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00:08Five Nights at Freddy's and Get Out, I've never been introduced with those two movies,
00:12but I like it. You know, it's fine. No, no, I'm all good with that. I'm at peace with that.
00:15Just a new choice, and I think it's a good way to start off our conversation.
00:19I'm just going to sit here, and you're going to talk.
00:20Okay, great. I'm ready. I can talk for 20 minutes, no problem.
00:23We did one of these 10 years ago.
00:25Right.
00:25You were crushing it. You were doing so well, you became a Harvard Business Review case study.
00:30Yes, Anita.
00:31For those of you who let your Harvard Business Review subscription lapse,
00:37please sum up very briefly what your amazing formula was.
00:43The formula you had for making ultra-successful movies for very little money.
00:48So different than the case. That's slightly different than what the case study was.
00:52The formula was, I saw an under-exploited part of the movie business.
01:00I did Paranormal Activity. That was like the first big hit I had.
01:04And I was in my mid-30s, so I was old enough to not, when you're younger, or in your
01:1020s,
01:11you have directors who will make a movie, and it'll be a big hit, and the movie will be a
01:14romantic comedy,
01:15and then they want to make like an action movie, which is a big mistake.
01:19Because what Hollywood wants is more of the same from what you've done successfully.
01:23So after, and getting, making hits is one of the hardest things in the world to do.
01:28So after Paranormal Activity, I did only low-budget horror.
01:32I did a movie called The Insidious, which is a franchise, and The Purge, and Sinister.
01:39Those were the four movies that I did.
01:41And my formula was making independent films that were released by studios.
01:47So we made these movies. They cost a million dollars.
01:50We didn't pay ourselves, so it was easy to negotiate with the directors and the actors
01:54who also didn't get paid or got paid scale or as little as you're allowed to pay them.
01:57We shared a much bigger part of the profits of the movies with the people than the studios shared, typically.
02:04So in the early years, we made a handful of people, an enormous amount of money, very quickly,
02:10and it took off from there.
02:12If you got movies, and you didn't even put movies, you didn't put every one of your movies into theaters.
02:15You had this sort of rigorous testing, because not every movie was good enough to be in a theater.
02:19Well, that was also very different and new.
02:21It's not so new now, but the notion that a studio, this is not independent movies.
02:27These are studios.
02:27They were Universal, Sony, Paramount was Paranormal Activity.
02:30That a studio, before we started, would never start production on a movie
02:36and not have a date for when the movie was going to come out.
02:39And I insisted on my contract with Universal.
02:43It's still with Universal, but we work everywhere, but primarily with Universal.
02:47That when we, and it's no longer like this, by the way,
02:50but that when we would make the movie, they would not date the film.
02:55And it was a great, it was a great winning strategy, because when we made bad movies,
03:02which it's impossible not to make lots of movies, and some of them be bad,
03:06and about half of them, bad is a harsh word, but half of them weren't terribly commercial,
03:10or weren't as commercial as we hoped and anticipated they would be.
03:14But instead of losing money, we would just put them on TV.
03:17And so they kind of disappeared.
03:19We would make our money back, and we would keep taking little bets.
03:22And it was almost, it was compared in the early days to the pharmaceutical business,
03:28where you'd take many, many, many, many little bets,
03:31and then the ones that would pay off, you would lean into.
03:33So when you got a purge, or you got an insidious, you'd have a franchise,
03:38you'd spend more money on the sequels, and you'd lean into the IP that worked.
03:41And the IP that didn't work, you didn't get hurt, you got your money back.
03:43And I focused, in the early days, a lot on making sure that the movies that weren't,
03:52that didn't get big releases, got the money back.
03:55And that's how we got the volume.
03:56Because as long as we never lost money on a movie, Universal said,
03:59make as many movies as you want.
04:00We would make eight, ten movies a year, have four released, and four go to TV.
04:05So you have this winning strategy.
04:06But that doesn't happen.
04:07And now, sorry to interrupt, but now everybody does that.
