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 384: NBC Has A Big Megyn Kelly Problem
October 16, 2017
NBC forked over millions of dollars to steal Megyn Kelly away from Fox News and then realized they had nowhere to put her. First the network gave Kelly a primetime news show opposite the ratings powerhouse 60 Minutes. When that move prove disastrous NBC shoehorned Kelly into the third hour of their hit morning program, “Today,” only to see the shows ratings plummet.
Marc Berman, the editor-in-chief of Programming Insider, joins us to analyze what went wrong with bringing Kelly to NBC, why putting a former political news anchor into a morning show was a bad fit, and what the network can do to save the “Today” show before Kelly brings down ratings any further. Berman believes if NBC doesn’t act soon, they could get lapped by the likes of CBS.
Speaking of public implosion swof media fixtures, the Harvey Weinstein scandal has moved beyond the movie mogul himself to encompass a culture of sexual harassment that pervades Hollywood. We’ll discuss a plausible idea that Hollywood could take toward ending such behavior.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including how Spanish language network Telemundo is gaining ground on its rival Univision, why the ratings of a CW show were significantly boosted by binge viewing on Netflix and YouTube views may soon be included in determining Billboard’s weekly music charts.
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Showbiz Sandbox 369: When the Punishment Doesn’t Fit the Comedy
June 5, 2017
Kathy Griffin and HBO’s Bill Maher learned first-hand last week just how easy it is to cross the line wherein one’s jokes and antics go from being humorous to offensive. But after apologies are issued and near-term financial repercussions are suffered, should the careers of boundary pushing comedians really come to an end because of one regrettable mistake?
Meanwhile with Apple introducing a ton of new hardware at its Worldwide Developer Conference, the company is actually reaping more rewards from its content business. In fact, last quarter Apple earned more from selling content than most media conglomerates earned during the same period.
We’ll also tell you why the beloved radio DJ who helped discover acts such as the Sex Pistols and the Ramones is leaving his weekly show after 40 years. (Hint: It wasn’t his decision.)
Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including journalist Megyn Kelly’s anticipated return to television, a non-English single tops the Billboard charts and big name musical acts hold a benefit pop concert to raise money for victims of a terrorist attack in Manchester.
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Showbiz Sandbox 364: Hollywood Averts Another Writer’s Strike With Last Minute Deal
May 2, 2017
Though it came down to the wire and took an all-night negotiating session, Hollywood avoided another costly writer’s strike earlier this week. The Writers Guild of America, which represents upwards of 12,000 movie and television writers, came to a tentative agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which negotiates on behalf of Hollywood studios and networks. The three year contract reportedly resolves several issues including the WGA health plan, how long a writer can be held by a television series as well as parity for online and cable residuals.
In other breaking news, the nominations for this year’s Tony Awards were announced, but it is anyone’s guess which of the four productions up for Best Musical will come out on top. The same is true of the four plays, each of which is by an American playwright making their Broadway debut. The only sure thing is that Bette Midler will win the Best Leading Actress in a Musical Award for “Hello Dolly!”
Meanwhile, after a 15 year decline in which global recorded music lost 40% of its value, the music industry is showing signs of life. You can thank streaming. For the second year in a row, music sales worldwide have increased – that includes physical product, digital and income from streaming.
Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment news stories including more layoffs at ESPN, “Saturday Night Live” heads to China (sort of) and Ryan Seacrest gets a new television gig.
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Showbiz Sandbox 363: With Bill O’Reilly Gone, Cable News Begins A New Chapter
April 24, 2017
After twenty years as the face of Fox News, Bill O’Reilly was responsible for nearly 20% of the network’s revenue. Even so, Fox made the decision to fire O’Reilly last week after reports that he had paid out settlements over the years to women accusing him of sexual harassment. At least, that’s how Fox spun the story, not wanting to admit the controversial news host was causing the network too look bad and lose advertisers.
O’Reilly wasn’t the first on-air host Fox News has lost over the last year. A string of anchors, including the popular Megyn Kelly left for new deals at other networks. With Fox’s entire primetime lineup upended so suddenly, other media outlets are beginning to make a move to overtake the top cable news network.
Meanwhile, China continues to issue release dates for big Hollywood movies at a rate that will likely surpass their own quota on imported films. One thing is for sure, none of the movies China approves will star Richard Gere. We’ll explain why.
Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment news stories including why it doesn’t matter that Netflix didn’t meet its quarterly subscriber goals, the return of “X-Files” and Kevin Spacey gets tapped for the Tony Awards.
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Showbiz Sandbox 353: Streaming Giants Raise Ante at Sundance Film Festival
January 30, 2017
As if it wasn’t difficult enough for distributors to find a commercial title amidst the hundreds of films premiering at the Sundance Film Festival each January, video streaming companies such as Netflix and Amazon have entered the bidding causing acquisitions prices to rise for the entire market. Anne Thompson, Indiewire’s editor-at-large, has just returned from Sundance where she reports most of the films were good, though maybe not good enough to win any Oscars in 2018.
As for this year’s Oscars, the frontrunners became a little more clear with the Producers Guild and Screen Actors Guild handing out their awards over the weekend. “Hidden Figures” surprised many by taking home the SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture during a politically charged ceremony.
Speaking of industry unions, the Directors Guild of America has signed a new contract with producers that gives its members significant raises in subscription video-on-demand residuals. This is welcome news for directors who missed out on sharing in DVD and Blu-ray revenue over the past decade.
Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment news stories including the launch of a brand new vinyl record factory, Jeffrey Katzenberg’s new venture and streaming music company Tidal finds a new investor.
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Showbiz Sandbox 350: Hollywood Has Faith in Religious Marketing
January 9, 2017
Organized religion and the film industry have traditionally not played nicely with one another. Recently however, movie studios have been courting Christian filmgoers, in hopes of increasing audiences for certain titles. Brooks Barnes, a staff reporter for the New York Times, joins us to discuss one of Hollywood’s latest marketing trends.
The Writers Guild and the National Society Of Film Critics have both weighed in with end of the year honors. But will any of their choices matter come Oscar time?
The same question could be asked about the Golden Globes which were held last weekend. “La La Land” and “Moonlight” walked away with the top prizes as they continue to march through awards season as this year’s front runners for a Best Picture Academy Award.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including why Kodak is bringing back celluloid (sort of), how talk show host Conan O’Brien is going viral and Norway ditches FM radio.
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Showbiz Sandbox 349: How the 2016 Box Office Defied the Odds
January 3, 2017
Apparently political pollsters aren’t the only forecasters whose predictions can be wrong. With fewer high profile blockbusters than 2015, some in Hollywood believed that the 2016 North American box office could surpass the previous year. However, a number of unexpected hits like “The Jungle Book” and “Deadpool” helped box office climb to a record high of $11.4 billion.
Meanwhile in China, the rapid box office growth that saw a 50% rise in 2015 slowed dramatically. In fact, the country’s box office actually fell in the last half of 2016, causing a modest 3% gain, year-over-year. We’ll explain what caused the Chinese box office to cool off so quickly and why there may be some good news buried in the financials.
Our resident theatre expert Michael Giltz will brief us on all the new productions opening on Broadway this spring. He’ll tell us which shows he would invest in (if he had the money) and which might be headed to a town near you when they go out on tour.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including this year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees, a banner year for cable news networks and how record labels are finally seeing some profits from streaming music revenue.
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Showbiz Sandbox 345: Awards Season Kicks Off With the Proper Spirit
November 28, 2016
Despite an endless debate as to precisely when the movie awards season begins each year, everyone agrees that the Independent Spirit Awards are one of the more important events. Though not all of the indie films honored by the Spirit Awards will go on to be nominated for Oscars, each year’s nominees provide a list of worthwhile movies on which to catch up.
With 2016 entering the homestretch Hollywood movie studios have begun releasing titles they hope will win big awards or big box office… or both. Disney continues to fire on all cylinders with it’s latest animated release “Moana” as well as “Doctor Strange” minting money during their record breaking year. And “Star Wars: Rogue One” is still a month off.
Meanwhile the media fallout from the U.S. presidential election continues to make headlines, not all of which are accurate. In fact, Facebook and Google are making efforts to crack down on fake news stories as news organizations begin to look at the role they played in recent political events.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including this year’s International Emmy Award winners, why television networks aren’t canceling this season’s failing shows and animator Hayao Miyazaki comes out of retirement to make another movie.
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Showbiz Sandbox 344: Did the Media Bungle The 2016 Election?
November 14, 2016
We don’t cover politics on Showbiz Sandbox per se, however we do provide analysis and commentary on the worldwide media and entertainment industries. Thus, we discuss the role, and some might say the culpability, of the news media in the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. While there is no doubt some divisiveness over the election of president-elect Donald Trump, there seems to be unanimous consensus that mainstream media blew it… bigly.
We also take a look at the impact the results of this year’s presidential election will have on the entertainment business. Deals currently in the works may have a tougher time getting approved, and decisions that passed years ago may be in danger of being overturned.
China meanwhile has passed a new film industry law intended to crack down on box office fraud and promote “core socialist values”. It weaves a new layer of protectionism into the business by requiring that two thirds of the country’s movie screens be reserved for Chinese films.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including the why IMDb is going to court over its right to post actors ages, Universal Pictures makes some changes at DreamWorks Animation and Robert Redford’s retirement plans.
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