It’s been good advice, as all of Hollywood’s studios face a changed theatrical landscape where many countries, especially in Asia, have leaned increasingly more on local films as American film output has dropped amidst the pandemic and the 2023 strikes.

That changing landscape was a major topic of discussion at TheGrill’s box office panel — titled Big Screen, Big Questions: What’s Next for Theaters? — which Goldstein was a part of alongside his former Warner Bros. colleague and current Disney global distribution chief Andrew Cripps, as well as Regal/Cineworld CEO Eduardo Acuna.

“Eighty percent of Japan’s box office is local now; 90% of China’s box office is local,” Cripps said. “As Hollywood, we’re struggling to break through. We’ve got to make sure that we weave and dive and make sure you don’t come up against a local hit.”

Born and raised in Yokohama, Cripps is quite familiar with the Japanese box office, and he knows that it can be full of surprises. While anime films fill the all-time charts in that country, he points to the $104 million gross of “Kokuho,” a drama about the son of a slain Yakuza leader who is adopted by a kabuki master and taught the ways of Japanese theater.

“If you read the synopsis, you’d think that’s a small arthouse drama. But people are flocking to see it,” said Cripps. “The local teams pick up on that.”

With their work at Disney and Warner, Cripps and Goldstein are quite familiar with how Asia’s tastes in Hollywood’s offerings are changing. They each oversaw the release of summer superhero films, “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” and “Superman,” which sagged on that continent compared to past Marvel and DC films.

In South Korea, for example, the total for “Superman” was 59% down from the 2013 film “Man of Steel,” while the $4.6 million total for “First Steps” was down a staggering 78% from the $21 million grossed by the 2015 Marvel film “Ant-Man.”

But on the flip side, Warner Bros./Apple’s “F1” grossed an impressive $38.7 million in Korea, topping the $30 million the film grossed in one of Formula One’s biggest bastions of fandom, the United Kingdom. Disney is also expecting massive turnout in Asia for its two holiday offerings, “Zootopia 2” and “Avatar: Fire and Ash.”

“The great thing about local teams is that when they see that something’s working, they quickly pivot and lean into it,” Goldstein said. “We’re so proud of ‘F1.’ We knew it would do very well outside of the U.S., but it was a surprise how much the audience in Korea embraced it. Once the word of mouth got out, the whole audience wanted to see it.”

“Korea’s market, it’s a little bit unique. I think audiences there wait to see what the reviews are going to be like,” added Cripps. “I think they wait to see what their fellow audience members are going to think, and then if it’s big, there’s a lot of FOMO and it becomes a collective experience, and you need to be part of that conversation. But it takes them a while to get there.”

On the exhibition side, Acuna agreed that while audience tastes are changing, his faith in the public’s enjoyment of moviegoing has never faded. While the summer 2025 box office remained flat in the U.S. compared to last year, he pointed to the surprise success of “Sinners,” as well as the anime record success of “Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle,” as examples of films that become hits off of untapped parts of the audience.

“Five years ago, anime wasn’t on anybody’s radar. Now, look at how big it has become. Maybe we need to do more anime,” Acuna said. “There are some theaters we have where Hollywood films don’t do as well, but they succeed with other films, like one in New Jersey that makes or breaks on whether or not there’s an Indian film to screen.”

Catch up with all of TheWrap’s TheGrill 2025 coverage here. And watch the full Big Screen, Big Questions: What’s Next for Theaters? panel below:

The post Disney, Warner Bros. Execs Talk Facing Box Office Competition in Asia: ‘Trust Your Local Teams’ appeared first on TheWrap.

Among those figures, as you’ll see in the below portrait gallery shot by photographer Steve Limones, were storied “F1” film producer Jerry Bruckheimer; WndrCo founding partner Jeffrey Katzenberg; Nova Sky Stories CEO and co-founder Kimbal Musk (brother to Elon); the Azoff Company chairman and CEO Irving Azoff; WME bosses Christian Muirhead, Richard Weitz and Mark Shapiro; The Walt Disney Company’s head of theatrical distribution Andrew Cripps; Warner Bros. Pictures’ president of global distribution Jeff Goldstein; and many more.

TheGrill is one of two flagship events hosted by TheWrap each year, welcoming experts in media and technology as they discuss the ever-changing nature of the entertainment industry. This year’s 10 panels highlighted a number of urgent topics about the business and future of entertainment.

Scroll below for our full portrait studio of the TheGrill’s esteemed guests and panelists, lead by TheWrap founder, CEO and editor-in-chief Sharon Waxman. And read up on all of our Grill coverage here.

Jerry Bruckheimer, Award-Winning Producer, “F1”

Kimbal Musk, CEO & Co-Founder, Nova Sky Stories, and Jeffrey Katzenberg, Founding Partner, WndrCo

Andrew Cripps, Head of Theatrical Distribution, The Walt Disney Company

Jeff Goldstein, President of Global Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures

Irving Azoff, Chairman & CEO, The Azoff Company

Irving Azoff, Chairman & CEO, The Azoff Company, and Sharon Waxman, Founder, CEO & Editor-in-Chief, TheWrap

Jeffrey Katzenberg, Founding Partner, WndrCo

Kimbal Musk, CEO & Co-Founder, Nova Sky Stories

Richard Weitz, Co-Chairman, WME Group

Christian Muirhead, Co-Chairman, WME Group

Mark Shapiro, President and Managing Partner, WME Group & President and COO, TKO

Christian Muirhead, Co-Chairman, WME Group, Richard Weitz, Co-Chairman, WME Group, and Mark Shapiro, President and Managing Partner, WME Group & President and COO, TKO

Nina Shaw, Founding Partner, Del Shaw Moonves Tanaka Finkelstein Lezcano Bobb & Dang

Brent Weinstein, Senior Leadership Team, CAA

Jaime Maggio, Los Angeles Sports Anchor, CBS

Tommy Oliver, Filmmaker & CEO, Confluential Films

Annie Chang, VP, Creative Technologies, NBCUniversal

Greg Foster, Owner & Principal, Foster + Crew

Yves Bergquist, Director, AI in Media, USC’s Entertainment Technology Center

Judy Tu, SVP & Sr. Relationship Manager, City National Bank, Entertainment Division

Jed Weintrob, Partner, 30 Ninjas

Ross Gerber, CEO & President, Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management

