During a meeting with a creative film colleague the conversation, as always, moved to the state of the industry today, a big sigh, shaking our heads. Keenly aware, the old structures have given away to the brink of a free for all. Every week the headlines are bleak news of layoffs, underperforming box office, AI and business models crumbling. Yes, the talk was long as we looked for a way forward in a business on trembling ground.
Iconic movie studios are falling one by one. Paramount got scooped up, in a drawn-out process, for $8 billion Skydance.
Warner Bros, the most iconic of the old-line studios, finds itself the center of a bidding war from many suitors, including Skydance. The Burbank Lot sound stages where cinematic history was made, could be sold for as high as $80 billion.
What do these consolidations mean? Business models are no longer working. Hollywood has been in trouble for a few years. Streaming Wars, Covid, then the Writers and Actors strikes, the LA Fires, downsizing, flagging ticket sales and now AI and other technologies are rewriting the rules.
Even reliable franchises have become risky. The well received DCU Superman from director James Gunn earned a worldwide $616 million gross. Not bad, but not enough to recover its $225 million production cost and the reported up to $200 marketing budget. Releases have to earn 3 times the production cost to break even because half of the ticket sales go to exhibitors. However, streaming will make up for the lost revenue.
Leonardo DiCaprio’s One Battle After Another will lose $100 million. Other marquee names such as Julia Roberts, Dwayne Johnson and Channing Tatum got ho-hum responses to their latest big screen outings.
AI is here to stay. Tilly Norwood is the first Artificial Intelligence created talent, but certainly not the last. While industry backlash was expected, welcome to the future where live actors are a maybe.
However, AI is not the only tech treat. Software, cameras and accessible filmmaking tools have evolved. Whereas once producing a tv show or film dependent on the latest equipment, full crews and money. In 2025, a garage house producer in Tulsa could produce a Cinematic IP. Social media platforms have stripped away viewer resistance to a certain production value levels. Joe Rogan Podcast with over 6 million views is not known for buzzing graphics. Simple TikTok videos have the potential to reach millions.
I explained my opinion the entertainment business is not on the forefront but rather on the back foot trying reacting to a changing media landscape. On the production equipment front, today, instead of a Panavision Motion Picture Camera with blimps, a 6K camera with rigging is all a want to be David Lean needs to make a grand epic. An SD card is the norm, not film stock. Editing can be done with a laptop rather than on the old six plate flatbed editors.
Continuing the table chat after two drinks, the conclusion, the world will always need creatives, people who can imagine stories. Let’s hope!