom Whalley is our Inside Baseball topic, along with Google’s plans to take on Apple’s iTunes.
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Showbiz Sandbox 67: Cheap Digital Music Downloads Are On (Arcade) Fire
August 17, 2010
The indie rock group Arcade Fire topped the album charts for the first time in their career with the release of their third album “The Suburbs” which moved more than 156,000 copies in its first week. However more than 97,000 of those albums were sold digitally at significantly reduced prices. Are digital music downloads devaluing music? Todd Martens, a music reporter with the Los Angeles Times, joins us to explain how digital downloads are affecting the music industry.
Speaking of digital media, Netflix entered into a $900 million deal with Epix which will allow them to stream films from Paramount, MGM and Lionsgate starting in September. Meanwhile the popular television streaming website Hulu is rumored to be investigating an IPO.
Sylvester Stallone may have shown up just in time to save Lions Gate with “The Expendables” which came in first at the box office, but “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World” proved a disappointment despite earning rave reviews.
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