JWR
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Posts posted by JWR
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32 minutes ago, fabiopazzo2 said:
Without Corona easily over 100M but now Idk
I'm still gonna be a bit conservative for now and say $70-85M for now.
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Loved the second trailer. I got a really good feeling about this one.
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What is the budget on Free Guy, anyway?
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Let's put this to rest permanently.
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12 hours ago, SpiderByte said:
This was always gonna be her last. They even said in press interviews about passing the baton to Pugh's character as the new Black Widow
Yep. This is meant to be Johansson’s swan song and Pugh making her debut.
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1 hour ago, ThomasNicole said:
It means anything WB is releasing trailers 2-3 months max before the actual movie.
Sometimes even worse, they release the trailer for Cry Macho 40 days before the release date.
Cry Macho is expected to be a smaller movie.
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11 hours ago, RRA said:
Disney's lawyers need a muzzle.
Amazing how they keep digging the whole deeper.
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That misguided press statement did more damage than anything else.
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19 minutes ago, SpiderByte said:
Yep. They made Feige CCO of all Marvel to settle his stuff with Perlmutter. Feige has more value than anyone at Disney with how much he brings in
Under Chapek, Feige now has less power and final say over Marvel projects, which is going to cause problems in the future if nothing changes. As this unforced error continues to exacerbate, I become more convinced that the Board will vote on removing Chapek just to stop the fire from spreading.
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20 minutes ago, dudalb said:
It might buy him a bit of time, but his mismangement of this crisis...and that he has turned powerful figure in the company against him will do permanent damage.
Reall thing is will Chapek leave Feige alone and stop trying to interfere with Marvel Studios and maybe kill the goose that lays the Golden Eggs?
And Chapek's position is not nearly as strong as Eisner's was when he was forced out when it became clear the choice was between him and PIxar...Pixar being the biggest money maker for Disney at the time.
Of course, Pixar..at that time...was a indepedent company who had a finaincing releasing contract with Disney. When it was up Steve
Jobs was free to take Pixar to any studio in town..and every studio would have been happy to let him write his own terms.
I think feel like the Board would remove Chapek if they suspected that he was trying to oust Feige.
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Will Chapek biting the bullet and settling with Scarlett Johansson do anything to effect his standing within the company?
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1 hour ago, Madhuvan said:
Flop is very arbitrary term to use when a team up Superhero movie with great reviews is predicted to debut with 25m.
Shang-Chi should be given pass in that regard.
Especially as the debut of a newer hero.
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7 minutes ago, dudalb said:
What makes it bad for Chapek is that many of the big shareholders in Disney are people like Lucas (huge shareholder from his sale o Lucasarts to Disney) who knows the realities of the business,and in the end it's probably cheaper to give a star a modest share of profits they might not be entitled to by the strict terms of the contract then to suffer the negative effects of a PR disaster.
The shareholders also recognize that Feige is their most valuable employee and that undermining him is not good in the long term.
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7 minutes ago, dudalb said:
Agreed.
Connory last official 007 film Diamonds Are Forever was a big dissapontment (although it did very well at the box office)
and NSNA wasn't much if any better.
Moore's "View To A Kill" is, IMHO the worst Bond film, and that Moore was clearly too old for the role was not the only, or even the major reason.
Dalton's Licence to Kill was one of the lowest grossing Bond films (though it still made a good profit for all concerned) probably because it just did not seem like a Bond film;tyring to make Bond into a 80's action hero just did not work.
Brosnan Die ANother Day is right behind "View To A Kill" in the Worst 007 Competion.
Actually, we were hearing a lot of good things about No TIme To Die last year before it got postponed.
And it was the first major film to be delayed because of Covid. At the time that was huge news, and many here were laughing at SONY.
Part of me thinks that this being Craig's last outing will help with anticipation.
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16 minutes ago, Valonqar said:
Chapek's other blind spot is that he's cheap af. I remember when he was announced and people who worked in the theme parks during his tenure said all he cared was cutting budgets and staff. That mindset isn't suitable to manage talent because he sees them as unnecessary cost.
