True Patriot Love - Are Movie Theaters Finally Beating Streaming Again？ ft. Joel Stewart

00:00:00.000 Have you seen a movie this summer? I mean, every summer has blockbusters, don't they?

00:00:05.040 Something that draws everybody to the theater. I've managed to see a couple this summer. I think

00:00:10.440 probably most of us have. But is the summer blockbusters something of the past? I keep

00:00:16.260 asking myself this. People will say, oh, you know, what's happening in theaters is being

00:00:21.120 usurped by what's available on Netflix or Amazon or, you know, pirate television, sadly.

00:00:30.000 but the truth is a little different than i anticipate and to talk to me more about that

00:00:37.520 our very own joel stewart he comes to us from the industry that's right perspective thanks joel

00:00:43.480 that's right the beating heart of the industry has joined you now i think i think the subject

00:00:48.220 of movies here in the summer of 2020 is 2020 2026 even well hold on a second is it nobody told me

00:00:55.860 that that's right since covet i can't really judge time 2026 at the movies i think is a story beyond

00:01:03.460 hey uh you know you know hey there's big movies what happening now is i think there is a bit of

00:01:10.840 a movement afoot stick with me now we have big movies the spider-man movie is going to be the

00:01:16.640 biggest movie in the history of movies in terms of box office you have the odyssey this one's

00:01:22.160 really interesting to me then you have back rooms and obsession these are movies that teenagers are

00:01:28.280 going to that is true this is the thing this is the thing that matters here is this is not us

00:01:35.280 this is a generation that was robbed of the experience of going to movies at a critical

00:01:40.260 time in their lives when we did not have movie theaters open pandemic and all those things that

00:01:45.300 is true and then we learned to consume things other way and we did not and we did not have that

00:01:51.340 gathering thing that sense of event i believe in this year of 2026 the event aspect of movies has

00:01:59.940 come back kids kids teenagers 20 year olds i have two 20 year olds who've seen obsession three times

00:02:08.380 okay they saw backroom twice they they saw i'm not saying s's today i keep saying way as opposed

00:02:14.660 the ways and i said back room instead of what back i'll add this for you okay i'll keep it here if

00:02:20.580 you could that would be wonderful um but it's fascinating to me that they're like oh we're

00:02:26.500 going to a movie and it's like the excitement that we all had is as youngsters going to a movie and

00:02:31.380 seeing the magic of charlton heston looking at the at the at the statue of liberty yes

00:02:38.340 not spoiler alert but you know i think you're right i mean in in my world i have uh you know

00:02:43.380 an early 20s kid and i have uh you know kids that are getting closer to their 30s and in their 30s

00:02:49.680 yes i have very old kids as it turns out but their enthusiasm about movies especially the youngest

00:02:56.520 is like nothing else like it is an event for them they book the ticket in advance yes odyssey was

00:03:03.760 booked in advance backrooms was booked in advance uh you know dad don't forget to get tickets for

00:03:09.180 two weeks from now when we're going to go see such and such it is a calendar worthy event now

00:03:14.220 in our life yes and i think it's very exciting and it's great for the industry and then some

00:03:18.860 of these movies as well you know the stories of them which are documented in in in uh places

00:03:24.740 that may or may not be more reliable than your pal joel um untrue but of course there's the

00:03:31.720 let's spend a billion dollars so we make two billion dollars and you know spider-man type

00:03:37.560 thing right there's that big gamble that big reward dot dot and then you have obsession which

00:03:45.560 was uh a kid who made movies on the uh youtube short films and somebody said what else you got

00:03:52.520 and he goes i got this other idea it became that kid's first feature i think they made it for 800

00:03:57.480 000 it's making 400 million dollars i loved his comment i don't even know how much how we spent

00:04:03.560 that much that was right yeah right right i saw your movie where did the money go that's chris

00:04:08.740 rock's old line with the blair witch project they made it for 25 000 i saw the movie i said

00:04:13.440 where'd the money go um but but so so that's a very interesting model the back rooms thing kind

00:04:18.820 of the same backstory of somebody who was making content along this line on the internet

00:04:24.060 some studio found them the investment was not minimal this is the key thing if you commit to

00:04:32.160 doing a spider-man movie and it doesn't work out everyone's job is yeah gone yeah the company

00:04:38.780 might be gone you know what i'm saying when you spend a billion dollars doing anything

00:04:43.260 it could be the end of a company you better get it right yeah now so they're gonna make

00:04:47.340 you know their money back and 100 of whatever they spend on it the people who did obsession

00:04:53.960 and backrooms are making 100 times their money back it is remarkable i think that we're seeing

