On this week's BFG Podcast, we welcome in our friend Richard Rushfield, who takes time away from his deli-going schedule from time to time to stop by to talk to host Neal Pollack about issues and trends in Hollywood. Richard is recently back from Cinemcon, the annual Las Vegas convention for theater owners, who always have one question: "Does your movie star Dwayne Johnson, or does it star Ryan Reynolds?" Headier artistic questions don't concern them.
For the first time in many years, Richard says, major franchises had no representation at Cinema Con. There was no Fast and Furious movie to tout. Even superhero offerings seemed kind of muted. The idea of a 90-day theatrical window) went out the, well, window during COVID, and now they're trying to claw back a 45-day theatrical window. That seems highly unlikely. Finally, the conversation turns to what all of America has been waiting to hear about: Richard Rushfield's sleep apnea. It's a major problem for, we assume, his wife, but also for theatergoers around him when he takes his traditional nap an hour into a turkey. Neal and Richard try to find a workaround.
BFG has also given near round-the-clock coverage of 'Drop),' an unserious thriller about cell phone misuse and bad dates that has been bombing at the box office since it released two years ago. Pablo Gallaga joins Neal to talk about 'Drop,' as the two of them continue to try to sell the public on the fact that this is the genre of the moment, the blood-soaked violence picture with a bit of cheeky comedy. We will write retrospectives about this genre, if not songs. Drop is pretty bad, they both agree, and it also accelerates a trend in modern pictures of extreme violence against women played as entertainment. How many females slammed into coffee tables do we really need to see?
These are the important questions we ask at the BFG Podcast. Enjoy the show!
