Indiana Jones Loses Money? + Diversity Execs Exit Netflix, WB.
ChatGPT creator sued + Gen Z consumer behavior.
The Agenda:
Opinion
Indiana Jones loses money? [Hollywood, IP]
Diversity execs exit Netflix, Warner Bros. Discovery. [Hollywood]
Yellowstone creator vs. writers rooms. [Hollywood]
What does Gen Z actually consume? [B2C, Media, Hollywood, IP]
Barbie’s marketing blitz! [B2C, Toys, IP, Hollywood, Fashion/Luxury, Gaming]
ChatGPT creator sued. [AI]
Netflix’s One Piece per-episode cost more than Game of Thrones’. [Japan, Streaming]
Gundam successfully evolves its IP. [Japan, IP]
Manga
Business Samurai #82: “Luchador Mask” [Coffee Distribution Arc #34]
Monday Motivation
Alligator hide. (Sylvester Stallone)
JUST A TYPICAL WORKDAY.
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Opinion
Hollywood
Indiana Jones loses money? [Hollywood, IP]
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny released this past weekend, and the opening has been weak. Production budget was expensive at about USD 295M, vs. my benchmark for this year, USD 100M for Super Mario, though, according to FranchiseRe, Dial of Destiny will recover costs once all rev. streams are accounted for. Though some are more pessimistic. For example, IndieWire published a piece that speculates that Dial of Destiny will lose as much money as The Flash. And Dial’s US box office opening of USD 60M is a far cry from the previous Indiana Jones entry, 2008’s Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, pre-inflation-adjusted number of USD 100M.
Let’s take a closer look at what’s going on. I haven’t watched the movie and I don’t plan to, but based on the reactions I listened to. I think Lucasfilm/Disney had the idea of evolving the Indiana Jones IP for younger audiences. Based on what I’ve heard about the story, and the fact that the film’s director, James Mangold, directed the successful Logan, about the X-Men’s Wolverine, the idea appears to be: have an aging, down-on-his-luck male hero fight one more good fight, and then hint at the mantle passing on to the younger female character, which sounds a lot like Logan. If you look at younger US demographics (see below), the plan makes sense on paper. But some issues:
IP history: Out of sight, out of mind. As IndieWire points out, Indiana Jones had five movies over forty years vs. Jurassic Park’s six over thirty, though Top Gun did well (more on Top Gun below). Meanwhile, for the past decades, X-Men has been a consistent, cross-platform IP (comics, animation, games, movies). So, maybe it’s not a surprise that the US audience that came in to watch Dial was older, and that the majority appears to be older Caucasian males.
“Cool” factor, audience projection: Intangible but it matters. As far as Top Gun goes, jets are f*cking cool, and it’s hard to top that (sorry). And, as I’ve said previously, Top Gun is a “mask-wearing” IP. I think Indiana Jones, in contrast, is so deeply tied to Harrison Ford.
Tone of IP: This needs to be talked about more. Going back to the Wolverine example, X-Men had tested out dark, dystopian storylines decades before (Days of Future Past!) in a much cheaper medium - comics. So Logan was on-brand for the X-Men IP. Whereas the Indiana Jones IP, IMO, is centered more around carefree adventure - doing a darker deconstruction probably isn’t on-brand.
Execution: Some say the younger female character wasn’t likable or understandable. Why pass the mantle on from someone likable to someone who isn’t?
And this is why you can’t treat all IP the same. IP isn’t just “IP” - they all have their own unique characters, plots, worlds, iconography, commercial history, and unique relationships with the audience. Even if it is commercial art, it is still art. Have some genuine love for your product, por favor.
[Evolving the IP.]
Diversity execs exit Netflix, Warner Bros. Discovery. [Hollywood]
Not long after Disney’s chief diversity officer exited, now Netflix’s and Warner Bros. Discovery’s DEI execs leave. Hmmm. Why now all of the sudden? I’ve shared my thoughts about the need for representation but avoiding heavy-handedness.
Yellowstone creator vs. writers rooms. [Hollywood]
Another POV re: the writers strike in Hollywood. Yellowstone showrunner Taylor Sheridan, who reportedly wrote all the episodes of Yellowstone and several related IP, isn’t a big fan of writers rooms. I guess if you have the story already written, do you need extra writers? If.
B2C
What does Gen Z actually consume? [B2C, Media, Hollywood, IP]
Note: I’m referring to US people between the ages of 11 to 26. Which is quite a wide range, which we’ll discuss in a bit.
Perfect timing, just as Indiana Jones 5 was released and didn’t appeal to a younger audience (see above), The Town released an episode titled “What Will Bring Gen Z to Theaters?” - it supports what I previously shared about younger consumers consuming a tapestry of media - different media for different occasions. What I did learn that was new was Gen Z is more ethnically diverse and skews female. In light of that, the whole mantle-passing to female characters and other DEI initiatives - discussed above - makes much more sense. Question of execution, then.
