In today's episode, Rebecca Rubin analyzes week 2 of "Fantastic Four: First Steps" and three new wide releases: "Bad Guys 2," "The Naked Gun" and "Together." Host Cynthia Littleton journeys deep into K-pop fandom at the KCON festival, and TV critic Aramide Tinubu explains why she's so high on Jason Momoa's new drama "Chief of War."
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Episode Transcript
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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, August fourth, 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,
(00:30):
we'll talk with Variety's Rebecca Rubin about the weekend box
office four billion, remember that number, and then I'll have
a report on my journey this weekend into the heart
of the intense fandom of K pop. And to finish out,
Variety TV critic Aramade Tanubu tells us why she's so
high on Jason Momoa's Apple TV Plus drama series Chief
(00:52):
of War. But before we get to that, here are
a few headlines in just this morning that you need
to know. The new model Paramount has set key management
roles as Skydance prepares to take the keys to the
studio on Thursday. Among the eight senior executives set to
work under CEO David Ellison and President Jeff Schell, r
(01:12):
Andy Gordon as Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Operating Officer,
Jim Stirner as head of HR and Melissa Zuckerman as
Chief Communications Officer. There's a big shake up in Amazon's
audio operations. There will be some consolidation between the Wondery
and Audible brands. Wandery CEO Jen Sargent is exiting after
(01:34):
four years at the Helm. Rising star rapper Doci is
setting off on a twelve city tour produced by Live Nation.
Her Live from the Swamp Trek begins October fourteenth at
the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago. Rip to Lonnie Anderson, the
WKRP in Cincinnati star died Sunday at age seventy nine.
The first mention of Lonnie Anderson and Variety came almost
(01:56):
fifty years ago. In the September fifteenth, nineteen seven edition
of Daily Variety. She was listed low in the cast
in a review of the season premiere of SWAT. Now
we turn to conversations with Variety journalists about news and
trends and show business. If it's Monday, we're talking box
office with Rebecca Rubin, Variety's senior Film and Media reporter.
(02:20):
She had another busy frame to cover. It was the
second weekend of Marvel's The Fantastic four First Steps and
three wide release newcomers. Rebecca Rubin, thanks as ever for
bringing us the box office Report, Thank you for having me.
So weekend two was not as fantastic for The Fantastic
four First Steps as the debut weekend. What happened?
Speaker 2 (02:43):
So there is an adage for anyone who covers box
office as it quite well. Executives love to tell you
that opening weekend does not tell the whole story. And
they're typically saying that when a movie does not have
a big opening weekend, and they'll say, you know, it's
going to stick around to have really long legs. And
that was the case with a movie like The Greatest
(03:04):
Showman didn't have a great opening, stuck around forever and
ended up making a ton of money. But what's interesting
here is this is sort of the opposite case of
the opening weekend doesn't tell the whole story. Because Fantastic
four First Steps I had a pretty strong one hundred
and seventeen million dollar debut, and so everybody was expecting, Okay,
this is a return to form for Marvels. So another
(03:25):
really big opening weekend, and then instead it fell off
a cliff in its second weekend, and there have definitely
been Marvel movies that have had bigger second weekend drops.
But what's sort of surprising about ticket sales falling about
sixty six percent here is that this movie had the
benefit of positive reviews, great word of mouth, and so
(03:45):
really what I think ended up happening is it just
did not broaden out beyond the core audience of superhero fans.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
So basically weekend two, the demographic was still that core
core comic book young men.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
I think Disney was hoping that it was going to
be a bit broader, it was going to play more
toward families, and that just ended up not being the case.
I don't think the tally for Fantastic four is going
to be anything on the level of Disasters. I think
it's going to end with a decent tally, just nothing
in the stratosphere like we're used to for Marvel. But
(04:21):
the next three movies are all really heavy hitters. Next
summer they have Spider Man four, the last movie made
a billion dollars, and then they're following that up with
Avengers Doomsday and Avengers Secret Wars. These should be more
of the return to form that we're used to for Marvel.
There were three pretty big wide releases this weekend. Let's
(04:44):
do Lightning round and go through them. Bad Guys too
from Universal and DreamWorks. That movie opened to twenty two
point eight million dollars, which is about even with the
first film that opened in twenty twenty two. I think
this film will actually be a case of opening weekend
and not telling the whole.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Story The Naked Gun Paramount trying to revive the franchise
with Liam Nesa. This movie opened to seventeen million dollars,
which was right in line with projections. It's a pretty
promising start. Not a home run out of the gate
just because it has a significant forty two million dollar
price tag, but since there are just no theatrical comedies anymore,
(05:24):
I think getting to seventeen million dollars is pretty impressive.
Last one is from Neon Body horror drama to get.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
So this movie open on Wednesday, got a bit of
a head start on the weekend, and so the five
day number was ten point eight million dollars, and that's
a pretty encouraging start for indie horror. I keep saying
reviews and word of mouth, but that's really what is
getting people off the couch. People want to feel like
something is worth their money to go see, and word
(05:54):
of mouth on this movie has been really strong out
of Sundance, which is where it premiered, and it had
a huge bidding war, which not that many movies out
of Sundance this year were able to generate.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Rebecca, let me wrap by asking you, are there any
other box office milestones that were achieved this weekend or
anything that you're watching in terms of summer to date
or year to date numbers.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
So right now, the box office is about ten percent
ahead of last year, and it's still twenty three percent
behind twenty nineteen in the last pre pandemic year, and
the box office has been hovering at those figures for
basically all of summer. But analysts heading into summer were
pretty optimistic that this was going to be only the
(06:36):
second summer in post COVID times to hit four billion dollars.
The first time it did that was the summer of Barbenheimer.
And now that we're at early August, summer revenues just
hit three billion, and so it's a bigger question mark
than people were expecting of whether or not we will
(06:57):
get to four billion. There are a few movies on
the horizon. I think Freakier Friday and Weapons are two
movies that could generate a little business in August, which
tends to be a slower month. But it'll really depend
on how some of these movies hold over the next
few weeks, if the box office is able to get
(07:18):
to that benchmark.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
So interesting, Rebecca, as always, thank you for helping us
do the countdow. Thank you now listeners. As I promised
last week, I bring you the sites and sounds of KKON.
This is a three day event held at the Los
Angeles Convention Center in downtown. It celebrates kpop and a
lot of other aspects of Korean culture. On Friday, Saturday,
(07:43):
and most of Sunday, Kkon was a fan fest with
all manner of venders, giveaways, promos, and merch, Merch, Merch.
McDonald's was there with a French freight truck. Walmart hosted
a photo booth installation. Here's a sense of what it's
like inside us there.
Speaker 4 (08:06):
Please support the album.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
And send them a love right now.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
In the evening, there are big, flashy K pop concerts
with a half dozen or more acts On the bill
each night at Crypto dot com arena. The whole thing
is run by CJ, E and M, a big South
Korean conglomerate that operates studios, a streaming platform, movie theaters,
and a lot more. In the US, they own the
fifth season production distribution outfit. I didn't understand the first
(08:37):
thing about K pop and K culture fandom until I
walked around KKON for the first time a few years ago.
It's an immersion into a new world of fandom that
is more like a lifestyle than an affinity group for
individual artists. In my job, I love talking to the
hardcorees at fan conventions. You learn so much about what
they value in their entertainment experiences. I'll let a handful
(08:59):
of KKON twenty twenty five attendees explain what I mean.
We'll start with Jennifer and Vanessa, friends from Long Beach.
My first question is always what made you come?
Speaker 5 (09:10):
I came here honestly for the vibe. I loved the
Korean culture, I love the music, I love the dance.
I'm mostly here for the danist. It's just something about
Chekon that is able to bring Korea to the United States.
But that's not something you see here, so I've looked
for to Chekon.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
Every year now. Jennifer demonstrates how much of a lifestyle
embrace this really is for the biggest fans, well for me.
Speaker 6 (09:35):
When I started learning Korean because of my love for
like music or pay dramas and stuff, I really liked
how disciplined Korean people are well in terms of like
taking care of themselves. I really want to take after
that a little more in terms of like waking up,
doing her skincare, eating good and just engaging with other people.
(09:59):
I think books what I really like about the career culture.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
Next up, we hear from sisters Emily and Miranda, who
came from Murietta in Riverside County. These two noted that
k pop has been through several eras since they started
listening about eight years ago when they were in middle school.
