Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. Well, let's get through
Speaker 1: the main stage here at Bloomberg screen Time go into
Speaker 1: a conversation with hambla Abdy and Michael de Luca. They're
Speaker 1: the co chair and CEOs of Warner Brothers Motion Pictures Group.
Speaker 1: I want to start on the state of the movie
Speaker 1: business because you were two of the biggest cinophiles in
Speaker 1: the world, I'd say, and I was listening to an
Speaker 1: appearance you guys made on the SmartLess podcast earlier this year,
Speaker 1: and you were talking about how there are not enough
Speaker 1: movies being made and you're sort of I was struck
Speaker 1: because you guys run a movie studio that would seem
Speaker 1: to be within your power to decide how many movies
Speaker 1: you make, So why don't you and your peers make
Speaker 1: more movies?
Speaker 2: Well, we have made more movies, so you know are
Speaker 2: One of the first things we were tasked to do
Speaker 2: when we got to the studio was increased the output,
Speaker 2: and I think we increased it from I think when
Speaker 2: we got there it was four to six movies and
Speaker 2: we're up to twelve this year, heading towards eighteen hopefully,
Speaker 2: so we're doing our part. I feel like and one
Speaker 2: of the most amazing things. The reason we're so optimistic
Speaker 2: about our business is Warner Brothers achieved four billion in
Speaker 2: worldwide gross this year, the first time since twenty nineteen,
Speaker 2: so at least in terms of our studio, we're already
Speaker 2: at pre pandemic levels. But I think the most significant
Speaker 2: metric is we did it on nine less movies than
Speaker 2: twenty nineteen. We did it on eleven movies, and they
Speaker 2: had twenty shots at it, which I think shows that
Speaker 2: there's a robust theatrical audience just waiting for more movies
Speaker 2: to get made.
Speaker 3: They always talk about, you know, box.
Speaker 2: Offices down anywhere from twenty five to thirty percent, but
Speaker 2: there's also twenty five percent less movies right in the marketplace.
Speaker 2: So that's why we always feel like it's a it's
Speaker 2: a glass half full situation, and if there were more movies,
Speaker 2: you'd see that box office climb.
Speaker 1: Well. One of the reasons that I assume that the
Speaker 1: number of movies is down is how expensive it has
Speaker 1: become to make them. So, as someone who's not part
Speaker 1: of the sausage making process, why does it feel like
Speaker 1: every major studio release now costs two hundred million dollars.
Speaker 4: I don't think every.
Speaker 1: Weapons did not. But can we agree that the cost
Speaker 1: of making movies has gone up a lot?
Speaker 4: Sure, we can absolutely agree.
Speaker 5: I think the way we look at it is a
Speaker 5: diverse slate, right, And we look at different metrics and
Speaker 5: different size movies, and it's really about balancing the slates.
Speaker 5: So there's no one size fits all approach to budgeting
Speaker 5: of film. You have to meet with the filmmaker. You
Speaker 5: have to look at what the story is, who the
Speaker 5: audience is, what genre is. We share it with our
Speaker 5: teams around the world, and we all come up with
Speaker 5: the right size budget for that film. And it's really
Speaker 5: it really leads with being based on the vision.
Speaker 4: Of the filmmaker.
Speaker 1: Right. Okay, that does make me want to I wasn't
Speaker 1: going to get here yet, but I want to zoom
Speaker 1: ahead to the movie you just released one battle after another,
Speaker 1: Paul Thomas A Andason movie. Great movie. Everyone thinks it's,
Speaker 1: if not the front runner for Best Picture one of them.
Speaker 1: You gave one hundred and thirty five million dollar budget
Speaker 1: to a director who never had a movie gross one
Speaker 1: hundred million dollars. Can you walk me through how that
Speaker 1: worked in your the formula you were just talking.
