Showbiz Sandbox 590: New Warner Bros. Discovery Strategy Is A Little Batty
August 9, 2022
The newly merged Warner Bros. Discovery held its first earnings call last week making so many headlines it was all anyone in the entertainment industry could talk about. The company has a ton of debt, but a plan to get into better financial shape; stop producing expensive scripted shows, shelve pricey projects and layoff thousands of employees. Most controversially the media giant decided to completely abandon the nearly finished DC movie, “Batgirl.”
Speaking of comic book movies, the Wall Street Journal believes Disney’s Marvel titles are in a bit of a slump. Their movies are grossing less, getting worse reviews are not a big deal on social media. Do people even like superhero movies anymore?
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including the story behind all those expensive Springsteen tickets, why Beyonce is changing the lyrics to one of her recent songs and why “To Kill A Mockingbird” is leaving Broadway.
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Showbiz Sandbox 588: Keeping Track of Ever-Shifting Streaming Strategies
July 5, 2022
Though the entertainment industry may be infatuated infatuated with streaming, the legacy media companies behind all the new subscription services haven’t quite found the right way to profit from them. NBC/Universal earned nearly a billion dollars in committed ad revenue with Peacock this year, causing them to take a hard look at all of their low-rated cable channels. And HBO Max is thinking twice about producing original programming in countries like Turkey and Sweden.
Meanwhile, the “Minions: The Rise Of Gru” is the lates blockbuster release that is proving the box office is back for everyone, even families. The worldwide gross of “Top Gun: Maverick” continues to soar, but will Paramount leave it in theatres long enough to fully capitalize.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including the Creative Artists Agency completes its acquisition of rival ICM, Disney renews CEO Bob Chapek and Alec Baldwin commiserates with Woody Allen.
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Showbiz Sandbox 573: Paramount Takes A Global Approach to Streaming
February 21, 2022
During its most recent earnings call ViacomCBS outlined how they plan on reorganizing the media giant to compete with streaming leaders such as Netflix. First they are bringing content from all of their current services into Paramount+ and retaining the rights to popular programming such as “South Park.” They announced a glut of new projects including a new “Star Trek” movie and to hammer the point home changed the company name to Paramount Global. Wall Street immediately responded by selling off shares.
Meanwhile, the Academy Awards announced their COVID health and safety guidelines for this year’s Oscars ceremony. Masks and proof of vaccine will be required, depending on who you are, where you’re sitting and whether you’re appearing on the telecast. Everyone seems to agree, the rules are confusing and don’t seem to make much sense.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including how actor Tom Holland is ruling the box office in two different movies, more leadership shakeups at CNN and Netflix strikes a deal with comedian Dave Chappelle.
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Showbiz Sandbox 415: Along With Box Office, Movie Star Salaries Are On The Rise In China
July 9, 2018
We’ve been told for years now that the theatrical box office in China will ultimately surpass that of North America, probably by 2017… or 2018, or definitely by 2020. But higher grosses have pushed the salaries for the country’s most sought after movie stars to astronomical proportions, something frowned upon in China. In fact, the Chinese government has now stepped in with a new set of regulations capping the salaries paid to talent on movies and television shows and have begun to scrutinize contracts more closely.
On the other hand, The Grammys have decided bigger is better. The Grammys are following the lead of most major awards and expanding its top categories. Instead of announcing the Best Five Album Of The Year nominees, they’ll be announcing eight. The same goes for Best Record and Best Song and Best New Artist. All other categories remain the same.
Meanwhile the group that votes on each year’s most coveted movie awards just got a little bigger. The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences invited a record 928 people to their club with half the invites going to women and 38% to people of color.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including how Spotify hopes to earn revenue by selling movie tickets, credible rumors about new “Star Trek” series and MoviePass officially adopts surge pricing.
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Showbiz Sandbox 392: Awards Season Begins To Take Shape
December 11, 2017
You know you’re in the thick of the awards season when you have to complain about who was snubbed and overlooked when the Golden Globe nominations were announced. “The Shape of Water” and “Big Little Lies” led this year’s nominees, as women filmmakers were shut out. Then there is the nomination for “Get Out,” a horror film, in the music and drama category, which makes even less sense.
One filmmaker who probably won’t be attending the Golden Globes this year is Bryan Singer. The filmmaker behind the X-Men franchise was fired from his latest film “Bohemian Rhapsody” after disappearing from the set. Singer cried foul and said he was caring for an ill parent, though it turns out a civil case was filed against him over a 2003 sexually assault of a 17-year-old boy.
Speaking of sexual misconduct, Time magazine named all the women who have come forward to tell their own stories of sexual harassment and assault, especially in Hollywood, as their person of the year. Accusations continue to surface about those in front of and behind the camera with the number of incident showing no sign of abating anytime soon.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including J.K. Rowling defends casting Johnny Depp in the “Fantastic Beasts” movie, why the release of John Travolta’s mobster biopic “Gotti” was delayed and Alec Baldwin preps a talk show.
