Showbiz Sandbox 553: CinemaCon Makes A Case for the Big Screen

August 31, 2021

After more than a year in which most blockbuster releases headed to streaming services, movie theater operators gathered in Las Vegas last week for CinemaCon, their annual convention. Ryan Faughnder of the Los Angeles Times moderated a panel discussion at the event featuring the heads of major movie chains, distribution executives and director Patty Jenkins. He tells us what he learned at this year’s show.

One consistent headline to come out of CinemaCon was the call from both exhibitors and distributors for an exclusive theatrical release window. When it comes to China however, Hollywood studios are relieved to get any type of release these days, even if they only have a week to prepare for it.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including how Apple is buying into classical music, women top the music charts for the first time in ten years and why China is canceling celebrities.
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Showbiz Sandbox 453: The Biggest Disaster in the History of the Music Industry

July 2, 2019

When a fire ripped through Universal Studios in Los Angeles back in 2008 it was initially feared that all of the historic films and music locked away in the vaults that burned were lost forever. At the time Universal reported that, quite miraculously, very little damage had occurred and that few, if any, of the master recordings in the vaults were damaged.

However, in an in-depth investigative piece The New York Times reports that the fire actually wiped out hundreds of thousands of invaluable masters of legendary recording artists such as Louis Armstrong, Chuck Berry, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Elton John, Nirvana and possibly hundreds of others. Universal Music Group continues to insist the loss is overstated, but artists are clamoring for more information and the first class action lawsuit has already been filed.

Meanwhile talks between the Writers Guild of America and the Association of Talent Agents over packaging fees and affiliate productions have stalled and now lawsuits have started to fly.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including which Broadway shows got a post-Tony Awards bump in grosses, J.J. Abrams lands at WarnerMedia and Celine Dion is leaving Las Vegas.

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Showbiz Sandbox 440: Why The Writers Guild Battle With Agents Needs A Rewrite!

March 11, 2019

The showdown between the Writers Guild of America and talent agents is growing ever more heated. The WGA wants to upend the way business has been done in Hollywood for decades while agents continue to increase their conflicts of interest through lucrative television packaging fees. Thankfully we have Jonathan Handel, an entertainment attorney and a contributing editor at the Hollywood Reporter, to help figure out what all the bickering is about.

Actually, the WGA has been quite busy lately, making headlines after filing an arbitration claim against Netflix over how the streamer calculates (or more specifically, doesn’t calculate) residuals on residuals. Apparently Netflix has a conflict of interest too.

Meanwhile, the MoviePass rival Sinemia has jettisoned it’s one-movie-per-day subscription plan and replaced it with a buffet of options that are harder to explain but perhaps easier on the bottom line.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including why the creators of the hit 1970s TV show “Columbo” are taking Universal Studios to court, Amazon Prime gets serious about India and the nominees for this year’s Olivier Awards.

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Showbiz Sandbox 295: Thompson Keeps Tabs On Telluride and Toronto

September 21, 2015

Two of the world’s most prominent film festivals are held each September in Telluride and Toronto and, without fail, you’ll find Anne Thompson, Indiewire’s editor-at-large, dashing off to both of them. Thompson gives us a feel for what both festivals were like this year, which films created the most awards buzz and which she thinks audiences should be looking forward to.

Thompson also joins us to discuss this year’s Emmy winners. The premium cable network HBO proved it is still at the top of its game, fending off the stiff competition of hot new shows being produced by upstart streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon. The network wept away the Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Limited Series categories, winning 14 awards in all.

Meanwhile, in case that seems destined to reach the U.S. Supreme Court, a federal judge ruled that copyright owners must take into account the possibility of fair use before sending a takedown notice. Rather than force possible infringers to mount what is known as an affirmative defense, the court is placing the burden on copyright holders to consider whether a work should be considered fair use.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including the new over-the-top and mobile streaming services being offered by the BBC and Epix, one of the creators of Batman will finally get the credit he has long deserved (though maybe not the money) and Denzel Washington will produce ten August Wilson plays for HBO.

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Showbiz Sandbox 253: Nielsen Is Rating TV Shows By The (Wrong) Numbers

October 14, 2014

The method by which television ratings are collected and tabulated has long been criticized as imperfect. Now Nielsen, the research firm which provides the ratings, admitted this past week it had been reporting inaccurate audience figures to broadcast networks for the past seven months. Turns out viewership of this year’s season premieres was lower than originally thought. We’ll try and explain what the heck is going on here?

Comedian Adam Sandler is back in the news, though this time it’s for a movie which isn’t being made… even by Netflix. And just as she hits her stride as an action star, actress Scarlett Johansson (temporarily) gives up movies to appear in a television mini-series.

Even the world of live theater is a bit bizarre lately, at least according to composer Stephen Sondheim who is working on a new musical based on two surreal movies by the late Spanish filmmaker Luis Buñuel. If that’s not crazy enough, the biggest box office winner on Broadway this fall has been “The Lion King”, a musical that has been running for 17 years.

Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment news stories including Katy Perry books a trip to the Super Bowl, e-book software that spies on you and the fifth season of “The Walking Dead” premieres to record numbers… or so we’ve been told.

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