04:11Amazon makes a movie, they watch it, and they decide if it's going to be theatrical,
04:14or like Hail Mary, or if it's going to go straight to streaming.
04:18And now that's kind of a norm in the business.
04:19This is where I was going.
04:20You were doing a lot of stuff that was unique, and now it's not.
04:23Lots of folks do horror.
04:25At the time, it was an under-exploited niche.
04:28And the idea of theaters itself, right, is a question mark, right?
04:32Movie going.
04:33Movie going shrinks every year.
04:36And there's always a debate about why is this happening?
04:38Is it going to come back?
04:39But it's shrinking every year.
04:42People go to fewer movies than they do.
04:43This year, it's out.
04:45This year, it's up 20%.
04:47Attendance is probably up 10% because it's a cheat.
04:52Because when they say the box office is up 20%, they raise ticket prices,
04:55and attendance goes down.
04:56But attendance is up a little bit this year.
04:58But since, to your point, since the pandemic,
05:01theater-going attendance has not recovered.
05:03And even pre-pandemic, attendance was on a general decline,
05:07but they were raising ticket prices.
05:08So box office was going up, attendance was going up.
05:10Movie going has been in decline since 2002.
05:13You say it's back this year.
05:14We'll see at the end of the year.
05:15It's not back to what it was.
05:17It's just a little better than last year.
05:19What I want to get to is,
05:20how have you adapted your model to comport with the world, right?
05:27It's harder to get people into theaters.
05:29Horror is not a unique thing anymore.
05:31Lots of people are doing it.
05:32How have you adapted your model to that?
05:33Yeah, we've changed our business.
05:35So the movies that we made in the old days were really,
05:39they were programmers,
05:41which means there was a lot of walk-up business to movie theaters.
05:46So kids would go to the movies,
05:47they would not know what movie they were going to see.
05:49They would get to the thing.
05:50They would look at the choices,
05:51like, I'm going to go see this horror movie.
05:52Those were usually movies that we made.
05:54Those movies don't exist anymore.
05:56There really aren't programmers anymore.
05:58Almost everyone going to the movie is going to,
06:00it's too expensive, I think, in my mind.
06:02And so it's like, it's taken that part of the business out.
06:05And I think, as an entrepreneur,
06:10I think the hardest thing to do is,
06:14when you first start a business,
06:16or if, I didn't go to business school,
06:17but what they teach in business school,
06:19as all of you guys know,
06:20and what they first tell you is,
06:21you've got to focus, focus, focus, focus, focus.
06:23And that's what we did.
06:24We had Paranormal Activity.
06:25It was a low-budget horror movie.
06:26Everyone said, you should make World War Z.
06:29Now you had a hit movie.
06:30In Hollywood, you should,
06:31and the general religion of Hollywood
06:34is if you make a movie for $5 million
06:36and it's a big hit,
06:37you should make a $50 million movie.
06:39And if you make a $50 million big hit,
06:40you should make a $200 million movie.
06:42And I threw that out,
06:45and I just said,
06:45I'm just going to make low-budget horror movies.
06:49So I did focus, focus, focus,
06:51repeat, repeat, repeat,
06:53stay in horror, stay in horror, stay in horror.
06:54But then, to just finish my point,
06:56I think you also, as an entrepreneur,
07:00have to, like, be aware of what's happening
07:02in the world around you
07:03and be able to pivot.
07:05And I think it's very tricky
07:07to know how much to focus
07:08and how much to pivot.
07:11And so the way we had to pivot,
07:15because post-pandemic,
07:17programming movies have disappeared,
07:19and horror has become much more event-driven.
07:22The movies are bigger,
07:24and they have to feel...
07:28You have to give people a reason
07:30to want to go see a horror movie
07:31two weeks in advance of it coming out.
07:33So we pivoted in two ways.
07:36The movies, we don't...
07:36We make movies that are relatively inexpensive,
07:38but nowhere near as inexpensive
07:40as they used to be,
07:40so we're spending more money on the movies.
