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 642: What Netflix Subscribers Really Watch

December 19, 2023

Last week Netflix released a huge data dump detailing the viewership of all its programming for the first six months of 2023. The streaming giant is calling it a victory for transparency. While it’s a long way from the granular detail the industry has long sought, it does reveal that almost nobody watches 25% of the 18,000 on the serverice. We discuss other findings the metrics reveal and why Netflix is suddenly so open about releasing data.

Meanwhile, the guilds have started to weigh in with their picks for the top films of this year and providing us with a list of documentaries you should catch up on.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including why Mayim Bialik is out as host of “Jeapordy,” the 25 films added to this year’s National Film Registry and the (legal and professional) verdict on actor Jonathan Majors.

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Showbiz Sandbox 641: Red Sea Film Festival Highlights Emerging Film Market

December 13, 2023

In its third year the Red Sea International Film Festival continues to build on its reputation for programming some of the most engaging and important movies being made in the Middle East. Held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, RSIFF has gone a step further by financially backing productions from the region, which until five years ago didn’t even have movie theaters.

Meanwhile, the awards season is revving up with numerous film critics societies weighing on their top movies from the past year. Plus the Golden Globes announced their nominations for next year’s ceremony.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including how a 65-year-old Christmas song becomes only the third holiday tune to top the Billboard charts, bundling comes to streaming services and Disney’s Bob Iger says the ABC television network is not for sale.

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Showbiz Sandbox 636: Why Streaming Subscriptions Are Getting More Expensive

November 1, 2023

When Netflix announced its earnings for the third quarter of 2023 it also confirmed that it would be increasing prices for those that don’t want to view ads. Amazon recently said it would also be raising the price for the ad-free tier of Prime Video. It turns out these streaming services have discovered they make more revenue per subscriber when they are willing to watch ads. Now all they need to do is scale their advertising subscriber-base.

Meanwhile, there are signs that talks to settle the actors’ strike may be going well. Though the strike’s damages have already been done with studios postponing releases until 2025 and television ad rates plummeting.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including why music publishers are taking legal action against artificial intelligence companies, how record labels are trying to prevent artists from re-recording their albums and the untimely death of Matthew Perry.

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Showbiz Sandbox 635: Deciphering Hollywood Hits and Misses

October 17, 2023

Hollywood studios often try to camouflage the success or failure of their movies. Sometimes they claim a film is unprofitable, yet go on to make several sequels, as Nu Image did with the “Has Fallen” franchise. Other times a studio insists a movie is a modest box office hit despite paying hundreds of millions for the underlying property, as with Universal Pictures’ recent “The Exorcist: Believer.” It many not matter to moviegoers, but it does to those with profit participation.

There is no denying that Taylor Swift’s “Eras Tour” concert film is a huge success after its weekend in cinemas around the world. Though it didn’t live up to early box office forecasts, its opening was three times bigger than any concert movie in history. It became the highest grossing such film of all time in North America after just three days.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including the latest on the actors’ strike, some questions over Spotify’s audiobook offering and Microsoft finally completes its acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

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Showbiz Sandbox 634: Spotify Gets Book Smart

October 10, 2023

Spotify, the music streaming service, is going all in on audiobooks in hopes of attracting and maintaining subscribers. Previously, Spotify offered some audiobooks for sale. Now the company’s 220 million premium subscribers get 15 hours of free audiobook listening each month. The service is launching with 150,000 titles and will pay publishers based on consumption.

Meanwhile, while the writers’ strike may be over, actors continue to walk picket lines outside Hollywood studios, networks and streamers. The good news is that SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP are finally sitting down to negotiate a new contract.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including how Taylor Swift’s film is breaking records even before its release, Dreamworks Animation plans to outsource production and why Wall Street financiers are souring on investing in entertainment companies.

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Showbiz Sandbox 633: Dissecting the New Writers Guild Contract

October 3, 2023

The Writers Guild of America released details of the new contract they negotiated with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers ending their historic 148 day strike. The 94-page document is filled with big gains for writers in pay and protection from artificial intelligence. It’s also a compromise to the deal the WGA initially sought from the AMPTP, as is to be expected.

Meanwhile the Golden Globe Awards has christened two new categories; one for cinematic and box office achievement (which makes no sense) and another for best performance ni stand up comedy on television (which seems like a good idea).

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including why Juilliard’s acting program is about to get a lot cheaper to attend, how artificial intelligence is augmenting a classic Ingmar Bergman film and Beyoncé is bringing a movie of her Renaissance tour to cinemas.

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Showbiz Sandbox 631: Telluride and Toronto Film Festivals Kick Off Unusual Awards Season

September 20, 2023

Every annual awards season has its own strange rhythm and unexpected twists. But with both actors and writers on strike, unable to promote certain movies, surely this year’s awards season will be the strangest of all. At the heart of the madness is Anne Thompson, the Editor-at-Large of Indiewire. The awards season expert is back from both the Telluride and Toronto International Film Festival and she fills us in on which movies managed to drum up some buzz during the fall festival circuit.

Meanwhile, the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes roll on without any contract negotiations taking place. Drew Barrymore and Bill Mahr both got into hot water with the guilds by trying to start up production of their talk shows without writers. They quickly reversed course.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including Dua Lipa’s book club, music sales hit a new record and why the founder of Rolling Stone magazine was booted out of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

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Showbiz Sandbox 629: Disney vs. Charter Feud Could Finally Unbundle Cable

September 5, 2023

Carriage disputes between cable companies and media companies are nothing new. They happen regularly around big events like the Super Bowl, FIFA World Cup or the Oscars. However this time Charter Communications, the second largest cable operator in the United States, has pulled all of Disney’s 19 networks from its service, refusing to pay the higher licensing fees, arguing that the bundled pay television business model no longer works. Settling the disagreement could significantly alter the future of the television landscape.

Meanwhile, Taylor Swift has conquered the album charts and football stadiums and now she’s going to conquer movie theaters. And with summer box office hitting $4 billion, Swift’s concert film comes at the perfect time, at least for those in North America.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including the Hollywood Reporter gets another editor-in-chief, more details about Kevin Costner’s departure from “Yellowstone” and Michael Mann brings his “Ferrari” to the Venice Film Festival.

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Showbiz Sandbox 628: An Inside Look at Streaming’s Microscopic Residual Payments

August 30, 2023

The recent success of the television series “Suits” on Netflix has shined a spotlight on how much money writers make on a cable or broadcast hit versus one on a streaming service. Last week one of the show’s writers revealed the vast difference in residual payments he received between linear and streaming underscoring why the WGA is currently on strike.

Meanwhile, with the WGA and SAG-AFTRA striking in strong solidarity, the AMPTP has hired a public relations crisis management firm. Studios, realizing the strike shows no sign of ending, have begun postpone tentpole releases such as “Dune 2” into 2024.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including how Amazon has shown interest in partnering with Disney on ESPN, how preview screenings are messing up box office calculations and why musicians seem to be dumping manager Scooter Braun.

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