Does anyone in the film world have as much of an influence and remain more shadowy than a studio executive? You can throw out a couple of names, but that’s usually the extent of it, and to what ends they play a role in movies opening across the world are always up for debate — unless North Korea hacks their infrastructure and airs the dirty laundry. Whether it’s an attempt at transparency or a way of slyly promoting their upcoming releases, several of them — Sony’s Tom Rothman, Disney’s Alan Horn, Paramount’s Rob Moore, Universal’s Donna Langley, Fox’s Stacey Snider, and Lionsgate’s Rob Friedman — participated in a THR roundtable, forcing them to talk about what they’re doing.
I’m not certain as to what, exactly, you’ll get out of this, but I was fascinated by the balance between an admission of failure, a pumping-up of forthcoming titles, and some weird mix of attitudes all the while. (There’s back-patting, obviously, but a few barbs are shared.) While the moderation here is more something to deal with than owe the video to, what with weird errors and all — e.g. essentially referring to Jupiter Ascending as an established property whose failure is indicative of “a trend” — they wisely let the people talk and get… well, the results that emerge from this. Make of their comments what you will; either way, people who take any interest in contemporary Hollywood will be engaged by the words exchanged.
Watch it below: