Marvel gets off on the good foot with the opening weekend of “The Fantastic Four: First Steps.” Michael Schneider breaks down four days of Comic Con that had more cosplay and less big Hollywood news than in recent years. He explains why.
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome to Daily Variety, your daily dose of news and
analysis for entertainment industry insiders. It's Monday, July twenty eighth,
twenty twenty five. I'm your host, Cynthia Littleton. I am
co editor in chief of Variety alongside Ramin Setuda. I'm
in LA He's in New York, and Variety has reporters
around the world covering the business of entertainment. In today's episode,
(00:31):
we'll get the lowdown on another big summer box office
weekend from Rebecca Rubin and Michael Schneider breaks down four
days of Comic Con for us. Before we get to that,
here are a few headlines just in this morning that
you need to know. Three power players have teamed to
launch First Light story House. This is an effort to
amplify Asian voices worldwide through TV and film. The initiative
(00:55):
is founded by Mickey Lee, leader of cj E, and
m Janet Yang, who is a producer and President of
the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and Dominic Ing,
who is CEO of East West Bank. The goal is
to support authentic Asian and Asian American stories and introduce
them to global audiences. Amazon MGM Studios has set its
(01:20):
first German language theatrical film release in Germany. Derrek Tiger
from director Dennis Gansel, will go into theatre's September eighteenth,
before bowing on prime video. MSNBC is bringing its fan
event back to New York City. MSNBC Live This Is
Who We Are will be held at New York's Hammerstein
Ballroom on October eleventh. That's right around the time MSNBC
(01:44):
is expected to formally begin its new chapter as the
channel separates from NBC Universal. Now we turn to conversations
with Variety journalists about news and trends in show business.
If it's Monday, it means we're talking box office with
Rebecca rubin Variety's Century of the Turnstiles. It was a
(02:06):
big weekend for Marvel, which got The Fantastic four First
Steps off to a good start. Rebecca, thanks for joining me,
Thank you for having me another big summer weekend, The
Fantastic four First Steps. It's from your headline. It sounds
like those First Steps were pretty well received all around.
How did this movie perform?
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Yeah, Fantastic four First Steps opened to one hundred and
eighteen million dollars domestically, and that was enough to be
the fourth best opening weekend of the year. But kind
of more importantly for Marvel, it was the studio's first
movie to open to above one hundred million dollars in
twenty twenty five, and they've had a bit of a
(02:47):
rocky go and so it's been encouraging for them.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Aeople showed up they wanted to see. I am such
a Vanessa Kirby fan. I'm going to give her outside credit.
What did the early numbers tell you about who turned
out to see this movie?
Speaker 2 (03:01):
It was overwhelmingly male. About sixty eight percent of opening
weekend audiences were men, and that was a little surprising
to me. Not because it's surprising that men like to
see superher movies, because that is really the target demographic,
but if you've seen Fantastic Four, especially like you mentioned,
Vanessa Kirby's character and storyline is very female centric, and
(03:26):
she's pregnant, and I don't think Marvel's had a pregnant
superhero before, and so I am curious if in the
coming weeks it'll start to over index a little more
with females, because I'm sure there will be people who
resonate a lot with her character. And then something else
that was notable was that nearly fifty percent of ticket
(03:47):
sales were coming from premium large formats, which means that
when people did go to see it, they really wanted
to see it on the biggest and the brightest screens,
and that has definitely been a trend that has been
increasing since the pandemic. When audiences want to leave the house,
they are really over indexing on Imax, DOLB for DX,
(04:10):
just these screens that they really can't replicate in the home.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Imax has been around for a long time, but they
really seem to be part of the conversation now every
weekend like they haven't been before.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Yeah, it almost feels like it's become part of the
marketing campaign for a lot of these big films, and
Fantastic four is one of them that uses IMAX cameras
and so's it's almost become a selling point. And of
course for theater owners and studios, those tickets are more
expensive and so they are more than happy for people
(04:42):
to shell out for that.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Recca, as we spoke a couple of weeks ago about Marvel,
had a lot writing on this both to have good
critical reception. Have the fans embrace this and like it,
and of course have people show up and go through
the turnstiles. They appear to have both of those, because
the reviews have been very strong and these are new
faces coming into the MCU. It's one of Marvel's first
(05:05):
real successful attempts in post pandemic times to spotlight newer heroes.
