Showbiz Sandbox 41: Live Nation Becomes The Master Of Tickets

We swear we’re trying not to talk so much about Avatar, and although this seemed like a good week to skip the Ava-chat (congrats “Dear John!”), alas, the news cycle had other ideas.

But wait! There was also some important television news! Namely, the Super Bowl, which drew an average of 106.5 million people, just edging out “MASH’s” 106 million people in 1983. And football fans didn’t just watch the Saints win; they also watched the ads (which are sometimes the best part of the Super Bowl). This year’s favorite seems to be the Leno-Oprah-Letterman ad, but you be the judge. Where was Conan? Probably negotiating with Fox? It certainly seems like Rupert Murdoch plans on playing hardball with Team Coco (whenever he’s not unofficially greenlighting “Avatar 2”).

A company that doesn’t appear to be negotiating is Hulu, or is it NBC? During a Congressional hearing last week to investigate Comcast’s proposed acquisition of NBC, a representative asked NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker, “What about Boxee?” Read more

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Showbiz Sandbox 40: Taylor Ain’t Swift At The Grammys

The highlights of this week’s entertainment news were the Grammys and Sundance. First though, there was “Avatar”, “Avatar”, and more “Avatar”. The 3D wunderkind was number one at the box office again and has sold roughly 56 million tickets in North America so far. “Titanic” sold roughly 128 million admissions in North America, so if “Avatar” did that, it would gross about $1.2 billion in the U.S alone.

But there is more going on in the entertainment world besides “Avatar”. The music world gathered for the Grammys on Sunday, January 31. Geoff Boucher from the Los Angeles Times and David Wild, one of the writers on the Grammy telecast, join us to discuss the hits (Pink’s performance), the misses (Taylor Swift and Stevie Nicks) and what was going on backstage (Alice Cooper hangs with Smokey Robinson).

The Grammys weren’t the only prizes handed out over the weekend. Sundance announced its festival winners and Alison Willmore, a senior editor at IFC.com, stops by to talk about her favorite festival films and a few she recommends skipping. Read more

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Showbiz Sandbox 30: “Modern Warfare” Stuns Hollywood

As predicted, the teen vampire romance “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” opened this week and earned record breaking box office. The second installment of the “Twilight” franchise made $140 million in North America, making it one of the largest openings in history. The film did manage to break the record for highest grossing midnight screening when it opened Friday morning. What might be more amazing is that the Sandra Bullock vehicle “The Blind Side” came in second with an impressive $34 million. Opening so strongly against a powerhouse tent pole like “Twilight” makes Bullock one of the more bankable stars in Hollywood these days.

Of course, even “Twilight’s” $258 million worldwide opening pales in comparison to what the new video game “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2″ raked in during its first five days in stores. Ben Fritz an entertainment business reporter for the Los Angeles Times joins us to talk about the wild success of the video game. Actually, calling it a video game is almost an insult – it’s more like an interactive action movie, and one that made $550 million within five days of its November 19th launch.

Fritz is a prolific journalist who this past week wrote tons of stories for the L.A. Times Company Town column and blog. One such story was on the controversy over the Academy Awards’ Documentary short list. Read more

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Showbiz Sandbox 28: Why Spider-Man Is Hard Up For $52 Million

We don’t always talk about theater on the podcast, but Los Angeles Times staff writer John Horn wrote a story too good to resist. The Broadway debut of “Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark” has found its greatest enemy is the budget. Horn joins us to talk about the story behind one of the most troubled productions in Broadway history and how he got the scoop (not to mention the musical’s script, soundtrack and a video promo reel).

But first, Michael Giltz eats another serving of crow this week, as the Michael Jackson rehearsal documentary “This Is It” held up respectably and indie-darling “Precious” grossed a stunning $1,800,000 on just 18 theaters over the weekend. “Precious” will no doubt be nominated for a few Oscars come awards season. Speaking of the Academy Awards, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin are teaming up to host next year’s Oscar telecast. Karen Woodward though the decision to go with Martin and Baldwin was dated and hopes they don’t hijack the show. On the other hand, Michael and J. Sperling Reich thought it was a good choice.

In more frivolous news, Nicolas Cage is suing his former money manager, Samuel J. Levin, for $20 million in Los Angeles Superior Court, claiming he enriched himself while “sending Cage down a path toward financial ruin.” Read more

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Showbiz Sandbox 1: The Replicability Podcast

Talks to merge the William Morris and Endeavor talent agencies continue, while the Screen Actors Guild and the Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers may have finally reached an agreement on a new contract.  Critically acclaimed movies tank at the box office.  Fox closes Atomic, reshuffles release dates and hires Angelina Jolie for a biopic.  David Slade is selected for the third “Twilight” film.

MPAA visits Washington D.C., script doctors are kept busy writing for Tom Cruise.  Cannes unveils it’s festival lineup and Francis Ford Coppola is not in it (though he is down the street at the Fortnight).  Jay Leno visits the hospital and Rod Blagojevich visits Hollywood (but not Costa Rica like he wanted).

A classic Pedro Almodovar film gets remade for the small screen, PBS goes online with its content and Oprah learns Twitter etiquette.

WMA Finds Devil In The Details

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118002694.html?categoryid=29&cs=1

SAG National Board of Directors Approves Tentative Television and Motion Picture Contacts
http://www.sag.org/press-releases/april-19-2009/sag-national-board-of-directors-approves-tentative-television-and-motio

Flush times for theatrical movies? Don’t tell A.O. Scott

http://www.riskybusinessblog.com/2009/04/good-movies-struggle-at-box-office.html

Down Economy = Dumbed Down Movies/TV? Stop the Inanity!
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20269754,00.html

Fox Folding Atomic Label
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118002584.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/exclusive-fox-atomic-shutting-down/

Fox Shuffles Film Schedule

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118002645.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

Angelina Jolie Teams With Fox 2000

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118002704.html?categoryid=1238&cs=1

Slade Slated For Third Twilight

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118002751

MPAA Reaches Out To Lawmakers

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118002688.html?categoryid=18&cs=1

Script Doctor’s In For Tom Cruise

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118002702.html?categoryid=1236&cs=1

Digital Governator Set For Termininator
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118002743.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

Robert Rodriguez Wields “Machete”
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118002792.html?categoryid=1237&cs=1

Cannes Unveils Lineup

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=festivals&jump=story&id=1061&articleid=VR1118002762&cs=1

Coppola’s Thinking Outside The Cannes
http://www.riskybusinessblog.com/2009/04/by-steven-zeitchik-we-remember-interviewing-francis-ford-coppola-last-year-upon-the-release-of-his-slightly-lugubrious-you.html

Coppola’s “Tetro” To Open Fortnight

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=festivals&jump=story&id=1061&articleid=VR1118002806&cs=1

Leno Misses First Tonight Show in 17 Years

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE53N0BE20090424

Blagojevich Says Still Wants Piece Of Reality Show

http://weblogs.redeyechicago.com/showpatrol/2009/04/blago-to-be-part-of-im-a-celebrity-.html

Pedro Almodovar On “Verge” Of TV Series

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i360cdd62fc9ca5a8db5e24f4b2b51779?imw=Y

ABC Announces Several Renewals

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3i202b681b4f137513e078e67f0d29aa46

Watch PBS Online? You Can If You Visit Its New Video Portal

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/tv/la-fi-ct-pbs22-2009apr22,0,56403.story

Oprah Gets Pwned By Shaq On Twitter

http://news.cnet.com/oprah-gets-pwned-by-shaq-on-twitter/?part=rss

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