Showbiz Sandbox 643: Linear Television Viewership Sinks to New Lows

January 3, 2024

Two annual ratings roundups of television viewing in the United States show that audiences for traditional broadcast and linear cable are in serious decline. The list of the 100 most watched broadcast episodes is mostly sports. And the top ranked channels reveal cable isn’t even really trying to program their networks anymore.

Meanwhile, the domestic box office managed to surpass $9 billion for the first time since the COVID pandemic, with Universal Pictures taking over for Disney as the top earner.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including Gérard Depardieu stirs up more controversy, Taylor Swift sets more sales chart records and Paramount Global is looking for a buyer.

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Showbiz Sandbox 613: Author James Patterson Questions New York Times Best Seller List

April 4, 2023

James Patterson has been a perennial presence on the New York Times best seller list after his most recent book failed to make the list, he accused the newspaper of “cooking the books” in the way it compiles its lists. According to BookScan, which uses actual sales figures, Patterson’s latest book should have made the list, but the Times uses a proprietary formula and method for determining its list and now he’s publicly calling them out.

Meanwhile, we signed up for the new version of MoviePass just to find out what it offered. It turns out it is very hard to pull off a moviegoing subscription service when you don’t have deals with movie theaters.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including how Cineworld, the owner of Regal Cinemas, plans to restructure and exit bankruptcy, why the cast of the television series “Blue Bloods” took a pay cut, and the stage adaptation of Hayao Miyazaki’s “My Neighbor Totoro” wins six Olivier Awards.

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Showbiz Sandbox 544: The Existential Crisis Facing Theatrical Movie Releases

June 8, 2021

Anne Thompson, the editor at large at IndieWire, believes “a lot of things have to go right for the two-hour movie theatrical release to endure.” Thompson said as much in an opinion column she recently wrote for the New York Times. In a detailed opinion column for the New York Times. In a detailed conversation she explains four key challenges movie theaters face as they revive their business after the pandemic, including whether North American box office will ever again reach $11 billion.

One theatrical release that is doing better than some expected is Disney’s “Cruella.” The live-action spin-off has been popular enough for Disney to release a fashion line inspired by the outfits Oscar winning costume designer Jenny Bevan created for the film. They probably should have told her first since the Costume Designers Guild is none too pleased.

Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including the big winners at the BAFTA TV awards, how SpongeBob SquarePants is able to avoid paying taxes and the Russian comedy that is getting lots of local language remake love.

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Showbiz Sandbox 520: Writing Hollywood’s Obituary… Again

December 8, 2020

The film industry is facing an existential crisis due to the COVID pandemic; film productions are struggling to continue, cinema chains have become burdened with debt and studios are sending their blockbuster releases directly to streaming services. In fact, last week Warner Bros. announced that its entire 2021 slate of movies would be released both in theatres and on their streaming service HBO Max, at least in the United States.

Brooks Barnes, a reporter for the New York Times, recently wrote a feature story detailing the death of Hollywood…again. Literally the headline used the word obituary. Barnes joins us to discuss the unprecedented challenges and disruption the industry is facing and helps us understand their overall ramifications.

Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including why Disney is putting the Fox film library back in its vault, Bob Dylan sells the publishing rights to all of his songs and an all-Spanish album tops the Billboard charts for the first time in its 64 year history.

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Showbiz Sandbox 508: The New Mutants – Agents Become Managers

August 31, 2020

At a time when streaming giants have eroded box office participation and rich TV syndication deals, a significant number of high level talent agents have begun leaving their prestigious positions to become managers. They hope to help top celebrities build companies around themselves in the same way Gwyneth Paltrow and Reese Witherspoon have become business moguls.

Meanwhile, Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet” finally opened in theaters, at least in some international territories. Despite limited capacity screenings the blockbuster managed to live up to the hype earning $53 million at the box office. Even so, two hit films from China made even more money over the past week.

Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including a big syndication deal for “Young Sheldon,” the New York Times stops printing its TV listings and the Korean boy band BTS blows up a few records with its new single.

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Showbiz Sandbox 505: The Marvel and Mao Effect: A Hollywood Exec Heads to China, Hijinks Ensue

August 11, 2020

In his 17 years as the President of DMG Entertainment Motion Picture Group, Chris Fenton helped bring 20 Hollywood movies to China, facilitating co-productions, financing and distribution on blockbusters such as “Iron Man 3” and “Looper.” In his new book, “Feeding the Dragon,” the former William Morris agent details his time working in the entertainment industry and China. Fenton helps us read the tea leaves about the future for the relationship between the major studios and China.

