Showbiz Sandbox 624: Hollywood Is Bungling Its Barbenheimer Momentum
August 2, 2023
The idea of counter-programming the simultaneous global release of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” over the same summer weekend always seemed like a gamble. But somehow Greta Gerwig’s comedy about a popular toy doll and a Christopher Nolan’s biopic of the renowned nuclear physicist wound up becoming a worldwide phenomenon breaking all sorts of box office records over its first two weeks. Now, instead of capitalizing on this success, Hollywood studios are determined to drag out a dual strike with writers and actors which shows no sign of ending anytime soon.
Having joined the Writers Guild of America on the picket lines, SAG-AFTRA continues to make its case in the court of public opinion. Unfortunately, producers (meaning studios, streamers and networks) aren’t ready to start negotiating a compromise.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including country music’s big moment, why Disney CEO Bob Iger called in some former senior executives to consult with the company and how video streaming is hitting new heights.
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Showbiz Sandbox 622: Actors and Writers Agree That AI Ain’t So Smart
July 11, 2023
The Writers Guild of America members have been on strike for over two months now and might soon be joined by the Screen Actors Guild. When it comes to artificial intelligence however both guilds agree; when their members’ work is used to train AI, actors and writers should be paid. Some writers are now taking matters into their own hands and filing lawsuits against companies for training their A.I. models using their work without permission.
Meanwhile, we’ve known how big music streamers have become on a global level, but now the National Music Publishers Association announced it has cracked the code on figuring out how many subscribers each major service has in the United States.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including how a movie that Disney dumped five years ago beat out Indy 5 at the weekend box office, NBCUniversal promotes some senior executives and Elton John finally wraps up his farewell tour after earning $900 million.
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Showbiz Sandbox 621: Summer Box Office Is Much Cooler Than Expected
July 4, 2023
In a year which boasted a bevy of summer blockbusters, moviegoers haven’t been turning up at theaters for some of the more highly anticipated releases. Instead, big budget titles such as “The Little Mermaid,” “Elemental,” “The Flash,” and even “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” among others have all had underwhelming opening weekends. Is depressed movie attendance a temporary trend or is it the new normal?
Meanwhile, when SAG-AFTRA extended their contract negotiations with producers into July Hollywood averted a dual strike with both actors and writers walking picket lines. The ongoing writers strike is already causing studios to shift release dates back by months if not years.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including the Academy sets new rules for the Best Picture Oscar, big name directors make their case for the Turner Classic Movies network and Ryan Seacrest takes over as host of “Wheel of Fortune.”
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Showbiz Sandbox 614: Streaming Fraud Is Costing Musicians Billions
April 10, 2023
When the recording industry first moved online in the early 2000’s piracy was driven by fans illegally downloading music through services like Napster. These days piracy is being committed by the music industry itself through streaming fraud. Artists and/or record labels are generating millions of fake automated streams to pump up playback numbers with the aim of receiving higher royalty payments. It’s costing musicians a lot of money and, though the industry knows it’s a problem, they haven’t agreed on a way to fix it.
Meanwhile, all those news stories during the pandemic about the death of movie theaters aren’t aging very well. Box office is recovering all over the globe thanks to surprise hits such as “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.” And the best is yet to come since most of this year’s Hollywood blockbusters have yet to be released.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including how two new “Shrek” films are in the works, the musical “Wicked” the fourth longest-running Broadway show in history, and why the members of Motley Crue are suing each other.
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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 606: Beyoncé Makes Grammy History As Harry Styles Wins Album of the Year
February 8, 2023
Though Beyoncé led the 2023 Grammy Award nominations with nine nods, in the end she did not win the top prize for Album of the Year for “Renaissance.” Much to the dismay of some, that honor went to Harry Styles for “Harry’s House,” though Beyoncé did break the record for the most Grammy wins ever. We have a run down of all the winners and big surprises at this year’s Grammys.
We’re also joined by Sal Nunziato, whose blog Burning Wood has become a must-read for music aficionados. He and Michael Giltz discuss their favorite albums from the past year, and for once they are in agreement on most of them.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including why a Bruce Springsteen fanzine ins calling it quotes after 43 years, Spotify continues to struggle with profitability and how “80 For Brady” tries to woo older moviegoers back to theaters.
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Showbiz Sandbox 595: Vinyl Sales and Payola on the Rise in Music Industry
September 28, 2022
With mid-year music revenue figures finally tallied it appears the growth of streaming music has begun to slow as vinyl sales has increase. Also on the rise are reports of payola as indie music artists can’t seem to get played on the radio without paying promoters for the privilege of being put in rotation. These promoters are using a loophole in the law which prevents record labels from paying radio stations in exchange for airplay.
Another loophole allows radio stations in the United States to avoid paying musical performers and creators when their song is actually played. The American Music Fairness Act looks to change that which will have a big impact on terrestrial radio.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including how James Earl Jones will continue to provide the voice of Darth Vader thanks to artificial intelligence, Spotify gets into Audiobooks and Rihanna heads to the Super Bowl for the halftime show.
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Showbiz Sandbox 592: Why Is HBO Max Dumping Content?
September 7, 2022
At a time when streaming services are hoarding content in an attempt to attract subscribers and capture market share, Warner Bros. Discovery has taken the opposite approach with HBO Max; they are removing shows from their platform. Now comes reports that pulling shows from its library can save the company around $100 million annually. We explain where those savings might come from.
Certainly HBO Max won’t be dropping “House of Dragons,” one of three big fantasy shows to premiere over the last month. Is that too many shows with dragons and elves for audiences to watch at one time, or has each found significant viewership?
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including the new agreement between streamers and music publishers, who killed the queen of crime novelists and the absurdity of nonstop reports about standing ovations at film festivals.
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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 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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