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 633: Dissecting the New Writers Guild Contract
October 3, 2023
The Writers Guild of America released details of the new contract they negotiated with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers ending their historic 148 day strike. The 94-page document is filled with big gains for writers in pay and protection from artificial intelligence. It’s also a compromise to the deal the WGA initially sought from the AMPTP, as is to be expected.
Meanwhile the Golden Globe Awards has christened two new categories; one for cinematic and box office achievement (which makes no sense) and another for best performance ni stand up comedy on television (which seems like a good idea).
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including why Juilliard’s acting program is about to get a lot cheaper to attend, how artificial intelligence is augmenting a classic Ingmar Bergman film and Beyoncé is bringing a movie of her Renaissance tour to cinemas.
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Showbiz Sandbox 604: Which Awards Actually Matter?
January 17, 2023
As we get deeper into this year’s awards season we’re finally hearing from groups whose opinions mean something. For instance, the guilds for directors, producers and cinematographers have all nominated their top picks from last year’s movies. In other instances however, awards are handed out in so many different categories, it seems like every film released gets a gold star.
Meanwhile, as the Grammy Awards are nearly upon us, we are learning that last year’s top five songs are generating less interest than the top five songs from 2021. In fact, the ten biggest songs of each year are drawing fewer and fewer listeners year-after-year, becoming a smaller piece of the streaming pie.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including why Amazon is parting ways with Jeremy Clarkson, how Cathleen Hoover dominated the 2022 best seller lists and a first look at last year’s global box office tally.
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Showbiz Sandbox 601: Middle East Film Industry On Display at Red Sea Film Festival
December 14, 2022
The second Red Sea International Film Festival just came to a close in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, a country which didn’t even have movie theaters until four years ago. In fact, several Saudi films premiered at the event which put an emerging Middle East film industry on full display.
Meanwhile there is no debating that we are in the throes of the awards season. The National Board of Review, the Los Angeles Film Critics and the Golden Globes are handing out kudos even though none of them really matter when it comes to the Oscars.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including why highbrow films are losing audiences, the Sight & Sound poll of best movies of all time is published and Ticketmaster messes up in Mexico.
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Showbiz Sandbox 541: AT&T Hangs Up On WarnerMedia
May 18, 2021
Not even three years after AT&T spent $85 billion to purchase Time Warner and form WarnerMedia, the telecom giant is calling it quits, agreeing to merge the content side of its business with Discovery. The deal would create a new media company positioned well to compete in the streaming market and a management team that is well versed in the entertainment business. The original acquisition of Time Warner always seemed questionable for AT&T, and ultimately left Warner Bros. in a bit of a mess.
Meanwhile, some music streaming services are adding hi-def audio to their offerings and, perhaps more importantly, not increasing the cost to subscribers. Since most new music can be found on all the streaming platforms, will high quality audio become a differentiator that attracts new customers or causes them to switch providers?
Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including why Ellen DeGeneres is leaving her daytime television show, Disney’s new theatrical release strategy and this year’s entrants into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
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Showbiz Sandbox 540: Time’s Up for the Golden Globes
May 11, 2021
It’s hard to believe we are still talking about the Golden Globes in May, when an argument could be made that they hardly matter in January. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the group behind the Globes, said they would be adding 45 new members over an unspecified period of time with a focus on people of color in an attempt to overcome diversity issues in their ranks. However, this didn’t satisfy Hollywood studios, streamers and TV networks who have publicly begun walking away from the annual awards ceremony.
Meanwhile, the stars and filmmakers behind some upcoming movie releases are crying foul. With theaters at limited capacity and studios sending films to streaming services in as little as 17 days, box office for these titles will surely be depressed. This will, in turn, impact the money creative talent receives if their compensation is tied to a movie’s gross.
Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including when Broadway will raise the curtain again, rankings of the top streaming content and the Chinese box office just won’t quit, even if it’s hard to figure out which movies are earning all that money.