Dhar Mann, Founder, Dhar Mann Studios

Jasmine Daghighian, VP, Film, Topic Studios

Bennett Spector, GM, Bleacher Report

Eduardo Acuna, CEO, Regal Cineworld

Eduardo Acuna, CEO, Regal Cineworld with USC School of Cinematic Arts’ Students

Joe Franzetta, Head of Sports, Roku

Jonathan Zepp, Head of Entertainment Content & Platforms, Google

Fergus Navaratnam-Blair, VP, National Research Group

Laura Holson, Journalist & Founder, The Box Sessions

Sharon Waxman, Founder, CEO & Editor-in-Chief, TheWrap

Edward Menicheschi, President & COO, TheWrap

Melody Hildebrandt, CTO, Fox Corporation

Pamela Duckworth, Head of Fubo Studios, Fubo

Sean Atkins, CEO, Dhar Mann Studios

Sev Ohanian, Founder, Proximity Media

Toni Gray, Head of Production, Dhar Mann Studios

The post TheGrill 2025 Portrait Gallery: Kimbal Musk, Irving Azoff, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Jerry Bruckheimer and More | Photos appeared first on TheWrap.

With a 125,000 square foot production space producing five hours of scripted content weekly, Mann and his team operate at an incredibly high frequency. His studio employs over 200 people and feeds an audience of 140 million fans across YouTube, Facebook and other platforms. 

“If I wanted to play against Nielsen. I’ll take all the views – just do U.S., just do primetime, just do 18 to 49,” Atkins told moderator and CAA agent Brent Weinstein, comparing Mann’s channel to traditional ratings categories. “He would be the largest scripted television show on U.S. linear television every single night, just to give you a sense.”

“Any day of the week his streams would have outperformed the finale of ‘Game of Thrones’ by three times,” he added.

Mann himself had to leave TheWrap’s conference at the DGA Theater Complex in Hollywood early due to an unexpected conflict, but his studio’s head of production Toni Gray joined Atkins to give the audience a peek behind the curtain into how their operation works. The studio operates on a 30-day production schedule from ideation to publication. They have eight crews shooting simultaneously with plans to gear up to nine by the end of the year. 

Gray came from the traditional entertainment world and said that making the transition to digital was tough at first, but producing impactful work Mann is known for has made it all worth it. 

“Hollywood frowned upon jumping into this world, and I have to tell you that it is a totally different life,” she said. “It is an incredible culture. It’s collaborative. We basically tell stories at the water cooler. We can ideate and deliver in 30 days.”

The company has mastered the efficiency of space and time in order to ensure consistent output and quality. They developed a tailored software system that breaks down scripts and lets every department know what is needed for each production the following day. 

“If you’re sitting in wardrobe, you get a checklist that says, of these nine productions going on today, the following outfits for this actor or actress need to be in this location at this period of time,” Atkins explained. “There’s no people involved. It’s literally just software that delivers that.”

“You get this unbelievable efficiency, where they will produce a TV episode for approximately 1/100th the cost of a linear average episode,” he said.

Dhar Mann Studios also organizes their productions in such a way so that every studio has the basic setup for any kind of location – be that a school, retail establishment or workplace – to cut time for setup and strike for production crews. 

“It’s always about using data to analyze the efficiency, to make sure that we can kind of keep that cost efficiency down,” Atkins said. 

Data from National Research Group shared on a lunchtime panel earlier at TheGrill on Tuesday revealed that Gen Alpha (individuals born after 2010) are increasingly interested in going to the movie theaters. Weinstein asked Mann’s team if they had any plans for a theatrical release in the future. 

Though Atkins and Gray kept mum about plans for a theatrical push, the CEO said the next step for the company is to lean into in-person experiences with a national tour that allows the “Dhar Mann Fam” to act in their own digital short.

Watch TheGrill’s full The Rise of Creator-Led Studios panel below:

The post Dhar Mann Studios Boss Says YouTube Channel Far Outpaces Linear Television With 45 Million Streams a Day appeared first on TheWrap.

“When I was running ESPN, even though ESPN was worth more than the entire Walt Disney Company combined, they looked at it as being like the toy shop,” Shapiro said on a panel at TheWrap’s TheGrill conference on Tuesday. “And now that fun factory is leading the way in overall content.”

Shapiro, who also serves as president and managing partner of WME Group, added that the rise of sports content stems from differences in audience engagement compared to traditional entertainment like movies.

“Movies are emotional and they’re visceral, and you walk out, you’re moved by them. You talk about them. But when you’re in a movie, you are a passenger,” Shapiro said. “When you are at a sports event, the audience is a participant and they truly believe they have a say in the outcome of that sporting event. Whereas in a movie, the outcome is the same. It may hit people differently, but the outcome is the same for everyone that watches it.”

TKO has been a tear lately with the recent $7.7 billion deal that UFC struck with Paramount+ along with the 10-Year, $5 billion deal WWE set with Netflix for “Monday Night Raw.”

Shapiro also noted that sports offers something unique in the current cultural moment. “Sports is the last bastion of unifying content, especially in a time of uncertainty, especially in a time of division,” he said. “Human characteristics, from revenge, to resilience, to redemption, to perseverance, are all characteristics we can relate to that resonate with us as humans. And it’s live. And what does everybody want these days? And what do they suffer from? FOMO. Everybody wants to be there. They want to share content. They want to be able to participate in the conversation, and sports lets you do that in real time.”

Shapiro added that he hasn’t seen demand slow across TKO’s annual events. He also cited the recent Electronic Arts $55 billion all-cash deal with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners.

“So sports is going to keep winning out. It’s why you see Silver Lake and (Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners) spending $55 billion dollars to buy EA,” Shapiro said. “What does EA have? A lot of sports games. Madden. College football.”

“There’s no angle you’re going to turn right now where sports is cooling off. We see no signs of it,” Shapiro added.

To catch up on all of our TheGrill coverage, click here. And watch the full WME: The Next Chapter panel below:

The post The Rise of Sports Content Is Fueling Hollywood’s Growth, Says TKO’s Mark Shapiro appeared first on TheWrap.

Despite claims from creator Eline Van der Velden that she and her company, Xicoia, had received interest from talent agencies, no one at TheGrill believed that AI actors are seriously going to be a part of Hollywood anytime soon.

“We are in the human business. We have been in the human business. We’re going to continue to always be in the human business,” WME co-chair Richard Weitz said after saying the agency wasn’t interested in signing Norwood. “We’re not interested in taking the best of our actors and the actors in their community and being put in an AI model.”

Yves Bergquist, director of the USC Entertainment Technology Center’s “AI in Media” program, was even more blunt, dismissing it as a “gimmick.”

The speakers at TheGrill joined a chorus of individuals, such as actors Melissa Barrera and Simu Liu, and organizations like SAG-AFTRA in denouncing the idea that AI “actors” could receive the same kind of treatment as humans, raising the question of whether the noise around Tilly Norwood was all just a bid to get attention. After all, the idea of AI replacing humans is a universal fear and a big reason why it’s still considered a “dirty word” in Hollywood. Norwood directly strikes that nerve.

“It is the sort of virus that has been plaguing the discussion around AI that I have been talking about day in and day out,” Bergquist said on a panel at TheGrill. “AI music has been a possibility for years and years. You don’t have any major AI artists out there.”

“I think that this is all evolving, but it’s not clear that just synthetic actors are adding utility of itself, so why do that?” Jon Zepp, head of entertainment, content and platforms at Google, said on a separate panel on AI. And Google has gone all-in on the technology.

That’s because an AI-generated “actor” would stretch the limits of what the technology is capable of right now, with even stills or short videos of an AI character at times flirting with the uncanny valley. TheGrill conference took place the same day that OpenAI unveiled Sora 2, a new video generation model that promises to be a step-up in capabilities over the original. But whether it’s something studios would want to use remains up in the air.

The rejection of Norwood, which represents just one facet of AI, doesn’t mean there aren’t broader applications of the technology, which executives at TheGrill went further in-depth about. They touched upon aspects like the ability to streamline production schedules, create shareable clips of content in a fraction of the time and even generate AI versions of notable personalities as part of a marketing stunt.

Beyond the hype

AI is already being put to use, even if the applications aren’t sexy.

Fox CTO Melody Hildebrandt and Universal VP of Creative Technologies Annie Chang, who spoke alongside Bergquist on the same panel, said that many of the immediate ways AI is being used in entertainment are invisible to the public.

At Universal, production execs are using AI to help break down scripts and organize them into efficient shooting schedules, enabling productions to start rolling cameras faster, Chang said, adding that the tools are useful to generate rough visual approximations of ideas and concepts that allow creatives to better communicate their vision to others.

Hildebrandt also noted that during a time when many TV viewers are watching clips of shows, particularly late night, in YouTube videos and TikTok snippets, AI can help studios scan their content libraries for the most shareable clips.

“We can actually be present in those platforms and make our content discoverable, make it more searchable,” she said.

That’s not to say AI’s impact is completely invisible. AI-generated video has been used by Fox Sports in video packages for its recent broadcasts, including a 20-second video recapping the career of four-time NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers that aired earlier this month.

Last month, at a special MLB game at Bristol Motor Speedway, Fox showed an AI clip of its pregame host Kevin Burkhardt in a NASCAR race against baseball greats and Fox analysts David Ortiz, Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez, with the four men watching the AI video live.

“It was a hilarious segment, just really good vibes and fun to watch, and it allowed us to kind of cross-promote NASCAR and MLB with new audiences,” Hildebrandt said. “That was a creative concept that you have a director of marketing come up with and then essentially execute the entire concept in a matter of days to take advantage of the window of opportunity.”

Bergquist says that while major studios are figuring out how to implement AI into immense, well-established production pipelines, AI will have a larger creative impact on an individual level as filmmakers who are just getting started will use the technology in ways that will allow them to get productions done much faster.

Feeling the squeeze

Of course, as that generational shift takes place, countless creative artists will get caught in the crossfire. Last year, members of the Art Directors Guild told TheWrap that they were voting against IATSE’s bargaining agreement because they felt the agreement did not provide members with enough protection against AI automation.

ADG-covered positions like concept artists are among the top positions facing immediate automation, and studio execs like Chang have said that AI’s ability to generate immediate concept art has become an increasingly common part of project pitches.

“A lot of artists have had and will continue to have their styles and artistic identities taken and absorbed into these systems, and the result is going to be very derivative output that is going to affect the quality of these productions,” industrial designer Matthew Cunningham told TheWrap last year.

Recently, independent tech journalist Brian Merchant shared stories of people who have lost jobs to automation, and earlier this month turned his attention to graphics and concept artists. One anonymous respondent said he built his career around doing graphics work on b-roll footage for TV history documentaries that have since been replaced by AI.

“As much as I would like to say viewers will reject the AI style and demand a return to human-made art, I’m not convinced it will happen,” the artist wrote. “Even if it did, it might soon be too late to turn back. I know that there are studios with expert producers, writers and showrunners with decades of experience in this exact genre who are closing their doors.”

When asked about the impact of AI on human work, Chang said she did not foresee a future in which Universal completely removed humans from any part of the production process even as the studio seeks ways to increase efficiency.

One example was color grading, a common part of VFX post-production that changes the color of footage such as the iconic green tint of “The Matrix.” When experimenting with AI, Chang and her team at Universal found that the output of automated color grading is not yet up to proper Hollywood quality.

“It kind of reaffirmed to us that even with AI, you still need the constant presence of humans to control the output,” she said. “If we compromise our creativity, we compromise our business model.”

Ultimately, that initial spark will have to come from a human being.

“There’s combinatory creativity, which takes parts of already existing things and creates something from that, which AI does well,” added Bergquist. “And then there’s change creativity, which imagines something entirely new, and that’s never going to be something AI can do.”

Watch our full panel from TheGrill below:

The post Beyond the Tilly Norwood Hype, Studio Execs Explain How AI Is Actually Being Used appeared first on TheWrap.

TheGrill is one of two flagship events hosted by TheWrap each year, welcoming experts in media and technology as they discuss the ever-changing nature of the entertainment industry. This year’s 10 panels highlighted various topics about the business and future of entertainment, from artificial intelligence to the business of streaming to sky-high drone entertainment.

TheWrap founder, CEO and editor-in-chief Sharon Waxman kicked the day off with an opening address before moderating a spotlight conversation with The Azoff Company CEO Azoff. The keynote conversation came in the middle of the day, when storied Hollywood producer Bruckheimer (who recently worked on the Brad Pitt summer blockbuster “F1”) spoke with our own Drew Taylor about his latest hit and upcoming franchise projects. Several panels were dedicated to the increasing conversation of AI’s presence in Hollywood, with the so-called “AI actress” Tilly Norwood becoming a particular point of interest throughout the day.

