Showbiz Sandbox 653: Godzilla and Kong, Once Again, Prove Movie Theaters Aren’t Dead
April 2, 2024
The monstrous global box office opening of “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” may have been a surprise to film critics or anyone paying attention to industry tracking in advance of its release, but it surely proves that if you put movies in movie theaters, audiences will show up. Especially if those theaters offer premium auditoriums like IMAX. Even “Oppenheimer” opened well in Japan over this past weekend, becoming filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s biggest debut.
Meanwhile, the Walt Disney Company and the State of Florida have made overtures toward settling their recent legal disputes. As we predicted, despite the battle in the court of public opinion, it will all come to nothing.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including Paramount Global’s ongoing financial woes, the discovery of some new Marvin Gaye music and how vinyl records are outselling compact discs.
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Showbiz Sandbox 499: The Problems Facing Movie Theaters After They Reopen
June 23, 2020
Though the COVID-19 pandemic is far from over, cinemas around the world are making plans to reopen having to take health and hygiene into consideration. In laying out their new safety protocols some theater chains are stumbling in how they make moviegoers feel comfortable with the idea of returning to the cinema. Yet, the real challenges facing exhibitors will come after they reopen.
Then there is the uncertainty of what new movie releases will be available once theaters do turn on their lights, Titles such as Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet” keep getting delayed as large markets such as China are showing no signs of reopening cinemas.
Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including how BTS made millions performing a concert despite nobody showing up in person, DC Comics gets into podcasting and a popular video game sets a new standard for making the medium accessible to disabled people.
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Showbiz Sandbox 466: How Hollywood Kowtows to China
October 28, 2019
Entertainment companies are finding themselves in compromising positions when it comes to avoiding political pitfalls in China. Movie studios and media conglomerates don’t want to disrupt their bottom line by appeasing Chinese authorities while surrendering their creative freedom. The result is that companies distributing content in China find themselves censoring themselves.
“South Park,” on the other hand, chose an alternative path; directly offending the Chinese government and immediately being banned throughout the country. Even when companies do kowtow to the Chinese government, they find themselves getting into trouble at home and abroad. Just ask the producers of the animated film “Abominable,” an animated film which was banned in the country for showing a map that favored China’s disputed territorial claims.
Meanwhile, the new television season started. Not that you’d know it based on the ratings, which are down almost any way you slice them. And the clear message is this: people’s viewing habits have changed, probably forever, and it’s not going to help TV channels trying to sell eyeballs to advertisers.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including a tie for this year’s Booker Prize, Netflix somehow adds even more subscribers and a big Hollywood talent agency scraps its long awaited IPO.
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Showbiz Sandbox 441: Music Industry Gets Into The Stream of Things
March 18, 2019
In February the RIAA reported that music sales in the United States reached $9.8 billion in 2018, up nearly 12% over the previous year. Total worldwide sales were up over 13% reaching $18.9 billion. What’s remarkable is of that figure $9.6 billion, or 51%, came from streaming revenue, the first time that figure has outpaced digital and physical sales.
While some might see this as just a bunch of numbers and sales figures, labels and artists are beginning to see more revenue from streaming. In fact, musicians selling directly to fans grew 35% last year, topping out at $643 million, none of which went to record labels or middlemen.
Meanwhile, “Captain Marvel” continues to top the box office and looks to be headed toward $1 billion with the release of “Avengers: End Game” just a month or so behind. In China, the Oscar winning “Green Book” is doing surprisingly well.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including the head of Warner Bros. resigns amid a sexual misconduct scandal, Netflix cancels “One Day At A Time” and MySpace loses it’s music (or at least some of it) .
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Showbiz Sandbox 411: Everybody Has An Excuse For Lackluster “Solo”
May 28, 2018
On paper Han Solo seemed like the most obvious character for which to pursue a standalone Star Wars spinoff, however the resulting movie, “Solo,” opened to less than stellar numbers. What’s worse, the movie didn’t fly internationally either. Whether it was the film’s highly publicized production troubles or a case of franchise fatigue, everyone involved will be able to point the finger at someone else for the end result.
Meanwhile, just as Disney begins reexamining how many Star Wars films they should release in a single year, they may have to revise their offer for Twentieth Century Fox. Comcast came along last week and beat Disney’s purchase price, upping the ante to $60 billion in what would be an all-cash deal.
Production coordinators aren’t asking for that kind of money, but they are asking to be unionized. Such a move might help those who are employed in what has become an essential position on any film or television crew from having to renegotiate their fees on every new production.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including a K-Pop band tops the billboard charts, Harvey Weinstein is charged with sexual assault and James Bond heads to Universal Pictures.
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Showbiz Sandbox 200: Should George Clooney Run For President?
August 5, 2013
Hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb began buying up Sony stock earlier this year and is now pressuring the electronics manufacturer to spin-off its entertainment divisions. After comparing two of Sony’s summer releases to historic flops such as “Waterworld”, actor/director/producer George Clooney could take no more. In an intelligent, coherent and well thought out rant, Clooney argues that, “ A guy from a hedge fund entity is the single least qualified person to be making these kinds of judgments.”
Karen Woodward, our former co-host, joins us for our 200th episode and was quick to point out that Clooney not only sounded smart in his statements, but also like a future political candidate. Given the state of American politics however, Clooney might find the back stabbing nature of Hollywood more friendly.
These days it seems a little political muscle is required to work in the entertainment industry. After all, Time Warner Cable has blacked out the CBS network for millions of customers over an ongoing retransmission dispute. Meanwhile, Hollywood studios haven’t been paid all year for movies they’ve released in China.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including the Academy’s historic new leader, a new Doctor Who and how holograms are replacing musicians at concerts in Korea.
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