Showbiz Sandbox 620: This Year’s Tony Awards Were Unscripted, Yet Predictable
June 14, 2023
This 76th annual Tony Awards ceremony was held last weekend honoring the best and brightest Broadway productions from the past year. Although there was no script for host Ariana DeBose to work due to the writer’s strike. But while the telecast may have been refreshingly unscripted, the winners were fairly predictable with “Kimberly Akimbo” winning Best Musical, Tom Stoppard’s “Leopoldstadt” taking home Best Play and “Parade” picking up the Best Musical Revival trophies. The only question now is which shows will turn their Tony wins into box office gold.
Speaking of labor relations in Hollywood, the DGA released some more info on its proposed deal with producers and the reviews are decidedly mixed, especially for helmers who also write. Meanwhile SAG-AFTRA members made it loud and clear that they are ready to strike as well.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including the PGA’s controversial move to merge with a competitive golf league, CNN axes its CEO and network shows continue to sink in TV ratings.
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Showbiz Sandbox 618: The 2023 Cannes Film Festival Lives Up to the Hype
May 30, 2023
The 76th annual Cannes Film Festival wrapped up over the weekend handing out prizes to some of the 21 official selections appearing in competition this year. Justine Triet’s film “Anatomy of a Fall” took home the Palme d’Or though that was one of many deserving titles programmed at what many festival goers felt was one of the stronger lineups in recent memory. We were in attendance and will take you with us to the south of France to fill you in on all the important news coming out of the festival.
Meanwhile, in a legal case that could have a major impact on Fair Use in the arts, the Supreme Court ruled that the late Andy Warhol was a copycat. Ok, they used some fancy legal terms, but that’s the gist of the decision over a work the artist created for Vanity Fair that used a photograph of the musician Prince.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including why actors in the United Kingdom want some rules to limit taped auditions, Broadway’s post-pandemic box office rebound and broadcaster plan to stream the 2024 summer Olympics live.
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Showbiz Sandbox 613: Author James Patterson Questions New York Times Best Seller List
April 4, 2023
James Patterson has been a perennial presence on the New York Times best seller list after his most recent book failed to make the list, he accused the newspaper of “cooking the books” in the way it compiles its lists. According to BookScan, which uses actual sales figures, Patterson’s latest book should have made the list, but the Times uses a proprietary formula and method for determining its list and now he’s publicly calling them out.
Meanwhile, we signed up for the new version of MoviePass just to find out what it offered. It turns out it is very hard to pull off a moviegoing subscription service when you don’t have deals with movie theaters.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including how Cineworld, the owner of Regal Cinemas, plans to restructure and exit bankruptcy, why the cast of the television series “Blue Bloods” took a pay cut, and the stage adaptation of Hayao Miyazaki’s “My Neighbor Totoro” wins six Olivier Awards.
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Showbiz Sandbox 611: This Year’s Oscars Were Everything Everyone Could Have Asked For
March 15, 2023
As everyone expected, the big winner at this year’s Oscars was “Everyone Everywhere All At Once,” taking home seven of the 11 awards it was nominated for. Anne Thompson of Indiewire was at the ceremony and joins us to give us the scoop on what happened behind the scenes at this year’s Academy Awards, including two extended moments of “integrated marketing.”
Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom the BBC stirred up some controversy when they suspended popular sports commentator Gary Lineker for expressing political opinions via his personal social media account. The fallout has been epic, with essentially every sports broadcaster, commentator and soccer player boycotting the BBC.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including two new milestones in the music industry, J.J. Abrams gets into live theater and Disney says its theme parks are too expensive.
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Showbiz Sandbox 600: The Return of Bob Iger at Disney
November 29, 2022
We were just as surprised as everyone else to hear that The Walt Disney Company was firing their CEO Bob Chapek and replacing him with their longtime former head, Bob Iger. Iger is returning to a markedly different media company than the one he left less than a year ago and his second stint as CEO will be measured by how he sets up Disney to survive into the future. Finding the right successor will be one of his top priorities.
Meanwhile, we try to unravel how Ticketmaster fumbled the sale of tickets to Taylor Swift’s upcoming concert tour. The company is claiming verified fans were unable to get tickets due to unprecedented demand and automated ticket-buying bots. The incident caused such a stir it even attracted the attention of politicians eager to hold hearings about it.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including why a big book publishing merger is called off, Amazon gets serious about film distribution and Agatha Christie’s “Mousetrap” heads to Broadway.