And of course Fantastic Four have been on the big
screen before. Most of those films were not particularly embraced
by critics or audiences, but this is the first time
they're part of marvel cinematic universe. They haven't been a
part of any Avengers stories or anything like that.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
And the movies that have really worked for Marvel post
pandemic have been the real heavy hitters like Spider Man,
No Way Home, Deadpool, and Wolverine, Black Panther, Wakonda Forever
just sequels to some of their biggest properties. But the
ones that haven't been as successful are Thunderbolts Eternals, the
(05:50):
Marvels just characters that people were not as familiar with.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Another question I know that you were looking at going
into this weekend, was was there room enough in this town?
Two superhero movies and would Superman hang in there in
weekend three with the Fantastic Four arriving. How did that
play out?
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Yeah, it was a big question of whether or not
two superhero movies would be able to succeed in the
month of July, and a lot of people thought that
was risky because many comic book adaptations have not been
doing well. There was a time that superhero movies could
truly do no wrong at the box office. It didn't
really matter what the reviews said. Everyone went out to
(06:31):
go see them. And that is not the time we
are living in, and so to have them so close together,
there was genuine and valid concern will people see both?
And I think the answer to this weekend is they
will see both because Superman had a debut above one
hundred million and has continued to do well into his
second and third weekends, and now we have Fantastic four
(06:54):
first steps also having a very sizable opening weekend, and
I think it's sort of proving that it's not necessarily
superhero fatigue. I think it's more bad movie fatigue, and
when audiences want to see the movie, they are willing
actually to go see both.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Let me ask you regarding the large screen the premium screens.
Are there enough of those theaters so that Superman and
Fantastic Four could have a decent distribution in these theaters
or is it the kind of case that whatever the
new movie is coming in kind of crowds out anything
else that might be holding on. Definitely the latter of
what you said. The new movie tends to take up
(07:32):
all the oxygen, and it's definitely something that these distribution
chiefs that studios are douging it out. They want their
film on the largest number of premium large formats they
can get, and so I think that's why we saw
this weekend Superman. Although it's holding on decently well, it
had a pretty big drop this weekend. It's been chugging
(07:55):
along pretty well during the week, so it's made almost
three hundred million dollars domestic, but a fifty eight percent
drop is pretty notable, and probably because it lost so
many of its premium large formats that went to Fantastic Four.
In general, how has midweek business been this summer.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
It seems definitely film dependent. Something like Superman has had
pretty strong week to week holds, and they think that
definitely speaks to just the strong word of mouth, people
are talking about it, really enjoying it on all audience,
all family film. But the box office right now is
about twelve to thirteen percent ahead of last year. The
(08:36):
top four movies this weekend were Fantastic Four, Superman, Jurassic
World Rebirth, and F one, and those are all big
properties that have gotten people talking, and interestingly, all of
those movies actually crossed pretty notable box office milestones this weekend.
(08:57):
Superman and F One both crossed five hundred million dollars globally,
and then Jurassic World Rebirth crossed seven hundred million dollars globally.
And while there's only been one movie this year to
cross the billion dollar mark, that's Leelo and Stitch, it's
a good indication that at least some movies are getting
close and hitting at least a half billion dollar mark.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Certainly this beats the alternative. Next Up TV editor Michael
Schneider dishes about the buzz, the biz, and of course,
the cosplay that was on display this past weekend at
San Diego Comic Con. Mike is one of the Kings
of Comic Con, doing no less than three big panels
at the four day event.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Welcome to the return, the long awaited return of Phidias
and Firm. We last celebrated at the end of Phidias
and Here at Comic Con is who here was there
(10:02):
at that finale?
Speaker 1 (10:03):
Now, Michael Schnyder, just back from San Diego and the
wilds of Comic Con four busy days. What stands out
to you now?
