Showbiz Sandbox 653: Godzilla and Kong, Once Again, Prove Movie Theaters Aren’t Dead Showbiz Sandbox

The monstrous global box office opening of “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” may have been a surprise to film critics or anyone paying attention to industry tracking in advance of its release, but it surely proves that if you put movies in movie theaters, audiences will show up. Especially if those theaters offer premium auditoriums like IMAX. Even “Oppenheimer” opened well in Japan over this past weekend, becoming filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s biggest debut.

Meanwhile, the Walt Disney Company and the State of Florida have made overtures toward settling their recent legal disputes. As we predicted, despite the battle in the court of public opinion, it will all come to nothing.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including Paramount Global’s ongoing financial woes, the discovery of some new Marvin Gaye music and how vinyl records are outselling compact discs.





‘Godzilla X Kong’ Reigns With $194M Worldwide Bow; ‘Dune 2’ Rises To $626M & ‘Oppenheimer’ Opens In Japan

https://deadline.com/2024/03/godzilla-x-kong-the-new-empire-china-global-international-box-office-1235871670/

‘Godzilla x Kong: New Empire’ Roars to Monstrous $80M Box Office Opening, $194M Globally

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/godzilla-x-kong-new-empire-huge-box-office-opening-1235863501/

BBC Doc Looks At J-Pop Scandal, Says Near 1000 Men Came Forward to Discuss Abuse

https://deadline.com/2024/03/johnny-kitagawa-johnny-and-associates-abuse-1235869618/

Paramount Debt Is Cut to Junk on Worsening Outlook for TV

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-27/paramount-debt-is-cut-to-junk-on-deteriorating-outlook-for-tv

Collection of Unreleased Marvin Gaye Songs Found in Belgium

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/mar/31/collection-of-unreleased-marvin-gaye-songs-found-in-belgium

​​Vinyl Records Outsold CDs for the Second Year Running

https://www.popsci.com/technology/vinyl-sales-cds-2023/

Only 1 of the Top 20 Best-Selling Albums Globally Last Year Wasn’t by a K-Pop Act

https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/seventeen-taylor-swift-top-20-best-selling-albums-globally-in-2023/

NBC News Ousts Ronna McDaniel After Staff Uproar, CAA Drops Ex-RNC Chair

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/politics-news/nbc-news-ronna-mcdaniel-contributor-1235860170/

Disney Ends Its Fight With DeSantis Over Resort Development

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/27/business/disney-desantis-florida-lawsuit.html