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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, August eleventh, twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty five. I'm your host, Cynthia Littleton. I am co

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

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Speaker 1: la He's in New York, and Variety has reporters around

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

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Speaker 1: we'll talk with Variety Executive editor Brent Lang about the

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Speaker 1: weekend box office numbers and the strong start for Warner

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Speaker 1: Brothers drama Weapons. We'll talk to our intrepid editor John Hopewell,

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Speaker 1: who is always covering a film festival or a market

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Speaker 1: somewhere in the world. This time he's in Locarno, Switzerland,

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Speaker 1: where Emma Thompson and others have made headlines. But before

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Speaker 1: we get to that, here are a few headlines just

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Speaker 1: in this morning that you need to know. The new

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Speaker 1: regime at Paramount wasted no time. I've been spending some

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Speaker 1: money on the new house. Paramount has committed seven points

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Speaker 1: seven billion dollars for a seven year deal for UFC rights.

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Speaker 1: The MMA League events will move from ESPN to Paramount

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Speaker 1: Plus next year. The Bruce Springsteen biopic Deliver Me From Nowhere,

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Speaker 1: starring Jeremy Allen White, will premiere September twenty eighth at

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Speaker 1: the New York Film Festival. The movie, from director Scott Cooper,

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Speaker 1: hails from Twentieth Century Studios. HBO. Period drama The Gilded

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Speaker 1: Age had quite a season three finale on Sunday. Catch

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Speaker 1: up on all the drama with Variety's recap, written by

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Speaker 1: the biggest Gilded Age fan I know our own, Brent Lang.

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Speaker 1: You can read all those stories and more on Variety

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Speaker 1: dot com. Right now. Now we turn to conversations with

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Speaker 1: Variety journalists about news and trends in show business. If

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Speaker 1: it's Monday, we're talking box office. Brent Lang joins us

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Speaker 1: this week to break down the solid opening weekends for

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Speaker 1: Warner Brothers Weapons and Disney's Freakier Friday. Brent Lang, thanks

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Speaker 1: for joining me, Thanks for having me. It's appropriate that

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Speaker 1: you are stepping in for Rebecca Rubin, who is off

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Speaker 1: this day. You taught her so much about how to

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Speaker 1: cover the box office and then let her soar as

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Speaker 1: a good protege. Should Let's talk numbers. This weekend had

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Speaker 1: two wide releases and from what I read on Variety

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Speaker 1: dot com, both Weapons and Freakier Friday had good starts.

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Speaker 2: They both started very, very strong. What was exciting is

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Speaker 2: that they were really effective examples of counter programming. One

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Speaker 2: was going for younger female audiences and the other was

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Speaker 2: going for slightly older male audiences. That would be Weapons

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Speaker 2: and freak youre Friday trying to tract more female audiences.

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Speaker 2: One is an R rated movie, one is a PG

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Speaker 2: rated movie. So it really shows that this is a

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Speaker 2: business that can expand to welcome a lot of different

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Speaker 2: types of genres. That there isn't just one new release

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Speaker 2: each weekend. And that's something that theaters been really pushing

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Speaker 2: studios to think about because for movie theaters, they're are

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Speaker 2: really a foot traffic business. They want people coming through

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Speaker 2: the door, they want them buying concessions. That's how they

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Speaker 2: make a lot of money, and they want people in

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Speaker 2: the habit of going to the movies.

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Speaker 1: So Weapons ruled the roost for the weekend with forty

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Speaker 1: two point five million from domestic and from what I

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Speaker 1: gathered from your story, Brent, that was a pleasant surprise

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Speaker 1: for Warner Brothers in that it was better than expected.

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Speaker 2: Nobody really expected it to do anywhere close to forty

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Speaker 2: million dollars. I think they were thinking more in like

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Speaker 2: the thirty million range. So this was a very strong

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Speaker 2: start for this movie, particularly because it's not part of

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Speaker 2: a pre existing franchise. It has very talented actors like

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Speaker 2: Josh Brolin and really great performers, but not like people

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Speaker 2: that you would call bankable bankable stars. It was an

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Speaker 2: interesting concept that they needed to sell, and I think

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Speaker 2: that their marketing did a really effective job of this

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Speaker 2: kind of creepy leaning into this idea about these children

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Speaker 2: going away and what was behind them, and putting an

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Speaker 2: air of mystery around this. It was a very effective

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Speaker 2: campaign around the film, really well put together, too.

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Speaker 1: Weapons is a wholly original property, which is a fairly

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Speaker 1: rare site at the box office or on TV screens

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Speaker 1: these days, there is so much emphasis on building off

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Speaker 1: existing ip When I first saw the marketing for this,

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Speaker 1: I thought weapons being basically a noun, That thought that

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Speaker 1: was a generic title. But clearly they got people's attention.