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Showbiz Sandbox 533: Behind The Scenes At The Most Challenging Grammys Ever
March 16, 2021
Working within strict health and safety guidelines the producers of the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards telecast were uncertain how the show would come together or even when it would take place. David Wild knows this first hand. He was the lead writer and one of the producers on this year’s show. Wild joins us to detail all the challenges of pulling off music’s biggest night amidst a global pandemic.
Meanwhile, nods for outstanding achievements in motion pictures were announced en masse over the past week with the BAFTAs, Cesars, Directors Guild, American Society of Cinematographers and many more leading up to, finally, this year’s Oscar nominations.
Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including a trip to this year’s Berlin Film Festival, how Drake is dominating the music charts and Disney+ continues its staggering growth.
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Showbiz Sandbox 531: Uncovering A Diverse Set of Problems at the Golden Globes
March 2, 2021
A week before the Golden Globes, Stacy Perman and Josh Rottenberg of the Los Angeles Times wrote investigative pieces detailing conflicts of interest and a lack of diversity within the Hollywood Foreign Press Association; the tight knit and tight-lipped group of 87 international journalists who nominate and choose the winners each year. Perman joins us to discuss her work on the story, which was picked up by every major media outlet, and the immediate impact it had on this year’s Globe’s ceremony. Whether it will be enough to change the behavior and makeup of the HFPA remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, Viacom announced a slate of programming for their new streaming service, Paramount+. Along with 2,500 movies, 30,000 episodes of television and live sporting events, the company will be rebooting hit series such as “Fraiser” with their original cast. The company also revealed that blockbuster films such as “Mission:Impossible 7” and “A Quiet Place II” will debut on Paramount+ just 45 days after their theatrical release.
Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including this year’s Art Directors Guild Award nominees, why kill fees might be coming to international film sales and recorded music grosses passed $12 billion in North America during 2020.
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Showbiz Sandbox 434: The Golden Globes Are Full of Surprises
January 7, 2019
As the 2019 award season continues its steady pace toward the Oscars, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association kicked the year off by confounding pundits when they gave Golden Globes to a few underdogs. While many thought “A Star Is Born” or “Roma” would run the table at this year’s ceremonies, it was “Green Book” and “Bohemian Rhapsody” that took the night’s top prizes.
Though the Golden Globes may be a swanky affair and an honor to receive, the nominations that are more telling of who might walk off with an Oscar are those from the craft guilds. This week the unions representing Art Directors, Cinematographers, Editors, Producers and Writers all announced their 2019 nominees. We’ll tell you what their selections mean for the Academy Awards.
We also revisit the Great White Way, where we take a look back at some of the predictions we made about the fall Broadway season. Most of the productions we thought might not fare so well are, indeed, underperforming, or in some cases, have closed already.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including the continuing kerfuffle over whether Kevin Hart should host the Oscars, Apple buys an indie record label and why dozens of works will enter the public domain this year as their copyrights expire.
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Showbiz Sandbox 394: A Golden Globes Ceremony With Perfect Timing
January 8, 2018
Amid a sea of black dresses and black tie Hollywood held its first big annual event of the #metoo age as the Golden Globes became a platform for the industry to speak out on gender inequality. The highlight of the evening came when Oprah Winfrey delivered a rousing acceptance speech for an honorary award that had everyone wondering whether she plans on running for president in 2020.
Meanwhile, estimated financials for 2017 are being tallied and it looks as if the global box office set new highs, thanks in part to the Chinese market which is still rising sharply. In North America however, attendance reached a low that hasn’t been seen in decades generating receipts that declined only slightly.
And just as a new wave of lawsuits threaten to swamp Spotify, the music streaming service looks to cash in with one of the largest direct public offerings ever. Apple music is still trying to catch up to Spotify’s 70 million paying subscribers as Jimmy Iovine, one of their key executives, is reportedly stepping down this summer.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including Broadway’s record breaking year, Lady Gaga heads to Las Vegas and John Legend becomes a savior.
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