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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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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Showbiz Sandbox 581: Streamers Double Down On Original Programming
April 19, 2022
A new industry study claims the five largest producers of original content in the United States also happen to be some of the biggest streamers in the world. Nearly half the content offered by Discovery, Disney, Paramount, the former WarnerMedia and Comcast are original productions which increasingly premiere on their subscription streaming services. Turns out Netflix and Amazon license much of their programming from other companies.
Meanwhile, we are delighted to see the Indian film industry leading the world back to moviegoing. And it’s not just Bollywood! Films of every genre and from all parts of the country are topping the worldwide box office.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including a talent shuffle at newscaster MSNBC, the Library of Congress adds recordings to its national registry and how Coachella found itself being censored in China.
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Showbiz Sandbox 579: The Award For Best Awards Show Goes To The Grammys!
April 5, 2022
The coronavirus pandemic once again nearly foiled the Grammy Awards, delaying the ceremony and forcing the event to relocate to Las Vegas. Yet once again, the show’s producers managed to do a stellar job of putting together all-star performances that helped promote and celebrate music. We discuss our thoughts on the telecast and all the winners.
Speaking of awards shows, Will Smith’s actions at last week’s Academy Awards continues to generate lots of fallout and finger pointing. We have a thought on how awards shows should handle such moments in the future.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including how Netflix may be looking to pinch their pennies, why media outlets continue to hire former political staffers and the illness that is causing Bruce Willis to retire from acting.
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Showbiz Sandbox 578: The Oscars Get Slappy With It
March 29, 2022
If there was ever a year to speak with Indiewire Editor-at-Large Anne Thompson the day after the Oscars it would be this one. In what should have been a celebration of first’s; from the first deaf actor to win an Oscar (Troy Kotsur), to the first openly gay actress to win a prize (Ariana DeBose) to the first streaming film to win Best Picture (CODA). Instead, all of this was overshadowed by Will Smith taking the stage to assault comedian Chris Rock over a joke about his wife.
Thompson tells us what it was like to be in the room where it happened (she was), the industry’s response to Smith’s actions and what the incident means for the future of the Academy Awards.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including audiences (and profits) returning to Broadway, the music industry pulls in $26 billion in 2021 and an Indian Telugu language action film nearly tops the worldwide box office.
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Showbiz Sandbox 577: Why The Biggest Japanese Game Is Actually Chinese
March 21, 2022
Over the last year the mobile video game “Genshin Impact” has earned over $2 billion. From its anime-like visuals to its bug-eyed characters the role-playing game appears to be Japanese in every way. However, while Japan may have a reputation as the world’s leading video game developer, “Ghensin Impact” was made in China. We explain why this is so significant and what it means for those playing the game.
Meanwhile, there is only one week to go before this year’s Oscars ceremony. All the guilds have now weighed in with their top honorees making it even more difficult to predict which movie will win Best Picture.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including how HBO Max and Discovery+ will be combined into a single streaming service, Netflix wants you to pay for sharing accounts and the world’s largest movie theater chain is going for the gold (quite literally).
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Showbiz Sandbox 574: Entertainment Industry Shuns Russia
March 1, 2022
After Russia invaded Ukraine it didn’t take long for various sectors of the global entertainment industry to respond by canceling concerts, sporting events and film releases in the territory. While this is insignificant in comparison to the loss of life and liberty currently taking place in Ukraine, it still serves to show how art, culture and sports can play a role in protesting unprovoked military aggression.
Back in Hollywood, France held it’s annual César Awards and the Screen Actors Guild shook up the awards season race by handing out a few prizes that made history.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including why the Oscars are cutting with award presentations from the live telecast, why China’s moviegoing declined from last year during its Spring Festival and CNN gets a new leader.
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Showbiz Sandbox 573: Paramount Takes A Global Approach to Streaming
February 21, 2022
During its most recent earnings call ViacomCBS outlined how they plan on reorganizing the media giant to compete with streaming leaders such as Netflix. First they are bringing content from all of their current services into Paramount+ and retaining the rights to popular programming such as “South Park.” They announced a glut of new projects including a new “Star Trek” movie and to hammer the point home changed the company name to Paramount Global. Wall Street immediately responded by selling off shares.
Meanwhile, the Academy Awards announced their COVID health and safety guidelines for this year’s Oscars ceremony. Masks and proof of vaccine will be required, depending on who you are, where you’re sitting and whether you’re appearing on the telecast. Everyone seems to agree, the rules are confusing and don’t seem to make much sense.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including how actor Tom Holland is ruling the box office in two different movies, more leadership shakeups at CNN and Netflix strikes a deal with comedian Dave Chappelle.
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