Speaker 2: About not confirming that that's the budget. Okay, however to
Speaker 2: point take in that it's Paul's most expensive movie, I
Speaker 2: think when you know, when we all read it in
Speaker 2: this Pam set in our organization, you know, we are
Speaker 2: really big on sharing the script with our teams, both
Speaker 2: international domestic. Everybody who's got a stake in that movie's
Speaker 2: success gets to weigh in, and we arrive as many
Speaker 2: studios as all the studios do with a model that
Speaker 2: basically informs the green light process. So we read this
Speaker 2: two and a half years ago as a as a
Speaker 2: satirical action comedy with Leo, and you know, because it
Speaker 2: read like the masterpiece it is, we leaned in, like
Speaker 2: if we we set up the kind of you know,
Speaker 2: rigorous analysis that enables us to trigger a green light,
Speaker 2: but if it's a if it's a you know, a
Speaker 2: bold provocative swing, we're just our dna is to lean
Speaker 2: in and give it a shot.
Speaker 3: So Leo's comps kind.
Speaker 2: Of gave it the credibility to say, well, we can
Speaker 2: aim for the high case. But really what carried the
Speaker 2: day was just it read like the movie it is.
Speaker 2: It just read like a masterpiece and one of the
Speaker 2: overriding operating principles at the studio is to is to
Speaker 2: continue that legacy of Warren, whether it was Stanley Kubrick
Speaker 2: or Queen Eastwood or Ben Affleck. But get into these
Speaker 2: situations with the best filmmakers of the day and try
Speaker 2: to bring people, try to bring audiences or a star
Speaker 2: for originality, you know, new masterpieces, new modern masterpieces, and
Speaker 2: that's that's what we feel like Paul's given us.
Speaker 1: So we're going to set aside the masterpiece part of
Speaker 1: the conversation for a second. Do you think that the
Speaker 1: movie will be a commercial success?
Speaker 3: I do.
Speaker 2: I'm a believer. It's a marathon with this movie, not
Speaker 2: a sprint. I think it's going to lag out to
Speaker 2: a number that we'll be happy with.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but it's hard. We can't divorce.
Speaker 2: I'd be lying if I said we're divorcing it from
Speaker 2: the pride we have in it, and you know it's it.
Speaker 2: And also with Weapons and Centers, what those three movies
Speaker 2: say about the chances for original films to get made,
Speaker 2: you know, from the best directors working today.
Speaker 3: It's where Warner Brothers.
Speaker 4: Wants to be and it goes into our overall strategy.
Speaker 5: You know, when we met with David three years ago,
Speaker 5: we sat down and we said very clearly, let's bring
Speaker 5: the best storytellers to Warner Brothers.
Speaker 4: And that's what we've done.
Speaker 5: We've tried to do a mix of IP movies genre films.
Speaker 5: It's really about the balance of the whole slate, and
Speaker 5: you know, David us he's been so supportive in that.
Speaker 5: And I feel like this year our slate really, you know,
Speaker 5: shows what our mission is.
Speaker 1: Would you say that David has always been supportive, Yes,
Speaker 1: from day one? And well, okay, we got we have
Speaker 1: We have to address the fact that earlier this year
Speaker 1: he was out there meeting with people. It was he
Speaker 1: was not being very subtle about potentially looking for replacements
Speaker 1: for you.
Speaker 5: Listen, we can't we can't address the speculation and rumors
Speaker 5: and all that stuff. All I can say is, David,
Speaker 5: Mike and I had the privilege of seeing all these
Speaker 5: movies early. We knew what we had with the filmmakers
Speaker 5: and with these stories, and we just couldn't wait for
Speaker 5: audiences to see them. So we David was completely supportive
Speaker 5: of every film and of Mike and I and the
Speaker 5: choices we made.
Speaker 1: Well, you got re upped yesterday, So clearly when you
Speaker 1: go in a tear whatever your boss may or may
Speaker 1: not be thinking for some just ae strategy.
Speaker 2: Well, it got announced yesterday, but as it had been
Speaker 2: done before.
