Showbiz Sandbox 305: Should “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” Box Office Records Require An Asterisk?
December 21, 2015
The release of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” shattered box office records the world over and became the biggest movie opening of all time by earning $529 million. We explain why in countries such as Japan and South Korea, the latest “Star Wars” not only didn’t win the weekend, but in some cases earned less than earlier installments of the franchise. We also look at the breakdown of which formats audiences favored when buying tickets.
George Lucas’ original “Star Wars” movie was released in 1977 and was added to the National Film Registry in 1989. We weigh in on the annual list of films added to the registry by the Library of Congress, charged with selecting new entrants. It always makes for a fascinating mix; we’ll discuss what made this year’s cut there and why. Hint: It’s not always artistry that counts… and no we’re not looking at you “Top Gun.”
In music news, it turns out online radio services such as Pandora will soon be paying more to license songs. Meanwhile, Adele is trying to prevent her fans from having to pay more to purchase tickets to see her in concert. We’ll tell you about the growing backlash against the secondary market for concert tickets and what some artists are doing about it.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including how “Star Wars” bumped Quentin Tarantino’s latest movie out of a historic movie theater, Howard Stern signs a new deal with SiriusXM and the list of this year’s inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
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Showbiz Sandbox 304: The Music of 2015 Was Good, Not Great
December 14, 2015
Sal Nunziato, former co-owner of the shuttered record store NYCD, is now a musician and popular music blogger. He joins us to weigh in on his favorite albums of 2015 and unlike Rolling Stone magazine, Adele’s latest release didn’t make Sal’s list. Who better to get a state of the industry report on the music business?
The end-of-year awards season continued to kick into high gear as the Golden Globes announced their nominees. The SAG Awards may matter more however, since some of the guild’s members actually vote for the Oscars. Even after these nominations the Oscar race continues to be wide open.
With “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” opening this week it’s impossible to avoid news about the eagerly anticipated sequel. Disney’s secrecy over the project reached new heights when the studio held its press junket without first showing the film to the media.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including Melissa McCarthy’s sitcom is canceled, “Dirty Dancing” is being adapted into a television musical and Apple presses pause on its plans to offer a live streaming television service.
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Showbiz Sandbox 303: Film Critics Disagree On The Best Movies of 2015
December 7, 2015
The National Board Of Review, the New York Film Critics Circle and the Los Angeles Film Critics have all weighed in on the best movies and performances of 2015. We said it was a wide-open awards race and perhaps for the first time in history, none of them agree. On anything.
On the other hand, the Grammy Award nominations seem to have come to a consensus with just about everyone agreeing Kendrick Lamar released one of the best albums of the year. We’ll fill you in on some of the other musicians who racked up Grammy nominations this year.
During Inside Baseball we once again turn to the world of television where new studies are reporting that ad sales are edging downward as advertisers begin to increase their campaign spends on digital media outlets.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including how Adele’s latest release became the only album to ever sell more than one million copies during two different weeks, Jerry Seinfeld agrees to a long term residency at New York’s Beacon Theatre and Morrissey wins a dubious award for his first novel.
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