00:04:59.860 more of that as technology catches up to it's well i mean we're in a studio now that is every bit

00:05:06.420 uh as television as it was when i was making tv shows that's right at 150 at the cost to set it

00:05:13.340 up that's the truth these things ladies and gentlemen game changers led lights man and

00:05:20.660 batteries and led lights changed our world i had 2k lights that were a thousand five hundred dollars

00:05:26.700 each and then you change a light bulb in it you which by the way you couldn't touch with your

00:05:30.700 fingers because if you got oil on it the light bulb would explode oh yes all of these small

00:05:35.260 things make a huge difference you've done that uh you know uh being able to micro size production

00:05:43.180 does offer that profit potential but not only that it gives a different avenue of creativity

00:05:50.700 yes and and you know and it's a copycat industry right so so yeah we can get christopher nolan to

00:05:57.720 spend hundreds of millions of dollars and get people to see it and i hope we talk about that

00:06:01.860 movie a little boy we're going to but then there's the other thing of like what if we take a smaller

00:06:05.740 gamble our risk reward is really high i hope i hope that the lesson they're learning in hollywood

00:06:13.660 is hey we can do our tentpole events this is great but can we can we use our imagination to

00:06:21.920 find these new these new filmmakers these new voices regardless of their age people with new

00:06:27.560 stories to tell or their resume different yeah or their resume i mean okay so let's talk about

00:06:32.680 resumes here's christopher nolan and the best resume on earth i mean he's groundbreaking um

00:06:39.840 in so many ways the music the soundtracks to start with yes the way that he uh directs the

00:06:46.080 magnitude of the films that he tends to make and here comes the odyssey yeah and i'll be honest

00:06:54.340 with you my initial reaction was why did i just watch a movie where john legazama was my favorite

00:07:00.600 actor in the film how did that even happen how did this go so drastically around i i actually

00:07:05.780 felt i'm one of the few people i think that was thoroughly excited about going to see this movie

00:07:11.460 i love this kind of movie matt damon was great uh in everything he's done was it you the time oh yes

00:07:18.700 okay hold on we'll save it would you like my capsule review of the odyssey yeah please if

00:07:22.560 you don't mind go ahead yeah i went to see the odyssey so if i uh it starts out with matt damon

00:07:28.220 has amnesia in europe i liked it the first time i saw it but it was called the born identity i

00:07:33.760 never made the connection until you said it same accent by the way exactly so i don't know i don't

00:07:38.420 really know what happened in the odyssey as far as i'm concerned me as an audience member but what

00:07:45.320 i felt was oh that was the longest netflix movie ever it felt like a streaming movie to me the the

00:07:53.840 uh fact that he shot everything legitimately with a real camera that they didn't computerize and

00:08:00.000 That practical filmmaking aspect of it.

00:08:02.060 So when you saw 1,000 extras all in costumes

00:08:04.900 in the deep background of a shot,

00:08:07.720 there were 1,000 human beings all who were in costumes.

00:08:11.560 People put in that work.

00:08:13.000 He made a commitment early on,

00:08:14.420 I'm going to do this in a practical filmmaking kind of way.

00:08:17.040 There is a critical scene in the Odyssey

00:08:18.740 where a bunch of the characters are transformed into swine.

00:08:22.280 Yeah.

00:08:23.040 And I saw a little vignette of how they did that

00:08:25.560 through the trickery of editing and da-da-da-da-da

00:08:29.080 and the approach to it and that also was all done with makeup and handmade effects and dot dot dot

00:08:34.840 not cgi i mean it's incredibly impressive touch on that one scene yeah yeah it looked fake i'm going

00:08:41.480 to be honest with you yes nothing in that movie impressed me the story the acting the lack of

00:08:48.200 accents the lack of uh uh historical or even to create a universe where everybody had you know

00:08:55.400 similar accents similar styles it just for me so many times it broke down because apparently i

00:09:02.520 don't care if you use ai or cgi yeah apparently i don't care if you have a thousand extras in

00:09:07.720 the background what i really care about is being wowed in the movie theater i didn't come out of

00:09:12.600 it that way well there's a couple of uh dare yonder lies the castle of my father tony curtis

00:09:19.640 moments in there and and and hey man i i totally respect uh your opinion on it and your your right

00:09:30.140 to feel that way and all those kinds of things what i am more excited about the odyssey like i

00:09:34.400 i thought it was i thought it was i mean i'm watching it going wow i they've traveled all

00:09:40.100 that way to get that one shot with that boat in the middle of nowhere yeah and you know so i'm

00:09:44.140 i'm watching it that i have a little bit of that i don't want to just just i don't want to just

