Showbiz Sandbox 584: Cannes Film Festival Showcases Industry Revival
May 31, 2022
Unlike some years, there was no frontrunner or obvious favorite to win the Palme d’Or at the 75th annual Cannes Film Festival which concluded over the weekend. Instead, the social satire “Triangle of Sadness” from Swedish filmmaker Ruben Östlund took the festival’s top prize, the second time he has won the award. We discuss the highlights and big winners from this year’s Cannes.
Meanwhile “Top Gun: Maverick,” which was shown at Cannes, finally premiered in movie theaters setting all kinds of box office records. It is far and away the biggest opening weekend its star Tom Cruise has ever had as it looks to go on and become his biggest hit.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including the winner of this year’s Eurovision song contest, Justin Timberlake sells his recording catalog and politicians hope to strip Disney of its Mickey Mouse copyright.
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Showbiz Sandbox 583: The Long and Winding Road to Box Office Recovery
May 10, 2022
With each new superhero blockbuster that hits multiplexes it is clear that big well-done movies can score big at the box office. However it is a huge mistake to treat every new release as the barometer of whether cinema is back. Especially when smaller films like “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and family movies like “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” are proving just as successful in getting post-pandemic audiences back into theaters.
Meanwhile, record labels and streaming services have been fighting with music publishers over mechanical royalties for years now.
However, in a tentative deal on actual music sales, the mechanical royalty will rise more than 30% from 9.1 cents per track to 12 cents. Moving forward, the royalty will be pegged to inflation.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including this year’s Tony Nominations, Dave Chappelle gets attacked on stage during a performance and a new class of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees.
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Showbiz Sandbox 582: Movie Theaters Come Roaring Back at CinemaCon
May 3, 2022
When cinema operators from around the world gathered in Las Vegas for CinemaCon last week, it quickly became obvious that movie theaters ain’t dead yet. Though a global pandemic may have decimated their business model for several years, audiences seem to slowly be returning to movie theaters. So have Hollywood studios who are starting to realize they can’t survive on streaming revenue alone.
Speaking of streaming, a poor earnings report in which Netflix announced they lost subscribers for the first time in a decade, has served as a moment for self-reflection for the company as well as the industry-at-large.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including an abrupt end to CNN+, “Fast & Furious 10” loses its director and Europe’s new media laws.
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