Showbiz Sandbox 400: The Long, Slow Death of Barnes & Noble
February 19, 2018
As Barnes & Noble loses an ever increasing number of customers to Amazon, the largest bookstore chain in the United States continues struggles to remain a viable business, if not relevant. Now comes word the retailer has cut 1,800 workers representing all of its full-time in-store staff. Should this last ditch effort to stay in business fails, the publishing industry is in for a world of hurt.
Meanwhile, “Black Panther” roared into theaters, shattering records as it came out on top of this week’s worldwide box office, despite Chinese New Year releases earning over half a billion dollars. Will the success of a big budget movie with a minority cast change the culture of Hollywood and the kinds of projects it chooses to make?
The BAFTA Awards were held on Sunday, reinforcing what everyone is saying about this year’s Oscar race: the acting categories look to be locked in stone, but Best Picture is still up for grabs.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news with special guest Karen Woodward, including television producer Ryan Murphy’s rich deal at Netflix, musician Justin Timberlake’s upcoming tour is a huge hit even before tickets go on sale and why MoviePass is in the news yet again.
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Showbiz Sandbox 389: The Ever-Growing List of Hollywood’s Sexual Harassment Accusations
November 20, 2017
Six weeks after allegations of sexual abuse and harassment against media mogul Harvey Weinstein were first reported by the New York Times, there seems no end to the number of Hollywood players being accused of misconduct. Kevin Spacey and Louis C.K. may be the biggest stars to have their careers upended thus far, but they won’t be the last as everyone from actor Jeffrey Tambor to talent agents to politicians and even journalists are having similar claims made against them.
The unanswered question is how the entertainment industry will implement changes to ensure sexual harassment will come to an end. Instead, there is concern of a backlash should the public grow tired of hearing about the latest offense to come out of Hollywood’s ranks.
Meanwhile, suing someone these days as become the industry’s second favorite past-time, right after wondering whose vile behavior will finally come back to haunt them. The hit TV show “Supernatural” is apparently losing money after years on the air, while director George Miller says “Mad Max: Fury Road” did not go over budget and he’s suing Warner Bros. to prove it.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including some new FCC media ownership rules, Sony nabs Quentin Tarantino’s next movie and the NFL is still proving attractive to advertisers.
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Showbiz Sandbox 288: This Summer’s Box Office Is Turning Into A Blockbuster
July 27, 2015
A string of big budget Hollywood sequels and prequels like “Jurassic World”, “Avengers” and “Minions” have driven the 2015 summer box office nearly 15% higher than last year. And not just in the United States. Countries all over the world are reporting strong movie attendance, especially in China where homegrown productions have been the top grossing releases.
It doesn’t hurt that North American moviegoers are currently paying the highest ticket prices on record. Just ask IMAX which just reported the highest quarterly earnings in the company’s history.
It isn’t all good news for Hollywood studios however. The European Union is charging the six major distributors with antitrust violations over what regulators allege are illegal licensing contracts with cable operators. Should the EU prove their case, it could cause havoc by eradicating longstanding entertainment industry business models.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including the Emmy Award nominations, the approval of AT&T’s merger with DirecTV, why Neil Young is yanking his music from streaming services.
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Showbiz Sandbox 264: Globes Have Golden Opportunity To Expand Awards Season
January 12, 2015
Not even two weeks into 2015 and the annual slog known as awards season has commenced in earnest. This year’s festivities were kicked off by the Golden Globe Awards over the weekend which pull double duty by honoring the best of both movies and television. We wonder if it might make more sense to hold two different ceremonies throughout the year; one for movies and one for television.
The BAFTA nominations were also announced last year, though there was very little British about them, as has traditionally been the case. Guild nominations have also started pouring in as well, though what everyone wants to know is how all of this will affect the upcoming Oscar race.
Meanwhile, some established artists in the movie and music industries have started to offer their latest work directly to fans. By some accounts these experiments have proven incredibly successful and profitable, or so it would seem. Unfortunately, there’s no real way to tell since sales figures for such efforts are often hard to come by.
Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment news stories including John Travolta’s return to television, why actress Charlize Theron requested a pay raise on her next film and an update on the Sony cyber attack.
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