Showbiz Sandbox 510: Studios Play Hide and Seek With Box Office Data

Now that new movies are once again playing in reopened cinemas, studios are reluctant to report their pandemic crippled grosses lest their films be deemed publicly as financial flops. At least two studios are delaying box office reports of their latest releases in what many industry insiders fear is a new trend. Is it appropriate for distributors to break with a decades old tradition of reporting weekend grosses in the midst of COVID-19 or do they have the right to keep box office on their titles confidential?

Meanwhile, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced a new diversity initiative for the Oscars. Now for a film to be eligible for the Best Picture category it has to meet at least two of four diversity requirements. It’s a thoughtful move, even if almost every film made in the last ten years can easily meet the new requirements

Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including why Disney’s “Mulan” is stirring up unwanted controversy, a major talent agency finally agrees to the Writers Guild code of conduct and sales of vinyl records surpass compact discs for the first time in over 30 years.

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Showbiz Sandbox 377: Disney Breaks Up With Netflix To Launch Solo Streaming Service

After years of licensing their movies to Netflix, Disney announced last week that it will be launching their own streaming service when their current deal expires. Then in a true reordering of the media landscape, Disney also revealed it will be creating a standalone subscription streaming service for ESPN. Realistically though Disney might be one of the few entertainment companies that could successfully pull off direct-to-consumer strategy on such a grand scale.

Perhaps Disney felt threatened by content distributors like Netflix and felt compelled to make a move. After all, just days after making their announcement Netflix said it had lured producer Shonda Rhimes away from Disney’s ABC Studios to make original programming for its own service. Netflix also stole hitmaker Chuck Lorre away from CBS and cut a deal with the Coen Brothers to make one of their next projects.

Meanwhile, there’s lots of drama on Broadway, literally and figuratively. Everyone is talking about the collapse of the musical “Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812,” which has charges of racism, unprofessionalism and bad management swirling around it. Now the show is closing long before its $12 million budget was recouped.

Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including how Warner Music Group posted big revenue gains thanks to streaming, Bruce Springsteen heads to Broadway and the emergence of a new Chinese media magnate.

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Showbiz Sandbox 346: Critics Are Mixed Up About This Year’s Best Movies

With 2016 coming to an end movie critics have begun announcing their picks for the year’s noteworthy releases. As in recent years, critics groups from New York to Los Angeles differ slightly on what the top movie should be. The New York critics group went with the musical “La La Land”, while The L.A. group chose the drama “Moonlight”. To really confuse things the National Board of Review selected “Manchester by the Sea”. What this breadth of selections means is there were plenty of great films to see this year.

Where you see these movies, on the other hand, continues to be a debate, at least for the heads of movie studios. Kevin Tsujihara, the head of Warner Bros., made it known his company would like to release films into the home market soon after their release in movie theaters. He says the studio is having “constructive conversations” with a few cinema operators to make this a reality, but what that really means is anybody’s guess.

There seems to be no confusion however over whether TV networks want to attend the winter press gathering of the Television Critics Association; they don’t. These annual events allow networks to promote new shows while giving journalists a chance to grill the creatives and executive behind them. It looks as if many networks are skipping out on this January’s press tour as the top executives from ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC declining their invites.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including DirecTV’s plans to go over the top, Netflix allows users to download movies for offline viewing and the Bee Gees get a new record deal.

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Showbiz Sandbox 336: Telluride and Toronto Reaffirm the Importance of Film Festivals

With an ever increasing number of high profile movies competing for awards at the end of each year, film festivals such as those in Telluride and Toronto have never been more important in helping promote a release. Anne Thompson, Indiewire’s editor-at-large, has just returned from both festivals and gives us a complete rundown of all the films creating the most buzz.

And just as the number of movies worth seeing has grown, so too has the number of television shows. There’s so much good TV these days that in fact, the Emmys are more and more like the Academy Awards, where viewers haven’t even seen most of the Best Picture nominees. Maybe that’s why the Emmys keep honoring the same old shows year-after-year.

Meanwhile, the number of books on offer has grown at least 21% recently thanks to self-publishing. That includes both e-books and print. The crowdfunding platform Kickstarter has been responsible for thousands of titles, enough to make them the unofficial fifth largest publisher in North America.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including why Argentina is sending school-aged children to the movies, how the Rio Olympics proved profitable for NBC after all and the Lady Gaga is booked for the Super Bowl half time show.

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Showbiz Sandbox 296: Entertainment Industry Numbers Are Often A Comedy of Errors

It is said numbers don’t lie, however in the entertainment business they don’t always tell the truth either. When it comes to box office grosses, television ratings, home video earnings and book sales, numbers can often present misleading or incomplete information which paint an unrealistic, or at times purposefully skewed, financial picture.

Netflix, for instance, released data detailing what they claim is the episode when their customers get hooked on a television series. However, the “hook study” performed by the subscription video streaming service was limited in scope and may simply be an example of how good Netflix is at spinning its numbers into great PR opportunities.

Meanwhile, like every other area of the entertainment industry, the book world has been rocked by the digital revolution. But publishers believe the business is leveling out based on sales figures which leave out large segments of the market. None of this explains why e-books cost more than paperbacks though.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including Amy Schumer’s big book advance, a lawsuit over the movie “Goodfellas”, which Warner Bros. says was a huge flop, and the Harry Potter origin story will become a two part theatrical production on London’s West End.

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Showbiz Sandbox 294: As Box Office Grows In China, So Do Claims of Fraud

China continues on its torrid pace toward become the number one movie market in the world having already surpassed its record $4.7 billion box office from last year. However, some Chinese distributors, and even some moviegoers, are claiming cinema owners are manipulating reported grosses on behalf of the government.

Recently a propaganda film titled “The Hundred Regiments Offensive” managed to sell more tickets than was possible based on its number of showings and theater count. Industry executives now say releases such as “Terminator:Genisys” are being unfairly robbed of their true earnings. Yet the market is so big, when “Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation” debuted last week it gave Tom Cruise the biggest box office opening of his career.

Meanwhile, parts of the world are entering autumn, a time when leaves fall from the trees and Broadway shows fall from the marquees to make way for new shows. We’ll tell you which shows have announced closings, which ones will follow soon and take a brief look at some new productions opening soon.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including the return of Stephen Colbert to late night television, the new owner of National Geographic and how the late Billie Holiday and Whitney Houston will perform once again… as holograms.

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Showbiz Sandbox 241: YouTube Gets Tough With Indie Record Labels

As YouTube gets set to launch its own streaming music service the company is updating existing partnership contacts with record companies. While all of the major labels have signed on, some independent labels are balking at what they consider unfair terms. Now, YouTube is threatening to block the content of any label refusing to enter into its new licensing contracts, a move that is proving hugely controversial and divisive throughout the tech and entertainment industries.

Speaking of contracts, when it came to negotiating the deal for his latest film “Boyhood”, director Richard Linklater gave up a large part of his usual salary to assure he would actually own a piece of the movie it took him 12 years to complete. Will more filmmakers decide to forfeit their upfront fees and begin taking ownership stakes in their projects, or is Linklater’s move a one-off?

Musician Jack White probably isn’t setting any trends either, at least not for vinyl records. His new album sold 40,000 on vinyl during its first week of release though that can probably be attributed to all the nifty extras White included on the vinyl version such as hidden tracks and alternate versions rather than any ongoing interest in the analogue medium.

Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment news stories including why “Sesame Street” is getting shorter, Netflix plans on producing a talk show with Chelsea Handler and Disney nails down another director for its “Star Wars” franchise.

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