Meanwhile, the entertainment industry is undergoing some seismic shifts. In a single week the Paramount Consent Decree was killed for good, television packaging is heading into the sunset and theatrical release windows for studio films just collapsed.

Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including an executive shakeup at NBC, Taylor Swift sets a new chart topping record with her new album and the Eurovision song contest is coming to the United States.

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Showbiz Sandbox 464: Warner Bros. Gets the Last Laugh With “Joker”

October 7, 2019

After winning the top prize at the Venice Film Festival last month, “Joker” shattered October box office records around the world. This was despite mixed critical reviews and concerns about violence that led to heightened security at movie theaters. The question remains whether the movie will be too dark for Oscar voters come awards season.

The box office in China also made headlines over the past week as the country celebrated National Day by heading to the movies. China’s biggest release for the holiday week even made it onto the North American box office charts.

Meanwhile, one of Hollywood’s biggest talent agencies was hoping to raise a lot of money by going public and ultimately change how agents do business. However, Endeavor wound up pulling its initial public offering at the last minute as market makers began raising doubts.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including how who will be performing at next year’s Super Bowl Halftime Show, Spider-Man rejoins Marvel’s Cinematic Universe and Apple will release (some of) its movies in theatres with a 90-day theatrical window.

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Showbiz Sandbox 407: Beyoncé Delivers A Higher Education To Coachella

April 17, 2018

Though Beyoncé was unable to headline Coachella last year due to being pregnant with twins, she more than made up for it this year with a performance that music critics are rightly hailing as the best live music event in decades. In a two hour set that included more than 100 performers from dancers to musicians, even a full marching band, Beyoncé put on a spectacular show that managed to be technically brilliant as well as socially relevant to the times. We were there and provide first hand reporting from this year’s Coachella.

Another festival making news is Cannes, which announced the films in this year’s competition, leaving out many of the event’s favorite auteurs. The festival also parted ways with Netflix, not inviting films produced by the streaming giant since they won’t be released in movie theaters.

Speaking of Netflix, a shareholder has sued the company for what they allege to a scheme which assured senior management and board members performance bonuses. The complaint accuses Netflix of using the performance bonuses to avoid paying taxes, rather than for any actual performance gains.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including the kurfuffle over Apu, an Indian character on “The Simpsons,” Kendrick Lamar wins a Pulitzer Prize for his latest album and Fleetwood Mac parts ways with its longstanding guitarist Lindsey Buckingham.

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Showbiz Sandbox 399: Why Can’t Hulu and Spotify Turn A Profit?

February 12, 2018

As consumers abandon physical media like compact discs and DVDs they are signing up for streaming services like Hulu and Spotify by the tens of millions. Even so, profitability has proven elusive for such companies. We’ll try and understand why, despite all their earnings and tons of headlines, such services continue to be in the red.

Meanwhile the movie awards season has reached a fever pitch, with the Writers Guild handing out their top awards to “Call Me By Your Name” and “Get Out.” Could the horror flick be gaining momentum in the Oscar race just like “Moonlight” did last year?

The Grammys may be over but Michael Giltz just finished his list of the best albums of 2017. Oce you move beyond the big prize for Album Of The Year, his picks have a lot in common with the winners at this year’s ceremony.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including why Russia has launched a smear campaign against an Oscar nominated documentary, a hiccup in the sale of The Weinstein Company and a respected television executive gets picked to head up Amazon Studios.

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Showbiz Sandbox 397: Thompson On The 2018 Oscar Nominations and Sundance Film Festival

January 29, 2018

Some of the biggest annual headline generators in the entertainment industry all happened to occur during the same week this year; the Grammy Awards were handed out, the Oscar Nominations were announced and the Sundance Film Festival came to a close. Anne Thompson, Indiewire’s editor at large, helps us break down the Oscar nominations while also telling us about the titles from Sundance that we can look forward to seeing in the year ahead.

As for the Grammy Awards, though hip-hop albums by Kendrick Lamar and Jay-Z were heavily favored to win top prizes, it was Bruno Mars who took home the nights biggest honors, including Album of the Year. And though the telecast of the ceremony was filled with performances by the biggest names in music, viewership plummeted to an all-time low.

Meanwhile, the movie ticket subscription service MoviePass caused a stir in Hollywood last week, though not necessarily in a good way. The company removed ten high-profile AMC theaters from its service claiming they were tired of being ignored by the cinema chain. But could the real reason be that MoviePass was simply losing too much money at those locations?

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including why Neil Diamond and Elton John will stop touring, celebrities get caught out paying for social media followers and the story behind an open source, anonymous list of salaries for television writers and producers.

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