Hollywood didn’t have a change of heart. It read the international grosses.
It Bombed Overseas
I have been told by insiders while at Comic-Con that the industry’s pivot away from woke content comes down to one thing: money, especially the foreign box office.
All of the woke content bombed internationally, and Hollywood is now trying to court that audience back with big epic movies.
It makes sense when you remember how tentpole math works.
Domestic can float a mid-sized movie, but the international box office is where blockbusters live or die, and for years the messaging-first content was dead on arrival overseas.
The studios can absorb a lecture. They can’t absorb losing half the planet.
The Odyssey Is Exhibit A
Look at what’s working instead.
Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey has grossed $652 million worldwide after just two weekends, with $362 million of that coming from the international box office against $289 million domestic (meanwhile James Gunn’s Supergirl is at $53M internationally).
That’s roughly 55 percent of the gross from foreign markets, for an R-rated, nearly three-hour “Greek” epic.
The holds are even crazier than the totals.
The international weekend dropped just 3 percent, the best hold ever recorded for a film that opened above $100 million, and China hasn’t even released the movie yet.
As CBN covered over the weekend, the second weekend was Nolan’s best ever, topping The Dark Knight.
A big swing, epic-scale mythology, made for the whole world.
That’s the model Hollywood is chasing now, per what I’m told.
Worth mentioning is that I am told they’re not going with straight-in-your-face woke content that ruins the story; it will be on a smaller scale.
I’m also told that even when Trump leaves, Hollywood won’t be going back to wokeness, again because what they really care about is money, and the international audience completely rejected it, as did a majority of fans domestically.
About That “Woke Casting” Backlash
The Odyssey spent months getting hammered over its casting, with the trailer racking up over 700K dislikes and the discourse machine running all the way to the premiere.
But I have been told that Nolan is actually on the more conservative side.
If that’s accurate, the backlash was reading the marketing (I believe they did it intentionally to create buzz), not the man, and the guy getting torched as the face of woke Hollywood may be the least woke A-lister in the building.
The Elon Factor
Which brings us to Elon Musk, who branded Nolan “a worm” ahead of the premiere and then promised his own rival movie, one made with Grok AI and one with $100 million for Mel Gibson.
It’s known Musk is, or at least was, friends with Jonathan Nolan, Christopher’s brother and longtime collaborator.
So it’s probably not a stretch that Elon knows Christopher.
That’s our read, not insider info, but if insiders are right about where Nolan actually stands, it may explain why Musk seemingly has been so upset.
The Environment The SnyderVerse Is Returning Into
Put it together and the timing matters for DC fans.
Hollywood wants big epic mythology that plays worldwide, Nolan is the most bankable director alive, and the same insiders say Nolan saved Zack Snyder.
The era that pushed Snyder out is the era that just died at the international box office.
Cosmic Book News will continue to follow up with insiders, so stay tuned.
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