In between programming, attendees took various opportunities to network and dine. A series of experts led various small-group industry conversations during a lunch session, while a post-conference drinks reception gave professionals a final chance to meet and connect at TheGrill.

Check out highlights from on the ground at the Directors Guild of America in the photo gallery below.

Attendees check in at TheGrill 2025 at The Directors Guild of America (DGA).

Check in at TheGrill 2025 at The Directors Guild of America (DGA)

Breakfast set up at TheGrill 2025 at The Directors Guild of America (DGA)

Sharon Waxman, Founder & Editor-in-Chief at TheWrap, interacting with event attendees at TheGrill 2025 at The Directors Guild of America (DGA)

Attendees enjoy breakfast and networking at TheGrill 2025 at The Directors Guild of America (DGA)

Coffee Cart sponsored by NYF TV & Film at TheGrill 2025 at The Directors Guild of America (DGA)

Coffee Cart sponsored by NYF TV & Film at TheGrill 2025 at The Directors Guild of America (DGA)

TheGrill 2025 at The Directors Guild of America (DGA)

Sharon Waxman, Founder & Editor-in-Chief at TheWrap, speaks onstage at TheGrill 2025 at The Directors Guild of America (DGA) on Sept. 30, 2025.

Sharon Waxman, Founder & Editor-in-Chief at TheWrap, shares opening remarks at TheGrill 2025 at The Directors Guild of America (DGA).

Audience members get ready for the day ahead at TheGrill 2025 at The Directors Guild of America (DGA).

Sharon Waxman, Founder & Editor-in-Chief at TheWrap, and Irving Azoff, Chairman & CEO at The Azoff Company, speak onstage during the Spotlight Conversation: Irving Azoff Unplugged panel at TheGrill 2025 at The Directors Guild of America (DGA).

Irving Azoff, Chairman & CEO at The Azoff Company, speaks onstage during the Spotlight Conversation: Irving Azoff Unplugged panel at TheGrill 2025.

Attendees at TheGrill 2025 at The Directors Guild of America (DGA)

Jaime Maggio, Los Angeles Sports Anchor at CBS, Bennett Spector, EVP & GM at Bleacher Report, Joe Franzetta, Head of Sports at ROKO, Pamela Duckworth, Head of FUBO Studios, and Ross Gerber, CEO & President at Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management speak onstage at TheGrill 2025.

Sharon Waxman, Founder & Editor-in-Chief at TheWrap; Christian Muirhead, Co-Chairman at WME Group; Mark Shapiro, President & Managing Partner at WME Group and President & COO at TKO; and Richard Weitz, Co-Chairman at WME Group speak onstage at TheGrill 2025.

Christian Muirhead, Co-Chairman at WME Group speaks onstage at TheGrill 2025 during the WME: The Next Chapter panel at The Directors Guild of America (DGA).

Mark Shapiro, President & Managing Partner at WME Group and President and COO at TKO speaks onstage at TheGrill 2025 during the WME: The Next Chapter panel at The Directors Guild of America (DGA).

Richard Weitz, Co-Chairman at WME Group, speaks onstage at TheGrill 2025 during the WME: The Next Chapter panel at The Directors Guild of America (DGA).

WME: The Next Chapter panel at TheGrill 2025

Attendees at TheGrill 2025 at The Directors Guild of America (DGA)

Richard Weitz, Co-Chairman at WME Group; Christian Muirhead, Co-Chairman at WME Group; and Mark Shapiro, President & Managing Partner at WME Group and President & COO at TKO attend TheGrill 2025.

Sharon Waxman, Founder and Editor-in-Chief at TheWrap, Christian Muirhead, Co-Chairman at WME Group and Richard Weitz, Co-Chairman at WME Group, at TheGrill 2025

Attendees mingle during morning break at TheGrill 2025 at The Directors Guild of America (DGA).

Roger Cheng, Managing Editor, Business & PRO at TheWrap, Jed Weintrob, Partner at 30 Ninjas, and Jonathan Zepp, Head of Entertainment Content & Platforms at Google, speak onstage at TheGrill 2025 during the Filmmaking in the Age of AI panel at The Directors Guild of America (DGA).

Jed Weintrob, Partner at 30 Ninjas, and Jonathan Zepp, Head of Entertainment Content & Platforms at Google, speak onstage at TheGrill 2025 during the Filmmaking in the Age of AI panel at The Directors Guild of America (DGA).

Jed Weintrob, Partner at 30 Ninjas, speaks onstage at TheGrill 2025 during the Filmmaking in the Age of AI panel at The Directors Guild of America (DGA).

Jonathan Zepp, Head of Entertainment Content & Platforms at Google, speaks onstage at TheGrill 2025 during the Filmmaking in the Age of AI panel at The Directors Guild of America (DGA).

Roger Cheng, Managing Editor, Business & PRO at TheWrap, speaks onstage at TheGrill 2025 during the Filmmaking in the Age of AI panel at The Directors Guild of America (DGA).

Jed Weintrob, Partner at 30 Ninjas, and Jonathan Zepp, Head of Entertainment Content & Platforms at Google, at TheGrill 2025

Roger Cheng, Managing Editor, Business & PRO at TheWrap; Annie Chang, VP, Creative Technologies at NBCUniversal; Melody Hildebrandt, CTO at Fox Corporation; and Yves Bergquist, Director, AI in Media at USC’s Entertainment Technology Center speaks onstage at TheGrill 2025 during the From Ideation to Innovation: AI in the Studio Pipeline panel.

Annie Chang, VP, Creative Technologies at NBCUniversal; Yves Bergquist, Director, AI in Media at USC’s Entertainment Technology Center; and Melody Hildebrandt, CTO at Fox Corporation at TheGrill 2025.

Networking and lunchtime with table topics led by experts presented by WrapPRO during TheGrill 2025 at The Directors Guild of America (DGA).

Networking and lunchtime with table topics led by experts presented by WrapPRO during TheGrill 2025 at The Directors Guild of America (DGA).

Networking and lunchtime with table topics led by experts presented by WrapPRO during TheGrill 2025 at The Directors Guild of America (DGA).

Networking and lunchtime with table topics led by experts presented by WrapPRO during TheGrill 2025 at The Directors Guild of America (DGA).

