Showbiz Sandbox 39: Chez Sundance
January 25, 2010
Co-host Karen Woodward puts a moratorium on any more talk of “Avatar”, James Cameron’s 3D sci-fi epic which continues to break box office records. So instead, we skip straight to Sundance, where the atmosphere has gone from recession (last year) to depression (this year). J. Sperling Reich is in the snowy, cold ski town and fills us in on the movies everyone in Park City is buzzing about.
If you can’t make it to Sundance this year, no worries, you’ll be able to catch a few of the festival’s selections on YouTube.
Also in movie news, anti-smoking activists are claiming that Sigourney Weaver’s line “Where’s my damn cigarette” in “Avatar” should have earned the film an R rating. What set of rules is the MPAA going by when they come up with some of their absurd ratings?
After a brief fly by of the SAG Awards, we head over to television land. Things have calmed down in the Conan vs. Leno vs. NBC war, but Michael Giltz and Karen must not have gotten the memo. They argue over who was wronged more by the whole debacle. Meanwhile, Conan O’Brien hosted his last “Tonight Show” on Friday. Read more
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Showbiz Sandbox 34: Hollywood’s Box Office Billions Set New Record
December 21, 2009
We are joined this week by two of the film industry’s top box office pundits, Paul Dergarabedian of Hollywood.com and Daniel Frankel of TheWrap.com. They help us understand how the North American box office surpassed $10 billion in 2009 while releasing few films during an economic recession. Of course, we also touch on “Avatar’s” opening weekend box office and the worldwide spin it’s distributor claims makes the film a huge hit.
But we promise this week’s episode won’t be entirely about Avatar! We also discuss the untimely death of actress Brittany Murphy and the rumor mongering it set off among online tabloids. The Golden Globe nominations were announced mid week. Were there any surprises? What about snubs? Which noms will carry over to the Oscars, and what can be done to get audiences to actually watch the Oscars?
There’s also a ton of television and music news, such as the rumor that Simon Cowell might leave “American Idol” (oh no!), the list of next year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees (ABBA!) and an old Rage Against The Machine song beating out this year’s winner of “X Factor” on the U.K. singles charts during Christmas week (huh?!). Read more
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Showbiz Sandbox 27: That’s It For “This Is It”
November 3, 2009
This week we begin with Michael Giltz and Karen Woodward disagreeing over “This Is It,” the Michael Jackson documentary/concert film/eulogy. Is the film recommendable? Not according to the box office numbers, where the film brought in a disappointing $23 million. But since the film made $103 million worldwide J. Sperling Reich wanted to serve Michael some crow pie.
If you don’t want to see “This Is It,” maybe you’ll see “Avatar”? The second trailer for the highly anticipated film was released this week, after the first one bombed. The new trailer looks like this movie is actually about something. How about “Precious”? Sperling and Michael disagree over whether this movie is a heart tugging Oscar winner or shallow drivel.
Speaking of shallow, did Jeffrey Katzenberg really add anything new to the future of entertainment conversation in his recent Business Week interview? Seems more like a politician staying message then a mogul adding to the dialogue. Read more
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Showbiz Sandbox 7: Talkin’ Tonys And Trailers
June 12, 2009
Michael Giltz of the New York Daily News, Huffington Post and The Advocate joins us to discuss all the winners (and losers) of this year’s Tony Awards. Stephen Garrett, the co-founder of Kinetic Trailerworks also shows up to talk about picking up a few trophies at this year’s Golden Trailer Awards. The Star Trek trailer wound up winning some of the big prizes.
Billy Elliot was a big winner at the Tony Awards picking up ten trophies including Best Musical. Gods of Carnage won Best Play, but overall Michael says the show was incredibly predictable. Pixar’s “Up” managed to fend off new comer “The Hangover” at the box office with $44.2 million, though just barely. The Will Ferrell starrer “Land of the Lost” wound up getting a distant third.
Actor and comedian Sacha Baron Cohen had a tough week. . . or did he? After making Eminem the butt of his jokes at the MTV Movie Awards he was sued by a woman who was injured during one of his promotional stunts. Read more
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