The Bulwark Goes to Hollywood

This week, I’m rejoined by Tony Davis of Tessive to talk about the science behind some of the movie magic in James Cameron’s return to Pandora. What is high frame rate? How did we settled on 24 frames per second as the “standard” frame rate? Why do European audiences notice the effect less? And why have exhibitors made it so difficult to know which format  Avatar: The Way of Water  is showing in a...

This week, I'm rejoined by Ryan Faughnder of the Los Angeles Times to discuss his newsletter highlighting the ten biggest Hollywood business fiascoes of the year. From Neil Young's war on Spotify to The Slap to the shift of focus on streaming profitability, it's been a wild year for businesses trying to navigate difficult business and political waters. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podca...

On this week’s episode I talk to Sean O’Connell, the author of  With Great Power: How Spider-Man Conquered Hollywood during the Golden Age of Comic Book Blockbusters , about the webslinger’s long and winding path to the big screen, early box office dominance, middle-aged faltering, and renewed success under the aegis of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We also discuss the rise of fan culture and the...

This week I talked to Robbie Whelan of the Wall Street Journal about the not-so-secret cash cow of the Walt Disney empire: the parks. For years now, the joke about Disney has been that it’s a parks and TV company with a movie studio attached to it; as the theatrical business continues to struggle, cord-cutting continues apace, and the streaming side of the business  racks up huge losses , the park...

On this week episode I’m pleased to be joined by Simon Abrams, author of the gorgeous new book  The Northman: A Call to the Gods .  In it, we discuss how the book came about, some of the fascinating tidbits he picked up while interviewing cast and crew of the viking epic, and how Robert Eggers helped transport audiences back to both a different time and a different mindset. If you haven’t seen  Th...

On this week’s episode, I’m rejoined by Julia Alexander of Parrot Analytics and Puck to talk about what’s working, and what’s flopping, in the wild world of streaming.  Seinfeld  is a huge hit for Netflix, particularly with younger audiences. What’s the deal with that? Meanwhile, Peacock made a smart call by adding the Hallmark Channel as a vertical, and Disney+ added a huge number of subs … while...

On this week’s episode, I’m joined by Scott Mendelson. For nearly a decade at Forbes, Scott wrote one of the best, most in-depth looks at the box office on a day-in, day-out basis; he’s now headed to The Wrap where he’ll hang up his box office spurs and write about the industry more broadly. But I wanted to pick his brain about how things have changed since he started doing this way back in 2008 w...

This week I talk to Scott Meslow about  From Hollywood with Love: The Rise and Fall (and Rise Again) of the Romantic Comedy , his critical appreciation of the genre. From  When Harry Met Sally  to  Crazy Rich Asians , with stopovers in the land of raunch-coms like  There’s Something About Mary  and Brit-roms like Richard Curtis’s oeuvre, to the modern tendency to overthink the genre and why it wor...

On this week’s episode, CNN’s Frank Pallotta rejoined the show to talk about horror’s big summer, the winners and losers of summer, the ratings war between House of the Dragon and Rings of Power, and much more. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to share it with a friend! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this week’s episode, I talk to The Washington Post’s Geoff Edgers about his latest feature, “ The Search for the Perfect Sound .” The boom in vinyl has led to a lot of questions about whether or not the new pressings hitting store shelves at astronomical costs are, you know, any good. Purists are distraught at the very thought of digital techniques being used in the creation of analog sound. Wh...

On this week’s episode, Sonny is joined by Jason Pargin for a wide-ranging and freewheeling discussion about, among other things, the propriety of jokes about nuclear war, how a cult classic movie kicked off his literary career, and the ways in which social media algorithms have possibly led you to believe that your favorite writers have disappeared and/or died. (As the former executive editor of...

David Coggeshall, the writer and co-producer of  Orphan: First Kill , joins Sonny this week to talk about the making of the legacy sequel, the difficulties and opportunities presented by shooting in the midst of the pandemic, and the theatrical vs. streaming debate.  And if you haven’t watched  Orphan: First Kill , you can  check it out now on Paramount+ or rent it on VOD ; I put a spoiler warning...

On this week’s episode, Sonny broaches the topic of China and gaming with Colin Moriarty, founder and CEO of Last Stand Media, the world's most popular fan-funded games podcast network, co-host of Sacred Symbols: A PlayStation Podcast, and 20-year veteran of the gaming industry. Colin has firsthand experience in this realm as a game developer and relays a pretty interesting story about the chillin...