Which is especially problematic when that talent is the biggest names in the industry.
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42 minutes ago, Morieris said:
Chapek ruining the parks AND relationships with major talent...how long is this man gonna be there.
I'm betting he's gone before 2023.
If these lawsuits keep adding up and Chapek continues to be woefully inept, I'm betting he's gone by 2022.
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Also, at least Michael Eisner has goodwill at the beginning of his tenure because of how he saved Disney from the brink. Chapek was unpopular from the get go.
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15 minutes ago, AJG said:
I mean like... whats the blowback here?
They'll kick her some cash, they'll continue business as usual, and we forget this ever happened in a month or two.
That's assuming they come to their senses and settle with Scarlett Johansson. To say nothing of the suits they might have to settle with Stone and Blunt.
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13 hours ago, Macleod said:
Umm...Feige couldn't persuade Disney/Marvel Corporate to go purely theatrical for "Black Widow" -- and apparently also couldn't convince them to "make it right" with her as the movie released -- so I doubt he can change whoever's controlling Disney's response, here.
That was prior to Chapek's mishandling the lawsuit and causing a major PR fiasco.
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**Scarlett Johansson’s Lawsuit and Disney Brand ‘Carnage': Is CEO Bob Chapek to Blame?**
by BEATRICE VERHOEVEN, UMBERTO GONZALEZ and DIANE HAITHMAN | August 2, 2021 @ 6:00 AM
**“Disney’s approach under Iger would have been markedly different,” one lawyer says**
As Hollywood grapples with the bombshell lawsuit filed by Scarlett Johansson against Disney last Thursday, entertainment executives, agents and producers are split on what kind of fallout Disney will face and whether CEO Bob Chapek is to blame for the “carnage” to the company’s standing in Hollywood’s talent community.
Multiple insiders who spoke to TheWrap said they were surprised that the contract dispute was allowed to burst into public view at all. And while the industry may be facing a watershed moment over streaming and movie star profit participation, they also wonder if this is a crisis created by Chapek, who has few talent relationships and little practical experience dealing with movie stars.
As one leading producer on a huge film franchise grumbled to TheWrap: “Pretty sure Chapek made the mistake. He didn’t think it would blow up in his face. He doesn’t deal with talent.”
The feeling that Disney’s last CEO Bob Iger would have handled this differently was all the more pronounced by Disney’s official response to the lawsuit, which called Johansson “callous” and disclosed her $20 million salary — suggesting she was being greedy in claiming $50 million in box office-based backend compensation in the suit. Johansson’s camp told TheWrap the actress was shocked by the tone. So were many others around Hollywood.
“Last time I checked, I was pretty sure that the senior team at Disney wouldn’t get a lot of purchase by accusing someone else of being greedy,” said one top executive in the industry, who called the response “ham-handed.”
Another pressure point is that Marvel chief Kevin Feige was reportedly angry and embarrassed at the way the company handled the dispute with a star who had done nine highly profitable films for its biggest franchise. Feige had lobbied against the streaming plan for day-and-date and was not heeded. The decision seems to have sat with Chapek’s right hand man, Kareem Daniel, chairman of Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution, another executive with little to no experience managing talent relationships.
“It seems that Chapek is putting a lot of his industry and talent relations in the hands of his distribution group, which has proven to be inexperienced in the traditional ways that things are to be done,” one entertainment executive told TheWrap. “That wouldn’t have happened under (former CEO Bob) Iger — he would have done it himself.”
“Disney’s approach under Iger would have been markedly different and would have had less initial brand carnage,” Eric Schiffer of The Patriarch Organization and chairman of Reputation Management Consultants said. Iger’s team “would have attempted to work behind the scenes and maintain a greater level of trust in the relationship,” he added.
Gene Del Vecchio, an adjunct professor of marketing at USC Marshall School of Business, agreed that this situation called for some of Iger’s signature diplomacy. “Bob Iger was named CEO in 2005 not only due to his business acumen, but for his mastery of developing and keeping relationships that he had honed for dozens of years working with temperamental, high-profile stars,” Del Vecchio told TheWrap. “Disney’s acquisition and management of Pixar, Marvel, and Lucas are testimony to his ability. Chapek’s previous experience with Disney Consumer Products, Parks and Resorts did not demand the same level of star-charged interaction.”