Furthermore, the “tapestry” argument helps explain a recent Fortune article, “Netflix, Amazon, Disney, and others spent a record $23 billion on original new content last year–so why is everyone watching movies and TV from the past?”. Even new streaming IP has ties to the past - ex. Stranger Things, Cobra Kai. It might be that such IPs, like Super Mario, are multigenerational hits - the whole family watches it.
In terms of where Gen Z spends non-family time, it’s worth noting that Gen Z spends a lot more time on social media, and some don’t even watch Netflix at all (and some do just watch anime :)) On the other hand, it looks like a good amount of this consumption is low engagement, i.e. playing in the background. Which is why we should differentiate between views vs. level of engagement. On the other, other hand, per the Digiday video, the actual habit of consumption isn’t unlike previous generations - again, the content is often just playing in the background. So, in the case of low-engagement, why pay for content (streaming) when you can get what you need for free (social media)?
Last thing: Gen Z viewing habits may change as the generation ages, per some evidence of the viewing habits of some older Gen Zers, who are watching slightly more TV-style content (as opposed to social media). And don’t forget (exploding) niche tastes - Gen Z is reportedly watching a lot of anime and anime streamer Crunchyroll is “solidly profitable” in part because of this cohort.
Last last thing: What kind of content is being consumed on social media? Is it just influencers, or also bits of IP that are cut up and shared? The latter certainly exists, which why IP must go cross-platform. :)
Barbie’s marketing blitz! [B2C, Toys, IP, Hollywood, Fashion/Luxury, Gaming]
In preparation for its toy IP Barbie going massively cross-platform with the upcoming Barbie movie, Mattel has also launched an aggressive cross-platform marketing strategy, including over 100 brand collaborations. Including a Barbie-themed… Xbox. Hey, gotta expand the console gaming audience - bring ‘em in from mobile! I would add that the Barbie IP has the unique advantage of being associated with a specific color, in this case pink, which lends itself to social media and fashion. See: Barbiecore.
[Artisanship at scale.]
AI
ChatGPT creator sued. [AI]
Anonymous plaintiffs cite USD 3B in potential damages. Why? IP theft.
[The importance of IP in the digital economy.]
Japan
Netflix’s One Piece per-episode cost more than Game of Thrones’. [Japan, Streaming]
Given the above considerations of Gen Z’s lesser use of streaming vs. other generations, maybe it’s worth looking at how the streamers are addressing this. Given the “tapestry” argument, it’s no surprise Netflix is now pursuing a cross-platform, IP-centric strategy. We should also look at the specific IP in question. Also given that Gen Z is really into anime, per above, it should come as no surprise that Netflix is spending USD 18M per episode for a 10-episode series, reportedly more than the per-episode cost of Game of Thrones and The Mandalorian. Is this inflation-adjusted? Anyway, that’s still a ton of $.
[The importance of IP in the digital economy.]
Gundam successfully evolves its IP. [Japan, IP]
It looks like the un-Gundam-like school setting of the recent Gundam show, The Witch from Mercury, has helped break records for Gundam IP sales. Younger demos and women! Meanwhile, there’s an upcoming series about… the metaverse?
[Evolving the IP.]
Manga
Business Samurai: Business Strategy Manga
Latest episode of webcomic about businesses selling to consumers. Cross Platform’s own IP and multimedia franchise. You can read the complete story so far here.
The plot: The MASTER (マスター) corporation has hired a team of young and talented businesspeople from diverse backgrounds to guide its business strategy as it enters new industries. But is everything is as it seems? Hijinks and drama ensue as team CLARITY (明快さ) launches new businesses, while each member tries to make her and his way in the world!
The current story arc: Claurette, Lixue, Jiae, and Ryota are working to distribute Cafe Honesty's cold brew based on coffee beans... digested by a house cat. But now they've bumped up against competition with the Toriyaki company!
Episode #82: “Luchador Mask” [Coffee Distribution Arc #34]
Monday Motivation
Alligator hide. (Sylvester Stallone)
Stumbled across this video of Sylvester Stallone sharing some life advice. What he’s saying is absolutely true: Words hurt. So to be successful, in addition to everything else, you need really, really, thick skin.
I can tell you from personal experience that, when you put yourself out there and really go for everything you want in life, people are going to attack you, whatever state you’re in. When you’re struggling, people will bully you. When you’re succeeding, they will try and drag you down.
So listen to Stallone: It takes courage to do a lot of things. You have to have it, but remember, you’re not alone. So, thick skin and courage.
GO FOR IT! REACH YOUR GOAL!