THB #1: Greetings... and Box Office Monday

In August of 1997, I started the first online column about the movie business. It was called The Hot Button. Back then, there were no additional pages beyond the “front page.” I had no more than 400 words available to write each day. And it was, looking back, shockingly nasty at times.

24 years later, I have been through a lot more adventures, high and low. The landscape for industry news has changed. In fact, the very idea of The Industry has changed. I was one of the very first adopters to journalism on the internet. ‘97 was the same year of the first commercial DVD, which launched with Twister and then saw the release of Mars Attacks that summer. Only half the box office Top 10 that year was IP-driven, when the #1, Men in Black, was an original. Broadcast and cable were the only TV options and Seinfeld was #1… and ironically, is Netflix’s big move in the world this very week. Nine of the Top Twenty are still impactful, five of which as news/sports… but we’re also welcoming back th…