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 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 603: Sports Programming Rules The Ratings In 2022
January 3, 2023
With 2022 now officially over, Nielsen announced the 100 highest rated primetime broadcasts of the year and sports programming dominated the list. Football was a big winner taking the top nine spots. The Oscars telecast was the only non-sports broadcast in the top 31 programs. “60 Minutes,” “NCIS,” “NCIS Hawaii,” “FBI” and other similar fare fill out the list, though sports account for 66 of the 100 slots.
Maybe that’s why YouTube has struck a seven-year, $2 billion per year deal with the NFL for the Sunday Ticket Package. That’s significantly more than what DirecTV was paying for the same deal, and they were losing a fortune offering the package each year.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including another guilty verdict for Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby is planning a stand-up comedy tour and “Avatar: The Way of Water” surpasses $1 billion at the global box office.
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Showbiz Sandbox 542: TV Networks Are Upfront About Streaming Plans
May 25, 2021
Last week all the big television networks in the United States went through the old fashioned ritual of inviting advertisers to big presentations of their fall programming. Besides being virtual a lot has changed for the networks, including primetime scheduling, which is now an afterthought. Instead they emphasized streaming and the range of content available through numerous platforms including network, broadcast and their new subscription services.
Meanwhile, the global box office is revving its engines with “F9” opening to huge numbers internationally, pushing the “Fast & Furious” franchise over the $6 billion mark. Movie theaters in Europe are reopening just in time to show the movie.
Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including why Amazon may purchase MGM, this year’s Eurovision contest and the return of music festivals.
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Showbiz Sandbox 485: Coronavirus Is Trolling the Film Industry
March 16, 2020
The ongoing coronavirus pandemic is causing the biggest disruption the global entertainment industry has had to contend with in the modern era. In the movie business alone it has shut down cinemas, delayed film releases and halted productions in all corners of the world.
Andrew Wallenstein, co-editor-in-chief of Variety, proposed that now might be an opportune time for studios to finally reach an agreement with movie theaters on release windows. No sooner had the virtual ink dried on his piece Universal Pictures announced it would be distributing some of its current and future theatrical films via premium video on demand. It would, he suggests, be the entertainment industry equivalent of peace in the Middle East.
Wallenstein joins us to discuss this fast moving story and what the future may hold for cinemas and the film industry at large.
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Showbiz Sandbox 363: With Bill O’Reilly Gone, Cable News Begins A New Chapter
April 24, 2017
After twenty years as the face of Fox News, Bill O’Reilly was responsible for nearly 20% of the network’s revenue. Even so, Fox made the decision to fire O’Reilly last week after reports that he had paid out settlements over the years to women accusing him of sexual harassment. At least, that’s how Fox spun the story, not wanting to admit the controversial news host was causing the network too look bad and lose advertisers.
O’Reilly wasn’t the first on-air host Fox News has lost over the last year. A string of anchors, including the popular Megyn Kelly left for new deals at other networks. With Fox’s entire primetime lineup upended so suddenly, other media outlets are beginning to make a move to overtake the top cable news network.
Meanwhile, China continues to issue release dates for big Hollywood movies at a rate that will likely surpass their own quota on imported films. One thing is for sure, none of the movies China approves will star Richard Gere. We’ll explain why.
Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment news stories including why it doesn’t matter that Netflix didn’t meet its quarterly subscriber goals, the return of “X-Files” and Kevin Spacey gets tapped for the Tony Awards.
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Showbiz Sandbox 318: The CinemaCon and Coachella Experience Is Priceless
April 18, 2016
Movie theater operators from around the world gathered at CinemaCon in Las Vegas last week to see what Hollywood studios have to offer over the next 12 months; from big budget tentpole releases to potential awards contenders. The loudest buzz at this year’s event was caused by The Screening Room, a company that hopes to bring current movie releases into the home, day-and-date with cinemas. Following a year of record theatrical box office grosses, studios, exhibitors and filmmakers alike spoke out en masse against such an idea.
Meanwhile, the first weekend of this year’s Coachella Music and Arts Festival took place over the weekend and we’ll fill you in on some of the highlights and musical acts as we debate whether big festivals have become too pricey and elitist.
During Inside Baseball, we’ll tackle the growing controversy over acting workshops; the “educational” courses where actors get pointers on how to audition. After a top casting director lost their job over the practice, there is a sense that such workshops feel like scams where struggling actors are conned into paying to audition in front of industry players.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including the executive disarray at Disney, how Twitter will stream NFL games next season and why the Golden Globes are tweaking their rules.
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Showbiz Sandbox 316: Indiana Jones and the Colonoscopy
March 21, 2016
Last week Harrison Ford and Steven Spielberg announced they are grabbing a whip and fedora and planning one more adventure for Indiana Jones with its original director and star. They haven’t set a start date for shooting, don’t seem to have a script or even a setting or general idea for the movie yet, at least not one they’re sharing. But naturally they have a release date. The next Indiana Jones will be coming to a theater near you on July 19, 2019.
If it were up to the Screening Room, you’ll be able to watch the latest Indiana Jones installment from the comfort of your own home. Everyone is weighing in on the new company that wants to make blockbuster movies available in your home the same day they hit theaters.
Meanwhile, CBS is turning off their radios. The broadcaster says they are looking to offload their fabled radio group despite it being a stable long-term business. CBS believes radio doesn’t have sexy growth potential so they apparently wants out.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including an explanation of television stacking rights, Mariah Carey gets her own reality series and China cracks down on box office fraud.
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Showbiz Sandbox 310: Diversity Makes A Comeback At Sundance
February 2, 2016
This year’s Sundance Film Festival wrapped up over the weekend in historic fashion by awarding the dramatic competition grand jury and audience prizes to “The Birth of a Nation”, a historical biopic a Virginian slave revolt. The film made headlines earlier in the week when Fox Searchlight purchased the film for a record $17.5 million after beating out Netflix in a heated bidding war.
We’ll tell you about all the big Sundance awards and continue the Oscar season slog, in which this year’s front runners are as mixed up as a Republican presidential primary. SAG added to the confusion, making “Spotlight” this week’s hero, after “The Big Short” looked like a winner the week before.
Meanwhile the Federal Communications Commission is about to vote on ending the monopoly of set top boxes for US cable subscribers, a decision that could have big ramifications for everything from what you watch to the stock prices of numerous tech companies, including Apple and Roku.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including Louis CK bypasses television networks and brings his new series directly to viewers, Pope Francis gets ready for his closeup in a feature film and sales of new music were outpaced by catalogue titles over the past year.
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Showbiz Sandbox 265: This Year’s Oscar Nominations Aren’t Only Racist, They’re Anti-Lego
January 20, 2015
While debating Oscar nomination snubs has become an annual tradition, the criticism over this year’s list of nominees had to do with racial bias and a lack of diversity. Specifically, a film about civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. was nominated for Best Picture, but its female director and lead actor, both black, were surprisingly overlooked.
Yet few seemed to notice is that “Selma”, the film in question, is only the twelfth film directed by a woman to receive a Best Picture nomination in the 86 year history of the Academy Awards. On only four occasions has the filmmaker also been nominated for Best Director. And six of these movies were nominated during the last 10 years, pointing towards a positive trend for female helmers.
Also under represented in the Best Picture category at this year’s Oscars are hit movies. Sure, all of the nominees were successful, but only “American Sniper” earned big bucks at the box office. If only Legos were eligible to vote… maybe they’re film would have been nominated for Best Animated Feature.
Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment news stories including Barbara Streisand’s latest platinum album, Amazon’s move into theatrical film distribution and why James Cameron is delaying the “Avatar” sequels to 201.
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