Episode 01: Tenet vs. Mulan – The Battle Between Cinema & Video-on-Demand

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[Quirky upbeat music plays] Jase: Hello, and welcome to the 'Sarkastik Wanderer' podcast with Jase Brandt, where we talk about the film industry during the times of the COVID-19 pandemic. On the show, we will discuss recent film news and how we think the filmmaking industry will respond to the challenges the coronavirus is setting on them in addition to some of our own experiences as viewers. Today, I have my good friend Micah Black to talk about the film Tenet released in theaters this past summer and how it is faring against video-on-demand titles like 'Mulan' during the COVID-19 pandemic. Side-note: All boxoffice numbers are taken from BoxOfficeMojo.com. And, with that, let's dive on in! Micah: So, what are we talkin' about, Jase? Jase: Uh, alright. Well, today— Well, first, let's introduce yourself to the viewer—to the—not the viewers. The listeners. [Quirky upbeat music fades out] Micah: Ooh, okay. Hello, auditory viewers. I am Micah Black. And I am the video and the photo and the website guy for a little college in Sterling, KS: Sterling College. It's pretty fantastic. Jase: Yeah. Micah: And, uh, I like movies. I like tech stuff. All about those photos. All about those camera angles. Jase: Yeah, if you—if you see Micah, you'll probably see him with a camera. Micah: Wow! Look at that! Oh, okay. So, this is episode… Is this episode one? Jase: This is episode one. Micah: Okay. Jase. Who are you? Introduce yourself. Jase: Oh— Micah: For the auditory viewers. Jase: Oh, hello. My name is Jase Brandt. And I am a student at a little town college known as Sterling College, the same one that, coincidently, Micah works at. Micah: What?! Oh, my gosh! Look at that! That's fantastic. Jase: And, fun story: Um, I was a freshman when Micah was a senior, and then he left… Micah: I did. Jase: And then you came right back and started workin' for the college. Micah: I totally ditched ya for maybe, like, three days. And then the, like— "Eh. I got a job." So, never really left. Jase: You never, you know— Micah: Never left Sterling. Jase: Yeah. So then, you started workin', and then he hired me to work for him up there. So… Micah: Yeah. Jase: I do some of the photos. Not all the photos. Do some of them. Micah: Just—just a handful. Jase: Yeah. Micah: But no—now we're—we're, uh, we're friend-os. And we, uh, we like talking about… What, like, tech stuff. Just life. Jase: Most everything. A lot. I mean, today… So, since we talk a lot about movies and stuff… Micah: Mm-hmm. Jase: …um, movies are kind of, like, a weird thing right now. Micah: Yeah, they are, aren't they? They kinda… Well, okay. So, for—for those of you who are watching this, probably, like… oh, fifteen, sixteen years down the line. You know, 'cause it's gonna be super popular, uh, podcast in the future. Jase: Right. Micah: Yeah. We have this thing called the—the coronavirus pandemic, the COVID-19 thing, right? Jase: Also known as "the rona." Micah: "The rona." Yes. So, everybody's got the rona nowadays. So—so we hear. And, uh, 'cause of that, all our—our favorite places to go, all the yogurt shops, all the—all the places, all the movie places, they're all closed down, which is a bit of a bummer. Jase: Yeah, yeah. So now—so now, during the times of the rona, everything's lookin' pretty different. Micah: Yeah. Jase: And so, like, um, with the movie industry—Like, that's where most of the money comes from: is—is from movie theaters. But, right now, we got, um, 'Tenet.' It's kind of the movie that's trying to bring back people to the theaters. Micah: Ooh, alright. Jase: And we—we had the pleasure of seeing 'Tenet.' Micah: Oh, heck, yeah, we did! Jase: It was awesome! Micah: Oh, it was awesome! Yeah, it was great. Jase: Yeah, we went—and we went and saw it in IMAX: the—the way it was meant to be viewed, um. Micah: Oh, yes. No other way. Jase: And so, we went and, uh… I thought—I thought it was a lot of fun. I mean, what did you think? Micah: I thought was fantastic. Uh. So, Jase and I, we—we got into the car. We drove on over to Wichita. Had some awesome barbecue. Chit-chatted a while, um. So, we—we got into the "theatré" and, uh, it was, I mean, it was pretty much about the same thing as it was. I mean, you'd—you'd already gotten the—the tickets online. Jase: Yeah, we pre-bought the tickets 'cause they were havin' a no-cash policy. Micah: Yeah. Yeah. Jase: And they preferred if you bought 'em online beforehand. And then, you just scan it and go in. Micah: Yeah. Jase: Which was— It made it a lot quicker. I mean, we didn't have to wait online really. Micah: It's fine, yeah. Sweet! That's fancy. Yeah, okay. So, I was— When I went in, I was— I really wasn't sure what to expect because, you know, uh, it's COVID-19, the whole pandemic. Ya know, life's crazy out there. But, I—I mean, it was a cool movie. I would have expected to see, like, a—maybe more people in the theater than I did. Jase: Yeah. But it was—it was good. Um, they—they, uh, required us to wear our masks the whole movie unless we had popcorn. Micah: Yes. Jase: But we didn't know about that until we got there and sat down after we ate. So, we had to… We sat with our masks. Micah: Yeah. We just had to drown in our own barbecue breath. It was great. I enjoyed it a second time. Jase: Yeah. Micah: "Burp. Oh, man. That was so good food. Do you remember that?" "Yeah. I do." Sorry. Oh, rough life. Jase: Yeah. So, like, with 'Tenet'—'Tenet,' they—they're considering it a tentpole film. And for those of you who don't know what a tentpole film is… Micah: Yes, do tell. Jase: A tentpole film is one—is a movie that is wanting to introduce, like, a new element in filmmaking or movie-watching, or bring back something that's old. So, it's kind of like a tentpole film in two ways. It's trying to bring back action cinematography. Micah: Action cinematography. Jase: Yeah. So, action cinema is when you actually go and do all the crazy stuff that's in the movies. Micah: Oh, you're like Tom Cruise, like, in 'Mission: Impossible?' Jase: Yeah! Micah: Like, when he does all the stuff? Jase: Yeah! "Go do your own stunts" type o' thing. But, like, do it for real. Like, don't do it for pretend on a green screen. Micah: Oh, like, uh, Jackie Chan stuff?! Like Bruce Lee? Jase: Yeah! Yeah, like Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee stuff! Like, actually doing it for real. Micah: Oh, that's awesome. Jase: Like, actually get hurt. Micah: Oh, fancy! Jase: Yeah. Micah: I like that. Jase: Yeah. So—But with, like, movies like 'Avengers: Endgame' and all bunch of movies. Like, they're all being shot in-studio on green screens. And that's—that's not the same thing. Micah: Oh, no! The C.G.I. is coming at me now! Jase: Yeah! It's—Like, it's—It's definitely—You can control things a lot better, but they're still not that, like, touch of realism that's not there. Micah: Yes. Okay, it's got, like, a bit of soul, ya know? Jase: Yeah. Micah: I totally get ya there. Totally relatable. Jase: It's—with—with 'Tenet' and they're trying to get back to that. Micah: M'kay. Jase: And so, they did, like—they did everything. Like, there was no green screens used actually. Micah: Uh-huh. No green screens. Jase: They did no green screens. They did the same thing with— Micah: Jiminy Christmas! Jase: But, yeah. Like, that's—that's expensive because you gotta go rent out everything, and get it permits, and actually shoot and then… that. Micah: Pew pew. Jase: Um, but then, like, also, if you do it, like, in-studio… Micah: Yeah. Jase: …it's also crazy expensive. Like, yeah, is—everyone's there at the space. You don't have to do any permits or anything 'cause you own the space. Micah: Uh-huh. Jase: But then you have to pay a huge visual effects team to do everything in post-production. Micah: Okay. So, this 'Tenet' film… Okay, okay. So, okay. So, flagship movie. It—it's doing a lot of cool, neat-o things. And it's one of the first movies, at least one of first big movies, to be back in theaters. Jase: Yeah. Micah: Uh… Jase: It actually is. Micah: Oh. Jase: Like, all other theaters I've been playing, like, old movies like 'Jurassic Park' and stuff. Micah: Okay. Since the beginning of The Rona-pocalypse. Jase: Yeah. Micah: Okay. Okay, so, it's expensive. Jase: Yeah. Micah: Was it a commercial success? Did it make money? Or was it a…? What? Did it not make money? Was it a flop? Jase: So, it's—it's making money. Not as much as they're wanting it or needing it to. Micah: Yeah. Jase: They— There's a lot of other movies that are getting pushed back because of it like 'Dune' and 'Wonder Woman.' Micah: That's a bummer. Jase: Yeah. And so, they're like, "It's—it's not making as much as we wanted to." but then, like, video-on-demand is kind of making some money. Micah: Okay. Jase: Um, so, right now, like, the biggest one right now is 'Mulan.' Micah: 'Mulan!' Jase: Yeah, the—the live-action remake. Micah: So… Okay, so 'Mulan'… I haven't seen 'Mulan.' Um… Jase: I haven't seen it yet either. Micah: Mm-mm. So, okay, but 'Mulan': also super expensive movie. Jase: Yeah. That movie… Yeah— Micah: Okay, okay. Okay, so, what you're saying is, uh, "'Mulan': lotta money; supposed to be a theater movie. 'Tenet': a lotta money; supposed to be a theater movie." Jase: Yeah. Micah: 'Tenet' decides "We're gonna to do it in theater because art!" Jase: Yeah. Micah: Uh, and then 'Mulan' is going to do it on video-on-demand because "money." Jase: Yeah, money. Micah: Okay. Jase: 'Cause, like, "We still have the audience that wants to watch it now." They don't want to wait a year to watch it. Micah: Okay. So, people buy tickets to watch 'Tenet' to get a movie theater experience. Jase: Yeah. Micah: Meanwhile, Disney says, "Okay. We want to still make people pay extra money." Is that right? Jase: Not exactly extra, like, because they're trying to create, like, a happy medium between, like, how much you would pay at the theater if you took your family with it… Micah: Mm. Jase: …versus, like— You're not gonna have, like, a six-dollar rental from Amazon. Like, if it's, like, ten bucks a ticket at the movie theater—If you've got, like, a family of five, that's fifty bucks. Micah: Oh. Jase: But if you're payin', like, six bucks for that, they're missing out on forty-four dollars. Micah: Okay. Jase: And so, kinda like, thirty is kinda the medium for, like, if you got, like— Micah: Or—or, like, if you're in a theater, I mean, in a—in a bigger city, I mean, like… You know, it's kind of it not super expensive here, right? Jase: Yeah. Micah: But, uh, in—in other places, I'm sure tickets can get expensive. Jase: Yeah. Micah: Yeah, so… I guess—I guess that's not too bad but—Okay, so they're saying, "Well, we kinda want a theater price because we had a theater budget when we made this movie but we're not doing it in theaters, so we're gonna—we're gonna try to have—have you pay for that." Jase: Yeah. Yeah. Micah: Now—now is that price— Is that mean you have to pay for Disney+… plus… paying for 'Mulan?' Jase: Yeah. Micah: Really? Huh. Jase: Yeah. And I think that that's kinda weird. Micah: Yeah. Jase: 'Cause, like, if you just wanna watch the one movie, you should just pay for the one movie. Micah: Isn't that weird? Okay. So, the question I have about that is… Okay. You have your streaming services like Netflix and, like, Disney+ a—and maybe Hulu. They're more TV, kinda. Amazon. Okay, whatever. You got your originals, okay? And they've got all these huge budgets anyways. Jase: Mm-hmm. Micah: So, these streaming companies, they're—they're sending out these movies a—and they're getting this library of movies over and over and over again. But suddenly someone bumps in and says, "I am introducing a movie into the streaming service. However, you can't get to it unless you pay a huge amount of money." Jase: Yeah. Micah: I don't see how that is really financially, ya know, viable. I'm really curious to see how that approach that Disney's putting forth with 'Mulan.' Jase: Yeah. Micah: I—I wanna know if that's going to be something that's commercially viable. Jase: Yahoo! was actually, like, tryin' to run the numbers on it because it's kind of like a tentpole film. Not really. Micah: Uh-huh. Jase: 'Cause, like, they've already been doing video-on-demand. Micah: Simba! Jase: They were tryin' to see, like, after— Micah: And those things too. Jase: Yeah, yeah. They were tryin' to see after, um, 'Tenet' how it was going to do. 