00:09:48.860 disregard that i do i do think all of that is cool but the net result no no and and and that's

00:09:54.940 and that's totally great i mean i i didn't care for this like sinners or one battle after another

00:10:00.860 or some of those great movies from last year but i but what excites me about it and i'll go back to

00:10:06.700 the first thing our 20 year olds are going to see the odyssey so i can't deny that yeah and the the

00:10:14.060 enthusiasm with which they're seeing it i do think this then becomes what's the next the iliad i mean

00:10:20.280 it's a possibility because the popularity of this movie is okay and wouldn't but wouldn't that be

00:10:24.840 wonderful yeah actually you know that i love about it i got a few bones to pick with christopher

00:10:29.680 dolan too does ann hathaway really have a british accent uh i don't think she has any kind of accent

00:10:36.660 i don't understand why she's the only one with the british accent when everybody else just spoke in

00:10:41.800 their street lingo she's the queen ah right maybe that was it yeah but you know like dark knight

00:10:46.480 the second batman movie there with christian bale and then you remember harvey harvey harvey dent is

00:10:52.480 in the hospital and his face is oh it's terrible he becomes two-faced and then the nurse comes in

00:10:58.020 but it's not the nurse it's it's it's of course heath ledger's joker yeah and the nurse is wearing

00:11:04.240 just like a tiny little blue mask that we all became familiar with in covet and then takes off

00:11:08.420 the mask and harvey didn't realize is that it's like it's clearly it's clearly it's clearly the

00:11:13.780 joker in a dress first of all look at the gate on the walk as it came in the room so there's you

00:11:20.360 know there's a few things you could poke holes in and all that kind of stuff but here we are and

00:11:27.900 people are flocking to it and if they're talking about things other than superheroes and multiverses

00:11:35.380 going to the movies for characters talking hey man i'm all for i liked it i didn't like it great

00:11:42.220 let's go for coffee and talk about what we didn't like and what we liked about it because

00:11:45.840 you know what i should say is in the odyssey there were elements that i liked i liked the

00:11:50.900 magnitude of the story yeah i loved the magnitude of the story i loved the magnitude of the moments

00:11:58.180 that were really extra special that you could tell they really had to put work into uh when they make

00:12:04.280 a slight detour that's not expected and they fight those waters i mean that was remarkable

00:12:10.260 filmmaking i do see those moments i think what let me down in this was a little bit of the

00:12:14.920 character direction it didn't feel like the actors were in the game okay that's the only

00:12:22.020 thing i'll say about it having said that you're right let's draw these people into the theater

00:12:26.140 because with that we get more good quality theater so so now the next time a filmmaker says well i've

00:12:34.000 always wanted to do insert name of some kind of classic here the 35 year old studio executives

00:12:41.500 no longer going to say well that's irrelevant for the people we want to draw to the theater that's

00:12:45.440 a good point you know it's highly relevant that really matters like you know i think i think we

00:12:50.600 we've really dumbed down what we offer people as entertainment right well i think spider-man might

00:12:58.280 really be an example of that the the hero universe and the marvel universe dc universe

00:13:03.460 the batman spider-man uh stories they always sell they're always fantastic they're made really well

00:13:10.400 but they are that is a genre that i wonder will it continue on i mean right now spider-man is

00:13:19.300 giving us every reason i think the answer is yes until people stop going um and and and that's

00:13:27.200 that's totally cool i myself don't understand multiverses when i go to a movie and there's a

00:13:33.000 multiverse i immediately you know it's just not my uh i don't i'll give you an example i'll explain

00:13:38.440 this to you okay in this universe you're the hipster of the universe with a great hat i am

00:13:44.960 in the other universe i have hair i'm not cool but i have hair you know what i mean right it's

00:13:51.340 similar but not quite the same yeah i hope that i've cleared things up everything i think we can

00:13:55.500 move on but what i did notice was in theaters the block of theaters that were allocated to

00:14:02.540 odyssey the odyssey and uh to spider-man are i mean remarkable i would my small theater at home

00:14:10.460 uh you know i think there's seven uh theaters and there are seven uh actual theaters yeah i think

00:14:17.740 that there was only two other movies playing in the other theaters between spider-man and

00:14:22.980 the odyssey yeah so we're making space in these theaters where i've never seen that before maybe

00:14:30.200 harry potter was the last time i saw it maybe hey yeah 25 years did you know that 25 years

00:14:35.060 seriously was it 20 years hey can you check me on that christoph 25 years i think oh can you

00:14:41.800 imagine how old we are here i i was thinking about star wars today oh i because you know there was a

00:14:48.020 i remember there was a big mandalorian movie this year and all that stuff and and again too many

00:14:54.100 star wars for me at my age me too i liked the three originals i like the three originals we

00:14:59.460 saw them every four years we went to a theater and we were happy i i would love to see this is

00:15:04.180 a strange one and i wonder what other people think of this i would love to see star wars remade

00:15:08.500 today in this era who would you who would you who would you cast as hans oh it's han so would you

00:15:14.820 cast with stars or unknown i would cast um uh uh british bald dude uh patrick stewart that's a

00:15:24.100 that's star trek isn't it yes it is wrong stars uh but no that's a good question who would i

00:15:31.060 the casting of that well john legazamo yes clearly where did that come from by the way

00:15:36.740 where did that come from he was fantastic by the way and how did he get the part i don't know like

00:15:41.860 And all the lists of casting meetings,

00:15:44.460 oh, maybe we could get...

00:15:46.500 John Leguizamo's probably way down there.

00:15:49.520 And somebody said, but let's give him a try.

00:15:53.020 That's really interesting.

00:15:54.200 And you're right, he was excellent.

00:15:56.260 He was really good in that movie.

00:15:57.720 He was really good, and I didn't see it coming.

00:15:59.760 No, I didn't either.

00:16:00.460 And I hope that this kind of reestablishes him out there

00:16:03.060 because I think he's got more in him than we thought.

00:16:05.360 Yeah.

00:16:06.520 But, yeah, I think that if we remade a Star Wars

00:16:09.640 with the modern technology, did it in IMAX,

00:16:14.560 forgot making it 3D,

00:16:16.200 just made a really good remake of Star Wars,

00:16:18.840 I think it would be massive.

00:16:20.400 Remember when we were all going to buy 3D TVs?

00:16:23.820 Oh, my God.

00:16:24.880 And they were 3D TVs.

00:16:26.260 And ESPN did a college football game in 3D on ESPN ABC.

00:16:31.260 And I shot a concert show in 3D.

00:16:33.380 Well, that was the death of it, content.

00:16:34.940 There was just no 3D content.

00:16:36.460 Yeah.

00:16:37.020 Do you like 3D film?

00:16:38.440 No.

00:16:39.320 Why don't you like it?

00:16:39.980 I found it uncomfortable, just the machinations of the glasses

00:16:43.460 and just the periphery, and it doesn't really do anything for me.

00:16:47.200 And, you know, they film it differently for the gag, right?

00:16:50.840 I'm going to hand you my coffee mug.

00:16:52.960 Yeah, that's right.

00:16:53.440 And it's like, oh, my God, that coffee mug nearly hit me in the face.

00:16:57.120 I didn't know he was going to do that.

00:16:58.840 Yeah, I think it's a bit of a nothing burger.

00:17:00.980 I kind of do, too, and I lose the effect of 3D

00:17:04.580 within 10 minutes of watching the movie.

00:17:06.340 I'm like, okay, this is life.

00:17:08.680 Okay, back to this.

00:17:10.400 Oh, this is totally unprofessional.

00:17:12.940 It's okay.

00:17:13.340 My Jack Bauer ringtone.

00:17:16.740 Okay, so back to summer blockbusters.

00:17:19.640 What were some of the other ones that you think would categorize as a summer blockbuster?

00:17:25.100 Oh, well, there's been another interesting trend about going to the movies.

00:17:31.880 So Amazon's been making movies, right?

00:17:34.200 Yeah.

00:17:34.620 Used to just put them on their service.

00:17:36.400 they put out a movie they made a movie called the sheep detectives

00:17:40.500 which is you would think it's a children's film hugh jackman with talking animals uh and it's

00:17:47.840 fantastic and it did well at the box office they put it out in theaters oh okay and then what was

00:17:53.300 that uh ryan gosling one um this year uh oh it's a science fiction you got me anyway it did very

00:18:02.320 well so those things are are doing well and it's interesting project hail mary i did see it actually

00:18:10.500 fantastic project hail mary again amazon but then they did it for the theater and then it'll go

00:18:16.100 revert to amazon but i think it's interesting that they're doing the theater play as well

00:18:20.400 and those would count as blockbusters those are i mean hundreds of millions if you tie that to

00:18:25.160 your original thinking that this is reaching youth at a time where they didn't have that experience

00:18:29.380 and they really want that experience now what a great way to reach that audience ongoing here's

00:18:34.080 what amazon makes don't forget we make this kind of content yeah we do this quality yeah so i think

00:18:39.920 that's great marketing for them and then of course they get the bonus of putting it on there if the

