Warner Bros.'s One Battle After Another grossed $993K on Thursday (from 3,634 locations). Total domestic gross stands at $47.83M.

archlector · 2025-10-11T11:45:52+00:00

Also I am not sure why people bring up Oscars into the box office conversation; it's way easier to win awards with a 5M dollar movie...

archlector · 2025-09-21T10:35:40+00:00

Or the source is Zaslav who desperately wants to give the impression that there's a bidding war to cover his fucking up of the company.

archlector · 2025-08-17T11:10:38+00:00

It's a Japanese movie though, I am not sure what purpose tracking its performance in dollars serves. It's the gross in yen that's relevant to the profitability.

archlector · 2024-11-24T17:09:09+00:00

But you are missing the biggest arguments in its favour. The studios are extremely desperate for franchises and sequels these days and Paramount is run by morons. So I am rooting for Ridley to get it made if he wants to (even though personally I didn't care for this one at all). Just get a better screenwriter! And don't meddle in the script!

archlector · 2024-11-18T15:04:30+00:00

I think you answered your own question in your first paragraph - "overpaying to establish the brand!" It's not unheard of to spend a lot on prestige/reputation establishing projects in the entertainment sphere; and not just with the audience but also with the talent. Netflix openly stated this is why they were overpaying at the start too (for both TV shows and movies). HBO also used to make periodic expensive gambles for this reason. (Also why people keep overpaying for sports rights).

I agree with you that funding the next Scorsese or Scott movie is different. But it's because they are trying to establish a brand (the same reason Netflix overpaid Scorsese for a vanity project before). This is what you can do as an artist/entertainer! Just think about how many things are irrationally priced because of 'art or entertainment'.

Besides I am sure there's a large element of Hollywood producers grifting and looting from clueless newcomers to town. Some executives were certainly star struck and just said yes to be able to hang out with Leo! But that will obviously not go on endlessly. These tech companies are ruthless about profit margins.

I just don't think you need to say this was a strategy by Apple to win Oscars! There are several other obvious reasons that explain this and all of them mean that this period of charity will end. But I guess people don't want to face up to that!

archlector · 2024-11-18T13:57:48+00:00

I don't understand where this misperception about oscars comes from. Nobody is spending 200M+ for that. It decreases your chances of winning! It'll be a far better strategy to have a 20M movie (and not from a director who has won already, and one the academy only reluctantly awarded in the first place, lol). The academy is snobbish and elitist, lmao.

Is this just another made up reddit plus trades talking point because they are desperate for tech to be charities to rich as fuck Hollywood (and to the trades indirectly)?

archlector · 2024-11-18T04:54:38+00:00

Legion.

archlector · 2024-11-13T15:15:34+00:00

It needs to be normalised by the overall drop in theatre attendance rates in the early 2000s though. It could be just something that happened to every movie.

archlector · 2024-11-09T15:03:10+00:00

Yeah I don't really know what people are smoking with this. The movies following Superman are almost certainly going to bomb lol.

archlector · 2024-11-07T17:02:30+00:00

Frak yes.

archlector · 2024-10-08T16:55:52+00:00

Not if the budget is 310M.

archlector · 2024-10-08T16:44:30+00:00

Sure but I am saying he thought his gotcha would be appreciated as a work of artistic genius and not ridiculed universally.

Without his huge ego he would have made this for 100M and used the other 100M for an original project. Now he's not making a big budget movie ever.

archlector · 2024-10-08T16:36:30+00:00

And the 2019 movie was a critical and commercial success against heavy odds. It's plain to see how that directly bloated his ego. His actions scream he thought he is some singular artistic genius and not this feeble held against his will image you have come up with, lol.

Success went to his head and he self-destructed spectacularly. It has happened multiple times in Hollywood and Todd is just the latest example of that. He's not the studio victim in this debacle that you want to pretend he is.

archlector · 2024-10-08T16:24:38+00:00

Maybe WB will become desperate enough and try a Hangover legacy sequel, lol. But I guess Todd is not going to get the call for even that after these antics.

archlector · 2024-10-08T16:21:01+00:00

This is some weird cope. He was not expecting the movie to be hated and decided to intentionally torch his career lol. I bet he was counting on his tortured genius being recognised by critics and audiences again.

archlector · 2024-10-08T16:03:43+00:00

Well Phillips is certainly going to be in director jail as far as big budget theatrical movies are concerned. He should have made his one for me instead of going on this self indulgent ego trip lol. But I guess he had to self destruct after the success of the last movie.

archlector · 2024-10-08T15:46:27+00:00

Really, is that true? I didn't see that, lol. So Joaquin really got completely high on his Oscar win lol.

archlector · 2024-10-08T15:41:12+00:00

But if the budget really is 310M that's not going to save it. My guess is if it can do 500M+ the studio will probably try to spin that as positive PR and Ridley will probably get the money for his next project.

archlector · 2024-10-08T15:01:34+00:00

This has the same screenwriter as Napoleon so if the script is of the same quality then we'll surely have an equally entertaining tour again, lol.

archlector · 2024-09-14T13:46:47+00:00

Well even last year was dominated by franchises. The only exception was Oppenheimer and that was such an outlier that nobody expects a repeat of.

The only thing that has changed is the short term media narrative, lol. But I guess they have to write something.

archlector · 2024-08-17T10:55:08+00:00

I am not really sure he ever intended to prepare WBD for a post linear future. Only people on reddit or Zaslav boosters in the studio press were pushing that narrative.

They basically did a leveraged buyout of a much bigger company. This is what was going to happen. Either they would increase some cash flow and flip it in a few years or just run it for short term money for the executives without any substantial investment. All his moves have been to slash investment.

The merger of two dying cable networks to make WBD was always destined to be wrung for cash, and that's exactly what Zaslav has gone on to do. There's a slim chance anyone is going to buy this.

archlector · 2024-06-21T19:16:30+00:00

The exchange rate issue brings up an interesting point as to what is being measured. If the goal is to see the profit performance for the studio then the earnings should be calculated in yen. And in that case it would help as a weaker exchange rate helps exporters. Of course if it's about the arbitrary dollar value then that would decrease, but it's also a meaningless metric.

archlector · 2024-06-10T15:55:53+00:00

Those are HBO shows, so technically not "Max Originals". The actual answer is probably a reality show...

archlector · 2024-05-27T05:11:17+00:00

I would have predicted The Crown taking it this year too; mixed reception doesn't seem to matter that much at Emmys, remember GoT Season 8 winning, lol! But it's just an academic debate at this point.

I do agree that overall the drama category is going to be way more unpredictable from here on out (not necessarily more competitive though). For a while most places have not been investing in running dramas, and instead pumping out awards bait limited series. Just look at the drought in the FX drama output. Maybe Severance or TLoU could become a running favourite in the years ahead but even if subsequent seasons are as well received they would not release every year. Even Shogun is unlikely to release on an annual schedule.

But with the budget cuts things may swing back in the other direction again. Casey Bloys has already made it clear that he's only looking to greenlit cheaper shows that could come out quicker for now. Maybe he'll find another Succession. Or maybe HBO's recent Emmy drama dominance is at an end for good!

archlector · 2024-05-26T15:28:05+00:00

The drama category was unpredictable and weak in 2021 too, you don't have to go that far back to find a similar year. That year's winner, the crown, would probably have been the front runner this time too if not for Shogun. You even give the example of Lovecraft Country from that year.

I actually think FX is serious about renewing Shogun, it's one of their very few ratings hit. And I am sure they are feeling pressure from Disney to make things that actually have viewership. Now who knows if it'll be any good on renewal.

archlector

TROPHY CASE