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Speaker 1: Welcome to Daily Variety, your daily dose of news and

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Speaker 1: analysis for entertainment industry insiders. It's Monday, March twenty third,

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty six. I'm your host, Cynthia Lyttleton. I am

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Speaker 1: co editor in chief of Variety alongside Ramin Setuda. I'm

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Speaker 1: in La. He's in New York, and Variety has reporters

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Speaker 1: around the world covering the business of entertainment. In today's episode,

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Speaker 1: in our box office segment, we'll hear from Variety's Brent

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Speaker 1: Lang Project Hail Mary and Ryan Gosling delivered the goods

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Speaker 1: for Amazon MGM, notching the year's biggest opening so far,

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Speaker 1: and Variety correspondent Noman Rama Chandron joins us from Hong

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Speaker 1: Kong as he wrapped up his coverage of Asia's biggest

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Speaker 1: content market, Hong Kong Film Mart. But before we get

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Speaker 1: to that, here are a few headlines just in this

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Speaker 1: morning that you need to know. Here comes the Yellowstone

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Speaker 1: spin off Dutton Ranch. Paramount Plus has set May fifteenth

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Speaker 1: as the premiere date for the series, starring Kelly Riley

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Speaker 1: and Coolhauser. A new teaser is out to day. CBS

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Speaker 1: has renewed its latest Dick Wolf series CIA for a

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Speaker 1: second season. Bowen Yang and Matt Rodgers have re upped

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Speaker 1: their deal with iHeartMedia to host The Lost Culturista's podcast.

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Speaker 1: The show is part of Will Ferrell's Big Money Player's

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Speaker 1: podcast network, which flows through iHeart. There's big drama going

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Speaker 1: on behind the scenes in France at Gaumont, one of

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Speaker 1: the world's oldest film companies, is in a fight with

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Speaker 1: minority shareholders. French regulators are telling the Sidu family that

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Speaker 1: controls the company to buy out those minority shareholders as

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Speaker 1: the company faces dlisting in France. My great colleague Elsikaslassi

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Speaker 1: has the story. All of these stories and so much

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Speaker 1: more can be found on Variety dot com Right now

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Speaker 1: and now it's time for conversations with Variety journalists about

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Speaker 1: news and trends in show business. If it's Monday, we're

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Speaker 1: talking box office. Variety Executive editor Brent Lang joins us

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Speaker 1: to talk about why this week's number one, two, and

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Speaker 1: three finishers all reflect interesting trends that we've been tracking

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Speaker 1: at the Turnstiles, Brent Lang, thank you so much for

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Speaker 1: joining me too talk about the box office.

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Speaker 2: Thanks for having me.

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Speaker 1: Well, it was a big weekend. I think there feels

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Speaker 1: like there's a lot of people breathing a big sigh

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Speaker 1: of relief that Ryan Gosling was able to open Project

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Speaker 1: Hail Mary in a very big way.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: I think there's a lot of happiness at the House

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Speaker 3: of Bezos because this was a film that Amazon MGM

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Speaker 3: really needed to deliver, and they needed it to deliver

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Speaker 3: in a big way, and I think it had exceeded

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Speaker 3: their expectations. It made eighty point six million dollars, which

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Speaker 3: is the best opening of the year. I believe it's

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Speaker 3: one of the best ever openings for a non franchise

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Speaker 3: original film, and it comes at a time when that

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Speaker 3: company has really struggled to figure out a consistent strategy

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Speaker 3: for itself theatrically. But it's kind of doubling down now.

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Speaker 3: It bought MGM for eight billion or so a few

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Speaker 3: years ago, and with it got a catalog of films

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Speaker 3: and projects that were in development, including Projectail Mary. Amazon

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Speaker 3: MGM has had a number of different iterations when it

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Speaker 3: comes to film, and it's never really figured out who

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Speaker 3: it wants to be when it grows up, and I

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Speaker 3: think this kind of points it in a more populist,

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Speaker 3: popcorn direction. And that's something that really hasn't been able

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Speaker 3: to achieve as yet.