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Showbiz Sandbox 598: Streaming Growth Goes International
November 9, 2022
It’s no secret that streaming services have been affecting every part of the entertainment business in one way or another, from movies and television to music sales and book publishing. After the latest round of earnings announcements from major media conglomerates a few realities become clear; producing original content for direct-to-consumer streaming offerings is costing a fortune and any significant subscriber growth is going to come from overseas territories.
Meanwhile, Taylor Swift’s latest album, “Midnights” might be topping the sales and Billboard charts, however it won’t be eligible for a Grammy in 2023 because it was released after September 30th of this year. The same goes for Bruce Springsteen, Charlie Puth, Gorillaz, Red Hot Chili Peppers, 1975, Carly Rae Jepsen, Arctic Monkeys and Smashing Pumpkins. On the other hand, Silk Sonic have decided not to have their debut album compete for an Album of the Year Grammy.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including why K-Pop phenoms BTS are headed to the army, how the performing rights organization BMI is becoming a for-profit entity and embattled actor Kevin Spacey is found not liable in a sex abuse lawsuit.
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Showbiz Sandbox 593: This Year’s Emmy Awards Turns Into A Rerun
September 16, 2022
The 74th Annual Prime Time Emmy Awards were held this week and they managed to honor most of the winners from last year’s ceremony. The same shows, and at times the same actors, continue to top most of the big categories. This begs the perennial question, what is the actual purpose of the Emmy Awards?
Meanwhile, the world’s second largest movie theater chain officially filed for bankruptcy. We discuss what this will mean not only for Cineworld, but also whether the move will affect the industry-at-large.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including how “CoComelon” is creating video games for toddlers, the Sundance Film Festival names a new head director and a Bollywood movie tops the worldwide box office.
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Showbiz Sandbox 591: Live Sports Becomes the Costliest Battle of the Streaming Wars
August 30, 2022
There is no better evidence that the streaming wars are still in full swing than the news that streaming services are accounting for more viewing than cable television for the first time in history. As streaming media companies fight for market share, they have turned to live sports as a means of driving subscriber growth. However, vying with traditional networks for broadcast rights has driven the cost of live sports to record setting levels.
While there might be an audience for live sports, new data shows attendance has fallen by as much as 50% for live performances such as Broadway, opera and classical music concerts. Pop concert tours, on the other hand, have never been more successful, or more expensive.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including the reason some movie stars are ditching social media for their own sanity, the second largest movie theater chain in the world may file for bankruptcy and why Mariah Carey should not become the Queen of Christmas.
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Showbiz Sandbox 590: New Warner Bros. Discovery Strategy Is A Little Batty
August 9, 2022
The newly merged Warner Bros. Discovery held its first earnings call last week making so many headlines it was all anyone in the entertainment industry could talk about. The company has a ton of debt, but a plan to get into better financial shape; stop producing expensive scripted shows, shelve pricey projects and layoff thousands of employees. Most controversially the media giant decided to completely abandon the nearly finished DC movie, “Batgirl.”
Speaking of comic book movies, the Wall Street Journal believes Disney’s Marvel titles are in a bit of a slump. Their movies are grossing less, getting worse reviews are not a big deal on social media. Do people even like superhero movies anymore?
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including the story behind all those expensive Springsteen tickets, why Beyonce is changing the lyrics to one of her recent songs and why “To Kill A Mockingbird” is leaving Broadway.
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Showbiz Sandbox 588: Keeping Track of Ever-Shifting Streaming Strategies
July 5, 2022
Though the entertainment industry may be infatuated infatuated with streaming, the legacy media companies behind all the new subscription services haven’t quite found the right way to profit from them. NBC/Universal earned nearly a billion dollars in committed ad revenue with Peacock this year, causing them to take a hard look at all of their low-rated cable channels. And HBO Max is thinking twice about producing original programming in countries like Turkey and Sweden.
Meanwhile, the “Minions: The Rise Of Gru” is the lates blockbuster release that is proving the box office is back for everyone, even families. The worldwide gross of “Top Gun: Maverick” continues to soar, but will Paramount leave it in theatres long enough to fully capitalize.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including the Creative Artists Agency completes its acquisition of rival ICM, Disney renews CEO Bob Chapek and Alec Baldwin commiserates with Woody Allen.
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