Showbiz Sandbox 413: Let the Media Merger Mania Commence
June 18, 2018
In one of the most significant antitrust cases in decades, last week a federal judge cleared the way for AT&T to complete its acquisition of Time Warner, ruling that the Department of Justice failed to make a convincing argument the deal would be bad for consumers. The decision opens the door for what many believe will be a wave of corporate mergers as existing media outfits look to thwart off threats from tech giants entering the space such as Amazon, Apple and Netflix.
Evidence of this was apparent within days as Comcast made an official all-cash offer to acquire a majority of Twentieth Century Fox’s assets. The Fox board will meet this week to decide who will wind up acquiring them; Disney or Comcast.
We follow up the Tony Awards to applaud its big winner “The Band’s Visit,” celebrating the success of indie producers on a Great White Way dominated more and more by corporations. We also shoot down the idea that winning the Tony for Best Musical isn’t a boost at the box office.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including how Bryan Singer will wind up with director’s credit on the Queen biopic from which he was fired, Oprah Winfrey signs a deal with Apple and why a tax scandal in China over a major star’s salary has the industry on edge.
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Showbiz Sandbox 411: Everybody Has An Excuse For Lackluster “Solo”
May 28, 2018
On paper Han Solo seemed like the most obvious character for which to pursue a standalone Star Wars spinoff, however the resulting movie, “Solo,” opened to less than stellar numbers. What’s worse, the movie didn’t fly internationally either. Whether it was the film’s highly publicized production troubles or a case of franchise fatigue, everyone involved will be able to point the finger at someone else for the end result.
Meanwhile, just as Disney begins reexamining how many Star Wars films they should release in a single year, they may have to revise their offer for Twentieth Century Fox. Comcast came along last week and beat Disney’s purchase price, upping the ante to $60 billion in what would be an all-cash deal.
Production coordinators aren’t asking for that kind of money, but they are asking to be unionized. Such a move might help those who are employed in what has become an essential position on any film or television crew from having to renegotiate their fees on every new production.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including a K-Pop band tops the billboard charts, Harvey Weinstein is charged with sexual assault and James Bond heads to Universal Pictures.
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Showbiz Sandbox 410: In a Global Landscape the Cannes Film Festival Remains as Relevant as Ever
May 21, 2018
Despite all the griping over the lack of glitz and glamour, or at the very least big movie stars, at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, the event lived up to its reputation for programming some of the most artistic movies currently being made around the world. When the Palm d’Or was handed out over the weekend it went to Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda for his touching family drama “Shoplifters.” Spike Lee’s “BlacKkKlansman” won the Grand Jury Prize and the Lebanese filmmaker Nadine Labaki was awarded the Jury Prize for her movie “Capernaum,” about a scrappy young boy dealing with the hardships of life ont he street in Beirut.
China too is becoming more diverse when it comes to the movies it is allowing in multiplexes. While Hollywood was quick to dominate the market with big blockbusters, Chinese distributors showed up in Cannes to acquire mid-budget titles from around the world.
Meanwhile, the mounting number of mergers and acquisitions of global media companies have begun to cause a chain reaction where each deal may affect the next. The latest merger has caused CBS to sue its parent company to prevent a merger with Viacom.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including a movie deal for a Lin Manuel Miranda musical, YouTube tweaks its music subscription service and Congress looks to extend copyright protections.
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Showbiz Sandbox 409: The Cannes Film Festival Has Its #MeToo Moment
May 14, 2018
Only three films by female directors are competing for the top prize at the 71st edition of the Cannes Film Festival, but that hasn’t stopped women from raising their voices. In fact, a red carpet protest was held by 82 female filmmakers and actresses, representing the number of films made by women that have appeared in the festival over its seven decade span. That said, the nine-member Cannes jury this year has five women on it and is headed up by actress Cate Blanchett.
As always, we’re in Cannes for the festival and will fill you in on all the noteworthy films and events. Though media reports may be saying the event has lost its luster, and indeed it has been very low-key this year, one should never underestimate Cannes for being able to find the next great auteur.
Meanwhile in China, western theme parks are flourishing while the 2,700 homegrown parks are collapsing, almost literally. Will the future of theme parks in the Middle Kingdom predict how Hollywood movies will ultimately fare?
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including why the Nobel Prize in Literature will not be handed out this year, questions over the legitimacy of a Chinese box office hit and why Spotify is distancing itself from R. Kelly.
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Showbiz Sandbox 408: CinemaCon Shrugs Off Unwanted Disruptions
April 30, 2018
Movie theater owners from around the world descended upon Las Vegas for CinemaCon last week. Studios wooed exhibitors with clips from upcoming film releases while industry manufacturers lured attendees with the latest technology, including high-resolution LED screens as a method of showing movies to the masses. Much like the subscription service MoviePass, the screens left cinema operators wondering if they were just one more “innovation” nobody had asked for.
Meanwhile “Avengers: Infinity War” broke box office records both in North America and globally when it opened over the weekend. The latest Marvel superhero movie earned over $640 million in just three days, putting it on track to pass the billion dollar mark.
Speaking of “war,” one is brewing between the Writers Guild of America and talent agencies. The WGA wants to cancel their current agency agreements and rewrite them to prevent franchised agents from profiting off of packaging deals with television networks. Such arrangements currently allow agents to double dip and at times earn more than their clients for a project.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including Steven Spielberg signing on to direct the movie adaptation of DC Comic’s “Blackhawk,” the next “Star Trek” film lands a female director and Bill Cosby is found guilty of sexual assault.