00:18:44.180 movie is fantastic it'll get just as much play after the fact yeah absolutely yeah and and i and

00:18:49.620 i think it just elevates the property a little bit when you see it on a screen that's that big

00:18:55.400 as opposed to this big i wonder if the uh the marvel universe those kind of movies i kind of

00:19:03.720 put them in a different category i kind of put them into the summer surf and turf fun uh summer

00:19:10.120 fun movie the original blockbuster methodology yeah but i think what we're seeing is two silos

00:19:17.560 one that is uh heaps of fun and the other one that is poignant filmmaking brought to the summer

00:19:24.200 audience i i i i think you're seeing i think what the audience is telling people is yeah we like

00:19:31.000 those big movies too but also just don't give us all those things we don't need nothing against

00:19:36.680 anybody involved but you know like some of the superheroes i mean who aquaman what are we doing

00:19:43.080 you know seriously yeah i wouldn't even if aquaman was sitting here i i'd go into another

00:19:50.760 room it's like who cares about i think i know you joel i think i actually think that you'd be very

00:19:55.080 polite and dismissive though about his whole aqua thing yeah no but i do agree with you i think that

00:19:59.640 there are some splint i mean wolverine gave everybody the taste for blood no offense yeah

00:20:04.920 but that side character became everything for a period of time i really liked that one yeah

00:20:11.480 i really like the wolverine but i don't know even to be honest with you wonder woman to me was such

00:20:16.040 an overblown promotional attempt in film didn't feel like everybody thought Gal Gadot is like

00:20:25.320 the actress of the century after Wonder Woman I don't know I think it was kind of a cheesy

00:20:33.400 a cheesy side character moment I mean I think that anything outside of Spider-Man or

00:20:39.080 or Batman, honestly, even the Joker on his own.

00:20:45.000 Seems like a strange departure for me.

00:20:47.840 Yeah, no, totally.

00:20:49.180 And I think if they, and I think,

00:20:51.380 and you know, it's just opportunity, right?

00:20:53.620 Oh, we made all this money on this other thing.

00:20:55.880 Let's give this other character a thing 0.79

00:20:57.480 and we'll make more money.

00:20:58.460 It's like the audience is sophisticated enough.

00:21:00.540 They did fall for it for a long time.

00:21:02.420 The quality suffers because, hey, let's make it in a hurry

00:21:05.300 and get it out there while people stop.

00:21:06.740 you know so i think the great thing that will come out of this summer will be in five or six years

00:21:14.900 there will be more of these new voices people we haven't heard of given an opportunity of

00:21:22.900 distribution of marketing because really that's that is make the greatest movie in the world if

00:21:30.900 no one can see it if no one knows about it an enormous part of the budget that people don't

00:21:35.020 realize well they match in the united states they do it dollar for dollar so if they spend

00:21:39.740 100 million dollars on a movie they spend 100 million dollars on marketing the movie

00:21:42.980 that is staggering scale spider-man they spend 500 million they market 500 million u.s dollars

00:21:51.220 how much is that movie brought in this summer do we know they're over 2 billion now we're at 4.4

00:21:56.300 billion in north american box office sales this summer alone so the two point something billion

00:22:01.580 is worldwide for Spider-Man.

00:22:03.400 Yeah, and I'm just talking

00:22:05.520 North America. These are such great numbers.

00:22:07.560 And again, not going

00:22:09.000 too far back, but you know the pandemic

00:22:11.620 and no theaters, and

00:22:13.120 who saved it all?

00:22:16.340 History will look back

00:22:17.540 at Tom Cruise,

00:22:19.620 at nutty Tom Cruise,

00:22:21.260 who did not want Top Gun

00:22:23.560 Maverick released

00:22:24.760 to streaming,

00:22:26.700 even though it was done. He wanted people to

00:22:29.500 see this in a movie theater, the way

00:22:31.480 it was intended uh and they waited and they waited and they waited and people went back to

00:22:36.840 the movie theater uh that is a that is due credit i have to admit and people were remember dude do

00:22:44.080 we were people were afraid of being around other people yeah you know so i just think this there's

00:22:49.840 just a lot i think there's a lot of positivity to celebrate written article uh last week i want to

00:22:55.800 talk about back rooms before we go because that one freaked me out to no end that's another

00:22:59.160 multiverse well it is it's it is but in a different realm because it follows a different

00:23:04.120 lore but it follows lore that is the age group that we're seeing coming back to theaters now

00:23:09.600 right it is the the uh the youth of today that have followed this lore online on social media

00:23:16.140 have gone down the rabbit hole on the possibilities of it believe it or don't but are fascinated by

