Transcript: What Movie Audiences Want for the Holidays
A grabby first 10 minutes. Elevated genre. Superheroes...still?! Expert Kevin Goetz on the studios' new high-stakes game at the cinema
Sean McNulty (00:05):
Welcome to The Ankler Podcast. This is Sean McNulty from The Wakeup newsletter here at the Ankler, here in New York City on the afternoon of Thursday, November 30th. I'm joined as always by Elaine Low in Los Angeles.
(00:17)
Elaine, tomorrow is December. I feel like it was just Q1 earning season yesterday.
Elaine Low (00:21):
Yeah, I think the strike took out all the oxygen of '23.
Sean McNulty (00:24):
Is that it? Is it sad that I mark my life by earning quarters or is that normal? I don't know, I'm not quite sure.
Elaine Low (00:30):
That's perfectly normal, but you're not talking to somebody else who is normal.
Sean McNulty (00:35):
You have your own markers. Yeah, yours is by strikes. Mine's by earnings reports. So yeah, we're doing great guys. We're doing great.
(00:41)
Richard, unfortunately has a matter he needed to attend to today, so Peter Kiefer is back to join us. Peter, how you doing?
Peter Kiefer (00:46):
I'm well guys, I'm happy to be here.
Sean McNulty (00:48):
Good. How's that holiday shopping going so far? All done?
Peter Kiefer (00:52):
You know, I will admit, I made out a bandit on Monday.
Sean McNulty (00:56):
Oh, did you Black Friday it up? Oh, Monday. Cyber Monday.
Elaine Low (00:57):
What'd you get? What'd you get?
Peter Kiefer (00:59):
Well, you know...
Sean McNulty (00:59):
His kids listen to this podcast.
Peter Kiefer (01:01):
I know.
Sean McNulty (01:01):
Come on, what are you talking about?
Elaine Low (01:02):
Don't want to spoil the Christmas list.
Peter Kiefer (01:03):
Super selfishly, it was like all sorts of man gear for camping and stuff. It was-
Sean McNulty (01:09):
Oh, Peter bought for himself. Okay.
Peter Kiefer (01:09):
I just buy for myself, yeah. I am that kind of guy.
Sean McNulty (01:12):
I was asking about your family, Peter. I should have specified. I didn't mean to say what'd you get yourself for Christmas, but yeah...
Peter Kiefer (01:17):
No, they will get something, but this was my day.
Elaine Low (01:21):
Like outdoorsy stuff or?
Peter Kiefer (01:22):
Yeah, outdoorsy stuff.
Elaine Low (01:24):
Listeners, you should all know that Peter is wearing a buffalo plaid shirt right now.
Sean McNulty (01:28):
And a cap, so yes, exactly. Yes. Very, very much ready to go out there. Peter, of course, wrote a great piece this week that dropped at The Ankler on the latest in Hollywood's WhatsApp culture and the pretty intense rifts that have developed as a result, which we'll dive into shortly. And I spoke with movie audience research guru Kevin Goetz, who heads up Screen Engine/ASI, which is kind of the go-to company for test screenings and audience research for the theatrical movie business. And he had some really good insights into what he's seeing ahead for the impending Hollywood movie season, what his takeaways were from the year that was, and plenty of other stuff, which we'll get into later on.
(02:05)
But first, Elaine, the New York Times DealBook, conference, summit, whatever they call it, happened this week, which certainly got a lot of headlines. Apparently Elon Musk went to the Richard Rushfield How to Schmooze Advertisers seminar, so that paid off pretty well. I think folks are kind of up to speed here, but a little bit lay the land here for us.
Elaine Low (02:22):
Oh, sure. Musk just dropping a couple of F-bombs real casually at the New York Times deal book conference as one does. Basically, we've all seen this huge advertiser exodus right over the last week or so on X, formerly known as Twitter, over antisemitism on the site. And when asked about it on stage, Elon Musk tells the audience basically, not basically, verbatim, "Go fuck yourself.”