Ryan McQuade (Executive Editor, AwardsWatch.com) joins Christina to discuss the reasons behind the low box office numbers this Memorial Day weekend (Furiosa and Garfield), the state of cinema & streaming, and looking forward to even more fantastic, original, risk-talking cinema ahead!
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[00:01:02] This is Pop Culture Confidential and I'm Christina Yerling Biru.
[00:01:21] Hello everyone, welcome back and thank you all for following along on my Cannes
[00:01:26] Film Festival coverage.
[00:01:28] Thanks for all your comments.
[00:01:30] We love movies.
[00:01:32] And with that in mind, welcome Ryan McQuade, executive editor over at Awards Watch,
[00:01:37] great friend of the show, movie lover.
[00:01:40] Maybe not in that order, but welcome back my friend.
[00:01:43] I think somewhere in there is just a combination of all those things is where I'm at.
[00:01:49] But yeah, maybe not in that order.
[00:01:50] But thank you, Christina for having me on.
[00:01:51] I'm excited to be here.
[00:01:53] That's kind of why we got together here today, to save cinema.
[00:01:57] Well, how long do we have?
[00:02:03] For a conversation.
[00:02:04] So the box office news has led to some, what should I say, high frequency discussions about
[00:02:11] the state of the movies, about the state of cinema.
[00:02:14] We thought maybe we could talk, we could bring some positive vibes, some concerns,
[00:02:19] some thoughts about going forward.
[00:02:21] And just to give you all some context.
[00:02:23] So film related media hit some sort of peak spin this week after Memorial Day
[00:02:30] weekend, which is like a historical bellwether weekend for the start of the summer
[00:02:34] movie box office.
[00:02:36] George Miller's Furioso, which cost 168 million to make, not including, of course,
[00:02:42] millions of dollars in marketing costs, premiered to what was thought of a disappointing
[00:02:47] 32 million domestic.
[00:02:49] Garfield, the animated film starring Chris Pratt, earned around the same.
[00:02:54] Reports say that it's the worst Memorial Day weekend for about 30 years since
[00:02:58] Casper only earned 22 million.
[00:03:01] And this followed a highly publicized disappointment in the Ryan Gosling,
[00:03:07] Emily Blunt film, The Fall Guy.
[00:03:10] Now, I think both Ryan and I agree that there is brilliant creativity in film all
[00:03:16] around us. Speaking for myself, I've had some incredibly powerful movie
[00:03:20] experiences just these past few years.
[00:03:23] Past Lives, Tar, Poor Things, Barbie, Oppenheimer.
[00:03:27] Cannes was all about passion projects and risk taking Coppola, the substance,
[00:03:33] Sean Baker. So we thought we should approach this thoughtfully and talk a
[00:03:39] little bit about what we see going on and what we see for the future.
[00:03:43] Ryan, first, your thoughts on this Memorial Day weekend and the numbers
[00:03:48] that everyone's talking about.
[00:03:50] Well, I had a great weekend.
[00:03:51] I don't know about the box office.
[00:03:54] I had a good weekend.
[00:03:55] I was with family.
[00:03:56] I was with friends.
[00:03:58] It was relaxing.
[00:04:01] But this news wasn't surprising.
[00:04:04] At least it's not to me.
[00:04:06] So if anyone of your listeners listens to the Awards Watch podcast, you know
[00:04:13] that every year for the last three years we have done a summer movie box
[00:04:17] office draft and it's where we we select five to six films from the
[00:04:24] summer and five of them with we think are going to be hits.
[00:04:28] And then we each give Eric's team or my team a bomb pick movies that we
[00:04:33] think are going to do probably not so great at the box office.
[00:04:37] And over the last couple of years, it's gone back and forth because
[00:04:42] nobody thought Barbie was going to be what it was.
[00:04:44] And nobody thought Top Gun Maverick was going to be what it was.
[00:04:47] No one definitely thought what Oppenheimer would end up becoming,
[00:04:51] which are these billion dollar hits.
[00:04:52] And then you have movies like like the Jurassic World movie or even just
[00:04:57] like last year, there were Spider-Man across the Spider-Verse.
[00:05:01] So there's been a ton of like big films and even still within there.
[00:05:05] There were some miscalculations like Indiana Jones in the Dial of Destiny,
[00:05:12] almost a Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but it's Dial of Destiny.
[00:05:14] And then even Mission Impossible, which had an enormous budget to itself.
[00:05:20] And we didn't put a multiplier in that, which for your listeners out there,
[00:05:24] if you play a box office draft, basically the money it makes,
[00:05:28] you subtract it from its budget.
[00:05:30] But that's not how studios usually work because like you said,
[00:05:33] Christina, when you put $160 million of just the budget,
[00:05:37] that's usually just the budget.
[00:05:38] That's not all the other parts that go into it, including marketing,
[00:05:42] as well as any back end pay that they have to pay.
[00:05:44] So for studios to make profit, usually it's about a two to three
[00:05:47] times multiplier on what they made at the box office.
[00:05:50] If you read deadlines reporting last month about the most profitable movies
[00:05:57] or the movies that did the best and they did, I think a day by day article
[00:06:03] about like the top 10 best, most profitable films of the last year.
[00:06:07] It actually wasn't Barbie.
[00:06:08] Everyone thinks it's Barbie or everybody thinks it's Oppenheimer.
[00:06:11] It's actually Super Mario.
[00:06:13] And so it, you, you factor all those things in there and you look at this
[00:06:18] year's draft, it was, it was rough for us to pick some of these titles.
[00:06:23] Now, obviously there are some surefire hits that we will talk about that are
[00:06:27] coming out later this year that are going to be great, but a movie like
[00:06:30] the fall guy was a risk.
[00:06:32] The only thing that made the fall guy look good was the fact that it had
[00:06:35] great word of mouth over at South by Southwest, which I was there.
[00:06:38] I love the film.
[00:06:39] I think it's a lot of fun and I think Gosling and blunt are great in it.
[00:06:44] Um, but it didn't, you know, nearly, you know, crack what it should have done,
[00:06:52] especially coming off last year, which one of the big hits at Memorial day
[00:06:55] last year or this timeframe was guardians of the galaxy volume three.
[00:07:00] So clearly you need a franchise there.
[00:07:03] Even plan of the apes, which has made worldwide $300 million.
[00:07:08] It's made on 160 to 170 million dollar budget itself.
[00:07:13] So these movies are expensive to make.
[00:07:15] Then you have a movie like if it hasn't done so well, uh, which is, I don't
[00:07:20] even know that's the animated John Krasinski movie, which like nobody
[00:07:25] was talking about, and then you have a Garfield, which nobody was
[00:07:30] asking for a Garfield movie.
[00:07:32] And it's not exactly super Mario in terms of its IP strength and
[00:07:36] Furiosa.
[00:07:38] There's a bunch of factors that go into furious as to why this movie doesn't work.
[00:07:43] One is that it's nine years after Mad Max, free road.
[00:07:46] It doesn't have Charlize Theron as the titular Furiosa, which is what
[00:07:50] audiences sort of expected and kind of wanted.
[00:07:53] Um, Chris Hemsworth is not the box office draw even as a Thor,
[00:07:58] even as Thor a couple of years ago, Thor, 11th under was not a big hit.
[00:08:02] It was not, um, not nearly to the extent of like Dr.
[00:08:05] Strange or other Marvel movies.
[00:08:07] And that's sort of where the Marvel Viteed happened, but Fury road
[00:08:11] itself barely made two times its budget.
[00:08:16] It was not a huge hit.
[00:08:17] And so critically consider one of the best films of the decade.
[00:08:22] You and I love it.
[00:08:23] So many people love it.
[00:08:24] And it's kind of had a great shelf life on VOD and you know, rep
[00:08:29] screenings and over the years it's built a reputation.
[00:08:32] And this movie I think will too, but the idea that, um, a Mad Max movie
[00:08:38] was going to make $200 million opening weekend and you don't even have also
[00:08:43] max in the film as well either.
[00:08:45] You have Anya Taylor joy who's in half the film and it's mostly
[00:08:49] Chris Hemsworth carrying it at times, which is it's a great movie.
[00:08:53] I loved it.
[00:08:54] It's my favorite movie of the year so far, but that doesn't mean
[00:08:58] audiences wanted to see it.
[00:09:00] Cause I have to ask you two things about what you're saying here.
[00:09:02] One is, is there any truth to the fact that people are saying that
[00:09:08] moviegoers don't want to do prequels prequels to origin stories?
[00:09:13] I think it's, I think that the prequel is starting and I think we
[00:09:19] have to acknowledge, listen, I'm not a prequel guy.
[00:09:22] It never happened.
[00:09:23] So for Mad Max, for, for Furiosa Mad Max saga, which is a prequel
[00:09:28] to the fury road for that to be my favorite movie of the year is kind of wild.
[00:09:32] Also says a lot of, I think about the quality of movies that have come out
[00:09:35] this year, but that's another story from another time.
[00:09:37] Um, I think that you have to ask audiences now, and this is
[00:09:42] the overarching problem.
[00:09:45] You have to ask them to go to the theater to see something, see a spectacle.
[00:09:51] And if it's of a story, that's not a continuation or something new.
[00:09:55] Why would audiences want to spend a hundred dollars to go
[00:09:59] backwards in storytelling?
[00:10:01] So I think, you know, we're going to see this with a quiet place.
[00:10:06] Yeah.
[00:10:08] I mean, like a quiet place day one is going to be an interesting test
[00:10:11] because again, that is with it's not even doesn't even have like.
[00:10:16] John Krasinski or Emily Blunt or Killian Murphy in it.
[00:10:19] It has none of the cast.
[00:10:20] Like at least Furiosa had a name person and some of the characters from fury road
[00:10:25] that has nobody in it from the first two films.
[00:10:29] And so you're asking audiences to trust the process of, and listen,
[00:10:34] I like Michael Sernoffsky, I loved pig and I love the Peter Nyango.
[00:10:38] And I think she's a fantastic actress and I'm praying that movie does well,
[00:10:43] but at the same time, I don't know if it's, I don't know if we're not
[00:10:47] going to see the same headlines because audiences are kind of out on prequels
[00:10:52] right now, and that should be a course correction.
[00:10:54] And my other question is I understand that mission impossible.
[00:10:57] The next mission impossible was supposed to be on this, on Memorial
[00:11:01] Day weekend, and it was moved to July.
[00:11:04] Are you saying that if that would have been there, people would
[00:11:07] have run to the movie theaters.
[00:11:09] So it's a question of the movies is what I'm saying, or is it
[00:11:12] a question of actual theater going?
[00:11:14] I think it's a question of both.
[00:11:16] I think that it is the type of type of movies that are playing because also too.
[00:11:22] The biggest factor in all of this, I think, and people have told me this
[00:11:27] week that, oh, you know, it's, you know, and we've had these conversations
[00:11:32] at a war watch my cohost, Jay Ledbetter of director watch Sophia
[00:11:36] Simonello, Eric Anderson, everybody had awards watch that has been on
[00:11:40] this show or you or your listeners have heard before on our shows.
[00:11:43] We've talked about this.
[00:11:44] And I stated that this is, this is the strikes reckoning and people think,
[00:11:51] oh, well, the strike now the strike was six months long.
[00:11:56] And it shut down the major studios.
[00:11:58] The major studios are responsible mostly for summer blockbusters.
[00:12:04] They are, they are the, the, the ones that are struggling right now.
[00:12:09] And so not only did a mission impossible, which is still filming
[00:12:14] and having, which is going to probably it looks like have one of the
[00:12:16] biggest budgets of all time.
[00:12:18] It's somewhere reported between 250 to $400 million.
[00:12:23] You know, for that film and I, and I can't wait to see it.
[00:12:28] But also because of the strike, they weren't able to continue or
[00:12:33] potentially produce the next spider verse film, which was an
[00:12:37] enormous film at the box office.
[00:12:40] You know, they, you know, Disney moved a bunch of their Marvel films back as well.
[00:12:45] We only have one Marvel film on the slate at all this year, which is the first
[00:12:50] time like ever that that's happened since the MCU because at least, you
[00:12:55] know, it would be like the first Iron Man.
[00:12:57] There was the incredible Hulk later that summer.
[00:12:59] So, and that's Deadpool and Wolverine, which is already tracking to be a
[00:13:04] massive hit because you have Deadpool, which is a character in those movies
[00:13:10] that has made close to a billion, if not like 800, $900 million on those,
[00:13:15] on those films.
[00:13:15] And then you have Hugh Jackman returning as Wolverine, which will be
[00:13:19] big, big for the, for the summer.
[00:13:22] But that's not till late June, July.
[00:13:25] So it's not right now.
[00:13:27] So I do think it's a little bit of that, but to say that the strike is
[00:13:31] taking its toll, the whole film slate changed filming for these big movies had
[00:13:36] to stop and that that's going to have some repercussions, uh, including, you
[00:13:42] know, some of the big movies that we think are going to take over the box
[00:13:46] officer in summer.
[00:13:59] I don't think it overstates things to say that the Beatles were the greatest
[00:14:02] gift to entertainment and culture of our time, a secular religion, if you
[00:14:07] will, with their universal appeal and demonstrable impact on people's lives.
[00:14:12] I'm Robert Rodriguez, host of something about the Beatles with every episode.
[00:14:17] I speak with historians, musicians, artists, and beetle witnesses, all
[00:14:22] in the service of fresh insights into the most joyous cultural entity.
[00:14:26] The world has ever known.
[00:14:28] I hope you'll join me and listen to something about the Beatles now
[00:14:31] and evergreen and wherever you get your podcasts.
[00:14:34] But we can both agree, right?
[00:14:44] That the expense of going to the movies today for a family is, I mean,
[00:14:50] you mentioned a hundred dollars.
[00:14:51] I think that's for four people.
[00:14:53] I think you have to double that with concessions and everything else.
[00:14:56] Let's talk about streaming.
[00:14:59] Lots of people I talk to, particularly people who are in, who are actually
[00:15:04] making the films and who are in PR and things like that.
[00:15:07] I mean, they'll say things like that.
[00:15:08] Netflix is a buzzkill.
[00:15:10] It's a buzzkill when they buy the movies for something like the Hitman.
[00:15:15] Yeah.
[00:15:16] And then that goes directly to streaming or very, very quickly
[00:15:19] to streaming and that keeps people away from the movie theaters.
[00:15:24] They've got, they're going to be doing that with Amelia Perez,
[00:15:26] which was the huge, huge talk of Cannes.
[00:15:30] What would you say to that?
[00:15:33] Well, I am very privileged and I get to see the movies.