“Ashes to Rebirth” California wildfire photo and art exhibit on display during TheGrill 2025 at The Directors Guild of America (DGA)

“Ashes to Rebirth” California wildfire photo and art exhibit on display during TheGrill 2025 at The Directors Guild of America (DGA)

Photographer Chad Unger at “Ashes to Rebirth” at TheGrill 2025 at The Directors Guild of America (DGA)

Edward Menicheschi, President & COO at TheWrap, speaks onstage at TheGrill 2025 ahead of its Spotlight Conversation: The Road to “F1” With Jerry Bruckheimer, presented by Apple Original Films.

Drew Taylor, Senior Film Reporter at TheWrap, and “F1” producer Jerry Bruckheimer speak onstage at TheGrill 2025.

“F1” producer Jerry Bruckheimer speaks onstage at TheGrill 2025.

Drew Taylor, Senior Film Reporter at TheWrap, and “F1” producer Jerry Bruckheimer speak onstage at TheGrill 2025.

Drew Taylor, Senior Film Reporter at TheWrap, and “F1” producer Jerry Bruckheimer speak onstage at TheGrill 2025.

Jerry Bruckheimer, award-winning film producer, at TheGrill 2025

Colleen Bell, Executive Director at the California Film Commission and Jerry Bruckheimer speak at TheGrill 2025.

Dhar Mann, Founder at Dhar Mann Studios; Brent Weinstein, Senior Leadership Team at CAA; Sean Atkins, CEO at Dhar Mann Studios; and Shana Tepper, Head of Entertainment Communications at YouTube at TheGrill 2025 at The Directors Guild of America (DGA)

Adam Chitwood, Executive Editor at TheWrap and Fergus Navaratnam-Blair, VP at the National Research Group, speak onstage at TheGrill 2025 during the Gen Alpha Saves the Box Office? panel.

Adam Chitwood, Executive Editor at TheWrap and Fergus Navaratnam-Blair, VP at the National Research Group, speak onstage at TheGrill 2025 during the “Gen Alpha Saves the Box Office?” panel.

Jeff Goldstein, President of Global Distribution at Warner Bros. Pictures, Nina Shaw, Founding Partner at Del Shaw Moonves Tanaka Finkelstein Lezcano Bobb & Dang, and Jerry Bruckheimer, award-winning film producer of “F1,” chat inside the green room and portrait studio at TheGrill 2025.

Richard Weitz, Co-Chairman at WME Group, Sharon Waxman, Founder & Editor-in-Chief at TheWrap, Mark Shapiro, President and Managing Partner at WME Group & President and COO at TKO, and Irving Azoff, Chairman & CEO at The Azoff Company, inside the green room and portrait studio during TheGrill 2025

Christian Muirhead, Co-Chairman at WME Group, Richard Weitz, Co-Chairman at WME Group, Sharon Waxman, Founder & Editor-in-Chief at TheWrap, Mark Shapiro, President and Managing Partner at WME Group & President and COO at TKO, and Irving Azoff, Chairman & CEO at The Azoff Company, inside the green room and portrait studio during TheGrill 2025

Jerry Bruckheimer and photographer Steve Limones inside the green room and portrait studio at TheGrill 2025

Sharon Waxman, Founder & Editor-in-Chief at TheWrap, and film producer Jerry Bruckheimer inside the green room and portrait studio at TheGrill 2025 at The Directors Guild of America (DGA)

Attendees enjoy an afternoon break at TheGrill 2025.

Andrew Cripps, Head of Theatrical Distribution at The Walt Disney Company, Eduardo Acuna, CEO at Regal Cineworld, and Jeff Goldstein, President of Global Distribution at Warner Bros. Pictures speak with moderator Greg Foster, Owner & Principal at Foster + Crew, at TheGrill 2025 at The Directors Guild of America (DGA).

Andrew Cripps, Head of Theatrical Distribution at The Walt Disney Company, speaks onstage at TheGrill 2025 during the Big Screen, Big Questions: What’s Next for Theaters? panel.

Greg Foster, Owner & Principal at Foster + Crew, speaks onstage at TheGrill 2025 during the Big Screen, Big Questions: What’s Next for Theaters? panel.

Jeff Goldstein, President of Global Distribution at Warner Bros. Pictures, speaks onstage at TheGrill 2025.

Eduardo Acuna, CEO at Regal Cineworld, speaks onstage at TheGrill 2025.

Andrew Cripps, Head of Theatrical Distribution at The Walt Disney Company, speaks onstage at TheGrill 2025 during the Big Screen, Big Questions: What’s Next for Theaters? panel.

Andrew Cripps, Eduardo Acuna, Jeff Goldstein and Greg Foster at TheGrill 2025 at The Directors Guild of America (DGA)

Andrew Cripps, Eduardo Acuna, Jeff Goldstein and Greg Foster at TheGrill 2025 at The Directors Guild of America (DGA)

Sharon Waxman, Founder & Editor-in-Chief at TheWrap, and Greg Foster, Owner & Principal at Foster + Crew, inside the green room and portrait studio at TheGrill 2025 at The Directors Guild of America (DGA)

Jeffrey Katzenberg, founding partner at WndrCo, Kimbal Musk, CEO & Co-Founder at Nova Sky Stories, and Courtney Walsh inside the green room and portrait studio at TheGrill 2025

Johanna Fuentes, Head of Global Communications at Benton Strategies, inside the Greenroom at TheGrill 2025

Sharon Waxman, Founder & Editor-in-Chief at TheWrap; Jasmine Daghighian, VP, Film at Topic Studios; Nina Shaw, Founding Partner at Del Shaw Moonves Tanaka Finkelstein Lezcano Bobb & Dang; Sev Ohanian, Founder at Proximity Media; and Tommy Oliver, Filmmaker & CEO at Confluential Films at TheGrill 2025

Sev Ohanian, Founder at Proximity Media, and Tommy Oliver, Filmmaker & CEO at Confluential Films, speak during The State of Indie Filmmaking: Show Me the Money (If There Is Any) panel at TheGrill 2025.

Nina Shaw, Founding Partner at Del Shaw Moonves Tanaka Finkelstein Lezcano Bobb & Dang, Sev Ohanian, Founder at Proximity Media, and Tommy Oliver, Filmmaker & CEO at Confluential Films, speak during The State of Indie Filmmaking: Show Me the Money (If There Is Any) panel at TheGrill 2025.