Speaker 1: The hot streak for the year I feel like started
Speaker 1: with Minecraft. Is that fair to say? For a long time,
Speaker 1: movies based on video games, TV shows based on video
Speaker 1: games didn't work, And that's totally flipped in the last
Speaker 1: couple of years. We just had David talking about about
Speaker 1: Call of Duty. What do you think has there been
Speaker 1: some change in culture as to why these movies are
Speaker 1: now working or is it.
Speaker 2: I think it all goes back to talent, you know,
Speaker 2: Like we don't. I think it's dangerous to traffic and
Speaker 2: blanket statements or any any genre, any adapting from any medium.
Speaker 2: So I don't know how other people do it, but
Speaker 2: we look at adapting from a video game the way
Speaker 2: you look at adapting from a book or a play
Speaker 2: or anything it's not a movie, and just try to
Speaker 2: apply the same basic rules of common sense. Do we
Speaker 2: have the right writer, Do we have the right writing team,
Speaker 2: do we have the right filmmaker. I think anything can
Speaker 2: become a great movie if the filmmakers are castwell got it.
Speaker 1: That was followed by Sinners Big Swing. Were you at
Speaker 1: any point nervous about how it was going to do?
Speaker 5: No, I mean, I think from the moment we read
Speaker 5: the script, Ryan is just a singular visionary filmmaker. The
Speaker 5: moment we read the script, we saw it on the
Speaker 5: page collaborating with him. I mean, I just think what
Speaker 5: this movie has meant to audiences and how it's ignited
Speaker 5: them in conversation. I mean, there was this amazing moment
Speaker 5: that happened over the course of the film. When it
Speaker 5: was released, there was an open letter written to the
Speaker 5: studio and to Ryan from a young man from Clarksdale, Mississippi,
Speaker 5: who drove ninety minutes twice to see the film because
Speaker 5: Clarksdale doesn't have a movie theater, so we brought a
Speaker 5: movie theater to Clarksdale, Mississippi, and we went down there
Speaker 5: for the weekend and we met members of the community
Speaker 5: and this young man who is an organizer, and it was, honestly,
Speaker 5: it was one of the most special moments of my career.
Speaker 5: I can't tell you the conversations that were had and
Speaker 5: the audience feeling that movie, feeling that music, meeting the
Speaker 5: musicians who live and who Ludwig and Ryan gathered for
Speaker 5: the you know, from the Delta Blues to create this movie.
Speaker 4: You can't take that away. That is the power of storytelling.
Speaker 1: You talk about wanting to be in business with the
Speaker 1: best filmmakers. We have Ryan coming on later today, So
Speaker 1: I'm curious what like you've worked with between the two
Speaker 1: of you, probably most of the best directors in Hollywood.
Speaker 1: What is it that sets Ryan apart from his peers.
Speaker 1: Is there something specific about him that you feel like,
Speaker 1: you know, we.
Speaker 2: Love all our children kind of a thing. But but
Speaker 2: I'll tell you, I'll tell you straight up. Ryan is
Speaker 2: all heart. And you know, he did a thing. We
Speaker 2: didn't think it was going to become a marketing tool,
Speaker 2: but he did a thing where he explained it was
Speaker 2: for code act. You know why he picked the film
Speaker 2: formats he picked and why. I mean, he's just talking
Speaker 2: about purfs and things that I should know. I mean
Speaker 2: I kind of know, but he makes it completely not
Speaker 2: only understandable, but he managed in an instructional thing for
Speaker 2: Kodak to connect with cinephiles of like, Hey, the subtext
Speaker 2: was I made this for you. I took the time
Speaker 2: to really pour over what would be the best presentation
Speaker 2: of this story for you with theatrical audience, and they felt, Wow,
Speaker 2: this guy made it for us.
Speaker 3: I'm going to go see it on a big screen.
Speaker 2: Ryan's ability to connect with his audience both in the
Speaker 2: material and then just talking about his movies is really
Speaker 2: unique to Ryan, and we're now making every director do it,
Speaker 2: even if they have to get training.
Speaker 1: One thing that was really well publicized leading up to
Speaker 1: the film's releases. In order to get the rights, you
Speaker 1: had agreed to give him ownership, I think twenty five
Speaker 1: years after the fact. Why do you think that became
Speaker 1: such a talking point and have you done that with
Speaker 1: other filmmakers previously.
Speaker 5: I think I just think there was an outsized spec
Speaker 5: you know, conversation about it because it was unique, but
Speaker 5: it was unique to this movie, and it was unique
Speaker 5: to Ryan's you know, to this deal. Think the importance
Speaker 5: of this movie and how it's affected audiences is what
Speaker 5: we should all be talking about, because, honestly, I went
Speaker 5: to the theater that opening weekend and seeing audiences on
Speaker 5: seventy MILIAMUIN or Imax.
Speaker 4: It's the greatest feeling in the world.
Speaker 1: Both of you talked about the codec video. One of
Speaker 1: the things that I think Mindcraft and Centers shared is
Speaker 1: they both developed a lot of momentum online which felt organic,
Speaker 1: and so I'm curious when it feels like a lot
Speaker 1: of things become hits almost beyond your control, how do
Speaker 1: you plan for that when you're thinking about green lights,
Speaker 1: when you're thinking about marketing, because you obviously can't factor
Speaker 1: in like, well, this one's going to go viral on
Speaker 1: TikTok and this one'st.
Speaker 3: Well, you know.
Speaker 2: The first one of the things Davids asked us with was,
Speaker 2: you know, even though we inherited the organization, what's the
Speaker 2: right balance for the era that we're in. So that
Speaker 2: involved a reorg of marketing and distribution. So when we
Speaker 2: elevated the next generation of marketing leadership at the studio,
Speaker 2: we talked.
Speaker 3: About virality a lot.
Speaker 2: We talked about where audiences are getting their movie advertising
Speaker 2: now and what the kindling is for each project to
Speaker 2: light those bonfires online and getting that core audience, whether
Speaker 2: it was the gamers on Minecraft or the African American
Speaker 2: audience on Sinners really White Hot over something you know
Speaker 2: that we knew they were going to like and being
Speaker 2: able to amplify that heat to the general audience really
Speaker 2: became the corner of the realm in our new marketing department.
Speaker 2: So while you can't plan for it, you can arrange
Speaker 2: the chess pieces to take advantage of it if it happens.
Speaker 1: Are we going to get sequels to either Minecraft or Sinners?
Speaker 2: You're definitely going to get a sequel to Minecraft. You know,
Speaker 2: Sinners is such a singular vision from a signature filmmaker,
Speaker 2: and it wasn't really set up to be an expanded universe.
Speaker 2: We just think it's again another cinematic masterpiece. We're lucky
Speaker 2: to have.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Cool. One more question about this year's slate. You have
Speaker 1: I think the only all of the horror movies to
Speaker 1: gross more than one hundred million dollars, and nothing else
Speaker 1: has worked at that level other than our movies are good?
Speaker 1: Can you give some explanation for why your horror movies
Speaker 1: have worked better than others, including those from some people
Speaker 1: who've had a lot of success in the in the
Speaker 1: recent history. Sure.
Speaker 3: I mean I got to call it.
Speaker 2: Richard Brenner, who pitched a perfect game for us this year,
Speaker 2: and his second Lieutenant Dave Newstetter, when we looked at
Speaker 2: the ip that Newline was sitting on, you know, reactivating
Speaker 2: the Final Destination franchise, you know, adding to the Conjuring
Speaker 2: universe or priorities.
Speaker 3: But we always try.
Speaker 2: To when we're doing legacy sequels, we think it's really
Speaker 2: important to innovate within the genre or innovate within the franchise.
Speaker 2: So I think one of the reasons they overperformed, aside
Speaker 2: from the fact that you know, we supercharged the marketing
Speaker 2: department with fresh thinking, is Final Destination wasn't just another chapter.
Speaker 2: It was an idea by John Watts, you know, from
Speaker 2: the Spider Man trilogy, and it's kind of a fun story.
