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Is Streaming Killing the Movie Business? Box Office Drops By More than 50% Year to Year as Only “Ford v Ferrari” Hits

Roger Friedman
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Is Streaming Killing the Movie Business? Box Office Drops By More than 50% Year to Year as Only “Ford v Ferrari” Hits

“Ford v Ferrari” was the number 1 movie this weekend, making $31 million. That sounds great until you realize that this week last year, “Fantastic Beasts 2” made twice that, $62 million. The top five films at the box office is off by more than 56% year to year. More options like Netflix, Hulu, etc plus advance buzz kill from social media and Rotten Tomatoes has all led to a significant drop off in theater attendance. The films most hurt are the mid-level ones, with several good films like “Motherless Brooklyn” and “The Good Liar” simply striking out.

Star Tributes Pour in for Celebrated Photographer Terry O’Neill, Elton John Says: “He was brilliant, funny and I loved his company”

Roger Friedman
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Star Tributes Pour in for Celebrated Photographer Terry O’Neill, Elton John Says: “He was brilliant, funny and I loved his company”

Famed photographer Terry O’Neill has died at age 81 from prostate cancer. O’Neill was the toast of Hollywood and rock music during the heyday of the 60s, 70s, and 80s. He was married to Oscar winner Faye Dunaway for three years, and they had a son, Liam. Tributes are pouring in on Twitter. He shot everyone important, and his pictures were unique and memorable. O’Neill was right at the center of everything that was hot in a time when that mattered and the celebrities were STARS.

UPDATE Dave Matthews Band Leads Pat Benatar, Others in Fan Vote for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Roger Friedman
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UPDATE Dave Matthews Band Leads Pat Benatar, Others in Fan Vote for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

It’s not a surprise, but Pat Benatar has knocked down a peg in the fan vote for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Dave Matthews Band has pulled out in front with over 503,000 votes. Benatar is runner up with 451,000 fans.

Each of them will wind up being inducted and deservedly so. Benatar was over looked for far too long. Matthews’ influence and his whole life in the music world make him a perfect candidate.

The Doobie Brothers, who should also get in without trouble, are at number three.

But numbers four and five, I think, should be chosen by the Rock Hall voters. The fans have Judas Priest and Soundgarden in those positions. But it’s high time the MC5 got in. This is getting ridiculous. And Rufus featuring Chaka Khan, or rather Chaka Khan featuring Rufus, have waited way too long.

Additionally, the RRHOF would be smart to finally name Billy Preston in the Side Man category. The Fifth Beatle, the only artist ever to join the Beatles as a credited artist on a record (“Get Back”), Preston has to be included this year. After all, this year’s ceremony in Cleveland will coincide with the 50th anniversary of “Let it Be.”

In that regard, it would be swell to see a special award this year to a producer. I’m thinking Richard Perry, who was the most successful producer of the 70s and 80s, even into the aughts. His recording artists include Carly Simon, Rod Stewart, Ringo Starr, Leo Sayer, The Pointer Sisters, and so on. What a resume!

John Sykes, our nation turns its lonely eyes to you.

 

 

Cher Puts the Whole Taylor Swift-Scooter Braun Song Ownership Fight in Perspective with One Succinct Tweet

Roger Friedman
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Cher Puts the Whole Taylor Swift-Scooter Braun Song Ownership Fight in Perspective with One Succinct Tweet

 Cher has put the whole Taylor Swift-Scooter Braun Big Machine fight in perspective with one succinct Tweet. In capital letters, she writes: BABE, THIS SHIT HAS BEEN HAPPENING SINCE MILLION SELLING ARTISTS WERE PAID OFF WITH A CADILLACE AND A BOTTLE OF JACK! she adds a unhappy emoji and finishes: “I’m sorry Scooter.”

Record company executives have indeed been swindling songwriters for all of eternity. Wilson Pickett complained to me many times about his copyrights. Tina Turner wrote in her memoir “I, Tina” that Phil Spector paid her for recording “River Deep Mountain High” with a Thunderbird. Ronnie Spector and Darlene Love had to chase Spector for decades to get their money. And on and on and on.

Cher knows everything. Where is her book already?

 

Box Office: Star Power Matters as Matt Damon, Christian Bale Steer “Ford v. Ferrari” Number 1 at the Finish Line

Roger Friedman
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Box Office: Star Power Matters as Matt Damon, Christian Bale Steer “Ford v. Ferrari” Number 1 at the Finish Line

Star power still matters, especially at the race track.