Speaker 4 (10:13):
Yeah, I was cosplaying as a frazzled and now exhausted
journalist and you can tell my costume is off, the
sweat is still dripping from my brow.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
It just makes it authentic.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
It was very authentic.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
You know.
Speaker 4 (10:25):
It was a fun comic con. It was a crowded
comic con. It was not a newsy comic con. There
wasn't a lot coming out of it. I think that's
a sign of the times and what the studios are
now investing in, and it's not necessarily in big events.
That being said, there was some amazing fun activations from
especially Disney and NBC Universal and a couple other studios,
(10:46):
and some great panels, but nothing that was big hall
h worthy as there have been in years past.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Probably the closest from my vantage point very far away,
was when George Lucas himself Yoda appeared in the at
the convention to talk up something that is near and
near to him, his upcoming museum.
Speaker 4 (11:07):
He had actually never made it down to San Diego
Comicon before and it took his own museum to bring
him down there. So that rounded things up. But Hall
H which normally is busy on Sunday with Marvel panels,
what have you, that was the only panel on the
final day of Comic Con.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Well, of course journalists down there are looking for headlines,
but for fans, you said, the crowd was biggest as
you've seen since the pandemic. Were the fans happy despite
the lack of headline news?
Speaker 4 (11:31):
You could tell more people were in costume this year.
I brought along my sons and they definitely noticed that
as well. And there were a lot of fun events,
including things that didn't require a pass, so if you
didn't have a ticket into Comic Con, you could still
go to crunchy Roll had a big two day concert event.
They had all these activations all throughout downtown San Diego.
(11:51):
So thankfully one of the sponsors with a big pop
up this year was Old Spice hopefully passing out deodorant.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Very helpful and close like that there was one that
was quite topical, and you were there for the whole thing.
Mike tell us about the south Park panel. That was
probably the buzziest thing of the week.
Speaker 4 (12:09):
Yeah, that the south Park panel, which also, to be fair,
included Mike Judge talk about Beavis and Bud Heead and
also Andy Samberg talking about his show Digimon. But everyone
was in hallh on Thursday night to see what Trey
and Matt would say, especially after that episode aired on Wednesday,
the South Park season prenier that the shot heard round
(12:30):
the White House and the boys man Trey. They didn't
say much, of course, you know, as a journalist, I
wanted them to just burn the place down. They didn't
do that. They were very subtle, but they did refer
to a few things about some of the depictions of
President Trump in that episode, including the fight that they
had with Comedy Central over the depiction of his penis
(12:51):
in the episode. So we got some good information enough
that that was one of our leading stories on the
website throughout the weekend at Variety dot com.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
In addition to royally aggravating the President, they also struck
a very big and groundbreaking deal. Were there any indications
that they have just set a deal with Paramount, which
is in the throes of a transition to a new owner.
But they've just set a deal for fifty new episodes
and expanded streaming rights. Did they make any reference to that.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
No, you know, they didn't, And that was the originally
why we were excited to go to that panel before
that episode aired, because we thought, well, they were sort
of battling sky Dance. As you know, they were not
happy with Jeff Shell and sky Dance because they had
a agreement on They had an agreement in word with
Paramount for a new deal. Skydance came in and wanted
to renegotiate it. They were not happy. But then by
(13:41):
the time Comic Con came, they were about a billion
and a half dollars richer, So I think they were
happy that evening when they approached the stage at Comicon.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Mike, you are a highly in demand moderator and you
always get some great slots at Comic Con. This year
we did three big, high profile panels. Let's start with
King of the Hill, the return of this beloved former
Fox animated calm family comedy that kind of broke all
the rules of animated even for adult animation.
Speaker 4 (14:10):
There's a lot of anticipation. I think people really still
love this show. There's a huge activation outside the convention
center for King of the Hill as well, and that
line just snaked down the marina. They aired an episode
first time people had seen it, and I really think
fans of the original King of the Hill are going
to be really impressed with what they've done with this show.