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Showbiz Sandbox 407: Beyoncé Delivers A Higher Education To Coachella
April 17, 2018
Though Beyoncé was unable to headline Coachella last year due to being pregnant with twins, she more than made up for it this year with a performance that music critics are rightly hailing as the best live music event in decades. In a two hour set that included more than 100 performers from dancers to musicians, even a full marching band, Beyoncé put on a spectacular show that managed to be technically brilliant as well as socially relevant to the times. We were there and provide first hand reporting from this year’s Coachella.
Another festival making news is Cannes, which announced the films in this year’s competition, leaving out many of the event’s favorite auteurs. The festival also parted ways with Netflix, not inviting films produced by the streaming giant since they won’t be released in movie theaters.
Speaking of Netflix, a shareholder has sued the company for what they allege to a scheme which assured senior management and board members performance bonuses. The complaint accuses Netflix of using the performance bonuses to avoid paying taxes, rather than for any actual performance gains.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including the kurfuffle over Apu, an Indian character on “The Simpsons,” Kendrick Lamar wins a Pulitzer Prize for his latest album and Fleetwood Mac parts ways with its longstanding guitarist Lindsey Buckingham.
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Showbiz Sandbox 406: Is Live Nation Bullying the Music Industry?
April 9, 2018
The merger of concert promoter Live Nation and ticketing giant Ticketmaster was supposed to increase competition, stabilize the price of live events and lower the cost of ticketing fees. Nine years later the deal has achieved none of those results. In fact, there are now reports that the Justice Department has opened an antitrust investigation on Live Nation. Who could have ever predicted that would happen when the merger was first proposed? Oh yes, that’s right… everyone (including us)!
As the recorded music industry slowly scratches it’s way back to 2008 revenue levels, one of the companies instrumental in the upswing is looking to cash in. More specifically, investors in Spotify are looking to reap the rewards of their ownership stake in Spotify, the streaming music giant, as it goes public. That begs the question however, do record labels with a piece of the company now have an incentive to give Spotify better terms? And where does that leave artists?
Meanwhile, the MPAA announced global box office reached a record high of $40.6 billion in 2017. North America contributed $11 billion to the total, a level reached mostly through increased ticket prices since attendance was at a 23 year low.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including some of the changes taking place at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Bruce Springsteen extends his stay on Broadway and online piracy continues to grow.
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Showbiz Sandbox 405: Hollywood Adopts A Queer Gaze as LGBTQ Films Go Mainstream
March 26, 2018
Hollywood studios are no strangers to coming-of-age romantic comedies (see any John Hughes film), but never before has a mainstream film centered around a gay teenager. Even so, Twentieth Century Fox didn’t cover up the subject matter of “Love, Simon” and instead used it in their marketing campaign.
What’s more, such films are now being made by members of the LGBTQ community lending them a sense of credibility through what Los Angeles Times film reporter Tre’vell Anderson calls the “queer gaze”. Anderson joins us to discuss the present state of queer films and the future of a genre that is becoming more prominent.
Meanwhile the music industry has something to celebrate as 2017 marked the second year in a row with double digit revenue growth. Streaming services accounted for more than half the year’s total earnings, which are finally back at 2008 levels.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including some of the changes taking place at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Bruce Springsteen extends his stay on Broadway and online piracy continues to grow.
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Showbiz Sandbox 404: Faith-Based Films Are Competing For the Choir’s Attention
March 19, 2018
It used to be that to promote a faith-based film release, especially one geared toward Christian audiences, all a distributor had to do was screen the film for church groups or pastors, and maybe create some study material. But once studios saw there was money in faith-based movies, they began making more of them. As Ryan Faughnder, a film business reporter for the Los Angeles Times, explains, promoting such titles in a crowded market has become a lot more difficult.
In China, regulators are cracking down on marketing agencies that use hundreds or thousands of fake accounts to promote (or bash) products, movies, personalities… almost anything really. Known as the “internet water army” or “cyber navy,” they have made it hard to gauge the public’s true sentiment about a movie, actor, etc. via social media.
MoviePass meanwhile continues to make headlines, though this time it’s for something they’re not doing. Despite claiming two weeks ago that their mobile app tracks subscriber’s every move, it turns out MoviePass doesn’t really do that and the company had to apologize
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including why YouTube is teaming up with Wikipedia, IHeatMedia files for bankruptcy and Netflix looks to get into the news game.
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Showbiz Sandbox 403: Justice Department Makes Its Case Against AT&T-Time Warner Merger
March 12, 2018
As the Department of Justice prepares for its antitrust trial to prevent the merger of AT&T and Time Warner, they are submitted a brief to the court claiming the outcome of the case shape how video-content is delivered in the United States for years to come. They believe the merger will stifle competition, prevent competitors from entering the market and ultimately disadvantage consumers. If the government succeeds in court, could they go after Comcast NBCUniversal next?
Meanwhile, even though the Academy Awards were last week, Academy Award preferential balloting, there is still some debate over the preferential balloting system used to select Best Picture. Does the method lead to a consensus choice rather than the film most people voted for in the first place? Certainly, complaints about Best Picture winners are not new, nor is preferential balloting, which was first used at the Oscars n 1934.
The Fox television network plans on cutting advertising on its primetime lineup down to two minutes per hour by 2020. This comes as NBC and CBS recently announced similar ad-limiting initiatives. Why are TV networks suddenly so keen to dump their lucrative advertising and how will they make up that lost revenue?
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including how “Hamilton” has conquered the West End in London, e-sports turns into a billion dollar business and Facebook will broadcast Major League Baseball games this season.
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