Jasmine Daghighian, VP, Film at Topic Studios, speaks during The State of Indie Filmmaking: Show Me the Money (If There Is Any) panel at TheGrill 2025.

Tommy Oliver, Filmmaker & CEO at Confluential Films, speaks onstage at TheGrill 2025 during The State of Indie Filmmaking: Show Me the Money (If There Is Any) panel.

Nina Shaw, Founding Partner at Del Shaw Moonves Tanaka Finkelstein Lezcano Bobb & Dang, speaks onstage at TheGrill 2025 during The State of Indie Filmmaking: Show Me the Money (If There Is Any) panel.

Sharon Waxman, Founder & Editor-in-Chief at TheWrap; Jasmine Daghighian, VP, Film at Topic Studios; Nina Shaw, Founding Partner at Del Shaw Moonves Tanaka Finkelstein Lezcano Bobb & Dang; Sev Ohanian, Founder at Proximity Media; and Tommy Oliver, Filmmaker & CEO at Confluential Films at TheGrill 2025

Sev Ohanian, Nina Shaw, Jasmine Daghighian and Tommy Oliver at TheGrill 2025

Brent Weinstein, Senior Leadership Team at CAA, Toni Gray, Head of Production at Dhar Mann Studios, and Sean Atkins, CEO at Dhar Mann Studios, speak onstage at TheGrill 2025 during The Rise of Creator-Led Studios with Dhar Mann and Sean Atkins panel.

Toni Gray, Head of Production at Dhar Mann Studios, speaks onstage at TheGrill 2025 during The Rise of Creator-Led Studios with Dhar Mann and Sean Atkins panel.

Brent Weinstein, Senior Leadership Team at CAA, speaks onstage at TheGrill 2025 during The Rise of Creator-Led Studios with Dhar Mann and Sean Atkins panel.

Brent Weinstein, Senior Leadership Team at CAA, Toni Gray, Head of Production at Dhar Mann Studios, and Sean Atkins, CEO at Dhar Mann Studios, speak onstage at TheGrill 2025 during The Rise of Creator-Led Studios with Dhar Mann and Sean Atkins panel.

Sean Atkins, Toni Gray and Brent Weinstein at TheGrill 2025

Laura Holson, Journalist & Founder at The Box Sessions, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Founding Partner at WndrCo, and Kimbal Musk, CEO & Co-Founder at Nova Sky Stories, speak onstage at TheGrill 2025 during Stories in the Sky: A New Era of Live Entertainment panel.

Kimbal Musk, CEO & Co-Founder at Nova Sky Stories, speaks onstage at TheGrill 2025 during Stories in the Sky: A New Era of Live Entertainment panel.

Jeffrey Katzenberg, Founding Partner at WndrCo, speaks onstage at TheGrill 2025 during Stories in the Sky: A New Era of Live Entertainment panel.

A scene from TheGrill 2025 during Stories in the Sky: A New Era of Live Entertainment panel

Kimbal Musk and Jeffrey Katzenberg at TheGrill 2025

Jeffrey Katzenberg chats with USC film students at TheGrill 2025.

Jeffrey Katzenberg chats with USC film students at TheGrill 2025.

Jed Weintrob, (center) Partner at 30 Ninjas, at TheGrill 2025

Edward Menicheschi, President & COO at TheWrap, and Sharon Waxman, Founder & Editor-in-Chief at TheWrap, speak with an attendee at TheGrill 2025.

Kimbal Musk, CEO & Co-Founder at Nova Sky Stories, attends TheGrill 2025’s networking and cocktail reception.

Sharon Waxman, Founder & Editor-in-Chief at TheWrap, and Laura Holson, Journalist & Founder at The Box Sessions, attend TheGrill 2025’s networking and cocktail reception.

Guests mingle at TheGrill 2025’s networking and cocktail reception.

Guests mingle at TheGrill 2025’s networking and cocktail reception.

Guests mingle at TheGrill 2025’s networking and cocktail reception.

Guests mingle at TheGrill 2025’s networking and cocktail reception.

Guests mingle at TheGrill 2025’s networking and cocktail reception.

Guests mingle at TheGrill 2025’s networking and cocktail reception.

The post On the Scene With Bruckheimer, Katzenberg and More Industry Leaders at TheGrill 2025 | Photos appeared first on TheWrap.

“Absolutely, as sports moves from predominantly linear to predominantly streaming, there is a challenge with the ability to find the sports you want to watch, however there’s also an opportunity for a platform like Roku,” Roku head of sports Joe Franzetta said at TheWrap’s TheGrill 2025 panel “Sports & Streaming: Driving Value Across the Ecosystem,” moderated by CBS sports anchor Jaime Maggio. “

Sports’ migration from linear to streaming has proven to be a windfall for the various leagues, with TV and streaming rights worth a more than $29 billion this year, and projected to grow to $37 billion by 2030. But it’s also led to games being divvied up to different services and broadcast channels, forcing fans to do their homework to figure out where to catch their favorite teams.

With Roku partnered with many of the major leagues, Franzetta noted it aggregates and bundles content in an effort to replicate the ease of the linear TV sports viewing while taking advantage of new technological advances, including personalization, interactivity, targeting and other additions. “There’s all sorts of things that you can add over time that make the experience both more robust and more personalized,” Franzetta said, pointing to fantasy football, merchandise and ticket sales.

A big point the panelist made was the importance of understanding the audience. Fubo, for instance, employs a massive analytics team to analyze what sporting events viewers are watching out of the 55,000 available to them, according to Pamela Duckworth, head of Fubo studios.

Franzetta’s Roku team utilizes AI machine learning to tailor recommendations, though he admits it’s a work in progress. “It’s got to continue to train itself and to get smarter,” Franzetta said. “It’s a critical development loop that has to be ongoing.”

That ability to know what viewers want and more effectively cater to them will be key all of the players.

“It will also add a whole level of efficiency for the platform and retaining subscribers, which I think is a big challenge for platforms now, as people jump around from platform to platform,” Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management CEO and President Ross Gerber said. “A highly personalized environment is really important.”

The desire for that personalized environment was the impetus for the creation of Bleacher Report over a decade ago, with EVP and general manager Bennett Spector explaining sports coverage was predominantly focused on national happenings, and the outlet sought to create a space for fans to focus solely on their teams.

Still, as the bar for personalization gets raised even higher, Spector revealed AI is instrumental in that goal, saying “we can see, did you read an article, did you watch a video? Did you comment on a poll, and we start feeding a very personalized team and topic experience,” Spector said.

