The Bulwark Goes to Hollywood

This week I’m joined by Judah Miller, showrunner of the new Peacock dramedy Bupkis, to talk about bringing Pete Davidson’s life to the small screen. Bupkis is fascinatingly hard to describe in shorthand, given the way it mixes tones and genres, and also the manner in which it blends Pete Davidson’s ripped-from-the-headlines life with a fictionalized version of his family and day-to-day existence. The first season is streaming in its entirety now on Peacock, and I strongly recommend checking it out: it’s a fascinating portrait of fame in the age of social media and also the business of showbiz. If you enjoyed this episode, share it with a friend! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week I’m joined by Matthew Ball, CEO of Epyllion, former global head of strategy for Amazon Studios, and the author of The Metaverse and “The Streaming Book,” which you can read at that link there. And you should read it if you want to understand how we got where we are in the streaming wars, why it’s early yet in the contest between the companies vying for your attention, and where we’re headed as consolidation occurs.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week I’m rejoined by David Herrin of The Quorum—a must-visit site for any amateur or professional box office nerd—to talk about a new study The Quorum put together in partnership with The Cinema Foundation about the value proposition of going to the movies. We talked all sorts of stuff on this episode: why audiences are three times more excited to return to theaters now than they were at the same time last year; how going to the movies stacks up against going to concerts and other out-of-the-home events; the percentage of consumers who get concessions; and why Barbie’s surprisingly high unaided awareness might still be a cause for concern. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I’m rejoined this week by Frank Pallotta, formerly of CNN, to preview the summer box office. Have we already seen the year’s biggest movie debut with The Super Mario Bros. Movie? Will audiences show up for big-budget blockbusters like the new Mission: Impossible and Guardians of the Galaxy? Will adults ready for raunchier fare come out for Jennifer Lawrence’s new romcom? Who’s going to win the Battle of July 21, when Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer and Greta Gerwig’s Barbie debut? All that and more on this week’s episode! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week I’m joined by Sean McNulty of The Ankler to talk about the week’s biggest entertainment news: the merger of the WWE and UFC into a $21 billion sports-entertainment company. But this move is just a piece of the puzzle if you want to understand the complex dance between sports leagues, streaming companies, and cable bundles. Are sports leagues the ultimate “arms dealers” in the streaming wars, moving from company to company as these services try to find content that makes sense for viewers and advertisers alike? Or are teams with revenue tied to regional sports network deals kind of … well, screwed? All this and more—including a chat about the actual king of televised sports; and no, I’m not talking about the NFL—on this week’s show!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week I’m joined by Gene Park, video game reporter at the Washington Post, to talk about the oncoming video game boom and how our current moment feels reminiscent of 2008, when the comic book boom kicked off for real. Yes, there had been comic book successes before that, your Batmans and your Spider-Mans. But 2008 saw the release of The Dark Knight (which smashed opening weekend records) and Iron Man (which inaugurated the single most successful franchise of all time, the Marvel Cinematic Universe), recalibrating how Hollywood thought of superhero cinema. Between The Last of Us’s popularity with critics and audiences alike and projections that The Super Mario Bros. Movie will be one of the highest-grossing movies of the year, it feels like we’re hitting a similar inflection point with video game adaptations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this week’s episode, I’m joined by Cinema Foundation President Jackie Brenneman to discuss the group’s new report on the state of the cinema industry. Among the many topics discussed this week are the ways in which theatrical exhibition help tamp down piracy by keeping pristine copies off the pirating sites, the success of National Cinema Day, how the ongoing domestic box office recovery is tied to increases in wide releases, and the slightly complicated way average ticket prices are calculated. (Exciting news: We now have a new average ticket price, after a couple of years of using 2019 averages! Now all the inflation scolds have new data to deploy.)  If you enjoyed the episode, please share it with a friend!  Bulwark+ members can comment on the show here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this week’s episode, I’m joined by April Wright, director of Back to the Drive-In. We discuss the ways in which drive-in theaters kinda-thrived during the pandemic, but also have been hit by some of the same problems plaguing every industry in the post-pandemic era: labor shortages, supply chain issues, and nonsensical mandates from local governments. Make sure to check out Back to the Drive-In, which is on VOD now. And if you enjoyed this episode, share it with a friend! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this week’s episode, I’m joined by Bilge Ebiri and Brandon Streussnig to talk about Vulture’s enormous feature on the best stunts of 2022. Part celebration of the year in action, part plea for the Oscars to finally recognize stunt performers and performances as a category worthy of notice, the inaugural Stunt Awards is a feast for any lover of action (and action-adjacent) cinema. Among the issues discussed this week are why some professionals think an Oscar for stunts is a bad—even potentially dangerous—idea, how to think about rewarding these performers, and the sad fact that some of the best, most kinetic action you’ll find never makes it to theaters at all. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to share it with a friend! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week, I’m joined by Michael Schulman to discuss his new book, Oscar Wars: A History of Hollywood in Gold, Sweat, and Tears. What were some of the ulterior motives for making the Oscars? How did the ceremony help break the blacklist? And was Rob Lowe’s duet with Snow White really the worst thing that’s ever happened on the show? Or, you know, in the history of existence? All that and more on this week’s episode. If you enjoyed our chat, make sure to pick up his book and share this episode with a friend! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week I’m rejoined by Richard Rushfield—fresh off a nice little profile in Vanity Fair—to talk about the oncoming train of a WGA strike. Seventy days out, Richard put the odds of a work stoppage at 65 percent. What are the two sides looking for? How might the industry change? And is the fate of civilization itself at stake? All that and more on this week’s episode. 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, Sonny is pleased to welcome David Thomson back to the show to discuss his new book, Acting Naturally: The Magic in Great Performances. In this episode we discuss the difficulty of describing what, precisely, actors do onscreen; the trickiness of writing about appearances; why Method Acting was the biggest thing since the advent of sound; and why audiences feel uncomfortable when they find out a filmmaker is less-than-perfect in their personal lives. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to check out Mr. Thomson’s previous appearance to discuss his history of movie directors. And make sure to share the show with a friend!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I was very excited to get Julian Schlossberg on the show this week to talk about his new book, Try Not to Hold it Against Me: A Producer’s Life, in large part because he is intimately involved with a part of showbiz that I do not understand at all, at least financially: Broadway and live theater. But Julian’s career stretches beyond the stage: he booked theaters in New York City where he helped Warren Beatty save McCabe and Mrs. Miller from obscurity; he had a radio show that brought him into the orbit of George C. Scott, among others; and he did some time at Paramount, one of his more frustrating experiences in his career. After you listen, make sure to check out his book; Elaine May, the director of Mikey and Nicky and a comedic power, wrote a very nice (and funny!) introduction for it. And, as always, share this episode with a friend! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When I saw that Shawn Ryan—the creator of The Shield,* the hit CBS show S.W.A.T., and the forthcoming Netflix show The Night Agent—had penned a letter to the editor in The Ankler disputing an agent’s characterizations of past Writers Guild of America negotiations with producers, I knew I had to get him on the show. Ryan, who in addition to running and writing some fantastic TV was also on the WGA negotiating committees in 2007, 2011, 2014, 2017, and 2020, shared his thoughts on the state of the business and made a very important point at the end of this interview: It’s not the writers who are saying there’s going to be a strike.  This is a must-listen episode if you want to understand some of the fundamentals of the most important business story in Hollywood in 2023. If you found it illuminating, please share with a friend! *I feel like you can make a very convincing case that The Shield is roughly as important to the business and artistry of prestige TV as The Sopranos for a whole ...

This week I’m pretty excited to be joined by Dean Devlin, whose work in movies like Universal Soldier, Stargate, and Independence Day I grew up loving. He works mostly in television now on series like The Librarians and Leverage, and has a new one out on SyFy debuting February 3: The Ark. We talk about his new show, how the business has evolved these last 30 years, and more on this week’s episode. If you enjoyed it, please share it with a friend! And make sure to check out The Ark, new episodes which will also hit Peacock a day after debuting on SyFy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week I’m rejoined by Rene Reyes, Vice President of Public Programming and Festivals at the Paley Center, to talk about PaleyFest 2023. It’s the year’s most entertaining celebration of television, from prestige cable hits to broadcast mainstays to the wild world of streaming. Tickets are on sale now for this year’s festival, and some of the highlights look great; I’d kill to be able to attend the opening night celebration of The Mandalorian, and I imagine the Yellowstone tickets will go quick if they haven’t disappeared already. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kevin Goetz, author of the must-read book Audience-ology, joins me this week to talk about the science of getting audiences to theaters. Can marketing help teach audiences “how” to watch a movie? Why might studios get excited about something as simple as a reply ratio to a free screening before even a single frame of film has unspooled? And how can you measure … movie love? I mentioned this on the show, but I don’t really listen to a ton of podcasts because I don’t have time, what with all the podcasts I’m doing. But one I do carve out time for is Kevin’s, which is called Don’t Kill the Messenger. A good introductory point is his episode with Jason Blum, I guarantee you’ll learn a lot. Subscribe to it, leave a rating and a review if you have time: it should be far more popular than it is.  If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend! And if you’d prefer to listen on Apple or another podcast service, click here and find your favorite. Learn more about your ad choices. ...

