Showbiz Sandbox 142: Is The MPAA Rating System Broken?
March 26, 2012
Though the MPAA often rates more than 700 films per year, the number of rating disputes rarely reaches the double digits. This year however eight films have already appealed their ratings and it’s not even April. Has the MPAA lost touch with modern culture or are filmmakers beginning to push the boundaries with edgier content? Ethan Noble, of Motion Picture Consulting, helps guide filmmakers and studios through the ratings process. Noble, who recently tried to appeal the restrictive rating on the documentary “Bully”, provides an overview of the MPAA’s rating system and tells us whether it needs to be fixed.
Speaking of the MPAA, they released their annual report on the motion picture industry. Moviegoing may have declined 4% in North America, but overseas revenue grew more than 5% and is booming in markets such as China and Japan.
We previously predicted that Broadway shows such as “Sister Act” and “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” would close by now. Despite playing to half empty theaters and consistently losing money, they are still running night after night. What gives?
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Showbiz Sandbox 140: Nollywood Love – Inside The Booming Nigerian Film Industry
March 13, 2012
Oil rich Nigeria may be best known for political upheavals and brutal civil wars, though over the past twenty years the country has given birth to a thriving film industry. New York Times Magazine contributing writer Andrew Rice explains that what started out as a surplus of blank VHS tapes has grown into what is now called Nollywood; the world’s third largest movie business. Nollywood films now suffer from the same issues faced by Hollywood and Bollywood; piracy and escalating production costs.
The budget for Disney’s “John Carter” was about five thousand times that of the average Nollywood film, which is probably why a $100 million worldwide opening is seen as a bit of a disappointment. Directing his first live-action film, Pixar veteran Andrew Stanton seems to be getting most of the blame for the movie’s lack of success, though it just as easily could be pinned on a studio full of senior executives that lacked experience producing big blockbusters.
Speaking of pricey failures, Fox canceled its sci-fi series “Terra Nova”. Producers hope the show will be picked up by another network, though at $4 million per episode few can afford it.
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Showbiz Sandbox 133: Oscars Celebrate The Past; Sundance Discovers The Future
January 24, 2012
This year’s Oscar nominations have finally been announced and they are full of surprises. Actors and actresses which seemed like shoe-ins for a nomination were completely overlooked. Films that nobody thought would be considered for Best Picture wound up in the list of nine nominated titles.
Meanwhile up in Park City, Utah this year’s Sundance Film Festival is underway. We’ll go over all the movies that have festival goers (and acquisitions executives) buzzing as well as fill you in on why indie films may finally reach wider audiences.
“American Idol” returned to the airwaves to lower ratings. Ryan Seacrest, the show’s host, may not care though since he took another step last week toward becoming the next Dick Clark by partnering with Mark Cuban and AEG on a new cable television network.
We also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including Adele’s continued dominance of the music charts, the death of controversial anti-piracy legislation and the shuttering of Megaupload over copyright infringement.
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Showbiz Sandbox 130: It’s The Data, Stupid (or Why Live Nation Bought BigChampagne)
December 19, 2011
As 2011 comes to an end mainstream media companies continue to struggle with how to distribute their content through the Internet. That was never more apparent than this week as concert promoter Live Nation acquired BigChampagne, a media tracking and technology company. Joe Fleischer, Big Champgne’s chief marketing officer, explains why a live-event company is interested in staying on top of the latest music industry data and how the acquisition will help Live Nation better understand their customers.
Meanwhile, as SOPA and PIPA make their way through Congress, Universal Music Group caused a stir when they tried to squash news reports of their copyright infringement lawsuit against MegaUpload. Then there was comedian Louis C.K. who used digital convergence to his benefit by selling a video of his most recent stand-up show directly to fans, making a huge profit in the process.
Matt Damon was also muddying the waters last week by revealing the in-fighting going on behind the scenes of the”Bourne” franchise. Of course, we also cover the top entertainment news stories of the week including the Golden Globe and SAG award nominations, Howard Stern’s new television gig on “America’s Got Talent” and Madonna’s new record contract.
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Showbiz Sandbox 123: DVR Data Can Save TV Shows From Cancellation
October 17, 2011
It turns out your DVR can be helpful beyond just recording your favorite television shows. Examining which commercials you skip past might be able to help predict box office flops and monitoring which shows you watch can save a borderline series from being canceled. We’ll debate whether television networks and movie studios can benefit from the data being collected from your DVR.
Apple however may be trying to make your DVR obsolete. The long standing rumors that Apple might be working on a next generation television set have heated up once again. Would you welcome Apple into your living room?
Dozens of entries make up this year’s Best Foreign Language Oscar list, though all of them will ultimately be nominated. We’ll explain how the list ultimately gets whittled down to just five movies.
We also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including why Hulu is no longer for sale, why Jonny Depp’s “Lone Ranger” is back in production and how Amazon plans to make publishers unnecessary.