And we had a great conversation, a lot of fun,
(14:32):
and the crowd was just just overwhelmed.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
This show brought a Texas sensibility to screwing American culture
and that did not always hwe to the more conventional
wisdom in Hollywood or New York.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
They do a good job of threading that needle, very
much like South Park in a way in that you know,
you can come to the show from any different political
viewpoint and maybe you're watching and thinking that, well they're
satirizing that, and other people maybe looking at how they're
satirizing something else.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Speaking of shows coming back, another panel you did was
Phineas and Ferb. I still love the theme song. Tell
me what was it like to get back with Swampy
and Dan in that game?
Speaker 4 (15:12):
Well, this one was really special because I did the
farewell panel for Phineas and Ferb back in twenty fifteen
there at Comic Con, So in some ways we've come
full circle and to be back ten years later after
saying goodbye to Phineas and Ferb and welcoming them back
and again, this is a show that hasn't missed a beat.
If anything, it's become even more perhaps geared towards the
(15:34):
grownups watching. I think they appreciate the fact that most
of the fans who enjoyed Phineas and Ferb back in
the late two thousands are now adults or teenagers and
maybe they have kids of their own, so some of
the humors even more slightly subversive, but also you know,
really still reaches young people as well.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Tell me about the third panel you hosted down there.
Speaker 4 (15:54):
The third panel had a chance to talk to a
bunch of producers from some of the Sony dramas, including
Ron Moore, talking a lot about the franchises, because you know,
they've they've really turned Outlander into a franchise with the
new show The Blood of My Blood for All Mankind,
which is one of my personal favorite shows, has a
spinoff coming up called Star city that The Boys, of course,
has turned into quite a franchise that was represented on
(16:16):
the panel.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Two last quick questions for your recommic. Number one. Alien
Earth a big project for FX. I know they had
some activations down there. Did you sense any organic buzzs
for it from fans?
Speaker 4 (16:28):
Yeah, I definitely did. You know, partly they did a
good job of plastering the side of a hotel with
the big imagery from Alien Earth. There was a huge activation,
like you mentioned, long lines eighteen plus, so it was
definitely a scary activation. But yeah, so I think people
are primed and ready for that.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
That's a big launch coming up for all of Disney
here in a couple of weeks. And then, of course
pomic Con is a kind of a weather rain for
the genre world. Was there anything that stood up to
you in the causeplay? What impressed you?
Speaker 4 (16:56):
I would say my favorite costume was I was walking
down this and along comes a man carrying some balloons,
wearing a blue turtleneck pants, big bushy mustache. It was
Melchick from Severance. Whoever was cosplaying as Milchik did such
a fantastic job down to the balloons with Adam Scott's
face on it and it was brilliant.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
I saw.
Speaker 4 (17:19):
I saw a lot of severance costumes, a lot of
great ones, but that one really stood out.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Mike, thank you so much for your labors in San
Diego and for being in demand for those panels. It's
a testament to you.
Speaker 4 (17:32):
Yeah, I'm glad I got that free old spice.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
As we close out today's episode, here's a few things
we're watching for. It's going to be a busy week
for earnings. Spotify and Electronic Arts report on Tuesday, Meta
and Microsoft report on Wednesday, and Thursday brings Comcast, Amazon,
and Apple, among others. We're also on twenty four to
seven Paramount Skuydance Media watch that merger is heading toward
(18:00):
the finish line after overcoming some truly unbelievable obstacles. But
it ain't over till it's over. We're keeping watch at
Variety dot com. Coming up on Friday, Variety and CJ,
E and M are hosting an invite only gathering for
industry insiders tied to the Kkon Korean Culture fan event
(18:20):
that unfolds this weekend in downtown LA. Before we go,
congrats to Benjamin Kramer. He's been named president of US
distribution for Black Bear, the indie studio backed by Teddy Schwartzman.
Kramer was formerly co head of CIA Media Finance. Thanks
for listening. This episode was written and reported by me
(18:41):
Cynthia Littleton, with contributions from Rebecca Rubin and Michael Schneider.
It was edited by Aaron Greenwald Stick's Nick's Hick Picks.