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Speaker 2: Zach Craiger, who wrote and directed the film, he had

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Speaker 2: a movie called Barbarians that was critically acclaimed, did pretty well.

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Speaker 2: I think it made about forty five million dollars, which

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Speaker 2: is basically what Weapons has made in one weekend. So

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Speaker 2: this is a real huge step forward for him. He's

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Speaker 2: been brought in to reboot the Resident Evil franchise, and

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Speaker 2: I think that this is a person whose career has

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Speaker 2: really moved into a whole different realm now because of

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Speaker 2: the success of this movie. I'm sure everybody wants to

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Speaker 2: work with him. I'm sure he's getting all kinds of offers,

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Speaker 2: and that's exciting too because it means that there's somebody

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Speaker 2: who's really a cool new talent and a new voice

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Speaker 2: in cinema too.

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Speaker 1: And I would definitely give some good credit to Julia Garner,

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Speaker 1: who is very compelling. A lot of folks really know

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Speaker 1: her from Ozark.

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Speaker 2: And she's in Fantastic Four as well, so she's having

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Speaker 2: a really big summer.

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Speaker 1: That's right. She's double trouble at the box office this year.

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Speaker 1: Freaky or Friday wait in for Disney with a twenty

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Speaker 1: nine million dollar hole. How do you think Disney felt

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Speaker 1: about that performance.

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Speaker 2: I think that's been lined with expectations. It's a property

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Speaker 2: that is really beloved by certain generations, so you probably

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Speaker 2: had a lot of like intergenerational support there where moms

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Speaker 2: who grew up and dads too, grew up with the

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Speaker 2: original film brought their kids to the sequel, and so

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Speaker 2: that helps too, with the legacy element of it, the

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Speaker 2: library element, and I'm sure that there's a big boost

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Speaker 2: in viewership of the original film, So I think that there's

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Speaker 2: a lot of value to that. The other thing that

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Speaker 2: was important about that movie is that it didn't cost

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Speaker 2: that much money. Both Weapons and Freakier Friday cost around

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Speaker 2: forty million dollars. I think Weapons cost thirty eight and

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Speaker 2: figure Friday costs about forty two, and that's really important.

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Speaker 2: They're going to be very profitable because the costs were

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Speaker 2: kept low. One thing that Hollywood has had a lot

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Speaker 2: of trouble with recently is figuring out that kind of

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Speaker 2: cost structure. Movies have gotten a lot more expensive. Inflation

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Speaker 2: is a very real thing, and with the global box

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Speaker 2: office constricting because Russia going away and China looking more

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Speaker 2: towards their own internal local language projects, I think there

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Speaker 2: needs to be a right sizing of budgets. And this

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Speaker 2: is an example of why it still makes sense to

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Speaker 2: figure out more mid budget movies.

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Speaker 1: I gotta say Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan were everywhere.

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Speaker 1: They seem to do every promotional stent possible. So with

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Speaker 1: weapons being wrong for Warner, how would you put that

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Speaker 1: in the whole year to date for Warners?

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Speaker 2: It continues a real hot streak for Warner Brothers, and

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Speaker 2: a hot streak that came at a very opportune time

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Speaker 2: for Pam Abdy and Mike de Luca, who run the studio.

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Speaker 2: They were really seen as being vulnerable or to Brothers.

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Speaker 2: Start of the year off very weekly. Mickey seventeen was

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Speaker 2: a big bomb. Alto Knights was a huge bomb, but

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Speaker 2: then a Minecraft movie and Sinners really turned around that narrative.

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Speaker 2: They're obviously looking much much stronger than they were before.

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Speaker 2: There are some question marks on the horizon. The Paul

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Speaker 2: Thomas Anderson film One Battle after Another, which cost at

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Speaker 2: least one hundred and thirty five million dollars to make.

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Speaker 2: It does star Leonardo DiCaprio. It's an adaptation of a

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Speaker 2: Thomas Pinsion novel. I think that will be a big

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Speaker 2: test for them and for that regime. But obviously they

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Speaker 2: are ending the summer on a real high, and I

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Speaker 2: think they're silencing a lot of their doubters. After the

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Speaker 2: performance of many of these fls holmes.

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Speaker 1: The box office doesn't lie. Let me ask you, what

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Speaker 1: should we be looking for in terms of larger openings

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Speaker 1: in the coming weeks.

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Speaker 2: Well, that's the bad news. There was a lot to

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Speaker 2: celebrate this weekend, but when you look ahead, it's a

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Speaker 2: very weak slate until mid October when tron Ares comes out.

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Speaker 2: You don't have another really big, major studio film that's

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Speaker 2: coming out, and so I think that this just shows

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Speaker 2: that consistency is also really important, and studios haven't quite

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Speaker 2: figured that out. So I think there are some concerns

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Speaker 2: that the things are going to get a little tough

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Speaker 2: for exhibitors for a while. But then the year with

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Speaker 2: a number of franchises that are returning. You have another

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Speaker 2: Avatar movie, you have a Utopia movie, and you have

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Speaker 2: a second Wicked film. So there's a lot at the

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Speaker 2: tail end of the year to look forward to. But

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Speaker 2: there's a period here that's going to be very choppy waters.

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Speaker 1: So much to watch for. Brent, thank you for helping

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Speaker 1: us do the watching.

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Speaker 2: Thanks for having me.

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Speaker 1: Next up, John Hopewell joins us for report on the

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Speaker 1: Locarno Film Festival that is just wrapping up in Switzerland.

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Speaker 1: We talk about how long established European film festivals such

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Speaker 1: as Locarno, San Sebastian and Spain and Carlovy vari and

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Speaker 1: the Czech Republic are gaining more importance as an industry platform,

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Speaker 1: and the internet coverage means news out of festivals travels

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Speaker 1: more widely than ever. Nobody knows this market and these

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Speaker 1: trends better than my dear colleague John, who is based

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Speaker 1: in Madrid, but he truly lives on planes and trains.

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Speaker 1: John Hopewell, thank you for joining me from Locarno, Switzerland.

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Speaker 3: Hi, greetings from the Compo. Switzerland is sweltering, hot, shattering

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Speaker 3: and exciting.

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Speaker 1: John. You are in your natural habitat in a hotel

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Speaker 1: room in front of a computer, pounding out stories for

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Speaker 1: the dozens of E show dailies that we produce every year. John,

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Speaker 1: thank you for your service and your time wireless labor

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Speaker 1: on behalf of Variety and readers around the world.

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Speaker 3: Well, thank you for having me.

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Speaker 1: I wanted to talk to you about how festivals like

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Speaker 1: Wacarno that have been established and have a great attendee

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Speaker 1: base like Wacarno have really come up in stature and profile.

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Speaker 1: They get more media coverage, headlines travel around the world.

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Speaker 1: The industry really strategically uses them as platforms. What have

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Speaker 1: you seen in the last decade or so about what

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Speaker 1: has been happening at these kind of film festivals in Europe.

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Speaker 3: I think that a revolution began in film festivals outside

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Speaker 3: the US basically in about nineteen eighty eight when Walter

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Speaker 3: Baendret came in at Rotterdam and created a co production

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Speaker 3: forum for projects and began to create an industry arm

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Speaker 3: at a festival. Since then, San Sebastian a Lucan have

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Speaker 3: copied because if you want to have films, you have

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Speaker 3: to attract buyers who would then attract producers and sales

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Speaker 3: agents and bring their film to your festival. Lacano as

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Speaker 3: San Sebastian are amongst the best festivals in Europe who

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Speaker 3: have developed the most sophisticated of bouquet of industry sections,

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Speaker 3: attractions and debates. And that has happened to Lacano, especially

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Speaker 3: from about twenty fifteen under Nadier Drestie and now under

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Speaker 3: Marcus Dufner. And the offer this year is super Tell.

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Speaker 1: Me some of the movies that are busy this year

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Speaker 1: at Lacana.

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Speaker 3: The opening film by Camal Aljafari, which was as simple

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Speaker 3: but what has been described as hauntingly poignant concept where

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Speaker 3: he discovered old tapes which he had shot in two

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Speaker 3: thousand and one of MiniDV footage of a trip he took,

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Speaker 3: and the film is called with Hassan in Gaza of

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Speaker 3: a trip he took with Hassan a tourist guide down

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Speaker 3: the Gaza strip, and he rediscovering the archive footage, he

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Speaker 3: just puts it together to show what a vibrant Gaza

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Speaker 3: there was in two thousand and one, asking implicity the

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Speaker 3: question what has happened to these people? Another is the

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Speaker 3: first film from Sophie Romvari, Blue Heron, which is being

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Speaker 3: held as an astonishing debut. It's a piece about her

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Speaker 3: own personal memory, is also ficualized, and then cuts to

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Speaker 3: twenty years later when the child in the first part

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Speaker 3: asks what happened to a terrible family tragedy?

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Speaker 1: These are great examples of clear positioning for a film

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Speaker 1: maker on the cusp of a big moment. I had

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Speaker 1: to laugh because I had wanted to do this segment.

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Speaker 1: I reached out to you, and then the point that

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Speaker 1: I wanted to make was made for me by none

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Speaker 1: other than Emma Thompson who got up and on a

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Speaker 1: Locarno stage, and sure enough you can read it on

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Speaker 1: Variety dot com. She's surprised folks with the news that,

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Speaker 1: in fact one Donald Trump once did ask her out

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Speaker 1: for a date. That headline went around the world. That

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Speaker 1: is the kind of thing that just wouldn't have happened

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Speaker 1: out a Locarno even ten years ago. But the Internet

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Speaker 1: has changed a lot of things.