00:23:21.760 the lore that is modern day lore yes that to me is fascinating in itself and the movie was freaky

00:23:27.920 yeah they you know and it and it just

00:23:32.160 it worked we have two great word of mouth movies obsession and backrooms yeah and boy

00:23:41.760 anecdotally i can't really think of the last great word of mouth movie that we all share

00:23:48.520 that's really true i didn't see a single ad or trailer for either the the uh that or obsession

00:23:53.620 no but then everyone's like have you seen it yet have you seen it yeah like what are you talking

00:23:57.200 that's how i found it an obsession i oh my gosh mike i'm not too good on my uh my my uh what do

00:24:03.540 we call that thing at the end of an article where we attribute footnotes footnotes bibliography

00:24:07.640 whatever we'll make them up yeah exactly never let the truth stand in the way of a good story

00:24:11.440 right i had saw a comparison of because usually a movie opens big all the marketing is geared to

00:24:17.280 the first weekend right yeah and then the movie enters big and it does 50 it is 35 week three

00:24:23.080 and there's that pattern uh apparently obsession had a good opening a stronger second and a herculean

00:24:33.720 third week and they had not seen that in the industry since 1982 et the extraterrestrial

00:24:40.600 no kidding like because people were creating a buzz on the street about it yeah you gotta see

00:24:45.720 this i'll go with you there's that's the key you know i'll go see it again i want you to see it

00:24:51.160 come with me this is this is how i saw the odyssey frank my son was like i'm going with you let me

00:24:56.280 know when it works for you i think you're waking me up to the notion that that i've been witnessing

00:25:00.040 that actually all summer long with have you seen my own family have you seen this we've got to make

00:25:05.240 time to go to this together yes uh you know by the way a family event for a movie disappeared

00:25:11.880 even before covet i believe i think it did too and then covet just put a death nail in it i mean

00:25:17.240 families weren't going to risk going somewhere as a family and then they got used to the streaming

00:25:23.160 and the quality that came over streaming and became satisfied but when a beacon in the night

00:25:29.000 arrives and the youth and the you know sort of a younger audience lower you know younger than

00:25:36.440 let's say middle age starts to embrace it it does breathe life back in it for a period of time in

00:25:42.920 the future at least you can feel that and maybe i read an article about this our movie theaters

00:25:48.600 our way of signaling the world that we want to get out and be together again to be entertained

00:25:56.520 if you were to make that thesis if you were if you were to to elaborate extrapolate on that thesis

00:26:03.160 i would be in agreement with you well it's a beginning i mean everything has a beginning

00:26:08.280 and that we used something that is as familiar

00:26:11.500 as a movie theater and actors on the screens

00:26:15.500 and stories to do it is not a bad bridge back to,

00:26:20.700 hey, let's do a community event.

00:26:22.660 Hey, let's go see theater.

00:26:24.600 Because what do we do for community events?

00:26:28.040 Okay, so in the times we live in,

00:26:31.780 if unfortunately a police officer gets killed

00:26:36.080 the line of duty we honor them at the hockey right we honor them at the baseball those have become

00:26:43.380 kind of our town halls right something's going on uh oh they'll talk about it after the anthem

00:26:48.560 before the first pitch that is true yeah uh and it's it's our time to grieve more and celebrate

00:26:52.960 and all those things uh maybe our movie is our time to be entertained where we can do that

00:26:59.240 collectively where we have something in common with the person beside us well discussion maker

00:27:04.700 to start with yes we're back to discussing movies that's a really interesting indication

00:27:09.720 yes that humanity wants each other and i i love that about film and you know i i'm i'm glad you

00:27:17.060 didn't care for the odyssey because i liked it a lot more than you and what's wrong with that we

00:27:20.760 can still be friends right like here's the other thing i talked to you about it and the conversation

00:27:25.840 is more way more interesting than uh so did you like the odyssey that's pretty good yeah it's

00:27:31.180 pretty good okay end of discussion no but now people are actually doing this and in my own

00:27:36.860 family of course i'm not going to i don't want to speak on behalf of my wife she didn't like it

00:27:41.960 right not that she didn't like it but neither of us were wowed by it and then that made us feel

00:27:47.760 like what did we miss so now a conversation about what we missed we're wide open to

00:27:53.080 that's an interesting perspective on people seeing films well and wouldn't that be lovely

00:28:00.920 to take that little dynamic of we agree to disagree tell me more now will you listen to

00:28:08.760 my side in our grander society you're as as as david did david from write the speech for george

00:28:18.160 w bush you're either with us or against us yeah we've become that right we are we are yes or no