'Cause it came out shortly after 'Tenet' came out. Micah: Yeah. Jase: And so, like, they—they reported a two hundred and sixty-one million-dollar profit—or, like, purchases… in twelve days. Micah: In twelve days. Jase: In—in twelve days. And 'Tenet's been out since the end of July. I mean, it's just breaking two hundred and eighty-three. So, like, that's, like, half the time but it's mak—it's already made almost as much money. Micah: Ah. Jase: But then, like, they have since found out that it's, um, like… Like, that wasn't the official numbers. Micah: Oh. Jase: And so, they said it's pro—It's only made about sixty to ninety million. But we still don't have the official numbers. Micah: Okay, so… Jase: So, like, it's— Micah: It's sixty to nine—But, ya know, if you squint at it and look at like a slightly different way, it could look like two hundred-something million dollars. Jase: Yeah, yeah y— Micah: You look at it farther away and cross your eyes so maybe the numbers kind of double. Okay. Jase: Yeah. Micah: Okay, okay. Well, I mean, shoot. I want to know how those numbers happened. But, okay. Jase: Yeah. Thirty dollars at a time. Micah: I feel ya. I looked up, um, some reviews. I haven't watched through the reviews. But I've seen, like, in general, the people talking about it. And, apparently, it's doin' okay. Jase: Yeah. I mean— Micah: Eh, kinda that whole mediocre "We're just gonna, er, re-create a film that everybody's already known…" Jase: "And likes. And…" Yeah, the—the—the Disney live-action remake trope. Like… Micah: Ah. Yeah, it's—it's—it's a different world right now. Jase: Yeah. Micah: It rea—It's really changin' up the way people are—are goin' about things. I think people are still kind of, uh… in a way, stepping on eggshells. Jase: Yeah. Micah: Ya know? Well, okay. So, to summarize, we've been seeing, probably, obviously, a huge transition… Jase: Yeah. Micah: …uh, not only in COVID and coronavirus and—and everything associated with that, but—but definitely in cinema. Jase: Yeah. Micah: Right? Jase: Mm-hmm. Micah: Uh, and we've been seein' this huge transition between, uh, these huge blockbuster films to—to—to what would you say? Jase: I think we're having, like—I think a "transition" is a good—is a good word for it. We're kind of transitioning from theaters to streaming anyway. So, I think this is kinda like a big push towards that way. Micah: Okay. Jase: I think the studios are the ones that are gonna have to, like— Micah: Mm. Jase: I think the audience has been ready for that for a long time. Like you say, "Cable's going out." And I think they've been ready for that. I think studios are just gonna have to trim down the budgets to adapt to that as well. Micah: And we've been talking about two—two tentpole approaches, right? Jase: Yeah. Micah: Two—two tentpole, two flagship approaches, uh, to cinema right now. Jase: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Micah: To selling movie-quality movies, right? Jase: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Micah: And, throughout our discussion, it—it would say it sounds like even both of these approaches seem to not be doing as well as—as companies and—and producers would like, right? So—so, we're definitely seeing, probably, uh, in the near future, a shift in—in storytelling with cinema. It's gonna be cool. Jase: Mm-mm. Yeah. It'll be interesting, yeah. And we're here for a part of it, not just gonna be someone that just reads about it down the line. Micah: Yeah. [Quirky upbeat music fades in] Jase: It's weird. It's definitely weird. Micah: Yeah. But exciting! Jase: It's exciting, yeah! Micah: Super cool! I don't—Really thing I'm gonna be bummed about is, uh, maybe the lack of, like, movie theater popcorn. You know, you try as much as you want in—in-house. You can get all the pop you want. But, man. You know, jus—There's nothin' quite like paying, like, eighteen bucks for a bo—you know, a bucket of popcorn. Jase: Yeah. Micah: Nothing quite like it. Jase, you're great. Jase: You too, man. Micah: Thanks. Thanks for havin' me on your podcast. Jase: Yeah, thanks—thanks for doin' it. Like, yeah. You're a great, great guest, a great first guest too, to kick things off. Micah: Oh, wow! Thank you so much! Alright. Over and out, buddy! Jase: Woo! [Quirky upbeat music fades out]