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Speaker 1: Rebecca Rubin our Box Office Stalwart states flatly that this

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Speaker 1: is Amazon MGM's best opening at the box office ever.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely by a long shot too. I think the previous

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Speaker 3: one was Creed three.

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Speaker 1: You mentioned that Project Hail Mary came through the purchase

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Speaker 1: of MGM in twenty twenty two. Basically, we have Michael

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Speaker 1: de Luca and Pam Abdy to thank for Project Hail

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Speaker 1: marying into the pipeline.

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Speaker 3: They put that into the pipeline when they were basically

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Speaker 3: hired to help make MGM more attractive to a buyer,

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Speaker 3: and they did a pretty good job of it. They

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Speaker 3: got a pretty great price for that company, and they

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Speaker 3: put a lot of projects in motion. I think this

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Speaker 3: was one of the sexiest ones. But I interviewed Drew Goddard,

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Speaker 3: who wrote the screenplay, earlier this week and I asked

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Speaker 3: him was he concerned about this, and he said he

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Speaker 3: was extremely concerned because he's lived through several mergers now

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Speaker 3: there's been a lot of consolidation in Hollywood, and he's

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Speaker 3: seen a lot of his projects come and go as

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Speaker 3: new buyers come on board.

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Speaker 1: Holly Original Material This is really important. I love the

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Speaker 1: detail of that. The origin story of Project hil Mary

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Speaker 1: as a feature goes back to MGM and a different

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Speaker 1: De Luca and Abdi regime. Brent, how much do you

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Speaker 1: think the Ryan gosling of it all brought people to

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Speaker 1: theaters his name above the title in this concept, I think.

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Speaker 3: The whole idea of movie stardom has changed a little bit.

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Speaker 3: You know, when I grew up in the nineteen nineties,

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Speaker 3: it was enough to have Julia Roberts or Tom Hanks

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Speaker 3: or Tom Cruise in a film. Their name above the

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Speaker 3: title guaranteed a certain number at the box office. They

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Speaker 3: were the definition of bankable stars. Ryan Goslin is not

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Speaker 3: exactly like that. He's definitely had films that did very well,

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Speaker 3: like Barbie and like This and La La Land. He's

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Speaker 3: also had a lot of films that did not do

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Speaker 3: particularly well. Last Summer's The Fall Guy is a good

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Speaker 3: example of that. Blade Runner too. But when he's cast right,

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Speaker 3: people really respond. And one of his great gifts is

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Speaker 3: he has a nice sense of humor, and when that

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Speaker 3: kind of comes through, it seems to really work. And

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Speaker 3: I think there was a likeness to his acting in

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Speaker 3: this that came through in the trailers. There's just a

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Speaker 3: compelling screen presence there. He's a real master, and it's

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Speaker 3: kind of a bravura performance. I mean he is acting

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Speaker 3: alongside this alien that's called Rocky in the film, and

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Speaker 3: he's kind of looks like the love child of like

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Speaker 3: a boulder and a spider.

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Speaker 2: I mean, he has no features.

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Speaker 3: He talks in whale songs, and Ryan Gossing is such

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Speaker 3: a good actor that it works like you actually kind

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Speaker 3: of believe this friendship. So I think this was just

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Speaker 3: a really good example of the right actor with the

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Speaker 3: right project, and that resulted in some pretty fantastic ticket sales.

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Speaker 1: So I would say that this big opening Cement's Andy Weir,

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Speaker 1: the author of Project Hail Mary as a hot shot novelist.

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Speaker 1: He also wrote The Martian, which opened very big and

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Speaker 1: got a lot of acclaim especially for that kind of movie.

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Speaker 1: I would imagine that his price.

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Speaker 2: Just went up.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I think his next book is going to get

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Speaker 3: a pretty monster sale. I'm sure whenever that comes out,

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Speaker 3: it'll be optioned immediately and there'll be a big, heated bidding.

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Speaker 1: More well, very good news for the folks at Amazon MGM.

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Speaker 1: There's joy in Culver City this morning.