Speaker 2: He had a first date with his with his soon
Speaker 2: to be wife at a Final Destination movie.
Speaker 3: So it was an.
Speaker 2: Incoming call that new and got John Watch was like, hey,
Speaker 2: do you mind if I come up with a story
Speaker 2: for Final Destination And they were like.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that'd be great.
Speaker 2: And then Zach and Adam who directed, brought this incredible
Speaker 2: sense of humor, and you know they did they did
Speaker 2: a real remember when they were when they were presenting
Speaker 2: to us of they worshiped the premise. Their approach to
Speaker 2: it was fresh and innovative, kind of give universal props
Speaker 2: for bringing that to Jurassic Park and through the Fast
Speaker 2: and Furious franchises. We think with franchises that are particularly
Speaker 2: long in the tooth, you really have to innovate within
Speaker 2: the genre. So I think Final Destination overperformed because of
Speaker 2: Zach and Adam and just the thinking that went into
Speaker 2: it from John Watts and Michael Chavez. With conjuring, he
Speaker 2: received the reins you know from from James Want and
Speaker 2: Jayson Blum and kind of became the creative clearinghouse and
Speaker 2: his path. I think the common element is none of
Speaker 2: them were phoned in. None of them were Oh it's
Speaker 2: a bunch of executives in a room saying milk that franchise.
Speaker 2: You know, it was talent first, So Michael's excitement, Zach
Speaker 2: and adams excitement. Audiences I think can tell when something
Speaker 2: is not prefabricated or phoned in, when it has a
Speaker 2: reason to be and we always think that's the filmmakers,
Speaker 2: so we were able to I think that's why those
Speaker 2: horror films overperformed. And then Zach is it. Kreiger is
Speaker 2: just a breath of fresh air for an audience. I
Speaker 2: still think that star for originality. He's just like a
Speaker 2: really exciting new presence.
Speaker 4: Yes, the director of Web Yeah, yeah, Weapons.
Speaker 5: I mean that was one of the best scripts I've read,
Speaker 5: and like probably last.
Speaker 2: And just the just the quality of it. Yeah, I
Speaker 2: think it was key to that movie overperforming.
Speaker 5: That's the other thing that's important is the script. You know,
Speaker 5: it all starts with the story, and it all starts
Speaker 5: with the script. And if it's on the page and
Speaker 5: you have the right filmmaker that approaches especially some of
Speaker 5: the IP with zero cynicism because they love the IP,
Speaker 5: they love these characters. I just think that magic comes
Speaker 5: together and that with the marketing is what makes it.
Speaker 2: Although, to go back to your earlier question to Pam's point,
Speaker 2: I think one of the reasons negative costs have climbed
Speaker 2: out of control. And this is just was my experience
Speaker 2: as a producer studios when they green light something without
Speaker 2: a lock script and you're writing or in production or
Speaker 2: got rivid preprint, and then you're fixing in posts to
Speaker 2: make a release date, you cost balloon. So if you
Speaker 2: can really be it's hard, But if you can really
Speaker 2: be disciplined about locking that script before green light and
Speaker 2: not having to have to face twenty thirty forty percent
Speaker 2: of the movie reshot and post, especially on a special
Speaker 2: effects movie, you can maintain some cost controls. We we
Speaker 2: lowered the average native costs at the studio from like
Speaker 2: you know, one sixty eight to one twenty eight or
Speaker 2: one oh six even this year, and it just takes discipline.
Speaker 1: We're going to ask the audience the question so that
Speaker 1: so that we don't have to make you choose between
Speaker 1: your children. Okay, but I'm still going to ask you
Speaker 1: for your thank you.
Speaker 3: It's very compassionate of you.
Speaker 1: Which director has had the best career? I guess that
Speaker 1: really depends on what is that? What is it are
Speaker 1: you talking about commercially? Are you talking about who's just
Speaker 1: made the best movies, who's made the most interesting range
Speaker 1: of movies.
Speaker 2: It's kind of fun to throw that up the dough
Speaker 2: and see how your audience will.