It was a certain boy band that caught their attention.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
It was BTS back in twenty seventeen. It was during
their Love Yourself her era and Mike Trump. They did
a collaboration with Steve Ioki and that was really mainstream
here in America. So they really made that transition, and
that's when they got a lot of Americans sorry to
look at Korea for different music and stuff like that.
(10:40):
So yeah, we went to our first concert with BTS
in twenty eighteen.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Miranda reinforced the kkon is one of the best opportunities
of the year to see new kpop backs.
Speaker 7 (10:51):
Kikon here is so amazing because it's new groups. So
if you come in knowing one group, you'll walk out
knowing seven, eight nine, and then you get to really
like get in a new group. So every year it's
a new group that you can get to knows.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
I caught up with two friends from Sacramento who drove
down to La for k coon. Yona and Jamal told
me they both work for a retirement home, and Jamal
was quick to add that he is also a student.
I asked them what platforms they used to listen to
K pop. These two and many others told me TikTok
and YouTube pretty much in that order. Here's Jamal.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
I just started getting into K pop like a year
or two ago, so that's when I first started listening
to it actively and go into concerts and everything. So
you know, based on what people recommend me what they
tell me. But TikTok as well, especially with the dance
challenges that they have on there. People dance into the songs.
You know, you watch one of the dancess like, oh,
the dance is cool, and then you start listening to
the music in the background and you're like, oh, what's
(11:45):
that song? Like now I need to look it up,
and then you go through this whole entire like rabbit hole.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Both Jamal and Yona say they also watch the many
Korean language dramas that are available on Netflix, Disney Plus,
Amazon Prime Video and more.
Speaker 4 (11:57):
I do a little bit with my mom.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
She's a little bit of a hypocrite.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
Yeah, so she doesn't like the kpop, but when it
comes to the K dramas, she loves them. So she'll
come home from work, sit down on the couch, she'll
watch it, and you know, I do the signature. I'll
stand up doing dishes. I'll watch from the corner. You know,
I'm not trying to get foody immersed in it. But
then before I know, I find myself on the couch
with my mom watching. So surprisingly, my dad is actually
getting into K dramas a lot.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
More like whenever I walk into his zom, he'll be
watching it.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
And thanks to all the K conners who stopped to
talk to me this past weekend. K pop and K
drama has truly become a content ecosystem, particularly in Los Angeles.
On the first day of kkon, Variety and CJE and
M hosted a casual industry mixer in the early evening
before the first concert. We were thrilled by the turnout
(12:43):
of folks from Hibe, Amazon Music, Dive Studios, CIA, WME,
and many other managers and producers. This is truly a
space to watch now, we hear from Variety TV critic
Aramade to Nubu. Aramade watches a whole lot of TV,
and she really raved about this Apple TV Plus drama
(13:04):
series starring Jason Momoa. It tells the story of the
unification of the Hawaiian Islands in the seventeen hundreds. Aramede
will tell us why she liked it so much after
this clip from the trailer.
Speaker 5 (13:16):
This is your home. This land will hold you.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Long after I am gone. Telling me of the outside world.
Speaker 8 (13:32):
This strange, the pale skin honors no God's land.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
It will be coming soon, Aramade Tanuboo, thanks for joining me.
Speaker 8 (13:44):
Thank you so much for having me. Said the end.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
I love reading all of our reviews because I get
a sneak peek at what's coming up. Your review for
the new Apple TV Plus series Chief of War really
stood out to me. You really liked this series. What
was it about Chief of War that spoke to you.
Speaker 8 (14:01):
We've seen a lot of series similar to Chief of Wars.
We've seen a House of the Dragon, We've seen Game
of Throns, we've seen Showgun, but we've never seen the
history of the colonialization and the unification of the Hawaiian Islands.
That alone makes this very distinct. The setting is very specific,
the language, the people, the culture. It's just very different,
(14:22):
and that's why I really enjoyed it.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
It's an incredibly complex history, and because of where Hawaii sits,
it's crossroads of the world for a lot of people.
You watch so much television, I would imagine that it
takes quite a bit for a story to really grab
you for sure.
Speaker 8 (14:37):
The creator of this show, I should say, is Jason Mamala.
He created it with his partner. His name is Jason
Pie Sabbath, and I hope that I'm pronouncing that correctly.