07:43And we had our number...
07:45The number two competitor to Blumhouse
07:49was a company called Atomic Monster.
07:51Atomic Monster is most famous
07:52for all the Conjuring movies
07:53and The Nun and all the spinoffs
07:56of the Conjuring movies.
07:57And so three years ago,
08:00we merged with them,
08:01and that was a way to increase our output
08:05without decreasing the quality of what we do.
08:08And so far, it's been very successful,
08:11so I'm glad that we did it.
08:12You've got a new movie coming out Friday.
08:14We have a new movie coming out
08:14called The Mummy,
08:15which is a Warner Brothers movie
08:16which opens Friday,
08:17which is an Atomic Monster movie, actually.
08:19So how is that different
08:20than a movie you would have made 10 years ago?
08:21So The Mummy costs $22 million
08:23and not $4 million.
08:25Again, by studio standards,
08:26still inexpensive,
08:27but not as inexpensive.
08:29The other big component to our model,
08:34and I took advantage of the fact
08:36that if you're an executive at a studio
08:39and you're hiring a director,
08:42you're very incentivized
08:45to hire a director
08:46whose last movie was a hit.
08:48Because if you make a movie as an executive
08:50and the movie doesn't work
08:52and your boss says,
08:53what the hell were you doing?
08:55You could point to the director
08:56and say, well, look,
08:57the last movie they made was a hit,
08:58so I assume this one would be too.
09:00So the result of that
09:01is that directors who made a hit
09:04one movie ago
09:05but their most recent movie is not a hit
09:10would almost never get hired
09:12and certainly in the movies.
09:13They would go to TV or whatever.
09:14They were really prejudiced again.
09:16So we would go to those people
09:18and it was like an arbitrage opportunity.
09:19We'd go to them and say,
09:21I'm not going to pay you,
09:22but I'll give you final cut
09:24so I'll let you do what you want to do.
09:25And they always had something to prove.
09:26And we would say,
09:27and if the movie works,
09:28I'll share a big piece of it with you
09:30and you could make more money
09:31than you've ever made
09:31if the movie works.
09:32And that was very successful.
09:35That worked for that kind of
09:37programmer type of movie.
09:38But now to make event horror,
09:41you need,
09:42it's harder to bet on that person.
09:44You can't take a flyer.
09:45You can't really take a flyer.
09:46So Lee Cronin directed it.
09:49He's never missed.
09:51His name is in the title.
09:52Lee Cronin is the money.
09:54So that way it's not quite as fun
09:56as it used to be
09:56because you can't really take flyers
09:58like you could.
09:59So we're working with more in-demand people.
10:01We used to work with people
10:03who were less in-demand.
10:03In fact,
10:04amazing story,
10:06James Wan,
10:06who is my partner,
10:07who runs Atomic Monster,
10:08who's the company that we merged with.
10:10I met James
10:11because he famously
10:13wrote and directed
10:14and conceived of Saw,
10:16which is one of the biggest horror franchises
10:19ever,
10:20as everyone here knows.
10:22We actually just acquired it
10:24for him to kind of,
10:25he did one movie for Saw
10:27and then they made it eight without him
10:28and he's going to just kind of reboot it.
10:30But regardless,
10:31that's not the story.
10:32The story is
10:35he did Saw
10:36and then he did two movies for Universal
10:38that didn't work at all
10:39and he came to my office in 2008 or something
10:42when the company started
10:43and he said,
10:44I have an idea for a horror movie.
10:46I can make it for $900,000.
10:48He said,
10:49I'm known for making Saw
10:50and it's like this R-rated movie
10:52and I just want to make a PG-13 horror movie.
10:55It's called Insidious
10:56and it's 900 grand
10:58and Insidious now,
10:59we're on our seventh one.
11:00When it comes out in August,
11:01it's an $800 million franchise
11:02and that was the greatest example
11:05of the guy could not get arrested.
