Showbiz Sandbox 53: I’m Sleeping With Richard Dreyfuss
May 11, 2010
The Cannes Film Festival kicks off in France this week and our very own Michael Giltz and J. Sperling Reich are on the Croisette to cover all the news. When they’re not sharing a bed they’ll be seeing all the big movies and speaking with all the filmmakers.
Back in North America “Iron Man 2” opened to huge numbers, earning $128 million over the weekend, giving it the fifth biggest opening of all time. Meanwhile, the Washington Post is struggling with it’s own numbers. The media company has decided to put Newsweek magazine up for sale as its profit has declined 30%. On the other hand, their online property Slate.com has seen ad revenue increase 30%.
Another group looking to make money online are music publishers. They’re going after websites that publish music lyrics without permission. Even though song lyrics are copyrighted, how much money could there possibly be in such sites?
On television, 88-year-old actress Betty White continued her improbable comeback by scoring huge ratings when she hosted last week’s “Saturday Night Live”. Another actress making a comeback is Lindsay Lohan who was just cast in a porn film. . . sort of. She’ll be playing Linda Lovelace in a biopic about the porn star.
During Inside Baseball we discuss the recent FCC ruling allowing movie studios to prevent home viewers from recording their video-on-demand purchases. On paper, the wavier granted to the studios is meant to prevent piracy, though what it will really allow is movies to be released in theatres and on VOD at the same time.
Legendary Jazz Singer Lena Horne Dies At 92
http://www.billboard.com/news/legendary-jazz-singer-lena-horne-dies-at….
Cannes Film Festival Makes Do With A Lighter Lineup
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126720373&ft=1&f=1045
Newsweek For Sale
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/news/magazines….
Slate Reports 30% Ad Revenue Increase
http://www.mediabuyerplanner.com/entry/50980/slate-reports-30….
Indiewire Blog Network Grows
http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/2010/05/10/cannes….
Lyrics Sites At Center of Fight Over Royalties
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/10/business/media/10lyrics.html
‘Idol’ Builds Heading Into Season Finale
http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman2/publish/Overnights….
http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/media/….
Julia Louis-Dreyfus Gets Walk of Fame Typo
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/entertainment/post/….
Betty White Hosts SNL and Pulls In Huge Ratings
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/comments_blog/2010/05/….
Glam Metal Star Bret Michaels Reveals I’m Lucky To Be Alive
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/people/news/article_1553767.php….
Taylor Swift To Receive Award At Songwriter’s Hall Of Fame
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100511/ap_en_mu/us_music_swift….
Lindsay Lohan Will Star As Linda Lovelace
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/gossip/2010/05/lindsay-lohan….
FCC Allows Movie Studios To Block Copying of New Video On Demand Releases
http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/07/fcc-allows-movie….
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