But this is his culture, this is his history. With
a ten year endeavor for both of them, and you
can tell this is set in the eighteenth century in Hawaii.
There's four different islands that are separate at this point
(14:58):
in time before the Unifase, and you can see all
of the history and the research and the details from
the water droplets on the waves of the specific ocean
to the costuming that they're they're talking in Hawaiian for
the majority of this nine episode series, and I really
respect the craft of it.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
As always with period pieces, they make you reflect on
the present day and how much has changed and how
much has not. It sounds to me like you're saying
that you can see the money on the screen.
Speaker 8 (15:30):
Yes, absolutely, it's rumored to be several hundred millions of
dollars for this show to be made. It's one season,
nine episodes. I don't believe it's been already renewed. But
you could see everything that happens in this series. Again,
it's not something where the creators are going to hold
your hand as a viewer. You're going to have to
do the work. And I really respect TV shows like
(15:52):
that because I feel like sometimes Hollywood thinks, say, you know,
if we're not that smarter, we don't really care that much.
If you're willing to stick this series out, it's going
to pay offer you. But you're going to be pushed
in somewhere you've never been before and it's going to
take you a minute to get your bearings. So I
want viewers to remember that. So it's something where you're
gonna have to stick with it and it will pay off.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
For you for sure. We've seen Jason Momo this summer
in the Minecraft movie. We've seen him in action movies,
We've seen him in Game of Thrones, we've seen him
in comedies. What stands out to you about his performance
for this project?
Speaker 8 (16:25):
So not only is he directing episodes of writing, he
is the star of this series. He plays a warrior,
a Maui warrior named Kayana, and essentially he doesn't want
to be fined. He's very good at his craft, but
he doesn't want to be doing this. But he's sort
of lured into these wars and he's very stoic. He's
not someone who is jovial as we see Jason Momo
(16:46):
in real life. I think it's a really strong performance
and the amount of work that it probably took for
him to be at the center of the story and
being a creator and directing and writing. He's wearing many
hats and he does it Lee.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
I think he's been a busy guy with a whole
lot of other things at the same time. My last
question for you, Aramde, is this the kind of show
that you, as a viewer like to binge or is
this something you want to take you know, one hour
or so at a time.
Speaker 8 (17:14):
This is not a binge. I had to binge it
because I had to get my review out, but I
would not recommend binging it. Both episodes will be out
the first week, but after that they're coming one at
a time, and I think that's what the viewers need.
It is not something you want to watch in nine hours,
because you won't. It's a lot. It's a violent show,
so that can be very heavy. But also it's going
(17:36):
to take some work to get into the shows. You
want to take your time well, Aramade, it's a tough
job and we're glad you do it. Thank you for
telling us about Chief of War.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Thank you. As we close out today's episode, here are
a few things we're watching for. Of course, we're on
high alert for the sky Dance paramount closing on Thursday,
we have Disney earnings. On Wednesday, we'll probably hear more
about the ESPN standalone launch. Variety will be extra busy
this week. Our Power of Young Hollywood issue publishes Wednesday.
(18:09):
We salute Tyler, sam Nevola and Finnwolfard as our stars
to Watch. This issue also includes our new Leader's List
of rising Star executives and the ever popular ten Assistants
to Watch. On Thursday, we'll have our Power of Young
Hollywood event in Los Angeles to salute these fine folks. Meanwhile,
(18:29):
overseas on Wednesday, we'll publish the first of our four
digital daily newsletters out of the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland.
On Friday, will be all over the Edinburgh International Film
Festival in Scotland, and will put out another digital daily
before we go. Congrats to Anne Marie mcguintey. She's joined
Dan Leavey's Not a Real production company in the very
(18:50):
real job as head of Film and Television. She had
been VP of Scripted Programming at Ava du Verney's Array
film Works. Thanks for listening. This episode was written and
reported by me Cynthia Littleton, with contributions from Rebecca Rubin
and aramade To Nuboo. It was edited by Aaron Greenwald
Stick's nixt hick Picks. Please leave us a review at
(19:12):
the podcast platform of your choice, and don't forget to
tune in tomorrow for another episode of Daily Variety.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Something that struck me funny is that the people who
came out to see Naked Gun was almost entirely older
white men. Opening weekend crowds were sixty two percent mail,
fifty percent was over the age of thirty five, and
then seventy percent were white. They did not capture a
broad audience, but the older white men really turned out
(19:44):
in force.