While the fragmented viewing experience might cause a headache for sports fans, the embrace of sports on streaming has also given streamers the opportunity to test out new challenger brands, as Franzetta noted that streamers have “more shelf space” than linear channels.

“There are a lot of really competitive sports out there that are really well produced, that have well-funded businesses and good business models,” Franzetta said. “They eventually want the big fat check, but in the meantime, they’re trying to create excitement and awareness for what they’re doing.”

Duckworth pointed to Fubo’s bet on Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, which they helped market and has now been boosted into Fubo Sports Network’s top 10 and has done so well that Fubo became a minority owner. “We’re looking at all these smaller sports and seeing if we want to invest in them and then take them to the next level,” Duckworth said.

Catch up with all of TheWrap’s TheGrill 2025 coverage here. Watch the full Sports & Streaming: Driving Value Across the Ecosystem panel below:

The post Streaming Sports Execs Break Down How They’re Dealing With a Fragmented Viewing Landscape | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

During a panel at TheWrap’s 2025 TheGrill conference, the entertainment mogul said that while the first two pillars — sports and music — have become annual multi-billion dollar businesses, their venues aren’t used year-round.

“They’re empty 300 days out of 365. So the venues actually are there. We don’t have to build theaters,” Katzenberg explained. “The beauty of this is you pack these things up into two 18-wheelers and it takes four people to fly a show … The big opportunity here is to create what can be the third pillar of live outdoor entertainment.”

Katzenberg and Musk (Elon’s brother) are making this bet as drone shows have become an increasingly common sight, playing as a safer alternative to fireworks or after sporting events. Social feeds are filled with sophisticated images and even limited videos assembled thousands of flying devices. But they’ve largely been side acts, while Nova Sky Stories intends to be the main event.

In addition to producing original content, Nova Sky Stories is in talks with major studios including Disney, Universal, Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount about adapting IP like “Shrek” and “How To Train Your Dragon” for storytelling in the sky.

“If you think about the movie of Lion King, it was adapted to the stage. It is the same story, but it’s told in a completely unique way that takes advantage of a theater,” Katzenberg said. “So now, move that to the next place, which is take advantage of this giant cube and the sky and this new technology. How do you adapt that storytelling? So some of the best movies and best IP in Hollywood will be part of what Nova does.”

“We really want this to be a storytelling medium,” Musk added. “Just like you’d go to a musical on Broadway, you’re having an experience and you’re sharing with your family and friends and you’re being moved emotionally. That’s our goal.”

A ‘religious experience’

In 2022, Musk acquired the drone technology from Intel, which was planning to shutter the project after working on it for 10 years (the chip company had notably deployed 250 drones for a show at the Bellagio fountains in Las Vegas during CES in 2018). He got turned on to the drone technology after working with the artists behind Nova on a 3,000-drone show for the Burning Man festival.

“The artists came to me that I was helping, mostly Burning Man artists, and they said, ‘Intel’s gonna shut this division down. Please help see if you can just talk them into not shutting it down,'” he said. “I went to speak to them and they said, ‘We either shut it down or you got to buy it from us.’ And I was like, ‘I never thought I’d be buying a division from Intel … And it’s been just an amazing journey.”

Katzenberg, who is an investor in the company through his firm WndrCo, recalled his “religious experience” of seeing Nova Sky Stories in person at Burning Man. He would reach out to Musk about five or six months later to collaborate.

“In either 1989 or 1990 I saw this Pixar short film called Luxor the Lamp, it was the original piece that John Lasseter made. First, I tried to hire John Lasseter, that didn’t work, then I tried to buy the company and that didn’t work. And then we made the three-picture deal. And that moment of seeing that short film, which to me, was like, ‘Oh my God, here is our future’ – I had that same feeling when I saw this 10 minutes that Kimball did for us this last May,” Katzenberg said. “That just started a conversation with us and I realized that what he is onto is actually a whole new platform, a new medium, a new stage for storytelling and the stage is the sky.”

Creating a viable business

Today, Nova Sky Stories is doing drone shows in 40 countries and on track to manufacture 12,000 drones by the end of 2025 and closer to 30,000 by the end of 2026.

The company has received interest from Abu Dhabi for a 10,000-drone fleet, while Europe and the U.S. each have fleets of around 4,000 drones. At the same time, Nova sold 6,000 tickets for its drone shows in 2024 and hit 200,000 as of last weekend.

Looking ahead, Musk and Katzenberg said they expect to sell around 500,000 tickets in Nova’s first year. They’ll also look at sponsorship opportunities to help make the business economically viable moving forward.

“I think we really can fill those stadiums. And because it’s digital art, you can really put so much human talent and resources into the content and at scale. So you can put tens of millions of dollars into a show. An adaptation of Shrek in the sky would take us a year or two,” Musk said. “Another thing that’s different about our stories is the technology keeps changing and the actual story changes as well. Once it’s out there, it doesn’t stop. It’s not in the can, it constantly evolves.”

Katzenberg predicted that, in the next 18 to 24 months, Nova Sky Stories would look similar to hand drawing as the technology advances.

“People think about what is the most basic version of a drone with a little flashing light on it. And that’s the first generation. We’re already onto the second or third generation, and the fourth and fifth, which are in the works right now, and we’ll start turning them out mid next year, allowing you to do all kinds of things that people have not really imagined yet,” Katzenberg said. “It’s just going to keep getting better. We’re at the very beginning of a technology revolution in entertainment.”

Watch the full Stories in the Sky: A New Era of Live Entertainment panel below.

The post Kimbal Musk and Jeffrey Katzenberg’s Nova Sky Stories Sees Drone Shows as ‘Third Pillar’ of Live Outdoor Entertainment appeared first on TheWrap.

“I’m optimistic about it. Nothing will ever beat that experience of having a film premiere at Sundance and that night, no one’s going to sleep because they’re racing to buy from each other. Plus the high altitude! That makes people probably overspend too, which is great,” Sev Ohanian, founder of Proximity Media, said on Tuesday at TheWrap’s “State of Indie Film” panel presented by City National Bank at TheGrill conference.

But the Sundance experience has changed, as Topic Studios vice president Jasmine Daghighian pointed out when moderator Sharon Waxman, TheWrap’s founder and editor in chief, asked about the challenging landscape.

