Showbiz Sandbox 345: Awards Season Kicks Off With the Proper Spirit
November 28, 2016
Despite an endless debate as to precisely when the movie awards season begins each year, everyone agrees that the Independent Spirit Awards are one of the more important events. Though not all of the indie films honored by the Spirit Awards will go on to be nominated for Oscars, each year’s nominees provide a list of worthwhile movies on which to catch up.
With 2016 entering the homestretch Hollywood movie studios have begun releasing titles they hope will win big awards or big box office… or both. Disney continues to fire on all cylinders with it’s latest animated release “Moana” as well as “Doctor Strange” minting money during their record breaking year. And “Star Wars: Rogue One” is still a month off.
Meanwhile the media fallout from the U.S. presidential election continues to make headlines, not all of which are accurate. In fact, Facebook and Google are making efforts to crack down on fake news stories as news organizations begin to look at the role they played in recent political events.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including this year’s International Emmy Award winners, why television networks aren’t canceling this season’s failing shows and animator Hayao Miyazaki comes out of retirement to make another movie.
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comScore Announces Official Worldwide Box Office Results for Weekend of November 27, 2016
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/comscore-announces-official-worldwide-box-office-results-for-weekend-of-november-27-2016-300368732.html
U.S. Box Office Tops $10 Billion for 2016, Led by ‘Finding Dory’
https://variety.com/2016/film/news/box-office-finding-dory-star-wars-rogue-one-1201926858/
Foreign Box Office: ‘Fantastic Beasts’ Soars With $132 Million
https://variety.com/2016/film/box-office/fantastic-beasts-box-office-1201927411/
‘Fantastic Beasts’ Sees Powerful Chinese Opening Day
http://variety.com/2016/film/box-office/fantastic-beasts-china-opening-warner-bros-1201926838/
‘Madame Bovary’ Release Exposes Rivalry Between China’s Huayi and Wanda
https://variety.com/2016/film/asia/madame-bovary-release-china-huayi-wanda-1201921828/
Disney’s ‘Moana’ Surpasses ‘Frozen’ in Pre-Thanksgiving Box Office
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/24/movies/disneys-moana-surpasses-frozen-in-pre-thanksgiving-box-office.html
2017 Indie Spirit Awards Nominees Are Announced
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-2017-indie-spirit-awards-nominations-20161122-story.html
BookFilter – The Whole Town’s Talking by Fannie Flagg
http://bookfilter.com/2016/02/08/the-whole-towns-talking-2/
BookFilter – Searching for John Hughes by Jason Diamond
http://bookfilter.com/2016/02/17/searching-for-john-hughes-2/
HBO Renews ‘Westworld,’ ‘Divorce,’ ‘Insecure’ for Second Seasons
https://variety.com/2016/tv/news/westworld-hbo-renew-season-2-divorce-insecure-1201917477/
TV Trend Alert: The Word “Canceled” Has Been Canceled
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tv-trend-alert-word-canceled-has-been-canceled-947664
Off Broadway Equity Actors and Stage Managers Win Pay Increase
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/19/arts/off-broadway-equity-actors-and-stage-managers-win-pay-increase.html
Dave Chapelle Sets Three Netflix Comedy Specials
https://variety.com/2016/tv/news/dave-chappelle-netflix-3-comedy-specials-1201923480/
Studio Ghibli Director Hayao Miyazaki Coming Out of Retirement for ‘Boro The Caterpillar’
http://www.indiewire.com/2016/11/studio-ghibli-director-hayao-miyazaki-coming-out-of-retirement-boro-the-caterpillar-1201746248/
Colson Whitehead Wins National Book Award for ‘The Underground Railroad’
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/17/business/colson-whitehead-wins-national-book-award-for-the-underground-railroad.html
Marvel’s ‘The Inhumans’ Greenlit as ABC Series, to Premiere in IMAX Theaters
https://variety.com/2016/tv/news/marvels-the-inhumans-greenlit-as-abc-series-to-premiere-in-imax-theaters-1201917880/
Audra McDonald Stars in New Lawsuit
http://www.forbes.com/sites/marchershberg/2016/11/14/audra-mcdonald-stars-in-new-lawsuit/
Legendary Lands Rights to Classic Sci-Fi Novel ‘Dune’
https://variety.com/2016/film/news/legendary-dune-frank-herbert-1201923648/
International Emmys: ‘Deutschland 83’ Wins for Drama, Dustin Hoffman for ‘Esio Trot’
https://variety.com/2016/tv/awards/international-emmys-winners-deutschland-83-1201924047/
Kanye West Hospitalized After Abruptly Canceling Tour
https://variety.com/2016/music/news/kanye-west-hospitalized-tour-canceled-1201924064/
Amazon Battles Trolls Over Megyn Kelly Book
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/11/16/amazon-battles-trolls-over-megyn-kelly-book.html
Met Opera Guild Moves to Sell Memorabilia to Raise Money
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/23/arts/music/met-opera-guild-moves-to-sell-memorabilia-to-raise-money.html
‘Step Up 6’: Lionsgate & Chinese Partners Mounting Local-Language Franchise Sequel
http://deadline.com/2016/11/step-up-china-local-language-sequel-lionsgate-1201857938/
Facebook and Google Move to Kick Fake News Sites Off Their Ad Networks
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/15/facebook-google-fake-news-sites-ad-networks
Facebook’s Fight Against Fake News Was Undercut by Fear of Conservative Backlash
https://gizmodo.com/facebooks-fight-against-fake-news-was-undercut-by-fear-1788808204
Now Even Google Search Aiding in Scourge of Fake, Inaccurate News About Election 2016
http://www.mediaite.com/uncategorized/now-even-google-search-aiding-in-scourge-of-fake-inaccurate-news-about-election-2016/
Michael Wolff on Trump, the Anti-Media President (Who’s Obsessed With the Media)
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/michael-wolff-trump-anti-media-president-whos-obsessed-media-947661
Donald Trump Scolds TV Media for Campaign Coverage in Tough Meeting
https://variety.com/2016/tv/news/donald-trump-tv-news-cnn-nbc-meeting-1201923976/
Gwen Ifill, Who Overcame Barriers as a Black Female Journalist, Dies at 61
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/tv/gwen-ifill-journalist-who-became-staple-of-public-affairs-tv-shows-dies-at-61/2016/11/14/2ae4c106-aa91-11e6-977a-1030f822fc35_story.html
Singer Sharon Jones Dies at 60
https://variety.com/2016/music/news/sharon-jones-dead-dies-dap-kings-1201922559/
Paul Sylbert, Oscar-Winning Production Designer on ‘Heaven Can Wait,’ Dies at 88
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/paul-sylbert-dead-heaven-can-wait-production-designer-dies-at-88-950392
Florence Henderson, Upbeat Mom of ‘The Brady Bunch,’ Dies at 82
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/25/arts/television/florence-henderson-brady-bunch-dies.html
It’s the new episode of Showbiz Sandbox! The movie awards season is heating up and that means the list of movies I need to check out — like The Fits, Dheepan and American Honey — is getting longer and longer. And how’s this for click bait: you will NOT believe how much money Disney is spending to promote their new Star Wars movie Rogue One. Shocking! Unbelievable! Jaw-dropping! Check it out.