Please leave us a review at the podcast platform of
your choice, and please tune in tomorrow for another episode
of Daily Variety
Welcome to Daily Variety, your daily dose of news and
analysis for entertainment industry insiders. It's Monday, July twenty eighth,
twenty twenty five. I'm your host, Cynthia Littleton. I am
co editor in chief of Variety alongside Ramin Setuda. I'm
in LA He's in New York, and Variety has reporters
around the world covering the business of entertainment. In today's episode,
(00:31):
we'll get the lowdown on another big summer box office
weekend from Rebecca Rubin and Michael Schneider breaks down four
days of Comic Con for us. Before we get to that,
here are a few headlines just in this morning that
you need to know. Three power players have teamed to
launch First Light story House. This is an effort to
amplify Asian voices worldwide through TV and film. The initiative
(00:55):
is founded by Mickey Lee, leader of cj E, and
m Janet Yang, who is a producer and President of
the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and Dominic Ing,
who is CEO of East West Bank. The goal is
to support authentic Asian and Asian American stories and introduce
them to global audiences. Amazon MGM Studios has set its
(01:20):
first German language theatrical film release in Germany. Derrek Tiger
from director Dennis Gansel, will go into theatre's September eighteenth,
before bowing on prime video. MSNBC is bringing its fan
event back to New York City. MSNBC Live This Is
Who We Are will be held at New York's Hammerstein
Ballroom on October eleventh. That's right around the time MSNBC
(01:44):
is expected to formally begin its new chapter as the
channel separates from NBC Universal. Now we turn to conversations
with Variety journalists about news and trends in show business.
If it's Monday, it means we're talking box office with
Rebecca rubin Variety's Century of the Turnstiles. It was a
(02:06):
big weekend for Marvel, which got The Fantastic four First
Steps off to a good start. Rebecca, thanks for joining me,
Thank you for having me another big summer weekend, The
Fantastic four First Steps. It's from your headline. It sounds
like those First Steps were pretty well received all around.
How did this movie perform?
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Yeah, Fantastic four First Steps opened to one hundred and
eighteen million dollars domestically, and that was enough to be
the fourth best opening weekend of the year. But kind
of more importantly for Marvel, it was the studio's first
movie to open to above one hundred million dollars in
twenty twenty five, and they've had a bit of a
(02:47):
rocky go and so it's been encouraging for them.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Aeople showed up they wanted to see. I am such
a Vanessa Kirby fan. I'm going to give her outside credit.
What did the early numbers tell you about who turned
out to see this movie?
Speaker 2 (03:01):
It was overwhelmingly male. About sixty eight percent of opening
weekend audiences were men, and that was a little surprising
to me. Not because it's surprising that men like to
see superher movies, because that is really the target demographic,
but if you've seen Fantastic Four, especially like you mentioned,
Vanessa Kirby's character and storyline is very female centric, and
(03:26):
she's pregnant, and I don't think Marvel's had a pregnant
superhero before, and so I am curious if in the
coming weeks it'll start to over index a little more
with females, because I'm sure there will be people who
resonate a lot with her character. And then something else
that was notable was that nearly fifty percent of ticket
(03:47):
sales were coming from premium large formats, which means that
when people did go to see it, they really wanted
to see it on the biggest and the brightest screens,
and that has definitely been a trend that has been
increasing since the pandemic. When audiences want to leave the house,
they are really over indexing on Imax, DOLB for DX,
(04:10):
just these screens that they really can't replicate in the home.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Imax has been around for a long time, but they
really seem to be part of the conversation now every
weekend like they haven't been before.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Yeah, it almost feels like it's become part of the
marketing campaign for a lot of these big films, and
Fantastic four is one of them that uses IMAX cameras
and so's it's almost become a selling point. And of
course for theater owners and studios, those tickets are more
expensive and so they are more than happy for people
(04:42):
to shell out for that.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Recca, as we spoke a couple of weeks ago about Marvel,
had a lot writing on this both to have good
critical reception. Have the fans embrace this and like it,
and of course have people show up and go through
the turnstiles. They appear to have both of those, because
the reviews have been very strong and these are new
faces coming into the MCU. It's one of Marvel's first
(05:05):
real successful attempts in post pandemic times to spotlight newer heroes.