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Showbiz Sandbox 116: Will Hollywood Miss Steve Jobs?
August 30, 2011
Last week’s news that Steve Jobs was stepping down as the CEO of Apple caused headline writers all over the world to work overtime. Sure Jobs became a household name by helping revolutionize personal computing, but he also helped shape the modern entertainment industry with products such as iTunes, the iPod and the iPad. And we shouldn’t forget his role in founding a little animation company called Pixar. We discuss what Jobs departure from Apple means to Hollywood and why some entertainment execs may be secretly relieved to see him exit the stage.
On the other hand, news that filmmaker Ridley Scott was working on a sequel to his sci-fi masterpiece “Blade Runner” didn’t seem to please anyone. Some showbiz pundits went so far as to call the idea “catastrophically bad”. We’ll explain why.
Over in the world of television, one of the husbands on “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” committed suicide causing Bravo to re-edit episodes for the upcoming season. Will the death of Russell Armstrong cause networks to rethink how they handle reality television?
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Showbiz Sandbox 113: Hollywood Studios Think Twice About Comic-Con
July 25, 2011
Attendance at this year’s Comic-Con was higher than ever. Geoff Boucher of the Los Angeles Times and Alex Billington of First Showing were in San Diego last weekend sitting in on, if not moderating, panel discussions with the likes of Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson, Francis Coppola and “Game of Thrones” cast members. In filling us in on all the highlights they explain why some studios skipped this year’s festivities and why next year’s convention is set to be the biggest Comic-Con yet.
There was also some sad news this past weekend as we learned about the untimely death of soul singer Amy Winehouse at the age of 27. The troubled young singer battled with drug addiction since rising to stardom in 2006 and her death raises the question over what responsibility the entertainment industry has in helping artists with drug or alcohol problems.
There was better news on Broadway where at least three recent shows turned a profit with even more shows about to follow suit. Even the much-hyped disaster “Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark” is shaping up to be a financial success.
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Showbiz Sandbox 107: The Pros And Cons Of Cloud Music Services
June 13, 2011
After months of rumors and speculation Apple finally announced their cloud music service last week. Aptly named iCloud, the new service joins similar offerings from both Amazon and Google. Though each of the services has their benefits, no two are exactly alike. Amazon and Google stream music over the Internet and require you to upload your entire music library. Apple doesn’t do any of those things. We dissect the pros and cons of all three services and wonder why anyone really needs them in the first place.
Something else that’s probably not needed is a sequel to “Tron: Legacy” but thanks to a television series spinoff of last year’s sci-fi blockbuster, we’ll probably get one. And it will probably be in 3D like its predecessor even though Dreamworks Animation head Jeffrey Katzenberg is heartbroken over the decline of the format.
The Tony Awards were handed out on Sunday and as we predicted, “The Book Of Mormon” walked off with the most trophies, including Best Musical. But what is a Tony really worth to a Broadway show’s bottom line? We’ll try and find out.
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Showbiz Sandbox 106: A Tony Awards Preview Of Broadway’s Billion Dollar Year
June 6, 2011
Even without all the news surrounding the troubled production of “Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark”, Broadway gave us plenty to talk about over the past year. This season brought more critically acclaimed (and financially successful) productions than during any time in recent memory. Brian Scott Lipton, editor-in-chief of TheaterMania.com, tells us who he thinks will win the year’s top Tony Awards on Sunday evening.
Movie box office is also on the rise after a disappointing first half of the year. Even so, the film grosses being earned in North America are being dwarfed by international box office. We’ll explain why.
Meanwhile, Lady Gaga ruled the album charts with her new release thanks to some help from Amazon.com. A number of artists are finding new and innovative ways to sell their music. In fact, the Kaiser Chiefs are allowing fans to create and sell their own albums with the band’s music.
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Showbiz Sandbox 105: The Dark Truth About Digital Cinema
June 1, 2011
When Ty Burr, film critic for The Boston Globe, noticed that the films he was seeing didn’t appear as bright as they usually do he did a little investigating to figure out why. What he discovered, and documented in a recent front page article, is that some major theater chains are leaving moviegoers in the dark by regularly misusing digital projection equipment. Burr joins us to explain why this is happening and what cinema patrons can do about it.
Meanwhile, the market for streaming music online hasn’t cooled off. Apple is about to announce a service the company has dubbed iCloud and it is rumored that Facebook may integrate Spotify into its website. It seems more people are listening to more music than ever before. That may be why the Coachella Music Festival is doubling down and expanding the event to two weekends next year.
Oprah Winfrey ended her long-running talk show last week and nearly 17 million people tuned in to watch. Yet that audience pales in comparison to the 28 million viewers that watched the final episode of this season’s “American Idol”. That’s nearly a 20% increase over last years finale.
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