[00:15:39] And I get to say that I'm privileged and I acknowledge my privilege.
[00:15:44] And Christine acknowledges her privilege and of that we get to see
[00:15:49] most of these Netflix films the way that they're supposed to be
[00:15:52] intended by those audiences.
[00:15:54] We see them at film festivals and we see them on the big screen.
[00:15:58] And if not, there's readily able to be screened for us as critics
[00:16:04] on the big screen, potentially in the theater for us to cover.
[00:16:08] So I have to take all of us out of the equation, which I have to say
[00:16:14] with the with the more and more critics and the more and more people
[00:16:20] that are covering things now.
[00:16:22] Also, you have to factor that in, I think a little bit as well.
[00:16:26] That's that's more and more people that are like me
[00:16:29] that maybe just see it at the screening and don't go to the theater.
[00:16:32] So, yes, I'm saying I'm part of the problem as well, too.
[00:16:36] But I did go see Furiosa on Friday night, so it's so I'm not that part
[00:16:40] of that problem all the time.
[00:16:42] But I can tell you this is that.
[00:16:47] I think you you have hit something that has been bugging me for
[00:16:51] now two years about Netflix, and we will talk about Ted
[00:16:56] Sarandos here in a minute.
[00:16:58] And his sorry, Ted, but your sense of delusion,
[00:17:04] because Ted Sarandos
[00:17:08] has talked about wanting to blow up the theatrical experience,
[00:17:12] but audiences have pushed back tenfold on that idea,
[00:17:17] especially the last two years.
[00:17:19] You look at something even just like Maverick or Avatar, the Way of Water,
[00:17:24] but even the upswing of the art house cinema
[00:17:29] and the way a brand like a 24 is stronger than ever.
[00:17:33] A 24 just had its biggest film,
[00:17:37] one of its biggest films in Civil War.
[00:17:40] Everything everywhere all at once was an enormous hit for them.
[00:17:44] And movies like The Whale and now Pearl
[00:17:47] and X have done really well for them as well.
[00:17:50] And they have their own little franchises as well as also
[00:17:54] some big hits on themselves.
[00:17:55] And I think the thing about Netflix is.
[00:17:58] That they are the one place that seems to be able to give
[00:18:02] as much creative control as possible,
[00:18:05] but they fail in what a creator really wants us to see the movie on the big screen.
[00:18:10] I was able to see the premiere here in Austin
[00:18:15] for Hitman and Richard Linklater, who is an enormous giant fan of cinema.
[00:18:20] Like he is he he owns the he's the founder of the Austin Film Society.
[00:18:25] For Christ sakes, he's a big part of South by Southwest.
[00:18:27] He is Austin filmmaking at its finest.
[00:18:30] And his last two movies have been Hitman and Apollo 11 and a half, which is
[00:18:38] or 10 and a half, which is the Netflix film that he did.
[00:18:41] And there was hesitation for from what we've read about, you know, he
[00:18:47] I don't think he wanted to go back to Netflix,
[00:18:49] but nobody wanted to buy this movie.
[00:18:52] And the idea of of having Glenn Powell
[00:18:55] after Maverick, after anyone but you and the success of that one,
[00:18:59] that movie and to not pick this one up, which this is a clear crowd placer
[00:19:04] and kind of like off the romcom
[00:19:08] fun, out of sight, sexy movies of of the 90s.
[00:19:13] Nobody wanted to pick this up.
[00:19:15] And I think it so it it I'm thankful for Netflix to give it the platform.
[00:19:20] But at the same time,
[00:19:22] think about the fact that they have two sequels.
[00:19:26] They had Glass Onion and now they'll have the next Knives Out film
[00:19:30] and how everybody is excited for that and how those are mostly going to be
[00:19:33] seen by people on the small screen at home rather than the big screen.
[00:19:39] It's a big deterrence.
[00:19:40] And I think people are grappling with it in an interesting way.
[00:19:45] They will see it, but but not the way
[00:19:48] that we or the the business should want to see a movie like that,
[00:19:53] because the first Knives Out movie was an enormous hit.
[00:19:57] And when Surandos just told us that his son, who's an editor,
[00:20:01] watched Names of Arabia on his phone.
[00:20:03] Sure. And I watched Bridges and Madison County on my television.
[00:20:07] It doesn't mean that I should, you know,
[00:20:09] I should watch it on an iPad, Nano or, you know, iPod, Nano or whatever.
[00:20:13] It means that if the rep screening came around here,
[00:20:16] I want to see that on the big screen.
[00:20:18] Lawrence Arabia is a 70 millimeter masterpiece.
[00:20:22] If you're able to see it in your area.
[00:20:24] And this is idea of like of him shrinking down
[00:20:27] and thinking that the Barbie and Oppenheimer,
[00:20:31] the Barbenheimer cinematic world event
[00:20:36] could thrive just as much on Netflix is a delusion of grandeur
[00:20:40] that I can't even begin to describe because it also sounds
[00:20:44] like a big bowl of jealousy because this man has.
[00:20:50] I think he said eight to 11 films nominated for best pictures.
[00:20:54] I think he said eight films and none of them
[00:20:57] have come close to doing what Oppenheimer did, which is he's made dramas.
[00:21:03] He's made Power the Dog and he's made Roma
[00:21:07] and he made Maestro and he's put all this money into it.
[00:21:11] But Christopher Nolan doesn't want to work with him
[00:21:14] because Christopher Nolan believes in the cinematic equivalent.
[00:21:18] So what does he do?
[00:21:18] He goes, yeah, he's going to have the Narnia films from from Greta Gerwig.
[00:21:24] But so many people don't want that
[00:21:26] because they want to see the next big thing.
[00:21:29] And she actually has an enormous blank check.
[00:21:31] She could write whatever she wants.
[00:21:33] Now, if she wants to make those with Netflix, she's had a relationship
[00:21:36] because no bomb box had a relationship.
[00:21:38] So that totally makes sense.
[00:21:39] But will they be I think the equivalent of what Barbie which,
[00:21:42] which was a global event, the biggest movie of the year,
[00:21:46] the movie that everyone was talking about.
[00:21:47] It didn't matter what movie other than Barbie and Oppenheimer was released.
[00:21:51] That was what everyone was talking about.
[00:21:53] No. And that's that's not even something their television series can do.
[00:21:58] You know what I mean?
[00:21:58] Because they because of the binge model.
[00:22:01] But do you think like May, December, for example,
[00:22:04] do you think that if if it would have been had a long life in the theaters,
[00:22:10] that it would have been better?
[00:22:12] I mean, is Netflix what's the chicken in the egg?
[00:22:14] Are they helping to find a platform for those who no one wants to buy anyway?
[00:22:18] Or are they taking being a buzzkill, which is the same thing?
[00:22:22] Both. It can both things.
[00:22:24] We can live in a world where both things are true, where
[00:22:29] they can finance the Irishman and make this beautiful film.
[00:22:35] And yet, unless you have an Alamo draft house like myself
[00:22:39] or smaller art house cinemas in your area,
[00:22:42] you're not going to see it on the big screen.
[00:22:44] And that's from one of the most cinematic directors of all time.
[00:22:49] And here's the difference, though.
[00:22:52] Netflix digs their heels
[00:22:55] into the idea of not putting their films in theaters.
[00:23:00] That's the problem, Christina, is they had glass onion.
