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Thursday, July 20, 2023

Broadway averts a strike, a federal judge rips Tucker Carlson, RFK Jr. testifies before Congress, The NYT Guild files grievance over disbandment of the paper's sports desk, Google ignites panic with A.I. news generator, AMC Theatres abandons its controversial ticket pricing plan, and more. But first, the A1.

THE A1

'Barbenheimer' Bonanza

CNN Photo Illustration/Warner Bros./Universal Pictures

Are you going to a double feature of "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" this weekend? If so, you're far from alone.

The "Barbenheimer" craze, which has swelled in popularity over the last few weeks, is all but set to propel the box office to its best weekend in years. BoxOffice Pro, a publication that tracks box office performance, said this week it is projecting a $200+ million weekend at the cinema. That would result in one of the biggest theatrical weekends since the pandemic upended the industry.

The battle of the bombshells playing out in theaters is not the usual runaway box office success story. It is the effect of a viral internet sensation that has flooded social media feeds with jokes and parodies about the opposing films and now looks set to meme its way to record theatrical attendance.

"The anticipation we're seeing for these two movies is unprecedented, as people are thrilled to go to the theatre and be a part of an exciting cultural event," Michael O'Leary, president of the National Association of Theatre Owners told Reliable Sources. "But it's not just about the first three days of the box office either. These films will continue to draw fans for weeks to come."

To be clear, both Warner Bros. Pictures' Mattel flick and Universal's bio-epic from Christopher Nolan were always projected to do well in their own respective rights. There has been, for some time, high interest around both of the films. Rolled up together, however, they are projected to deliver an even more powerful jolt to the theater industry. The memes are, in effect, juicing attendance.

"This is truly one of the wildest and most unpredictable situations I've ever observed at the box office," Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at BoxOffice Pro, told me Thursday. "'Oppenheimer' and 'Barbie' were both destined for probable success on their own terms, but capturing the social media zeitgeist has escalated the phenomenon into what feels like will be one of the biggest moviegoing weekends since 2019. Even those who don't regularly patron cinemas are aware of 'Barbenheimer.' You can't easily buy that kind of promotion, if at all."

The "Barbenheimer" meme has been around for some time, dating back to when it was announced the two movies would be released on the same day. It was not lost on anyone how the two films, which could not be further apart in genre and style, would be forced to share the box office on the same weekend. "Barbie" is an upbeat comedy film wrapped in the iconic doll's signature pink and other cheery colors. "Oppenheimer" is a serious, three-hour drama with dark imagery centered on war and the potential destruction of humanity.

But, as they say, opposites can attract. Tom Cruise helped give life to the phenomenon last month when he posted on social media that he was seeing both films. And the trend has continued to snowball, with legions of posts on social media platforms like TikTok building up a wave that has now washed over the country and into the mainstream.

The irony in the films' massive draw is that, typically, studios prefer to avoid releasing major box office features on the same weekend as another. That way, movies don't end up tripping over each other.

"Conventional wisdom in Hollywood has been that you cannot release two big blockbusters on the same weekend, maybe that's not as true as people believe," O'Leary said. "This weekend proves that moviegoers love great films and will support them — even in many cases on the same day."

But in this case, the dual blockbusters are actually aiding one another, building hype for a summer movie event that will bolster receipts for what should be two competing films.

"What started as a perceived rivalry or debate in some circles about which to see has organically turned into a pure celebration of both films and the communal power of seeing them in a movie theater," Robbins told me. "It's a win-win for everyone. One for the history books."

THE TICKET STAND

"American Prometheus," the Pulitzer Prize-winning book which "Oppenheimer" is based on, is currently atop Amazon's Best Seller's list, boosted to the top by interest in the film. (THR)
"Oppenheimer" has "begun overseas rollout with strong results," Nancy Tartaglione reports. (Deadline)
"Could 'Oppenheimer' finally win Christopher Nolan, Cillian Murphy, and Robert Downey Jr. Oscars?" asks Clayton Davis. (Variety)
"With movie stars prohibited from promoting the new 'Barbie' film ... toy company and Barbie doll-maker Mattel has been working overtime to help keep the movie top of mind," Megan Cerullo reports. (CBS News)
And Mattel is doing so for good reason: "The much-hyped film ... stands to be monumental for Mattel, turning the 78-year-old toy company into its own cinematic universe," writes Elizabeth Wagmeister. (Variety)
Katrina vanden Heuvel explains why "Barbie" has conservatives in a "tizzy." (Guardian)
Meanwhile, "Sound of Freedom," a film about child sex trafficking that has been embraced by conservatives and the fringe QAnon community, has crossed a stunning $100 million at the box office. (THR)