11:07We gave him 900 grand
11:08and it turned into $800 million.
11:10You've talked about in this era
11:11the importance of IP,
11:13that people need to know
11:13what the thing is generally
11:15and that's usually what works.
11:17People have to know
11:18what the brand is.
11:19That's part of the no walk up.
11:20Yeah, that they want something familiar.
11:23So when it's the mummy,
11:25is it Lee Cronin
11:27or are they responding to that?
11:28No, they're responding to the mummy.
11:29They're responding to the mummy.
11:30I mean, the hope is
11:31they're responding to the mummy.
11:32We'll see if they respond.
11:33But the idea is
11:35we did The Invisible Man
11:37which as a horror movie.
11:40It's literally,
11:40I've heard of this character.
11:42I'm vaguely familiar
11:43with what it is.
11:43Yeah, yeah, exactly.
11:45Or we'll do,
11:47we're doing the
11:47Dead by Daylight video game
11:49as a movie
11:49so that there's something out there.
11:52And that's a different,
11:52that's different.
11:53You know, it didn't used to be like that.
11:54Another thing that's changing
11:55in Hollywood
11:56is there's contraction, right?
11:57There was a content boom.
11:59Streamers are pulling back
12:00and the studios themselves
12:01are going to consolidate, right?
12:02Paramount is just about
12:04to buy Warner Brothers.
12:05That deal will probably go through
12:06later this year.
12:07What does that mean for you
12:08if there are,
12:09if the studios are consolidating?
12:11There's less buyers.
12:11I think that's,
12:14definitely there's more
12:15on TV
12:15and less in movie theaters
12:16for sure.
12:17So I think it's,
12:17it's more of a,
12:19more transitioning
12:20than actually shrinking.
12:21Although it is true of movies.
12:23I think there's,
12:25consolidation is not good
12:26for our business for sure.
12:27So it's ideally,
12:28there would not,
12:29there would be less of it.
12:30I do think it's not quite,
12:31there are three new
12:34massive players
12:34in our business
12:36that weren't there
12:3810 years ago.
12:39So Amazon,
12:40and now Amazon
12:40has had this big hit
12:41with Hail Mary.
12:42So I think they're
12:43very squarely
12:44in the theatrical business.
12:46Apple was in it.
12:47They went back in it
12:48with F1.
12:48There's a chance
12:49they'll come back in it.
12:50And if,
12:51and if Ted like
12:53is so believed,
12:54he talked how much
12:55he's changed his mind
12:57about theatrical.
12:58So obviously
12:58they're a huge player
12:59on TV,
12:59which there wasn't,
13:00you know,
13:01there was no Netflix
13:0115 years ago.
13:02But if they come
13:03into movies too.
13:04So I do think
13:05there are new players
13:06in the space as well,
13:07which doesn't get
13:08enough attention
13:08when people are talking
13:09about consolidation.
13:10But that said,
13:11the consolidation
13:12is not good
13:12for our business.
13:14for you as you're thinking
13:14about how you're going
13:15to make your next slate?
13:17Knowing that there used
13:18to be,
13:18that there was
13:19Paramount and Warners
13:20and now they're going
13:20to consolidate
13:21and in theory
13:22they're going to keep
13:22making as many movies
13:23as they were before.
13:24But realistically,
13:24they're probably not.
13:25It means working
13:26with different partners.
13:27We made a movie
13:27called Lost Bus
13:28that Matthew McConaughey
13:30starred in for Apple.
13:30I don't know
13:31if anyone saw
13:31that it was on Apple,
13:32but it was a successful
13:34movie for them.
13:35Anyone seen Lost Bus?
13:36So sad.
13:37I see a hand.
13:37It's a great movie.
13:38Two hands.
13:38It's a Northern
13:39Californian story.
13:40It's about paradise.
13:41The fire in paradise
13:42and this bus driver
13:43Matthew McConaughey
13:44saved 30 people.
13:46Maybe Apple
13:46could figure out
13:47marketing at some point.
13:48Yeah, Apple really
13:48got it exactly.
13:51So we're working
13:52with new partners.
13:53That's one of the ways
13:55and we're making event.
13:56We're not making
13:57programmers anymore.
13:58We're making event
13:59horror movies.
14:00That's how we're
14:00dealing with it
14:00in the theatrical space.
14:04But then we're also
14:06very, very squarely
14:07in the television.
14:08We made Scarpetta.
14:09Anyone see that
14:10on Amazon?
14:11It's the Scarpetta
14:12based on the Patricia Cornwall.
14:13Okay, a little more people.
14:14So we did that show.
14:14I know someone who saw.
14:15Yeah, you know some.
14:17Yeah, one person.
14:19So we're branching out
14:20into television,
14:21into games,
14:22into live events,
14:23but the core business
14:23is still the theatrical
14:24movie business.
14:25There's a letter
14:26that went out yesterday
14:27from a thousand
14:28influential people,
14:29including some of them
14:30who work at Paramount
14:31and Warner,
14:31saying this deal
14:32should not go through.
14:33Do you think
14:33they're misguided
14:35to express that concern?
14:37No, I think they're right.
14:38I just don't think
14:39it's going to stop
14:40the deal from going through.
14:40It's gravity.
14:41It's happening.
14:41The deal's happening, yeah.
14:42The deal's 95% chance
14:44happening, yeah.
14:45So you wake up
14:46in the morning
14:47and go,
14:47all right,
14:47there's less studios
14:48than there used to be.
14:48That's just the way
14:49of the world.
14:50Nothing I could do about it.
14:50Less studios,
14:51same amount of buyers.
14:53Less studios.
14:54Because of the new buyers.
14:54Amazon, Apple,
14:55yeah, there's a new buyer.
14:56So the same amount of buyers.
14:57I want Apple and Netflix
15:02to get as excited
15:03about theatrical releases
15:04as Amazon,
15:06which is a small task
15:07I'm working on.
15:09But I have hope
15:10that that could happen.
15:13This town is gripped
15:14with excitement
15:15and a little bit of fear
15:16about AI.
15:18I'm supposed to ask you about it?
15:20My guess is you're not
15:22very interested
15:23in talking about AI.
15:24Oh, no.
15:25Oh, I'm extremely
15:26interested in AI.
15:28I think,
15:29and I know this is probably
15:30not a popular thing
15:30to say here,
15:32and just for this little thing,
15:34I'm not talking about medicine
15:35or the environment
15:36or coding
15:37or anything else.
15:38For making of the movies
15:40and TV show,
15:41if I could wave a wand
15:42and make AI disappear,
15:43I would.
15:44I don't think it's going to be...
15:46Because?
15:47I don't think it's going
15:48to improve the quality
15:49of what you see
15:50in the movie theater
15:50or at home.
15:51I do not think
15:52it will do that.
15:54That said,
15:56the idea that...
15:58It really bothers me
15:59when a lot of people
16:00in Hollywood
16:01just are like,
16:02we're not doing AI.
16:02It's so crazy.
16:03It's like,
16:04we're not using electricity.
16:05Like, obviously,
16:06AI is here.
16:07It's here to stay.
16:08It ain't going away.
16:09Where is it being used?
16:10So our attitude
16:13and my attitude about it
16:14is learning about it
16:14as much as I can,
16:16personally,
16:16like,
16:17using it a lot
16:18to figure it out,
16:20and encouraging
16:21the executives
16:22at the company
16:22to do that,
16:23to figure it out.
16:24And the directors,
16:25it's a personal choice.
16:26Some directors
16:28will say
16:29they'll never use AI
16:30and I'm not going
16:30to change their mind
16:31and so we don't.
16:32But if a director
16:32wants to use AI
16:33or a filmmaker
16:34or a producer
16:35or a writer
16:35wants to use AI,
16:36I want to make sure
16:37that my company
16:38can provide information
16:40about how to do that.
16:41And so that's my...
