Showbiz Sandbox 546: The Best Music You’ve Never Heard — 100 Flop Albums
June 22, 2021
Musician Sal Maida and music writer Mitchell Cohen have been thumbing through record store bins for decades looking for great albums. Now they’ve teamed up to write “The White Label Promo Preservation Society: 100 Flop Albums You Oughta Know,” a book that dives deep into great music which doesn’t make the usual “best of” lists but is definitely worth a listen. Plus, they recruited a lot of their friends like Marshall Crenshaw, Peter Holsapple and Jim Farber.
Kevin Feige may be in charge of Marvel Studios but is a little puzzled too about how to add up streaming numbers. He mentioned that since Nielsen doesn’t publish streaming viewership he doesn’t know how to tell if “WandaVision” or “Loki” are hits. Could this be true? We find it a bit unlikely that Disney is hiding such data from Marvel.
Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including Amazon Studios plans for diversity, Roku claims the Quibi shorts are actually popular after all and the “Book of Mormon” musical may get a rewrite when it reopens.
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Showbiz Sandbox 545: Writer Paul Rudnick On The Royals, Romance And Rudin
June 15, 2021
When multi-hyphenate Paul Rudnick isn’t writing hit movies or award winning plays he is working on Broadway musicals with the likes of Elton John or busy writing novels. Rudnick joins us for a detailed and humorous conversation about his work and his latest novel, “Playing the Palace.”
We’ll also take a look at the final ratings figures for the primetime television season. Only four network shows increased in total viewers out of over 120 programs that aired during primetime. The numbers for key demographics don’t look much better.
Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including how Sony Music is changing up how they pay royalties to artists, country singer Morgan Wallen returns to radio and North Korea bans all things K-Pop.
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Showbiz Sandbox 544: The Existential Crisis Facing Theatrical Movie Releases
June 8, 2021
Anne Thompson, the editor at large at IndieWire, believes “a lot of things have to go right for the two-hour movie theatrical release to endure.” Thompson said as much in an opinion column she recently wrote for the New York Times. In a detailed opinion column for the New York Times. In a detailed conversation she explains four key challenges movie theaters face as they revive their business after the pandemic, including whether North American box office will ever again reach $11 billion.
One theatrical release that is doing better than some expected is Disney’s “Cruella.” The live-action spin-off has been popular enough for Disney to release a fashion line inspired by the outfits Oscar winning costume designer Jenny Bevan created for the film. They probably should have told her first since the Costume Designers Guild is none too pleased.
Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including the big winners at the BAFTA TV awards, how SpongeBob SquarePants is able to avoid paying taxes and the Russian comedy that is getting lots of local language remake love.
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Showbiz Sandbox 543: Amazon Grabs a Lion’s Share of MGM
June 1, 2021
In a move that had been rumored for weeks, Amazon became the first tech company to purchase a Hollywood movie studio in an $8.45 million deal. The acquisition will arm Amazon with over 4,000 movies like the Bond Franchise, “The Pink Panther” and “Robocop,” not to mention upwards of 17,000 television episodes. The real question is why did it take so long for a tech giant to buy a movie studio?
Meanwhile, a holiday weekend helped spark the post-pandemic North American box office as movies that were originally scheduled for release last year opened in theaters. Some new titles like “Cruella are also available on VOD at the same time. Is day-and-date releases hurting the box office prospects of such films?
Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including the Academy Awards returns to its normal schedule, HBO Max is moving into Latin America and why “Friends” was censored in China.
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Showbiz Sandbox 542: TV Networks Are Upfront About Streaming Plans
May 25, 2021
Last week all the big television networks in the United States went through the old fashioned ritual of inviting advertisers to big presentations of their fall programming. Besides being virtual a lot has changed for the networks, including primetime scheduling, which is now an afterthought. Instead they emphasized streaming and the range of content available through numerous platforms including network, broadcast and their new subscription services.
Meanwhile, the global box office is revving its engines with “F9” opening to huge numbers internationally, pushing the “Fast & Furious” franchise over the $6 billion mark. Movie theaters in Europe are reopening just in time to show the movie.
Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including why Amazon may purchase MGM, this year’s Eurovision contest and the return of music festivals.