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

CNN Photo Illustration/CNN

Breakthrough on Broadway: Hollywood might still be imprisoned in hell, but Broadway is breathing a sigh of relief. A tentative agreement was reached on Thursday between the union representing 1,500 staffers and theater owners and operators. The deal means a strike, which could have commenced as soon as Friday and shut down shows, has been averted. CNN's Chris Isidore and Vanessa Yurkevich have details.

HOLLYWOOD HELL

"A 'guild versus evil' moment in Hollywood's strike": Travis M. Andrews, Ashley Fetters Maloy, and Tim Greiving reported on how "desperation stalks the industry as the first dual strikes since 1960 upends lives and livelihoods." (WaPo)
Josef Adalian wrote about how "a strike over streaming could end up killing network TV." (Vulture)
Hadley Meares outlined "how the SAG strike of 1960 foreshadowed Hollywood's current battle." (LAist)
NBCU denied its alleged involvement in so-called "Tree-gate," which accused the company of trimming trees to deprive strikers of shade. (LAT)
Ivana Saric and Sara Fischer reported on how the strikes are upending fall television plans, with broadcast networks being forced to lean more on unscripted programming. (Axios)
On a related note, Bethenny Frankel pushed for reality TV stars to unionize. (Variety)
Lionsgate announced the theatrical release dates for both "White Bird: A Wonder Story" and the "Dirty Dancing" sequel will be pushed back due to the strikes. (Deadline)
Tim Mullaney explained why he believes Netflix "can end the Hollywood strike in a way Disney, Paramount can't afford." (CNBC)

THE FOURTH ESTATE

IN THE INDUSTRY

The NYT Guild "filed a grievance Thursday challenging the company's announcement that it plans to shutter its sports section and rely on The Athletic for its sports coverage," Ben Strauss reports. (WaPo)
Max Tani reports on how Paramount "buried a Vice documentary on Ron DeSantis at Guantanamo Bay." (Semafor)
Jeff Light, the editor and publisher of The San Diego Union-Tribune, is among several staffers departing the newspaper after it was sold by Patrick Soon-Shiong to Alden Global Capital. (Times of San Diego)
BNO News — an invaluable resource — announced that after losing most of its funding in 2022, the company risks closing next week. (Twitter)
Lester Holt is going to anchor "NBC Nightly News" from Alaska next week "for a special broadcast that will focus on the U.S. defense against foreign aircraft and missile threats amid tensions with Russia and China," Ted Johnson reports. (Deadline)

THE INFO WARS

CNN Photo Illustration/Marco Bello/Reuters

Trashing Tucker: A federal judge on Thursday ripped Tucker Carlson for his "alarming" depiction of the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Judge Royce C. Lamberth made the comments about Carlson when he dismissed a motion by Jacob Chansley, known as the "QAnon Shaman," to have his conviction undone. In the ruling, Lamberth scolded Chansley for appearing on Carlson's dishonest program, saying it was "replete with misstatements and misrepresentations regarding the events of January 6, 2021, too numerous to count." Lambert went on to lace into Carlson for having questioned the "legitimacy of the entire U.S. criminal justice system with inflammatory characterizations of cherry-picked videos stripped of their proper context." The judge continued, "In so doing, he called on his followers to 'reject the evidence of [their] eyes and ears,' language resembling the destructive, misguided rhetoric that fueled the events of January 6 in the first place. The Court finds it alarming that the host's viewers throughout the nation so readily heeded his command. But this Court cannot and will not reject the evidence before it. Nor should the public." The WaPo's Rachel Weiner has more.

