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Monday, June 19, 2023

We hope you enjoyed the holiday weekend! Tom Cruise vows to fight for theaters, the media and advertising industries converge on Cannes, Spotify stays silent as Joe Rogan elevates Robert F. Kennedy Jr. vaccine nonsense, hackers demand ransom from Reddit, Bill Simmons trashes Prince Harry and Meghan as "grifters," and more.

THE A1

Box Office Blues

CNN Photo Illustration/Warner Bros. Pictures

The summer box office has stumbled out of the gates.

The holiday weekend release of DC Studios' much-hyped tentpole "The Flash" and Pixar's well-received "Elemental" were supposed to ignite the season of blockbusters. But that did not actualize.

In its debut weekend, "The Flash" hauled in just $55 million for Warner Bros. Discovery (CNN's parent company), nowhere near the $75 million industry analysts were anticipating — a performance so poor that it put the film in the undesirable category of earning less than the 2022 DC picture "Black Adam," which opened to dreadful reviews. And the animated film "Elemental" bombed at theaters, notching just $29.5 million at the box office, continuing Pixar's worrying trend of disastrous performances.

While each film faced its own challenges, the weak debuts can perhaps be attributed to one common headwind: genre fatigue. It is not difficult to imagine a world in which each of these movies were released 15 years ago and gone on to huge box office success. Back then, the superhero film was hot and had not been oversaturated. And Pixar was still the undisputed king of animation with a string of smash hits.

But today, audiences have grown weary of comic book films and Pixar is being challenged on the animation turf by other studios like never before. Which is to say, in 2023, the media landscape is a different one that requires exceptional filmmaking to entice audiences to the theater.

Still, it is not impossible to produce a hit in this environment, as other studios have proven. And a number of other factors likely contributed to each film's less-than-ideal opening weekend.

"Everything worked against 'The Flash,'" Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at Boxoffice.com, told me when I phoned him Monday to talk about the dismal holiday weekend numbers.

Robbins said the "poor state" of DC movies was a "huge factor" in the film's tepid debut. The controversy that has ensnared Ezra Miller didn't help; the film's marketing, done without it's star because of those past controversies, was not optimal. "The Flash" also received mixed reviews, boasting only a 66% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, a troubling sign as audiences grow picky about which superhero movies they will shell out for. And the film arrived at a challenging time, following the release of two strong comic book movies this year in "Guardians of the Galaxy" and "Spider-Verse," which perhaps snatched some of "The Flash's" mojo.

"This is going to be one of those movies that people in the industry write books about in the future because it had everything on paper," Robbins said. "It could have been one of the biggest movies for DC of all time."

Over in the Pixar-verse, the state of affairs was equally as dim.

The opening weekend for "Elemental" ranked as one of the worst in the studio's history. In fact, the film only bested the 1995 release of "Toy Story," back when the Pixar name had no cultural cachet.

More broadly, the failure of "Elemental" continues an alarming pattern of box office disasters for the iconic studio, which once steadily churned out success after success, but has struggled in recent years to find its footing.

"Whoever runs [Pixar] should be fired before the weekend ends after the last several film flops," Richard Greenfield, a prominent media analyst, tweeted upon seeing the abysmal numbers.

Robbins attributed the "Elemental" foundering to a number of factors: the studio is facing increased competition in the animation space; the marketing was uninspiring; and the pandemic did Pixar no favors, training audiences to stream its movies on Disney+ rather than flocking to the movie theater. Nevertheless, with a solid A-rating CinemaScore, Robbins said it is possible the film could be off to a slow launch but benefit from word of mouth in the weeks to come.

Despite the sluggish start to the season, the summer 2023 box office still does look to be a big one. Both the highly-anticipated "Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One" and "Oppenheimer" should send audiences to theaters in droves. And other films, such as "Barbie" and "Indiana Jones," will also certainly give people reason to see it on the big screen.

"The film slate is really encouraging," Robbins said.

