On today’s episode, Variety's Brent Lang unpacks disappointing opening weekends for “Tron: Ares,” “Roofman” and “Kiss of the Spider Woman.” And international editor Elsa Keslassy reports on the buzz by the sea in Cannes as the annual Mipcom content market begins.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:14):
Welcome to Daily Variety, your daily dose of news and
analysis for entertainment industry insiders. It's Monday, October thirteenth, 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. On today's episode,
(00:35):
we'll talk to Brent Lang for our box office segment.
It was a slow frame for Disney's tron Aries, and
there were disappointing openings to go around for Paramount's Roofman
and Lionsgates, Kiss of the Spider Woman. And then you'll
hear more from me and Variety's International editor Elsa Kislassi.
I'm working out of Cohn this week as Variety assembles
(00:56):
on the Coach Dessour to cover the annual MIPCOM content
market that's going on here this week. Today, on the
opening day of the market, Variety and Mipcom are once
again hosting our c Suite Conversations track at the Palais
de Festivals. I'm doing Q and AS with Media One
Pictures chief Elizabeth d'arvu Sony Pictures TV Chairman Keith LeGoy
(01:18):
and will cap the afternoon with the Variety Vanguard Award
presentation to Marco Bissetti, CEO of Banaje and a veteran
of the international TV scene. More to come on that
in tomorrow's episode, but before we get to our box
office analysis and more, here are a few headlines just
in this morning that you need to know. The auction
(01:40):
of Warner Brothers Discovery has begun. Bloomberg reports that Warner Bros.
Has rejected an offer of twenty dollars a share from
David Ellison's Paramount Skuiddance. This is going to force the
hand of any other bidder who's serious about jumping in
for the chance to buy Warner Brothers, HBO, CNN, and
X many more assets. Sean Penn delivered a heartfelt tribute
(02:03):
to Jack Nicholson during his visit to a classic film
festival going on about two hundred and seventy five miles
north of where I'm recording this in Cahn. At the
Lumier Classic Cinema Fest in Leon, France, Penn introduced the
opening night film, nineteen seventy five's One Flew over the
Cuckoo's Nest. Penn called the legendary actor a huge inspiration
(02:26):
and said that he served as nothing less than quote
an angel on my shoulder end quote when they worked
together on two films, nineteen ninety five's Crossing Guard and
two thousand and one's The Pledge. Penn also had a
lot more to say about the state of American movies.
All of these stories and so much more can be
found on Variety dot com.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Right now.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Now we turn to conversations with Friday journalists about news
and trends in show business. If it's Monday, we're talking
box office, this time with Brent Lang, Variety's executive editor.
It was tough sledding this past weekend as tron Aries,
Roof Man and Kiss of the Spider Woman all open
(03:14):
to disappointing numbers. Brent Lang, thank you for joining me today.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Thank you for having me, Brent.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Disney had a big opening at the box office this weekend.
Tron Aries, the latest installment in this franchise that they
have been trying to really revive for more than a decade.
Now pretty underwhelming opening. What do you think went on
this weekend at the box office? With drawn aries.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Well, I think this was an example of an idea
that nobody was kind of asking for. This is a
franchise that's in its fourth decade. It's always been more
of a cult favorite than a commercial juggernaut. The first
film didn't do that well when it opened in the
nineteen eighties, but it kind of developed a following on
home entertainment. And then they tried again with tron Legacy
(04:01):
a little over ten years ago, and that movie made
about four hundred million, and that was considered to be
something of a disappointment. And then this tron Ares has
been in development health for a long time. They finally
got it off the ground, but it cost one hundred
and eighty million dollars and it opened domestically to thirty
three point five million dollars and a little over sixty
(04:22):
million dollars globally, which is a pretty terrible result. Frankly, so,
I think what they wanted to do was to put
a little more steam into this series. Part of the
reason is they have a theme park ride, and while
Disney World needing a ride that appeals to younger men,
and their rights to the Marvel characters are tied up
(04:43):
in other licensing agreements that pre date Disney's purchase of Marvel.
So Tron has become a stopgap in one of their
major theme parks. So I think they were trying to
figure out a way to extend this series that has
charitably reached its natural conclusion in like nineteen eighty.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
We keep talking about this, but it does seem like
the glow of quote ip, which is a phrase I
can't believe we all kind of wound up adopting just
like content, which I know we fought for a long time.
But in the idea that there's a Tron baseline out there,
just the banking on Tron the name itself to bring
(05:21):
a certain level of person to the box office, and
this result is showing that bankability just isn't there. Or
do you think this is a Tron specific problem.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
I think it's a little bit of both. I do
think there's a couple of things at play here, some
of which is, if you look at what's happened in
Hollywood over the last fifteen twenty years or so, the
studio system kind of trained consumers to expect certain things
from theatrical releases, and not that long ago they had
(05:53):
a true slate style where they had a couple of
tent pole movies, a couple of sequels, some are properties,
some rom com some dramas, different types of genres for
different types of audiences, and it was more of a
volume game. And what ended up happening is they decided
to move from like, you know, a few over twenty
(06:15):
movies a year thirty in the nineties to more like
twelve or fourteen, and those twelve or fourteen cost a
lot more money. But they were supposed to be based
on recognizable IP, but you know, there's a limit on
like what is actually recognizable IP. And the thing that
I think the studios have started to realize is that
(06:36):
a lot of their signature franchises are starting to get
a little lawn in the tooth and they need to
replace them. But they've kind of gotten people out of
the habit of expecting original stories at the multiplexes. So
it's kind of a difficult conundrum that they're dealing with
right now. Where I think studio executives are not known
(06:57):
for taking like huge creative swings, and I think it's
easier for them to say, well, we made this one
hundred and eighty million dollars sequel to this franchise. They're
not going to probably lose their job for that, but
to say, like, you know, we we spent one hundred
and thirty million dollars on this original property, while you
(07:18):
could lose your job for that, and if you look
at what's happening with one battle after another, that's kind
of a you know, that's the other side of things
where Warner Brothers under Mike de Luca and Pam Abdy
really did take a pretty bold swing giving one hundred
and thirty million dollars to Paul Thomas Anderson for this
(07:39):
this film because Leonardo DiCaprio was in it and it
got amazing reviews, and you know, it's going to have
trouble making two hundred million dollars, so it's going to
lose tens of millions of dollars. So I think it
just shows just how difficult it is to to do
something that's bold and innovative right now. I think they've
got to figure out a way to get budgets under control.
(08:00):
It really is going to prevent them from from finding
news stories that keep people engaged in this medium. After
a while, people do get tired of the overly familiar.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Well, I'm sorry to say that there was other pain
spread around the box offices. It really was a lackluster weekend, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
It really was. There weren't a lot of things that
seemed to connect this weekend.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
From reading our box office story, Paramount was probably also
underwhelmed with the opening for Channing Tatum's roof Man, a
movie that also got a lot of good reviews, a
lot of word of mouth, especially coming out of festivals.
Channing Tatum, the Star was on our cover with a
fantastic story. To their credit, this one is a very
(08:42):
original concept and just did not connect with enough people
out there to give it a solid opening.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
It made about eight million dollars. Now, I will say
Paramount and Merrimax, which developed the film, are relatively protected
because it only costs nineteen million to make, so it's
not going to be a huge financial loser. I love
this movie. I think it's really fun. It's it's the
kind of movie that needs kind of word of mouth
(09:08):
to build an audience. It may have gone too wide
too soon. I think the problem was they couldn't quite
figure out what their core demographic was for this movie.
They couldn't figure out was it you know, was it
older women? Was it older men? And I think that
the marketing was a little muddled. The title is also
(09:29):
it's a kind of a perplexing title.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Do you any signs that could benefit from word of mouth?
Speaker 2 (09:35):
You're probably were looking at a fairly small money loser.
But it's yet another one of these adult skewing dramas
that have struggled this fall in a more limited way.
I think this was released on about thirteen hundred screens.
But Kiss of a Spider Woman with Jennifer Lopez, which
got okay reviews, not as good as Roofman, that really collapsed.
(09:57):
It made less than a million dollar. That's a pretty
terrible result for a movie like that, and that movie
costs thirty four million dollars, so that's a bigger risk.