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 and which screens it is showing on? All this and more discussed on this week’s episode; if you enjoyed it or learned something, please share it with a friend! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 balancing act studios have to play between making movies that work for the masses and movies that work for the hardcore fans. If you have a Spider-fan in your life, send them this episode or pick up Sean’s book as a stocking stuffer! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 parks are more important than ever. But as Robbie reported, cracks are beginning to show in that fiscal bulwark, and unhappiness over the state of the parks—from investors and, more interestingly, super-fans—is one of several reasons that CEO Bob Chapek was forced out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 The Northman on the big screen, you really should: it’s monumental in every sense of the world. Folks who live in New York City will have a chance to do just that at the Museum of the Moving Image this Sunday: there’s a double feature of The Northman and Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, which Eggers cites as an inspiration for his Viking epic. Sandwiched between the showings will be a book signing. So if you like what you hear here, head over to get a copy of the book! And make sure to share this episode with a friend! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 also dipping in revenue. Then, we discuss the massive hit that was Hocus Pocus 2 and ask if Disney was right to keep it streaming-exclusive. All this and more on an entertaining and informative episode of The Bulwark Goes to Hollywood. If you learned something, share it with a friend! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 with his Mendelson’s Memos: from the rise of the MCU and the monster opening weekend to the death of the high-concept star-driven vehicle to the pandemic’s acceleration of streaming dominance to the monetary potential of the premium video on demand (PVOD) window, a great deal has changed over his run, and he’s here to provide his insights.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 works (or doesn’t!), Meslow’s book is a thorough examination of the last 30-plus years of onscreen romance. If you enjoyed the episode, make sure to share it with a friend! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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. Why do some records sound better than others? And how much can it cost to achieve sonic perfection? If this episode left you feeling nostalgic for the stacks of records you grew up spinning, make sure to share it with a similarly inclined friend! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 Cracked dot com, Jason has some experience with this.) Oh, we also talk about his new novel—If This Book Exists, You’re in the Wrong Universe, out October 18—and why you don’t need to read the three previous books in the series to enjoy it. That said: I would recommend reading them! The first, John Dies at the End, is probably the easiest to skip since you can get the basics by watching the movie (streaming now on Hulu) but basics are, well, basic, and you don’t want to be Basic, now do you? (You can buy a new copy here and a used copy here). The second, This Book Is Full of Spiders, is my ...

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 up before we got to talking about the plot of the film in-depth, but you should watch it anyway. If you enjoyed this episode, share it with a friend! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 chilling effect China can have on the art of gaming. Beyond that, there’s much to consider about the dangers of mergers and consolidation. Does the government have a role to play in keeping Chinese Communist Party-controlled firms like Tencent from dominating the gaming space? Should the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States play a firmer role? These are some of the questions we ask, but don’t necessarily have answers for, on this week’s episode. If you found this episode informative and entertaining, please share it with a friend! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoi...

