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 621: Summer Box Office Is Much Cooler Than Expected
July 4, 2023
In a year which boasted a bevy of summer blockbusters, moviegoers haven’t been turning up at theaters for some of the more highly anticipated releases. Instead, big budget titles such as “The Little Mermaid,” “Elemental,” “The Flash,” and even “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” among others have all had underwhelming opening weekends. Is depressed movie attendance a temporary trend or is it the new normal?
Meanwhile, when SAG-AFTRA extended their contract negotiations with producers into July Hollywood averted a dual strike with both actors and writers walking picket lines. The ongoing writers strike is already causing studios to shift release dates back by months if not years.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including the Academy sets new rules for the Best Picture Oscar, big name directors make their case for the Turner Classic Movies network and Ryan Seacrest takes over as host of “Wheel of Fortune.”
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Showbiz Sandbox 607: AMC Sets Sights On Upending Movie Ticket Prices
February 14, 2023
AMC Theatres, the world’s largest cinema chain, announced plans to start charging moviegoers based on where they sit in an auditorium. Preferred seats will cost a few dollars more than standard seats and those in the first two rows will cost less. At a time when movie theaters are having trouble attracting patrons back into cinemas, is this new pricing scheme supposed to actually encourage moviegoing or streaming at home?
The good news for movie theater operators is that major studios are rethinking their distribution strategies. Disney is the latest to suggest they will be returning to a theatrical window. During a quarterly earnings call the company’s new old CEO, Bob Iger, also revealed they will be cutting 7,000 jobs.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including how Beyoncé is in good company when it comes to being shut out of Grammys top prize, the movie “La La Land” is headed to Broadway and Kevin Costner is leaving the hit series ‘Yellowstone.”
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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 599: The Grammy Awards Have A Timing Problem
November 18, 2022
The nominees for the 65th Annual Grammy Awards were announced this week and as expected Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar, Adele and Harry Styles will all be competing for top awards. Yet some of the year’s biggest albums weren’t even eligible to be nominated because they were released after September. This is a continuous problem for the Grammys, since their deadline is always before the busy holiday season when many artists release albums.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including why how Netflix is eyeing live sporting events, workers are headed for a strike at publisher Harper Collins and the “Black Panther” sequel opens to big box office.
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Showbiz Sandbox 580: Warner Bros. Enters Its Discovery Phase
April 12, 2022
Last week Discovery closed its $43 billion deal to acquire WarnerMedia from telecom giant AT&T. Discovery topper David Zaslav immediately installed his own executive team to run Warner Bros. Discovery forcing the existing management team to head for the door. We discuss the fallout from the merger and the what the future may look like for the combined company.
One of the exiting executives was WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar whose infamous Project Popcorn opened all 18 Warner Bros. theatrical releases throughout 2021 day-and-date with HBO Max. Kilar claims the controversial distribution strategy was a success, but if that’s true, then why did Warner Bros. discontinue it?
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including the big winners at the Olivier Awards, “Dancing with the Stars” moves to Disney+ and members of the original Grateful Dead rock band will stop touring after five decades.
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Showbiz Sandbox 579: The Award For Best Awards Show Goes To The Grammys!
April 5, 2022
The coronavirus pandemic once again nearly foiled the Grammy Awards, delaying the ceremony and forcing the event to relocate to Las Vegas. Yet once again, the show’s producers managed to do a stellar job of putting together all-star performances that helped promote and celebrate music. We discuss our thoughts on the telecast and all the winners.
Speaking of awards shows, Will Smith’s actions at last week’s Academy Awards continues to generate lots of fallout and finger pointing. We have a thought on how awards shows should handle such moments in the future.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including how Netflix may be looking to pinch their pennies, why media outlets continue to hire former political staffers and the illness that is causing Bruce Willis to retire from acting.
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Showbiz Sandbox 567: That Time Everyone In Hollywood Got COVID
January 4, 2022
It’s a new year but the entertainment industry is contending with the same coronavirus pandemic that has decimated theatrical box office, shuttered Broadway productions and stalled concert tours. The news wasn’t all bad however, with global box office in 2021 creeping halfway back to its once record level. China remains the top market in that regard, though is relying mostly on homegrown hits to drive revenue.
And as we turn the page to 2022 we join many who were saddened by the death of actress Betty White just a few weeks shy of her 100th birthday. This led us to take a closer look at whether we pay more attention to the passing of entertainment figures during the holiday season than we do ordinarily.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including how the Oscars failed to make the list of top telecasts of 2021, the Hugo Awards honor the best in science fiction and fantasy, and Winnie-The Pooh enters the public domain.
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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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Showbiz Sandbox 558: Hollywood Workers Scrutinize Gains In New Contract
October 19, 2021
At the eleventh hour the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), the union representing film and television production workers, negotiated a new contract with studios and networks. What is still unclear is whether workers are grateful about averting a strike or upset they didn’t gain more. Besides gaining wage increases, the union was aiming to clamp down on workplace conditions that lead to long, exhausting hours.
Meanwhile, across the entertainment business, the black hole of data is getting bigger. We don’t really know what streaming shows are popular, we can’t add up all the ways people consume music, TV producers are struggling to prove they’re reaching a lot of eyeballs and Broadway has stopped reporting grosses. Is this just annoying for journalists or a real problem for the industry as a whole?
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including why the Grammys are booting Kacey Musgraves from the country music category, Elton John sets a new record on the music charts and Disney loses a key, veteran executive.
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