“I think that Sundance putting their programming online has affected the way people feel about the movies because instead of having to be in Park City and see the movies immediately in the first weekend, you can go home and watch it on Tuesday,” Daghighian said. “That’s one tiny thing, but I think it has negatively impacted [the experience].”

Not that Sundance is the only festival that can generate buzz. Daghighian said that Cannes — where Topic’s “Splitsville” premiered earlier this year to positive reviews — feels “like a better market in some ways, for awards-y movies,” because of the increase of international members of the Academy.

“I feel like there’s a sense of splashiness and prestige,” Daghighian said. She pointed to buyers like Neon, who “bought six movies at Cannes.”

Not that things are exceptionally cheery. Tommy Oliver, CEO of Confluential Films, brought up the Lily Gladstone film he produced, “Fancy Dance,” which took a year to sell after premiering at Sundance to positive reviews.

“It was a movie that nobody wanted to finance,” Oliver said. And it was an amazing script, Native American director, co-writer, Native American lead. We came in. We did 90% of it. Everybody loved the movie and everybody talked about the importance of supporting Indigenous cinema and doing all these things, except for when it came to buy or put up any money.”

The biggest offer they got in the first 11 months the movie was up for sale was $40,000.

“$40,000 doesn’t cover the paper deliverables on the movie,” Oliver said. “We said no, because we knew what the movie was. And part of the issue was that the people hadn’t seen her in that way.” Gladstone had yet to make their Academy Award-nominated debut in Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon.”

Oliver said that Gladstone spoke about the movie at a big event, which was attended by Scorsese and DiCaprio and other studio bigwigs, ostensibly to promote “Killers of the Flower Moon” but also to use the platform to call out the fact that no one would buy “Fancy Dance.”

“They sat in their power in that moment,” Oliver said. “We never would have done that deal with Apple had it not been for Lily, taking them to task.”

Watch the full The State of Indie Filmmaking: Show Me the Money (If There Is Any) panel below.

The post Filmmakers Unpack the State of Indie Film and Shifting Value of Festivals appeared first on TheWrap.

Right off the bat, Bruckheimer gave a promising update on the planned sixth installment in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise. “We’re working on a script,” Bruckheimer told TheWrap’s Drew Taylor, before noting that the project will not move forward until he and his collaborators are happy with what has been written. “If we don’t have it on the page, it’s not gonna get on the screen.”

“We had two scripts at one point, and then one kind of dropped out and we kind of went with the other one,” Bruckheimer said, when asked about the past iterations of the still-developing sequel. Contrary to previous reports, Bruckheimer revealed that “Barbie” star Margot Robbie, who was reportedly set to star in a scrapped take on “Pirates 6” years ago, is still attached in some capacity to the franchise’s next installment.

“She’s still involved,” the producer said, adding that “Pirates” franchise veteran Ted Elliott contributed to the sixth installment’s current script. “He worked on it, and we’ve brought someone else in to fill in the blanks.”

Bruckheimer didn’t only have exciting “Pirates of the Caribbean” updates to share Tuesday. When asked about the long-rumored “National Treasure 3,” the producer said, “We’re getting closer on that one.” He confirmed that the intention is for original “National Treasure” director Jon Turteltaub and star Nicolas Cage to return for the long-awaited sequel.

While work continues on the project, Bruckheimer revealed that he was not frustrated by the move that the franchise made to the small screen in 2022 with the short-lived Disney+ series, “National Treasure: Edge of History.”

“No, it was completely different,” Bruckheimer said of the spin-off. “We want to keep the name alive in the public eye [and] the zeitgeist.”

Regarding some of his other properties, Bruckheimer said he and his team are in the midst of “working on some ideas” for sequels to both “F1” and 1990’s “Days of Thunder.” He added that a writer has not been hired yet to write the latter project, but he does expect the latest draft of a “Top Gun: Maverick” sequel script to be turned in next month by “F1” writer and “Maverick” co-writer Ehren Kruger.

“The hardest one has been ‘Pirates’ so far,” Bruckheimer confessed, while reflecting on the franchises that have been the most difficult for him to keep going. It has been eight years since the series’ last installment, 2017’s “Dead Men Tell No Tales,” hit theaters. “That world is so cool and specific,” Bruckheimer observed. “You just gotta find the right way in.”

As for “F1,” Bruckheimer explained why Apple was the perfect partner for making the blockbuster racing film that grossed over $626 million worldwide.

“I think they understood how he wanted to make one of the most authentic racing movie ever made,” he said. “Eddy Cue, he’s on the board of Ferrari, and he understood that it takes time and money to make it right.”

To accurately capture the racing in the film, “F1” director Joseph Kosinski leaned into shooting as much footage practically as possible. And when the actors and writers strikes hit, Kosinski was able to travel around the world himself to nine different race tracks to capture footage that would normally be shot by a second unit director. “We came back a year later and filmed the actors at the same race tracks,” Bruckheimer said.

“The hard part was to convince F1 to work with us,” he said. “They’re a worldwide operation, they spend hundreds of millions of dollars, so to allow a Hollywood movie to come into their life would be disruptive.”

Kosinski was inspired by “Drive to Survive,” the docuseries, and brought “Top Gun: Maverick” — which hadn’t been released yet — to help convince teams and drivers to allow the “F1” production to work with them on the film.

Bruckheimer tipped his hat to Kosinski for pushing for Imax exhibition for the film, which was released in theaters by Warner Bros.

“Once we had Apple and Warner Brothers, the first call Joe made was to Imax, so talk to them to make sure that we could get the screens,” he said.

Given that “F1” shot overseas, the longtime producer was also asked whether Donald Trump’s threat of 100% tariffs on movies made outside the U.S. worried him, but he shrugged it off. “There’s always a lot of noise,” he said. “Nothing you can do about it.”

“It takes an army for us to get a movie made, let me tell ya,” the producer divulged. Despite that, Bruckheimer told TheGrill’s 2025 attendees that he has no intention of slowing down anytime soon, let alone retiring to spend the rest of his days playing golf.

“I hate golf,” Bruckheimer said, to many laughs. “I can’t spend four hours doing something and not making a movie.”

Catch up with all of TheWrap’s TheGrill coverage here.

The post Jerry Bruckheimer Says Margot Robbie Still Attached to New ‘Pirates’ Movie, Teases Nicolas Cage Return for ‘National Treasure 3’ appeared first on TheWrap.