Speaker 1: Will get the answer. To get the answer, yes, we
Speaker 1: will see how the audience deals. I Like I said,
Speaker 1: I wasn't going to ask you a lot about M
Speaker 1: and A, but I do have to ask you, how
Speaker 1: are you guys feeling about the spin of your company
Speaker 1: and what is kind of what is the mood internally
Speaker 1: about the changes to come.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we're I mean, listen, we're focused.
Speaker 5: As you know, we announced earlier that we're splitting the
Speaker 5: company too into two different entities, and that's where we're
Speaker 5: focused on. And really nothing has changed the day to day.
Speaker 5: We're co CEO's of the movie business. We're planning our
Speaker 5: slates for twenty six, we're planning our slates for twenty seven,
Speaker 5: so nothing has changed, and we're feeling really excited.
Speaker 2: As you can imagine. You know, when there's a good
Speaker 2: run at a studio, morale is pretty high. So we
Speaker 2: have great morale at the studio right now. The team
Speaker 2: has clicked, you know, almost like a tribe or a family.
Speaker 2: It's been two years of transformation, and this slate was
Speaker 2: kind of the inaugural slate of the new Warner Brothers,
Speaker 2: so everyone's morale is very high.
Speaker 3: But as far as the moment we.
Speaker 2: Ran, you know, we just figured there's always going to
Speaker 2: be speculation and we just try to keep our heads
Speaker 2: down and stick to the job at hand.
Speaker 1: And what has the response been like internally when you
Speaker 1: have sort of constant headlines about the guy who is
Speaker 1: just here buying your company.
Speaker 4: You know, our north start, our north star is do
Speaker 4: the work.
Speaker 5: Keep your head down and do the work. There's always
Speaker 5: going to be speculation in our business. We're in a
Speaker 5: you know, a massive time of disruption, and everyone's going
Speaker 5: to constantly be saying, what's going to happen next, who's
Speaker 5: going to be there, who's you know, you can't focus
Speaker 5: on that.
Speaker 4: You have to focus on the work.
Speaker 5: And I think what's so exciting about Warner Brothers right now,
Speaker 5: even though it's an over one hundred year old company,
Speaker 5: we all approach it with like startup energy. So it's
Speaker 5: just it's actually a really great time to be making
Speaker 5: movies and TV.
Speaker 2: Our teams, you know, have our our teams are used
Speaker 2: to it because it's you know.
Speaker 1: It's this company has been bought and soul.
Speaker 2: Right or some of the some of the inherited Warner people,
Speaker 2: you know, understand this feeling. But to Pam's point about
Speaker 2: startup energy, when when when we started to work for David,
Speaker 2: you know, his one of his edicts to us is,
Speaker 2: you know, challenge all assumptions. You know, the business has
Speaker 2: to transform, it has to adapt to the moment we're in.
Speaker 2: And we talked about Moneyball a lot you know, because
Speaker 2: Billy Bean in that movie and in the book was
Speaker 2: all about adapt or die. So the company right now
Speaker 2: has been battle tested and it has been challenging assumptions
Speaker 2: for two years. So we're heading as far as the
Speaker 2: day to day like we're heading for that split. That's
Speaker 2: the course that David has charted. And people trust David
Speaker 2: because this whole slate strategy, this whole diversified slate, the
Speaker 2: label strategy, getting DC up on his feet, getting new line, pumping,
Speaker 2: getting animation which comes online for us next year, pumping.
Speaker 2: We still think it's the winning strategy and he was
Speaker 2: really the author of that for us.
Speaker 1: Can we get the poll results back up there for
Speaker 1: one second, just because it looked like Jim Cameron was
Speaker 1: the big winner, followed by Pta. Okay, I also have
Speaker 1: an O bomb back last on that list. Note, but
Speaker 1: you have a right a movie coming out early next year,
Speaker 1: I believe, which is the Emerald Federl Bobbie movie Wuering Heights,
Speaker 1: if memory serves you won that in a sort of
Speaker 1: competitive auction against Netflix had a bigger bid, and Netflix
Speaker 1: did not offer a theatrical release. Why do you think
Speaker 1: they still don't embrace theaters? And does that help you
Speaker 1: when you're competing for projects.
Speaker 5: I can't speak to their strategy because obviously we don't
Speaker 5: work there. I just know that it's a choice for filmmakers,
Speaker 5: and I think both theatrical and streaming they can coexist.
Speaker 5: They're just different offerings and a different experience. And I
Speaker 5: think it really comes down to the filmmakers and where
Speaker 5: do they see the best way to view their film.
Speaker 5: And I think I'm withering. Emerald wanted a global theatrical release.
Speaker 5: It is an epic love story and she wanted to
Speaker 5: She just chose, and Hear and Margo chose that they wanted,
Speaker 5: you know, the big theatrical release, and that's show up
Speaker 5: in theaters first and then go down through its different windows.
Speaker 4: And that's how it ended up.
Speaker 1: Do you think you could ever work at a company
Speaker 1: that didn't put its movies in theaters us?
Speaker 2: Personally, to be honest with you, I've thought about this.
Speaker 2: I've thought about this just as a life choice before
Speaker 2: I went to work for MG. When I was when
Speaker 2: I was a producer, just at that point in my
Speaker 2: career as a producer, I was doing more series than features.
Speaker 2: And I think even though I didn't admit it to myself.
Speaker 2: I think personally, I don't think I want to be
Speaker 2: around movies unless they're going to movie theaters. I think
Speaker 2: if I went back to producing and I was engaging
Speaker 2: with streamers who weren't offering theatrical releases, I'd probably be
Speaker 2: doing a lot of series. Yeah, a very personal, just
Speaker 2: personal feeling.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I feel the same.
Speaker 5: I just I go to the movies almost every weekend,
Speaker 5: my daughter and my husband and I.
Speaker 4: It's something we love to do.
Speaker 5: There's nothing like it, you know, There's nothing like sitting
Speaker 5: in a theater and laughing and crying and just experiencing
Speaker 5: something communally.
Speaker 4: So I probably feel the same as Mike.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're gonna do some some quick fun movie questions
Speaker 1: to end. There's a lot of discussion about the dearth
Speaker 1: of new movie stars. Who do you think are the
Speaker 1: three young actors that can open a movie right now?
Speaker 2: Smithy Schallome, Smthey Schallamy, Lawrence, I love, Florence Pugh's and
Speaker 2: Gaya ers Diakinson.
Speaker 3: I think is a rise.
Speaker 2: Like I think there's actually a great crop of new talent.
Speaker 2: I think young moviegoers want to create their own movie stars.
Speaker 1: Yeah, are comic book movie is on the decline.
Speaker 3: God, I hope not.
Speaker 2: She knows I'm a giant conflict nerd, and I still
Speaker 2: I have my dull collection and my kid my childhood collection.
Speaker 3: I let my mother throw out.
Speaker 4: Any You can't stump him on any question about it.
Speaker 2: I don't I agree with James gunn. I don't think
Speaker 2: there's super irri fatigue. I think there's mediocre movie fatigued.
Speaker 2: So I'm very gunshy of blanket statements.
Speaker 3: But I thought what he.
Speaker 1: Did, wouldn't that mean that every superhero movie getting released
Speaker 1: right now that isn't spider Man is mediocre?
Speaker 3: No?
Speaker 2: But I do think the bar for innovating within the
Speaker 2: genre is high, because you could have a good movie
Speaker 2: and you could be mediocre only because that movie has
Speaker 2: been made many times before.
Speaker 3: You know it could be a good example of itself.
Speaker 2: But if you're not innovating within the genre, you know,
Speaker 2: which I think is a high bar. We all have
Speaker 2: to clear on all kinds on every movie, but especially
Speaker 2: in a movie that in a genre that's been You've
Speaker 2: had a lot of it over the last ten years.
Speaker 2: The burden is to innovate. And I think what James
Speaker 2: did with Superman, you know, going back to the DNA
Speaker 2: of what made the character popular in the first place
Speaker 2: was kind of innovative because we've only had the dour
Speaker 2: version for so long.
Speaker 1: Because you're a comic book I do have a favorite
Speaker 1: comic book movie.
Speaker 3: I Love All My Children again.
Speaker 2: But I was thirteen when Donner's Superman came out, and
Speaker 2: that was really the first big screen treatment of a
Speaker 2: comic book character. And in those days, you know, being
Speaker 2: a comic book fan wasn't hoity toity the way it
Speaker 2: is now, Like you would get picked on and beaten up.
Speaker 2: So when that movie came out, it was like the
Speaker 2: number one movie.
Speaker 3: It was very validating and has stayed with me.
Speaker 1: I know you don't like blanket statements, but we're going
Speaker 1: to go with a couple more. Will will comedies work
Speaker 1: in theaters at any play the game?
Speaker 4: I believe they can. I'm in our comedy tell.
Speaker 5: In fact, we just started shooting a comedy on Monday
Speaker 5: that Jonah Hill wrote and he's directing, and him and
Speaker 5: Kristen Wiger starring as these overprivileged brothers and brother and
Speaker 5: sisters who get cut off from their parents and it's
Speaker 5: hysterical and we just started on Monday.
Speaker 1: You told me about that movie, and then I looked
Speaker 1: at the release late for next year, and I got
Speaker 1: very nervous that its stated against the Odyssey.
Speaker 2: Oh, I think it's perfect that we were hoping for,
Speaker 2: like a repeater Barbenheimer.
Speaker 4: We had a good time with Barbenheimer.
Speaker 1: What is a movie that either one of you made
Speaker 1: that you feel didn't get as much petit as it
Speaker 1: should have.
Speaker 2: Well, look, this is very personal. You're probably all going
Speaker 2: to go, what was that movie? What is he talking about?
Speaker 2: We made a movie called Serrano during the Pandemic for
Speaker 2: MGM that you're director with Peter dinkwish that I just
Speaker 2: cry through and love and I love all the music,
Speaker 2: and I was really sorry we couldn't do better by
Speaker 2: that movie.
Speaker 1: Last question, do you feel that movies are as central
Speaker 1: to culture today as they were when you started your careers.
Speaker 4: Absolutely.
Speaker 5: I think it's harder to engage the audience today than
Speaker 5: maybe in the nineties when I started. But I think
Speaker 5: when you have that that storm that comes of a
Speaker 5: great filmmaker, a great story and kindling that you can
Speaker 5: ignite with marketing.
Speaker 4: I do think it pierces the culture.
Speaker 5: I think we've seen that this year, over and over again,
Speaker 5: whether it was Minecraft or Sinners or Weapons or even
Speaker 5: Paul's movie.
Speaker 4: Again, I went to the theater and went to.
Speaker 5: The Vista to watch Paul's movie in VistaVision and show
Speaker 5: it to my daughter last weekend for the first time,
Speaker 5: and it was like being in a rock concert.
Speaker 4: The way it played. It was thrilling.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'll go one better.
Speaker 2: I think it's a public health service that we provide
Speaker 2: because it's not a business.
Speaker 3: Absolutely anything.
Speaker 2: Today when we're David has TCM playing in his office
Speaker 2: twenty four to seven. You know, all we do is
Speaker 2: talk about movies all the time, and we talk about
Speaker 2: their empathy machines when you go into a theater, when
Speaker 2: you get off your couch, because let's face it, like,
Speaker 2: is life better if you isolate more? No, it's better
Speaker 2: when you go out and feel some collective humanity. So
Speaker 2: when you're in a theater and you're in Minecraft, or
Speaker 2: you're in Centers, you're in any of our movies and
Speaker 2: people are laughing at the same joke or crying at
Speaker 2: the same heartbreak, you feel connected.
Speaker 3: And that's a good thing and we should have more
Speaker 3: of it.