I’ve been a little busy this week, shooting and editing a movie for Collaboration Filmmakers Challenge. Hopefully I don’t get disqualified this time.
But I’ve still had time to read and watch some interesting things over the last few weeks. Here are some of the best and most interesting ones.
From the World of John Wick
After a long and difficult production, The Ballerina is finally out, and I do recommend it. The action is great, and Ana de Armas shines as usual. You might miss out on some Easter eggs, but you can still follow the story even if you haven’t seen any of the previous Johns Wick.
Last year, I wrote about a tricky aspect of editing action scenes, using the Ballerina trailer as a case study. The trailer is not the movie, of course, but the flamethrower sequence is pretty much the same in the film—
I hope it does well at the box office, so we get more of this kind of film. Speaking of box office…
Remaking the Business
The success of the Lilo & Stitch remake aligns perfectly with my analysis of The Little Mermaid. 25-30 years is the sweet spot for these remakes, because it’s likely your first child is now the same age you were when the original came out. TLM was released half a decade too late.
But as to Lilo and Stitch specifically,
asks, “Why Can't Tom Terrific Make As Much Money As An Animated Alien?”I have long said that the lazy thinking is to blame the changes in the industry on IP movies, villainizing them for their popularity. The combination on builds on IP, Computer Graphics, international theatrical expansion, and, weirdly, DVD, created sudden accelerated growth in a small niche of a very mature business. And though the DVD dollars have mostly been replaced by Streaming revenues, there is no reason to think that the DVD-to-Streaming transition was really a major change in the greater context. Much more significant has been the narrowing of the content and release windows by distribution.
You see, distributors take a greater percentage of the box office in the early weeks of a film’s release, usually something like 90/10 on opening weekend. The deal shifts weekly, to 80/20, 70/30, on down to 50/50 after about a month in theaters.
This is what the distribution machine has been chasing. The obsessive compulsion to shorten the window and a relentless emphasis on opening weekend as the #1 issue.
The problem is they are squeezing the big movies so hard that they aren’t allowing “smaller” movies to become big movies. They are turning art and the natural evolution of audience passions into widgets.
I highly recommend reading the whole piece.
Of course, Hollywood isn’t just about theatrical box office. Streaming matters too. Even this relatively new business is changing, as
explains in “The All-in-One Streamer is Dead.”Consider the three phases of the streaming wars, which I’ve broken into the “three act structure” Hollywood relies on:
Act One: The early days as Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu and YouTube kick things off. (Along with, I guess, CBS All Access.)
Act Two: The streaming wars begin, Disney+ and Apple TV+ enter the fray, then the rest of the traditional studios’ streamers launched or rebranded their streamers (Paramount+, HBO Max and Peacock).
Act Three: Wall Street sours on streaming, the new streamers struggle to gain traction, and some new or revamped streamers enter the fray.
Phase three seems like it will be markedly different from Phase Two, which was a land rush fueled by Wall Street speculation. Now, driving both revenue and profits matters. Let me offer four takeaways for what’s driving this third act:
There are winners and losers of the streaming wars, and the traditional streamers couldn’t best the tech streamers.
The “first mover advantage” really did help Netflix and Prime Video (but not Hulu).
This is the last transition of the old cable bundle to streaming.
Bespoke strategy is back! (Or, “Everyone stopped copying Netflix.”)
I, for one, think this is a good thing. What about you?
Looking Back and Up
I’ve written about the meaning and purpose of cultural nostalgia quite a bit—
It’s not just Disney movies, though.
believes “theme parks are an expression of the modern world’s longing for God and some of the people most attuned to that longing – though often ridiculed by society – are Disney Adults.” It’s a bold statement, and I think she’s on to something.What strikes me again and again is the language people use when talking about these parks. It’s not just about the rides or the food or the characters; it’s the cohesion that gets them. The unified vision. The fact that every lamppost, cobblestone, soundtrack, and snack is speaking the same aesthetic language.
The wonder Disney Adults feel at the meticulous world-building found in their beloved theme parks isn’t just about spectacle; it’s about the soul’s recognition of – and hunger for - an enchanted order.
Read “Disney Adults Just Want God.”
Virtual Memory
Wade Stotts also has some strong thoughts about cultural memory, and how it’s being affected by our use of the internet.
Of course, AI is a part of this, too. As
points out, our memories are faulty and AI-generated video will only make it worse.We’re at the point where AI is writing reviews of fictitious books. Not fiction books, but books that simply were never written.
gives a quick rundown if you haven’t heard this story—
AI lies all the time, in fact—
This is all horrible. What’s worse is people thinking AI can create art, which they can’t.
spells it out in “Against AI Art.”One cannot always gauge the depth of a creation at a glance. A trust between humans is required to invest the effort to delve beneath the surface of what you see - especially when what you see is strange, or challenging, or oblique.
AI subverts this interplay by leaving the viewer uncertain as to whether there’s any depth there - and as to whether you should invest in trying to understand any given piece or not.
He’s absolutely right.
Messy Movie Making
Filmmaking isn’t easy. Sometimes it’s silly—
Sometimes it’s problematic—
Sometimes it’s very, very confusing—
But in the end, filmmaking is human. We should keep it that way.