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Speaker 2: Well, so the theater.

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Speaker 3: Owners are very relieved because Amazon MGM has committed to

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Speaker 3: releasing I believe thirteen or fourteen movies a year.

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Speaker 2: That's extremely important.

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Speaker 3: Because there aren't enough movies in theaters right now, and

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Speaker 3: with Warner Brothers probably getting sold to Paramount although they

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Speaker 3: say they're going to make thirty movies, people really don't

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Speaker 3: believe they're going to have the same kind of output

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Speaker 3: as they did when Warner's operated independently from Paramounts. So

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Speaker 3: if Amazon could come in and kind of help fill

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Speaker 3: that hole, that really could be critical for the exhibition industry.

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Speaker 1: For sure. Amazon has the pieces in place, and two

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Speaker 1: of those big pieces are Sucral and Courtney Valenti running

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Speaker 1: marketing and production and just the understanding of how to

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Speaker 1: open a big movie like this.

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Speaker 3: Both of those people are also an example of you know,

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Speaker 3: neither one of them was laid off exactly, but they

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Speaker 3: they brothers. The changes there the tunnel that that studio

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Speaker 3: has experienced meant that both of those very very talented

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Speaker 3: executives went elsewhere, and it just is sort of a

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Speaker 3: reminder of what Warner Brothers. Because of really the last

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Speaker 3: few years of chaos over there has lost, and that

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Speaker 3: is you know that their loss is MGM and Amazon's

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Speaker 3: gain because those two women are extraordinarily talented people.

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Speaker 1: That's all the more reason why this opening is very

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Speaker 1: is very heartening. So it's so interesting this week the

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Speaker 1: number two and number three place films at the box office.

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Speaker 1: Both are also really indicative of very interesting trends and

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Speaker 1: things that we've talked a lot about here on our

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Speaker 1: Monday box office segments Hoppers, this movie is clearly hanging in,

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Speaker 1: families are enjoying it, and again, a holy original property

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Speaker 1: like this is very got to be a terrific result

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Speaker 1: for Pixar.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely, and I think the other good news here is

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Speaker 3: that Pixar has, after really struggling with its budgets, figured

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Speaker 3: out a way to make these films a little more efficiently.

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Speaker 3: I think this movie cost one hundred and fifty million,

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Speaker 3: which is still a lot of money, but these these

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Speaker 3: films traditionally were costing upwards of two hundred million, so

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Speaker 3: that puts this movie and a much better position to

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Speaker 3: be profitable.

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Speaker 1: Number three also could not be more kind of in

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Speaker 1: the cross currents of our world and what we're seeing

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Speaker 1: change and cover and Durandar to the Revenge, an Indian

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Speaker 1: action epic that played at nine hundred and eighty seven

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Speaker 1: locations according to Rebecca Rubin's report, and it earned an

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Speaker 1: astounding nine point five million, strong enough to be number three.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, in a way as impressive as Project

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Speaker 3: Help mary As and it is very impressive. This is

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Speaker 3: in some ways even more impressive because it's just kind

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Speaker 3: of came out of nowhere. I mean, that is not

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Speaker 3: a very large theater count. The film itself, I think

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Speaker 3: is almost four hours long. So this shows that there

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Speaker 3: is a real passionate base out there for Bollywood and

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Speaker 3: extremely impressive number. I mean it ended up out grossing

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Speaker 3: the sequel Already or Not, which had a much more

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Speaker 3: kind of robust traditional marketing campaign.

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Speaker 1: Right that was the horror pick Ready or Not to

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Speaker 1: Here I come that came in in fourth place, Which

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Speaker 1: would you say, was that a little underwhelming?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? I think that's a little disappointing.

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Speaker 3: I think they were expecting a little better at I

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Speaker 3: think the movie cost about twenty million, so it's not

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Speaker 3: an incredibly expensive film given that it's in the horror

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Speaker 3: genre and horror doesn't sort of stick around.