THE SIDEBAR

"The Flash" was "cursed from the beginning, with numerous directors dropping out, and star Ezra Miller's erratic public behavior attracting bad press and ultimately sidelining them from the promotional tour," writes Rahul Malhotra. (Collider)
"There are a lot of lessons to be learned this weekend," writes Anthony D'Alessandro. "But chief among them is what it's like for a major motion picture studio to open a movie with a number of its cast, primarily its main star, not available to do press." (Deadline)
"There have been similar openings that grew into big numbers ... but we do not see that here," writes analyst David Gross. (FranchiseRe)
"Superhero fatigue is real," Owen Gleiberman acknowledges. "The cure? Make better movies than 'The Flash.'" (Variety)
Switching gears: "Pixar is damaged as a big-screen brand," declares Brooks Barnes. (NYT)
"There's a bigger issue for Pixar: it's not just youngsters, but general audiences, too, who are rejecting the studio's theatrical movies," Rebecca Rubin points out. (Variety)
"The underwhelming performance of 'Elemental' represents another challenge for Bob Iger," writes Christopher Grimes. (FT)
"For now, though, Hollywood is engaged in the usual second guessing and finger pointing, hoping 'The Flash' and 'Elemental' represent specific examples as opposed to further evidence of systemic erosion that bodes ill for the big summer releases yet to come," Brian Lowry sums up. (CNN)
Not everything bombed: Wes Anderson's "Asteroid City" managed to rake in $790k during its three-day, limited opening, surpassing expectations. (Deadline)

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

CNN Photo Illustration/Primo Barol/Anadolu Agency

Cruise's Calling: Speaking from Rome at the world premiere of "Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One," Tom Cruise delivered a spirited defense of moviegoing and vowed to always fight for the cinema. "There is a community that we are all part of — different cultures and ways of life, we all join together to enjoy cinema. It's something that I grew up with, that made me and inspired me to dream and want to travel the world," Cruise said. "My goal since I was little was to make movies and travel. And not just be a tourist, but work in that world and understand their culture. Through my movies, I've been able to have that because everyone here has allowed me to entertain them. It's a privilege that I have never taken for granted. It's my passion to entertain you, and I will always fight for big theaters and that kind of experience for everyone." Variety's Nick Vivarelli has more here.

THE BUSINESS

Converging on Cannes: The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is in full swing. The annual event draws journalists, executives, other key industry figures, and big brands from around the world to the south of France for conversations centered around advertising and marketing. This year's festival is particularly special, as it marks Cannes Lions' 70th anniversary. Spike Lee will be honored with the Creative Maker of the Year award and Kevin Hart will be recognized with the the Entertainment Person of the Year award. Variety's Nick Holdsworth has details here.

► Regarding those awards: "The organizers of the advertising industry's top awards ceremony have quietly instructed juries to steer clear of politics and advocacy in favor of awarding more commercially-minded campaigns," Semafor's Ben Smith reports.

IN THE INDUSTRY

"By 2027, the U.S. television industry will see $30 billion less annually from traditional subscription and advertising revenue than it did a decade earlier amid ongoing cord cutting," Jill Goldsmith reports, citing new data from PwC. (Deadline)
Group Black will sell its advertisements in Peacock shows popular among Black audiences, NBCU announced. (WSJ)
Brian Steinberg writes about how NBCU is trying to sell "SNL" to Madison Ave. (Variety)
"A federal judge has ruled that A&E's copyright infringement lawsuit against Reelz and the producers of its biggest show, 'On Patrol: Live,' can move forward," Rick Porter reports. (THR)
CNN announced that "See It Loud: The History of Black Television," its latest original docuseries, will debut Sunday, July 9, at 9pm. The series is being produced by LeBron James and Maverick Carter. (THR)
Coming up: CNN will host the "Juneteenth: A Global Celebration for Freedom" concert from Los Angeles' Greek Theatre. This year's concert will pay tribute to the late Tina Turner. (CNN)

THE INFO WARS

CNN Photo Illustration/Carmen Mandato/Getty Images

Spotify's Sanctuary: Spotify continues to allow its biggest star, Joe Rogan, to elevate vaccine misinfo. In a recent episode of his popular podcast, Rogan gave Robert F. Kennedy Jr. a massive platform to spread falsehoods about vaccine safety and efficacy. (Here's a good thread chronicling them.) Spotify remains totally silent on the matter, but vaccine scientist Dr. Peter Hotez called Rogan and the streamer out, describing the situation as "awful." That enraged Rogan, who challenged him to "debate" RFK Jr. on his program.

From there, all hell broke loose. Elon Musk, the erratic billionaire who can't seem to find a conspiracy theory that he won't dabble in, claimed that Hotez was "afraid" of a debate "because he knows he's wrong." Other wealthy VC-tech types egged on the bullying of Hotez. And the online drama found its way offline when Hotez was confronted by an anti-vaccine personality at his home. For his part, Hotez told Medhi Hasan he is willing to appear on Rogan's show again. "I offered to go on ... but not to turn it into the 'Jerry Springer Show' with having RFK Jr. on," he said.

