Showbiz Sandbox 510: Studios Play Hide and Seek With Box Office Data
September 15, 2020
Now that new movies are once again playing in reopened cinemas, studios are reluctant to report their pandemic crippled grosses lest their films be deemed publicly as financial flops. At least two studios are delaying box office reports of their latest releases in what many industry insiders fear is a new trend. Is it appropriate for distributors to break with a decades old tradition of reporting weekend grosses in the midst of COVID-19 or do they have the right to keep box office on their titles confidential?
Meanwhile, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced a new diversity initiative for the Oscars. Now for a film to be eligible for the Best Picture category it has to meet at least two of four diversity requirements. It’s a thoughtful move, even if almost every film made in the last ten years can easily meet the new requirements
Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including why Disney’s “Mulan” is stirring up unwanted controversy, a major talent agency finally agrees to the Writers Guild code of conduct and sales of vinyl records surpass compact discs for the first time in over 30 years.
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Showbiz Sandbox 480: “Parasite” Infects the Oscars With Historic Win
February 10, 2020
Though many Academy Awards pundits believed that “1917” would win the Oscar for Best Picture, the prize went to filmmaker Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite.” Anne Thompson of Indiewire joins us to explain how the industry united behind the South Korean film, giving it four top Oscars, in a historic win; the first foreign language film to ever win the Best Picture Oscar.
Surely none of the Oscar winners will be getting a bump at the box office in China, even if they managed to get a release date. Movie theaters have been closed for the past three weeks due to a coronavirus which has completely upended which films will get into cinemas and when in a tight calendar they’ll reach audiences.
Meanwhile, the WGA overwhelmingly approved their demands for the upcoming contract talks with producers and studios. The existing contract is set to expire in the middle of this year and just about everyone in Hollywood is expecting and gearing up for another writers’ strike.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including why manufacturing vinyl records might get a lot harder, how YouTube is raking in revenue and Disney plans on bringing the Broadway musical “Hamilton” to movie theaters.
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Showbiz Sandbox 479: Are Streamers Ruining Sundance?
February 2, 2020
About every five years a new group of deep-pocketed players shows up at the Sundance Film Festival and spends a small fortune acquiring a handful of films causing fear that the industry has been forever changed. This year, some of the world’s largest media and tech companies have invaded Park City, Utah and are picking up movies for amounts far in excess of what makes fiscal sense or what theatrical distributors are willing to pay.
Such companies don’t have to worry about box office results because they are more concerned with a different metric; the number of subscribers they can attract to their streaming service. Now some industry veterans are worried about whether indie distributors will be able to stay afloat with the leftover titles the streaming giants don’t gobble up.
Meanwhile, in China the film industry is down for the count with cinemas shuttered for the second week in a row due to the rapid spread of a coronavirus. Flights to and from the country have been suspended, as has all film and television production. When movie theaters finally do open for business the ripple effect on the Chinese release schedule will be felt around the world as films jockey for new playdates.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including this year’s BAFTA award winners, Apple and Netflix may be chasing MGM’s film library and MoviePass officially files for bankruptcy.
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Showbiz Sandbox 478: Setting Records at Sundance and the Grammys
January 27, 2020
With the Winter Olympics causing an abbreviated and frantic awards season, the film took a brief respite from Oscar-talk to head to Park City, Utah for this year’s Sundance Film Festival. We give you an update on all the hot titles and buzz being generated at this year’s festival, including a record breaking price for a Sundance film.
Meanwhile, the Grammys were held under a scandalous cloud due to the fallout from the Recording Academy dismissing its top exec, Deborah Dugan. The evening belonged to 18-year-old Billie Eilish who became the youngest person to win four of the top awards at the event including Best Pop Vocal Album, Best New Artist, Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Album of the Year.
In China, the Chinese New Year usually marks the highest grossing week on the calendar, however not this year. A highly contagious virus caused the government to quarantine large cities and the country’s cinema chains shuttered out of precaution leading to a loss of hundreds of millions yuan.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including why country radio stations won’t play female artists, more talent agencies sign on to the Writers Guild code of conduct, and Netflix continues to gain subscribers.
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Showbiz Sandbox 469: Hollywood Unions Set For Fight Over Streaming Residual Payments
November 17, 2019
As television networks turn from linear broadcast methods to consumer streaming platforms a brewing battle over residual payments has the potential to spark a dual union strike in the middle of next year. Jonathan Handel, an entertainment attorney and a contributing editor at The Hollywood Reporter, joins us to discuss how the lack of data coming from streaming giants could lead to a standoff between major guilds and producers.
Indeed, in mid-2020 the master contacts between the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and the Directors Guild of America, The Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA are set to expire. By now negotiations on new contracts would be well underway. Instead talks have stalled as unions try to revise the formulas used by streamers to make residual payments to their members. Given the timing, it’s a perfect storm for a potential massive industry work-stoppage.
Meanwhile, the Broadway musical “Tootsie” is closing long before it recoups its production costs. Michael Riedel of the New York Post has a host of reasons for why this critic’s darling didn’t click, however only one of them makes sense; the show’s music wasn’t all that great.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including how Amazon has followed Netflix in deciding not to publish box office figures for its films, George Lucas revises the original “Star Wars” once again and Taylor Swift gets into a public spat with her former record label.