And of course Fantastic Four have been on the big
screen before. Most of those films were not particularly embraced
by critics or audiences, but this is the first time
they're part of marvel cinematic universe. They haven't been a
part of any Avengers stories or anything like that.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
And the movies that have really worked for Marvel post
pandemic have been the real heavy hitters like Spider Man,
No Way Home, Deadpool, and Wolverine, Black Panther, Wakonda Forever
just sequels to some of their biggest properties. But the
ones that haven't been as successful are Thunderbolts Eternals, the
(05:50):
Marvels just characters that people were not as familiar with.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Another question I know that you were looking at going
into this weekend, was was there room enough in this town?
Two superhero movies and would Superman hang in there in
weekend three with the Fantastic Four arriving. How did that
play out?
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Yeah, it was a big question of whether or not
two superhero movies would be able to succeed in the
month of July, and a lot of people thought that
was risky because many comic book adaptations have not been
doing well. There was a time that superhero movies could
truly do no wrong at the box office. It didn't
really matter what the reviews said. Everyone went out to
(06:31):
go see them. And that is not the time we
are living in, and so to have them so close together,
there was genuine and valid concern will people see both?
And I think the answer to this weekend is they
will see both because Superman had a debut above one
hundred million and has continued to do well into his
second and third weekends, and now we have Fantastic four
(06:54):
first steps also having a very sizable opening weekend, and
I think it's sort of proving that it's not necessarily
superhero fatigue. I think it's more bad movie fatigue, and
when audiences want to see the movie, they are willing
actually to go see both.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Let me ask you regarding the large screen the premium screens.
Are there enough of those theaters so that Superman and
Fantastic Four could have a decent distribution in these theaters
or is it the kind of case that whatever the
new movie is coming in kind of crowds out anything
else that might be holding on. Definitely the latter of
what you said. The new movie tends to take up
(07:32):
all the oxygen, and it's definitely something that these distribution
chiefs that studios are douging it out. They want their
film on the largest number of premium large formats they
can get, and so I think that's why we saw
this weekend Superman. Although it's holding on decently well, it
had a pretty big drop this weekend. It's been chugging
(07:55):
along pretty well during the week, so it's made almost
three hundred million dollars domestic, but a fifty eight percent
drop is pretty notable, and probably because it lost so
many of its premium large formats that went to Fantastic Four.
In general, how has midweek business been this summer.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
It seems definitely film dependent. Something like Superman has had
pretty strong week to week holds, and they think that
definitely speaks to just the strong word of mouth, people
are talking about it, really enjoying it on all audience,
all family film. But the box office right now is
about twelve to thirteen percent ahead of last year. The
(08:36):
top four movies this weekend were Fantastic Four, Superman, Jurassic
World Rebirth, and F one, and those are all big
properties that have gotten people talking, and interestingly, all of
those movies actually crossed pretty notable box office milestones this weekend.
(08:57):
Superman and F One both crossed five hundred million dollars globally,
and then Jurassic World Rebirth crossed seven hundred million dollars globally.
And while there's only been one movie this year to
cross the billion dollar mark, that's Leelo and Stitch, it's
a good indication that at least some movies are getting
close and hitting at least a half billion dollar mark.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Certainly this beats the alternative. Next Up TV editor Michael
Schneider dishes about the buzz, the biz, and of course,
the cosplay that was on display this past weekend at
San Diego Comic Con. Mike is one of the Kings
of Comic Con, doing no less than three big panels
at the four day event.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Welcome to the return, the long awaited return of Phidias
and Firm. We last celebrated at the end of Phidias
and Here at Comic Con is who here was there
(10:02):
at that finale?
Speaker 1 (10:03):
Now, Michael Schnyder, just back from San Diego and the
wilds of Comic Con four busy days. What stands out
to you now?
