Showbiz Sandbox

Showbiz Sandbox


Latest Episodes

Showbiz Sandbox 381: Telluride and Toronto Continue To Shape Awards Season
September 19, 2017

Each year the Venice, Telluride and Toronto film festivals are held so closely together their programming often overlaps as each vies to land titles that will be in the running for major awards (read: Oscars). Anne Thompson,

Showbiz Sandbox 380: Hollywood Gets Pummeled by Rotten Tomatoes
September 13, 2017

With North American box office declining 15 percent over last year, Hollywood suffered its worst summer box office in 20 years. One main reason, studios believe, is the popularity of the movie review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes,

Showbiz Sandbox 379: Springsteen and Swift Beat Scalpers and Fans Pay The Price
September 04, 2017

New technology from Ticketmaster is allowing the likes of Taylor Swift and Bruce Springsteen to combat scalpers and sell tickets to legitimate fans. But at what cost? Swift is asking concert-goers to pay $63 for a physical copy of her latest album to g...

Showbiz Sandbox 378: ESPN Goes Looking For Some Fights
August 28, 2017

In the midst of a blockbuster boxing match viewed around the world between welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. and MMA champion Conor McGregor, ESPN announces they spent a small fortune to secure the worldwide rights to future bouts.

Showbiz Sandbox 377: Disney Breaks Up With Netflix To Launch Solo Streaming Service
August 15, 2017

After years of licensing their movies to Netflix, Disney announced last week that it will be launching their own streaming service when their current deal expires. Then in a true reordering of the media landscape,

Showbiz Sandbox 376: Cord Cutters Are Using An Old Hack To Watch Television – It’s Called An Antenna
August 07, 2017

As the Federal Communications Commission seeks to further deregulate cable television companies and do away with net neutrality, consolidation within the industry has caused rates to increase dramatically. We’ll explain how more and more people are gro...

Showbiz Sandbox 375: The Seedy Side of Show Business is Revealed in “Walking Dead” Lawsuit
July 31, 2017

Six years after AMC fired Frank Darabont from “The Walking Dead,” the hit TV series he created and oversaw, details about why he was axed are emerging during a lawsuit filed by the filmmaker over profit participation.

Showbiz Sandbox 374: Streaming Services Rack Up 2017 Emmy Nominations
July 19, 2017

When this year’s primetime Emmy nominees were announced HBO still lead the way with 111 nominations, including 22 for “Westworld”, but streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon are quickly gaining ground with their own popular shows.

Showbiz Sandbox 373: Is the Academy’s Diversity Fix Misguided?
July 03, 2017

After a controversy that faulted the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for being too white, too male and too old, the organization has made great strides to broaden the diversity of its membership over the past two years.

Showbiz Sandbox 372: Firing Movie Directors Has Become A Complicated Business
June 26, 2017

Hollywood history is littered with tales of filmmakers being replaced on projects in the middle of production. But when LucasFilm fired directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller from the stand-alone Han Solo project with just a few weeks before principal ph...