On this week’s episode Sonny Bunch (The Bulwark), Alyssa Rosenberg (The Washington Post), and Peter Suderman explain why the phrase “go woke, go broke” obscures more than it illuminates in the case of Disney and its various business dealings/struggles. Then the gang reviews Fast X, a bad movie with a very interesting (although also possibly bad) performance at the heart of it. Make sure to swing by Bulwark+ for our bonus episode this week on the destruction—and, soon, recreation—of the cable bundle. And if you enjoyed this episode, share it with a friend!
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I have to say, I don’t quite but Peter’s argument on the unintended consequences to writers as a result of them getting what they are asking for in the strike. In full disclosure, I’m a center-left Liberal member of the Bulwark community, and so that of course clouds my thinking. Recently on a TNL (with Sonny) JVL made the joke when Tim was talking about taxing the ultra rich nepo-babies at St. Barts, “but then what will be their incentive to continue to inherent wealth?”. I think it’s similar to the way the studios are looking at how they do business, especially their bidding war culture.
If Ryan Murphy and others in his position were offered 10-year, six-seven project development deals for only 50 million dollars instead of mid-nine figures, would he be totally disincentivized to work and instead sit on the sidelines and denying a studio the chance to create those shows and the accompanying writing gigs that go along with them? Would less people be employed had Rian Johnson only been given 100 million to develop and be compensated for two Knives Out instead of 400? Would Dave Filoni walk from a new Star Wars show if he was only give a budget of 45 million?
Shows cannot continue to cost 15 million an episode regardless of how the strike ends. As you have been talking about, these numbers were always going to prove unsustainable.
Will there be less open writing positions if the WGA prevails on its major terms? Probably, yes. But will it be significantly fewer jobs if the studios acted like rational actors from the before times? I doubt that very much.
My question is how much the pandemic had to play with the growth of streaming. It was already gaining subscribers but how much of that was due to the fact that most of the planet had been spending so much time in the home or in small groups. I'm of an age and have other activities that I enjoy more than the time binge watching an 8 episode series takes.
You can tell which sequel it is by Vin Diesel’s weight gain
“Jon Cena is just in some other movie,” is cracking me up for more than it should.
Cena’s interesting though
Re: Go Woke, Go Broke: Conservatives have been boycotting Disney since ‘Aladdin’ in the 1990s. And it hasn’t hurt Big D’s bottom line yet. Boycotting Disney over whatever hasn’t done the things conservatives think it has, and it isn’t going to.
Piracy makes an appearance and shoulders are shrugged, because there is no alternative for the user.
We don't see the "X" movies cause they're good; we see them cause they're cool.
What do you mean you "hope to be able to do it again soon." Aren't you all hosting the showing of "War Games" at the Bryant in DC tomorrow?
Nope, that was a one-night only thing at the Crystal City location.
Not blaming you, but look at the ad. If you follow the links, it totally portrays the show tomorrow as being hosted by Across the Aisle.
Yeah the listing is a little weird. I think they could only do one listing for WARGAMES? I dunno.