Dick Johnson is Dead ⚰️ + What to make of that Warner Bros. bombshell
Happy Monday! I hope you had a wonderful December weekend. I’m busy working on my Best Movies of 2020 video and list (you can watch my 2019 video here). What movies do you think I should consider watching or rewatching before finishing my list? Reply to let me know!
🍿 Today’s movie: Dick Johnson is Dead has fun with death
Today’s movie is the documentary Dick Johnson is Dead by Kirsten Johnson, a follow-up to her terrific debut Cameraperson. Here’s what it’s about:
Dick Johnson is a newly retired clinical psychologist recently diagnosed with dementia. His dauther Kirsten Johnson is a documentary cameraperson. Together they stage various enactments of his death—from falling down the stairs to every New Yorker’s fear of being struck by a falling AC unit. We see the time in between too. [Trailer]
Why you should watch it: Instead of waiting for the inevitable, Kirsten Johnson films various enactments of her father’s death, which at the start he enthusiastically participates in. She even stages his funeral and entrance into heaven, which is full of glitter, modern dance, and Jesus performing a miracle. And as dark as the humor is, I found myself laughing at all of it—until it started to make me cry.
Dick Johnson is Dead isn’t the old cliché of being about life instead of death. It’s very much about death. It’s unabashedly about death. However, it’s about the alternating sensations of crying and laughing we feel when we confront it. Both are valid reactions from everyone involved, the person, their loved ones, and even those that only saw them in passing. Dick Johnson Is Dead is a love letter to life—but a life that includes death. [Full review]
💣 What to make of that Warner Bros. bombshell
The entire film world took a collective gasp when WarnerMedia, owner of one of the major film studios Warner Bros., announced that every single one of their 2021 films would premiere on HBO Max the same day as it plays in theaters.
This means films like Dune, The Matrix 4, the Suicide Squad sequel, the Sopranos film The Many Saints of Newark, In the Heights, the third Conjuring film will all premiere on the platform. So the question becomes, is this the death of theaters?
The quick answer is no, BUT it is the death of theaters as we know it.
Earlier this year, AMC Theaters and Universal Pictures made the watershed deal to shorten the exclusive theatrical release window to 17 days from the traditional 90 days. And while the HBO Max news shortens it to zero, it’s unlikely to stay that way.
WarnerMedia is potentially losing $1.2 billion in box office revenue with the move, and I’m no analyst but I think it’ll be challenging to make that back with a $14.99 monthly subscription.
What this does give them is leverage to negotiate with theaters. Every single theater chain has been suffering from the pandemic and looking for ways to stop the bleeding. With streaming making huge gains this year, they may be willing to bend their terms.
The bottom line: The theatrical release model has been precariously balanced for years by relying on giant “event” films, which have pushed out mid-budget dramas and comedies from screens. The only non-event films to really still make money are horror films. Theaters can survive, but they need to revert to the time when a movie like Ghost would make $500 million worldwide.
It’ll take two things: Hollywood wanting to save the theatrical experience and audiences speaking with their wallets.
Long live movie theaters.
See you Thursday —
Karl