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). We also talk about the news out of D23, the weird, aborted push by an activist investor to spin ESPN off of Disney, and much more. If you enjoyed the episode, share it with a friend! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 has heard, and can debunk, just about any myth you can come up with to explain away why a book by someone you don’t like is a bestseller. (Spoiler: The basements of the RNC and DNC are not filled with moldering copies of books by pols.) You’ll learn tons of interesting stuff here (which TV hits matter; what the perfect Amazon review looks like) and, hopefully, come away with a better understanding of just how the book business works. If you enjoyed the episode, make sure to share it with a friend! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 run. How did Crunchyroll help create and nurture this fandom to the point where they can open a movie on traditionally dead weekends with a fraction of the advertising spend of your typical mid-or-low-budget release? If you enjoyed this episode, share it with a friend!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 concerns over the ability of a handful of Internet-based companies to determine what can be expressed. If you enjoyed this episode and want to help get the word out, please share it with a friend. A brief plug: I am a member of PEN America and have been so (on and off, mostly dependent on remembering to pay my dues) since the group stood up for the journalists killed during the Charlie Hebdo massacre. They do great work to help shine a light on the limits of free expression around the world; a couple years back, I had PEN’s James Tager on the show a couple years back to talk about their report on ...

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, the so-called Attitude Era, and beyond. He suffered through celebrity guest hosts of Monday Night Raw, some great, some terrible. He lived through the real-life beef between John Cena and Dwayne Johnson. And he came out the other side as part of Johnson’s production house, Seven Bucks Productions. I really can’t recommend Brian’s book enough, and I can’t help but feel like wrestling—with its baby faces (heroes) and heels (villains); with its emphasis on “kayfabe” (that is, playing along with a storyline even though everyone on all sides knows its scripted)—on some level is a key to understandin...

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 streamers like Netflix will renew a show; you won’t want to miss that discussion about 40 minutes in. Spoiler: Eyeballs-captured and hours-watched aren’t the only thing that matters.  This is one of my favorite episodes of the show thus far; if you found it as interesting as I did, make sure to follow Julia on Twitter and read her stuff at Puck. And please share this episode with a friend!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 booth at San Diego Comic Con, the crazy economics of attracting huge stars to cons, and, most importantly, what it was like to be endorsed by pop star Britney Spears on her 41.8-million-follower-strong Instagram account. You can follow Effin’ Birds on Twitter and Instagram and Aaaron on Twitter and Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 times of a man whose predatory instinct was allowed to go unchecked thanks to the caliber of the movies he made and the way he distributed favors to filmmakers, cultivated journalists, and ingratiated himself to politicians. If you enjoyed the episode, make sure to share it with a friend … and pick up a copy of the book! It’s a must-read for anyone who lived through the Miramax era.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 action film art form referred to as “Gun Fu,” we talked about the tricky art of authoring a compelling oral history. Believe it or not, it entails more than just cutting and pasting long chunks of interviews into a Word document! If you’re in San Diego for Comic Con this week, make sure to swing by Ed and Mark’s panel on Friday (you can find it on the full convention schedule here), which will be followed by a signing at the Saint Martin’s booth. Tell them I sent you! And if you enjoyed this episode, share it with a friend! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 Mr. Shelton’s other films like White Men Can’t Jump and Dark Blue.  Make sure to pick up his book; while you’re doing that, the excellent Blu-ray release of Bull Durham is 50 percent off as part of Barnes and Noble’s 50 percent off sale on all Criterion discs. (In the podcast, I also mentioned the Arrow Video release of Dark Blue, but you should only pick it up in the United States if you have a region-free Blu-ray player; luckily it’s streaming on Prime Video right now for free.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 future movies? And what are theaters going to do over the next few months as COVID-related production slowdowns mean fewer big movies hitting theaters before the Thanksgiving season? All that and more on this week’s episode of The Bulwark Goes to Hollywood. If you enjoyed the episode, share it with a friend! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

