Showbiz Sandbox: Recent Episodes
J. Sperling Reich & Michael Giltz
Industry pros J. Sperling Reich and Michael Giltz provide insightful analysis, humorous viewpoints and insider opinions on the latest entertainment news headlines. The weekly podcast features panel discussions with renowned industry guests, as well as phone calls and emails from listeners who voice their own opinions on the child’s play of the entertainment business.
In the midst of the summer entertainment news doldrums, as Hollywood laments a fading (for now) box office, along comes Pixar with “Inside Out 2.” The sequel earned nearly $300 million in its opening weekend proving, once again, that all the industry really needs for audiences to head back to movie theaters is… well, movies. […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 659: Hollywood Continues To Turn Itself Inside Out appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
The general consensus among attendees was that, unlike last year, the 2024 Cannes Film Festival was not one of its strongest editions. Few of the selections made a huge impact and, indeed, there were a few titles that left festival goers scratching their heads. Yet, it seemed more indicative of a general malaise affecting the […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 658: Searching for Winners at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Streaming services seem to have settled on engagement as the metric by which to measure the success of a series or movie or even the platform itself. However, the industry has yet to decide a method for how to measure and report such figures in a consistent way. Some services publish random viewership figures citing […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 657: New Streaming Business Models Require New Measurement Tools appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Two recent opinion pieces stirred up some heated debate in the book publishing business. One insists no one buys books anymore. The other says the proliferation of book roundup lists is a bunch of nonsense. One is very wrong, even when it’s right. The other is right, but for the wrong reasons. Michael is our […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 656: Yes, People Still Buy Books appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Netflix first quarter earnings report showed growth in all areas from subscribers, to revenue and income. But with Netflix clearly dominating competitors and entering a mature market, the streaming giant will no longer provide subscriber figures on a regular basis. Instead, Netflix will concentrate on profit and the amount of time each of their 270 […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 655: Netflix Stops Sweating (and Reporting) Subscriber Growth appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
CinemaCon, the annual gathering of cinema operators in Las Vegas, was filled with anxiety this year thanks to a lack of wide releases due to the recent labor strikes. However, most Hollywood studios showed up with a few movie stars to hawk an increasing number of big titles due later in the year and into […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 654: CinemaCon Promotes A Bright Future for Movie Theatres appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
The monstrous global box office opening of “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” may have been a surprise to film critics or anyone paying attention to industry tracking in advance of its release, but it surely proves that if you put movies in movie theaters, audiences will show up. Especially if those theaters offer premium […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 653: Godzilla and Kong, Once Again, Prove Movie Theaters Aren’t Dead appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
The way audiences watch television has changed radically over the past ten years, bet it when, where or how. Nielsen, long the king of TV ratings, is facing competition from upstarts like Comscore. With viewership on mobile and over-the-top devices not always being measured, advertisers are beginning to include social media awareness into account when […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 652: Comscore, Nielsen and the Battle Over TV Ratings appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
In what Rolling Stone magazine has dubbed ChatGPT for music, a new service called Suno is trying to democratic music by using artificial intelligence to allow anyone to create a hit song. With no need to learn how to play an instrument or sing, the latest advances in generative AI are creating tunes with a […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 651: The Next Hit Song May Be Written and Performed by AI appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
As expected, “Oppenheimer” dominated the 96th Academy Awards winning seven categories including Best Actor, Best Picture and, for Christopher Nolan, Best Director. “Barbie” only picked up a single trophy for Best Original Song. Anne Thompson, Indiewire’s Editor-at-Large attended this year’s Oscar ceremony and joins us to describe what it was like to be in the […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 650: “Oppenheimer” Gives Christopher Nolan His Oscar Moment appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
The superhero movie is facing its biggest enemy yet – audience indifference. “Madame Web” is just the latest superhero flick to open to poor reviews and/or bad box office. Entertainment journalist Geoff Boucher, who has covered the comic book world for over two decades and is a bigwig at ComicCon, discusses the declining popularity of […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 649: Hollywood’s Superhero Movie Problem appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame announced their 2024 nominees, including some musical acts previously shortlisted for inclusion. Musician and music writer Sal Nunziato joins host Michael Giltz to argue over which of these acts should be included in the Hall of Fame and why. Plus they give us a rundown of their favorite […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 648: Judging This Year’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Nominees appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox are teaming up to deliver a new subscription streaming service that will combine all of their sports programming on a non-exclusive basis. It will have 14 channels including ESPN, ABC, FS1, Fox, TNT and TBS. The surprise announcement has generated more questions than answers, especially over whether any antitrust […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 647: Disney Teams Up For Sports Streaming Service appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
This year’s Sundance Film Festival reflected the current state of the contracting industry itself, offering fewer films at fewer venues for fewer in-person attendees. Yet, as festivals like Sundance work toward rekindling post-pandemic financial support, this year’s official selections were just as noteworthy as those that have appeared throughout its 40 year history. We’ll give […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 646: A Slimmed Down Sundance Still Shines appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Unlike most major streaming services, which allow new subscribers to choose between a more expensive ad-free plan and a cheaper ad-supported tier, Amazon has taken an opt-out approach with Prime. When Prime Video begins streaming ads in late-January one of the biggest streaming services in the world with at least 150 million subscribers, will immediately […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 645: Amazon Prime Video Set To Dominate Advertising Market appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association held its first Golden Globes awards ceremony under a new and supposedly improved organization under new ownership. Organizers scrambled to find both a network to broadcast this year’s show, not to mention a host. In the end, the winners weren’t surprising with “Oppenheimer” and “Succession” each taking home five, but […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 644: The Golden Globes Lose Their Luster appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Two annual ratings roundups of television viewing in the United States show that audiences for traditional broadcast and linear cable are in serious decline. The list of the 100 most watched broadcast episodes is mostly sports. And the top ranked channels reveal cable isn’t even really trying to program their networks anymore. Meanwhile, the domestic […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 643: Linear Television Viewership Sinks to New Lows appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Last week Netflix released a huge data dump detailing the viewership of all its programming for the first six months of 2023. The streaming giant is calling it a victory for transparency. While it’s a long way from the granular detail the industry has long sought, it does reveal that almost nobody watches 25% of […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 642: What Netflix Subscribers Really Watch appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
In its third year the Red Sea International Film Festival continues to build on its reputation for programming some of the most engaging and important movies being made in the Middle East. Held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, RSIFF has gone a step further by financially backing productions from the region, which until five years ago […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 641: Red Sea Film Festival Highlights Emerging Film Market appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
If moviegoers have grown tired of endless sequels and franchise reboots, as some will have you believe, then Hollywood studios may be in big trouble. In 2024, a new sequel will be released every other week, including another Godzilla movie, Dune 2, a new Ghostbusters, a new Kung Fu Panda, another Mad Max film, Deadpool […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 640: Hollywood Has Always Been Addicted To Sequels appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Hollywood’s dual writers and actors strikes may finally be over, with significant gains in earnings, residuals and AI protections, but the many systemic issues that caused the labor disruption aren’t entirely history. As more of the details of the SAG-AFTRA contract become public we take a look at what they mean for actors and the […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 639: Hollywood Deals With Post-Strike Fallout appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
After 118 days the actor’s strike finally came to an end as SAG-AFTRA reached an agreement on a new three-year employment contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). Entertainment attorney Jonathan Handel joins us to explain all of the major achievements in wages increases, residuals and artificial intelligence protections the union […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 638: What the Actors Won in Their New Contract appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Spotify is changing how it pays out royalties in an effort to deter fraud, demonetize the flood of new music that almost no one listens to and frustrate those gaming the system. None of the changes will alter the amount of money paid out in royalties each year. But Spotify believes the move may add […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 637: Spotify Fighting Fraud With New Payment Plan appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
When Netflix announced its earnings for the third quarter of 2023 it also confirmed that it would be increasing prices for those that don’t want to view ads. Amazon recently said it would also be raising the price for the ad-free tier of Prime Video. It turns out these streaming services have discovered they make […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 636: Why Streaming Subscriptions Are Getting More Expensive appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Hollywood studios often try to camouflage the success or failure of their movies. Sometimes they claim a film is unprofitable, yet go on to make several sequels, as Nu Image did with the “Has Fallen” franchise. Other times a studio insists a movie is a modest box office hit despite paying hundreds of millions for […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 635: Deciphering Hollywood Hits and Misses appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Spotify, the music streaming service, is going all in on audiobooks in hopes of attracting and maintaining subscribers. Previously, Spotify offered some audiobooks for sale. Now the company’s 220 million premium subscribers get 15 hours of free audiobook listening each month. The service is launching with 150,000 titles and will pay publishers based on consumption. […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 634: Spotify Gets Book Smart appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
The Writers Guild of America released details of the new contract they negotiated with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers ending their historic 148 day strike. The 94-page document is filled with big gains for writers in pay and protection from artificial intelligence. It’s also a compromise to the deal the WGA initially […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 633: Dissecting the New Writers Guild Contract appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
The Writer’s Guild of America reached a tentative agreement on a new contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) potentially ending its strike after 146 days. Entertainment attorney Jonathan Handel wrote the book on Hollywood strikes, literally, and is a contributing writer at Puck where he covers labor issues. He fills […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 632: Pickets Down – Hollywood Writers Strike A Tentative Deal appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Every annual awards season has its own strange rhythm and unexpected twists. But with both actors and writers on strike, unable to promote certain movies, surely this year’s awards season will be the strangest of all. At the heart of the madness is Anne Thompson, the Editor-at-Large of Indiewire. The awards season expert is back […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 631: Telluride and Toronto Film Festivals Kick Off Unusual Awards Season appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
The 1923 silent film “The Spanish Dancer” starring Pola Negri is the latest restoration project being theatrically released by Milestone Film & Video, one of the key players over the past 30 years in resurrecting forgotten and neglected films. We are joined by Dennis Doros, the co-founder of Milestone, who tells us how he turned […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 630: Resurrecting Silent Films Can Be Profitable (Theoretically) appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Carriage disputes between cable companies and media companies are nothing new. They happen regularly around big events like the Super Bowl, FIFA World Cup or the Oscars. However this time Charter Communications, the second largest cable operator in the United States, has pulled all of Disney’s 19 networks from its service, refusing to pay the […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 629: Disney vs. Charter Feud Could Finally Unbundle Cable appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
The recent success of the television series “Suits” on Netflix has shined a spotlight on how much money writers make on a cable or broadcast hit versus one on a streaming service. Last week one of the show’s writers revealed the vast difference in residual payments he received between linear and streaming underscoring why the […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 628: An Inside Look at Streaming’s Microscopic Residual Payments appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
The number of households in the United States subscribing to traditional pay television services has dropped below 50% for the first time in the two years Nielsen has been tracking such metrics. And it’s not that viewers are cutting the cable cord, they’re just watching their favorite television shows and movies on streaming services more […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 627: Linear TV Drops Below 50% In U.S. For First Time appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Though Disney had previously dismissed the idea of venturing into sports betting, saying it didn’t fit the company’s image, the media giant signed a billion dollar agreement this week with a little known online gambling company. The move comes as Disney’s linear television revenue is declining with no end in sight and losses for its […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 626: Will Disney’s Big Wager On Sports Betting Pay Off? appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
One of the key disputes striking actors are having with the AMPTP (the studios and the streamers) is over artificial intelligence and how it will be used in movies and television shows in the future. What rights will actors have and will they get paid if their image and likeness is used through AI? We […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 625: SAG-AFTRA Concerns Over AI Are Justified appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
The idea of counter-programming the simultaneous global release of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” over the same summer weekend always seemed like a gamble. But somehow Greta Gerwig’s comedy about a popular toy doll and a Christopher Nolan’s biopic of the renowned nuclear physicist wound up becoming a worldwide phenomenon breaking all sorts of box office records […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 624: Hollywood Is Bungling Its Barbenheimer Momentum appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Film and television production ground to a halt last week in Hollywood (and elsewhere) when actors joined the already striking writers on the picket line. This marks the first time in 63 years that the Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild has been on strike at the same time and it is […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 623: Actors Join Writers In Historic Dual-Strike appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
The Writers Guild of America members have been on strike for over two months now and might soon be joined by the Screen Actors Guild. When it comes to artificial intelligence however both guilds agree; when their members’ work is used to train AI, actors and writers should be paid. Some writers are now taking […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 622: Actors and Writers Agree That AI Ain’t So Smart appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
In a year which boasted a bevy of summer blockbusters, moviegoers haven’t been turning up at theaters for some of the more highly anticipated releases. Instead, big budget titles such as “The Little Mermaid,” “Elemental,” “The Flash,” and even “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” among others have all had underwhelming opening weekends. Is […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 621: Summer Box Office Is Much Cooler Than Expected appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
This 76th annual Tony Awards ceremony was held last weekend honoring the best and brightest Broadway productions from the past year. Although there was no script for host Ariana DeBose to work due to the writer’s strike. But while the telecast may have been refreshingly unscripted, the winners were fairly predictable with “Kimberly Akimbo” winning […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 620: This Year’s Tony Awards Were Unscripted, Yet Predictable appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
The Directors Guild of America reached a deal with studios, networks and streamers on a new three-year contract avoiding what some believed would be the first true strike in its 87 year history. Entertainment and technology attorney Jonathan Handel joins us to explain the proposed agreement the directors negotiated with producers. He wrote the book […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 619: Directors Strike Deal for New Contract With Producers appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
The 76th annual Cannes Film Festival wrapped up over the weekend handing out prizes to some of the 21 official selections appearing in competition this year. Justine Triet’s film “Anatomy of a Fall” took home the Palme d’Or though that was one of many deserving titles programmed at what many festival goers felt was one […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 618: The 2023 Cannes Film Festival Lives Up to the Hype appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
There are few people that know more about labor issues in the entertainment business than attorney and journalist Jonathan Handel. So when members of the Writers Guild of America went on strike last week, grinding most television production to a halt, we asked him to join us to discuss all the nuanced details. Handel not […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 617: Why the Writers Strike Will Last for Months, Not Weeks appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Movie theater operators from around the world gathered in Las Vegas last week for CinemaCon. Though the last two pandemic suppressed editions of the conference were filled with artificial optimism about the business, this year’s event showcased an industry that had survived and is indeed thriving thanks to a robust release schedule with plenty of […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 616: Movie Theaters Celebrate Recovery at CinemaCon appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Warner Bros. Discovery had long promised to merge its two major streaming services HBO Max and Discovery+ into a single, combined offering. This past week the media giant unveiled the name of the new service to the public; Max. Despite having decades of positive brand recognition, HBO will be dropped from the name. The company […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 615: Warner Bros. Takes Streaming to the Max appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
When the recording industry first moved online in the early 2000’s piracy was driven by fans illegally downloading music through services like Napster. These days piracy is being committed by the music industry itself through streaming fraud. Artists and/or record labels are generating millions of fake automated streams to pump up playback numbers with the […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 614: Streaming Fraud Is Costing Musicians Billions appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
James Patterson has been a perennial presence on the New York Times best seller list after his most recent book failed to make the list, he accused the newspaper of “cooking the books” in the way it compiles its lists. According to BookScan, which uses actual sales figures, Patterson’s latest book should have made the […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 613: Author James Patterson Questions New York Times Best Seller List appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Everyone from fans of popular music groups to Broadway regulars are still facing angst and high prices when buying tickets. When the English rock band The Cure decided to forego dynamic pricing and charge only $20 to verified fans for tickets to their upcoming tour, the service fees and facility charges added up to more […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 612: No Easy Cure for Concert Ticket Troubles appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
As everyone expected, the big winner at this year’s Oscars was “Everyone Everywhere All At Once,” taking home seven of the 11 awards it was nominated for. Anne Thompson of Indiewire was at the ceremony and joins us to give us the scoop on what happened behind the scenes at this year’s Academy Awards, including […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 611: This Year’s Oscars Were Everything Everyone Could Have Asked For appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
The current Writers Guild of America contract with signatories ends on May 1st of this year. Television networks and studios are bracing for what feels like an inevitable writers strike. The guild, which represents TV and movie writers, recently settled on a list of demands it is seeking during upcoming contract negotiations. Meanwhile AMC is […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 610: Hollywood Writers Prep For A Contentious Strike appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
According to Digital Entertainment Group, consumers in North America spent $37 billion on home entertainment in 2022. That includes not only spending on streaming services, but also DVD, Blu-ray and digital sales. Not to mention physical and digital rentals. And none of these figures includes spending on cable television. Meanwhile, awards season is in full […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 609: Consumers Are Spending A Fortune on Home Entertainment appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Major television networks, cable channels and even streamers are all reeling from all of the changes the industry has been undergoing recently. New shows are being canceled before they air. Others disappear after only a single season with all their episodes yanked from streaming libraries. Ratings for linear and cable are way down causing every […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 608: The Television Landscape Is Changing FAST appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
AMC Theatres, the world’s largest cinema chain, announced plans to start charging moviegoers based on where they sit in an auditorium. Preferred seats will cost a few dollars more than standard seats and those in the first two rows will cost less. At a time when movie theaters are having trouble attracting patrons back into […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 607: AMC Sets Sights On Upending Movie Ticket Prices appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Though Beyoncé led the 2023 Grammy Award nominations with nine nods, in the end she did not win the top prize for Album of the Year for “Renaissance.” Much to the dismay of some, that honor went to Harry Styles for “Harry’s House,” though Beyoncé did break the record for the most Grammy wins ever. […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 606: Beyoncé Makes Grammy History As Harry Styles Wins Album of the Year appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
This year’s Sundance Film Festival came to a close over the weekend marking the first time the event has been held in-person since 2020 due to the pandemic. This year’s Sundance was considered light on acquisitions, raising the perennial debate over the viability of the festival’s official selection whether it be theatrically or on streaming. […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 605: The Future For This Year’s Sundance Movies appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
As we get deeper into this year’s awards season we’re finally hearing from groups whose opinions mean something. For instance, the guilds for directors, producers and cinematographers have all nominated their top picks from last year’s movies. In other instances however, awards are handed out in so many different categories, it seems like every film […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 604: Which Awards Actually Matter? appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
With 2022 now officially over, Nielsen announced the 100 highest rated primetime broadcasts of the year and sports programming dominated the list. Football was a big winner taking the top nine spots. The Oscars telecast was the only non-sports broadcast in the top 31 programs. “60 Minutes,” “NCIS,” “NCIS Hawaii,” “FBI” and other similar fare […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 603: Sports Programming Rules The Ratings In 2022 appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Filmmaker James Cameron delivered his long-awaited sequel to “Avatar,” the highest grossing movie of all-time and it delivered the blue Christmas movie theaters were hoping for. “Avatar: The Way of Water” is getting mostly glowing reviews for its visuals, less so for its story, and opened to huge admissions figures around the world. Whether it […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 602: Avatar Sequel Makes A Splash at the Box Office appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
The second Red Sea International Film Festival just came to a close in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, a country which didn’t even have movie theaters until four years ago. In fact, several Saudi films premiered at the event which put an emerging Middle East film industry on full display. Meanwhile there is no debating that we […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 601: Middle East Film Industry On Display at Red Sea Film Festival appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
We were just as surprised as everyone else to hear that The Walt Disney Company was firing their CEO Bob Chapek and replacing him with their longtime former head, Bob Iger. Iger is returning to a markedly different media company than the one he left less than a year ago and his second stint as […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 600: The Return of Bob Iger at Disney appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
The nominees for the 65th Annual Grammy Awards were announced this week and as expected Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar, Adele and Harry Styles will all be competing for top awards. Yet some of the year’s biggest albums weren’t even eligible to be nominated because they were released after September. This is a continuous problem for the […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 599: The Grammy Awards Have A Timing Problem appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
It’s no secret that streaming services have been affecting every part of the entertainment business in one way or another, from movies and television to music sales and book publishing. After the latest round of earnings announcements from major media conglomerates a few realities become clear; producing original content for direct-to-consumer streaming offerings is costing […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 598: Streaming Growth Goes International appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Audiobooks have slowly gained enough market share in the publishing industry that the medium now rivals print and ebooks in terms of sales and consumption. How audiobooks are changing the way we read is a question Karl Berglund of Uppsala University in Sweden set out to answer through a study analyzing a large amount of […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 597: Audiobooks Are Changing Our Reading Habits appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
It’s hard to believe that the compact disc format was first launched forty years ago this week. Billboard has a great oral history about the launch of the CD format and how it initially faced stiff resistance from record labels before kicking off a boom in music sales that lasted until digital MP3s took over […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 596: The Compact Disc Turns 40 Years Old appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
With mid-year music revenue figures finally tallied it appears the growth of streaming music has begun to slow as vinyl sales has increase. Also on the rise are reports of payola as indie music artists can’t seem to get played on the radio without paying promoters for the privilege of being put in rotation. These […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 595: Vinyl Sales and Payola on the Rise in Music Industry appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
The annual film festivals in Venice, Telluride and Toronto overlap not only in their timing but often in their official selections and this year was no exception. As usual, titles that begin their festival tour as anticipated awards season contenders sometimes wind up as afterthoughts while unexpected discoveries gain wide recognition. The movie that took […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 594: Fall Film Festivals Set The Stage For Awards Season appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
The 74th Annual Prime Time Emmy Awards were held this week and they managed to honor most of the winners from last year’s ceremony. The same shows, and at times the same actors, continue to top most of the big categories. This begs the perennial question, what is the actual purpose of the Emmy Awards? […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 593: This Year’s Emmy Awards Turns Into A Rerun appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
At a time when streaming services are hoarding content in an attempt to attract subscribers and capture market share, Warner Bros. Discovery has taken the opposite approach with HBO Max; they are removing shows from their platform. Now comes reports that pulling shows from its library can save the company around $100 million annually. We […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 592: Why Is HBO Max Dumping Content? appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
There is no better evidence that the streaming wars are still in full swing than the news that streaming services are accounting for more viewing than cable television for the first time in history. As streaming media companies fight for market share, they have turned to live sports as a means of driving subscriber growth. […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 591: Live Sports Becomes the Costliest Battle of the Streaming Wars appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
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 […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 590: New Warner Bros. Discovery Strategy Is A Little Batty appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
In an effort to make music valuable again, producer T Bone Burnett is getting behind a technology that allowed him and Bob Dylan to create a one-off re-recording of “Blowin’ In The Wind” and then auction it off for $1.8 million. But can recordings be treated the same way as paintings are in the art […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 589: Should Music Be Produced and Sold Like Fine Art? appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
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 […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 588: Keeping Track of Ever-Shifting Streaming Strategies appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
With this year’s Tony Awards having been doled out, the 29 shows currently running on Broadway are taking stock of what’s working, which ones should stick around and which should stop raising their curtains. At least 14 have announced closing dates or are expected to soon, including some big musical productions. Others are recasting their […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 587: How To Succeed on Broadway After a Global Pandemic appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
After all of the obstacles the pandemic forced plays and musicals to deal with, this year’s Tony Awards looked to raise the curtain on a revived Broadway. The ceremony managed to honor some of the best productions and performances from last season while celebrating the efforts the Broadway community made just to stay in business. […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 586: Tony Awards Help Broadway Get Its Groove Back appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Social justice and political issues have been making life complicated for movie studios, record labels and concert promoters. Whether you’re casting a movie, choosing a director, booking a live performance or releasing a new album, you’ll also be having to deal with their past, present and sometimes even future behavior. Just ask Johnny Depp, filmmaker […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 585: Entertainment Industry Stumble Into Sociopolitical Pitfalls appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
After the COVID pandemic hampered the Cannes Film Festival over the last two years, the 2022 edition moved back to its usual May time frame with all the glamor and artistry that has made it one of the most important annual cinematic events in the world. Despite critics’ complaints about what was deemed a weak […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox: Movies Were the Stars at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Unlike some years, there was no frontrunner or obvious favorite to win the Palme d’Or at the 75th annual Cannes Film Festival which concluded over the weekend. Instead, the social satire “Triangle of Sadness” from Swedish filmmaker Ruben Östlund took the festival’s top prize, the second time he has won the award. We discuss the […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 584: Cannes Film Festival Showcases Industry Revival appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
With each new superhero blockbuster that hits multiplexes it is clear that big well-done movies can score big at the box office. However it is a huge mistake to treat every new release as the barometer of whether cinema is back. Especially when smaller films like “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and family movies like […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 583: The Long and Winding Road to Box Office Recovery appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
When cinema operators from around the world gathered in Las Vegas for CinemaCon last week, it quickly became obvious that movie theaters ain’t dead yet. Though a global pandemic may have decimated their business model for several years, audiences seem to slowly be returning to movie theaters. So have Hollywood studios who are starting to […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 582: Movie Theaters Come Roaring Back at CinemaCon appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
A new industry study claims the five largest producers of original content in the United States also happen to be some of the biggest streamers in the world. Nearly half the content offered by Discovery, Disney, Paramount, the former WarnerMedia and Comcast are original productions which increasingly premiere on their subscription streaming services. Turns out […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 581: Streamers Double Down On Original Programming appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Last week Discovery closed its $43 billion deal to acquire WarnerMedia from telecom giant AT&T. Discovery topper David Zaslav immediately installed his own executive team to run Warner Bros. Discovery forcing the existing management team to head for the door. We discuss the fallout from the merger and the what the future may look like […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 580: Warner Bros. Enters Its Discovery Phase appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
The coronavirus pandemic once again nearly foiled the Grammy Awards, delaying the ceremony and forcing the event to relocate to Las Vegas. Yet once again, the show’s producers managed to do a stellar job of putting together all-star performances that helped promote and celebrate music. We discuss our thoughts on the telecast and all the […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 579: The Award For Best Awards Show Goes To The Grammys! appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
