Signal: One Subversion After Another 📧
A couple weeks back, upon seeing the bad box office numbers for One Battle After Another, I wrote up some thoughts around how Warner Bros probably messed up the marketing for P.T. Anderson's latest film. Well, now I've seen the movie. And now I'm sure of it. They really fucked up the marketing. Because they had to.
First and foremost, as you've undoubtedly heard, the movie is excellent. But it's excellent in ways that the trailer and other associated marketing just does not convey at all.
That was my initial read: despite loving all of PTA's movies, I thought this one looked too quirky for its own good. It was being framed as almost like a zany screwball comedy. Make no mistake, the movie is funny, but it's perhaps the most subversive film of the past decade – certainly of those made by a big studio. And the fact that they released it under the current administration is sort of wild! It's wild that I have to say that, but we have, for example, television shows and projects being cancelled left and right.
Well, mainly just right...
So now my thought is that they had no choice but to market One Battle After Another as they did if they had any hope of getting it released. The bizzaro trailer allowed the ultimate middle finger to the current administration to slip under the radar. And while it continues to bomb at the box office, it's one of those movies that will stand the test of time and will feel even more important in hindsight. Money isn't everything.
M.G. Siegler
Take One...
😎 Apple's Pivot from 'Vision Air' – The most interesting tidbit is the notion that Apple's Smart Glasses could run the full visionOS when tethered to a Mac, but a stripped-down version when paired with an iPhone. I think I like this concept of having different features if you're on the go or at your desk (and presumably it would help with battery life as well – and would the iPhone be the "puck" here?), but there are obviously cognitive risks with that... More broadly, Mark Gurman brings up the notion that the shift of focus towards the glasses is an acknowledgement that the Vision Pro hasn't worked at the scale Apple would like (no shit) and that even a 'Vision Air' wouldn't likely change that equation. At the same time, as I wrote about a couple weeks back, they might try to pivot the narrative around the Vision Pro under a broader 'Vision' initiative, alongside the Smart Glasses. It would be the highest-end model, almost like a Mac Pro – something way too expensive for most people. From that perch, they can keep trying to make it work as, say, a premium content device with immersive movies and live sports and the like, while some of that work eventually trickles down... [Bloomberg 🔒]
One more thing: Per Gurman's report it sounds like a slew of new Apple devices will be announced this week, not with a bang (event), but with a press release (and maybe some videos). The M5 iPads Pro and baseline MacBook Pro seem ready to roll (with the M5 Pro and Max MacBook Pros coming early next year – is there something to that cellular rumor?!). The new (M5 or M4?) Vision Pro too (with a new strap?). Maybe the new Apple TVs, HomePod minis, and AirTags? Given that all seem like relatively small spec boosts, the lower-key strategy probably makes sense. But what about the new Studio Displays? Mac Pros? iPad mini? Give the people what they want: hardware.
Below, members of The Inner Ring will find thoughts on:
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• Meta Poaches Thinking Machines Co-Founder
• Warner Bros Rebuffs Paramount Offer
• OpenAI's Constantly Evolving Cap Table
• and more...