Showbiz Sandbox 507: Movie Theaters Come To Terms with Christopher Nolan’s “Tenant”

After COVID-19 forced movie theaters around the world to close for nearly six months, they are now set to reopen with one of the most anticipated films of the year; Christopher Nolan’s “Tenant.” There’s only one catch, the film rental terms Warner Bros. is asking for may make cinema operators want to manipulate time and go back to the simpler days when a studio got 50% of the box office and was happy. What’s more, increased film rental terms may be the new normal for movie theaters.

Meanwhile China may be showing the world how to reopen movie theaters as the historic drama “The Eight Hundred” rockets to more than $100 million at the box office. And to think just a few months ago the Chinese government banned the film.

Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including how the Berlin Film Festival is going gender neutral, Ron Meyer is out at NBCUniversal and the Tony Awards may happen this year after all.

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Showbiz Sandbox 441: Music Industry Gets Into The Stream of Things

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 348: Hollywood Studios Get Serious About Shortening Theatrical Windows

Studios have been itching to shorten the theatrical release window for their movies since the moment they learned how much money they could make on home video. Of course, cinema owners aren’t too keen on the idea and refuse to book films that can be viewed at home less than three months after they hit theaters. With reports that Apple is talking to Hollywood in hopes of getting early access to movies for iTunes, have the stakes been raised?

Oscar season is heating up as the guilds begin weighing in. First up was the Screen Actors Guild who announced the nominees for their annual awards helping confirm a few front runners. When it comes to foreign language features, the Academy narrowed the list of eligible contenders down to nine, leaving out a few of this year’s favorites.

Meanwhile the Library of Congress announced a selection of 25 titles to enter the National Film Registry including silent films starring Buster Keaton, “The Princess Bride”, “Thelma & Louise” and “Rushmore”.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including the executive shakeup at Warner Bros. Pictures, Julia Roberts comes to television and Amazon goes global with its video streaming service.

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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 331: Apparently Warner Bros. Needs to Start Making Donuts

In a scathing open letter published last week, an alleged ex-Warner Bros. employee took the studio and its chairman Kevin Tsujihara to task for a number of recent missteps. The author mocks studio brass for doubling down on the talent delivering critical duds such as “Batman v Superman” and their inability to make a hit movie, despite somehow managing to keep their jobs.

Though the veracity of the letter is questionable, it caused ripples in Hollywood not because it revealed a trove of inside secrets, but more due to the fact that it publicly stated what so many have been whispering about Warner Bros. lately; a lack of leadership and a confused executive team have led to a year of mixed results.

Meanwhile, we’ve been watching the Rio Olympics, along with three or four billion viewers around the world. Despite audience figures that are down from the London games in numerous territories, the Summer Olympics is arguably still a ratings juggernaut hard to compete against, giving networks broadcasting the event a serious advantage.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including how a Netflix documentary helped overturn a murder conviction, why Thomas Gibson got fired from “Criminal Minds” and Comedy Central cancels “The Nightly Show”.

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Showbiz Sandbox 208: Why Studios Are Reshuffling Their Executive Ranks

Movie moguls have always faced unreliable job security, though never more so than over the last two years. Beginning in early 2012 five of the six major Hollywood movie studios have fired their top executives and reshuffled existing management. We discuss what’s causing the studio shakeup and it it will affect the movies we see in years to come.

Soon enough unemployed studio big shots may be able to find work in South Korea’s film industry. With a wave of fresh homegrown talent and exciting new stories finding their way into theaters, the country’s box office has skyrocketed making it one of the world’s strongest movie markets.

When it comes to box office on Broadway, it’s become a tradition for productions to boast when they’ve broken even. This also means we can do some quick math to conclude how much it costs to keep a show up and running on a weekly basis, a figure that many productions don’t always like to share.

Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment news stories including David Letterman’s new late night contract, New York City Opera files for bankruptcy and a jury decides a concert promoter is not liable for the death of Michael Jackson.