16:43You guys did a deal
16:44with Meta
16:44to sort of play around with it?
16:46We did a deal
16:46where we made
16:47three little AI shorts
16:48for Meta.
16:49We got destroyed
16:50on Twitter
16:51for doing that,
16:52but I learned a lot.
16:53What did you learn?
16:53And...
16:56I learned a lot.
16:58I learned...
17:00I don't think
17:01I was as confident
17:02before I made
17:03those three shorts
17:03that AI would not
17:04make content better
17:06and I was very confident
17:07after doing those three shorts
17:08that it will not
17:09for a long, long time.
17:10Once a week on Twitter,
17:11there's a clip that says,
17:12hey, Hollywood is cooked
17:14and then they'll show you
17:14an AI video
17:15of Tom Cruise
17:16fighting Brad Pitt
17:17or whatever it is.
17:18Yeah, yeah, yeah.
17:19And they say,
17:20we're obviously going to make
17:20this is just...
17:21Hollywood's over.
17:22I have a very specific
17:24theory about this.
17:25I haven't tried it out much,
17:26but...
17:28I think for once,
17:31you know, creators
17:32are always...
17:33YouTube creators
17:34are always fucking
17:35killing it
17:36and we're like...
17:38People who make
17:39scripted TV show
17:40and movies
17:40are like more
17:42and more second-class
17:43citizens to Mr. Beast
17:44and da-da-da.
17:45All the growth
17:46is in creators.
17:48I think
17:49that for once,
17:51the threat
17:52is much more
17:53to creators
17:54than it is to...
17:55I don't think AI
17:56for a long time
17:57is competing
17:58with watching Scarpetta
17:59or going to see
18:00The Mummy,
18:00but what it is competing
18:02with is scrolling
18:03and like on Instagram
18:05and like Doomscrolling,
18:06I think there'll be
18:07a ton of AI there
18:08and you will see that.
18:10So I think for once,
18:11creators have more
18:12to worry about
18:12than directors
18:13and writers.
18:14You don't think
18:14that that is competition
18:16with you as well
18:17because they could be
18:18scrolling and sitting
18:19on a TV movie?
18:19That's a thing
18:20that Netflix likes to say.
18:21We're competing
18:21with every...
18:22No, I'm not competing
18:26with YouTube creators.
18:28I'm competing
18:28with other people
18:29who make movies
18:30and TV shows.
18:30It's a different thing.
18:31You think that...
18:32You think that...
18:33They're eating
18:34into my market.
18:35I mean, in that way,
18:36I am.
18:37So I guess...
18:37So in that way,
18:38they are competing
18:39with you.
18:41They're competing
18:42for your time, right?
18:43I just...
18:44I can't do my job
18:46thinking like...
18:47I'm trying to make
18:48a movie that people
18:49who love to go
18:49to the movies
18:51love and go see
18:52and make a hit movie.
18:53And like I said,
18:53making a hit movie
18:53is so elusive.
18:55So I don't think about
18:56as I'm making a movie
18:57like I hope like
18:59the kid who watches
19:00Mr. Beast
19:01is going to see my movie
19:02instead of watching
19:03Mr. Beast.
19:04I just can't think that way.
19:05He probably does both.
19:05I probably should.
19:06He probably does both though.
19:07He probably watches
19:08a lot of Mr. Beast
19:09and then decides...
19:09No, no, no.
19:10Of course, of course,
19:11of course, of course.
19:12But when I'm in my market
19:14competing for directors
19:15and stuff,
19:15I'm not thinking
19:16about YouTube.
19:17I'm thinking about
19:18what the horror market is
19:19and the other horror movies
19:20and how I fit into that.
19:22And how are you thinking
19:23about getting people
19:24off the couch
19:25and into the theater today?
19:28I mean, obviously,
19:29you're trying...
19:29Every movie...
19:30That's the goal
19:30of every movie.
19:31Well, that's what I...
19:31That's my job.
19:32That's the core of it.