If there was ever a year to speak with Indiewire Editor-at-Large Anne Thompson the day after the Oscars it would be this one. In what should have been a celebration of first’s; from the first deaf actor to win an Oscar (Troy Kotsur), to the first openly gay actress to win a prize (Ariana DeBose) […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 578: The Oscars Get Slappy With It appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Over the last year the mobile video game “Genshin Impact” has earned over $2 billion. From its anime-like visuals to its bug-eyed characters the role-playing game appears to be Japanese in every way. However, while Japan may have a reputation as the world’s leading video game developer, “Ghensin Impact” was made in China. We explain […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 577: Why The Biggest Japanese Game Is Actually Chinese appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Frank Marshall is probably best known as a producer of some of Hollywood’s biggest films, but he has also directed four successful narrative features throughout his career. More recently he has turned to directing documentaries, including “Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story,” which he co-directs with Ryan Suffern. Marshall joins us to discuss the film, […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 576: Director Frank Marshall Strikes A New Note With Jazz Fest appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
The opening weekend of “The Batman” was the anticipated blockbuster everyone was expecting, though an ongoing pandemic and a political crisis in Europe softened its global take. AMC Theatres on the other hand saw an opportunity to raise ticket prices, but only for the latest entrant to the Batman franchise. Is this a strategy that […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 575: Should Movie Theaters Charge More For Blockbusters? appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
After Russia invaded Ukraine it didn’t take long for various sectors of the global entertainment industry to respond by canceling concerts, sporting events and film releases in the territory. While this is insignificant in comparison to the loss of life and liberty currently taking place in Ukraine, it still serves to show how art, culture […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 574: Entertainment Industry Shuns Russia appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
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 […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 573: Paramount Takes A Global Approach to Streaming appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
In an age when everyone with GarageBand and a kazoo is releasing a record, finding good new music isn’t always easy. Sal Nunziato, the curator of the Burning Wood music blog and the drummer for The John Sally Ride, tells us about some of the best music he’s discovered over the past year. Nunziato listened […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 572: Picking The Best Music From The Past Year appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences brought an end to the endless speculation of countless awards pundits by announcing this year’s Oscars nominations. Now we’ll all have to deal with the griping about who was snubbed along with seven weeks of incessant reports about which Best Picture nominee is gaining momentum with Oscar […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 571: Want Ratings? Get Joe Rogan To Host The Oscars! appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
For the second straight year the COVID pandemic forced the Sundance Film Festival to move its 2022 event online. Even so, its organizers did a great job of putting on a virtual festival programmed with movies from emerging filmmakers and important documentaries on timely subjects. Joining us to discuss the 2022 Sundance Film Festival is […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox: Streaming Through the 2022 Sundance Film Festival appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
When Netflix was just shy of meeting its estimated new subscriber growth during the last financial quarter it faced immediate repercussions as its stock price plummeted over 20% in a single day. We explain why Netflix is not suddenly a failing company, it’s just one in a mature market of its own making. Even so, […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 570: The Realistic Future of a Mature Netflix appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Every week it seems another aging artist is selling off their music publishing rights for exorbitant amounts. Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Tina Turner, ZZ Top, David Bowie’s estate and recently Bruce Springsteen. Why are so many back catalogs for sale and are they really worth hundreds of millions of dollars? Ryan Faughnder, a staff writer […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 569: Are Music Catalog Deals Overvalued? appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Last year consumers listened to more music than ever before. However, according to a report from the analytics firm MRC Data, catalog music, albums and songs at least 18 months old accounted for 75% of music listening on streaming services. When it came to new music, artists such as Morgan Wallen, Olivia Rodrigo, Drake and […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 568: Catalog Music Dominates Consumption on Streaming Services appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
It’s a new year but the entertainment industry is contending with the same coronavirus pandemic that has decimated theatrical box office, shuttered Broadway productions and stalled concert tours. The news wasn’t all bad however, with global box office in 2021 creeping halfway back to its once record level. China remains the top market in that […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 567: That Time Everyone In Hollywood Got COVID appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
The opening of “Spider-Man: No Way Home” toppled box office records around the world on its way to a $600 million debut. And this is without China and Japan where the film has yet to bow. This is just what the industry needed to help pump up 2021 grosses. Especially as surges of a new […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 566: Spider-Man Saves The Annual Box Office From Omicron appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
As COVID cases rise in various parts of the world, local governments are quick to restrict movie theater attendance, while at the same time allowing restaurants and pubs to operate normally. Patrick von Sychowski, editor of Celluloid Junkie, explains why these rules unfairly target movie theaters and discusses a new study that highlights which moviegoers […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 565: Are COVID Rules Unfairly Targeting Movie Theaters? appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
It’s that time of year when Film Critics Start Selecting the Best Movies of 2021 for newspapers, magazines and websites begin naming their favorite movie releases. The National Board of Review named its favorite film of the 2021, then proceeded to name 32 more in various categories. The New York Film Critics were tougher however, […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 564: Film Critics Start Selecting the Best Movies of 2021 appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
When this year’s Grammy nominations were announced last week the Recording Academy made a last minute decision to expand some of its biggest categories from eight to 10 nominees. This allowed popular artists like Taylor Swift, Kanye West and Lil Nas X to be included in this year’s list. While this generates a small amount […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 563: The Grammy Nominations Are Bigger and More Baffling Than Ever appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
While the entertainment industry and Wall Street may be distracted by the growth of streaming services and their subscriber numbers, senior network television executives are reminding everyone that linear TV is far from dead. In fact, according to the latest viewing metrics, more audiences are tuning into network television programs on a consistent basis than […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 562: The Death of Network Television Is Greatly Exaggerated appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Though Netflix’s expensive blockbuster “Red Notice” is getting little notice in movie theatres, the company’s signature streaming service is thriving. In fact, its series “Squid Game” is so popular around the world that in Korea Netflix is being barraged with questions about paying for the cost of the increased streaming traffic it continues to generate. […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 561: After “Squid Game,” Korea Wants Netflix to Pay Up appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
In European film and television productions, real guns with either live or blank rounds are rare to non-existent. Instead, plastic replicas or airsoft blowback guns are used with muzzle flashes added during post-production. So why do Hollywood productions continue to rely on working firearms when it would be cheaper and safer for them not to? […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 560: Should Hollywood Get Rid of the (Real) Guns? appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Despite being available to stream day-and-date with its theatrical release, Denis Villeneuve’s epic film adaptation of Frank Herbert’s science fiction novel “Dune” opened to strong box office around the world. While we don’t know, and may never know, how many people viewed the movie on HBO Max, it’s availability on the service has surely cut […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 559: Dune Survives The Streaming Desert appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
