Showbiz Sandbox 428: Why Everyone Is Raving About “Red Dead Redemption 2”
November 5, 2018
While there may still be some debate over whether video games are works of art, there is no doubting their earning potential. This was proven yet again when the game “Red Dead Redemption 2” earned a whopping $725 million in global retail sales after its first three days. And with glowing reviews haling it as a new gold standard for video games, and online components yet to be released, it’s poised to rake in much more.
Meanwhile, theatrical box office in North America is also looking profitable. In fact, 2018 may end with record setting grosses (if not attendance), and it’s all due to Hollywood releasing blockbuster movies outside the usual summer and holiday season.
In China, movie stars continue to fess up to how much money they have avoided paying taxes on. The latest is Chow Yun Fat who took his cue from the government and decided now was a good time to announce he’d be giving away his fortune, estimated at more than $700 million.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including why Rihanna turned down the Super Bowl halftime show, Drake topples another Billboard chart record and why Broadway is skewing a little younger.
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Showbiz Sandbox 231: Could Vince Vaughn Be The Next David Letterman?
April 7, 2014
Late night talk show personality David Letterman surprised everyone last week by announcing that he would be retiring as host of the “Late Show” in 2015. News that Letterman would be exiting on his own terms after 30 years as a late night headliner broke in a thoroughly modern way; first via Twitter, then through the media’s career retrospectives and ultimately with stories about who would make a good replacement. We nominate Vince Vaughn.
In other television news, Time Warner Cable is in a bitter dispute with satellite provider DirecTV. The two companies are butting heads over the broadcast rights for the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball games TWC paid more than $8 billion for last year. With negotiations seemingly stalled, more than 30% of the market’s paid television subscribers have been blacked out of each game’s telecast.
Meanwhile, this year’s Broadway season is about to kick off in earnest on the run up to the Tony Awards. Our own Michael Giltz gives us a complete rundown on which productions he’s putting his own figurative money on.
Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment news stories including a trademark dispute over Mickey Mouse, a new contract for the Writers Guild of America and the continuing struggles of Entertainment Weekly.
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Showbiz Sandbox 59: Movie Piracy Becomes Unthinkable
June 21, 2010
On the weekend of June 11th the film “Unthinkable” starring Samuel L. Jackson and Michael Sheen rocketed up the Internet Movie Database’s MovieMeter. It wound up at number three beating out such new releases as “Get Him To The Greek” and “Shrek Forever After”. The funny thing is, this film wasn’t playing in theaters and at the time hadn’t even been released on DVD. A pristine pirated version however did leak online.
Cotty Chubb, the producer of “Unthinkable”, joins us to discuss the film, whether the illegal version helped its recent release and ultimately how movie piracy is affecting the entertainment industry.
“Toy Story 3” didn’t have to worry about being pirated when it opened this weekend since most theaters were showing it in 3D. The film earned debuted in first place with a whopping $109 million. That makes it the most successful Pixar opening ever.
Piracy doesn’t seem to be affecting Michael Jackson’s estate either. In the year since the performer’s death his music and film work has earned nearly a billion dollars according to Billboard magazine.
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