[00:23:04] They released it for two weeks or no one week, I think,
[00:23:08] for the Thanksgiving holiday.
[00:23:09] It was successful.
[00:23:11] It made money because people wanted to see that thing on the big screen.
[00:23:16] And guess what? They pulled it back.
[00:23:19] They pulled it back.
[00:23:20] And meanwhile, look at what Apple did for Killers of the Flower Moon.
[00:23:26] They were a Napoleon.
[00:23:28] Those movies are Apple movies, but they still had a wide theatrical release.
[00:23:33] They put it on the biggest screens possible.
[00:23:35] And they said, come see three hours of Martin Scorsese's
[00:23:39] epic masterpiece on the biggest screen possible.
[00:23:43] Come see Joaquin Phoenix talk about boats on the biggest screens possible.
[00:23:49] They didn't have a problem with it.
[00:23:51] They, you know, Amazon, they have a big theatrical window
[00:23:57] for those movies.
[00:23:58] Napoleon did pretty well.
[00:24:00] Killers of the Flower Moon.
[00:24:02] I mean, they didn't recuperate their money.
[00:24:04] But then you look at Amazon, Amazon had challengers
[00:24:07] and they just made 80 million dollars at the box office.
[00:24:09] So and they've so they they don't have to recuperate all their money,
[00:24:14] just kind of like air last year didn't have to make all of its money back
[00:24:17] because this is all icing on the cake.
[00:24:19] But you're giving audiences the ability to go see this.
[00:24:22] You're giving them a choice.
[00:24:23] What is Netflix winning from pulling back after a week
[00:24:27] when it's going like gangbusters?
[00:24:28] I was in New York. I saw it.
[00:24:30] And on Thanksgiving, it was packed.
[00:24:32] People were in line for a glass onion.
[00:24:34] Yeah. What are they winning?
[00:24:35] Are they winning more subs?
[00:24:37] Is there actual benefit for them to not take the money while it's flowing in?
[00:24:44] I think that the other thing that I've always said about Netflix
[00:24:48] is that it's a broken system because, you know, they they try to
[00:24:52] they're always raising their subscriptions.
[00:24:56] They're putting ads in there, you know, and all these different things.
[00:24:59] And it's like Amazon's Amazon TV or Amazon Prime
[00:25:04] or however you want to describe it.
[00:25:06] Their films are secondary.
[00:25:07] It is a secondary place for them, like they're there.
[00:25:12] They don't need the money.
[00:25:13] Apple doesn't need the money.
[00:25:15] Hulu doesn't need the money.
[00:25:17] Max doesn't need the money.
[00:25:19] These are giant studios that can buy and stream whatever they want
[00:25:25] and do whatever they want because the the the either moviemaking
[00:25:30] or the streaming options are secondary in terms of their revenue streams
[00:25:35] for most of them.
[00:25:36] Netflix used to be DVDs, and then they turned into streaming.
[00:25:40] And then by Sarandos own admission,
[00:25:43] they started to get rid of the physical media portion of it,
[00:25:47] including also which I thought was extremely problematic
[00:25:53] in the New York Times article about talking about that.
[00:25:57] They just stopped inviting the people that founded essentially or
[00:26:01] or got them to where they are to any parties or any events or company
[00:26:05] to the room at all.
[00:26:06] It was, yeah, to the essential.
[00:26:08] They were like and he was proud of it.
[00:26:10] And if you listen to the audio, which is better,
[00:26:13] I think than listening to the interview and this is over at the New York Times.
[00:26:17] And it was a really insightful piece
[00:26:21] by Lulu Garcia Navarro,
[00:26:25] which she's been doing amazing work for years.
[00:26:27] And it just was she only scratched the surface
[00:26:31] and then she had to call him back and get more,
[00:26:33] which is where this stupid Barbenheimer quotes come from.
[00:26:36] But it's this thing of he is wanting to upset the model.
[00:26:42] And yet the model doesn't want to be upset.
[00:26:47] You came from Cannes, they are so anti Netflix there at Cannes.
[00:26:51] It is ridiculous.
[00:26:52] It was surprising that the opening night film was
[00:26:56] I think it was in competition and it was a Netflix movie.
[00:26:58] And like they screened it.
[00:27:00] I was surprised to hear about that because of their
[00:27:02] because May December, yes, is a Netflix movie.
[00:27:05] But while it was at Cannes last year, it was it was waiting for distribution.
[00:27:10] So they bought it afterwards.
[00:27:11] And Amelia Perez, too, which is a French director.
[00:27:15] So that was also that was interesting.
[00:27:17] Yes. But I mean,
[00:27:21] I say this, it's like, but who's financing the five bloods?
[00:27:25] Who's financing Maestro?
[00:27:27] Who's financing
[00:27:30] but will they Henry Sugar?
[00:27:32] You know, you know, like, I mean, to answer that question,
[00:27:36] will they continue with those?
[00:27:38] I don't know for how much.
[00:27:39] I don't know how much longer they can, because like a movie like The Grey Man,
[00:27:43] which is a movie he talked about.
[00:27:45] How do you get that money back?
[00:27:47] How do you get it back?
[00:27:48] I don't even know what that's like.
[00:27:50] Two hundred and fifty million dollars for a budget, which,
[00:27:52] I mean, the movie looks like garbage, but OK, congratulations.
[00:27:55] You you know, you try to you try it there.
[00:27:59] But like, how do you get that money back?
[00:28:01] Advertising promises building up a credit card debt
[00:28:05] that's bigger than anybody in Hollywood.
[00:28:06] At a certain point, things fall on June 14th.
[00:28:09] Your favorite emotions are back on the big screen in Disney and Pixar's
[00:28:12] Inside Out 2. It's time to greet your team.
[00:28:16] It's anger. Let me at them.
[00:28:19] Fear. Safety checklist is complete.
[00:28:21] Disgust. Ew, ew.
[00:28:23] Sadness. Oh no.
[00:28:27] Hello, I'm anxiety.
[00:28:28] I'm one of Riley's new emotions.
[00:28:30] Disney and Pixar's Inside Out 2.
[00:28:32] There's a part two. We're going.
[00:28:34] Ready PG. Parental guidance suggested.
[00:28:36] Only theaters June 14th.
[00:28:37] Get tickets now. And and what about Apple TV and the ones?
[00:28:41] The Amazon that have more of the unlimited cash
[00:28:44] because of their other side gigs, which are going pretty well.
[00:28:47] Will they be able to do Scorsese couple hundred million?
[00:28:50] I mean, do they want to?
[00:28:52] Yeah, I think we've had the projects.
[00:28:55] Well, as long as people are buying iPhones and iPads
[00:28:58] and you're buying your people are getting their
[00:29:02] buying new bookshelves set on Amazon.
[00:29:05] Yeah, because it's it's a it's a flex.
[00:29:08] It's a giant flex. And.
[00:29:12] The funny thing about Netflix is they've been
[00:29:15] they've been late to the party.
[00:29:17] Amazon, I mean, Apple's already can say
[00:29:20] and finance all their shows because they're like, hey, we had to lasso.
[00:29:26] Which was bigger than probably any Netflix comedy in the last
[00:29:30] 10 years, right?
[00:29:33] Hey, we had we had Coda, whether you like Coda or not.
[00:29:37] It beat the power of the dog head to head in the Best Picture battle.
[00:29:43] And it did.
[00:29:44] And that's just that's facts.
