In 2023 and 2024, the box office was a tale of two cities. On one hand, you had Barbie and Oppenheimer . "Barbenheimer" was a once-in-a-generation cultural collision—a piece of intellectual property (IP) about a plastic doll directed with arthouse flair, paired with a three-hour biopic about a physicist. Both were original-ish, director-driven, and wildly successful.
This has created a fascinating anxiety in the C-suites. Executives know that audiences want originality. But they are terrified to pay for it. The result is the "highbrow franchise"—taking a beloved IP and handing it to an auteur. The Batman (Matt Reeves). Andor (Tony Gilroy). The Last of Us (Craig Mazin). These are not products; they are arguments that genre can be art. It is a truce in the culture war. Perhaps the most profound shift is where and how we watch. a27hopsonxxx
And crucially, we are no longer loyal. In the 90s, NBC could rely on a Friends audience. Today, your favorite show is cancelled before you finish the season premiere. In 2023 and 2024, the box office was a tale of two cities