The Hollywood Reporter - 30.10.2019

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 57 OCTOBER 30, 2019

great cache that Alan has over

there. So you have to say, what

is your opportunity? And your

opportunity is filmmakers. For us

to get Marty [Scorsese] at Netflix

was a big thing. It was a big win.

So that was one thing. And then

the economics. We have enough

subscribers that we think the

movie can deliver on. Thankfully

he over-delivered.

Jim, you are smiling. You gave that

film up.

GIANOPULOS Yeah. Well, before my

time, but nevertheless. It was very

ambitious for a studio to take on a

project like that. There is a differ-

ent perception of the economics.

For us, at that level, for a period

drama — or for anyone, I would

submit — it was ambitious. And it

was perhaps too ambitious.

EMMERICH That’s where the con-

sumer wins. I don’t think any

of the studios could make that

movie at that cost at that length

and come out alive.

GIANOPULOS Right.

EMMERICH But it works for Netflix

for the reason that Scott said.

As people who have spent your

careers in the theatrical movie busi-

ness, doesn’t it bum you out that

you can’t make The Irishman?

LANGLEY You know, it actually

doesn’t. It would bum me out if no

one made the movie.

HORN That’s right.

LANGLEY That’s what’s really

exciting about our entire eco-

system right now, even though

it is giving us the headaches and

sleepless nights. It’s never been a

better time for filmmakers and

storytelling and for things to find

their way into the world that were

getting squeezed over the last five

or six years or even longer.

EMMERICH The only difference for

us, and maybe for the average

consumer — I’ll bet everyone

at this table wants to see The

Irishman in a theater.

LANGLEY Ye a h.

EMMERICH And it will be avail-

able, to some extent. Or we’ll get

invited to Scott’s house.

STUBER You’re all invited. (Laughs.)

Jen, when Amazon Studios got into

movies, filmmakers would be given

Take a film like The Irishman. That’s
been gestating for a long time, it was
at several different studios, and you
took it on for about $150 million. It’s
three and a half hours long. What is
the success metric for that film?
STUBER There are a lot of variables.
When I took the job [in 2017], I was
building a new studio. We have
no IP, we have no library, we can’t
remake things. We don’t have the

THE MAJORS AT THE GLOBAL BOX OFFICE: A 5-YEAR TREND

4.45

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 YTD

1

2

3

4

7

5

$8B

6

Source: Comscore, studios; *Includes Fox titles released after March 20, 2019.

4.73

5.52

5.9

4

4.5

2.1

3.7

6.8

7.6

7. 3

10.5*

6.46

5.1 4.97

3.78

3.12

1.83

5.3

5.574.87

3.463.62

1.73

2.59

1.18

600M

4.03

3.3

2.5 2.4

2.25 2.2

2.81

1.7

DISNEY* WARNER BROS. UNIVERSAL FOX SONY PARAMOUNT

Langley

Emmerich

Disney, now with Fox titles, has shattered the industry record it set in 2016 — and there are still two months of the year to go

3.12