[00:29:46] I don't like saying that out loud, but that's just the truth.
[00:29:49] And yeah, they financed the Martin Scorsese movie.
[00:29:54] They would and 100 percent they would do it again in a heartbeat.
[00:29:57] And they're going to keep doing it.
[00:29:58] You think because because and they're also willing to work.
[00:30:03] They're willing to bend.
[00:30:04] They're willing to say, we know that our audiences want to see this movie
[00:30:10] on the big screen.
[00:30:13] And so we're going to do whatever we can
[00:30:16] to make Martin Scorsese or our audience is happy.
[00:30:19] They're listening.
[00:30:21] They're taking in the feedback.
[00:30:23] Amazon has a, you know,
[00:30:26] a big theatrical window before they go to the streaming platform.
[00:30:30] Netflix doesn't want to listen to that.
[00:30:32] And so then it confuses also to audiences and what to expect.
[00:30:39] And you have to be able to.
[00:30:42] You have to look at it through, I think, Pixar.
[00:30:45] Pixar is a perfect example of how to wean an audience back into expectations.
[00:30:50] So they were strictly doing only to streaming during the pandemic.
[00:30:56] Right. They had soul, which won them a boatload of Oscars.
[00:31:00] And then they did Luca and turning red.
[00:31:02] And people were getting upset because like, why are these movies
[00:31:05] not on the big screen as movies are going back?
[00:31:07] And they had a financial, they had a really financial failure
[00:31:11] with light year, which I mean, don't even get me started that movie.
[00:31:14] You know, yeah, another prequel or weird side world, whatever.
[00:31:18] But then so they had that
[00:31:22] the next year, which was last year, they had elemental
[00:31:26] and it didn't go and start off great at the box office,
[00:31:29] but it built and built and audiences slowly went back.
[00:31:33] Right. That's interesting, because in terms of this discussions
[00:31:36] that people have immediately after a weekend of bad box office,
[00:31:40] everyone was like Pixar is down for the count.
[00:31:43] And elemental is went up and then it just built up.
[00:31:45] And now I think the box office is impressive.
[00:31:48] It's one of the biggest hits of last year, too.
[00:31:51] There's no patience anymore either.
[00:31:53] No. So if we leave the streamers there and talk about the studios,
[00:31:58] how long will they be able to?
[00:31:59] Do you think that they're going to start stop giving these enormous
[00:32:04] budgets to movies like a Furiosa, which I hear.
[00:32:09] I don't know if someone is saying it or if it's really that they've put
[00:32:12] the brake on the next Mad Max movie because of this box office.
[00:32:17] Is that just someone will give him some will give him
[00:32:21] 100 million in light.
[00:32:22] But you think that those budgets for the studios who don't have
[00:32:26] a streaming component in their business, do they have to sort of start
[00:32:30] thinking over these huge budgets or will they still be taking the risk?
[00:32:35] I think that they have to look at the cost and the type of films
[00:32:38] that they're making, because when you look at like again.
[00:32:43] These movies are not cheap to make.
[00:32:46] These aren't like, you know, when you when you look back at like
[00:32:49] a movie like Saving Private Ryan, you know, like, God, that's movies, right?
[00:32:54] Or like what do you think of with Saving Private Ryan, Christian?
[00:32:56] You think of the the opening beat sequence, right?
[00:32:59] And you're like, my God, this is incredible.
[00:33:02] And you realize that movie was made for less than 100 million dollars
[00:33:06] and you go, holy hell, how they get away with that.
[00:33:08] How did Spielberg able to do it?
[00:33:10] It's because, oh, well, there's there is a thing called inflation
[00:33:13] and we have to we have to think about that.
[00:33:15] And the inflation is increasing not just for the not just for the consumer
[00:33:20] watching it, but also for the the place that's paying to make it.
[00:33:25] But yeah, I think there has to be.
[00:33:28] A look internally at the and not through some stupid AI model or
[00:33:35] through Instagram posts, it's got to be through.
[00:33:38] How are we using the resources?
[00:33:41] The two biggest movies again last year
[00:33:44] or two of the biggest movies last year were Barbie and Oppenheimer.
[00:33:50] And they were made for roughly around the same amount of money,
[00:33:54] Barbie a little bit more, but I think that was 140 was the final total.
[00:33:59] But Oppenheimer was made for 100 million dollars.
[00:34:02] So three hour it's a three hour epic.
[00:34:04] If you listen to the cast or Nolan talk about it, they were staying at
[00:34:08] the La Quinta Inn or the Holiday Inn Express in Santa Fe to make that movie.
[00:34:13] And look what it did like they put poured everything into the film.
[00:34:18] And that's the other thing, too.
[00:34:20] I think there needs to be trust in the filmmakers to be able to do that.
[00:34:25] But there also needs to be control by the studios to say we will give you this
[00:34:30] much, but we can't give you all of this.
[00:34:32] Like the great thing about Christopher Nolan is Emma Thomas having a producer
[00:34:38] to say this is what we can do or not going outside of these limits.
[00:34:43] And we're going to make this now.
[00:34:45] Look at look at where his career is now.
[00:34:47] He gets to do it.
[00:34:48] I mean, he already got to do whatever the hell he wants.
[00:34:50] Now you get definitely gets to do whatever
[00:34:52] the hell he wants probably for the rest of his life.
[00:34:54] And I think that I love George Miller and these movies.
[00:35:00] To be point blank honest, I think it's absolutely irresponsible
[00:35:07] for Warner Brothers to have given him money to make this movie because this
[00:35:12] is the Blade Runner 2049 of it all.
[00:35:15] These are cult movies that barely made any money, these Mad Max movies.
[00:35:18] And yet they're getting more and more expensive.
[00:35:21] And he cut corners this time like he could corners
[00:35:25] because he didn't want to like do it.
[00:35:28] Or what?
[00:35:29] No, he cut corners in terms of working with more CGI and different
[00:35:34] technologies in order to not make it be so not to have Kyle Buchanan
[00:35:38] write another book, you know what I mean?
[00:35:40] Of like more problems on the set.
[00:35:42] We want Kyle Buchanan.
[00:35:43] But who wouldn't want another book from Kyle?
[00:35:46] But that but that being said, you know,
[00:35:50] I mean, the Fall Guy being one hundred and forty million dollars,
[00:35:53] that used to be a 70 million 70 million, 80 million dollars.
[00:35:56] Saying that if you would have Glenn Powell, who's having a hell of a year,
[00:36:00] if you would have taken Glenn Powell instead of Ryan Gosling,
[00:36:03] you would have slashed the budget in half and it probably made the same amount
[00:36:07] of money and he's very charming.
[00:36:09] And I would have gotten green that though,
[00:36:13] I don't know. I'm just saying that they're pretty expensive.
[00:36:16] The talent to maybe there's everyone has to.
[00:36:19] I mean, Glenn Powers,
[00:36:21] I mean, Glenn Powell is technically going to be in an action film later
[00:36:24] this year, Twisters, and that's a 200 million dollar budget.
[00:36:28] So it's which is 60 million boarded
[00:36:31] the Fall Guy with Academy Award nominees in it.
[00:36:34] You know what I mean?
[00:36:34] So it's like, how do you stop?
[00:36:37] I understand. But something has to give.
[00:36:40] I mean, you have a school Paramount continue to be.
[00:36:43] I mean, will the studios?