Speaker 4 (10:13):
Yeah, I was cosplaying as a frazzled and now exhausted
journalist and you can tell my costume is off, the
sweat is still dripping from my brow.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
It just makes it authentic.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
It was very authentic.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
You know.
Speaker 4 (10:25):
It was a fun comic con. It was a crowded
comic con. It was not a newsy comic con. There
wasn't a lot coming out of it. I think that's
a sign of the times and what the studios are
now investing in, and it's not necessarily in big events.
That being said, there was some amazing fun activations from
especially Disney and NBC Universal and a couple other studios,
(10:46):
and some great panels, but nothing that was big hall
h worthy as there have been in years past.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Probably the closest from my vantage point very far away,
was when George Lucas himself Yoda appeared in the at
the convention to talk up something that is near and
near to him, his upcoming museum.
Speaker 4 (11:07):
He had actually never made it down to San Diego
Comicon before and it took his own museum to bring
him down there. So that rounded things up. But Hall
H which normally is busy on Sunday with Marvel panels,
what have you, that was the only panel on the
final day of Comic Con.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Well, of course journalists down there are looking for headlines,
but for fans, you said, the crowd was biggest as
you've seen since the pandemic. Were the fans happy despite
the lack of headline news?
Speaker 4 (11:31):
You could tell more people were in costume this year.
I brought along my sons and they definitely noticed that
as well. And there were a lot of fun events,
including things that didn't require a pass, so if you
didn't have a ticket into Comic Con, you could still
go to crunchy Roll had a big two day concert event.
They had all these activations all throughout downtown San Diego.
(11:51):
So thankfully one of the sponsors with a big pop
up this year was Old Spice hopefully passing out deodorant.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Very helpful and close like that there was one that
was quite topical, and you were there for the whole thing.
Mike tell us about the south Park panel. That was
probably the buzziest thing of the week.
Speaker 4 (12:09):
Yeah, that the south Park panel, which also, to be fair,
included Mike Judge talk about Beavis and Bud Heead and
also Andy Samberg talking about his show Digimon. But everyone
was in hallh on Thursday night to see what Trey
and Matt would say, especially after that episode aired on Wednesday,
the South Park season prenier that the shot heard round
(12:30):
the White House and the boys man Trey. They didn't
say much, of course, you know, as a journalist, I
wanted them to just burn the place down. They didn't
do that. They were very subtle, but they did refer
to a few things about some of the depictions of
President Trump in that episode, including the fight that they
had with Comedy Central over the depiction of his penis
(12:51):
in the episode. So we got some good information enough
that that was one of our leading stories on the
website throughout the weekend at Variety dot com.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
In addition to royally aggravating the President, they also struck
a very big and groundbreaking deal. Were there any indications
that they have just set a deal with Paramount, which
is in the throes of a transition to a new owner.
But they've just set a deal for fifty new episodes
and expanded streaming rights. Did they make any reference to that.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
No, you know, they didn't, And that was the originally
why we were excited to go to that panel before
that episode aired, because we thought, well, they were sort
of battling sky Dance. As you know, they were not
happy with Jeff Shell and sky Dance because they had
a agreement on They had an agreement in word with
Paramount for a new deal. Skydance came in and wanted
to renegotiate it. They were not happy. But then by
(13:41):
the time Comic Con came, they were about a billion
and a half dollars richer, So I think they were
happy that evening when they approached the stage at Comicon.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Mike, you are a highly in demand moderator and you
always get some great slots at Comic Con. This year
we did three big, high profile panels. Let's start with
King of the Hill, the return of this beloved former
Fox animated calm family comedy that kind of broke all
the rules of animated even for adult animation.
Speaker 4 (14:10):
There's a lot of anticipation. I think people really still
love this show. There's a huge activation outside the convention
center for King of the Hill as well, and that
line just snaked down the marina. They aired an episode
first time people had seen it, and I really think
fans of the original King of the Hill are going
to be really impressed with what they've done with this show.