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Showbiz Sandbox 351: What We Know and Don’t Know About Book Publishing in 2016
January 16, 2017
Looking at how the publishing industry fared over the past year it quickly becomes apparent that there aren’t a lot of hard sales figures thanks to online retailers which don’t publish such data. With e-books accounting for 70% of all adult fiction purchases in 2016 the industry has become impossible to track. One measurable trend however is the record number of e-books being borrowed from traditional libraries.
Meanwhile, the box office has already claimed its first victims of the new year, with three high profile films tanking in their debut weekend. Does this mean Hollywood movie stars can no longer ensure a decent opening weekend?
Maybe moviegoers were simply catching up on all the year end movies that are being hailed during awards season. Nominations were announced last week by the guilds representing directors, producers, cinematographers and costume designers.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including layoffs at Pandora, a Jimmy Buffett musical has plans for Broadway and George Lucas brings his long planned museum to Los Angeles.
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Showbiz Sandbox 329: Television Gets Turned Off By Apple
August 1, 2016
Rumors about how Apple plans to conquer television have circulated for years. Initially it was thought the company intended to manufacture a television set. This led to speculation that it was putting together an over-the-top alternative to cable. Now reports have emerged that numerous deals between Apple and the TV industry have collapsed over the company’s aggressive negotiating tactics. Did Apple blow it by trying to tackle too much at once, or did television networks simply feel threatened?
We’ll also spend some time catching up on international movie box office. As much as Hollywood has discovered the benefits of doing business around the globe, so to have its movie stars and filmmakers. In addition, we discuss the flurry of mergers and acquisitions activity taking place among some of the world’s leading cinema chains.
In the publishing world it turns out that 2015 was a pretty good year with over $28 billion in sales just in North America. As well, it appears the release windows between formats like hardcover, paperback and e-books are collapsing or becoming non-existent.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including the official end of the VCR, Netflix nabs the new “Star Trek” series and why the final installment of the “Divergent” franchise is headed straight to television.
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Showbiz Sandbox 326: How Brexit Will Affect the Entertainment Business
June 27, 2016
Thanks to the passage of a referendum in the United Kingdom dubbed Brexit, Britain will soon be leaving the European Union. Entertainment companies beyond those in the UK suddenly face a lot of uncertainty and confusion over deals they have already made and will be making in the months and years to come. We discuss how the Brexit vote may affect the entertainment industry.
In other troubling news, the long awaited (as in 20 years) sequel to “Independence Day” opened to disappointing box office returns. This has led to industry pundits spouting erroneous lessons Hollywood can take away from its release. Knowledgeable nuggets such as don’t wait too long to make a sequel (or did they forget about “Star Wars”) and don’t make sequels without the original star (though “Jurassic World” proved that theory wrong just last year).
We also take a look at virtual print fees or VPFs. A letter from one of our listeners asked us to clarify how small independent distributors can afford them. So, we review the history of VPFs, how they work around the world and when studios will stop paying them to theater owners.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including a court decides that legendary rock band Led Zeppelin didn’t plagiarize its biggest hit, “Mr. Robot” gets more episodes in its second season and “Star Trek” fan films get a green light from Paramount Pictures (sort of).
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Showbiz Sandbox 315: China Becomes A Global Movie Superpower
March 14, 2016
In recent years, Chinese-owned companies have become the film industry’s biggest power players by scooping up production companies and cinema chains. The latest example came when AMC Theatres, owned by China’s richest man Wang Jianlin, announced it will acquire Carmike Cinemas to become the world’s largest motion picture exhibitor.
It’s easy to see why the Chinese are so hot on the cinema business given that their box office surpassed that of North America during the month of February for the second time ever. Yet if you were to ask some financial analysts, Hollywood Hollywood is starting to look like the video game industry before it imploded; bigger budgets, fewer winners and more losers. Is Hollywood about to shrivel up like Pac-Man?
Then there are those like Sean Parker, one of the founders of Napster and Facebook, who are trying to convince Hollywood that it’s time to start making big movies available in consumer’s homes the same day they hit theaters. Is there any business model in which that could actually work?
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including the authors nominated for this year’s prestigious Man Booker Prize, music sales in France plummet and Kevin Spacey won’t be heading up Relativity Media after all.
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Showbiz Sandbox 306: Deconstructing the 2015 Movie Box Office
January 4, 2016
Few, if any, can rival Paul Dergarabedian when it comes to analyzing the film industry’s global box office. Rentrak’s senior media analyst has been running movie numbers for upwards of 20 years now and is a regularly quoted box office pundit. Dergarabedian joins us to discuss how 2015 turned into a record breaking year at the box office all over the world.
We cover everything from how the winners at last year’s box office left little for the losers to the increasing role social media plays in the fortunes of any given movie, from the importance of international grosses to the record shattering “Star Wars” sequel. One big question is how 2016 could ever top last year’s figures or if that even matters.
We wind up in the music business where lawsuits are always a good indication on the issues affecting the industry. Two big new lawsuits target Spotify and Ticketmaster. We’ll explain what they are all about… and predict if they will actually make it to trial.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including why The Beatles agreed to put their music on streaming services, how Taylor Swift’s concert tour topped the charts last year and the sexual assault charge against Bill Cosby.
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