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Showbiz Sandbox 456: The TV Shows That Will Benefit Most From An Emmy Nomination
July 22, 2019
Television audiences have become so fragmented these days that almost every show can benefit from Emmy Awards attention. Sure, you think everyone knows about shows like “Stranger Things” and “The Handmaid’s Tale” We ask which series might get a needed ratings boost from being in this year’s Emmys race.
HBO took home the most Emmy nominations helped by “Game of Thrones” which set a record earning 32 nods, the most ever for a single show. However, with “GoT” and “Veep” in their final seasons is HBO’s award enjoying a swan song over its Emmy dominance?
Meanwhile, Disney’s latest live-action adaptation opened internationally to $531 million on its way to what is likely another billion dollar gross for the studio. In fact, Disney may have five billion dollar movies this year alone.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including the headlines from Comic-Con, Netflix subscribership drops and why you may not be able to find that hot new album at your local record store.
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Showbiz Sandbox 449: Staying Up Late In Cannes
May 20, 2019
Stories about women empowerment and a growing discontent among the middle or working class have taken center stage at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. A spotlight has also been given to diversity with the 2019 program filled with titles by filmmakers from all over the world, as well as a number of women, including the first female African director. Some selections from legendary filmmakers such as Pedro Almodovar and Terrence Malick are being hailed as masterpieces, despite any dissenting minority.
Keep in mind we are only half-way through the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, which is always a marathon, more than a sprint. Attendees watch hundreds of movies across more than four different categories and, as of this year, the press no longer gets to see the films ahead of their premiere. We discuss what that means for the filmmakers and why journalists may be losing sleep over the new protocol.
Meanwhile, it seems that some talent agencies have begun to sign the Writers Guild of America’s new code of conduct contract, albeit none of them are firms that package television shows or are even in the Association of Talent Agents. Are the agencies going to crack or are writers beginning to realize that maybe agents aren’t as important as they once were.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including Disney takes full control of Hulu, the entertainment industry continues to work out how or whether to shoot their productions in Georgia and ITV cancels the Jeremy Kyle Show after one of its guests commits suicide.
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Showbiz Sandbox 439: Fox Suffers “Bones” Shaking Legal Defeat
March 4, 2019
Fox lost a blockbuster lawsuit to the stars and creative talent behind their smash television series “Bones.” An independent arbitrator used scathing language to describe 21st Century Fox executives, calling them out for lying, cheating and “reprehensible” studio fraud.
Though Fox says the will appeal the ruling, it could have a big impact on sweetheart deals between studios, their own networks, their own cable channels and their own streamers. There’s no bones about it.
Meanwhile book publishers and the National Writers Union, along with many others, are decrying the practice of Controlled Digital Lending, or CDL. As publishers restrict e-book access and raise their prices, libraries that own a physical copy of a book are making a digital PDF available for loans to patrons. When a digital PDF is borrowed, the physical copy is removed from circulation until the digital copy is returned. So what’s the problem?
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including why a hologram of Amy Winehouse will not be going on tour, why the movie theater chain Cineworld dumped BAFTA and box office in China is down 5% this year despite rosier forecasts.
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Showbiz Sandbox 436: A Wealth in Diversity at Sundance
February 5, 2019
This year’s Sundance Film Festival was more diverse than it usually is in every way one might imagine. Sure, there were the usual crop of independent films and documentaries, but the predominance of women and people of color and queer voices was more notable than ever. In fact, female filmmakers took home most of the festival’s top prizes.
Sundance also proved to be a feeding frenzy for independent distributors with Amazon swooping in to spend more money than any other studio has ever spent during a single year at the festival. Usually, if one selection sells for over $10 million it makes headlines. This year there were at least three films that fell into that category.
Meanwhile the Super Bowl weekend proved to be a bust both at the box office, which was reached a 20-year-low, as well as on television, where the broadcast of the big game fell to a 10-year-low.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including Peter Jackson’s Beatles documentary, Hulu raises its prices and Spotify turns on a feature that allows users to turn off artists.
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Showbiz Sandbox 435: Netflix By The Numbers
January 21, 2019
Despite having cultivated a reputation for keeping its viewership statistics under tight wraps, Netflix has made a complete about face and is now boasting about how many subscribers are tuning in to its original content. The company says nearly 45 million accounts watched its hit movie “Bird Box” and nearly as many watched its latest series “Sex Education”. In the midst of all this success, Netflix has decided to raise it’s monthly subscription fee by $2 in certain territories, including North America.
Unlike the Netflix subscription price, a number not on the rise is the theatrical box office in Germany. After edging up slightly in 2017, grosses in the 8th biggest movie-going market in the world were down 16% last year. Hollywood titles grabbed 75% of the $965 million box office as attendance also dipped 15.5%.
Meanwhile, award season continues with no clear frontrunner emerging as this year’s Oscar nominations are about to be revealed. We take a glance at the makeup, costume and directors guilds awards, not to mention the BAFTAS and nods from one group that really matters; the Producers Guild.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including why RCA Records is dropping R. Kelley from its label, the Emmys are dumping DVD screeners and sportscaster Bob Costas is leaving NBC.
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