[00:36:44] There's all these things that are happening that people are going to have
[00:36:48] to start thinking about what kind of movies are we making that are actually
[00:36:52] getting their money back?
[00:36:54] Well, I think the thing about it is.
[00:36:57] Is the mindset of the studios as always has already started to form.
[00:37:02] We've heard it on various podcasts and interviews and things like I listen to
[00:37:08] shot the Sean Finacy, who you've had on your show.
[00:37:10] And he had a great rundown earlier this week about and it was very measured,
[00:37:15] which that's the other thing, too.
[00:37:17] Our conversation and Sean's soliloquy
[00:37:21] this past week measured responses.
[00:37:24] The world has to start realizing, like, what is a hit and what isn't?
[00:37:28] And what's OK? What's not?
[00:37:30] You know, we grew up in, you know,
[00:37:33] he mentioned about the fact that the majority of these billion dollar movies
[00:37:37] have been happening over the last 15 years before that.
[00:37:40] The idea of a billion dollar movie was was like a miracle.
[00:37:45] And, you know, not every movie needs to make a billion dollars.
[00:37:49] And the idea that made it last year.
[00:37:51] Yeah, two made it.
[00:37:53] Well, yeah, two made it.
[00:37:54] And a third one almost made it, but not close.
[00:37:57] You know, like, you know, like 60 million off.
[00:38:00] And so you just kind of you kind of think about it and you're like,
[00:38:03] it's a very rare thing for a billion dollars to happen.
[00:38:06] It's very rare for half a half a billion.
[00:38:10] But, you know,
[00:38:13] I think that you have to look at it from a studio standpoint and say,
[00:38:18] are we making a bunch of IP?
[00:38:22] That is starting to get worn down,
[00:38:25] fatigued, our audience is not wanting to see anymore.
[00:38:28] So what's the response to that?
[00:38:30] It isn't to start making prequels.
[00:38:32] It's to start doing what they should have been doing for the last 10 years.
[00:38:37] Create new IP, create new things.
[00:38:42] People want to see things.
[00:38:44] People want to see original new things.
[00:38:45] Even though Barbie is technically built, you know, is based off a doll.
[00:38:49] It is new and original from those creatives.
[00:38:53] Oppenheimer is original experience.
[00:38:56] Yes, it was a sequel, but Avatar,
[00:38:59] the way of water was brand new worlds and brand new experiences.
[00:39:03] And where could you only see those, Christina, in the movie theater?
[00:39:06] You can't see those at home and you can try to replicate it all you want.
[00:39:10] But everyone will remember when I saw Barbie and when I saw Oppenheimer
[00:39:15] and when I saw this and when I saw that.
[00:39:17] You think about it.
[00:39:18] I talk about this all the time with my family.
[00:39:20] And they're like, yeah, I saw that that one thing on Netflix.
[00:39:23] And it takes them five to six minutes to remember what that thing is.
[00:39:27] But when they see it, they're like, oh, have you seen?
[00:39:30] But last year was like, you saw Oppenheimer, right?
[00:39:32] You saw Barbie. All those are great.
[00:39:34] Every single person saw those movies.
[00:39:37] But when I said a movie like
[00:39:39] May, December, they were like, I don't know what that is.
[00:39:43] I don't know what my story was.
[00:39:44] When did that come out? Is it out?
[00:39:47] No, it comes out in two weeks.
[00:39:48] Oh, it's not already now.
[00:39:49] Oh, well, you know,
[00:39:52] because it's funny how Mr.
[00:39:53] Sorrento's doesn't want to release the numbers on those movies,
[00:39:57] but wants to talk about the two movies that made two and a half billion
[00:40:02] dollars and say that because they'll gladly release the numbers for that.
[00:40:06] It's dumb.
[00:40:08] It's dumb arguments by them in the studios.
[00:40:10] It's just thing they have to
[00:40:12] stop shooting themselves in the foot like you want to make Tom Cruise movies.
[00:40:17] Cool. He should make a new movie
[00:40:19] because these Mission Impossible movies are getting too damn expensive.
[00:40:22] Indiana Jones, who in their right mind thought the de-aging technology was a
[00:40:26] smart move that cost them 300 million dollars?
[00:40:30] They got to take steps forward.
[00:40:32] And that might mean potentially working with some directors on passion projects
[00:40:39] or and taking it does require risk.
[00:40:42] But if the risk is original rather than.
[00:40:47] Like schlopp that nobody wants to see, you can at least build something over time.
[00:40:52] Like Dune is a perfect example.
[00:40:54] That movie released in twenty twenty one
[00:40:59] post pandemic people still getting their vaccines.
[00:41:01] It didn't make a ton of money.
[00:41:04] You know, I mean, it made a good amount, but it didn't.
[00:41:06] It made enough to be like to justify a sequel.
[00:41:08] And they had the day and day releases on the streaming platform.
[00:41:12] Right. On HBO Max.
[00:41:14] It's the highest grossing movie of the year.
[00:41:16] That sequel is the highest grossing movie of the year.
[00:41:18] If you give people new things, they'll go see those things.
[00:41:23] That's what I firmly believe.
[00:41:24] And a little more time in the theaters, I would say.
[00:41:27] Yeah. But what about this?
[00:41:29] Yeah. The studios yesterday,
[00:41:32] Sony head CEO Tony Vincicuera went out and said that films are too
[00:41:38] expensive, so now we're going to lean on support from AI.
[00:41:43] That's how they're going to cut costs.
[00:41:45] Well, I think people are going to stop working at Sony.
[00:41:47] I can tell you that
[00:41:49] also kind of
[00:41:52] kind of have to be careful there because like how much does that violate your
[00:41:55] contracts that you just signed with SAG and the WGA and what you're going to
[00:42:01] be doing at the negotiating table with IOTC probably later this year.
[00:42:05] But
[00:42:07] I can tell you super clear.
[00:42:09] Surround us had gave some very fuzzy answers about in the old times about
[00:42:14] I mean, you can just tell all of them are going to be doing a lot.
[00:42:18] No, because they're because
[00:42:20] yeah, because they're cheap.
[00:42:22] Because as much as much money that they that they're spending,
[00:42:27] they're also cheap like that's the thing too.
[00:42:29] Like a billionaire doesn't billionaires don't want to spend their money.
[00:42:32] It's their money.
[00:42:34] And so they're going to cut corners.
[00:42:36] And this is the ultimate cut corner, which is have.
[00:42:39] But at the same time, Sarandos did.
[00:42:41] He talked out of both sides of his mouth.
[00:42:44] He talked about the benefits of it.
[00:42:45] But then he's like, well, you can tell when a movie is AI.
[00:42:48] And I'm like, yeah, it's most of your action movies that's on your platform.
[00:42:52] Red Notice. You know what I mean?
[00:42:53] So I don't care how many minutes it was downloaded or whatever.
[00:42:57] It still sucked and nobody wanted to see a sequel.
[00:43:00] But what's interesting about Sony thing, it drives me nuts.
[00:43:06] And I have to tell you this story
[00:43:07] because I haven't been really told this story to anybody.
[00:43:10] So South by Southwest happened earlier this year.
[00:43:13] And before every screening, they do a recap of the day before.
[00:43:19] Right.
[00:43:20] And sometimes it's just like showing
[00:43:23] the big movie premiere that happened the day before.
[00:43:25] Well,
[00:43:27] I think it was Tuesday night or Monday night.
[00:43:30] They didn't have a premiere because
[00:43:32] they were giving away the awards for the for the festival.
[00:43:35] And so in the clip package
[00:43:38] was a bunch of people from the tech conference talking about the benefits of AI.
[00:43:44] I have not heard.
[00:43:47] The Paramount Theater be as angry
[00:43:51] about something, and that's to like 2000 people in a theater,
[00:43:56] booing the hell out of the festival that they are at for putting that crap
[00:44:03] up on the big screen, think about that.
[00:44:06] The idea of like you're a film festival
[00:44:09] and you are using this video to spread what happened the last couple of days.
[00:44:15] And what was funny was in the next video, the next day
[00:44:20] had a little bit more in there and it had the Daniels talking about their
[00:44:25] comments that they made earlier this year that went kind of, you know,
[00:44:28] that were very anti that were very anti AI.
[00:44:33] But the way that their language was cut out,
[00:44:36] it made it sound like they were pro AI and people were so angry about that.
[00:44:43] That and nobody talked about this.
[00:44:45] People were so angry about it, they
[00:44:48] couldn't believe that the guys who are like rock stars at South by Southwest
[00:44:53] because that's where everything everywhere all at once premiered
[00:44:56] and everything would are being twisted and people saw right through it.
[00:45:00] So people see right through AI.
[00:45:03] And so if I would tell the Sony
[00:45:05] president and I would tell Mr. Sarandos and I would tell anybody,
[00:45:08] people aren't stupid.
[00:45:11] Because the audiences are telling you with their money what they want
[00:45:16] and they're telling you what they don't want.
[00:45:19] And a lot of this stuff like I'm going to say it,
[00:45:24] if from John Krasinski looks like it was generated through AI,
[00:45:29] like that doesn't look like it's a real thing.
[00:45:31] Like nobody like you can show me all the behind the footage takes of Steve Carell
[00:45:37] in a booth and I'd be like, that's fake, all that's fake.
[00:45:40] And so I don't believe that this movie even exists.
[00:45:43] And that's and that's the end.
[00:45:44] So people see right through the fakeness of things.
[00:45:48] But their plan, I mean, it's their plan.
[00:45:51] It kind of backfire. It could backfire on them.
[00:45:54] I'll tell you this, the average film goer
[00:45:57] won't notice maybe.
[00:46:00] But if you tell them, if you don't tell them,
[00:46:05] because now like that's the thing, there was this big controversy or a little bit
[00:46:08] controversy of the fact that like Anya Taylor Joy went on the on on
[00:46:13] different chat shows and said, oh, yeah, we did use AI
[00:46:16] for like the little girl in Furiosa and everyone went like the hell you did.
[00:46:22] Like they were not happy about it.
[00:46:24] You know what I mean?
[00:46:25] Because one that I mean, it feels like you were duped.
[00:46:30] Like what's real, what's not.
[00:46:32] And it's like, well, these are movies, they're fake.
[00:46:34] It's like, no, people are behind it like real artists.
[00:46:38] And in, you know, you can't have AI
[00:46:41] generated things one day and then finance a Christopher Nolan movie the next.
[00:46:46] And I think what it's going to do, it's going to isolate these studios.
[00:46:50] It's like they're the ones that are
[00:46:51] doing the AI dribble and this is the one financing because like,
[00:46:54] you look at Universal like, yes, Fall Guy hasn't done well,
[00:46:58] but Donald Langley is doing OK, you know, I mean, she I saw her that night.
[00:47:03] She was enjoying the movie and then glad that everybody got to see it.
[00:47:06] And, you know, she's got Christopher Nolan.
[00:47:09] She's got Jordan Peele, you know, she's she's got great.
[00:47:12] She's doing great.
[00:47:13] She's got she's got she's doing honestly what Warner Brothers used to do,
[00:47:18] which is believe in the the the tour.
[00:47:22] And, you know, Warner Brothers has
[00:47:26] they have Villeneuve and they're going to try to get Nolan back.
[00:47:29] And they obviously still have they're going to have Clint Eastwood's last movie.
[00:47:32] They're going to have Joker, not that Todd Phillips or, you know,
[00:47:36] is a is an auteur, but he makes it that last movie made a billion dollars.
[00:47:39] So, you know, it's it's they have hits and everything.
[00:47:44] So yeah.
[00:47:45] And also to darling, she is she's got some wicked movies coming out.
[00:47:49] You know what I mean? So she'll be fine.
[00:47:51] Like, that's the thing also is like,
[00:47:53] I think back to James Gray's comments that he made two years ago or three years
[00:47:58] ago, whatever it was, where he talked about you have to have some.
[00:48:03] Some hits not work or, you know,
[00:48:05] you have to have some hits and you have to have some failures.
[00:48:08] It teaches you, but it's also it's a good thing.
[00:48:10] That's how it used to be.
[00:48:12] You know, not every movie made
[00:48:15] hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars.
[00:48:16] You have to take risks.
[00:48:18] That's what I'm worried about, just going back to sequels and prequels.
[00:48:22] And it's the risk movies that are making the billion dollars,
[00:48:26] be it a Barbie or past lives.
[00:48:29] Those are the movies, the big and small that are someone is passionate about.
[00:48:34] And to end this all on a positive note from my end,
[00:48:37] that's what I sort of started with,
[00:48:39] that I think that there are a bunch of movies out there
[00:48:43] continuously where you can feel that passion.
[00:48:45] And I mean from the studio execs, big and small as well, that they're really
[00:48:51] following their filmmakers, they're really letting them do what they
[00:48:54] want to do and they're putting their money where their mouth is.
[00:48:57] And then you see what that becomes of that.
[00:48:59] So for you, do you think we'll be celebrating cinema or are you as
[00:49:05] film Twitter looked a couple of days ago, it was like no one will ever go
[00:49:08] into the movies ever again, some Twitter was almost as bad
[00:49:13] as the wasteland and Mad Max.
[00:49:15] Like it was, it was, it was rough.
[00:49:19] You know me, I'm pessimistic when I need to be and I'm optimistic when I need
[00:49:24] to be and it's every issue is a case by case basis.
[00:49:28] I am still very optimistic because the studios are optimistic.
[00:49:34] They're all saying just give me the twenty twenty five and we'll be OK.
[00:49:38] And the slate for twenty twenty five is going to be enormous.
[00:49:42] And, you know, we're going to have.
[00:49:45] I mean, talk about ambition like, yeah, Warner Brothers, they they they gave George
[00:49:51] Miller one hundred and sixty million dollars for a Mad Max movie.
[00:49:53] So pretty cool.
[00:49:54] Also just gave PTA one hundred million dollars to make his next movie.
[00:49:58] So I don't think it's going away.
[00:50:00] You know, I mean, certain things, it's just like, will they be hits?
[00:50:04] God, I hope so. If not, hey, we still got them.
[00:50:07] You know what I mean?
[00:50:07] And the animated dribble or the the superhero movies, the Superman movie
[00:50:13] that they have coming out next year will balance out the books.
[00:50:16] You know what I mean?
[00:50:17] And I do agree with you.
[00:50:19] I mean, like you have to the thing that you have to celebrate is
[00:50:24] independent cinema, you know, movies like Challengers.
[00:50:28] And I saw the TV glow
[00:50:31] in these smaller films that have resonated with audiences and found
[00:50:35] audiences of a war, which was huge.