James Mangold’s “Ford v. Ferrari” is number 1 this morning, heading to a $30 million weekend.

The stars, Matt Damon and Christian Bale, paid off. So did exciting race scenes of the 1966 Le Mans race. Damon plays Carroll Shelby, Ford’s legendary designer. Bale is his eccentric driver, Kenny Miles. The pair make for a great on screen relationship. It’s all chemistry.

For Fox, now part of Disney, this success matters a lot. Disney itself couldn’t have pulled off a movie like this. But the two studios together are gassed and ready to go.

Bale is headed to a Best Supporting Actor nomination. The movie should be a Best Picture nominee. Damon — who’s very good– may have to settle for other accolades. I just the studio doesn’t put Bale in the lead category. It’s already quite full with the Joker himself, Joaquin Phoenix, plus Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Adam Driver, and Jonathan Pryce.

Meantime, Warner Bros. can celebrate “Joker” crossing $1 billion worldwide. For an R rated movie, it’s unheard of, and they now hold the record in that category.

Box Office UPDATE : Kristen Stewart Updated “Charlie’s Angels” A Total Loss with $8.6 Mil Weekend Including Thursday Previews

Roger Friedman
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Box Office UPDATE : Kristen Stewart Updated “Charlie’s Angels” A Total Loss with $8.6 Mil Weekend Including Thursday Previews

SUNDAY UPDATE: “Charlie’s Angels” totaled up $8.6 million for three days. It is a total write off unless some foreign territories suddenly loved it.

“Doctor Sleep” took a perma nap and “The Good Liar” was DOA. What a shame. Warner Bros. must take immediate action to ensure this doesn’t happen to “Just Mercy.”

 

SATURDAY:

Bosley must be turning in his grave.

Columbia Pictures’ latest installment of “Charlie’s Angels” is a total write off at the box office. Last night the Kristen Stewart version of the 70s hit TV show took in just $3.15 million, including $900K from Thursday. It’s possible the movie will make less than $7.5 million for the weekend.

Even if the number gets as high as $9 million, the party is over for the movie, directed by Elizabeth Banks. Basically, no one went and no one cares. That’s rough to say, but apparently true. This is WAY off from the already anemic $13.5 million the studio had predicted.

Stewart stars with two actresses no one knows anything about. I’m sure they’re lovely but I don’t know their names and you don’t either. So many ‘name’ actresses could have been hired, literally of any color or background. Plus, the movie lacks any sex appeal– the one thing “Charlie’s Angels” is supposed to have.

“Charlie’s Angels” isn’t the only box office disaster of the moment. Warner Bros. has two: “Doctor Sleep” and “The Good Liar” each took in $1.6 million. This points to a disturbing trend for that studio as nearly every “adult” oriented movie they’ve had this year has flopped.

There’s a real worry about “Just Mercy,” which I thought would be their Oscar entry. It’s coming soon, and no one I’ve talked outside the business has any idea what is it. Jamie Foxx and Michael B. Jordan star in what should be the “Green Book” of this year. But there’s no buzz. I hope that isn’t a bad omen.

Taylor Swift’s Real Problem: She Can’t Play New Songs at the AMAs Because of the Grammys. And Now She Can’t Play Old Songs

Roger Friedman
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Taylor Swift’s Real Problem: She Can’t Play New Songs at the AMAs Because of the Grammys. And Now She Can’t Play Old Songs

EXCLUSIVE

Let’s look at why Taylor Swift is in such a panic about performing at the American Music Awards.

The owners of her records (not her publishing rights) won’t let her play her old songs on the AMAs. They’ve got a year-long kind of non compete clause that prevents her from re-recording her old hits and putting out an album or whatever, DVD, CD. Unfortunately that year includes the AMAs, her Netflix special, and maybe even her four concert dates for next year.

That’s right. The lack of a real “Lover” tour has a lot to do with this. If she performs “Shake it Off” and “Red” et al everyone at those stadiums will record them. So there’s that.

But more concerning is that Taylor cannot perform the new “Lover” songs on the AMAs. That’s because she’s exclusive to the Grammy Awards on January 26th for those songs. Next week she’ll get a raft of Grammy nominations for the “Lover” album. And then she can’t perform that material anywhere before she goes on the Grammys– and likely wins a bunch, too.

CBS and the Grammys are depending on Swift doing one or two numbers on their show. Grammy performers are cut if they do the AMAs.