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Speaker 1: Back to durand R two though. I just wanted to

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Speaker 1: point out that and from talking to Nomen Rama Chandron,

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Speaker 1: our great correspondent who covers Asia streaming's ability to make

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Speaker 1: Bollywood titles and other aspects of the Indian marketplace make

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Speaker 1: those titles widely available outside of India in the US

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Speaker 1: has really stoked interest in a lot of these enduring

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Speaker 1: franchises that people just wouldn't have had the chance to

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Speaker 1: see before. Now they're available, and so theatrical releases can

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Speaker 1: really become like events. We're about to hear from Nomen

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Speaker 1: Rama Chandron, who's going to have reporting for us from

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Speaker 1: on the ground at Hong Kong Film Mark. Brent, thank

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Speaker 1: you so much for helping us interpret and chop through

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Speaker 1: all that's happening at the box office. Thanks for having me,

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Speaker 1: and now we turn to Nomen Rama Chandron. He spent

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Speaker 1: the past week in Hong Kong covering the Film Mark.

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Speaker 1: Everybody's talking about Ai China's growing muscle and entertainment and

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Speaker 1: of course micro dramas. Nomen Rama Chandron, thank you so

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Speaker 1: much for joining me from Hong Kong Film Ark. Hi

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Speaker 1: Cynthia Noman, I know you are a regular at this

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Speaker 1: event set the scene for us and give us a

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Speaker 1: sense of the scope of the event.

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Speaker 4: The Hong Kong Filmmat is held at the Hong Kong

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Speaker 4: International Convention and Exhibition Center. It's a massive, wavy building

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Speaker 4: that you usually see on any picture postcard tourist images

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Speaker 4: of Hong Kong, and the images are taken from the sea.

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Speaker 4: It's on the Hong Kong Harbor and it's massive. Along

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Speaker 4: with the convention Center, there are two five star hotels

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Speaker 4: attached as well, so there are people they go and

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Speaker 4: do their breakout meetings there, and it's got restaurants, training rooms,

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Speaker 4: and obviously the massive men studio floor. So you kind

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Speaker 4: of feel d waffed by it all because you're so huge.

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Speaker 1: There have been so many stories and so many headlines

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Speaker 1: coming out of it. Who attends. It's film companies that

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Speaker 1: are showing off their wares and their upcoming projects. Is

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Speaker 1: it producers that are shopping for deals? Is it a

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Speaker 1: mix of all of that?

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Speaker 4: The kind of people who attend are I mean the

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Speaker 4: filmat is a film in name only because now it

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Speaker 4: covers up the plateaua of entertainment, whether it's a film, television,

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Speaker 4: streaming and the big buzzword in Asia as microdramas as well,

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Speaker 4: and there are producers exhibiting their new whees. There are

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Speaker 4: people trying to sell existing a product. There are people

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Speaker 4: that buy products for their respective territories. So it's a

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Speaker 4: complete ecosystem under one roof.

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Speaker 1: What are some of the themes? What are people talking

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Speaker 1: at this market?

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Speaker 4: The biggest buzzword in this market is AI, which is

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Speaker 4: also the subject of many of the conferences, and in fact,

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Speaker 4: one corner of the Hong Kong Convention Center is labeled

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Speaker 4: as an AI hub where people talk about what's happening

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Speaker 4: with AI. And the conversation in Asia, which I've been

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Speaker 4: observing for the last two years is that obviously AI

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Speaker 4: is here to stay. No one is talking about the

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Speaker 4: ethics of AI or whether it'll lead to job losses.

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Speaker 4: They have accepted it as a tool as a part

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Speaker 4: of their lives, and everyone says that AI will only

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Speaker 4: enhance workflows and it will not get rid of human beings.

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Speaker 1: Is anybody talking realistically about producing a television series or

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Speaker 1: a movie largely with AI?

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Speaker 4: People are already producing full length features with AI. We

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Speaker 4: wrote about a Korean project called Raphile, which is not

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Speaker 4: set in Korea, it's set in Europe, and it's eighty

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Speaker 4: minutes long. It's getting a theatrical release.

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Speaker 2: In Korea in May.

