Showbiz Sandbox 601: Middle East Film Industry On Display at Red Sea Film Festival
December 14, 2022
The second Red Sea International Film Festival just came to a close in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, a country which didn’t even have movie theaters until four years ago. In fact, several Saudi films premiered at the event which put an emerging Middle East film industry on full display.
Meanwhile there is no debating that we are in the throes of the awards season. The National Board of Review, the Los Angeles Film Critics and the Golden Globes are handing out kudos even though none of them really matter when it comes to the Oscars.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including why highbrow films are losing audiences, the Sight & Sound poll of best movies of all time is published and Ticketmaster messes up in Mexico.
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Showbiz Sandbox 239: A Gentleman’s Guide To This Year’s Tony Winners
June 9, 2014
This year’s Tony Awards spread the love around with many of the Broadway season’s most lauded shows taking home trophies. “A Raisin in the Sun” won several awards including best revival of a play. Actor Bryan Cranston earned a Tony for his portrayal of President Lyndon Johnson “All The Way”, which also won best play. The critical darling “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder” walked off with one of the night’s biggest awards, best musical.
Meanwhile Audra McDonald made history by winning her sixth Tony for acting, the most ever won by a performer. There were very few surprises during this year’s ceremony, accept for maybe host Hugh Jackman starting the telecast off by hopping (literally) through a dance routine that lasted four minutes. And even though Neil Patrick Harris didn’t host this year’s ceremony as he has for the past three years, he still managed to make his presence felt by performing a number from “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” and winning the Tony for best actor in a leading role in a musical.
In the world of movies it appears the day-and-date release of movies both in theatres and online is quickly becoming the new normal, if the practice hasn’t done so already. Now, a new research report out of Europe suggests that overlapping release windows is not eroding cinema attendance.
Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment news stories including the latest movie from the Wachowski siblings gets pushed into next year, “Game of Thrones” becomes the the most watched show in HBO’s history and despite critical praise the latest Tom Cruise blockbuster is struggling at the box office.
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Showbiz Sandbox 68: Who Said Jennifer Aniston Was A Movie Star?
August 23, 2010
Who would have guessed that in this day and age a Sylvester Stallone movie could top the box office for two straight weeks. But Sly’s “The Expendables” finished first with $16 million beating out five new releases including the Jennifer Aniston vehicle “Switched”. The dramedy opened to a disappointing $8.1 million prompting entertainment pundits like Patrick Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times to question whether Aniston is truly a movie star.
Generating interest doesn’t seem to be a problem for “The Social Network”, which details the founding of Facebook. More than six weeks before its release the film directed by David Fincher is getting a ton of early Oscar buzz.
Google is also making waves in Hollywood. A book about the company’s early days is being turned into a movie and Google TV has the industry worried that consumers will start canceling their cable subscriptions en masse. According to a story in the New York Times however, Americans have not been cutting their cable cords in the large numbers once predicted. Instead, cable subscriptions have increased.
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Showbiz Sandbox 2: Disney Hearts Hulu, Endeavor Hearts William Morris
May 4, 2009
“Wolverine” A Hero At The Box Office
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3i06056b3e434534846b7ff5e99f2211b9
Disney’s Anne Sweeney Talks Hulu: It’s All About Casual Viewers
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/01/AR2009050100374.html
Disney’s Hulu Deal Raises Question About YouTube Model
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090430-726930.html
Denis Leary goes Hulu, mocks your ‘Tweety-pages’ and your ‘Faceyspaces’
http://watching-tv.ew.com/2009/05/denis-leary-goe.html
“TV Everywhere”: Pay your cable bill, watch Entorage online
http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2009/03/tv-everywhere-pay-your-cable-bill-watch-entourage-online.ars
Sony Offers Free Films On Crackle
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118002988.html?categoryid=13&cs=1
NBC Gets Rolling Before Its Upfronts
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i06056b3e43453484c9327754ccee4248
NBC Exec Dies On “Parenthood” Set
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118003057.html?categoryid=14&cs=1
Chuck Decision Delayed For A Week Or More
http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/watch_with_kristin/b121695_chuck_decision_delayed_week_more.html
Talks Continue For “Scrubs” Return
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118002915.html?categoryid=14&cs=1
Hasbro and Discovery Plan Channel Based On Toy Brands
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/01/business/media/01hasbro.html?ref=business
Full Orchestra Puts “Lost” Audience On Edge
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118002951.html?categoryid=16&cs=1
Obama Presser Audience Slides But Still Beats Idol
http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/thegaggle/archive/2009/05/01/ratings-slide-for-obama-s-presser-but-he-still-beats-idol.aspx
McCain To Host AMC Movie Marathon
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118003028.html?categoryid=14&cs=1
Stone To Walk “Wall Street” Again
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118002934.html?categoryId=13&cs=1
Mr. Big To Return In “Sex and the City 2”
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118002957.html?categoryId=13&cs=1
Universal remaking “Drop Dead Fred”
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3i6832227f5a72401e04337dda02eb1b4b
Don Johnson set to play porn director
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i6832227f5a72401efa73da45a9169527
Bruce Willis Is Living Hard
http://www.riskybusinessblog.com/2009/04/bruce-willis-is-living-hard.html
Relativity reaches deal with Lionsgate
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118002881.html?categoryId=13&cs=1
Viacom Profit Veers Down
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118003020.html?categoryid=13&cs=1
National Amusements Ups Ante On Auction
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3if87cf911cde7b6e932294cdc836335a5
Biz Balks At Cost Of 3D Glasses
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118003092.html?categoryid=18&cs=1&ref=ssp
Battle Brews Over 3D Glasses In Europe
http://celluloidjunkie.com/2009/03/26/battle-brews-over-3d-glasses-in-europe/
WMA, Endeavor Approve Merger
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118002879.html?categoryId=18&cs=1
As Willliam Morris and Endeavor Near a Merger, a New Book May Cause Discomfort
http://carpetbagger.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/22/as-william-morris-and-endeavor-prepare-to-merge-a-new-book-may-cause-discomfort/
Paradigm Makes a Move of Its Own
http://carpetbagger.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/22/with-all-eyes-on-endeavor-and-william-morris-paradigm-makes-some-moves-of-its-own/
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