And we had a great conversation, a lot of fun,
(14:32):
and the crowd was just just overwhelmed.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
This show brought a Texas sensibility to screwing American culture
and that did not always hwe to the more conventional
wisdom in Hollywood or New York.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
They do a good job of threading that needle, very
much like South Park in a way in that you know,
you can come to the show from any different political
viewpoint and maybe you're watching and thinking that, well they're
satirizing that, and other people maybe looking at how they're
satirizing something else.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Speaking of shows coming back, another panel you did was
Phineas and Ferb. I still love the theme song. Tell
me what was it like to get back with Swampy
and Dan in that game?
Speaker 4 (15:12):
Well, this one was really special because I did the
farewell panel for Phineas and Ferb back in twenty fifteen
there at Comic Con, So in some ways we've come
full circle and to be back ten years later after
saying goodbye to Phineas and Ferb and welcoming them back
and again, this is a show that hasn't missed a beat.
If anything, it's become even more perhaps geared towards the
(15:34):
grownups watching. I think they appreciate the fact that most
of the fans who enjoyed Phineas and Ferb back in
the late two thousands are now adults or teenagers and
maybe they have kids of their own, so some of
the humors even more slightly subversive, but also you know,
really still reaches young people as well.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Tell me about the third panel you hosted down there.
Speaker 4 (15:54):
The third panel had a chance to talk to a
bunch of producers from some of the Sony dramas, including
Ron Moore, talking a lot about the franchises, because you know,
they've they've really turned Outlander into a franchise with the
new show The Blood of My Blood for All Mankind,
which is one of my personal favorite shows, has a
spinoff coming up called Star city that The Boys, of course,
has turned into quite a franchise that was represented on
(16:16):
the panel.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Two last quick questions for your recommic. Number one. Alien
Earth a big project for FX. I know they had
some activations down there. Did you sense any organic buzzs
for it from fans?
Speaker 4 (16:28):
Yeah, I definitely did. You know, partly they did a
good job of plastering the side of a hotel with
the big imagery from Alien Earth. There was a huge activation,
like you mentioned, long lines eighteen plus, so it was
definitely a scary activation. But yeah, so I think people
are primed and ready for that.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
That's a big launch coming up for all of Disney
here in a couple of weeks. And then, of course
pomic Con is a kind of a weather rain for
the genre world. Was there anything that stood up to
you in the causeplay? What impressed you?
Speaker 4 (16:56):
I would say my favorite costume was I was walking
down this and along comes a man carrying some balloons,
wearing a blue turtleneck pants, big bushy mustache. It was
Melchick from Severance. Whoever was cosplaying as Milchik did such
a fantastic job down to the balloons with Adam Scott's
face on it and it was brilliant.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
I saw.
Speaker 4 (17:19):
I saw a lot of severance costumes, a lot of
great ones, but that one really stood out.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Mike, thank you so much for your labors in San
Diego and for being in demand for those panels. It's
a testament to you.
Speaker 4 (17:32):
Yeah, I'm glad I got that free old spice.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
As we close out today's episode, here's a few things
we're watching for. It's going to be a busy week
for earnings. Spotify and Electronic Arts report on Tuesday, Meta
and Microsoft report on Wednesday, and Thursday brings Comcast, Amazon,
and Apple, among others. We're also on twenty four to
seven Paramount Skuydance Media watch that merger is heading toward
(18:00):
the finish line after overcoming some truly unbelievable obstacles. But
it ain't over till it's over. We're keeping watch at
Variety dot com. Coming up on Friday, Variety and CJ,
E and M are hosting an invite only gathering for
industry insiders tied to the Kkon Korean Culture fan event
(18:20):
that unfolds this weekend in downtown LA. Before we go,
congrats to Benjamin Kramer. He's been named president of US
distribution for Black Bear, the indie studio backed by Teddy Schwartzman.
Kramer was formerly co head of CIA Media Finance. Thanks
for listening. This episode was written and reported by me
(18:41):
Cynthia Littleton, with contributions from Rebecca Rubin and Michael Schneider.
It was edited by Aaron Greenwald Stick's Nick's Hick Picks.
Please leave us a review at the podcast platform of
your choice, and please tune in tomorrow for another episode
of Daily Variety
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