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Speaker 3: I was being told by Marta Balada, who is reporting

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Speaker 3: as well here.

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Speaker 1: One of our terrific, terrific contributors, exactly, but she's fantastic.

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Speaker 3: She was actually at the Emma Thompson film Dead of Winter.

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Speaker 3: I was saying that at the Piazza Grande, which has

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Speaker 3: the capacity for eight thousand seats, there were scenes of

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Speaker 3: hysteria to actually get in to see Emma Thompson. That

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Speaker 3: shows the Internet that the stars, especially in a way

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Speaker 3: I think in the smaller big festivals like Lacano War

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Speaker 3: San Subastian, have a far larger impact in many ways

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Speaker 3: because of Internet than before.

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Speaker 1: How has the attendee base of Locarno changed, would you

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Speaker 1: say it's largely people from Europe or is it film fanatics?

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Speaker 1: From all over.

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Speaker 3: I think it's related a bit to the industry side,

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Speaker 3: in that before the industry built, it was mainly European

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Speaker 3: critics watching art films. As soon as you get, for example,

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Speaker 3: a focus on Africa, which is immensely exciting, with African producers,

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Speaker 3: directors bringing projects or short films to exhibit people are

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Speaker 3: coming from Latin America. One thing which Lacano has done,

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Speaker 3: which is superb, is to embrace the what's called world

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Speaker 3: cinema revolution.

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Speaker 1: John, I know you live out of a suitcase for us.

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Speaker 1: Where are you heading next after.

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Speaker 3: Lacarno, Santiago to Chile, to the tip.

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Speaker 1: Of South America. Awesome?

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Speaker 3: And it's a very very well known run festival. It's

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Speaker 3: at house again, a very developed industry side, which attracts

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Speaker 3: us because a lot of the industry side is very

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Speaker 3: young directors.

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Speaker 1: If there's business going on at a festival, we want

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Speaker 1: to be there. John, nobody knows the global market like you.

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Speaker 1: Thank you so much.

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Speaker 3: Safe travels, very very much, Cynthia.

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Speaker 1: After all that talk about Emma Thompson, let's hear from

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Speaker 1: Emma Thompson. We'll wrap with a few seconds of Emma

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Speaker 1: delivering her acceptance speech. For Locano's Leopard Club Career Achievement Award.

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Speaker 1: She delivered it in exquisite Italian on Friday night, because

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Speaker 1: who doesn't want to start the week listening to Emma

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Speaker 1: Thompson speaking Italian.

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Speaker 4: Your scrito quacosa pervoy. I'm a little bit overwhelmed. You understand,

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Speaker 4: and I love you. I love you too.

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Speaker 5: So no cozy felice in questo skizito pura creativita. It's

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Speaker 5: a profondamente enthusiasta di con i giovanni siniastequi presente.

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

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Speaker 1: things we're watching for Variety in Rolling Stone will host

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Speaker 1: our fifth annual truth Seekers Event in New York on Thursday.

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Speaker 1: It's a day long gathering focused on documentary films, TV

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Speaker 1: series and podcasts. CNN's Jake Tapper is one of our keynotes.

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Speaker 1: He'll sit down with my fellow eic ramin Setuda. On Wednesday,

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Speaker 1: we unveil our ten Storytellers to Watch list. It's the

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Speaker 1: first one and it's designed to highlight social media creators, podcasters,

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Speaker 1: and others whose free range work crosses many mediums. I'm

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Speaker 1: looking forward to attending tonight's Alien Earth premiere in Hollywood,

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Speaker 1: and folks, please make sure to check out the new

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Speaker 1: season of our Variety Confidential podcast. This time around, it's

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Speaker 1: a deeply reported series on the life and legacy of

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Speaker 1: River Phoenix. It is so worth your time. It's from

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Speaker 1: my great colleague Tatiana Siegel. And even if you think

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Speaker 1: you know the story of the star who died tragically

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Speaker 1: at twenty three, you don't know River Phoenix like this

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Speaker 1: before we go. Congrats to Aaron Calhoun. She's been named

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Speaker 1: Senior VP of Entertainment and Sports Communications for Versant, the

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Speaker 1: NBC Universal cable spinoff. She was previously in corpcom for

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Speaker 1: Showtime and Paramount. Thanks for listening. This episode was written

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Speaker 1: and reported by me Cynthia Littleton, with contributions from Brent Lang,

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Speaker 1: John Hopewell, and Emma Thompson. It was edited by Aaron

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Speaker 1: Greenwald sticks Nick'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.

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Speaker 3: I must have been It's winter in Chile. One goes

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Speaker 3: from a sweltering climate change affected Europe to there that

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Speaker 3: is superb. I just walk out to my shirt. I

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Speaker 3: let the cold seep in