Showbiz Sandbox 646: A Slimmed Down Sundance Still Shines
January 30, 2024
This year’s Sundance Film Festival reflected the current state of the contracting industry itself, offering fewer films at fewer venues for fewer in-person attendees. Yet, as festivals like Sundance work toward rekindling post-pandemic financial support, this year’s official selections were just as noteworthy as those that have appeared throughout its 40 year history. We’ll give you a rundown of the titles too look out for over the next year and fill you in on all the Sundance winners.
Speaking of winners, this year’s Oscar nominations were announced and they included a few titles from last year’s Sundance and Cannes film festivals. The only thing missing for most were nominations for “Barbie” director Greta Gerwig and its star Margot Robbie.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including Jon Stewart’s return to “The Daily Show,” the influential music website Pitchfork suffers layoffs and Netflix continues dominate the streaming landscape with a stellar quarterly earnings report.
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Showbiz Sandbox 637: Spotify Fighting Fraud With New Payment Plan
November 7, 2023
Spotify is changing how it pays out royalties in an effort to deter fraud, demonetize the flood of new music that almost no one listens to and frustrate those gaming the system. None of the changes will alter the amount of money paid out in royalties each year. But Spotify believes the move may add up to $1 billion a year going to actual musical artists, rather than con artists.
Meanwhile, the actors’ strike continues despite word that SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP were close to a deal on a new three-year contract. Word is that one of the remaining sticking points has to do with how artificial intelligence can be used to create performances in future productions.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including a new Broadway season ramps up with plenty of new productions, Live Nation reports record earnings thanks to sales of concert tickets and Britney Spears becomes a bestselling author.
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Showbiz Sandbox 621: Summer Box Office Is Much Cooler Than Expected
July 4, 2023
In a year which boasted a bevy of summer blockbusters, moviegoers haven’t been turning up at theaters for some of the more highly anticipated releases. Instead, big budget titles such as “The Little Mermaid,” “Elemental,” “The Flash,” and even “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” among others have all had underwhelming opening weekends. Is depressed movie attendance a temporary trend or is it the new normal?
Meanwhile, when SAG-AFTRA extended their contract negotiations with producers into July Hollywood averted a dual strike with both actors and writers walking picket lines. The ongoing writers strike is already causing studios to shift release dates back by months if not years.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including the Academy sets new rules for the Best Picture Oscar, big name directors make their case for the Turner Classic Movies network and Ryan Seacrest takes over as host of “Wheel of Fortune.”
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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 385: Hollywood Finally Addresses Concerns Over Sexual Harassment
October 23, 2017
The recent and voluminous sexual harassment claims against mega-producer Harvey Weinstein have ignited a firestorm of similar allegations by women against numerous professionals throughout the industry. It has grown into a day of reckoning that is reaching directors, agents and executives in Hollywood, to encompass the music, publishing and video game industries too.
Last week it was revealed that filmmaker James Toback sexually harassed upwards of 38 women over a course of decades. At the same time Nickelodeon fired Chris Savino, the creator behind one of its most popular series, over harassment claims and the head of amazon Studios stepped down under a cloud of similar accusations.
Meanwhile, Ticketmaster may have finally found a way to squelch scalpers from buying up all the best seats at live events. Its Verified Fan program is getting great, albeit expensive, tickets into the hands of actual fans. Now all they have to do is work on the technology to make it work more effectively.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including Netflix continues to expand its subscriber base, Justin Timberlake will perform at the Super Bowl halftime show and HBO will bring its international productions to the United States.
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Showbiz Sandbox 245: Guardians of the Celluloid – Hollywood Big Shots Rally Around Film Stock
August 4, 2014
With the entertainment industry having fully embraced digital technology, the world’s only remaining motion picture film supplier was preparing to cease manufacturing 35mm stock. However, a group of influential filmmakers, Christopher Nolan and Quentin Tarantino among them, have convinced studios to enter into an agreement with Kodak that will keep celluloid alive for a few more years.
Digital technology was actually supposed to simplify the production and distribution of movies, music and television. Yet as the industry adapts to new tools and workflows the learning curve has been long and steep. The most recent example occurred when a digital content file was mislabeled and caused cinemas to play the wrong movie.
Meanwhile, the television streaming service Aereo can’t seem to catch a break. Even after tge U.S. Supreme Court ruled they are acting as a cable operator the U.S. Copyright Office refuses to issue Aereo a compulsory license claiming they are not a cable company.
Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment news stories including some controversial comments about the current conflict in Gaza, Alvin and the Chipmunks head to Broadway and the pop star Lorde curates music for the next “Hunger Games” movie.
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Showbiz Sandbox 226: Back To The Future – Why TV Networks Suddenly Love Old People Again
February 24, 2014
Broadcast television networks are finally catching on to what most of us have known all along; people over the age of 50 actually watch a lot of TV. In a never-ending pursuit to attract younger viewers, networks discovered that baby boomers make up a large portion of their audience. Surely we’ll be seeing a lot more programming meant to appeal directly to this new found demographic.
Maybe some of these new, more mature shows can be turned into movies one day. That seems to be the new trend in Hollywood as studios get set to release two movies that are spun-off from canceled series (“Veronica Mars”) or are have actually already appeared on television as mini-series (“Son of God”).
Speaking of Hollywood studios, it turns out that despite crying poor on a perennial basis, they all managed to make hundreds of millions of dollars in profit during 2013. Not revenue… actual profit.
Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment news stories including Cee Lo Green quitting “The Voice”, CNN quitting Piers Morgan and the end of Moviefone’s movie listing service.
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Showbiz Sandbox 225: Comcast and TimeWarner Cable Is A Marriage Made In….
February 17, 2014
The proposed merger of Comcast and TimeWarner Cable has presented industry analysts with a number of complicated questions. Providing some of the answers is David Gelles, a business reporter for the New York Times, who joins us to provide background and insight into a transformative $45 billion deal that would combine the two largest media and technology providers in North America.
Though there are no legislative restrictions, will the U.S. government try to prevent to the two cable giants from consolidating? What concessions will the regulators ask of Comcast if allowing the merger to go through? How will consolidation give Comcast leverage in negotiations with content providers? Would the combined companies have too much control over the media? Most importantly, what does all of this mean for consumers?
Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom, the BAFTA awards were handed out over the weekend to films with strong British ties. That wasn’t the case at the Berlin Film Festival where Chinese movies took home the top prizes.
Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment news stories including Jimmy Fallon’s “Tonight Show” debut, actress Ellen Page’s inspiring coming-out speech, and an update on actor Shia Labeouf’s latest performance art stunt.
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Showbiz Sandbox 221: Sundance Returns To Its Indie Roots (Again)
January 20, 2014
Celebrities, filmmakers and industry executives are in the midst of their annual pilgrimage to Park City, Utah for the Sundance Film Festival. Thanks to digital technology it’s never been easier to make or distribute a low budget film. This has led to a glut of indie productions looking for audiences and no way to know which are worth watching.
This year’s Sundance began the day Oscar nominations were handed out and the festival’s founder was overlooked for his critically praised performance in “All Is Lost”. (Awkward). With nine films competing for Best Picture, and guild awards not being hounded out to consistent winners, it looks as if this will be one of the closest Oscar races in recent memory.
Meanwhile, an appeals court ruling may have finally killed Net Neutrality, much to the joy of Internet service providers everywhere. This means the cost of streaming online music and video may soon rise significantly.
Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment news stories including a Broadway bound musical adaptation of Disney’s “Frozen”, the declining appeal (and ratings) of “American Idol” and the most popular show on daytime television.
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Showbiz Sandbox 219: The Business of Show Was Profitable In 2013
January 6, 2014
Almost every sector of the entertainment industry saw record grosses during 2013. North American movie ticket sales reached a record $10.9 billion. Television audiences are tuning in to more shows than ever, especially sporting events. The top 20 concert tours made a whopping $2.43 billion. It all helped contribute to the bottom lines of many entertainment companies causing their stock prices to end the year on a high note.
The only category in which revenue declined was the music. Even sales of digital music declined for the first time since iTunes was launched back in 2003. Album sales were down 8.4% overall and some industry insiders concede this might be due to streaming services such as Pandora and Spotify.
And financial numbers aren’t the only ones increasing in entertainment. So are the sizes of televisions. They’re not only getting bigger, but the consumer electronics industry is pushing Ultra HD with 4K resolution, which is twice that of current HD televisions.
Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment news stories including the death of singer Phil Everly, the expansion and increased usage of UltraViolet and the manufactured controversy behind Martin Scorsese’s latest film, “The Wolf of Wall Street”.
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