00:28:25.200 we're with you we're against you uh w o mitchell had that great uh way of describing how we've

00:28:31.880 lost the quote art of argument and what better thing to debate than film siskel and ebert

00:28:38.820 you know like we could we can we the beauty of it is we can have different i could play you 0.99

00:28:44.140 fuck pardon my life i could play i could play you sticky fingers by rolling the rolling stones 0.99

00:28:49.100 and you would like one song that i don't and i would like one song that you don't i'm more ruby 0.99

00:28:53.580 tuesday to be honest with you and that's totally okay right and and by the way we might like two

00:28:58.300 songs off the same album and it's okay and and yeah you know what you raise a beautiful point

00:29:03.100 we do this here every day you and i just had a difference of opinion that was fun to discuss 0.98

00:29:09.820 i didn't say you how did how could you see the screen with your head up your ass mike i don't 0.96

00:29:14.700 say anything like that off camera you i did uh actually off camera i want to share a story if 0.98

00:29:19.820 you don't mind you were telling us joel has a vast experience in film and television production and

00:29:25.260 i get these wonderful stories from him and he told us this story about clint eastwood

00:29:30.300 share that do you mind okay well it's probably known that clint eastwood is uh quite famous

00:29:34.860 excellent director great actor but as a director clint eastwood was quite known for a couple things

00:29:39.900 he doesn't really do multiple takes he works with the same crew he doesn't have a monitor a video

00:29:45.900 village he looks through the camera no he's got his guy okay and he says how does it look and his

00:29:49.900 guy who's been shooting oh it looks good and then and then clint eastwood does not say action because

00:29:56.380 when he was a young actor on rawhide and they yelled action scared all the horses right and

00:30:01.580 And he thought, well, you know, if I'm ever a director,

00:30:04.520 horses are a lot like humans.

00:30:06.340 So I never said action when I was director.

00:30:09.240 I've never said action, I don't think, once

00:30:11.380 because it freaks people out.

00:30:13.120 Now.

00:30:13.780 Action, okay, I have to go now.

00:30:15.340 I think so, too.

00:30:17.080 So anyway, so I'm doing this, ladies and gentlemen, please.

00:30:20.320 I was working on the Canadian Screen Awards a bunch of years ago.

00:30:22.920 Martin Short was the host.

00:30:24.420 David Cronenberg was the inducted.

00:30:26.700 We were working on a big opening for the show that didn't land.

00:30:30.120 And the night before, one of the producers said to me, you had an idea that was kind

00:30:35.140 of funny that we, and I said, yeah, well, let's do that for the opening.

00:30:38.840 So, so go to work that day, talk through the scene with Marty and David Cronenberg.

00:30:44.980 I'm working with Martin Short and David Cronenberg.

00:30:47.060 Wow.

00:30:47.620 And Martin's in place.

00:30:50.300 Cameras are rolling.

00:30:51.080 Sounds rolling.

00:30:52.120 I say, okay, Marty, anytime.

00:30:54.980 And he's in frozen in position.

00:30:57.380 One steamboat, two steamboats.

00:30:58.800 do you mean action and i said yeah yeah action so boom does the scene it's great we're changing

00:31:06.820 up for the other angle i'm while they're while they're shifting the gear i'm standing beside

00:31:10.660 david cronenberg and i said wow i i don't really say action because clint eastwood doesn't say

00:31:17.140 action and ed cronenberg turns to me he says i say action i'm saying okay

00:31:21.860 now i still don't say action uh but i'm somewhere in the middle now but there is there is something

00:31:30.200 to that uh that's that's an interesting point directors are as big a star as anybody in the

00:31:37.080 films now yes christopher no i mean spielberg put something out nobody liked and suddenly the whole

00:31:43.540 world was on edge yes yeah he's a director he's an old guy notable directors right christopher

00:31:50.860 nolan ryan kugler sinners black panther fruitvale station creed genius genius filming denny villeneuve

00:32:00.520 canadian yeah doing all those high-end uh incredible things there's lots of great directors

00:32:08.300 to celebrate and here's here's i'm gonna i'm i'm obsessing about obsession and i'm sorry to keep

00:32:16.240 talking about this and and i'll keep it brief but you know so much of this stuff in the streamer

00:32:21.140 world and i know this you just have to trust me on this everybody it is dictated by the algorithm

00:32:27.720 smarter people than me have have talked about this sort of thing but i don't know if these

00:32:34.000 young filmmakers are getting the algorithm treatment from the networks and the studios

00:32:38.260 they're uh you know because they don't know any better right but it works you can tell your own