And again it just shows you know, these are supposed
to be big draws. These are names. Everybody knows who
Chanting Tatum is, everybody knows what Jennifer lopezz, everybody knows
(10:18):
who Leadon DiCaprio is. And these people aren't able to
get people into theaters. So it's just a difficult time
right now to figure out how to build an audience
how to cut through the noise and where to reach
them to.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
There's an analyst in the story that says box office
momentum can shift really quickly. That's also something that sure
seems a symptom of our constant communication culture, where we're
constantly getting stimulus and information fed to us on our phones.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
A cultural conversation just shifts so dramatically and in terms
of momentum. I think that there is something about in
theater advertising being very effective. Like if you look at Weapons,
Weapons did very well. There was a lot of marketing
material tied to it. I think that's why the next
Conjuring movie actually exceeded expectations, because I'm sure that a
(11:11):
lot of people who went to see Weapons, who were
the same core audience for the Conjuring saw spots for
it and decided to see that film. I mean, I
have no you know, empirical data to back that up,
but there is a sense that going to the movies
is the best advertisement for going to see more movies.
And what's happened this fall is more recently, you haven't
(11:33):
seen that consistency of one film feeding into the opening
of another film.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
You hear that at our events and in reporting the
distribution execs or high fiving rivals. When somebody has a
hit that brings people to the theaters, that gets the all
important sampling of those trailers. Well, you know, there's always
next weekend and there are some big heavy hitters to
come around Thanksgiving and Christmas, and we will cover all
(12:00):
of it as always. Thanks to you and Rebecca Ruin
for being are stalwarts at the turnstiles.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Now I'm joined by Elsa Kaslasi, Variety's international editor, to
talk about what's making waves by the seaside in Cohn
as Mipcom gets underway. Elsa Kaslasi coming to us from
a hotel room and can just like I'm at at
in a hotel room and can. It's so good to
see you.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
Yes, it's great to be back at Newcom. And the
sun is shining. It's always a plus.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
It's the reason they call it the Coast of Blue.
It is gorgeous here and you know, the mood is upbeat.
It's day one of Mipcom. Making the rounds on Sunday
talking to people, you know, having that high how are
you running into people at the registration and on the
sidewalks I think people are excited to be here and
(12:56):
network and I lost count of the number of people
asking me what's going on in the United States with
the Hollywood studios, particularly, a lot of interest in what's
going on with Warner Brothers Discovery right now, the sale process,
no surprise, what did you pick up in your travels
last night, Elsa.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
Everyone is interested in what's going on in the US,
even in Europe because, as you know, a lot of
European companies they want to acquire US companies, so they're
on the lookout for what's on the market and what
consolidation is happening in the US. As we know, there
is a lot of consolidation happening also in Europe, so
(13:37):
I think that's a big thing. I would say like
this year, the big focus at BPCOM, I think is
going to be on the Creator economy because you too
be celebrating its twenty year anniversaries this year and they're
having a presence at MIPCOM for the first time. And
I attended the panels this morning. The auditorium was completely
packed and people listen to the conversation between Peterrupina from
(14:00):
YouTube EMA and an executive from BBC studios who talked
about their partnership, and I think we're going to see
more and more partnerships between blue chip legacy medias you
know like BBC and platforms like YouTube. Later on we'll
talk to Benijco Marco Bassetti, who's going to also talk
(14:21):
about looking at the creator economy because they need that
kind of segment of the population, like the demo.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
I will miss no opportunity to point out YouTube's twenty
year push really began back in March when we had
CEO Neil Mohan on the cover, and I'm not surprised
that panel was super packed. More people are watching YouTube
as TV versus even on their phones or on their
laptops anymore, and so that it perfectly tracks that they
(14:50):
are here because they are television. But of course they
have elevated now the creators, like the Mister Beasts, to
this much more professional level, and it is fascinating to
watch those kind of those two community, the professional TV
and the creator. There's been a wide gulf, but they
are getting closer and closer together. Of course, this event
(15:11):
has just started, so we are just taking the very
earliest sort of first impressions. But I think it's going
to be busy. As we're recording this, were a couple
of hours away from our C suite conversations. We are
so excited to have this high quality time slot at
MIPCOM to use a TV metaphor for what we hope
(15:31):
will be three really great substantive business conversations. Elsa, I'm
excited for you to join me on stage.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
As we were talking, Banni Jay announced that they were
buying the Dutch creator outfit, So I think that's really interesting.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
We're about to sit down with the CEO of Banajay
and they've just announced an acquisition. This is both modern
journalism and the life of being at one of these markets.