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Speaker 4: AI is most prevalent in micro dramas as well because

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Speaker 4: it's easy to create two or three minute segments, and

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Speaker 4: many of the micro drama companies are using AI as

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Speaker 4: a test tool, so they'll create ten episodes, ten two

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Speaker 4: minute episodes of microdrama and if it goes down well

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Speaker 4: with the audience, then they shoot the rest of the

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Speaker 4: episodes with human beings.

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Speaker 1: You're in Hong Kong, so there's probably a big Chinese

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Speaker 1: presence at this event.

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Speaker 4: All the major players are here and China is the

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Speaker 4: dominant presence here. There are three hundred and fifty five

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Speaker 4: Chinese companies here and sixty six Hong Kong companies, plus

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Speaker 4: a fifty odd from Japan, Korea, Thailand and so on.

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Speaker 4: And there is a strong European delegation as well. EUONI

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Speaker 4: France has a both and there's a UK presence because

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Speaker 4: with the Prime Minister Kostama visiting China earlier this year,

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Speaker 4: he wants to apart from business ties, he wants to

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Speaker 4: foster cultural ties with China, which means the business of

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Speaker 4: entertainment and to that end of British citizens don't need

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Speaker 4: a visa to enter China anymore, so that is seen

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Speaker 4: as a huge plus point in the UK China trade.

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Speaker 1: And let me close by asking you, is there anything

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Speaker 1: coming out of this market, any story you're eager to

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Speaker 1: pursue or project you're eager to see come to fruition.

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Speaker 4: I think the project I'm excited about the most is

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Speaker 4: the reboot of the Cold War franchise, which they've rebooted

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Speaker 4: with pretty much all the major Hong Kong stars, led

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Speaker 4: by Chao Yun Fat, and it is produced by Bill Kong,

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Speaker 4: who is the Oscar winning producer of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

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Speaker 4: So I had the privilege of having dinner with him

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Speaker 4: and and he told me the stories of the films

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Speaker 4: under stick embargo, of course, and I'm very excited because

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Speaker 4: I think it has breakout potential across the world.

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Speaker 1: Well, Noaman, thank you for working tirelessly while you were

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Speaker 1: here at the market.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, Cynthia.

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Speaker 1: As we close out today's episode, here's a few things

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Speaker 1: we're watching for I'm looking forward to attending a screening

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Speaker 1: tonight of Focus features THEAI doc or how I became

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Speaker 1: an apocaly optimist. I'm hoping to learn things. Former Meet

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Speaker 1: the Press moderator Chuck Todd and former espnscribe Ja Adonde

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Speaker 1: are launching a sports podcast, Dynastic. Each episode will dive

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Speaker 1: into the histories of iconic sports franchises and college programs.

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Speaker 1: The first episode drops March twenty fourth and focuses on

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Speaker 1: the history of the Boys and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

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Speaker 1: Don't miss my colleague Alison Herman's review of HBO's The Comeback.

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Speaker 1: She calls it a bittersweet swan song for Valerie Cherish

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Speaker 1: and maybe Hollywood as we know it, And tomorrow we'll

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Speaker 1: have a conversation with Variety's Kate Arthur on why The

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Speaker 1: Comeback and Valerie Cherish have endured before we go. Congrats

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Speaker 1: to Aaron Barrier. She's been promoted to Senior VP of

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Speaker 1: Communications for Walt Disney Studios. Barrier oversees global communication strategy

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Speaker 1: across the Walt Disney studios, including Disney, Walt Disney Animation Picks,

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Speaker 1: Our Marvel, Lucasfilm, Twentieth Century Studios, Searchlight Pictures, Disney Theatrical Group,

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Speaker 1: and Disney Music Group. She's been with Disney since twenty twelve.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for listening. This episode was written and reported by

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Speaker 1: me Cynthia Lyttleton, with contributions from Brent Lang and Noman Rama,

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Speaker 1: Chandron Stick Snick's hick Picks. Please leave us a review

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Speaker 1: at the podcast platform of your choice, and please tune

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Speaker 1: in tomorrow for another episode of Daily Variety