So this poses a big problem. If you can’t sing the old songs, and you can’t sing the new ones, what do you sing when you win the Lifetime Achievement Award at the AMAs?

And so Taylor is panicking, with good reason. Borchetta and Braun should just let her do it, and move on. But this is where push has come to shove. And Swift can’t agree to their demands.

This much we know: she’s never ever going to go out with them again!

How to Kill a Mockingbird: Broadway Hit Tumbles at Box Office as Jeff Daniels Leaves, Ed Harris Arrives

Roger Friedman
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How to Kill a Mockingbird: Broadway Hit Tumbles at Box Office as Jeff Daniels Leaves, Ed Harris Arrives

Mock- yeah.

It’s Box Office Redux for producer Scott Rudin as Jeff Daniels has exited “To Kill a Mockingbird” on Broadway and the box office has taken a sudden, drastic drop.

Rudin went through this just previously when Bette Midler said goodbye to “Hello, Dolly!” and Bernadette Peters succeeded her. Like a heart monitor indicating arrest, the numbers went plummeting.

For the weeks building up to Daniels’ goodbye, “Mockingbird” was printing money, taking in over $2 million a week. That started right after Labor Day. But now that Harris is in, the show suffered a  week to week drop of over $300,000. The average ticket price fell from $192 to $168. The top price dropped from $708 to $497.

This is to say nothing about Ed Harris or the whole new cast because they’re probably just as good if not better than the original gang. But this is what happened to Bernadette Peters and her cast. Suddenly there were plenty of empty seats.

In the case of “Mockingbird” 2.0, by December 8th you can see the erosion in the expensive seats. There are plenty of good ones almost every night. That will go on as long as investors can take it. Then Rudin will announce Daniels’ return for a victory lap, tickets as high as $1000, and a closing. History loves repeating itself.

 

Taylor Swift Rebukes Borchetta-Braun Statement, Says They Already Turned Down Use of Her Songs at Two Events

Roger Friedman
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Taylor Swift Rebukes Borchetta-Braun Statement, Says They Already Turned Down Use of Her Songs at Two Events

Read this, kids. Taylor Swift’s PR, Tree Paine, says Borchetta-Braun turned them down to use Taylor’s songs at two events. This back and forth on Twitter is going to wear out. But meantime, I say to the record guys, she’s got you. You can’t win. Make a big nice statement and say she can use the songs whenever. Saul Zaentz did this to John Fogerty and it became his epitaph. It wasn’t “producer of The English Patient.” It was “The Guy Who Tortured John Fogerty.” Who needs that?

Box Office Bosley as New “Charlie’s Angels” Won’t Fly, Sony– Despite Excellent Year– Prepares for Flop

Roger Friedman
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Box Office Bosley as New “Charlie’s Angels” Won’t Fly, Sony– Despite Excellent Year– Prepares for Flop

Call them Angels of the Mourning.

The new “Charlie’s Angels.” written and directed by Elizabeth Banks– one of our favorite people– is headed for a big flop this weekend.

Last night in previews, the new Angels made just $900,000. Predictions are for a $12 million weekend, if lucky. That’s pushing it.

The new “Charlie’s Angels” stars Kristen Stewart and two actresses no one’s ever heard of. It also a convoluted plot, with three Bosleys and who knows who is voicing Charlie. (It should have been Robert Wagner, who took over from the beloved John Forsythe.)

Stewart plays an androgynous Angel named Sabina, not Sabrina. I’m sorry, but that doesn’t fly. None of it does. The audience doesn’t want Angels who aren’t smart, sexy, women. This was never a PC organization. We want Jaclyn Smith, Kate Jackson, and Farrah Fawcett. And Cheryl Ladd. All the fun is gone.

On Rotten Tomatoes, these Angels have scored a lowly 58%. There is no enthusiasm for it. But you could tell when what seems like years ago, Miley Cyrus, Lana del Rey, and Ariana Grande released the title track called “Don’t Call Me Angel.” It was met with yawns. Three superstars, no one cared. And “Don’t call me angel” is the chorus from another classic hit, “Angel of the Morning.” That should have been the song they covered.

Sony needn’t worry. They’ve had a great year with “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” the latest Spider Man movie, “Far from Home,” and coming soon is Tom Hanks in the wonderful “Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.” “Zombieland” has also done very well, and “Little Women” should be a banger, with loads of Oscar nominations.

 

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