19:33That's my job.
19:34That's the core of it.
19:35But are there precepts
19:36you're thinking about?
19:36Like, okay,
19:37something they're familiar with?
19:38They've heard of The Mummy.
19:39Let's make a movie
19:40about The Mummy.
19:40There are all sorts
19:41of fine lines you walk
19:43as a...
19:43Or I walk
19:44as a producer entrepreneur.
19:47How much to say the same?
19:49How much to change?
19:51How much to lean into IP?
19:53How much to do original?
19:55Then when you even have the IP,
19:57like how much to be faithful
19:59to the old Mummy movies?
20:00How much to reinvent the mummy?
20:02And the real job...
20:04I've been thinking
20:04about this lately.
20:05Everyone always says,
20:06what does a producer do?
20:07And I think every producer,
20:08including myself,
20:09has the stupidest answer.
20:10But I think a more thoughtful answer
20:13is a producer is like
20:14always walking that fine line.
20:16So what I do every day
20:18is walk that fine line of,
20:20is it worth paying this person
20:22this much money to do it?
20:23Or should I pay someone
20:24a little bit less to do it?
20:25And will that make
20:25the movie profitable or not?
20:27That's what I do.
20:28That's the core
20:29of what I do every day.
20:30What do you learn more from?
20:31Success or failure?
20:32You're very candid
20:33about your failures.
20:34You learn much more
20:34from failure, of course.
20:37And what did you learn
20:38most recently?
20:39What's your last failure?
20:40He's alluding to Megan 2.
20:42No, it was a guess.
20:43Big bomb.
20:43There might have been something else.
20:44We had a big bomb
20:45with Megan 2.
20:46That was a year ago.
20:47If your last big bomb
20:47was a year ago,
20:48that's pretty good.
20:49Was that a year ago?
20:49I think it was.
20:50I think it was.
20:50It was so painful.
20:53Megan is a great example
20:55of being overconfident,
20:57where I screwed up on my line.
20:58You know, I got off the line.
21:00It's actually a great example.
21:01So we did this movie called Megan.
21:03It was a big hit.
21:05And we created a character.
21:07And we jumped into, like,
21:10we've created a Megan universe.
21:12And we made a cousin to the Megan.
21:15We made a sequel.
21:16And we made a cousin
21:17to the first Megan
21:20before we had a second.
21:21You don't really have a franchise
21:22until two movies succeed.
21:24Not until you make the second movie
21:25until the second movie works.
21:27So clearly,
21:28we should not have made
21:29a cousin to Megan
21:30before we had released Megan 2.
21:32So that was one mistake.
21:33I didn't even talk about that.
21:34And the second thing
21:36is that we thought Megan
21:38was so successful that,
21:40and this is exactly
21:41what I was talking about before,
21:42that we could go
21:44very, very far
21:45outside the lines
21:46for Megan 2.
21:47So the first Megan
21:48was kind of a horror movie
21:49that was funny.
21:50And the second Megan
21:51was like an action comedy.
21:53It had Megan in it.
21:55But it's a great example of
21:56we went,
21:57we stretched too far.
21:58We went too far.
21:59We went too far.
22:00On a sequel,
22:01you're always thinking
22:02you don't want to make it
22:03too much like the first movie
22:04because people say
22:05you're ripping off the first movie.
22:06And you don't want to make it
22:07too different from the first movie
22:08because then people say,
22:09well, why is it a sequel?
22:10And so that's a great example
22:11of where we went too far.
22:13They said,
22:13why is it a sequel?
22:14And the franchise died.
22:16But she'll live again
22:18in some other way.
22:19We predicted successfully
22:20that we would fill the time
22:22without getting to Q&A.
22:23We did it.
22:23But does anyone have a quick question?
22:25Do we have to stop?
22:26We have to stop.
22:26I think we have to stop.
22:27Okay, great.
22:27All right, thanks.
22:27Jason's hanging out.
22:28You're asking questions afterwards.
22:30Thanks.
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