00:00I do kind of want to talk about the economics of scale when it comes to horror films. I mean,
00:03the whole idea seems to be that even though they may not make as much money on a revenue basis
00:08as
00:08some of those blockbuster action films, in terms of a profitability basis, they have proven to be
00:14much more resilient. And I am curious as to what you think explains that phenomenon.
00:20Well, what we do in our feature films is actually try to curate an experience that audiences want
00:28to get out of the house and go to the theater for. And I think that we provide something really
00:33unique in the entertainment landscape because the experience of getting scared with a crowd in a
00:39dark theater is still a premium experience that you can't get anywhere else. To your question about
00:46the lower costs, I think that's kind of a natural result of the types of stories that we tell. They
00:53tend to take place in a house, pretty mundane scenarios. They don't require grand world
00:59building, you know, big special effects. They're actually pretty, pretty low cost stories by the
01:05nature of how they're built. I am curious though, too. I mean, obviously the whole art of making
01:10movies is still to a certain extent of art, both the business and art. Just how you sort of address
01:15sort of the idea of making sure that something hits. I mean, I think about kind of the success of
01:20Megan, which I think at least took a lot of the public by surprise. Of course, Megan 2.0
01:26underperformed. And I'm not sure whatever happened with the reboot that you were supposed to have
01:31earlier this year, whether that's actually going to come out or not. Soulmates here. But what's the
01:35thought process and the business decisions that you make in order to sort of get these things out?
01:40It's actually really simple. You know, I like to say, keep it scary, stupid, right? We're actually
01:46trying to make scary movies. And I think when we deviate from that path, I think it has less of
01:52an
01:52impact on culture. You know, when we can really hit the scary button, you know, we like to say when
02:00we
02:00test movies and there's a sense of contagion in the crowd, those are the times when we know we can
02:05really create a hit. Now, you know, part of that process, obviously at the kind of collision point
02:11of art and commerce, our job is really to identify talented filmmakers who have a very clear vision, try to
02:18protect that vision. But also the entire apparatus of creating a worldwide hit involves hundreds of
02:25people. And I think one of the things that we specialize in is figuring out how to get everyone rowing
02:30in the
02:30same direction. Well, I'm curious. Can you talk about Cain Parsons, a director that a lot of people are talking
02:35about
02:35today? Back rooms, which I haven't actually seen, but it seems like this is all the buzz. Where did he
02:41come from? And give me kind of the origin story and where you plan to go with this and the
02:47partnership
02:47with A24? Yeah, absolutely. You know, Cain is definitely a special talent. It's kind of a unique
02:53situation because we had seen his short films when he was 15 years old. I can still remember actually
03:00getting on a Zoom with his dad, which is something I haven't really done with any other
03:04filmmaker in my career. And so we had identified his short films on YouTube. And then, you know,
03:13we express an interest in trying to develop them into feature films. And then it took a little while
03:19to kind of gestate the perfect story that I think respected his core audience, but then was also
03:27positioned in a way that it could expand on that audience. You know, obviously with the case of
03:32YouTube, it's similar where we have to really, you know, give the audience a reason to go to the
03:38theater and not just watch the content on YouTube. So for us, the key was really leaning into, you know,
03:44the scares at the core of his concept. And, you know, to our benefit, I think Cain had such a
03:51clear
03:52sense of what his audience wanted that he was able to really be the kind of creative guardrails.
03:58And our job was just kind of to block the noise so he could do what he does best.
04:03I am curious, though, too. I mean, you mentioned going to the theater. And I mean, I know you probably
04:07get tired of this question about the future of theatrical releases. And I am curious as to how
04:12you balance whatever demand is still there for people to go physically to the theater versus those
04:18people who do just want to sit at home on their couch and watch it on the streaming services.
04:21Yeah, I mean, you know, the competition for eyeballs and attention has never been greater. But I think
04:28our competitive advantage is that we really know the type of experience that we're trying to deliver
04:33to audiences. You know, if you can really be laser focused on why they would, you know, what makes the
04:40experience of going to theater different from what they get on their couch watching Netflix, I think that
04:45you can be really focused on on, you know, creating the conditions for them to really enjoy and feel
04:52like they've gotten their their money's worth in in a theater experience. So the other issue kind of
04:58that's been facing Hollywood right now is the advent of AI tools. And I specifically use the word tools
05:03because we've seen a lot of filmmakers already employ some of these tools. But of course, there's still
05:08this potential threat, or at least perception of a threat that it could upend certain jobs, whether
05:14it's on the production side, and even to a certain extent, on the acting side. Yeah, everything we do is
05:21artist driven. So, you know, our focus is to understand all the tools available to the filmmakers
05:26that we work with, and to let them really drive the process. Obviously, there's a lot of conversations
05:32right now about how AI can reduce cost. You know, at the moment, you know, we're really focused on,
05:38you know, whichever director we're working with, we want their experience to be what what they want
05:45it to be. Some directors embrace it more than others. And we really try to curate the process
05:50to our specific filmmakers. I do have to ask you just about a couple of the movies that you have
05:55coming
05:55up. I am curious about this Mortal Kombat movie, not a horror movie, but basically a franchise. And I am
06:02curious as to, A, is that still on track for the release? And more importantly, why Mortal Kombat?
06:09Oh, man, everything at our company is driven first and foremost by fanship. If we're not excited and
06:14passionate about the movies that we're making, then why do it? So my partner in Atomic Monster,
06:21James Wan, who is known for creating, you know, franchises like Saw and Insidious and Conjuring,
06:26you know, he and I both bonded over being fans of the games. And we got involved in that
06:31franchise at New Line several years ago. And, you know, it's really a movie series that is driven
06:41by the fan base. You know, if we don't have them on board, then we have nothing. So we've tried
06:46to
06:46be really loyal to them and to their expectations and provide a movie experience that is a real
06:53roller coaster ride.
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