Jennifer Lopez to Star in KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN Film- Page 33

[John Adams]

Posted: 11/15/25 at 9:56am

Jeffrey Karasarides said: "I think Condon was mainly referring to people turning off movies on Netflix after they realize that it's a musical as example. He didn't intend to imply that it's the only genre where it occurs."

There's a high possibility that you're right about that. I don't want to make a "sour grapes" accusation (i.e., Condon reaching for an excuse for why his movie isn't performing as expected), but I believe in the possibility of there being some grapes in Condon's refrigerator that might be past their expiration date.

[John Adams]

Posted: 11/15/25 at 9:59am

[forced page load]

[BJR]

Posted: 11/15/25 at 12:28pm

Condon wasn't referring to how his film was performing (wow this is like a game of Telephone!). He was saying why they went the independent path to making this film, so he could make it how he wanted.

He was saying streamers are no longer interested in **making** musicals because of those metrics of folks turning them off. Of course blockbusters like Wicked will do well once they arrive on streaming. (Hamilton is the once-in-a-generation pop cultural musical blockbuster.) But can you name any Proms or Tick Tick Booms in the past couple years? They've stopped making them. And frankly, a successful Oscar-winning filmmaker saying what streamer studios tell him is likely more accurate then our guessing anyhow. 

Updated On: 11/15/25 at 12:28 PM

[John Adams]

Posted: 11/15/25 at 1:49pm

BJR said: "Condon wasn't referring to how his film was performing (wow this is like a game of Telephone!). He was saying why they went the independent path to making this film, so he could make it how he wanted.

He was saying streamers are no longer interested in **making** musicals because of those metrics of folks turning them off."

Thanks for your insights. I'm confused re: the definition of "streamers", however. I've always known "streamers" to be the end-user, or the content consumer.

So when you explain that "...streamers are no longer interested in **making** musicals because of those metrics of folks turning them off", are you saying that "streamers" are what I've always known to be "streaming services", like Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Disney and hulu? (I do know that they also produce original movies like Apple's "CODA", Del Toro's "Frankenstein" for Netflix, etc.)

I know that Condon's "Kiss..." was produced by Ben Affleck & Matt Damon's company, and Barry Josephson's (which is part of 20th Century Fox), as well as a few others. The distributors were Roadside, Lionsgate, and LD Entertainment. To my knowledge, none of them are streaming services (of course, I may be mistaken),

So, how should I define, "streamers"?

Updated On: 11/15/25 at 01:49 PM

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 11/15/25 at 4:32pm

BJR said: "Condon wasn't referring to how his film was performing (wow this is like a game of Telephone!). He was saying why they went the independent path to making this film, so he could make it how he wanted.

He was saying streamers are no longer interested in **making** musicals because of those metrics of folks turning them off. Of course blockbusters like Wicked will do well once they arrive on streaming. (Hamilton is the once-in-a-generation pop cultural musical blockbuster.) But can you name any Proms or Tick Tick Booms in the past couple years? They've stopped making them. And frankly, a successful Oscar-winning filmmaker saying what streamer studios tell him is likely more accurate then our guessing anyhow."

Although Netflix did acquire Emilia Pérez (an original movie musical) from Cannes last year. Despite receiving such a polarizing reception, they managed to get it 13 Oscar nominations. Even though multiple controversies came about throughout the season, the film still walked away with 2 awards.

[MezzA101]

Posted: 11/15/25 at 5:40pm

25 Movies, Many Stars, 0 Hits: Hollywood Falls to New Lows

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/14/business/media/box-office-collapse-hollywood.html?unlocked_article_code=1.1U8.uQY_.KzYa1bMAu7iT&smid=nytcore-android-share

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 11/15/25 at 8:05pm

Daisy Crumpler said: "I'm so sad and disappointed in how little fanfare there was for this film.

I'm a complete civilian, but seems like the producers went out of their way to give the film a wider theatrical release instead of partnering with a streaming service. The musical numbers definitely deserve to be seen on a big screen, but I wonder if they had partnered with Netflix or Amazon initially, would there have been a larger ad campaign? Streaming services will sometimes put a film in theatres for limited release (usually for awards contention) before making it available at home. Maybe the push for wide release in cinemas was actually the wrong move?

Of course, at the end of the day, it's all about money so who knows."

I think it absolutely was the wrong move.  But yes, it's been basically confirmed that most of the interest in distributing the film came from streaming sites, but Conden really wanted a full theatrical release (I forget the official number, but the first week was in over 1000 screens--and that doesn't include the couple hundred screens in Canada since, unlike most US wide releases, it had a different distributor a week later here in Canada.)  So he got what he wanted, but little else (JKlo did do the Tonight Show and a few other stops though apparently that was on the dime of her management, and not Lions Gate.)  

I'm sure glad I saw it in the theatre (twice, and to look on the bright side I didn't have any one else in the theatre to distract :P )  But I think a debut on a streamer (not as a pay on demand feature) might ultimately have done better for it, although I have no idea what that would amount to financially (but probably better than 1.5 mill or whatever they made theatrically.)  It does seem to me like the type of film that people might see come up on their Netflix and be curious enough to check out.

 

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 11/15/25 at 8:06pm

John Adams said: "Jeffrey Karasarides said: "Ithink Condon was mainly referring to people turning off movies on Netflix after they realize that it's a musical as example. He didn't intend to imply that it's the only genre where it occurs."

There's a high possibility that you're right about that. I don't want to make a "sour grapes" accusation (i.e., Condon reaching for an excuse for why his movie isn't performing as expected), but I believe in the possibility of there being some grapes in Condon's refrigerator that might be past their expiration date."

To be fair, when I heard Condon say just this (I *think* it was in a What's On Stage podcast) it was recorded before the film was released.