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Showbiz Sandbox 197: Studios Suffer A Summer of Blockbuster Flops

Hollywood is learning the hard way that big name movie stars don’t always guarantee the success of a tentpole release. This summer at least three mega-budget titles have tanked; Will Smith couldn’t save “After Earth”, Jamie Foxx and Channing Tatum couldn’t rescue “White House Down” and even the casting of Johnny Depp as Tonto wasn’t enough to rustle up an audience for “The Lone Ranger”.

On the other hand, filmmaker Lee Daniels’ next film may not have a blockbuster-size budget, but it does feature an all-star cast that includes the likes of Forest Whitaker, Robin Williams and Oprah Winfrey. Now all it needs is a new name, since a 1916 Warner Bros. short has already laid claim to “The Butler” causing Daniels and distributor The Weinstein Company to call out the lawyers.

Meanwhile, as we await the court’s verdict in the Justice Department’s antitrust lawsuit against Apple over the pricing of e-books, it turns out Amazon has quietly been raising the ante on a lot of titles, especially those from academic and small presses.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including the Academy’s new members, Jennifer Lopez in Turkmenistan and the cost of purchasing a Tony Award.

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Showbiz Sandbox 196: Hollywood’s Frivolous Five Year Plan

Hollywood movie studios have a history of announcing the release date for big tentpole films a year or more in advance. The goal has always been to secure a prime weekend that will force the competition to stear clear. Lately however studios have taken to scheduling releases five years in advance. With some untitled projects yet to start production or even complete a script, it appears that release dates are more important than the movies themselves.

With longstanding geographic monopolies in-place cable companies rarely have to worry about competition, other than from satellite providers. That may be why Time Warner Cable is facing a class-action lawsuit which claims customers, especially non-sports fans, are being forced to pay for the company-owned sports channels to help offset the cost of expensive licensing deals.

Speaking of lawsuits, the government wrapped up its anti-trust case against Apple over the fixing of prices for e-books. While the Justice Department went into the trial looking like a winner, in the end Apple may have proved it was innocent of any illegal activity.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including Robert Downey Jr.’s deal to play Iron Man in the next two “Avengers” movies, Billboard disses Jay-Z and Warner Bros. shakes up its top executives.

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Showbiz Sandbox 191: The Misunderstood Math Behind Movie Ticket Prices

The average cost of a movie ticket dropped to $7.94 in North America during the first quarter of 2013. That’s according to the National Association of Theatre Owners, the trade group that keeps track of such figures. Patrick Corcoran, the vice president and chief communication officer of NATO, explains how the average ticket price is calculated and the perennial complaint that such a low amount can’t possibly be correct.

Meanwhile, television networks have been working overtime putting together their schedules for next season. That also means they’ve been making public which shows didn’t make the cut, a.k.a. got canceled. Did your favorite show survive for another season, or did it go the way of series such as “Smash”, which was axed as had long been predicted.

Such bad news isn’t something the Rolling Stones have to worry about. According to the legendary rock group’s concert promoter reports that tickets to shows aren’t selling is completely untrue. In fact, tickets were priced at an exorbitant $600 on purpose to keep the secondary market at bay.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including YouTube’s pay channels, Barbara Walter’s retirement and legislation that calls for a la carte cable offerings.

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Showbiz Sandbox 179: How To Gamble And Win On Broadway

This year alone there are at least 15 new shows being mounted on Broadway including adaptations of movies such as “Diner” and “Big Fish”. At one point or another all were in search of financial backing, however well known productions with big name stars often don’t pay dividends. We review which upcoming stagings smart, experienced Broadway investors should be banking on.

A very successful Sundance Film Festival came to an end last week as distributors left Park City having acquired a dozen or more independent films. We discuss the reason behind the frenzied sales activity and why some films came with steep seven-figure price tags.

Since we’re on the subject of paying out or investing money, it looks as if the cable bill for Los Angelenos will be going up again thanks to the L.A. Dodgers deal with Time Warner Cable for a new sports channel. Does one market really need six sports networks. More importantly, why are the customers in a single market forced to pay for them whether they want them or not.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including Warner Bros. new CEO, JJ Abrams signs on to direct the new “Star Wars” and Fox begs viewers to use their DVRs.

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