Showbiz Sandbox 607: AMC Sets Sights On Upending Movie Ticket Prices

February 14, 2023

AMC Theatres, the world’s largest cinema chain, announced plans to start charging moviegoers based on where they sit in an auditorium. Preferred seats will cost a few dollars more than standard seats and those in the first two rows will cost less. At a time when movie theaters are having trouble attracting patrons back into cinemas, is this new pricing scheme supposed to actually encourage moviegoing or streaming at home?

The good news for movie theater operators is that major studios are rethinking their distribution strategies. Disney is the latest to suggest they will be returning to a theatrical window. During a quarterly earnings call the company’s new old CEO, Bob Iger, also revealed they will be cutting 7,000 jobs.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including how Beyoncé is in good company when it comes to being shut out of Grammys top prize, the movie “La La Land” is headed to Broadway and Kevin Costner is leaving the hit series ‘Yellowstone.”

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Showbiz Sandbox 383: The Fall of Harvey Weinstein

October 9, 2017

When The New York Times reported that movie mogul Harvey Weinstein has been paying off women accusing him of sexual harassment for decades, it didn’t come as much of a surprise to many in Hollywood. Many of those that worked in and around the legendary indie movie producer, including a number of movie stars, were victims of Weinstein’s behavior, had direct knowledge of it, or had been warned about his reputation.

Reporters spent years trying to uncover the story, but only recently was enough evidenced gathered to conclusively document the repeated harassment. Within days of the story being published, and with more actresses leveling accusations, Weinstein was fired from his position as head of The Weinstein Company. Whether Weinstein could ever work in Hollywood again is difficult to fathom and the future of his former company is tenuous at best.

Meanwhile, the much anticipated sequel to the classic sci-fi movie “Blade Runner” was finally released to disappointing box office returns. Was it the 35-year wait between movies, the nearly three hour running time or simply a confusing marketing campaign that kept audiences away?

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including who won the Nobel Prize for literature, Netflix raises its prices and the this year’s nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

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Showbiz Sandbox 360: Can Spotify Come To Terms With Major Record Labels?

March 20, 2017

Even as Spotify has grown into the largest subscription streaming music service in the world, all of the company’s long-term licensing deals have expired and it has struggled to negotiate new ones that will help them lower costs and become a viable business. However new reports have emerged that Spotify may be close to reaching new licensing deals after agreeing to some strict terms from the labels.

Among these are marketing guarantees, the windowing of major releases and only placing full albums on the premium paid tier of their service. Spotify may have no choice but to accept the labels’ offer otherwise their much-anticipated IPO may fall apart once and for all.

Unlike Spotify, Netflix is a subscription streaming company that is at the top of its game and isn’t worried about squabbling with its content partners. Instead, the company has been busy altering its star rating system, restoring and lost Orson Welles film and bad-mouthing movie theaters.

Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment news stories including the opening of Disney’s live-action “Beauty and the Beast” sets box office records, the head of the MPAA goes M.I.A. at CinemaCon and Saturday Night Live makes plans for prime time segments. Read more

Showbiz Sandbox 305: Should “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” Box Office Records Require An Asterisk?

December 21, 2015

The release of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” shattered box office records the world over and became the biggest movie opening of all time by earning $529 million. We explain why in countries such as Japan and South Korea, the latest “Star Wars” not only didn’t win the weekend, but in some cases earned less than earlier installments of the franchise. We also look at the breakdown of which formats audiences favored when buying tickets.

George Lucas’ original “Star Wars” movie was released in 1977 and was added to the National Film Registry in 1989. We weigh in on the annual list of films added to the registry by the Library of Congress, charged with selecting new entrants. It always makes for a fascinating mix; we’ll discuss what made this year’s cut there and why. Hint: It’s not always artistry that counts… and no we’re not looking at you “Top Gun.”

In music news, it turns out online radio services such as Pandora will soon be paying more to license songs. Meanwhile, Adele is trying to prevent her fans from having to pay more to purchase tickets to see her in concert. We’ll tell you about the growing backlash against the secondary market for concert tickets and what some artists are doing about it.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including how “Star Wars” bumped Quentin Tarantino’s latest movie out of a historic movie theater, Howard Stern signs a new deal with SiriusXM and the list of this year’s inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

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