Warner Bros.’ Barbie Surpasses $600M At Box Office Amidst Dino, Marvel, And Star Wars Dominance

• No Dinos, No Avengers, No Jedi. After last night’s movie tickets are tallied, expect “Barbie” to boast more than $600 million in box office proceeds. Released by Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ: WBD) last weekend, it’s the only big-budget draw among the top 10 box-office rankings that had nothing to do with Jurassic Park, Marvel or Star Wars.
• ‘Mattel You Somthin’. Despite the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, studio “fat cats” (as Mark Ruffalo calls them) have likely asked ChatGPT to churn out scripts for other properties related to Mattel Inc (NASDAQ: MAT). How else are they going to print more of that Barbie money?
• Breaking Bob. Actor Bryan Cranston took aim at Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) CEO Bob Iger in a fiery pro-strike speech: “We will not be having our jobs taken away and given to robots!” said Brayan. Don’t worry, Bryan. Salesforce Inc (NYSE: CRM) flack Matthew McConaughey has declared himself “sheriff” of AI-town. So, he’s got this, apparently.
• Disney Straw Man. Cranston’s speech came with resounding applause. Strikers have made Iger into somewhat of a straw man worthy of about as much affection as the hunter who killed Bambi’s mom. And with Iger in charge, rumor has it, “the House that Mickey Mouse built” may even explore a piecemeal sale.

• Technically. “Tech is the enemy, not the studios,” said author and entrepreneur Scott Galloway. “SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher should “join hands” with Iger and picket outside of Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) headquarters in Redmond, Washington, not in front of Netflix Inc (NASDAQ: NFLX) or Paramount (NASDAQ: PARA)”, the NYU professor opined.
• “What is the grist that goes into these large language models? Other people’s content. There is no way that these AI models aren’t scanning, digesting and learning from a massive amount of content that these studios, these artists, these writers — even images have been informed by makeup artists,” said Galloway. “That is absolutely the pile of money they need to be going after here.”
• Regarding Microsoft’s recent valuation spike ($154 billion in market cap in a single day, largely due to AI advancements), Galloway pointed out that the tech giant added “all of Hollywood … all of it and more.”

Recommended Reading

• Microsoft is promoting the upcoming “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” movie with pizza-scented Xbox controllers — a nod to the beloved ninjas’ favorite food. Good thing they didn’t pay homage to the sewers in which they live.
• The guy who helped make Barbie popular again? Gap Inc (NYSE: GPS) hired him.
• OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Elon Musk thought Christopher Nolan “missed the mark” with “Oppenheimer” because the film doesn’t “inspire a generation of kids to be physicists.” Hat tip to journalist Heidi Moore for pointing out the stupidity of their review: “I was hoping that the ‘Napoleon’ movie would inspire a generation of kids to be self-crowned emperors, but it really missed the mark on that.”
• Ryan Reynolds wants to reboot “ALF,” the 1980s sitcom about a space alien. After this past week’s Congressional hearing, perhaps it can be a reality show.
• Rest in peace Sinéad O’Connor — the Irish music icon was a self-professed “troublemaker” with an irresistible voice.

Produced in association with Benzinga

Edited by Priscilla Jepchumba and Judy J. Rotich