One in which the entire movie business's model was stolen, or shall we say abdicated, and the industry had no idea it was happening.
What did we learn from tech? You gain the eyeballs, then you figure out how to monetize. The movie business was so busy trying to make profits that it lost its audience, and then its power was taken by an interloper, a company that was a joke, such a non-threat that said movie studios licensed all their product to them, helping Netflix build its business in plain sight.
Oh, they opened "Hit Man" in theatres first, where it has a worldwide gross of $1,255,568...or about one week of David Zaslav's salary.
Yes, while Zaslav is contracting Warner Bros. Discovery, Netflix keeps expanding, taking chances, and winning.
Zaslav is killing pictures for the write-off, he got rid of foreign production, meanwhile Netflix had the Korean super-series "Squid Game" and the biggest hit of the summer with what we now call an "art film."
Yes, back before the days of decreased production, when moviegoing was still a religion, they used to make pictures like "Hit Man," but not anymore. They're not tentpoles, they don't fit the marketing mantra the studios employ to greenlight productions. After all, who would take responsibility for this flick, something that will never gross half a billion dollars, never mind a billion.
But people want to see it.
The hype flew right over me. Yes, I knew Richard Linklater had a new movie, and that some guy I couldn't place named Glen Powell was the star, but there was no way I was going to the theatre to see it, no matter how good it was.
And neither was anybody else.
While the studios are doing their best to prop up the theatrical business, Netflix is the home of viewing in not only America, but the world. If you're a hit on Netflix, you get many more viewers than you would any other way.
Think about that. The goal of a filmmaker is to have their work seen by the most people possible. Studios and their heads care about cash, and maybe the soulless directors of superhero dreck do too, but someone like Linklater, someone like Coppola, who made his last film with his own money, breaking Hollywood's number one rule, put the work above all else. And when they succeed...
On Netflix, to paraphrase Mick Jagger, it's just a click away.
There's too much friction in going to the movies. You've got to look up the time, get in your car, park, pay, sit through a zillion trailers, and maybe commercials, and endure the great unwashed populace.
But on Netflix... It's on demand, ready when you are. To watch straight through, to pause, to see again and again.
This is the modern paradigm. He with the most friction loses. Didn't the music business prove this? God, now the book business is tanking because it killed digital and invested in the antique model of physical sales, with printing and shipping and all kinds of costs not involved with Spotify, et al.
And just imagine if Spotify picked one cut a week, that we all could listen to and have an opinion on. Just because the world is Balkanized, that does not mean we don't want moments of cohesion. We're dying to connect. And now you can do so by watching "Hit Man" on Netflix.
Yes, Netflix shows "Hit Man" right on the home screen, along with its place on the chart, which is #1. And there's no bullet, but your mind is attracted. This is not Taylor Swift manipulating her way to number one every week, you can't fudge the numbers on Netflix, where #1 still means something, unlike in the record business.
Netflix is delivering the multiplex right to your living room...and laptop, even your phone! You can access "Hit Man" anywhere. Sound convenient? IT IS!
I only watched "Hit Man" because of word of mouth, the most powerful marketing method known to man. The old games have been diminished. Which is why the record companies can't break an act. The systems they relied on, like terrestrial radio and controlled distribution, have dwindled in power down to nothing. And the funny thing is...THEY'RE STILL FOCUSED ON RADIO! Yes, the lame labels who see the present as an indefinable miasma are stuck in the past, which the populace abandoned eons ago.
Media tells us the smartphone is the devil. To disconnect. But the only way you can watch "Hit Man" is by connecting, and visual media is now the heart and soul of America!
"Hit Man" is a good movie. I'm not saying your mind will never wander. It's got the feel of a typical Linklater movie, slightly offbeat. But there's a place for Linklater in the filmed entertainment world. Not everyone is shooting for the fences with every production. The essence is in the unexpected, the off-center, which is what Linklater consistently delivers.
So watch "Hit Man," if for no other reason than you can then talk about it.
We don't consume almost any of the same entertainment. But via a stealth attack, "Hit Man" has become the biggest hit of the summer. It's never about money, it's always about eyeballs, because if you have eyeballs, there are plenty of ways to make money.
Netflix doesn't care if you watch "Hit Man," it just cares that you watch SOMETHING, so you continue to subscribe. Which is why the company makes so much.
You're hearing it from me. "Hit Man" is worth your while.
Welcome to the club!
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