Showbiz Sandbox 580: Warner Bros. Enters Its Discovery Phase
April 12, 2022
Last week Discovery closed its $43 billion deal to acquire WarnerMedia from telecom giant AT&T. Discovery topper David Zaslav immediately installed his own executive team to run Warner Bros. Discovery forcing the existing management team to head for the door. We discuss the fallout from the merger and the what the future may look like for the combined company.
One of the exiting executives was WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar whose infamous Project Popcorn opened all 18 Warner Bros. theatrical releases throughout 2021 day-and-date with HBO Max. Kilar claims the controversial distribution strategy was a success, but if that’s true, then why did Warner Bros. discontinue it?
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including the big winners at the Olivier Awards, “Dancing with the Stars” moves to Disney+ and members of the original Grateful Dead rock band will stop touring after five decades.
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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 575: Should Movie Theaters Charge More For Blockbusters?
March 8, 2022
The opening weekend of “The Batman” was the anticipated blockbuster everyone was expecting, though an ongoing pandemic and a political crisis in Europe softened its global take. AMC Theatres on the other hand saw an opportunity to raise ticket prices, but only for the latest entrant to the Batman franchise. Is this a strategy that was a long time coming or one that will keep casual moviegoers at home.
Meanwhile, the cultural boycott of Russia over its invasion of Ukraine has escalated over the past week with film festivals banning Russian delegations, movie studios pausing new releases and Netflix halting its streaming service in the country.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including video game publisher Epic gets into the music business, Amazon closes its physical bookstores and the big winners at this year’s Spirit Awards.
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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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Showbiz Sandbox 572: Picking The Best Music From The Past Year
February 15, 2022
In an age when everyone with GarageBand and a kazoo is releasing a record, finding good new music isn’t always easy. Sal Nunziato, the curator of the Burning Wood music blog and the drummer for The John Sally Ride, tells us about some of the best music he’s discovered over the past year. Nunziato listened to hundreds of records each year to create his list, always coming up with a few surprises like Micky Dolenz and Brian Wilson.
None of the performers at this year’s Super Bowl Halftime Show made Nunziato’s list, but that’s because most of the hip-hop artists on stage released their best music over 20 years ago. Even so, it was nice to see the NFL finally invite hip-hop to the big game.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including how the Academy Awards are allowing fans to vote for their favorite film, Disney continues to grow their streaming service and MoviePass raises the curtain on its second act.
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Showbiz Sandbox 571: Want Ratings? Get Joe Rogan To Host The Oscars!
February 9, 2022
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences brought an end to the endless speculation of countless awards pundits by announcing this year’s Oscars nominations. Now we’ll all have to deal with the griping about who was snubbed along with seven weeks of incessant reports about which Best Picture nominee is gaining momentum with Oscar voters.
Perhaps we should thank the Oscars for stealing the headlines from comedian Joe Rogan whose podcast has caused no end of controversy and grief for Spotify, its exclusive distributor. The only good news out of the Rogan mess is that it’s finally brought the band Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young back together, at least in regards to their desire to remove their music from the streaming service.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including how a Disney soundtrack is dominating the music charts, viewership of the Winter Olympics plummets and the head of CNN is suddenly ousted.
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Showbiz Sandbox 567: That Time Everyone In Hollywood Got COVID
January 4, 2022
It’s a new year but the entertainment industry is contending with the same coronavirus pandemic that has decimated theatrical box office, shuttered Broadway productions and stalled concert tours. The news wasn’t all bad however, with global box office in 2021 creeping halfway back to its once record level. China remains the top market in that regard, though is relying mostly on homegrown hits to drive revenue.
And as we turn the page to 2022 we join many who were saddened by the death of actress Betty White just a few weeks shy of her 100th birthday. This led us to take a closer look at whether we pay more attention to the passing of entertainment figures during the holiday season than we do ordinarily.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including how the Oscars failed to make the list of top telecasts of 2021, the Hugo Awards honor the best in science fiction and fantasy, and Winnie-The Pooh enters the public domain.
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Showbiz Sandbox 543: Amazon Grabs a Lion’s Share of MGM
June 1, 2021
In a move that had been rumored for weeks, Amazon became the first tech company to purchase a Hollywood movie studio in an $8.45 million deal. The acquisition will arm Amazon with over 4,000 movies like the Bond Franchise, “The Pink Panther” and “Robocop,” not to mention upwards of 17,000 television episodes. The real question is why did it take so long for a tech giant to buy a movie studio?
Meanwhile, a holiday weekend helped spark the post-pandemic North American box office as movies that were originally scheduled for release last year opened in theaters. Some new titles like “Cruella are also available on VOD at the same time. Is day-and-date releases hurting the box office prospects of such films?
Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including the Academy Awards returns to its normal schedule, HBO Max is moving into Latin America and why “Friends” was censored in China.
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Showbiz Sandbox 540: Time’s Up for the Golden Globes
May 11, 2021
It’s hard to believe we are still talking about the Golden Globes in May, when an argument could be made that they hardly matter in January. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the group behind the Globes, said they would be adding 45 new members over an unspecified period of time with a focus on people of color in an attempt to overcome diversity issues in their ranks. However, this didn’t satisfy Hollywood studios, streamers and TV networks who have publicly begun walking away from the annual awards ceremony.
Meanwhile, the stars and filmmakers behind some upcoming movie releases are crying foul. With theaters at limited capacity and studios sending films to streaming services in as little as 17 days, box office for these titles will surely be depressed. This will, in turn, impact the money creative talent receives if their compensation is tied to a movie’s gross.
Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including when Broadway will raise the curtain again, rankings of the top streaming content and the Chinese box office just won’t quit, even if it’s hard to figure out which movies are earning all that money.
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Showbiz Sandbox 538: An Oscars Ceremony With An Asterisk
April 27, 2021
Delayed by two months due to the COVID pandemic and with almost no blockbuster studio films to nominate, it’s a small miracle this year’s Oscars ceremony took place at all. This year the Academy honored the most diverse slate of nominees in its 93 year history. Anne Thompson, Indiewire’s editor-at-large, joins us to discuss the night’s winners, the awkward telecast and the unusual awards season we just lived through.
Meanwhile, thing’s keep getting worse for producer Scott Rudin. Not only has he stepped back from all film and television work, but he also left the Broadway League which may have a serious impact on his ability to stage a comeback down the road.
Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including why YouTube and Roku can’t get along, why Apple is headed to court over ownership of the music they sell on iTunes and Netflix continues to spend record amounts on new content.
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