Del Vecchio also noted the recent flareup surrounding former mixed-martial arts star Gina Carano, a breakout star of the Disney+ “Star Wars” series “The Mandalorian” who was being groomed to lead her own spinoff series — until the actress came under fire in February for an Instagram post comparing being Republican today to being Jewish during Nazi Germany. Disney’s Lucasfilm publicly fired her and called out her “abhorrent and unacceptable” social media posts. “The dispute with Scarlett Johansson, coming on the heels of Disney mishandling of the relationship with Gina Carano, does make you wonder if this latest incident is not so much about a broken contract but about a broken relationship,” he said.
Other insiders who spoke to TheWrap on condition of anonymity said this was a matter of Chapek deciding to prioritize the studio’s streaming business — and shareholders — over talent relationships.
Chapek just “did what was the right move for his shareholders, which is to drive people to Disney+, which he has successfully done while also increasing the stock price,” a top agent said. “Notably, the numerous successes of the various Marvel (theatrical) films have done nothing to increase the Disney stock price. But increased subscriptions to Disney+ has. So what’s $50 million or so to Chapek?”
In Johansson’s suit, the actress alleged that she lost income from Disney’s decision to release “Black Widow” on both Disney+ and in theaters simultaneously, and accused Disney of wanting to boost its streaming revenue at the expense of box office. What’s more, if she can prove damages, Disney may have to pay Johansson even more than the $50 million windfall that insiders told the Wall Street Journal she stood to gain from the Marvel film hitting box office-based targets. The suit also said that she tried to speak to Disney and Marvel to right the wrong, but that she was “ignored.”
A second entertainment executive agreed that $50 million is chump change for a corporation like Disney: “This is a couple of million dollars and Chapek is a CEO of a multibillion-dollar company, It’s a much bigger question for Feige. He is the most sacred executive in Hollywood today, and no one will pick a fight with him.”
Feige, largely considered to be the architect of Marvel’s successful, multi-franchise film operation, previously answered to Marvel Entertainment CEO Isaac “Ike” Perlmutter. Tensions arose between Feige and Perlmutter during the early phases of the MCU because of Perlmutter’s reported frugality and micromanaging style. In 2015, when Feige threatened to leave Marvel when Perlmutter wanted to slash the budget for “Captain America: Civil War,” Iger intervened and approved a reorganization that had Feige reporting directly to Walt Disney Studios Chairman Alan Horn. Perlumutter also actively opposed efforts to develop films like “Captain Marvel” and “Black Widow” centered on female superheroes.
While Feige’s attorney declined to comment, former Hollywood Reporter editor Matthew Belloni in his Thursday newsletter “What I’m Hearing” said the Marvel boss wasn’t happy about the situation and had lobbied Disney against putting the film on Disney+ the same day as in theaters and not “wanting to upset his talent.”
“History has proven, don’t f— with Kevin Feige,” the second entertainment executive said. “He wins every time — there’s nothing like Marvel.”
Schiffer called Johansson’s suit a “reckless war from both sides” and said Chapek was not necessarily wrong for standing up to the actress’ demands. “We don’t know what happened behind the scenes. Were (her actions) so lethally stupid that it would have been (equally stupid) for Disney not to have done this?” Schiffer said. “Those facts will come out later and players in Hollywood will be able to get a better sense of how the decision got made. But it’s high stakes, and given the klieg lights on this event, better handled behind the scenes.”
A spokesperson for Disney did not respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
As for Johansson, it remains to be seen whether she chooses to keep working at Disney no matter how her lawsuit pans out. Just a month ago, it was announced that she would produce a “Tower of Terror” movie based on the Disneyland theme park ride via her These Pictures banner. Whether she chooses to proceed is currently unclear.
*Sharon Waxman contributed to this report.*
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The Matrix Resurrections | December 22 2021 | Keanu, Lana Wachowski back
in Box Office Discussion
Posted
Probably sometime in mid September.