Showbiz Sandbox 549: Second Guessing Disney’s “Black Widow” Distribution Strategy
July 20, 2021
In its second weekend the latest Marvel movie “Black Widow” dropped over 67% at the box office; the largest decline for any film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Could it be that the movie’s availability via premium video on demand cannibalized its theatrical returns? The ongoing pandemic makes it difficult to draw any conclusions, though one thing is clear; “Black Widow” is one of the most pirated movies of the year.
Meanwhile, the Cannes Film Festival wrapped up over the weekend with Spike Lee and his jury awarding Julia Ducournau’s “Titane” with the Palme d’Or. It is only the second time in the festival’s history that a woman has taken home the prize. Whether it will go on to Oscar glory like “Parasite” did two years ago remains to be seen, but the feeling was this year’s festival may not generate a lot of awards-worthy movies.
Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including how artificial intelligence helped bring Anthony Bourdain back to life, the United Kingdom wants to revise music copyright and filmmaker Frank Darabont settles his lawsuit over “The Walking Dead.”
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Showbiz Sandbox 537: The Positive Wave of Asian Media Comes To Comic Books
April 21, 2021
With a string of hit, award winning movies like “Parasite” and global pop-phenoms like BTS, Asian culture is having a moment in the spotlight. Thus it may be an opportune time for the publication of “The Good Asian,” a new comic book series about a detective in San Francisco’s Chinatown in 1936. We talk to Pornsak Pichetshote, its creator, who is a big player in comics, having edited top titles for DC’s Vertigo and helping launch its new TV division.
Meanwhile, as Broadway tries to reopen after the pandemic, powerhouse producer Scott Rudin is facing some fallout after a media profile about his past abusive, bullying behavior. Rudin says he will now step away from day-to-day oversight of his ongoing and future productions to prevent talent from backing out.
Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including London’s West End prepares to reopen, Univision and Televisa announce a merger and the 46th annual IRA Awards.
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Showbiz Sandbox 525: A Non-Netflix Show Finally Tops Nielsen’s Streaming Charts
January 19, 2021
For the first time in history, or at least since Nielsen started its U.S. weekly streaming chart, a non-Netflix show claimed the top spot. For the week ending December 20th “The Mandalorian” was the number one steamed show in the nation, with over 1.33 billion total minutes viewed by Disney+ subscribers. As more streaming services come online with their own original programming, Netflix’s domination of the Nielsen chart may ultimately fade.
Speaking of ratings, a new leader among cable news networks has emerged since last year’s presidential election. For the first time since 2000, CNN and MSNBC beat out Fox News. Do these ratings reflect the unprecedented political crises we’ve been facing or a sea change in viewership?
Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including country star Morgan Wallen’s new streaming record, Disneyland ditches annual passes and Shakira sells the publishing rights to her music.
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Showbiz Sandbox 524: Cable News Networks Make Big Moves
January 13, 2021
Thanks to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and amped up political unrest, viewership of cable news networks has reached record levels. Now that the presidential election is over in the United States, some are making changes to both their anchor and programming lineups. Maybe the biggest move is Fox News, which is moving an opinion show to their early evening rotation.
Meanwhile, Warner Bros. is subtly pushing back against critics of its workplace environment on DC titles, despite top talent like Gal Godot and Jason Mamoa weighing in with concerns. Walter Hamada, the head of DC Films, seems to be taking most of the heat.
Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including the return of “Sex and the City,” Kevin Hart heads to Netflix and the Grammy Awards get postponed.
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Showbiz Sandbox 511: The Emmys and TIFF Pull Off the Virtual
September 22, 2020
When COVID-19 shut down the worldwide entertainment industry many wondered how it would affect annual events such as awards shows as well as film and music festivals. While the pandemic led to the cancelation of the Cannes Film Festival, the Emmy Awards honoring excellence in television and the Toronto International Film Festival both managed to hold virtual events that were received quite positively.
Anne Thompson, Indiewire’s Editor at Large, has been attending and covering TIFF for decades, though this year she didn’t have to leave her home to do so. She fills us in on what it was like to attend TIFF virtually, what the standout films were, how they will likely get released in theaters and which ones will be up for (a virtual) Oscars next year.
Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including complete coverage of the Emmy Awards, a new music video for a beloved Louis Armstrong song and Madonna will direct her own biopic.
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Showbiz Sandbox 510: Studios Play Hide and Seek With Box Office Data
September 15, 2020
Now that new movies are once again playing in reopened cinemas, studios are reluctant to report their pandemic crippled grosses lest their films be deemed publicly as financial flops. At least two studios are delaying box office reports of their latest releases in what many industry insiders fear is a new trend. Is it appropriate for distributors to break with a decades old tradition of reporting weekend grosses in the midst of COVID-19 or do they have the right to keep box office on their titles confidential?
Meanwhile, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced a new diversity initiative for the Oscars. Now for a film to be eligible for the Best Picture category it has to meet at least two of four diversity requirements. It’s a thoughtful move, even if almost every film made in the last ten years can easily meet the new requirements
Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including why Disney’s “Mulan” is stirring up unwanted controversy, a major talent agency finally agrees to the Writers Guild code of conduct and sales of vinyl records surpass compact discs for the first time in over 30 years.
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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 461: A Crazy Example of Hollywood’s Gender Pay Gap
September 9, 2019
Pay disparity based on gender is not a new thing in the entertainment industry, especially in the movie business. History is rife with examples where leading men got paid multiples more than their leading ladies. However, gender pay gaps behind the camera aren’t often publicized. That wasn’t the case when Adele Lim, the co-writer of “Crazy Rich Asians” found out how much more her male co-writer was being paid for the sequels, she went public.
The good news according to a new study is that in front of the camera Hollywood is becoming more diverse. Women and people of color are being cast more than ever with 39 out of the top 100 films in 2018 featuring a female lead. Last year also marked a 12-year high for minorities being given speaking roles.
Meanwhile, advertisers and television networks are concerning themselves with a different set of numbers; viewership ratings. For the first time ever, Nielsen is counting all the people who watch TV in bars, airports and hotel lounges. Ratings will surely go up for some big categories such as sports. But will ad rates go up too?
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including why author Walter Mosley quit his “Star Trek: Discovery” writers gig, music sales are up for the year and, despite lots of new competition, Netflix looks poised to maintain its dominance of the streaming market.
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Showbiz Sandbox 433: 2018 Was A Blockbuster Year at the Box Office
December 31, 2018
A string of big movie releases during the holidays helped the North American box office set a record in 2018, ending the year at $11.9 billion. Ticket sales also set a record in China where roughly $8.7 billion was earned. These two territories combined accounted for 48% of the $41.7 billion global box office.
However, growth in the second largest movie market in the world slowed to 9%, down from nearly 14% the year before. That’s why China ignored it’s quota on imported films at the end of 2018, allowing several Hollywood titles to be released. We’ll see if that trend continues into the new year.
In somewhat related news, a survey commissioned by the National Association of Theatre Owners showed that streaming services like Netflix do not adversely affect the frequency of moviegoing. Apparently people who watch a lot of movies at home, also like to watch movies in theaters. Go figure.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including the Aretha Franklin’s back taxes, Ed Sheeran’s blockbuster tour and why CBS wants to dump Nielsen.
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Showbiz Sandbox 387: Has Star Wars Turned Disney Into The Evil Empire?
November 6, 2017
Last week it was released that Disney would be charging movie theaters a record high percentage of box office and a minimum guaranteed run in order to book “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.” At the same time, the studio has blacklisted the Los Angeles Times from reviewing and covering its films. We’ll explain why.
In television news, the Nielsen ratings company is giving us a peek into viewership for the Netflix series “Stranger Things.” And the BBC is opening up its digital platform to different sports leagues so more games can be seen for free by more people.
We also continue to provide updates on the sexual harassment allegations that have plagued the entertainment and media industries over the past month. The rap sheet of people fired or quitting over revelations they’ve been sexually harassing and assaulting people for years grows longer and longer…starting with Kevin Spacey, who has seen his life collapse in just one week.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including discussion of a “Lord of the Rings” television series, how YouTube has become a leading music curation platform and the Country Music Awards try and squelch the debate over gun control.
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