At the eleventh hour the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), the union representing film and television production workers, negotiated a new contract with studios and networks. What is still unclear is whether workers are grateful about averting a strike or upset they didn’t gain more. Besides gaining wage increases, the union was aiming […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 558: Hollywood Workers Scrutinize Gains In New Contract appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
In yet another sign that the entertainment industry is consolidating, Creative Artists Agency, one of Hollywood’s most powerful talent agencies, announced it would acquire ICM Partners, the fourth largest player in the space. Is the move meant to help CAA gain leverage when negotiating with streaming giants like Netflix, or is it all about ensuring […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 557: Talent Agents Strike A Deal… for Themselves appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
When “The Crown” took home the prize for best drama at the 73rd Emmy Awards on Sunday it capped a years-long campaign mounted by Netflix to win one of television’s top awards. The streamer picked up a record-tying 44 Emmys including best limited series for “The Queen’s Gambit.” With the Apple+ series “Ted Lasso” winning […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 556: The Emmys Crown the Streaming Era appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Keeping track of television ratings, streaming viewership and music revenue has become a hopeless task in the digital age. Everyone is mad at Nielsen though how can they realistically capture all the eyeballs content on TVs, phones, laptops and tablets? Meanwhile, Billboard keeps changing the formula they use to count album sales by working in […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 555: Modern Media Consumption Metrics Are A Big Mess appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
For years analysts have breathlessly insisted China would become the largest movie market in the very near future. Well, last year after North American movie theatres spent most of 2020 shuttered, China did manage to become the top earner and did so primarily with local content. However, after COVID gave it a win with an […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 554: China’s Love Affair With Hollywood May Be Over appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
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. […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 553: CinemaCon Makes A Case for the Big Screen appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
First Disney tried to shame Scarlett Johansson for daring to sue them over the studios distribution strategy on “Black Widow.” Then during an earnings call the company’s CEO described the upcoming Marvel “Shang-Chi and the Legend Of The Ten Rings” as an “interesting experiment.” Simu Liu, the star of “Shang-Chi,” was quick to push back […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 552: Disney and the Great “Shang-Chi” Experiment appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Scarlett Johansson is suing Disney for breach of contract after the studio released “Black Widow” both in movie theaters and its own streaming service at the same time. The actress believes Disney’s distribution strategy is preventing her from earning millions in box office bonuses but instead enriches the company’s top executives. The outcome of the […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 551: The Significance of the Scarlett Johansson vs. Disney Lawsuit appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Like music, movies and television, the Olympics have put streaming front and center during the summer games. It’s easier than ever to watch the hundreds of events taking place in Tokyo over the next two weeks. However, it can be torture figuring out what sport is playing on what channel or streaming service and when. […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 550: The Olympics Win A Streaming Gold Medal appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
In its second weekend the latest Marvel movie “Black Widow” dropped over 67% at the box office; the largest decline for any film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Could it be that the movie’s availability via premium video on demand cannibalized its theatrical returns? The ongoing pandemic makes it difficult to draw any conclusions, though […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 549: Second Guessing Disney’s “Black Widow” Distribution Strategy appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
After COVID canceled the festival in 2020, the Cannes Film Festival is going ahead this year, albeit two months later than usual. Still, it’s remarkable that organizers were able to pull off the world’s largest film festival amid these uncertain times. We’ll tell you about all the COVID protocols at this year’s festival, not to […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 548: The Cannes Film Festival in the Age of COVID appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
With exclusive theatrical release windows having disintegrated during the COVID pandemic, new movies are being released through so many methods and on so many platforms that it has inevitably confused audiences how and where they can watch a film. Initially, most movie watchers turn to Netflix, assuming most or all titles will be available on […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 547: Is Netflix The New Kleenex? appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Musician Sal Maida and music writer Mitchell Cohen have been thumbing through record store bins for decades looking for great albums. Now they’ve teamed up to write “The White Label Promo Preservation Society: 100 Flop Albums You Oughta Know,” a book that dives deep into great music which doesn’t make the usual “best of” lists […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 546: The Best Music You’ve Never Heard — 100 Flop Albums appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
When multi-hyphenate Paul Rudnick isn’t writing hit movies or award winning plays he is working on Broadway musicals with the likes of Elton John or busy writing novels. Rudnick joins us for a detailed and humorous conversation about his work and his latest novel, “Playing the Palace.” We’ll also take a look at the final […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 545: Writer Paul Rudnick On The Royals, Romance And Rudin appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Anne Thompson, the editor at large at IndieWire, believes “a lot of things have to go right for the two-hour movie theatrical release to endure.” Thompson said as much in an opinion column she recently wrote for the New York Times. In a detailed opinion column for the New York Times. In a detailed conversation […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 544: The Existential Crisis Facing Theatrical Movie Releases appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
In a move that had been rumored for weeks, Amazon became the first tech company to purchase a Hollywood movie studio in an $8.45 million deal. The acquisition will arm Amazon with over 4,000 movies like the Bond Franchise, “The Pink Panther” and “Robocop,” not to mention upwards of 17,000 television episodes. The real question […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 543: Amazon Grabs a Lion’s Share of MGM appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Last week all the big television networks in the United States went through the old fashioned ritual of inviting advertisers to big presentations of their fall programming. Besides being virtual a lot has changed for the networks, including primetime scheduling, which is now an afterthought. Instead they emphasized streaming and the range of content available […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 542: TV Networks Are Upfront About Streaming Plans appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Not even three years after AT&T spent $85 billion to purchase Time Warner and form WarnerMedia, the telecom giant is calling it quits, agreeing to merge the content side of its business with Discovery. The deal would create a new media company positioned well to compete in the streaming market and a management team that […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 541: AT&T Hangs Up On WarnerMedia appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
It’s hard to believe we are still talking about the Golden Globes in May, when an argument could be made that they hardly matter in January. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the group behind the Globes, said they would be adding 45 new members over an unspecified period of time with a focus on people […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 540: Time’s Up for the Golden Globes appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Roku and YouTube TV are locked in a very public dispute over a distribution agreement. Roku claims YouTube is playing games with its user data, while YouTube says it won’t share its user data with Roku. Now the YouTube TV app has been removed from the Roku channel store and if the fight escalates Roku […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 539: What the Roku and YouTube TV Dispute Means For Streamers appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Delayed by two months due to the COVID pandemic and with almost no blockbuster studio films to nominate, it’s a small miracle this year’s Oscars ceremony took place at all. This year the Academy honored the most diverse slate of nominees in its 93 year history. Anne Thompson, Indiewire’s editor-at-large, joins us to discuss the […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 538: An Oscars Ceremony With An Asterisk appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
With a string of hit, award winning movies like “Parasite” and global pop-phenoms like BTS, Asian culture is having a moment in the spotlight. Thus it may be an opportune time for the publication of “The Good Asian,” a new comic book series about a detective in San Francisco’s Chinatown in 1936. We talk to […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 537: The Positive Wave of Asian Media Comes To Comic Books appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
After remaining dormant for most of the past year “Godzilla vs. Kong” revived the box office with the best opening weekend since the COVID-19 pandemic bega. The monster movie has taken in over $350 million globally despite being available on HBO Max. in $38 million despite being available on HBO Max. Does this mean big […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 536: Blockbuster Box Office Begins Pandemic Recovery appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
With North American movie theaters starting to reopen with limited capacity and European cinemas set to follow in the months ahead what new theatrical releases will be available to them, and for how long, is becoming more apparent. Studios are not only deciding when they are going to release their blockbusters, but more importantly whether […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 535: Theatrical Release Windows Get A Little Clearer appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
With world-wide subscriptions surpassing 1 billion last year, every movie studio and every television network is pouring money into streaming video services. They’re hoping to make more money with subscribers than the untold billions they’ve been raking in for decades at the box office, through advertising, in syndication or sales of Blu-Rays. And while these […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 534: Do All The Streaming Numbers Add Up? appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Working within strict health and safety guidelines the producers of the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards telecast were uncertain how the show would come together or even when it would take place. David Wild knows this first hand. He was the lead writer and one of the producers on this year’s show. Wild joins us to […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 533: Behind The Scenes At The Most Challenging Grammys Ever appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Email newsletters are the new black. Much like podcasts, every mainstream media outlet seems to be launching one. Ryan Faughnder, an entertainment business reporter with the Los Angeles Times, joins us to discuss the launch of The Wide Shot. Each week Faughnder takes an in-depth dive into a major Hollywood news story along with highlights […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 532: Hollywood Jumps On The Email Newsletter Bandwagon appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
A week before the Golden Globes, Stacy Perman and Josh Rottenberg of the Los Angeles Times wrote investigative pieces detailing conflicts of interest and a lack of diversity within the Hollywood Foreign Press Association; the tight knit and tight-lipped group of 87 international journalists who nominate and choose the winners each year. Perman joins us […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 531: Uncovering A Diverse Set of Problems at the Golden Globes appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Spotify continues to be the most popular music streaming service in the world growing 24% over the past year to 155 million paid subscribers. However as the subscriber count rises, so too does the amount Spotify must pay in royalties. This might be why the company has been focusing on exclusive original content such as […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 530: Spotify Leans Into Original Content appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Whether it’s sexual misconduct, misogynistic behavior or social media missteps, the careers of numerous entertainment industry figures have recently been upended after allegations of their moral misbehavior surfaced. The repercussions are impacting every part of the industry, from the upper echelons of the French film industry to the rose ceremony on “The Bachelor.” Agencies, studios […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 529: Hollywood Grapples With Cancel Culture appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
With media reports constantly declaring that cinema admissions have been steadily declining for the past two decades, we set out to determine if such proclamations are actually true. Has moviegoing kept pace with population growth or fallen off? With some help from our listeners we do the math to answer the question once and for […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 528: Crunching The Numbers On Cinema Attendance Trends appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
How do you hold a film in the midst of an infectious health crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic? Just ask the Sundance Film Festival who managed to pull off a virtual film festival that felt quite similar to the real deal right down to the blockbuster acquisition deals for this year’s most popular titles. […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 527: Sundance Film Festival Overcomes Pandemic Hurdle appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
The coronavirus pandemic continues to wreak havoc throughout the film industry. With most movie theatres around the world currently closed due to COVID, Hollywood studios have delayed almost all of their major releases into the latter half of this year. There is even talk that the Cannes Film Festival will move from May to sometime […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 526: Hollywood Reshuffles 2021 Blockbusters appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
For the first time in history, or at least since Nielsen started its U.S. weekly streaming chart, a non-Netflix show claimed the top spot. For the week ending December 20th “The Mandalorian” was the number one steamed show in the nation, with over 1.33 billion total minutes viewed by Disney+ subscribers. As more streaming services […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 525: A Non-Netflix Show Finally Tops Nielsen’s Streaming Charts appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Thanks to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and amped up political unrest, viewership of cable news networks has reached record levels. Now that the presidential election is over in the United States, some are making changes to both their anchor and programming lineups. Maybe the biggest move is Fox News, which is moving an opinion show […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 524: Cable News Networks Make Big Moves appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
The Pixar film “Ratatouille” is enjoying new life. The tale of a rat who becomes a gourmet Parisian chef has gone from one of Pixar’s animated blockbusters, to a TikTok meme taken on by a collaborative community to an actual honest to goodness online musical, complete with Broadway stars. But with so many people from […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 523: Who Owns The Copyright For The Ratatouille Musical? appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Just in time for the holidays, the United States Congress finally passed a COVID relief bill which will help independent concert halls, live theatres and movie theaters with some $15 billion in grants and loans. Shuttered since the beginning of the pandemic, many of these venues would probably close for good without financial assistance. Meanwhile, […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 522: Relief In Sight for Stages and Screens appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Everyone in the entertainment industry has suffered the disruption caused by the COVID pandemic, including those who create and publish independent comic books. Kyle Higgins knows a thing or two about that. He’s known for his work on the Batman franchise for DC and the Power Rangers franchise for Boom Studios, not to mention his […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 521: Words In Bubbles – Behind the Scenes of the Comic Book Industry appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
The film industry is facing an existential crisis due to the COVID pandemic; film productions are struggling to continue, cinema chains have become burdened with debt and studios are sending their blockbuster releases directly to streaming services. In fact, last week Warner Bros. announced that its entire 2021 slate of movies would be released both […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 520: Writing Hollywood’s Obituary… Again appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Though 2020 saw DC Films launch a Harley Quinn vehicle and Marvel finally released an X-Men spin-off “The New Mutants,” neither film set the world on fire. As “Wonder Woman 1984” heads to a hybrid streaming and theatrical release, it’s the final gasp of almost an entire year without any big comic book movies. We […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 519: A Year Without A Blockbuster Comic Book Movie appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
This year, consumers have continued to migrate from pay television providers to over-the-top services at an increasing rate. In the United States alone, the number of cable and satellite subscribers has dropped 25% to 73 million in just five years. Many industry watchers are expecting that number to bottom out at 50 million by 2025. […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 518: The Cord Cutting Epidemic Is Growing appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
