Showbiz Sandbox 200: Should George Clooney Run For President?
August 5, 2013
Hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb began buying up Sony stock earlier this year and is now pressuring the electronics manufacturer to spin-off its entertainment divisions. After comparing two of Sony’s summer releases to historic flops such as “Waterworld”, actor/director/producer George Clooney could take no more. In an intelligent, coherent and well thought out rant, Clooney argues that, “ A guy from a hedge fund entity is the single least qualified person to be making these kinds of judgments.”
Karen Woodward, our former co-host, joins us for our 200th episode and was quick to point out that Clooney not only sounded smart in his statements, but also like a future political candidate. Given the state of American politics however, Clooney might find the back stabbing nature of Hollywood more friendly.
These days it seems a little political muscle is required to work in the entertainment industry. After all, Time Warner Cable has blacked out the CBS network for millions of customers over an ongoing retransmission dispute. Meanwhile, Hollywood studios haven’t been paid all year for movies they’ve released in China.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including the Academy’s historic new leader, a new Doctor Who and how holograms are replacing musicians at concerts in Korea.
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Showbiz Sandbox 105: The Dark Truth About Digital Cinema
June 1, 2011
When Ty Burr, film critic for The Boston Globe, noticed that the films he was seeing didn’t appear as bright as they usually do he did a little investigating to figure out why. What he discovered, and documented in a recent front page article, is that some major theater chains are leaving moviegoers in the dark by regularly misusing digital projection equipment. Burr joins us to explain why this is happening and what cinema patrons can do about it.
Meanwhile, the market for streaming music online hasn’t cooled off. Apple is about to announce a service the company has dubbed iCloud and it is rumored that Facebook may integrate Spotify into its website. It seems more people are listening to more music than ever before. That may be why the Coachella Music Festival is doubling down and expanding the event to two weekends next year.
Oprah Winfrey ended her long-running talk show last week and nearly 17 million people tuned in to watch. Yet that audience pales in comparison to the 28 million viewers that watched the final episode of this season’s “American Idol”. That’s nearly a 20% increase over last years finale.
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