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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Showbiz Sandbox 402: How the 90th Annual Oscars Took Shape
March 5, 2018
The 90th Academy Awards went down pretty much as everyone expected it would. After a lengthy awards season there were few surprises over who would go home with Oscars. There were no upsets (or mistakes) when it came time to announce Best Picture, as Guillermo del Toro’s “The Shape of Water” won the honor.
During a year which saw the rise of the #MeeToo movement, the vociferous calls from the Oscar stage for gender inclusion and racial diversity within the motion picture industry were also highly anticipated. Anne Thompson, Indiewire’s editor-at-large, was backstage during the ceremony and she joins us to share her insights about.
Meanwhile, though Comcast may have been turned down by 20th Century Fox, the cable giant hasn’t given up on growing its conglomerate through acquisitions. Last week they made a $31 billion offer to buy Europe’s Sky Broadcasting, something Fox has been struggling to do for some time now.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including how Spotify is finally going public, the Swiss back public broadcasting and why YouTube is punishing a prominent conservative conspiracy theorist.
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