Showbiz Sandbox 482: Entertainment Industry Facing Coronavirus Challenge
February 24, 2020
For the past four weeks the Chinese government has mandated that all of its cinemas remain closed in hopes of preventing further spread of the Coronavirus, also known as COVID-19. Not that anyone would actually show up even if movie theaters were open since a majority of China’s population are avoiding public venues and gatherings. Having the second largest movie market in the world out of business for so long will surely affect the global box office, not to mention release dates.
As the Coronavirus reaches other countries and turns into a full-blown pandemic, cinemas in Northern Italy are shutting their doors in the wake of infestations and the popular Korean boy band BTS moved a press conference for its upcoming album to an online only event, rather than meet journalists in-person.
In the United States, the popular indie-cinema chain Alamo Drafthouse launched its own long-awaited subscription plan. We debate the merits of Alamo’s new program and what theater operators need to consider when adopting such a scheme.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including soaring occupancy rates for Broadway productions, the United Kingdom embraces streaming in earnest and HBO Max will launch with a reunion of “Friends.”
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Showbiz Sandbox 481: Catty Jokes At Oscars Spur Backlash
February 17, 2020
When James Corden and Rebel Wilson strutted onto the Oscar stage dressed as characters from the film adaptation of the Broadway musical “Cats” it garnered sincere laughter from the audience. However, the duo went on to mock the visual effects of the film which they happened to star in, generating a bit of fallout. Turns out there’s a real life sad ending to the story.
Fresh off it’s Oscar win for Best Picture, “Parasite” soared at the box office. Does the film’s success, not to mention the explosive popularity of international TV shows on Netflix, mean audiences in the United States will finally catch up with the rest of the world and embrace subtitles?
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including the controversy over this year’s Cesar Awards in France, the streaming company Roku continues to grow and satellite radio giant Sirius XM invests in SoundCloud.
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Showbiz Sandbox 480: “Parasite” Infects the Oscars With Historic Win
February 10, 2020
Though many Academy Awards pundits believed that “1917” would win the Oscar for Best Picture, the prize went to filmmaker Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite.” Anne Thompson of Indiewire joins us to explain how the industry united behind the South Korean film, giving it four top Oscars, in a historic win; the first foreign language film to ever win the Best Picture Oscar.
Surely none of the Oscar winners will be getting a bump at the box office in China, even if they managed to get a release date. Movie theaters have been closed for the past three weeks due to a coronavirus which has completely upended which films will get into cinemas and when in a tight calendar they’ll reach audiences.
Meanwhile, the WGA overwhelmingly approved their demands for the upcoming contract talks with producers and studios. The existing contract is set to expire in the middle of this year and just about everyone in Hollywood is expecting and gearing up for another writers’ strike.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including why manufacturing vinyl records might get a lot harder, how YouTube is raking in revenue and Disney plans on bringing the Broadway musical “Hamilton” to movie theaters.
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Showbiz Sandbox 479: Are Streamers Ruining Sundance?
February 2, 2020
About every five years a new group of deep-pocketed players shows up at the Sundance Film Festival and spends a small fortune acquiring a handful of films causing fear that the industry has been forever changed. This year, some of the world’s largest media and tech companies have invaded Park City, Utah and are picking up movies for amounts far in excess of what makes fiscal sense or what theatrical distributors are willing to pay.
Such companies don’t have to worry about box office results because they are more concerned with a different metric; the number of subscribers they can attract to their streaming service. Now some industry veterans are worried about whether indie distributors will be able to stay afloat with the leftover titles the streaming giants don’t gobble up.
Meanwhile, in China the film industry is down for the count with cinemas shuttered for the second week in a row due to the rapid spread of a coronavirus. Flights to and from the country have been suspended, as has all film and television production. When movie theaters finally do open for business the ripple effect on the Chinese release schedule will be felt around the world as films jockey for new playdates.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including this year’s BAFTA award winners, Apple and Netflix may be chasing MGM’s film library and MoviePass officially files for bankruptcy.
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