As we said, it would be busy. Thank you for
adding that bullet and Elsa. And as we close out
(16:06):
today's episode, we have to pay tribute to Diane Keaton,
the incredible actor and director who died October eleventh at
age seventy nine. She had a one of a kind career.
My colleague Owen Gliberman paid tribute to Keaton in a
beautiful appreciation post. He cited her quote incandescent comic charm
(16:28):
end quote and her versatility as an actor who sought
characters who were quote the embodiments of complicated feminine power
end quote. My colleague Michael Schneider remembered a different side
of Diane Keaton in a great story that only he
could write. Keaton worked hard in the last decades of
her life as a conservationist, trying to preserve the history
(16:50):
of Los Angeles that included a long but ultimately unsuccessful
fight to save the famed Ambassador Hotel. Michael Schneider noted
booster of Los Angeles that he is was also involved
in that effort. He found a great quote that Keaton
delivered at a rally in two thousand and six. It
really seems to capture the free wheeling Diane Keaton. She
(17:13):
compared the loss of the hotel to quote losing a lover.
She described looking at the site where the Ambassador stood
for the first time after it was knocked down, and
she said, quote, I felt the loneliness of her last stand.
I heard an echo, an echo, maybe it was the
echo of the Ambassador calling me. It was almost as
(17:35):
if she was saying to me. She was saying goodbye, Diane,
Keep me in your heart and next time, try harder.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
End quote.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Diane Keaton was a grandame in Annie Hall's clothes. May
she rest in peace before we go. Congrats to Alison Rawlings,
the NBC Universal and dreamworksalum has been named head of
Publicity and Communications for Fex. It's a big move across
the valley floor for Rawlings after spending a decade on
the Universal lot. Thanks for listening. This episode was written
(18:08):
and reported by me Cynthia Littleton, with contributions from Brent
Lang and Elsa CASSLOSSI Stick Snick's Hick Pigs. Please leave
us a review at the podcast platform of your choice,
and please tune in tomorrow for another episode of Daily
Variety Au Revoir
Welcome to Daily Variety, your daily dose of news and
analysis for entertainment industry insiders. It's Monday, October thirteenth, 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. On today's episode,
(00:35):
we'll talk to Brent Lang for our box office segment.
It was a slow frame for Disney's tron Aries, and
there were disappointing openings to go around for Paramount's Roofman
and Lionsgates, Kiss of the Spider Woman. And then you'll
hear more from me and Variety's International editor Elsa Kislassi.
I'm working out of Cohn this week as Variety assembles
(00:56):
on the Coach Dessour to cover the annual MIPCOM content
market that's going on here this week. Today, on the
opening day of the market, Variety and Mipcom are once
again hosting our c Suite Conversations track at the Palais
de Festivals. I'm doing Q and AS with Media One
Pictures chief Elizabeth d'arvu Sony Pictures TV Chairman Keith LeGoy
(01:18):
and will cap the afternoon with the Variety Vanguard Award
presentation to Marco Bissetti, CEO of Banaje and a veteran
of the international TV scene. More to come on that
in tomorrow's episode, but before we get to our box
office analysis and more, here are a few headlines just
in this morning that you need to know. The auction
(01:40):
of Warner Brothers Discovery has begun. Bloomberg reports that Warner Bros.
Has rejected an offer of twenty dollars a share from
David Ellison's Paramount Skuiddance. This is going to force the
hand of any other bidder who's serious about jumping in
for the chance to buy Warner Brothers, HBO, CNN, and
X many more assets. Sean Penn delivered a heartfelt tribute
(02:03):
to Jack Nicholson during his visit to a classic film
festival going on about two hundred and seventy five miles
north of where I'm recording this in Cahn. At the
Lumier Classic Cinema Fest in Leon, France, Penn introduced the
opening night film, nineteen seventy five's One Flew over the
Cuckoo's Nest. Penn called the legendary actor a huge inspiration
(02:26):
and said that he served as nothing less than quote
an angel on my shoulder end quote when they worked
together on two films, nineteen ninety five's Crossing Guard and
two thousand and one's The Pledge. Penn also had a
lot more to say about the state of American movies.
All of these stories and so much more can be
found on Variety dot com.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Right now.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Now we turn to conversations with Friday journalists about news
and trends in show business. If it's Monday, we're talking
box office, this time with Brent Lang, Variety's executive editor.
It was tough sledding this past weekend as tron Aries,
Roof Man and Kiss of the Spider Woman all open
(03:14):
to disappointing numbers. Brent Lang, thank you for joining me today.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Thank you for having me, Brent.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Disney had a big opening at the box office this weekend.
Tron Aries, the latest installment in this franchise that they
have been trying to really revive for more than a decade.
Now pretty underwhelming opening. What do you think went on
this weekend at the box office? With drawn aries.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Well, I think this was an example of an idea
that nobody was kind of asking for. This is a
franchise that's in its fourth decade. It's always been more
of a cult favorite than a commercial juggernaut. The first
film didn't do that well when it opened in the
nineteen eighties, but it kind of developed a following on
home entertainment. And then they tried again with tron Legacy
(04:01):
a little over ten years ago, and that movie made
about four hundred million, and that was considered to be
something of a disappointment. And then this tron Ares has
been in development health for a long time. They finally
got it off the ground, but it cost one hundred
and eighty million dollars and it opened domestically to thirty
three point five million dollars and a little over sixty
(04:22):
million dollars globally, which is a pretty terrible result. Frankly, so,
I think what they wanted to do was to put
a little more steam into this series. Part of the
reason is they have a theme park ride, and while
Disney World needing a ride that appeals to younger men,
and their rights to the Marvel characters are tied up
(04:43):
in other licensing agreements that pre date Disney's purchase of Marvel.
So Tron has become a stopgap in one of their
major theme parks. So I think they were trying to
figure out a way to extend this series that has
charitably reached its natural conclusion in like nineteen eighty.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
We keep talking about this, but it does seem like
the glow of quote ip, which is a phrase I
can't believe we all kind of wound up adopting just
like content, which I know we fought for a long time.
But in the idea that there's a Tron baseline out there,
just the banking on Tron the name itself to bring
(05:21):
a certain level of person to the box office, and
this result is showing that bankability just isn't there. Or
do you think this is a Tron specific problem.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
I think it's a little bit of both. I do
think there's a couple of things at play here, some
of which is, if you look at what's happened in
Hollywood over the last fifteen twenty years or so, the
studio system kind of trained consumers to expect certain things
from theatrical releases, and not that long ago they had
(05:53):
a true slate style where they had a couple of
tent pole movies, a couple of sequels, some are properties,
some rom com some dramas, different types of genres for
different types of audiences, and it was more of a
volume game. And what ended up happening is they decided
to move from like, you know, a few over twenty
(06:15):
movies a year thirty in the nineties to more like
twelve or fourteen, and those twelve or fourteen cost a
lot more money. But they were supposed to be based
on recognizable IP, but you know, there's a limit on
like what is actually recognizable IP. And the thing that
I think the studios have started to realize is that
(06:36):
a lot of their signature franchises are starting to get
a little lawn in the tooth and they need to
replace them. But they've kind of gotten people out of
the habit of expecting original stories at the multiplexes. So
it's kind of a difficult conundrum that they're dealing with
right now. Where I think studio executives are not known
(06:57):
for taking like huge creative swings, and I think it's
easier for them to say, well, we made this one
hundred and eighty million dollars sequel to this franchise. They're
not going to probably lose their job for that, but
to say, like, you know, we we spent one hundred
and thirty million dollars on this original property, while you
(07:18):
could lose your job for that, and if you look
at what's happening with one battle after another, that's kind
of a you know, that's the other side of things
where Warner Brothers under Mike de Luca and Pam Abdy
really did take a pretty bold swing giving one hundred
and thirty million dollars to Paul Thomas Anderson for this
(07:39):
this film because Leonardo DiCaprio was in it and it
got amazing reviews, and you know, it's going to have
trouble making two hundred million dollars, so it's going to
lose tens of millions of dollars. So I think it
just shows just how difficult it is to to do
something that's bold and innovative right now. I think they've
got to figure out a way to get budgets under control.
(08:00):
It really is going to prevent them from from finding
news stories that keep people engaged in this medium. After
a while, people do get tired of the overly familiar.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Well, I'm sorry to say that there was other pain
spread around the box offices. It really was a lackluster weekend, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
It really was. There weren't a lot of things that
seemed to connect this weekend.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
From reading our box office story, Paramount was probably also
underwhelmed with the opening for Channing Tatum's roof Man, a
movie that also got a lot of good reviews, a
lot of word of mouth, especially coming out of festivals.
Channing Tatum, the Star was on our cover with a
fantastic story. To their credit, this one is a very
(08:42):
original concept and just did not connect with enough people
out there to give it a solid opening.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
It made about eight million dollars. Now, I will say
Paramount and Merrimax, which developed the film, are relatively protected
because it only costs nineteen million to make, so it's
not going to be a huge financial loser. I love
this movie. I think it's really fun. It's it's the
kind of movie that needs kind of word of mouth
(09:08):
to build an audience. It may have gone too wide
too soon. I think the problem was they couldn't quite
figure out what their core demographic was for this movie.
They couldn't figure out was it you know, was it
older women? Was it older men? And I think that
the marketing was a little muddled. The title is also
(09:29):
it's a kind of a perplexing title.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Do you any signs that could benefit from word of mouth?
Speaker 2 (09:35):
You're probably were looking at a fairly small money loser.
But it's yet another one of these adult skewing dramas
that have struggled this fall in a more limited way.
I think this was released on about thirteen hundred screens.
But Kiss of a Spider Woman with Jennifer Lopez, which
got okay reviews, not as good as Roofman, that really collapsed.
(09:57):
It made less than a million dollar. That's a pretty
terrible result for a movie like that, and that movie
costs thirty four million dollars, so that's a bigger risk.
And again it just shows you know, these are supposed
to be big draws. These are names. Everybody knows who
Chanting Tatum is, everybody knows what Jennifer lopezz, everybody knows
(10:18):
who Leadon DiCaprio is. And these people aren't able to
get people into theaters. So it's just a difficult time
right now to figure out how to build an audience
how to cut through the noise and where to reach
them to.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
There's an analyst in the story that says box office
momentum can shift really quickly. That's also something that sure
seems a symptom of our constant communication culture, where we're
constantly getting stimulus and information fed to us on our phones.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
A cultural conversation just shifts so dramatically and in terms
of momentum. I think that there is something about in
theater advertising being very effective. Like if you look at Weapons,
Weapons did very well. There was a lot of marketing
material tied to it. I think that's why the next
Conjuring movie actually exceeded expectations, because I'm sure that a
(11:11):
lot of people who went to see Weapons, who were
the same core audience for the Conjuring saw spots for
it and decided to see that film. I mean, I
have no you know, empirical data to back that up,
but there is a sense that going to the movies
is the best advertisement for going to see more movies.
And what's happened this fall is more recently, you haven't
(11:33):
seen that consistency of one film feeding into the opening
of another film.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
You hear that at our events and in reporting the
distribution execs or high fiving rivals. When somebody has a
hit that brings people to the theaters, that gets the all
important sampling of those trailers. Well, you know, there's always
next weekend and there are some big heavy hitters to
come around Thanksgiving and Christmas, and we will cover all
(12:00):
of it as always. Thanks to you and Rebecca Ruin
for being are stalwarts at the turnstiles.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Now I'm joined by Elsa Kaslasi, Variety's international editor, to
talk about what's making waves by the seaside in Cohn
as Mipcom gets underway. Elsa Kaslasi coming to us from
a hotel room and can just like I'm at at
in a hotel room and can. It's so good to
see you.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
Yes, it's great to be back at Newcom. And the
sun is shining. It's always a plus.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
It's the reason they call it the Coast of Blue.
It is gorgeous here and you know, the mood is upbeat.
It's day one of Mipcom. Making the rounds on Sunday
talking to people, you know, having that high how are
you running into people at the registration and on the
sidewalks I think people are excited to be here and
(12:56):
network and I lost count of the number of people
asking me what's going on in the United States with
the Hollywood studios, particularly, a lot of interest in what's
going on with Warner Brothers Discovery right now, the sale process,
no surprise, what did you pick up in your travels
last night, Elsa.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
Everyone is interested in what's going on in the US,
even in Europe because, as you know, a lot of
European companies they want to acquire US companies, so they're
on the lookout for what's on the market and what
consolidation is happening in the US. As we know, there
is a lot of consolidation happening also in Europe, so
(13:37):
I think that's a big thing. I would say like
this year, the big focus at BPCOM, I think is
going to be on the Creator economy because you too
be celebrating its twenty year anniversaries this year and they're
having a presence at MIPCOM for the first time. And
I attended the panels this morning. The auditorium was completely
packed and people listen to the conversation between Peterrupina from
(14:00):
YouTube EMA and an executive from BBC studios who talked
about their partnership, and I think we're going to see
more and more partnerships between blue chip legacy medias you
know like BBC and platforms like YouTube. Later on we'll
talk to Benijco Marco Bassetti, who's going to also talk
(14:21):
about looking at the creator economy because they need that
kind of segment of the population, like the demo.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
I will miss no opportunity to point out YouTube's twenty
year push really began back in March when we had
CEO Neil Mohan on the cover, and I'm not surprised
that panel was super packed. More people are watching YouTube
as TV versus even on their phones or on their
laptops anymore, and so that it perfectly tracks that they
(14:50):
are here because they are television. But of course they
have elevated now the creators, like the Mister Beasts, to
this much more professional level, and it is fascinating to
watch those kind of those two community, the professional TV
and the creator. There's been a wide gulf, but they
are getting closer and closer together. Of course, this event
(15:11):
has just started, so we are just taking the very
earliest sort of first impressions. But I think it's going
to be busy. As we're recording this, were a couple
of hours away from our C suite conversations. We are
so excited to have this high quality time slot at
MIPCOM to use a TV metaphor for what we hope
(15:31):
will be three really great substantive business conversations. Elsa, I'm
excited for you to join me on stage.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
As we were talking, Banni Jay announced that they were
buying the Dutch creator outfit, So I think that's really interesting.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
We're about to sit down with the CEO of Banajay
and they've just announced an acquisition. This is both modern
journalism and the life of being at one of these markets.
As we said, it would be busy. Thank you for
adding that bullet and Elsa. And as we close out
(16:06):
today's episode, we have to pay tribute to Diane Keaton,
the incredible actor and director who died October eleventh at
age seventy nine. She had a one of a kind career.
My colleague Owen Gliberman paid tribute to Keaton in a
beautiful appreciation post. He cited her quote incandescent comic charm
(16:28):
end quote and her versatility as an actor who sought
characters who were quote the embodiments of complicated feminine power
end quote. My colleague Michael Schneider remembered a different side
of Diane Keaton in a great story that only he
could write. Keaton worked hard in the last decades of
her life as a conservationist, trying to preserve the history
(16:50):
of Los Angeles that included a long but ultimately unsuccessful
fight to save the famed Ambassador Hotel. Michael Schneider noted
booster of Los Angeles that he is was also involved
in that effort. He found a great quote that Keaton
delivered at a rally in two thousand and six. It
really seems to capture the free wheeling Diane Keaton. She
(17:13):
compared the loss of the hotel to quote losing a lover.
She described looking at the site where the Ambassador stood
for the first time after it was knocked down, and
she said, quote, I felt the loneliness of her last stand.
I heard an echo, an echo, maybe it was the
echo of the Ambassador calling me. It was almost as
(17:35):
if she was saying to me. She was saying goodbye, Diane,
Keep me in your heart and next time, try harder.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
End quote.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Diane Keaton was a grandame in Annie Hall's clothes. May
she rest in peace before we go. Congrats to Alison Rawlings,
the NBC Universal and dreamworksalum has been named head of
Publicity and Communications for Fex. It's a big move across
the valley floor for Rawlings after spending a decade on
the Universal lot. Thanks for listening. This episode was written
(18:08):
and reported by me Cynthia Littleton, with contributions from Brent
Lang and Elsa CASSLOSSI Stick Snick's Hick Pigs. Please leave
us a review at the podcast platform of your choice,
and please tune in tomorrow for another episode of Daily
Variety Au Revoir
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