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

How the RFK Jr. hearing played out in the two media universes, via two headlines: Fox News' headline read, "Democrats try to censor, remove RFK Jr. at hearing on censorship"; On CNN, the headline read, "Invited by the GOP, RFK Jr. grilled by Democrats on past vaccine comments." (Fox/CNN)
On "The Five," Jesse Watters defended RFK Jr.'s recent comments about Jewish people: "You can't cite a study without everybody going crazy?" (MMFA)
Diana Falzone reports that Steven Crowder "sent photos of his genitals and exchanged drugs" in the workplace. A representative for his show said "many of these claims are missing context, clear misrepresentations or outright falsehoods." (Mediaite)
Jim Caviezel, the star of "Sound of Freedom," the QAnon-embraced movie about child sex trafficking, praised Donald Trump on Fox News: "We have to do a lot more. And we got to start with Donald Trump. He's got to be in there because he's going to go after the traffickers." (Mediaite)
Herb Scribner details the fallout from CMT's decision to pull Jason Aldean's controversial "Try That in a Small Town" music video. Scribner notes that while Aldean is being widely criticized for the video, he's being embraced by conservatives. (WaPo)

THE VALLEY

CNN Photo Illustration/iStock Editorial/Getty Images

Google's News Generator: The alarms are going off in the news industry. The NYT's Benjamin Mullin and Nico Grant broke news that Google is testing A.I. tools that are "able to write news articles." The A.I. bot, which the duo reported has been demonstrated to top print news outlets, is being pitched by the Silicon Valley titan as a helpful tool, one that could work as a personal assistant for journalists and free up their time to perform other tasks, such as reporting. But, per Mullin and Grant, "some executives who saw Google's pitch described it as unsettling." Read more from Mullin and Grant here.

🔎 Zooming in: News of a journalism-centric A.I. tool from Google is only the latest sign that the entire industry is about to be upended by the rapidly advancing technology. Several outlets have already said they will infuse their newsrooms with A.I., hoping to take advantage of the technology to boost productivity. A helpful tool, it might be. But there is no doubt that A.I. will soon start threatening the jobs of people who work in the news media. How the industry grapples with this remains to be seen, though it will likely be influenced to a degree by how Hollywood — grappling with this key issue now — comes to terms with A.I.

TOO MANY TABS

"Thousands of published authors are requesting payment from tech companies for the use of their copyrighted works in training artificial intelligence tools, marking the latest intellectual property critique to target A.I. development," Brian Fung reports. (CNN)
OpenAI circulated an internal memo saying the company supports mandating that any company looking to develop advanced A.I. systems acquire a government-issued license. (Bloomberg)
YouTube hiked the pricetag on both its monthly and annual premium plans for the first since the subscription model's 2018 launch. (Reuters)
Apple announced it will cease to offer FaceTime and iMessage in the U.K. if it updates a law that would require all messaging services to seek approval from the government for security features before rolling them out for public use. (BBC)
TikTok allowed E.U. researchers access to its software ahead of new regulation that mandates tech firms bulk up moderation efforts. (Reuters)
Meta, Google, and Twitter complied with an order from the Indian government asking that the tech giant remove a video of two women being paraded naked by a cluster of men in a region that has been marked by conflicts between ethnic groups for almost two months. (Bloomberg)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe/Getty Images

AMC's Abandonment: That did not last long. AMC Theatres, the largest movie theater chain in the U.S., said on Thursday that it is ending its plan to charge varying prices for tickets based on where seats are located in the auditorium. Instead, the cinema chain said it will focus its efforts on improving the front-row experience. The decision marks the end of a divisive plan hailed by AMC earlier this year as an innovative program, but was never really embraced by theatergoers. CNN's Parija Kavilanz has more here.

OFF STAGE

"Chinese audiences are gravitating toward movies made at home, rather than in Hollywood," Erich Schwartzel and Rachel Liang report. (WSJ)
Dreamworks Animation will receive its own themed lot at Universal Studios Orlando, slated to open in 2024. (THR)
Johnny Depp is selling a painted self-portrait which he began in 2021 during his legal dispute with his ex-wife, Amber Heard. (AP)
Kevin Spacey's attorney called three of the actors' accusers "liars." (AP)
The first three episodes of Prime Video's spinoff of "The Boys," titled "Gen V," will be made available on Friday, September 29. (The Wrap)
"Saw X," the latest installment in the franchise, will hit theaters on September 29. (The Wrap)
What the Hell? Anna Delvey dropped … her first single, titled "What The Hell?" (Deadline)

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 next week.