Showbiz Sandbox 94: Charlie Sheen Is More Entertaining Than The Oscars
March 1, 2011
The 83rd Annual Academy Awards are finally over and, as expected, “The King’s Speech” took home most of the top prizes, including Best Picture. IndieWire’s Anne Thompson gives us her take on all the winners and losers, not to mention the poorly received Oscar telecast. One day before the Oscars Anne was at the Independent Spirit Awards and she reveals what the attendees were up to during the commercial breaks.
Remarkably actor Charlie Sheen just about managed to upstage the Oscars, and he wasn’t even there. Though that may be the only place Sheen could not be found. He continued his oddball antics by calling into radio shows, texting gossip websites and appearing on news programs causing CBS to ceased production of “Two And A Half Men”. The question on everyone’s mind now is just how much money does the network stand to lose by dumping the hit show.
Speaking of money, we discuss the music industry’s top earners in 2010 and how some of them made the list without releasing an album. We review all the week’s entertainment news including Broadway’s new number one show, plans to take “American Idol” voting online and the sale of troubled home video giant Blockbuster.
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Showbiz Sandbox 47: Movie Ticket Prices Get Super Sized
March 29, 2010
Another 3D film took the top spot at the box office this past weekend – “How To Train Your Dragon”. It knocked the 3D “Alice In Wonderland” out of first place after three weeks. As well, in order to play the film in 3D, theater owners were forced to take screens away from “Avatar” which caused it to fall out of the top 10 for the first time since its release last December.
Though 3D films seem to be all the rage these days a question remains over how much audiences are willing to pay to see them. This past week several theater chains raised their prices for 3D and 3D Imax tickets, some as much as 26%. Lauren Schuker of the Wall Street Journal drops by to fill us in on why movie ticket prices are rising and how it might affect this year’s record breaking box office returns.
Speaking of box office returns, thanks to the Cantor Exchange you will soon be able to place a wager on how much money you think a movie will make during its first four weeks in release. Though not if the MPAA has anything to say about it. Unfortunately, you won’t have the movie review program “At The Movies” to help your handicapping efforts. The show that launched the careers of film critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert was canceled. Have no fear, Ebert has plans to launch a brand new show. Read more
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Showbiz Sandbox 12: I Want To Be Korbi!
July 20, 2009
Korbi Ghosh of Zap2it’s Korbi TV blog joins us this week to discuss a bunch of television news including the Emmy nominations. Korbi‘s blog shares scoops, spoilers and breaking news with a community of fellow TV fanatics. She often appears on the TV Guide Channel, delivering her expert opinion on the television topic of the day and has filmed guest spot appearances on series such as “Scrubs” and “Greek.” Michael Giltz, whose writing appears in the New York Daily News, the Huffington Post and the Advocate also joins us this week.
The Emmy nominations were led by “30 Rock” which garnered a total of 22 (plus, noms for supporting cast Jane Krakowski, Jack McBrayer and Tracy Morgan!) A surprise nomination for Jim Parsons for Actor in a Comedy Series (the the underrated “Big Bang Theory”), Simon Baker (“The Mentalist”), and Farrah Fawcett, nominated posthumously for “Farrah’s Story.” Snubbed one again were “Friday Night Lights,” “Battlestar Galactica,” “So You Think You Can Dance,” and that show’s host, Cat Deeley. Read more
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Showbiz Sandbox 11: Wild About Michael Jackson (…and Neil Diamond)
July 13, 2009
Rolling Stone contributing editor David Wild joins us this week to discuss the Michael Jackson memorial. Wild is an Emmy-nominated television writer and a best selling author. on top of his work with Rolling Stone. He recently worked on the magazine’s Michael Jackson tribute, and was also instrumental in putting together the pop star’s memorial at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. He explains some of the realities and feelings taking place behind the scenes at the event. He also has a new book out titled He Is… I Say: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Neil Diamond
Audiences weren’t wild about “Bruno,” which won the weekend box office race, but didn’t perform as expected. Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock’s “The Proposal” continues to perform well – well enough that Reynolds has been offered the role of The Green Lantern in Warner Bros’s upcoming movie. Was he a better choice over Bradley Cooper and Justin Timberlake? Does anyone even care about “The Green Lantern”? Anne Thompson addresses that, and the future of film criticism in her blog Thompson On Hollywood. Read more
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