Showbiz Sandbox 526: Hollywood Reshuffles 2021 Blockbusters
January 26, 2021
The coronavirus pandemic continues to wreak havoc throughout the film industry. With most movie theatres around the world currently closed due to COVID, Hollywood studios have delayed almost all of their major releases into the latter half of this year. There is even talk that the Cannes Film Festival will move from May to sometime in July.
Unlike cinemas, streaming media companies are currently thriving, with Netflix surpassing 200 million subscribers worldwide. Despite all of the competitors entering the marketplace, the company set a record high stock price after announcing they won’t need to borrow any additional money to fund new content.
Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including the new “High School Musical” generates a chart-topper, Viacom changes up its streaming strategy and Spotify ventures into audiobooks.
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Showbiz Sandbox 525: A Non-Netflix Show Finally Tops Nielsen’s Streaming Charts
January 19, 2021
For the first time in history, or at least since Nielsen started its U.S. weekly streaming chart, a non-Netflix show claimed the top spot. For the week ending December 20th “The Mandalorian” was the number one steamed show in the nation, with over 1.33 billion total minutes viewed by Disney+ subscribers. As more streaming services come online with their own original programming, Netflix’s domination of the Nielsen chart may ultimately fade.
Speaking of ratings, a new leader among cable news networks has emerged since last year’s presidential election. For the first time since 2000, CNN and MSNBC beat out Fox News. Do these ratings reflect the unprecedented political crises we’ve been facing or a sea change in viewership?
Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including country star Morgan Wallen’s new streaming record, Disneyland ditches annual passes and Shakira sells the publishing rights to her music.
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Showbiz Sandbox 524: Cable News Networks Make Big Moves
January 13, 2021
Thanks to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and amped up political unrest, viewership of cable news networks has reached record levels. Now that the presidential election is over in the United States, some are making changes to both their anchor and programming lineups. Maybe the biggest move is Fox News, which is moving an opinion show to their early evening rotation.
Meanwhile, Warner Bros. is subtly pushing back against critics of its workplace environment on DC titles, despite top talent like Gal Godot and Jason Mamoa weighing in with concerns. Walter Hamada, the head of DC Films, seems to be taking most of the heat.
Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including the return of “Sex and the City,” Kevin Hart heads to Netflix and the Grammy Awards get postponed.
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Showbiz Sandbox 523: Who Owns The Copyright For The Ratatouille Musical?
January 8, 2021
The Pixar film “Ratatouille” is enjoying new life. The tale of a rat who becomes a gourmet Parisian chef has gone from one of Pixar’s animated blockbusters, to a TikTok meme taken on by a collaborative community to an actual honest to goodness online musical, complete with Broadway stars. But with so many people from all over the world working on the production, who owns the rights?
Meanwhile, in the ongoing dispute between William Morris Endeavor and the Writers Guild, the agency keeps insisting they’ve got a deal on a new code of conduct but the WGA keeps saying, not so fast.
Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including how Amazon’s podcast maneuver, Quibi may have found a new home and why “The Great Gatsby” is now in the public domain.
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