On this week’s episode, Sonny asks Sean McNulty—author of The Ankler’s excellent morning roundup newsletter, The Wakeup—who, exactly, the Emmys are for in an age of audience fracturing. The answer, at least  according to the Nielsen ratings , is “very few people.” Many, many more people  are watching football , as sports remains the one savior of linear TV (that is: non-streaming, watched-live TV)...

On this week’s episode, Sonny is joined by Broadside Books’s Eric Nelson to take a look at a slightly different end of the entertainment industry: political non-fiction. Eric is the editor of Tim Miller’s bestselling book  Why We Did It  as well as Jared Kushner’s bestselling book  Breaking History , so he understands how to appeal to both sides of the book-buying aisle. Almost as importantly, he...

On this week’s episode, Sonny talks to Mitchel Berger, SVP of global commerce at Crunchyroll, about the continually “surprising” success of Crunchyroll’s (and, previously, Funimation’s) anime theatrical releases.  Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero  opened atop the box office a couple of weekends ago with $20 million; last year  Demon Slayer The Movie: Mugen Train  grossed nearly $50 million during its...

On this week’s episode, Sonny steps back from Hollywood a bit to look at the broader state of free expression in America and around the world. PEN America’s Summer Lopez joins the show to discuss a range of topics: from the heinous assault on Salman Rushdie in New York to efforts to pressure libraries to remove books across the United States to foreign oppression of writers and thinkers to concern...

On this week’s episode, Sonny is joined by Brian Gewirtz to talk about his tenure as a writer for the WWE. His new book,  There's Just One Problem...: True Tales from the Former, One-Time, 7th Most Powerful Person in WWE ,  is a must-read for anyone interested in the world of “sports entertainment." Brian was there for the rise of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, the tail end of the Monday Night Wars, t...

On this week’s episode, Sonny is joined by Julia Alexander of Parrot Analytics and Puck to discuss the wild couple of weeks in streaming. From HBO Max to Netflix to Disney+ and unbundling to rebundling, there’s a ton to discuss. Of particular interest to folks interested in how the business of streaming works is Julia’s expertise as a consultant who helps studios and producers understand  why  str...

On this week’s episode, Sonny is joined by Aaron Reynolds,  creator of Effin’ Birds . Having a daily comic read by half-a-million people is cool and all, but what’s  really  cool is criss-crossing North America to sell merch featuring that comic and other various designs. Aaron talks about the economics of convention life, how COVID has shaped the way conventions work, what it’s like to have a boo...

On this week’s episode of The Bulwark Goes to Hollywood, Sonny is joined by longtime  New Yorker  writer Ken Auletta, who stops by to discuss his new book  Hollywood Ending: Harvey Weinstein and the Culture of Silence .  Both a biography of Weinstein and a tick-tock of the trial that ended with the Oscar-winning producer’s imprisonment, Auletta’s new book is a fascinating glimpse at the life and t...

On this week’s episode, Sonny is joined by Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman to discuss their new history of the  John Wick  franchise,  They Shouldn’t Have Killed His Dog: The Complete Uncensored Ass-Kicking Oral History of John Wick, Gun Fu, and the New Age of Action .  (Listen to the podcast to hear how to properly announce this title.) In addition to talking  John Wick  and the history of the ac...

On this week’s episode of The Bulwark Goes to Hollywood, Sonny is joined by Ron Shelton, the writer/director of  Bull Durham , to talk about his new book on the making of the film,  The Church of Baseball . In addition to discussing the fights over casting, the weirdly lackluster response from test audiences, and the movie’s impact on the minor league game writ large, we also chatted about some of...

This week, CNN’s Frank Pallotta rejoins the episode to do a box office victory lap. The movies are back, baby! Older audiences are showing up for  Top Gun: Maverick  and  Elvis ; younger audiences are showing up for  Minions: The Rise of Gru ; and no one’s showing up for  Lightyear . Why are the first three hits and the last a miss? What’s the most successful way to sell moviegoing audiences on fu...

On this week’s episode,  The Ankler’s Richard Rushfield  returns to talk tumult at Disney, what Hollywood might be looking for in a studio head, and how the town is feeling about Netflix. If you enjoyed the episode, share it with a friend! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices