Showbiz Sandbox 519: A Year Without A Blockbuster Comic Book Movie
December 1, 2020
Though 2020 saw DC Films launch a Harley Quinn vehicle and Marvel finally released an X-Men spin-off “The New Mutants,” neither film set the world on fire. As “Wonder Woman 1984” heads to a hybrid streaming and theatrical release, it’s the final gasp of almost an entire year without any big comic book movies.
We ask veteran entertainment journalist Geoff Boucher whether we needed a break from all the cinematic heroics. As someone who has hosted countless CinemaCon panels, Boucher explains whether, after an endless stream of blockbuster Marvel and DC films, a year without a major comic book movie is such a bad thing.
Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including this year’s Grammy Award nominations, Conan O’Brien is ending his late night talk show and why Quentin Tarantino’s next release may be headed straight to libraries.
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Showbiz Sandbox 518: The Cord Cutting Epidemic Is Growing
November 17, 2020
This year, consumers have continued to migrate from pay television providers to over-the-top services at an increasing rate. In the United States alone, the number of cable and satellite subscribers has dropped 25% to 73 million in just five years. Many industry watchers are expecting that number to bottom out at 50 million by 2025.
Yet people are watching more television than ever; they’re just doing it on services such as Roku, HBO Max and Hulu. Last week Disney reported that their new streaming service has attracted 73 million subscribers. Their original target was 60 million by 2024. They reached that number their first nine months.
Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including how Spotify is investing more in podcasting, Ticketmaster makes a plan to safely hold concerts again, and the Super Bowl has booked its halftime show.
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Showbiz Sandbox 517: Movie Theaters Brace For A Dark Winter
November 10, 2020
With a second wave of COVID sweeping through Europe, cinemas in England, France and Germany have begun to shut down. Can movie theaters in North America and elsewhere soon follow their lead as infection rates rise? Even if cinemas remain open, they won’t have many new movies to show with studios moving major releases into next year.
As major cinema chains around the world report cratering third-quarter revenue they have begun to accept they may have to play titles with shorter release windows, at least until the pandemic is over. This has led to the National Association of Theatre Owners saying that if Congress doesn’t pass a relief bill soon, some 70% of cinemas in North America will declare bankruptcy or go out of business entirely.
Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including why Jay-Z is looking to get high on his own supply, Johnny Depp gets dumped from “Fantastic Beasts” and Netflix goes linear (at least in France).
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Showbiz Sandbox 508: The New Mutants – Agents Become Managers
August 31, 2020
At a time when streaming giants have eroded box office participation and rich TV syndication deals, a significant number of high level talent agents have begun leaving their prestigious positions to become managers. They hope to help top celebrities build companies around themselves in the same way Gwyneth Paltrow and Reese Witherspoon have become business moguls.
Meanwhile, Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet” finally opened in theaters, at least in some international territories. Despite limited capacity screenings the blockbuster managed to live up to the hype earning $53 million at the box office. Even so, two hit films from China made even more money over the past week.
Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including a big syndication deal for “Young Sheldon,” the New York Times stops printing its TV listings and the Korean boy band BTS blows up a few records with its new single.
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Showbiz Sandbox 505: The Marvel and Mao Effect: A Hollywood Exec Heads to China, Hijinks Ensue
August 11, 2020
In his 17 years as the President of DMG Entertainment Motion Picture Group, Chris Fenton helped bring 20 Hollywood movies to China, facilitating co-productions, financing and distribution on blockbusters such as “Iron Man 3” and “Looper.” In his new book, “Feeding the Dragon,” the former William Morris agent details his time working in the entertainment industry and China. Fenton helps us read the tea leaves about the future for the relationship between the major studios and China.
Meanwhile, the entertainment industry is undergoing some seismic shifts. In a single week the Paramount Consent Decree was killed for good, television packaging is heading into the sunset and theatrical release windows for studio films just collapsed.
Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including an executive shakeup at NBC, Taylor Swift sets a new chart topping record with her new album and the Eurovision song contest is coming to the United States.
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Showbiz Sandbox 502: The Entertainment Industry’s Slow News Week
July 14, 2020
With concerts and live performances canceled, cinemas closed, movie studios delaying releases, and streaming video or music the only entertainment audiences can enjoy, the industry is slowly grinding to a halt. Perhaps show business folk were recovering from the Fourth of July holiday weekend or are preparing for Bastille Day, but there was hardly any entertainment news to report.
Even so, we tell you why North America’s largest cinema chains are suing the state of New Jersey, what is happening to the release of the latest “Halloween” horror films and why music may be disappearing from elevators.
Plus, proving just how strange a year 2020 has become, the Venice, Toronto, Telluride and New York Film Festivals – usually fierce competitors – have decided to collaborate on what entries they present, not to mention how to do so safely.
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Showbiz Sandbox 500: Hollywood Could Use A Social Media Coach
July 1, 2020
When it comes to social media, Hollywood seems to have a love/hate relationship. Celebrities and entertainment companies love being able to promote themselves and their latest work directly with fans and audiences, but they hate it when they get into trouble with their tweets and Facebook posts.
Our former co-host Karen Woodward works as a social media manager with some of the best and brightest in the entertainment industry. She stops by to explain how being earnest and sincere is the ideal approach to successfully tackling social media. Woodward also fills us in on the latest trends in social media and whether it’s worth getting onto Instagram and TikTok.
Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including why the value of the music streaming service Spotify has skyrocketed, China cracks down on fan-fiction and IMDb wins a court case for the ages.
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Showbiz Sandbox 495: Coming Up With A Popular Method To Calculate Streaming Residuals
May 26, 2020
With audiences spending countless hours streaming video during the coronavirus pandemic, and with some movies once bound for cinemas bypassing theaters and going directly to video-on-demand, the issue over residual payments to those that make all the content has once again become a hot button issue. This especially true since global streaming subscription revenue doubled in four years to $37 billion in 2019 and is expected to hit $62 billion by 2024.
Rather than being based on box office, ratings or profits, when it comes to streaming, residuals turned into a low fixed annual payment, no matter how big a hit your series or movie was. Now the Writers Guild of America has proposed a tiered system based on viewership to make sure residual payments reflect the new streaming reality when it comes to the likes of Disney+, HBO Max and Netflix.
Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including why “Batwoman” lost its star, People magazine heads to television and Joe Rogan’s podcast payday.
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Showbiz Sandbox 492: Hollywood Players Battling Pandemic… And Each Other
May 5, 2020
Even when times are good and profits are up, some of Hollywood’s biggest stakeholders don’t always get along. For over a year now the Writers Guild of America has been duking it out over television packaging fees with the Association of Talent Agencies, suing three of its largest members; United Talent Agency, William Morris Endeavor and Creative Artists Agency. Entertainment attorney and Hollywood Reporter contributing editor Jonathan Handel fills us in on the latest court rulings in the dispute and why things aren’t looking good for the WGA.
Meanwhile, cinema operators were already upset with Universal Pictures for releasing “Trolls World Tour” via premium video on demand, skipping a theatrical release due to the coronavirus pandemic. Now the studio announced plans to release its future movies on PVOD at the same time as they hit theaters, causing a few chains to boycott Universal’s titles. Film distribution veteran Jim Amos of Scout 53 breaks down the argument for us and tells us how he thinks it will be resolved.
Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including new rules for the Oscars, global music industry revenue continues to grow (for now) and without sports to broadcast should ESPN still be charging cable subscribers?
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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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