Uncategorized
Shawn “Jay Z” Carter’s 4:44 album has gotten a lot of buzz since it debuted this past summer, with themes of black economic empowerment, celebrity family feuds, infidelity, and social injustice becoming hot topics of discussion among fans and critics. (The album even inspired a financial fitness book by Ash “Cash” Exantus, a 2017 pick for BE Modern Man and financial literacy advocate who has created quite a buzz of his own.)
The momentum for 4:44 hasn’t stopped. According to reports, despite slow ticket sales, it was the highest-grossing solo tour, raking in more than $48 million in November and December for the 32-show tour.
Last year, Jay Z used a “slow ticketing model,” according to Billboard, “blocking out bots and scalpers that instantly buy up tickets by pricing premium tickets higher and closer to their actual value.” Lower-priced $6 tickets were being sold on sites like StubHub for less desirable seats. The result: When aggressive pricing is applied to front-row seats, VIP experiences, and platinum tickets, ticket resellers are faced with a major challenge because those tickets are closer to the actual market value—a major win for Jay Z and Live Nation in terms of capturing more revenue and creating little opportunity for brokers to hike up ticket prices for the best seats.
Some saw the low-priced tickets as a sign of soft interest in the tour but the rapper, along with Live Nation, has proven skeptics wrong with the latest gross earnings. Billboard also reports that average gross for the 4:44 Tour’s completed shows is up 21% over his 2013 Magna Carter Tour. Platinum-selling artists including Radiohead, the Weeknd, One Direction, and U2 have all presented sellout shows using the slow-ticketing model.
Jay Z’s use of the model comes as yet another major boss move the hip-hop mogul has made in the past year, having just cut another 10-year Live Nation deal that mostly covers his tour business and has reportedly shifted away from the full 360 model initially brokered. He also joined the likes of Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds and Berry Gordy when he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame (with recorded congrats from former President Obama himself). And 2018 began with wins: The $810-million music industry leader was honored this month with four NAACP Image Award nominations, including one for “Entertainer of the Year,” and another for “Outstanding Album” for 4:44.
The post Slow-Ticketing Savvy: Jay Z’s ‘4:44’ Tour Becomes Highest-Grossing Solo Tour appeared first on Black Enterprise.
Keep in mind, this is only a rumor. It’s a hint of a tease of something that may or may not be in discussion. But it’s still exciting. And we can dream.
THR published a profile of Handmaid’s Tale director Reed Morano today under the headline “Is Reed Morano the Next Star Wars Director?” Again, that’s just a question, just a rumor. But as far as Hollywood politics go, that’s a pretty giant “rumor” to land in a THR exclusive interview with a fledgeling director.
Morano has a film premiering this weekend at Sundance–a “‘weird’ sci-fi romance” called I think We’re Alone Now–and she recently had a two and a half hour meeting with LucasFilm president Kathleen Kennedy.
Morano says that Kennedy saw her work on the first season of The Handmaid’s Tale and became interested in meeting. “I guess she was watching with her daughter and then called people and was like, ‘Who’s this Reed person?’ She probably thought I was a guy because of my name.” That sounds like a joke, but it’s also total truth. For those keeping score at home, the number of women who have helmed movies in the Star Wars franchise is exactly zero.
And, no, we don’t know that the two met to discuss Star Wars-related opportunities. But here’s what Morano said about Kennedy:
She’s amazing. We’re talking about adventure movies, and I’m not even remembering that she produced Goonies. Any movie that I put my finger on that I loved when I was growing up was a movie that she produced. Anyway, it was a great meeting. Obviously, I can’t say anything about what else we were talking about.
So they had a two and a half hour meeting during which time they discussed action movies. Kennedy is a producer on a huge number of action flicks, including the next Indiana Jones installment. But Star Wars movies dominate her upcoming slate for the next, well, pretty much forever.
Morano would be a stellar and not atypical choice to take on a Star Wars movie. She’s got that indie darling thing Star Wars directors (and almost-directors) usually have going for them. And while her credits as a director may be few, she’s worked extensively and impressively as a cinematographer. Plus, it’s not like she hasn’t proven her skill as well as her potential. (And as we’ve seen time and again, white male directors in her position do get judged on potential.) She was nominated for two Emmys for her work on the first three episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale, and this video gives a great breakdown of why she deserved those awards and all the attention that came with them:
Reed’s work is beautiful and intense. It tells not just a narrative story, but an emotional one. I would love to see what she would do with Star Wars. And yes, the fact that is a woman makes this prospect all the more exciting.
(via THR, image: Shutterstock)
Want more stories like this? Become a subscriber and support the site!
—The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—