Showbiz Sandbox J. Sperling Reich & Michael Giltz

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.



Blumhouse Body Swap Horror Comedy ‘Freaky’ Takes In $3.7M, On Par With Other No. 1 Pics During Fall Pandemic

https://deadline.com/2020/11/freaky-weekend-box-office-opening-blumhouse-universal-coronavirus-covid-19-1234615828/

International box office: ‘Demon Slayer’ enters Japan all-time top five; ‘Freaky’ top in Australia

https://www.screendaily.com/news/international-box-office-demon-slayer-enters-japan-all-time-top-five-freaky-top-in-australia/5154974.article

STXfilms’ “Songbird” To Sing as a Home Premiere Release Beginning December 11

https://celluloidjunkie.com/wire/stxfilms-songbird-to-sing-as-a-home-premiere-release-beginning-december-11/

Iconic Tower Records Returns As Website Selling Vinyl, Cassettes, CDs

https://deadline.com/2020/11/tower-records-returns-as-online-project-selling-vinyl-cassettes-cds-1234615682/

Broadway Shows May Not Report Grosses Upon Return

https://broadwaynews.com/2020/11/11/broadway-shows-may-not-report-grosses-upon-return/

Disneyland Expected to Stay Closed Until At Least Dec. 31

https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/disneyland-closed-california-disney-chapek-1234830550/

Spotify to Buy Podcast Ad Platform Megaphone for $235m

https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/spotify-to-buy-podcast-ad-platform-megaphone-for-235m-bringing-its-total-podcast-acquisition-spend-to-over-800m-in-the-past-2-years/

How Ticketmaster Plans to Check Your Vaccine Status for Concerts: Exclusive

https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/touring/9481166/ticketmaster-vaccine-check-concerts-plan/

New PlayStation and Xbox Arrive During a Pandemic Gold Rush

a href="https://www.nytimes.

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).





China Box Office Propels ‘Sacrifice’ Past $100 Million

https://variety.com/2020/film/box-office/china-box-office-sacrifice-1234821249/

‘Demon Slayer’ Nearing $200M In Japan; ‘Tenet’ Tops $350M Worldwide – International Box Office

https://deadline.com/2020/11/demon-slayer-200-million-japan-tenet-come-play-witches-let-him-go-global-international-box-office-1234611243/

Major NBCUniversal Layoffs In TV & Streaming Unit To Begin In Mid-November

https://deadline.com/2020/10/nbcuniversal-layoffs-tv-streaming-unit-november-december-1234605350/

Disney Studio Division, Including Searchlight, Also Hit With Layoffs Following ESPN Cuts

https://deadline.com/2020/11/disney-searchlight-pictures-layoffs-espn-covid-19-1234609891/

Lionsgate Lays Off 15% of Film Staff as Hollywood Suffers From the Pandemic

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2020-11-05/lionsgate-layoffs-covid-pandemic-john-wick

Jay-Z Launches ‘Monogram’ Cannabis Line With Caliva

https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/9471867/jay-z-monogram-cannabis-line-caliva/

Bruce Springsteen Becomes First Act With Top Five-Charting Albums in Each of Last Six Decades With ‘Letter to You’

https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/chart-beat/9476652/bruce-springsteen-makes-history-with-letter-to-you/

Johnny Depp Forced to Exit ‘Fantastic Beasts’ Franchise

https://variety.com/2020/film/news/johnny-depp-exhits-fantastic-beasts-franchise-1234824564/

Major VFX Landscape Shake-Up: Framestore Buys Company 3, Method

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/behind-screen/major-vfx-landscape-shake-up-framestore-buys-company-3-method

Quibi, the bite-sized content platform founded by media mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg and business leader Meg Whitman, has been mocked since it was first announced. Now after six months and $2 billion, Quibi is kaput. Unable to find an audience, and despite a fruitless attempt to find a buyer, Quibi is officially shutting down.

The company insists people were gunning for them from the start, but the simple truth is that Quibi always seemed like a solution in search of a problem. Besides, however good the content may have been, it was going to be very hard to convince people to plunk down $5 a month just to watch random videos while commuting.

Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including Netflix misses its third quarter subscriber goal, television ratings for live sports events plummets and box office continues to soar in China and Japan.





Shonda Rhimes Is Ready to “Own Her S***”

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/shonda-rhimes-is-ready-to-own-her-s-the-game-changing-showrunner-on-leaving-abc-culture-shock-at-netflix-and-overcoming-her-fears

China’s ‘The Sacrifice’ Bows To $53M; ‘Demon Slayer’ Tops $100M In Japan

https://deadline.com/2020/10/demon-slayer-japan-the-sacrifice-china-imax-global-international-box-office-1234602427/

‘Honest Thief’ Continues To Lead Lackluster Pandemic Box Office, ‘Empty Man’ Tripped By Holdovers

https://deadline.com/2020/10/honest-thief-empty-man-after-we-collided-weekend-box-office-1234602930/

AMC Plans to Sell 15 Million Shares, Warns Investors of Potential Bankruptcy

https://variety.com/2020/film/news/amc-chain-warns-bankruptcy-filing-1234810731/

James Bond Film ‘No Time to Die’ Explored $600 Million Sale to Streaming Services

https://variety.com/2020/film/news/james-bond-no-time-to-die-netflix-apple-1234814809/

UK Must Be ‘Brave’ and Prosecute Gulf Royal Accused of Sexual Assault, Says Top QC

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/oct/22/uk-must-be-brave-and-prosecute-gulf-royal-accused-of-sexual-assault-says-top-qc

‘Lovecraft Country’ Hits Series High Ratings With Epic Season Finale

https://deadline.com/2020/10/lovecraft-country-season-finale-tv-ratings-hbo-series-high-1234600763/

HBO Max Hits 28.7 Million Subscribers in Q3, Warner Bros. Revenue Down 28%

https://variety.com/2020/biz/news/hbo-max-28-million-subscribers-q3-att-earnings-1234813032/

TV Ratings for Many Sports Are Down. Don’t Read Too Much Into It Yet.

a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/22/sports/tv-ratings-sports.

One week after the Walt Disney Company announced that it would be premiering its latest Pixar film on Disney+ rather than in movie theaters, the media giant says it will reorganize its corporate structure to focus the company’s content creation on streaming. Is this a hasty pivot, long in the works, or just making official the obvious? The move left many industry watchers a bit confused.

Meanwhile, movie theaters in most of New York state can reopen, except in New York City itself. Even so, studios still won’t be releasing a blockbuster soon enough to help struggling cinema operators like AMC, who claims they will run out of money before the end of the year.

Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including why Kevin Hart is taking over for Jerry Lewis on the muscular dystrophy telethon, K-Pop boy band BTS might be enlisting in the South Korean military (literally) and this year’s slimmed-down Tony nominations.





Liam Neeson’s ‘Honest Thief’ notches No. 1 at box office

https://apnews.com/article/san-diego-robert-de-niro-liam-neeson-robert-pattinson-movies-5d54ec18d9b9517ccbb40023cb7e0f39

‘Demon Slayer’ Leads Global Box Office with Record-breaking $44m Japan Debut

https://www.screendaily.com/news/demon-slayer-leads-global-box-office-with-record-breaking-44m-japan-debut/5154160.article

Japan’s ‘Demon Slayer’ Kills It With Record $44M Opening; China Passing North America For 2020 – International Box Office

https://deadline.com/2020/10/demon-slayer-tenet-japan-china-global-international-box-office-1234599364/

Eddie Murphy’s ‘Coming 2 America’ Moves From Paramount to Amazon Studios

https://variety.com/2020/film/news/eddie-murphys-coming-2-america-moves-from-paramount-to-amazon-studios-1234799523/

It’s Official: China Overtakes North America as World’s Biggest Box Office in 2020

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/its-official-china-overtakes-north-america-as-worlds-biggest-box-office-in-2020

UK £500M Film & TV Insurance Restart Scheme Officially Opens Today Following State Aid Approval

https://deadline.com/2020/10/uk-500m-film-tv-insurance-restart-scheme-officially-opens-today-following-state-aid-approval-1234598660/

Warner Bros & Universal Bosses Say No Movie Theater Buyouts In The Works, But “We’re Rooting For Them”

https://deadline.com/2020/10/warner-bros-universal-bosses-movie-theater-buyouts-covid-19-1234598176/

AMC Theatres Says Cash Resources to Be “Largely Depleted” by End of 2020 or Early 2021

https://www....

As the COVID-19 pandemic wears on, things are not getting any easier for the Walt Disney Company. The company, long a cheerleader for the theatrical moviegoing experience, has just moved the latest Pixar film to its streaming platform, Disney+. Meanwhile, Disneyland still hasn’t been allowed to open and now a well known activist investor is making all sorts of problems for the media giant.

When cinemas do finally reopen there will be a glut of Marvel and DC titles trying to find release dates. Presently, they can only play at a drive-in, which by the way now qualifies a movie for an Academy Award. It’s also the only kind of movie theater New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is allowing to open.

Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including why artists are debuting at the top of the music charts more frequently, why the ad spend during the TV upfronts is down this year and Broadway will remain closed until at least May of 2021.





China box office: National Day revenues rank as second highest ever with $580m

https://deadline.com/2020/10/monster-hunter-release-date-change-milla-jovovich-1234591362/

NY State: Ingress and Egress From NYC Movie Theaters Is A Big Issue

https://deadline.com/2020/10/movie-theater-ingress-egress-concern-of-ny-state-where-ongoing-theater-closures-are-sparking-heated-debate-1234591685

‘Monster Hunter’ Officially Dated Stateside For December

https://deadline.com/2020/10/monster-hunter-release-date-change-milla-jovovich-1234591362/

Imax Furloughs 150 Employees

https://variety.com/2020/film/news/imax-furloughs-150-u-s-employees-exclusive-1234796516/

NATO Renews Call To #SaveYourCinema, Asks Moviegoers To Send Half A Million Letters To Congress

https://deadline.com/2020/10/nato-renews-call-to-saveyourcinema-asks-moviegoers-to-send-half-million-letters-to-congress-1234593808/

Marvel and DC Movies Will Flood Theaters in 2021 and 2022 — If They Can All Be Made in Time

https://variety.com/2020/film/news/marvel-studios-dc-films-release-dates-1234782887/

Broadway Extends Shutdown Through May 2021

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/broadway-extends-shutdown-through-may-2021

Inside TV’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Upfront

https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/tv-advertising-coronavirus-upfront-streaming-video-1234795555/

California Gov. Gavin Newsom Says Disneyland & Other Parks Not Opening Soon

https://deadline.

Studios are pushing movie releases into 2021, with the latest James Bond thriller abandoning it’s scheduled November date in cinemas. Now major theater chains are shutting their doors once again. We’re joined by Patrick von Sychowski, the editor of Celluloid Junkie, to help us break down the present and predict the future of the cinema industry.

Meanwhile in China, movie theaters are not only open, they are bringing in big audiences who are off work during the country’s Golden Week. More than two films earned over $100 million at the Chinese box office this past week, proving cinemas can reboot after a coronavirus shutdown.

Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including new charges against disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, some good news for junior players at United Talent Agency and some bad news for 28,000 former Disney employees.





How Did Chinese Cinemas Recover So Fast Post COVID-19?

https://celluloidjunkie.com/2020/10/02/60-days-150m-visitors-7-9bn-bo-how-did-chinese-cinemas-recover-so-fast-post-covid-19/

Geoff Boucher’s Mindspace

https://www.heavymetal.com/mindspace/

‘Tenet’ Tops $300M Global; China’s National Day Pics Lead 2020 WW Openers & Set IMAX Records

https://deadline.com/2020/10/tenet-after-we-collided-legend-of-deification-my-people-my-homeland-greenland-china-overtake-us-global-international-box-office-weekend-1234591000/

‘Hocus Pocus’: Disney Rerelease Casting Unexpected Spell At Weekend Box Office

https://deadline.com/2020/10/hocus-pocus-disney-rerelease-tenet-weekend-box-office-1234590815/

Regina King’s ‘One Night in Miami’ to Release in Theaters on Christmas, Amazon Prime in 2021

https://variety.com/2020/film/news/one-night-in-miami-release-date-1234790445/

‘The Boys,’ ‘Mulan’ Break Netflix Stranglehold on Streaming Top 10 (Exclusive)

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/the-boys-mulan-break-netflix-stranglehold-on-streaming-top-10

Short Show ‘The Long Night’ Offers Quality Over Quantity

http://chinafilminsider.com/short-show-the-long-night-offers-quality-over-quantity/

Harvey Weinstein Charged With Three More Rapes in Beverly Hills

https://variety.com/2020/biz/news/harvey-weinstein-beverly-hills-rapes-1234790662/

Disney Parks to Lay Off 28,000 Employees; Cites California’s “Unwillingness” to Reopen Disneyland

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/disney-parks-to-layoff-28000-employees-cites-californias-unwillingness-to-reope...