Welcome to Daily Variety, your daily dose of news and
analysis for entertainment industry insiders. It's Monday, August fourth, 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,
(00:30):
we'll talk with Variety's Rebecca Rubin about the weekend box
office four billion, remember that number, and then I'll have
a report on my journey this weekend into the heart
of the intense fandom of K pop. And to finish out,
Variety TV critic Aramade Tanubu tells us why she's so
high on Jason Momoa's Apple TV Plus drama series Chief
(00:52):
of War. But before we get to that, here are
a few headlines in just this morning that you need
to know. The new model Paramount has set key management
roles as Skydance prepares to take the keys to the
studio on Thursday. Among the eight senior executives set to
work under CEO David Ellison and President Jeff Schell, r
(01:12):
Andy Gordon as Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Operating Officer,
Jim Stirner as head of HR and Melissa Zuckerman as
Chief Communications Officer. There's a big shake up in Amazon's
audio operations. There will be some consolidation between the Wondery
and Audible brands. Wandery CEO Jen Sargent is exiting after
(01:34):
four years at the Helm. Rising star rapper Doci is
setting off on a twelve city tour produced by Live Nation.
Her Live from the Swamp Trek begins October fourteenth at
the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago. Rip to Lonnie Anderson, the
WKRP in Cincinnati star died Sunday at age seventy nine.
The first mention of Lonnie Anderson and Variety came almost
(01:56):
fifty years ago. In the September fifteenth, nineteen seven edition
of Daily Variety. She was listed low in the cast
in a review of the season premiere of SWAT. Now
we turn to conversations with Variety journalists about news and
trends and show business. If it's Monday, we're talking box
office with Rebecca Rubin, Variety's senior Film and Media reporter.
(02:20):
She had another busy frame to cover. It was the
second weekend of Marvel's The Fantastic four First Steps and
three wide release newcomers. Rebecca Rubin, thanks as ever for
bringing us the box office Report, Thank you for having me.
So weekend two was not as fantastic for The Fantastic
four First Steps as the debut weekend. What happened?
Speaker 2 (02:43):
So there is an adage for anyone who covers box
office as it quite well. Executives love to tell you
that opening weekend does not tell the whole story. And
they're typically saying that when a movie does not have
a big opening weekend, and they'll say, you know, it's
going to stick around to have really long legs. And
that was the case with a movie like The Greatest
(03:04):
Showman didn't have a great opening, stuck around forever and
ended up making a ton of money. But what's interesting
here is this is sort of the opposite case of
the opening weekend doesn't tell the whole story. Because Fantastic
four First Steps I had a pretty strong one hundred
and seventeen million dollar debut, and so everybody was expecting, Okay,
this is a return to form for Marvels. So another
(03:25):
really big opening weekend, and then instead it fell off
a cliff in its second weekend, and there have definitely
been Marvel movies that have had bigger second weekend drops.
But what's sort of surprising about ticket sales falling about
sixty six percent here is that this movie had the
benefit of positive reviews, great word of mouth, and so
(03:45):
really what I think ended up happening is it just
did not broaden out beyond the core audience of superhero fans.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
So basically weekend two, the demographic was still that core
core comic book young men.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
I think Disney was hoping that it was going to
be a bit broader, it was going to play more
toward families, and that just ended up not being the case.
I don't think the tally for Fantastic four is going
to be anything on the level of Disasters. I think
it's going to end with a decent tally, just nothing
in the stratosphere like we're used to for Marvel. But
(04:21):
the next three movies are all really heavy hitters. Next
summer they have Spider Man four, the last movie made
a billion dollars, and then they're following that up with
Avengers Doomsday and Avengers Secret Wars. These should be more
of the return to form that we're used to for Marvel.
There were three pretty big wide releases this weekend. Let's
(04:44):
do Lightning round and go through them. Bad Guys too
from Universal and DreamWorks. That movie opened to twenty two
point eight million dollars, which is about even with the
first film that opened in twenty twenty two. I think
this film will actually be a case of opening weekend
and not telling the whole.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Story The Naked Gun Paramount trying to revive the franchise
with Liam Nesa. This movie opened to seventeen million dollars,
which was right in line with projections. It's a pretty
promising start. Not a home run out of the gate
just because it has a significant forty two million dollar
price tag, but since there are just no theatrical comedies anymore,
(05:24):
I think getting to seventeen million dollars is pretty impressive.
Last one is from Neon Body horror drama to get.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
So this movie open on Wednesday, got a bit of
a head start on the weekend, and so the five
day number was ten point eight million dollars, and that's
a pretty encouraging start for indie horror. I keep saying
reviews and word of mouth, but that's really what is
getting people off the couch. People want to feel like
something is worth their money to go see, and word
(05:54):
of mouth on this movie has been really strong out
of Sundance, which is where it premiered, and it had
a huge bidding war, which not that many movies out
of Sundance this year were able to generate.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Rebecca, let me wrap by asking you, are there any
other box office milestones that were achieved this weekend or
anything that you're watching in terms of summer to date
or year to date numbers.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
So right now, the box office is about ten percent
ahead of last year, and it's still twenty three percent
behind twenty nineteen in the last pre pandemic year, and
the box office has been hovering at those figures for
basically all of summer. But analysts heading into summer were
pretty optimistic that this was going to be only the
(06:36):
second summer in post COVID times to hit four billion dollars.
The first time it did that was the summer of Barbenheimer.
And now that we're at early August, summer revenues just
hit three billion, and so it's a bigger question mark
than people were expecting of whether or not we will
(06:57):
get to four billion. There are a few movies on
the horizon. I think Freakier Friday and Weapons are two
movies that could generate a little business in August, which
tends to be a slower month. But it'll really depend
on how some of these movies hold over the next
few weeks, if the box office is able to get
(07:18):
to that benchmark.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
So interesting, Rebecca, as always, thank you for helping us
do the countdow. Thank you now listeners. As I promised
last week, I bring you the sites and sounds of KKON.
This is a three day event held at the Los
Angeles Convention Center in downtown. It celebrates kpop and a
lot of other aspects of Korean culture. On Friday, Saturday,
(07:43):
and most of Sunday, Kkon was a fan fest with
all manner of venders, giveaways, promos, and merch, Merch, Merch.
McDonald's was there with a French freight truck. Walmart hosted
a photo booth installation. Here's a sense of what it's
like inside us there.
Speaker 4 (08:06):
Please support the album.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
And send them a love right now.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
In the evening, there are big, flashy K pop concerts
with a half dozen or more acts On the bill
each night at Crypto dot com arena. The whole thing
is run by CJ, E and M, a big South
Korean conglomerate that operates studios, a streaming platform, movie theaters,
and a lot more. In the US, they own the
fifth season production distribution outfit. I didn't understand the first
(08:37):
thing about K pop and K culture fandom until I
walked around KKON for the first time a few years ago.
It's an immersion into a new world of fandom that
is more like a lifestyle than an affinity group for
individual artists. In my job, I love talking to the
hardcorees at fan conventions. You learn so much about what
they value in their entertainment experiences. I'll let a handful
(08:59):
of KKON twenty twenty five attendees explain what I mean.
We'll start with Jennifer and Vanessa, friends from Long Beach.
My first question is always what made you come?
Speaker 5 (09:10):
I came here honestly for the vibe. I loved the
Korean culture, I love the music, I love the dance.
I'm mostly here for the danist. It's just something about
Chekon that is able to bring Korea to the United States.
But that's not something you see here, so I've looked
for to Chekon.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
Every year now. Jennifer demonstrates how much of a lifestyle
embrace this really is for the biggest fans, well for me.
Speaker 6 (09:35):
When I started learning Korean because of my love for
like music or pay dramas and stuff, I really liked
how disciplined Korean people are well in terms of like
taking care of themselves. I really want to take after
that a little more in terms of like waking up,
doing her skincare, eating good and just engaging with other people.
(09:59):
I think books what I really like about the career culture.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
Next up, we hear from sisters Emily and Miranda, who
came from Murietta in Riverside County. These two noted that
k pop has been through several eras since they started
listening about eight years ago when they were in middle school.
It was a certain boy band that caught their attention.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
It was BTS back in twenty seventeen. It was during
their Love Yourself her era and Mike Trump. They did
a collaboration with Steve Ioki and that was really mainstream
here in America. So they really made that transition, and
that's when they got a lot of Americans sorry to
look at Korea for different music and stuff like that.
(10:40):
So yeah, we went to our first concert with BTS
in twenty eighteen.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Miranda reinforced the kkon is one of the best opportunities
of the year to see new kpop backs.
Speaker 7 (10:51):
Kikon here is so amazing because it's new groups. So
if you come in knowing one group, you'll walk out
knowing seven, eight nine, and then you get to really
like get in a new group. So every year it's
a new group that you can get to knows.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
I caught up with two friends from Sacramento who drove
down to La for k coon. Yona and Jamal told
me they both work for a retirement home, and Jamal
was quick to add that he is also a student.
I asked them what platforms they used to listen to
K pop. These two and many others told me TikTok
and YouTube pretty much in that order. Here's Jamal.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
I just started getting into K pop like a year
or two ago, so that's when I first started listening
to it actively and go into concerts and everything. So
you know, based on what people recommend me what they
tell me. But TikTok as well, especially with the dance
challenges that they have on there. People dance into the songs.
You know, you watch one of the dancess like, oh,
the dance is cool, and then you start listening to
the music in the background and you're like, oh, what's
(11:45):
that song? Like now I need to look it up,
and then you go through this whole entire like rabbit hole.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Both Jamal and Yona say they also watch the many
Korean language dramas that are available on Netflix, Disney Plus,
Amazon Prime Video and more.
Speaker 4 (11:57):
I do a little bit with my mom.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
She's a little bit of a hypocrite.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
Yeah, so she doesn't like the kpop, but when it
comes to the K dramas, she loves them. So she'll
come home from work, sit down on the couch, she'll
watch it, and you know, I do the signature. I'll
stand up doing dishes. I'll watch from the corner. You know,
I'm not trying to get foody immersed in it. But
then before I know, I find myself on the couch
with my mom watching. So surprisingly, my dad is actually
getting into K dramas a lot.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
More like whenever I walk into his zom, he'll be
watching it.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
And thanks to all the K conners who stopped to
talk to me this past weekend. K pop and K
drama has truly become a content ecosystem, particularly in Los Angeles.
On the first day of kkon, Variety and CJE and
M hosted a casual industry mixer in the early evening
before the first concert. We were thrilled by the turnout
(12:43):
of folks from Hibe, Amazon Music, Dive Studios, CIA, WME,
and many other managers and producers. This is truly a
space to watch now, we hear from Variety TV critic
Aramade to Nubu. Aramade watches a whole lot of TV,
and she really raved about this Apple TV Plus drama
(13:04):
series starring Jason Momoa. It tells the story of the
unification of the Hawaiian Islands in the seventeen hundreds. Aramede
will tell us why she liked it so much after
this clip from the trailer.
Speaker 5 (13:16):
This is your home. This land will hold you.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Long after I am gone. Telling me of the outside world.
Speaker 8 (13:32):
This strange, the pale skin honors no God's land.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
It will be coming soon, Aramade Tanuboo, thanks for joining me.
Speaker 8 (13:44):
Thank you so much for having me. Said the end.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
I love reading all of our reviews because I get
a sneak peek at what's coming up. Your review for
the new Apple TV Plus series Chief of War really
stood out to me. You really liked this series. What
was it about Chief of War that spoke to you.
Speaker 8 (14:01):
We've seen a lot of series similar to Chief of Wars.
We've seen a House of the Dragon, We've seen Game
of Throns, we've seen Showgun, but we've never seen the
history of the colonialization and the unification of the Hawaiian Islands.
That alone makes this very distinct. The setting is very specific,
the language, the people, the culture. It's just very different,
(14:22):
and that's why I really enjoyed it.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
It's an incredibly complex history, and because of where Hawaii sits,
it's crossroads of the world for a lot of people.
You watch so much television, I would imagine that it
takes quite a bit for a story to really grab
you for sure.
Speaker 8 (14:37):
The creator of this show, I should say, is Jason Mamala.
He created it with his partner. His name is Jason
Pie Sabbath, and I hope that I'm pronouncing that correctly.
But this is his culture, this is his history. With
a ten year endeavor for both of them, and you
can tell this is set in the eighteenth century in Hawaii.
There's four different islands that are separate at this point
(14:58):
in time before the Unifase, and you can see all
of the history and the research and the details from
the water droplets on the waves of the specific ocean
to the costuming that they're they're talking in Hawaiian for
the majority of this nine episode series, and I really
respect the craft of it.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
As always with period pieces, they make you reflect on
the present day and how much has changed and how
much has not. It sounds to me like you're saying
that you can see the money on the screen.
Speaker 8 (15:30):
Yes, absolutely, it's rumored to be several hundred millions of
dollars for this show to be made. It's one season,
nine episodes. I don't believe it's been already renewed. But
you could see everything that happens in this series. Again,
it's not something where the creators are going to hold
your hand as a viewer. You're going to have to
do the work. And I really respect TV shows like
(15:52):
that because I feel like sometimes Hollywood thinks, say, you know,
if we're not that smarter, we don't really care that much.
If you're willing to stick this series out, it's going
to pay offer you. But you're going to be pushed
in somewhere you've never been before and it's going to
take you a minute to get your bearings. So I
want viewers to remember that. So it's something where you're
gonna have to stick with it and it will pay off.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
For you for sure. We've seen Jason Momo this summer
in the Minecraft movie. We've seen him in action movies,
We've seen him in Game of Thrones, we've seen him
in comedies. What stands out to you about his performance
for this project?
Speaker 8 (16:25):
So not only is he directing episodes of writing, he
is the star of this series. He plays a warrior,
a Maui warrior named Kayana, and essentially he doesn't want
to be fined. He's very good at his craft, but
he doesn't want to be doing this. But he's sort
of lured into these wars and he's very stoic. He's
not someone who is jovial as we see Jason Momo
(16:46):
in real life. I think it's a really strong performance
and the amount of work that it probably took for
him to be at the center of the story and
being a creator and directing and writing. He's wearing many
hats and he does it Lee.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
I think he's been a busy guy with a whole
lot of other things at the same time. My last
question for you, Aramde, is this the kind of show
that you, as a viewer like to binge or is
this something you want to take you know, one hour
or so at a time.
Speaker 8 (17:14):
This is not a binge. I had to binge it
because I had to get my review out, but I
would not recommend binging it. Both episodes will be out
the first week, but after that they're coming one at
a time, and I think that's what the viewers need.
It is not something you want to watch in nine hours,
because you won't. It's a lot. It's a violent show,
so that can be very heavy. But also it's going
(17:36):
to take some work to get into the shows. You
want to take your time well, Aramade, it's a tough
job and we're glad you do it. Thank you for
telling us about Chief of War.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Thank you. As we close out today's episode, here are
a few things we're watching for. Of course, we're on
high alert for the sky Dance paramount closing on Thursday,
we have Disney earnings. On Wednesday, we'll probably hear more
about the ESPN standalone launch. Variety will be extra busy
this week. Our Power of Young Hollywood issue publishes Wednesday.
(18:09):
We salute Tyler, sam Nevola and Finnwolfard as our stars
to Watch. This issue also includes our new Leader's List
of rising Star executives and the ever popular ten Assistants
to Watch. On Thursday, we'll have our Power of Young
Hollywood event in Los Angeles to salute these fine folks. Meanwhile,
(18:29):
overseas on Wednesday, we'll publish the first of our four
digital daily newsletters out of the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland.
On Friday, will be all over the Edinburgh International Film
Festival in Scotland, and will put out another digital daily
before we go. Congrats to Anne Marie mcguintey. She's joined
Dan Leavey's Not a Real production company in the very
(18:50):
real job as head of Film and Television. She had
been VP of Scripted Programming at Ava du Verney's Array
film Works. Thanks for listening. This episode was written and
reported by me Cynthia Littleton, with contributions from Rebecca Rubin
and aramade To Nuboo. It was edited by Aaron Greenwald
Stick's nixt hick Picks. Please leave us a review at
(19:12):
the podcast platform of your choice, and don't forget to
tune in tomorrow for another episode of Daily Variety.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Something that struck me funny is that the people who
came out to see Naked Gun was almost entirely older
white men. Opening weekend crowds were sixty two percent mail,
fifty percent was over the age of thirty five, and
then seventy percent were white. They did not capture a
broad audience, but the older white men really turned out
(19:44):
in force.
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