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Clarity From a Hollywood Leader
Deadline has a great interview with Tom Rothman, Motion Picture Chairman at Sony Pictures. He explains why the theatrical model for movies is far from dead, how streaming will help movies, and doesn’t pull any punches. The best quote is on the Academy:
You mentioned the Academy. That was never particularly relevant to young people, but it was much more relevant culturally. Failings of the show aside, and we could talk about that forever, the Academy itself, and the pictures that it picks, has lost complete touch with the large audience. It’s become a self-defining elitist redoubt, and you’re just not going to be relevant if you’re that.
Who would have thought we would hear such clarity from a senior executive and long-time Hollywood leader? Along with Sony’s unwillingness to edit Spider-Man: Far From Home to get a Chinese release, this shows some real fortitude. Not something one would expect from a major Hollywood studio.
Published in Entertainment
I was heartened when you mentioned the edit decision a few weeks ago. I heard something in an interview not long ago that China might not be as big a player and movie companies could have more leverage telling them no.
I think is was Christian Toto on Andrew Klavan’s show. Whoever it was, the guest talked about how China invited companies over to film movies. As with most things, China used the opportunity to learn from others and is now producing their own movies. The Chinese market could be closing if they focus on domestically produced films and limit foreign films. If it won’t play anyway, no need to bend over backwards to placate them.
A found the interview. It wasn’t on Klavan but the Federalist Radio Hour. At first I thought it was Erich Schwartzel but turns out it was Chris Fenton. Chris’ talk about teaching the Chinese to fish is in the first fifteen minutes and then there’s four minutes of ads.
When my wife worked for the Samuel Goldwyn Company in the Eighties and Nineties, Tom Rothman was one of the bosses. She said he was good–a fair and thoughtful executive. Glad to hear he’s continued to be one.
Once when he was asked about what sort of a degree one should get to succeed in making movies, his answer was English Literature. His point that movies are all about story telling and you are better served by studying stories than getting a film degree.
Clavius, thanks for this post! It’s good to be reminded that there are people of honor, yes, even in show business. Sony deserves a lot of credit for standing up to China.
And contrary to what some people think, Hollywood still values movie theaters. After all, they earn billions from them.
It is good. There is a ton of great inside information in the interview.
On why movies in theaters matter:
Apropos of nothing else in this post the value proposition on podcasts has been declining markedly as time goes on.
Hmm… I first saw bits of the Godfather on my grandma’s TV in her living room. Don’t think I’ve ever seen the full thing. I first saw bits of Lawrence of Arabia on a friends’ TV, where his mother was making him watch it part by part for his education. I first saw Moulin Rouge as a pirated copy on someone’s hard drive.
Honestly I can’t remember any real difference between the Godfather and the Moulin Rogue experience.
Rouge. Rouge. Too many years of Warcraft and doublechecking that I’m not misspelling it the other way have taken their toll.
Clearly Mr. Rothman is commenting for his generation. The point is that movies that make an impact on you are probably those that you saw in a theater.
For me, the in-theater experience I remember the most is Star Wars. The original, of course. Nothing like that first jump into hyperspace.
One more quote, because it is really good, if a bit long (emphasis mine):
A degree in English Literature today? I think not. One from twenty or more years ago, maybe.
Netflix is losing a lot of their popular fare to other streaming services. They are also losing subscribers. Disney has honked off a lot of their presumed target demographic with their political shenanigans. In addition the Star Wars franchise is taking on water and the Marvel Cinematic Universe falling back on characters without a fan base. Get your checks cashed quick, Mr. Rothman.
There are at least three types of films that can still fill in-person theaters, and are likely to continue:
First, children’s films–kids like laughing and yelling together, “among their own” in adult terms.
Second, date movies. It’s hard to fan the flames of romance in front of the living room TV of someone you’ve just met. A minor odd movie marketing research factoid: Women like to see other couples out on dates. It sends the right message to the guy she’s with, for one thing. Date movies aren’t just romcoms, but…okay, they’re mostly romcoms.
Third, spectacle. The biggest action films look better in a theater and work better with an audience. You can get a damn good approximation on your 80-incher at home, no question, but you don’t have the experience of hundreds of people laughing and cheering.
I agree, but if one wants to get to the base of English story telling, where would you go?
What about horror movies? I prefer the quiet solitude of my own home in this regard, but I know a lot of people like the communal aspect of everyone jumping and screaming at the same time. I don’t know the box office numbers well enough to know if this has changed.
I think you’re right. I suspect, without a discernable fact on my side, that we could put horror films in two groups: a heavy dose of gore and sadism, which works for a nearly all-male audience that is grossed out but laughing with and at the over-the-top-ness of it all; and more couples-oriented horror, where the girl you’re with keeps grabbing you with giggly fear.
True enough, but I sure miss the theater popcorn since all my movie watching these days is through streaming at home.
For generations, movie theater employees managed to rip off their bosses (don’t ask me how I know this!) by collecting empty popcorn containers after shows, cleaning and re-using them. Popcorn wasn’t always fresh-popped; in most theaters it was delivered, pre-popped in giant plastic bags. It was hard for the bosses to do an accurate inventory.