Morning Wire launches as a Daily Wire counter to legacy media’s "fear-mongering," with Megan Basham revealing Hollywood’s hybrid theatrical-streaming model (e.g., Black Widow’s $140M split) collapsed after backlash, forcing Disney and Warner Bros. to revert to theater exclusives amid shrinking windows. Meanwhile, Ian Howarth dissects Bezos’ July 20 Blue Origin flight and Branson’s July 11 Virgin Galactic jaunt—$100M+ escapades critics call tax-dodging vanity projects, while defenders tout private space tourism as the future, even as China’s crewed Mars push looms. The episode frames these clashes as a battle for truth in media and space’s privatized frontier. [Automatically generated summary]
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Hollywood came to a screeching halt last year amid government-imposed lockdowns.
With theaters shuttered, many of them permanently, box office revenues had plummeted.
Here to discuss Hollywood's comeback attempt is Daily Wire's entertainment reporter Megan Basham.
Thanks for coming on, Megan.
Thanks for having me, Georgia.
So we're seeing a lot of stories about the box office recovering and people going back to theaters.
What's your assessment of what's going on right now?
Well, you know, I think everyone in Hollywood is breathing a sigh of relief at this point that studios are finally releasing big new movies back to theaters.
So that's a big plus.
And, you know, a number of those movies like F9, A Quiet Place 2 have proved to be significant earners, earning $70 million, $47 million respectively in their opening weekends.
So it is clear that audiences are ready to go back to the movies.
But big studios have also been trying to compete with Netflix to draw subscribers to their streaming platforms.
So they've spent the last few months testing out different release models, simultaneously releasing films to both streaming and theaters.
Basically, what they're trying to do is have their cake and eat it too.
And now that has set up, I would say something of a nasty showdown between theaters and streamers.
A showdown between theaters and streamers.
Do we have any indication right now of who's winning?
You know, if you had asked me last week, I probably would have said streaming because Marvel's latest, Black Widow, seemed to be the highest profile release to prove studios could really make that hybrid approach work.
It made 80 million at the box office over opening weekend.
It also made 60 million on the Disney Plus platform.
So at first, it seemed like this great success story.
But then came the second weekend.
And at that point, it dropped almost 70%, steepest drop in Marvel's history.
Well, that was obviously embarrassing for Disney.
The National Association of Theater Owners took it as an opportunity to release a strong statement condemning that simultaneous release model.
What they said is that it proved the hybrid model, quoting here, is a pandemic-era artifact that should be left to history with the pandemic itself.
Disney, I won't say they issued a mea culpa, but they did say that they plan to return to traditional theatrical release models.
Their next few films will only premiere in theaters.
And Warner Brothers, who famously angered some very heavy hitters like Batman director Christopher Nolan by simultaneously premiering all of their 2021 films on HBO Max, they followed suit.
They're going to go back to theater-only debuts in 2022.
Okay, so theater launch is still lucrative.
Does that mean that everything goes back to the way it was before COVID, though?
Not entirely.
You know, what studios have taken from this sort of experimental period is they don't believe movies need to be exclusively in theaters as long as they used to be.
The standard before the pandemic was a 90-day theatrical window.
Now they think that half that, say 45 days, is enough for big movies.
And some studios are looking at even less, 17 days for smaller films.
So not long at all.
Do we think that's going to have an effect on the kind of films that get made?
You know, that's an interesting question.
And if you think about this, if theater windows shorten and movies go to streamers more quickly, we're going to start to see a content trap.
Basically, everyone is going to need more movies to release, and studios cannot afford to make that many big budget tent pulls.
So my guess is what this could do is reopen the door for more diverse genres again, say romantic comedies or even any comedies at all.
Maybe even prestige dramas.
I really hope so.
Thanks for coming on to talk to us this morning.
Thanks so much for having me.
Daily Wire Entertainment reporter Megan Basham.
Earlier this week, Jeff Bezos became the second billionaire in a matter of days to take a trip to space.
In an 11-minute supersonic flight, the Amazon founder flew over 65 miles above the Texas desert in the first ever civilian crewed mission for Blue Origin's New Shepard.
But what does this mean for the future of space exploration?
Here to dig deeper is Daily Wire's Ian Howarth.
Good morning, John.
Morning.
So we've seen a few historic events related to space travel.
Walk us through the last two weeks.
Well, on July 11th, Sir Richard Branson flew as a passenger on Virgin Galactic's Unity 22, which reached a height of 53 and a half miles after it was drop launched from its mothership VMS Eve.
On July 20th, Jeff Bezos Blue Origin launched its first crewed flight, reaching a height of 66 miles above the Earth in a rocket-powered capsule.
While Sir Richard Branson's trip had two pilots and four passengers, including Sir Richard himself, all of those on Blue Origin were civilians, including Bezos and his brother.
So major landmarks for both companies.
What's the next step for these projects?
They've all said this is only the beginning.
After landing on Tuesday, Bezos made it pretty clear.
You obviously have grander space ambitions than going to the edge of it.
Did this moment motivate you to push deeper into the cosmos?
Hell yes.
Yeah, that's pretty conclusive.
Yeah, and he's not alone.
Sir Richard has also discussed the notion of space tourism and space travel on a broad scale.
Over the years to come, there will be thousands of people who we will put into space and will become astronauts.
And hopefully we'll come back and realize just what a special world we live in.
And then Elon Musk has also discussed the idea of space as a resource.
For example, mining precious materials from the moon.
So the truly incredible launches we've witnessed in recent days are certainly not the end.
These launches really were amazing to watch.
But we've also seen some blowback from critics.
Yeah, there have been some pretty vocal critics of the various ventures.
Senator Bernie Sanders, for example, condemned both privately funded launches by focusing on wealth inequality.
The very richest people in this country are becoming phenomenally richer.
In fact, one of them has been out in outer space today.
I guess that's what he does with his billions.
Whoa, yeah.
And then Senator Elizabeth Warren also criticized Bezos, claiming that the Amazon founder hasn't paid any taxes.
And climate activists say the space race will contribute to climate change.
Meanwhile, defenders say that Bezos, Musk, and Branson have figured out how to travel to space in a far more affordable way than the government could ever achieve.
All without, we should note, any taxpayer dollars.
And for those concerned about the climate, Bezos is actually arguing that innovative use of space could help address environmental issues.
So you noted that both of these flights were privately funded.
Does this signal a change in how space travel works moving forward?
I think it definitely shows a potential changing of the guard in space-based innovation, particularly when there is a financial incentive when it comes to the idea of space tourism.
After decades of governments holding a monopoly on space, we seem to be on the edge of civilian travel to space for fun.
If you can afford a ticket, of course.
Right.
We should zoom out here, though, and understand that this is all happening as part of an international space race.
China, for example, is pushing to send crewed missions to Mars in the next few years and want to build a permanent presence on the planet.
So it's likely that private industry and government might need to work together if we want to win not just the race for space tourism, but the race for space.
This is all exciting stuff.
We're watching history here and it's being driven by the private sector.
Thanks for the reporting, Ian.
My pleasure.
Daily Wire's Ian Howorth.
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