WGA/SAGAFTRA Strike Discussion Thread | SAG Ratifies Contract

[DAR]

 

[ZattMurdock]

2 minutes ago, 21C said:

You have to cut from somewhere and cutting from movie stars + CEOs sounds like a reasonable idea to me, but it'll never happen lmao

That’s where you are wrong. The public played their part in the downfall of the music industry. It was cool to hate Metallica for a good while because they were rich and made too much money and they shouldn’t after all. It turns out that looking back, Lars Ulrich wasn’t that wrong after all. We killed the music industry and whatever is the music industry today, it’s a lot harder to musicians to break out, even if music is pretty much anywhere. Downloads are gone, but Spotify explores musicians art for cheap, and that goes from the unknown to the big players.
 

That’s why I feel so strongly about this. There is a reason why the best comparisons to unequal pay today is comparing film stars to sports stars, and not musicians. Because the music industry as we knew it before and that made Taylor Swifts every year is dead. We don’t really need that to happen again.

[ZattMurdock]

4 minutes ago, MysteryMovieMogul said:

But how is Harrison Ford worth $25 million for Indiana Jones when the common talking point since the film came out has been "he was too old for this?" I might agree if folks were praising his performance, or praising Jennifer Lawrence in No Hard Feelings, but I don't hear any of that.

The common talking point and the common narrative is often wrong, very wrong and misguided. Indiana Jones is a legend in the film entertainment, played by a legend one last time. For all the cynical shit that happens in Hollywood, Ford getting the big bucks to play Dr. Jones one last time is a weird grudge to hold on. J-Law is a film star that I couldn’t care less, but she has earned the position to demand that kind of pay. Besides, I’m very much open to raunchy comedies and while I won’t likely watch that at a movie theater, I will likely watch at home.
 

I bet the calculus here is that this will be a popular film, and people here on BOT need to learn that there is life and profit to be made out of these films after they go out of the movie theater. It’s one of the biggest points of this strike too, that writers want to be paid fairly out of what studios make for these films presence in streaming platforms and tv rights.

[XXR & Friends]

The last 10 pages of this thread has certainly been.......something.......definitely a thing for sure.

[WorkingonaName]

5 minutes ago, ZattMurdock said:

The common talking point and the common narrative is often wrong, very wrong and misguided. Indiana Jones is a legend in the film entertainment, played by a legend one last time. 

Ironic that DOD is going under fury road.  

[ZattMurdock]

48 minutes ago, WorkingonaName said:

Ironic that DOD is going under fury road.  

Funny that you mention that. I wouldn’t be so sure. I’m getting conflicting reports about Fury Road, btw. BOM is saying that it made $380m WW, with $154m DOM and $225m OS. Wikipedia (and google’s first search) is telling me $415m, with $154m DOM and $261m OS.

 

Dial of Destiny released last June 30 is currently at $258m WW, with $131m DOM and $127m OS. Dial of Destiny will be obviously make more domestic, not sure about OS but I don’t think the film is dead either. 
 

I’d argue that one of the reasons people didn’t get that mad that Fury Road underperformed is that George Miller is old and likely wouldn’t be able to get other Mad Max out of him, but I’m glad that we are getting Furiosa too.

Edited July 14, 2023 by ZattMurdock

[Ryan Reynolds]

soon the streaming model will adopt the MoviePass model , you get 500 credits a month, this show is 1 credit , this movie is 5 credits , this blockbuster is 25 credits, etc .

[dudalb]

51 minutes ago, MysteryMovieMogul said:

Pro-athletes are also forced into retirement before their 50s, sometimes even 40s or 30s depending on the sport. Those sports stars are working their bodies way harder than even Tom Cruise has.

You have few players in professional sports who are past 40, almost none in the NFL.That is why Brady playing in he mid 40's got such massive publicity.

BTW, I like Cruise as an  actor, but I not buying all the "He does his own stunts"stories. Lead actors a lot younger are not allowed to do tthe really dangerous stuff; the risk of them being out for a month with a serous injury and sending the budget into the strartsphere is too great. No star,including Cruise, does the really risky stuff.

[ZattMurdock]

 

1 minute ago, Ryan Reynolds said:

soon the streaming model will adopt the MoviePass model , you get 500 credits a month, this show is 1 credit , this movie is 5 credits , this blockbuster is 25 credits, etc .

It would be easier for people that work on these films and productions to control how many times a film was watched if it was this way, so this is clearly never happening. And if it isn’t obvious, Netflix is in the business of making you stay at home and not attend movie theaters, so as long as there are movie theaters and studios are making profit out of the box office, this isn’t happening. After that and in a dystopia? Sure.

[Bob Train]

1 hour ago, WittyUsername said:

The amount of people I’ve seen defend David Zaslav and insisting we give him a chance is especially baffling. Defending Bob Iger is stupid too, but Zaslav doesn’t even have anything to show for himself yet. Sure, the Barbie movie is pretty much guaranteed to be a hit, but it’s not even like he green-lit that. It was already filming when the merger took place.

If you think Zaslav doesn’t deserve credit for Barbie, then you should think he doesn’t deserve blame for Flash or any other failure. We’ll see how movies he’s greenlighted like Folie á Deux or Batman 2 do.

 

And for all the talk of him ruining MAX, there’s absolutely nothing to indicate this.

 

People just hate Zaslav because he’s part of WB, the current approved punching bag, whereas Iger is the second coming of Christ because he’s Disney which everyone likes due to their IP.

Edited July 14, 2023 by Bob Train

[dudalb]

26 minutes ago, ZattMurdock said:

The common talking point and the common narrative is often wrong, very wrong and misguided. Indiana Jones is a legend in the film entertainment, played by a legend one last time. For all the cynical shit that happens in Hollywood, Ford getting the big bucks to play Dr. Jones one last time is a weird grudge to hold on. J-Law is a film star that I couldn’t care less, but she has earned the position to demand that kind of pay. Besides, I’m very much open to raunchy comedies and while I won’t likely watch that at a movie theater, I will likely watch at home.
 

I bet the calculus here is that this will be a popular film, and people here on BOT need to learn that there is life and profit to be made out of these films after they go out of the movie theater. It’s one of the biggest points of this strike too, that writers want to be paid fairly out of what studios make for these films presence in streaming platforms and tv rights.

 

Well, the calculus was wrong about DoD. And you won't find a bigger Indy fan then I am.

And ,ture, there other revenue sreams other then theaters for movies. But the idea that this guarantees that few films lose money is wrong,wrong,wrong. Indy 5 will be hard pressed to just break even with all the revenue sources considered.'

The film business is a risky one. Sure fire, can't miss films bomb all the time. That is why banks do  not invest in films, but make loans. to studios.If you lose money investing ina film it's gone, but if the film bombs the studio still owes you the money on the loan, and have to find someway to pay it back.

[The GOAT]

57 minutes ago, MysteryMovieMogul said:

Pro-athletes are also forced into retirement before their 50s, sometimes even 40s or 30s depending on the sport. Those sports stars are working their bodies way harder than even Tom Cruise has.

I wouldn't say that, but the live-sports, especially the popular ones, generate a lot of revenue. Especially since it's the only entertainment that people would keep their cable box for. I know for a fact that the NBA has 50/50 split on revenue between the players and owners. 

[dudalb]

2 minutes ago, Bob Train said:

If you think Zaslav doesn’t deserve credit for Barbie, then you should think he doesn’t deserve blame for Flash or any other failure. We’ll see how movies he’s greenlighted like Folie á Deux or Batman 2 do.

 

And for all the talk of him ruining MAX, there’s absolutely nothing to indicate this.

 

People just hate Zaslav because he’s part of WB, the current approved punching bag, whereas Iger is the second coming of Christ because he’s Disney which everyone likes due to their IP.

And I think some people liks Zaslev because they like SOBs and think treating people like gargabe is good management.

And he certainly has ruined the reputation of CNN with this Trump fiasco.

[WittyUsername]

4 minutes ago, Bob Train said:

If you think Zaslav doesn’t deserve credit for Barbie, then you should think he doesn’t deserve blame for Flash or any other failure. We’ll see how movies he’s greenlighted like Folie á Deux or Batman 2 do.

 

And for all the talk of him ruining MAX, there’s absolutely nothing to indicate this.

 

People just hate Zaslav because he’s part of WB, the current approved punching bag, whereas Iger is the second coming of Christ because he’s Disney which everyone likes due to their IP.

We can blame him for how absolutely desperate the marketing for Flash was, and how it completely blew up in his face, or how he had Gunn announce that they’re doing a reboot, thereby killing any enthusiasm their 2023 slate might’ve otherwise had. 
 

Also, Joker 2 and The Batman 2 would’ve been made with or without him. 

Edited July 14, 2023 by WittyUsername

[dudalb]

1 minute ago, The GOAT said:

I wouldn't say that, but the live-sports, especially the popular ones, generate a lot of revenue. Especially since it's the only entertainment that people would keep their cable box for. I know for a fact that the NBA has 50/50 split on revenue between the players and owners. 

I would say that; pro atheltes, put a lot more punishement on their bodies then movie stars do. A movie star at the most does a week or so in terms of days doing "stunts" (though he does not do the really risky ones) an athelete has to put strain on his body a lot more. Several ex NFL players have described playing in an NFL game as being like having three strong guys beat the crap out of you.

[Cap]

7 minutes ago, Bob Train said:

People just hate Zaslav because he’s part of WB, the current approved punching bag

 

And every punch is self inflicted. Canceling Batgirl. 250m salary. Fucking with TCM. The Flash. HBO Max to Max branding fiasco. There is a lot of reasons why people are tired with WB. 

 

 

7 minutes ago, Bob Train said:

whereas Iger is the second coming of Christ because he’s Disney which everyone likes due to their IP.

Not really. Someone hasn’t been in a Star Wars or Marvel thread lately cause the tune sure as changed. 
 

Iger‘s greatest strength is his ability to project confidence and calmness. He’s basically the dog in the fire saying everything is fine. His whole image tends to be that he’s a little more accessible and suave. But we all know that’s full of shit, because he showed his ass today with the CNBC interview. And we know that he made a lot of the decisions regarding Disney+ that are all coming back to haunt Disney right now. He certainly is getting a lot of shit. 

 

So there’s no, like one studio is better than the other studio in this scenario. All of them are garbage. All of the large corporations here are in the wrong.

[ZattMurdock]

3 minutes ago, dudalb said:

 

Well, the calculus was wrong about DoD. And you won't find a bigger Indy fan then I am.

And ,ture, there other revenue sreams other then theaters for movies. But the idea that this guarantees that few films lose money is wrong,wrong,wrong. Indy 5 will be hard pressed to just break even with all the revenue sources considered.'

The film business is a risky one. Sure fire, can't miss films bomb all the time. That is why banks do  not invest in films, but make loans. to studios.If you lose money investing ina film it's gone, but if the film bombs the studio still owes you the money on the loan, and have to find someway to pay it back.

I’m not saying that Indy won’t lose money. But just like Mission: Impossible 7, they swing for the fences and hope for the best. Eventually, I imagine both films will be profitable. I also give special slack to both DoD, MI7 and other films and productions that were made during the pandemic. Absolutely no one could predict that a pandemic that would kill millions and change life as we knew it arguably at least for two years would happen. I don’t like Cruise in general, but his commitment to be a poster child of the movie theater experience is commendable.

 

You are right that they don’t always make money, but I’d argue that both MI7 and Indy have far better chances of eventually becoming profitable than let’s say The Flash. There is life for these films and a lot of profit to be made after they leave the movie theaters. 

[Bob Train]

4 minutes ago, WittyUsername said:

We can blame him for how absolutely desperate the marketing for Flash was, and how it completely blew up in his face, or how he had Gunn announce that they’re doing a reboot, thereby killing any enthusiasm their 2023 slate might’ve otherwise had. 
 

Also, Joker 2 and The Batman 2 would’ve been made with or without him. 

If you blame him for how bad the Flash marketing was (fwiw, I think it would’ve done even worse without the astroturfing campaign they ran), then you should praise him for how well the Barbie marketing campaign has been ran, or else that’s hypocrisy. 

 

The reality is though, that neither of them are his responsibility. People like to assume the CEO does everything which is not true. Besides, that wasn’t my point.

[WittyUsername]

Just now, Bob Train said:

If you blame him for how bad the Flash marketing was (fwiw, I think it would’ve done even worse without the astroturfing campaign they ran), then you should praise him for how well the Barbie marketing campaign has been ran, or else that’s hypocrisy. 

 

The reality is though, that neither of them are his responsibility. People like to assume the CEO does everything which is not true. Besides, that wasn’t my point.

He ran a Super Bowl ad for the damn thing. Stuff like that definitely inflated the marketing budget, which would only serve to exacerbate their losses. Don’t forget the 50,000 “fan screenings” they did for it. You have no evidence to support your claim that the movie would’ve made even less money if they didn’t keep insisting it was this genre defining masterpiece. 

[Cappoedameron]

14 minutes ago, Bob Train said:

 

 

People just hate Zaslav because he’s part of WB, the current approved punching bag, whereas Iger is the second coming of Christ because he’s Disney which everyone likes due to their IP.

Dude there's plenty of reasons to hate Zaslav.

 

His disrespect for animation as an art, cancelling Batgirl and saying it would effect the name of DC while still showing full support for The Flash which is some juicy karma that he rightfully deserves, trying to kill TCM. I mean there's plenty of reasons to hate Zaslav.

 

As for Bob Iger the only thing I like about the guy is he is making Desantis look like an absolute freaking clown. Which is tough considering Desantis pretty much committed career suicide the last day before Pride month.