On this week’s episode, Sonny is joined by Jason Baker of Callosum Studios, the house that helped design the sure-to-be-iconic mask from the upcoming horror film The Black Phone. They also discussed designing masks for the WWE, pandemic-related slowdowns, working with FX legend Tom Savini, and Jason’s documentary about said legend, Smoke and Mirrors: The Story of Tom Savini. You can stream that now on Tubi or YouTube or hold off until the special edition Blu-ray drops in October. Make sure to check out Jason’s handiwork in The Black Phone, dropping next week. And if you enjoyed the show share it with a friend! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this week’s episode of The Bulwark Goes to Hollywood, Sonny talks to the CEO of Creative Future, Ruth Vitale, about the costs of piracy. A longtime producer in Hwood, Ruth has seen firsthand the costs of theft on productions big and large, but in an age where stealing a movie or a book or a song is just as easy as popping onto Google and punching in some search terms, how do you convince folks that stealing is, in fact, wrong? And what can the government do to help stop the scourge of Internet-based IP theft? All that and more on this episode of BGTH. If you’ve got any ideas, feel free to leave them in the comments. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Over Memorial Day weekend, Netflix released a new stand-up special from Norm Macdonald, who unexpectedly died in September of last year. Unexpected to us and his friends; perhaps more expected to the comedian, who had kept his cancer diagnosis incredibly secret. On the occasion of the release of Norm Macdonald’s “Nothing Special,” Washington Post national arts reporter Geoff Edgers published a new piece featuring interviews with his friends and colleagues about the special and his life’s work. I’m very happy to have Geoff on today to talk about Norm specifically and the art of profiling more generally.  Back in 2016, Geoff wrote a longish feature about Norm that, I think, helped spark something of a reappraisal or reconsideration of his work: though beloved—almost revered—by fellow comedians, Norm had fallen out of the spotlight with normal folks, and this well-read feature reminded them of what they were missing. (The publication of his absolutely brilliant book around the same tim...

Sonny takes a break from talking to industry experts this week to kvetch about something that’s been bothering him and JVL: Why are theaters so empty of movies for kids? A nearly two-month gap between The Bad Guys and Lightyear feels like studio malpractice; why didn’t Chip ’n Dale: Rescue Rangers get at least a token run in theaters? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this week’s episode, Sonny is rejoined by CNN’s Frank Pallotta to preview summer movie season. Blockbusters, big horror, comic books, and kid-friendly films are coming to the multiplex—but they’re doing so at a slower clip than years past. What’s changed since the pandemic and how is the industry reacting to it? Plus: Netflix, Disney+, and the evolving streaming situation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week, Sonny is joined by Suzanne Joe Kai to discuss her documentary, Like a Rolling Stone: The Life and Times of Ben Fong Torres. New to Netflix, her doc is a pleasantly vibrant look at the life and work of Ben Fong Torres, who is best known for his era-defining work at Rolling Stone magazine. This documentary covers that ground—just looking at Torres’s box of archival tapes is enough to make one’s mouth water—as well as his family’s story. How did this child of immigrants who came to the country by skirting anti-Chinese laws become one of the most important musical journalists of his, or any, generation? Listen now to find out. Then go watch the movie! It’s on Netflix now. If you enjoyed the show, share it with a friend! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week, Sonny talks to Dade Hayes, co-author of Binge Times: Inside Hollywood’s Furious Billion-Dollar Battle to Take Down Netflix, about the rise of streaming in the face of technological change and a population forced to stay home thanks to COVID. Among the many topics discussed: how will sports factor into the future of streaming; why are so many of the channels leaning toward ad-based models; and why did everyone think Netflix would be the only man standing when the dust settled? All that and more on this week’s episode of The Bulwark Goes to Hollywood. If you enjoyed it, share it with a friend! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

David Herrin of The Quorum—a must-check site for movie-data nerds—joins us live from the corridors of CinemaCon to discuss the mood of theater owners, the vibes of theatergoers, and the state of the industry as we exit the pandemic. If you enjoyed our chat, share it with a friend! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices