Showbiz Sandbox 509: The Five Stages of Box Office Recovery

After zeroing out for six months, the worldwide box office is roaring back to life, led by China and films like “The Eight Hundred” and “Tenet.” We’re joined by Robert Mitchell of Gower Street Analytics who helped develop a staged approach of measuring how the box office in various markets is rebounding and what to expect in the months and years to come.

Meanwhile Hollywood talent agents continue to migrate toward management firms, as the major agencies continue to furlough or layoff staff. Will some creatives choose not to have an agent at all moving forward?

Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including how Nielsen has begun measuring streaming viewership by the billions of minutes, Tyler Perry goes on a production spree and a whole new way to (sort of) watch Netflix shows.

Read more

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Showbiz Sandbox 450: Once Upon A Time… in Cannes

This year’s Cannes Film Festival will be remembered for presenting a selection of titles from around the world that were, for the most part, really good movies. The premiere of Quentin Tarantino’s ninth film, “Once Upon A Time… in Hollywood,” was one of the highlights, but it was “Parasite” from Korean director Bong Joon-ho that stole the show, as well as the festival’s top prize, the Palme d’Or. We take you to the Croisette in the French Riviera to cover the entire festival and all the films to look out for over the coming months.

Harvey Weinstein used to be one of the movie moguls that showed up in Cannes each May, but these days he’s busy negotiating a reported $44 million settlement with those accusing him of sexual harassment and assault.

Meanwhile, when some of those films from Cannes make it to cinemas, audiences will likely check Rotten Tomatoes to see what critics and moviegoers have to say about them. We give a 95% Fresh Rating to how Rotten Tomatoes plans on protecting their website from being manipulated in the future.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including a new name for Warner Bros. Records, why film and television productions are boycotting the state of Georgia and Lil Nas X cuts a deal for a new pair of Wranglers.

Read more

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Showbiz Sandbox 175: Fixing Electronic Oscar Voting In One Easy Step

When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced it would allow electronic voting for this year’s Oscar nominations many industry insiders felt it was long overdue.  However with a median age of 62, the Academy’s membership may not be ready to cast ballots online.  Heck, some members don’t even have computers.

Now reports have emerged that the Academy’s electronic voting procedure has hit a few speed bumps.  Members have had password problems and those that were able to log into the voting system found it difficult and complicated.  Some fear that voting for the Oscars will reach an all-time low.  Yet there may be a very simple way to overcome some of the security concerns the Academy and its members have in casting online ballots.

The National Film Registry cast a vote of their own last week, adding 25 films to its archives in the Library of Congress, declaring them culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.  Unfortunately this doesn’t necessarily mean these films will actually be preserved.

Of course, we cover the week’s top entertainment headlines, including a lucrative holiday box office, big changes for “The Walking Dead” and a historical court ruling for screenwriters.

Read more

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Showbiz Sandbox 13: Hooliganism At Comic-Con (Or Lack Thereof)

We had a plethora of panelists this week, all of whom were in San Diego over the weekend to experience Comic-Con first hand. KPBS’ Cinema Junkie blogger Beth Accomando covered the event for National Public Radio, Todd Gilchrist was there for Cinematical, SciFi Wire‘s news editor Patrick Lee made the trip, as did Phillip Nakov from MovieSet.com and Harry Medved, who helped out with Fandango’s coverage of the event as their director of public relations.  Also joining in on this week’s fun is New York Daily News writer and Huffington Post blogger, Michael Giltz.

If you weren’t one of the 126,000 people attending Comic-Con, this episode will fill you in on what you missed.  There was whole day devoted to 3D movies, which apparently isn’t just a gimmick anymore.  The big hits of Comic-Con were “District 9”, “Avatar”, “Kick Ass” and “Iron Man 2” and the biggest miss was Roland Emerich’s next movie “2012” which is either so bad it’s good, or so bad it’s just plain bad.  Irrelevant whether it wowed people at the convention or not was “Twilight: New Moon”, because fans just wanted to see Robert Pattinson .  Hundreds of young girls, their moms and a bunch of sensitive men camped out overnight to get into a jam packed “Twilight” panel. The festival was “the redemption of “New Moon” director Chris Weitz, who was clearly adored by his cast. It was definitely the panel with the most security.

This year marked the first appearance by Tim Burton (as a presenter), Peter Jackson and Terry Gilliam. Johnny Depp stopped by to say two words (literally) in promotion of Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland.”  Read more

Podcast: Play in new window | Download