With a second wave of COVID sweeping through Europe, cinemas in England, France and Germany have begun to shut down. Can movie theaters in North America and elsewhere soon follow their lead as infection rates rise? Even if cinemas remain open, they won’t have many new movies to show with studios moving major releases into […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 517: Movie Theaters Brace For A Dark Winter appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Quibi, the bite-sized content platform founded by media mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg and business leader Meg Whitman, has been mocked since it was first announced. Now after six months and $2 billion, Quibi is kaput. Unable to find an audience, and despite a fruitless attempt to find a buyer, Quibi is officially shutting down. The company […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 516: What Went Wrong With Quibi appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
One week after the Walt Disney Company announced that it would be premiering its latest Pixar film on Disney+ rather than in movie theaters, the media giant says it will reorganize its corporate structure to focus the company’s content creation on streaming. Is this a hasty pivot, long in the works, or just making official […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 515: Disney Restructures Its Magical Kingdom appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
As the COVID-19 pandemic wears on, things are not getting any easier for the Walt Disney Company. The company, long a cheerleader for the theatrical moviegoing experience, has just moved the latest Pixar film to its streaming platform, Disney+. Meanwhile, Disneyland still hasn’t been allowed to open and now a well known activist investor is […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 514: Has Disney Lost Its Soul? appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Studios are pushing movie releases into 2021, with the latest James Bond thriller abandoning it’s scheduled November date in cinemas. Now major theater chains are shutting their doors once again. We’re joined by Patrick von Sychowski, the editor of Celluloid Junkie, to help us break down the present and predict the future of the cinema […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 513: How Can Movie Theaters Survive Without Movies? appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Over the last twenty years the annual fall film festival circuit has become the unofficial launching pad for movies looking to be seriously considered during awards season. Nobody was certain, however, how such festivals could be held amidst a global pandemic. Especially those whose jobs it is to produce and program such major events. As […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 512: Pandemic Drives New York Film Festival to Push Boundaries appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
When COVID-19 shut down the worldwide entertainment industry many wondered how it would affect annual events such as awards shows as well as film and music festivals. While the pandemic led to the cancelation of the Cannes Film Festival, the Emmy Awards honoring excellence in television and the Toronto International Film Festival both managed to […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 511: The Emmys and TIFF Pull Off the Virtual appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Now that new movies are once again playing in reopened cinemas, studios are reluctant to report their pandemic crippled grosses lest their films be deemed publicly as financial flops. At least two studios are delaying box office reports of their latest releases in what many industry insiders fear is a new trend. Is it appropriate […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 510: Studios Play Hide and Seek With Box Office Data appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
After zeroing out for six months, the worldwide box office is roaring back to life, led by China and films like “The Eight Hundred” and “Tenet.” We’re joined by Robert Mitchell of Gower Street Analytics who helped develop a staged approach of measuring how the box office in various markets is rebounding and what to […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 509: The Five Stages of Box Office Recovery appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
At a time when streaming giants have eroded box office participation and rich TV syndication deals, a significant number of high level talent agents have begun leaving their prestigious positions to become managers. They hope to help top celebrities build companies around themselves in the same way Gwyneth Paltrow and Reese Witherspoon have become business […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 508: The New Mutants – Agents Become Managers appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
After COVID-19 forced movie theaters around the world to close for nearly six months, they are now set to reopen with one of the most anticipated films of the year; Christopher Nolan’s “Tenant.” There’s only one catch, the film rental terms Warner Bros. is asking for may make cinema operators want to manipulate time and […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 507: Movie Theaters Come To Terms with Christopher Nolan’s “Tenant” appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Online gaming allows participants to take part in massive multiplayer battles, but no one ever gets hurt. Well, in real life, Epic Games, the company behind Fortnite is taking on both Apple and Google with an antitrust lawsuit and one of these companies is definitely going to get hurt where it counts most…the bottom line. […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 506: Apple Gets Into An Epic Battle Royale appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
In his 17 years as the President of DMG Entertainment Motion Picture Group, Chris Fenton helped bring 20 Hollywood movies to China, facilitating co-productions, financing and distribution on blockbusters such as “Iron Man 3” and “Looper.” In his new book, “Feeding the Dragon,” the former William Morris agent details his time working in the entertainment […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 505: The Marvel and Mao Effect: A Hollywood Exec Heads to China, Hijinks Ensue appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Most of the world’s cinemas are closed. Studios are struggling to release films theatrically. Live theatre probably won’t return until at least 2021. Who knows when concerts can safely be held. Likewise, new movies and television shows can’t get made because producers can’t get production insurance. Is it time for governments to help the entertainment […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 504: Does The Entertainment Industry Need A Government Bailout? appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Like so many other working actors in New York John Keating saw his world turned upside down by the COVID-19 pandemic. Suddenly, his side gig narrating audio books became a lifeline like never before. We talk to Keating about the impact of the coronavirus shutdown, what it’s like to record an audiobook at home and […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 503: An Actor’s Life During A Pandemic appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
With concerts and live performances canceled, cinemas closed, movie studios delaying releases, and streaming video or music the only entertainment audiences can enjoy, the industry is slowly grinding to a halt. Perhaps show business folk were recovering from the Fourth of July holiday weekend or are preparing for Bastille Day, but there was hardly any […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 502: The Entertainment Industry’s Slow News Week appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
With most of the world’s cinemas having been closed for the past five months due to the coronavirus pandemic, Hollywood studios and other film distributors have been unable to release new movies theatrically. However, even if movie theaters are able to open their doors, will studios be willing to release expensive blockbusters at a time […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 501: Are Movie Studios Starting To Panic? appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
When it comes to social media, Hollywood seems to have a love/hate relationship. Celebrities and entertainment companies love being able to promote themselves and their latest work directly with fans and audiences, but they hate it when they get into trouble with their tweets and Facebook posts. Our former co-host Karen Woodward works as a […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 500: Hollywood Could Use A Social Media Coach appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
Though the COVID-19 pandemic is far from over, cinemas around the world are making plans to reopen having to take health and hygiene into consideration. In laying out their new safety protocols some theater chains are stumbling in how they make moviegoers feel comfortable with the idea of returning to the cinema. Yet, the real […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 499: The Problems Facing Movie Theaters After They Reopen appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
While the coronavirus has shut down movies, concerts and live theater, it has absolutely decimated the comic book industry. Pop culture journalist Geoff Boucher joins us to look at the future for comic book stores and comic book movies. Spoiler alert – one of these is in dire straits. Currently, Boucher is co-authoring a book […]
The post Showbiz Sandbox 498: Comic Book Industry Fights For Survival, Meanwhile China and US Simply Fight appeared first on Showbiz Sandbox.
When the Toronto Film Festival concluded last week only one of its official selections had been picked up for distribution. This touched off a string of articles and blog posts from the likes of Anne Thompson and Roger Ebert on the state of the independent film industry. One of the more interesting [...]
David Poland of Movie City News joins us this week. You might know Poland from his days at the Chicago Tribune, Entertainment Weekly or Roughcut, but he is most known as the columnist behind The Hot Button which has morphed into his blog, The Hot Blog. He can also be seen on DP30 or his [...]