Hotez added that the situation has been difficult. "You know, the attacks from the anti-vaccine lobby do come in waves. And this time, though, it's been one of the tougher ones. Because, as you pointed out, the physical stalking and the incessant threatening emails," Hotez told Hasan. "And the stuff online is just total whack-a-doodle. And let's face it, when you have RFK Jr. and Joe Rogan, and Elon Musk, all tag-teaming, those tres hombres at the same time. That probably includes just about every follower on Twitter. So, it's pretty overwhelming."

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

Hasan argues Hotez should reject Rogan's offer to debate RFK Jr. "It is never a good idea for an award-winning, world-renowned, peer-reviewed vaccine scientist ... to debate an unhinged crank who thinks Bill Gates wants to control us with microchips or that chemicals in the water are turning kids transgender." (Twitter)
"No medical professional should ever agree to do this," Tom Nichols chimes in. "Never. It elevates the conspiracy guy, demeans the medical professional, and will only convince the kooks out there that RFK is right because a real doctor took the time to debate him." (Twitter)
"Not saying there aren't a lot of f**ked up things about pharma," Mark Cuban writes to Rogan. "But to ignore that the same industry has saved who knows how many lives is bulls**t and you know it. It's also disrespectful to all the doctors, researchers and medical professionals that dedicate their lives to saving lives, like Dr Hotez. (Twitter)
Judd Legum points out that RFK Jr. "has attracted the support of a small but influential group of wealthy people." Legum notes it "may not make Kennedy's bid for presidency viable," but it "could help legitimize Kennedy's lies about the safety and efficacy of vaccines." (Twitter)
While Spotify allows Rogan to elevate RFK Jr.'s nonsense, YouTube has removed a video in which he suggested to Jordan Peterson that chemicals in the water supply are turning kids transgender. (The Wrap)
Meanwhile: Fox News' Howard Kurtz admitted the network went "too far" with its chyron declaring President Biden a "wannabe dictator." (Mediaite)

THE VALLEY

CNN Photo Illustration/Dado Ruvic/Reuters

Ransom From Reddit: The fallout stemming from Reddit's move to charge for API access is bleeding into another week. Hackers are now threatening the company with the leak of 80GB of confidential data if the company does not pay a $4.5 million ransom and withdraw its planned API changes. The hacking group, BlackCat, said it ultimately does not believe Reddit will meet its demands. "We expect to leak the data," BlackCat said. CNN's Jennifer Korn has more here.

TOO MANY TABS

Disruptions to Microsoft's office suite that occurred weeks ago were the result of cyberattacks by hacktivist group "Anonymous Sudan." (AP)
Meta lowered the minimum age to use its Quest headset from 13 to 10, sparking worry of backlash over privacy and safety concerns. (NYT)
Celebrities are signing agreements with brands that allow companies to use their likenesses in marketing campaigns with generative A.I., Patrick Coffee reports. (WSJ)
A.I. is being used to produce photos depicting children being sexually exploited, sparking concern that generative tools will breathe new life into predatory forums, Drew Harwell reports. (WaPo)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/Netflix

Ripping the Royals: No one can say that Bill Simmons isn't candid. After Prince Harry and Meghan mutually ended their multi-year partnership with Spotify on Friday, Simmons blasted the royal couple in a profanity-laced tirade. Simmons, also a Spotify executive, said on his Friday podcast, "'The F**king Grifters.' That's the podcast we should have launched with them. I have got to get drunk one night and tell the story of the Zoom I had with Harry to try and help him with a podcast idea. It's one of my best stories … F**k them. The grifters." CNN's Issa Ronald has more here.

🔎 Zooming in: The deal between the couple and Spotify was supposed to yield a number of high-profile projects. But that ultimately never materialized. Instead, the royals only produced one series and a holiday special for the streamer.

OFF STAGE

Filming for "Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two" is not being delayed by the ongoing writers strike. (The Wrap)
Apple's TV+'s adaptation of Fritz Lang's seminal 1927 "Metropolis" has been permanently shut down amid the ongoing strike. (Deadline)
"Peter Five Eight" — which stars Kevin Spacey — has been picked up by SPI International and will release in the U.S. in August. (THR)
Netflix released the first teaser for its highly anticipated "3 Body Problem" series from "Game of Thrones" co-creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. (YouTube)

Thank you for reading! This newsletter was edited by Jon Passantino and produced with the assistance of Liam Reilly. Have feedback? Send us an email here. We will see you back in your inbox tomorrow.