[00:50:38] You know, you know, it in June, too.
[00:50:42] Well, I'm not as high on the film as others was an enormous is an enormous hit
[00:50:47] and has is spawning a brand new franchise in front of our own eyes,
[00:50:51] which that's that's the kind of that's the blueprint is you have a director
[00:50:56] that's passionate about something, put that vision up on the big screen
[00:50:59] and have it be with sexy, amazing actors and craft people at their finest.
[00:51:06] And we're going to say sexy bacon was.
[00:51:10] Oh, yes.
[00:51:12] Well, I mean, yes.
[00:51:14] And the sexy bacon is that Lea Seydoux and Austin Butler scene.
[00:51:19] But but no, I'm optimistic because there's always going to be a place
[00:51:24] for him. But I think the thing that people have to do is stop jumping off the ledge
[00:51:30] every time a box office statistic comes out there.
[00:51:34] If it doesn't hit it or not, it's going to be OK.
[00:51:37] This is if you look at the slate, it's going to be it's going to be an up
[00:51:40] and down year, it's going to be really rough
[00:51:43] because the strike essentially caused another
[00:51:48] twenty twenty event for the studios.
[00:51:52] They had to move so much back or move things around.
[00:51:55] I mean, think about it, Christina.
[00:51:57] Dune was supposed to come out last year.
[00:52:00] So if you didn't have Dune, what would it look like in terms of hits?
[00:52:05] Godzilla versus Kong two.
[00:52:08] And that only made five hundred million because people were like,
[00:52:11] I already did this already. I don't need to do this again.
[00:52:13] So I think lean into if my call to the studios lean into creating new fun.
[00:52:21] Autor driven, expansive filmmaking, put the biggest stars on the planet in them
[00:52:27] and have the confidence to make them shine and take the risks that are needed
[00:52:33] because they 24 is doing that and they are thriving right now as a as a
[00:52:39] property, as a as a studio and they just won its fifth poem in a row.
[00:52:45] They know what they're doing over there.
[00:52:46] These smaller ones are going to be fine.
[00:52:48] I don't think that cinema is is going away.
[00:52:52] I think it just has to evolve and that changes with time.
[00:52:55] I mean, you know, the 80s was a rough time for not for the studios,
[00:53:00] but for independent filmmakers and then then it's upon the 90s.
[00:53:04] You know,
[00:53:05] we're living now in a post MCU at its strength world.
[00:53:09] And so how does that how do we then get back to,
[00:53:13] you know, what we were before that?
[00:53:15] Make some confident damn blockbusters.
[00:53:18] Make make confident blockbusters the way
[00:53:21] that Celine Song made past lives, make confident blockbusters the way Todd
[00:53:27] Field made tar if you can do that and not throw people under the bus or,
[00:53:33] you know, not derail the costs or anything or have film stars that are
[00:53:38] not film stars because there's some people that are like, OK, clearly you
[00:53:43] need to learn that these people are not movie stars and stop putting them in
[00:53:47] the biggest properties on the planet.
[00:53:48] If they can learn from those mistakes, this this thing's going to live on forever.
[00:53:53] So I'm optimistic and just just go see a movie like you don't have to take.
[00:53:57] Yeah. And I get that it's expensive.
[00:54:00] Yeah. Can I say one more thing?
[00:54:01] And I've never and I haven't been able to say this on any show,
[00:54:05] but it is something to to to to to to to speak about where we are at in
[00:54:11] terms of the consumer, because I think we've talked a lot about this through
[00:54:14] the eyes of the studios and what they need to do as consumers.
[00:54:20] We're going to consume things.
[00:54:22] It's tough out there.
[00:54:23] You know, inflation is in cost and the cost of living has gone
[00:54:27] astronomically high, especially in America, which is the one of the is
[00:54:32] like the second or first biggest market that studios tend to make content for.
[00:54:38] The thing that I think needs to come back
[00:54:41] is and that we kind of all forgot that disappeared during the pandemic
[00:54:47] is not just affordable movies and ticket prices.
[00:54:51] The dollar theater doesn't exist anymore.
[00:54:54] So what is the working man's medium,
[00:54:58] which is the movie theater, has become less and less that we need to as
[00:55:04] consumers and the studios need to realize that this is not this is not if you
[00:55:10] make things affordable and available
[00:55:14] for people to go see, because I guarantee you, if you had dollar theaters here
[00:55:17] where I'm living or around the country, people would go and see maybe if it's not
[00:55:22] a dollar there, maybe it's a five dollar movie theater.
[00:55:25] All right.
[00:55:26] And you put the fall guy in there right now.
[00:55:28] Bet you people go see it.
[00:55:29] I think so, too.
[00:55:30] Now everything I bet you people sure that's not not a streamer.
[00:55:34] I mean, like not everybody can afford
[00:55:36] per person a twenty dollar movie subscription from like Regal or AMC or
[00:55:43] Alamo Drafthouse, but even like then, like you're talking about like food.
[00:55:47] Like I remember going to Alamo Drafthouse
[00:55:50] originally and food there used to be very like it was like, oh, this is
[00:55:54] very affordable. I went recently and I foolishly ate there because I was like,
[00:56:01] well, I'm starving and this is a two and a half hour movie.
[00:56:03] I have to eat.
[00:56:04] And it was it was like more than a restaurant.
[00:56:07] And I didn't know.
[00:56:09] And I was like, this is not the quality of a restaurant.
[00:56:11] Like and so
[00:56:13] and I get that the theaters have to survive, too.
[00:56:16] So it's a weird microcosm.
[00:56:18] I think everybody overreacts like they always do.
[00:56:22] And you just need to take a deep breath.
[00:56:25] Maybe go outside, touch some grass,
[00:56:28] you know, I mean, see that everything's OK and then get your butt over a movie
[00:56:32] theater and then go inside and watch a movie and then go inside
[00:56:36] and put your feet up and watch a damn movie.
[00:56:38] That's all I have to say.
[00:56:39] All right.
[00:56:40] And so we have a lot of things to look forward to this year that we're
[00:56:43] going to be doing together and seeing movies together.
[00:56:45] So we're going to keep as I said in the beginning, we love movies and we're
[00:56:49] going to get at it and I got to see Megalopolis.
[00:56:53] Oh, I'm going to talk to you about that one.
[00:56:56] I am like the only one who talks about that one.
[00:57:00] I am dying to talk about that with you.
[00:57:03] I am like, because call me the minute you see it because
[00:57:09] so Francis, if you're out there, just just just let me see it.
[00:57:12] Put it up at my theater here.
[00:57:14] I want to see a buddy.
[00:57:15] I want to see it on IMAX at some point sometime.
[00:57:19] We got to get a U.S. distribution.
[00:57:21] God, if it's Netflix, good Lord.
[00:57:23] Anyway.
[00:57:24] Thank you so much, Ryan.
[00:57:27] And we'll talk again soon.
[00:57:29] Thank you so much, Christina.
[00:57:34] I am Anne Marie Kelly.
[00:57:36] Wild Precious Life is a podcast about
[00:57:38] dreaming big, digging in and connecting across distance, division and loss.
[00:57:43] In each episode, I talk with prize winning writers, musicians and wanderers
[00:57:47] who remind all of us how we can make the most of the time we have.
[00:57:51] So meet me here.
[00:57:52] Let's walk and talk and dream
[00:57:54] and discover what it means to be wild, precious and brave.