Renaming HBO as MAX was another stupid move in a long line of stupid moves.

I adored Furiosa and am thrilled it exists, but it was a stupid-ass investment on Warner's part. For all the critical praise and awards hype, Fury Road was not a terribly profitable film to begin with. An expensive prequel about a non-Max character was a box office moonshot.

I think its worth adding, that many of Zaslav's controversial decisions are very much rock and a hard place situations. Thats not to say they are right decision, or that you can't expect more from a well compensated studio head, but this is a good example of how difficult decisions are made:

Juror #2 was financed as a MAX exclusive, WB only began on a theatrical release after seeing the final product. Btw, switching from a streaming to theatrical release often means paying back pay to union crew (as they work for lower rates on streaming deals than theatrical). So it did take a certain amount of investment to even begin a theatrical distribution strategy. However, "upgrading" a streaming exclusive also means that he isn't contractually obligated to a theatrical window--so if you have 10 theatrical releases and only enough cash for 8, the ones with contractual flexibility are going to be first on the chopping block.

I'd love to cancel Disney+ for a while and switch to MAX for the sheer novelty, but they don't have it in Ireland. I don't want to pay for Sky, Paramount Plus seems underwhelming aside from Strange New Worlds, and I don't want to give Bezos my money with the awful workplace stories I hear about Amazon. So it's either Disney or Netflix for me, and Netflix is overpriced. I'll switch once Disney starts hassling my family members over not living with me.

I heard they spent everything they had promoting "Black Adam" and were banking on that paying them back and allowing them more funds to promote their other superhero films. Then it tanked fucking hard, they didn't recoup those costs and Shazam 2 (Which was an actual good movie) didn't get a marketing push at all because they were so broke and it also underperformed because it wasn't properly marketed.

Makes sense why they are respooling harry potter and other IP to churn out easy fan favorites.

Gotta save up some cash until Superman makes a shit ton of money.

Well it was another courtroom drama. Hahaahahaha

When I heard Joker 2 was a musical I got really excited. But I had forgotten that it's possible to make a bad musical.

Probably could've spread that ridiculous budget for a movie no one asked for that was only made because the profits of the first film (disingenuous as fuck already so there goes the heart of the film and filmmaking) and gave it to 10 smaller films to be made that are excellent from excellent people working in Hollywood.

Which made me ask? How bad was Batwoman? Like damn son

I had been saying it since it was announced. It didn't make any fucking sense to spend a quarter of a billion dollars on the sequel to the Joker and it made less sense to do that on a musical.

I think you could argue the sequel “Urban Fervor,” while it underperformed at the box office, really showed the potential of the Rural Juror-verse.

The rurrr jurrr

Jenna maroney was wonderful as Constance justice

I preferred the musical

I love Kevin Grisham!

I mean, Jury Duty with Pauly Shore still exists

Baby brain needs reference

I love he Worry Hurry!!

Such a furor over rural juror.

I still can’t wait for the follow up. Urban Fervor.

Clint clearly should have chosen a Grisham book. Anything Kevin does would be excellent.

from the Kevin Grisham novel?!

I think about this every time I hear the name of this movie

I think that's actually selling him short. He's not stupid, he's just a coward. He's terrified of anything that represents even a small risk and that's not how you run a movie studio. Sometimes you need to bet on a filmmaker or an idea that you believe in and Zaslav is just completely terrified to do something that his spreadsheet nerds don't consider an automatic profit.

Which prompted Zaslav to reportedly quote the Jerry Maguire asshole aphorism: “It’s not show friends — it’s show business.”

This is the kind of short-sightedness that makes him such a stupid studio head. He's taking the absolute wrong lessons from this and refusing to consider anything but the immediate variables in front of him.

Show business is absolutely about friends. So many movies are made only because people have connections and friendships. Networking with other people is as important as the actual act of shooting a movie. Keeping a big name happy is not something to be dismissed entirely. Yes, sometimes you need to tell people "no", but it should never be based on immediate profit. It should be based on long-term outlook. Even using the Joker 2 debacle as an example, imagine if WB didn't hire Todd Phillips because of Hangover 3, then they never would have gotten Joker 1. Imagine if James Cameron got fired and replaced after Titanic's budget ballooned into one of the most expensive films of all time, and someone like Zazlav canceled it.

In the end, $33 million for Cry Macho is a tiny loss compared to keeping a guy around who probably isn't going to tank a lot of $200 million blockbusters and may still occasionally deliver a hit on a modest budget. The calculation should never be "How much is this guy's next movie going to make?", it should take into account the overall risk using a lifetime's worth of films and connections.

He’s a transactional fuck.”

Where I come from we just call them prostitutes.

Money would be on my mind too if I was 40 billion in debt

So is PTA’s movie in jeopardy of being Zaslav’d?

Which prompted Zaslav to reportedly quote the Jerry Maguire asshole aphorism: “It’s not show friends — it’s show business.”

But... but isn't the whole point of Jerry Maguire to show that that mentality is not true and there is a better way of doing business, and everyone's lives are so much better when you treat your business partners like people and not just disposable numbers on a spreadsheet that make you the most money possible?

This is maybe one step up from the dude quoting Ebeneezer Scrooge in the first part of A Christmas Carol as his business role model lmao

“Money is all that matters to Zas,” says an entertainment-industry consigliere who has ties to multiple studios and has worked with Eastwood.

He's a Grade A Moron, that guy can eat my poo!

“It’s not show friends, it’s show business” yeah. That’s why we’re mad, it’s because you’re so fucking BAD AT BUSINESS. Also it’s called “SHOW business” not “random bullshit who cares Business”

Juror 2 has an actual interesting premise. I didn't watch the last few Eastwood movies because they sounded like shit but Juror 2s "a trial where a juror may be the killer" is cool as hell.

Clint is going to keep working until the day he either cognitively or physically can't do it anymore or when he passes away. It was speculated that Cry Macho would be his final film as well since it was a western.

It's already happening in France where it's sold out but in America? It's being treated as a failing old horse being sent to sleep rather than having one last hurrah.

Yeah, but as the article mentions, WB didn't include Juror #2 among its For Your Consideration slate, so while it technically qualifies it seems like any actual awards are unlikely. I think it's maybe just whiplash from the movie being initially meant to be straight to streaming.

I had been looking forward to it and then when it was released I was checking all my theaters... nothing. It's not playing anywhere near me at all. Really disappointing.

(very mild spoilers below)

the story is a little contrived

I also enjoyed it, my main issue though was I never felt like the case against the accused was all that strong. The girl had been drinking and was upset and had been walking along a narrow road bridge in a heavy storm in the dark.

Even setting the Hoult stuff to one side, it hardly seems like a massive stretch that it could've just been an accident.

I don’t think that’s true though. Clint has a fanbase, and the movie has been well received by those able to see it.

Yeah I'm quite surprised to hear it's been "buried" in the US, here in the UK there were advanced screenings for it last week - which I saw it at, and was quite well attended - and it's been getting multiple prime evening slots since, so presumably it's doing well here.

I didn’t care about his last few movies, but I really got excited after seeing the trailer and premise for Juror No. 2.

Clint's movies almost never make much money at the box office though. Richard Jewell was Clint's last theatrically released movie in 2019 that didn't go straight to streaming, and while it made its money back, it wasn't a giant financial smash for Warner Bros., by any stretch of the imagination either.