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Showbiz Sandbox 541: AT&T Hangs Up On WarnerMedia
May 18, 2021
Not even three years after AT&T spent $85 billion to purchase Time Warner and form WarnerMedia, the telecom giant is calling it quits, agreeing to merge the content side of its business with Discovery. The deal would create a new media company positioned well to compete in the streaming market and a management team that is well versed in the entertainment business. The original acquisition of Time Warner always seemed questionable for AT&T, and ultimately left Warner Bros. in a bit of a mess.
Meanwhile, some music streaming services are adding hi-def audio to their offerings and, perhaps more importantly, not increasing the cost to subscribers. Since most new music can be found on all the streaming platforms, will high quality audio become a differentiator that attracts new customers or causes them to switch providers?
Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including why Ellen DeGeneres is leaving her daytime television show, Disney’s new theatrical release strategy and this year’s entrants into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
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Showbiz Sandbox 540: Time’s Up for the Golden Globes
May 11, 2021
It’s hard to believe we are still talking about the Golden Globes in May, when an argument could be made that they hardly matter in January. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the group behind the Globes, said they would be adding 45 new members over an unspecified period of time with a focus on people of color in an attempt to overcome diversity issues in their ranks. However, this didn’t satisfy Hollywood studios, streamers and TV networks who have publicly begun walking away from the annual awards ceremony.
Meanwhile, the stars and filmmakers behind some upcoming movie releases are crying foul. With theaters at limited capacity and studios sending films to streaming services in as little as 17 days, box office for these titles will surely be depressed. This will, in turn, impact the money creative talent receives if their compensation is tied to a movie’s gross.
Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including when Broadway will raise the curtain again, rankings of the top streaming content and the Chinese box office just won’t quit, even if it’s hard to figure out which movies are earning all that money.
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Showbiz Sandbox 539: What the Roku and YouTube TV Dispute Means For Streamers
May 4, 2021
Roku and YouTube TV are locked in a very public dispute over a distribution agreement. Roku claims YouTube is playing games with its user data, while YouTube says it won’t share its user data with Roku. Now the YouTube TV app has been removed from the Roku channel store and if the fight escalates Roku could block the service entirely. We explain how this dispute could shape how viewers access streaming services in the future.
Meanwhile the Grammys are dumping the nominating committees which made the big decisions on major categories. These secret committees were originally created because the voters at large were missing obvious critical and commercial successes like The Weeknd.
Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including how SAG-AFTRA is creating a certification for on-set intimacy coordinators, John Mayer will host his own music program and hockey gets a streaming payday.
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Showbiz Sandbox 538: An Oscars Ceremony With An Asterisk
April 27, 2021
Delayed by two months due to the COVID pandemic and with almost no blockbuster studio films to nominate, it’s a small miracle this year’s Oscars ceremony took place at all. This year the Academy honored the most diverse slate of nominees in its 93 year history. Anne Thompson, Indiewire’s editor-at-large, joins us to discuss the night’s winners, the awkward telecast and the unusual awards season we just lived through.
Meanwhile, thing’s keep getting worse for producer Scott Rudin. Not only has he stepped back from all film and television work, but he also left the Broadway League which may have a serious impact on his ability to stage a comeback down the road.
Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including why YouTube and Roku can’t get along, why Apple is headed to court over ownership of the music they sell on iTunes and Netflix continues to spend record amounts on new content.
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Showbiz Sandbox 537: The Positive Wave of Asian Media Comes To Comic Books
April 21, 2021
With a string of hit, award winning movies like “Parasite” and global pop-phenoms like BTS, Asian culture is having a moment in the spotlight. Thus it may be an opportune time for the publication of “The Good Asian,” a new comic book series about a detective in San Francisco’s Chinatown in 1936. We talk to Pornsak Pichetshote, its creator, who is a big player in comics, having edited top titles for DC’s Vertigo and helping launch its new TV division.
Meanwhile, as Broadway tries to reopen after the pandemic, powerhouse producer Scott Rudin is facing some fallout after a media profile about his past abusive, bullying behavior. Rudin says he will now step away from day-to-day oversight of his ongoing and future productions to prevent talent from backing out.
Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including London’s West End prepares to reopen, Univision and Televisa announce a merger and the 46th annual IRA Awards.
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