00:32:43.240 story your own way and it doesn't have it well our audience will only do 30 seconds of flashback

00:32:48.600 at a time and it's like well i don't know because my audience and if i show you my youtube channel

00:32:53.840 and i show you the hot points yes you'll see that you're wrong you'll see that you're wrong so so

00:32:59.080 hopefully we can get out of that uh that formula that we have which is algorithm and save the cat

00:33:06.060 screenwriters will know what i'm talking about there we're on page 18 this has to happen and

00:33:09.940 there's great stuff in save the cat don't get me wrong but there's also other ways i think when you

00:33:15.500 when you have a process and a knowledge that is when you can deviate from the process and the

00:33:20.700 knowledge that makes sense you know that makes perfect sense once you've had the experience and

00:33:24.440 you've delivered on it and the script has come to life could take a few more liberties next time

00:33:30.800 i think so yeah i hope so so i want i want exciting i just want exciting stories the thing

00:33:37.360 about the movies of 2026 the ones we've touched on and talked about they gave us a re they gave

00:33:42.240 us a reason to go to the theater i would agree with you a hundred percent you know even if i

00:33:46.340 didn't like what i got they got they got me to the theater three times in a month yes and let's

00:33:53.420 just go back a couple a couple years ago i'll wait for streaming i'll wait for streaming there

00:33:57.160 was something about this where like we felt we had to go see this yeah and and i think that's

00:34:02.700 exciting i think it's also happening a bit in live music toronto toronto in particular is one

00:34:08.480 of the better live music cities in the world in terms of attendance and stuff agreed and it's all

00:34:14.120 kids are kids aged and they're doing the thing they couldn't do in college and they couldn't do

00:34:20.660 in high school they were that's right they missed their opportunity and in fact that they are smart

00:34:25.760 enough to say well we want that opportunity anyway we're going to get it it's pretty admirable for

00:34:31.900 that age group i have to say they've overcome being in their cave can you imagine if it was us

00:34:39.240 at that age devastating to me absolutely devastating to me i i it bothered me as an

00:34:44.340 adult i don't know how i don't know how the youth did it uh all right well we had a 4.4 billion

00:34:49.060 north american summer at the box office you said how much is that up from last year i think i i

00:34:55.800 read 12 which is pretty good that's pretty good and from where we came i post covid we must be up

00:35:03.160 at least 60 remember will movie theaters survive right and they revamped all to be these fantastic

00:35:11.240 vip experiences which i love yes so that we're an advantage right now we've got the best theaters

00:35:18.200 anybody ever dreamt of in their lives with the best technology to present it to us and

00:35:23.320 and a constant stream of content back in theaters.

00:35:28.120 And I know you want to wrap,

00:35:30.400 but I just want to touch on one word you just said, experience.

00:35:34.840 The Odyssey, because my kids saw it in 70mm,

00:35:39.180 we got to see it in IMAX.

00:35:40.460 They wanted the IMAX experience.

00:35:43.320 And if they're going to go for experience,

00:35:45.680 I mean, we bring back events and experiences,

00:35:48.520 our lives become a whole lot richer.

00:35:51.160 I'll be honest with you.

00:35:52.240 I'm okay with the Marvel and DC Universe

00:35:54.240 getting replaced with Star Wars again.

00:35:56.120 But only the original Star Wars.

00:35:58.880 Too many Star Wars.

00:36:00.940 Look, I'm going to recommend you keep an eye out there for Joel.

00:36:04.020 He makes movies, don't you know?

00:36:05.180 In the last one, Soul's Road was an absolute delight

00:36:08.360 with Dallas.

00:36:10.820 Dallas Smith, country music star.

00:36:13.000 Oh, and Charlie Gillespie was in, since I was last here,

00:36:17.060 Charlie Gillespie, who played the brother of the,

00:36:19.420 he just got cast in heated rivalries season two oh fantastic yes that's a big deal coming out of

00:36:25.980 canada right now yes i won't say uh i was ahead of the curve on charlie because he had a great

00:36:30.760 career before he worked for me we'll credit you with yes why that's where we're going that's what

00:36:35.620 that's on your resume not his yes i really took him to another level joel stewart thanks you're

00:36:40.440 a great guy man i really appreciate this and uh let us know get in the comments tell us what you

00:36:45.600 loved and didn't love about movies this summer. What did we miss? Is there something we should

00:36:49.820 have seen that wasn't on our agenda? We'd love to hear about it. Thanks for joining us, tplmedia.ca.

00:36:57.220 We love you.

True Patriot Love - September 01, 2026

Are Movie Theaters Finally Beating Streaming Again？ ft. Joel Stewart

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