Welcome back to a jam-packed What I’m Hearing. I’m in L.A. today but I’ll be in Las Vegas at the CinemaCon movie theater conference this week, let me know if you’d like to share a machine-made daiquiri or go see David Copperfield.
Programming notes: This week on The Town, Lucas Shaw and I debated what’s a hit when streaming movies debut in theaters, Eriq Gardner broke down the Fox/Dominion settlement from Delaware, and analyst Rich Greenfield parsed the ho-hum Netflix earnings report. Subscribe here or here.
More: Part 2 of Julia Alexander’s Streamer Report Cards will publish in What I’m Hearing+ on Tuesday. If you’re not getting WIH+, fix that by clicking here. And if this email was forwarded to you, maybe with the subject line OMG JEFF SHELL, just click here to become a Puck member…
Discussed in this issue: Jeff Shell, Tom Cruise, Zendaya, Lucian Grainge, Chris Hemsworth, Dana Strong, Risa Heller, Daniel Katz, Will Smith, Johnny Depp, James Corden, J.K. Rowling, Ashton Kutcher…and Fred Specktor’s 90th birthday party (in Cabo!).
But first…
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An S.E.C. filing revealed Friday that the Netflix co-C.E.O. made $50.3 million in 2022, way up from $38.2 million, despite the company stock crashing by about half last year. A huge flex for Ted, but probably not the headline you want to see when...
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A new study is going around town this month that has some of the top studio executives talking. National Research Group, the analysis firm that specializes in entertainment and tech, commissioned a survey asking consumers to name up to five actors that would make them most interested in seeing a movie in a theater. Not Who are your favorite stars? or Whose movies do you most look forward to? This was, very specifically, Who do you most want to watch in a theater?
It’s the relevant question these days as studios debate the theatricality of film projects, and who to put in them in order to raise the perception of value in the theater-going experience. Zendaya is clearly a huge star, for instance, but... |