\n\tCan the B.O. hit the $4 billion mark this summer?<\/p>\n
\n\tThat\u2019s the question Variety box office boss Rebecca Rubin raises on the latest episode of \u201cDaily Variety\u201d podcast as she analyzes the performance of \u201cThe Fantastic Four: First Steps<\/a>\u201c<\/a> in its second weekend. The dropoff from opening weekend was big, in the 66% range. Disney and Marvel leaders were no doubt hoping the film\u2019s audience would branch out beyond the core young male demo for superhero movies into family audiences, Rubin observes.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cRight now the box office is about 10 % ahead of last year and it\u2019s still 23 % behind 2019, the last pre-pandemic year. And the box office has been hovering at those figures for basically all of summer, but analysts heading into summer were pretty optimistic that this was going to be only the second summer in post-COVID times to hit $4 billion,\u201d Rubin says. \u201cThe first time it did that was the summer of Barbenheimer and now that we\u2019re at early August summer revenues just hit $3 billion. So it\u2019s a bigger question mark than I think people were expecting of whether or not we will get to $4 billion.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tMonday\u2019s installment also includes host Cynthia Littleton\u2019s trek into the heart of K-pop fandom at the KCON Korean culture festival<\/a> held Aug. 1-3 in downtown Los Angeles. You\u2019ll hear from KCON<\/a> attendees in their own words as to why they are so rabid for K-pop. For the biggest devotees, it\u2019s more than a musical genre \u2014 it\u2019s a lifestyle.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWhen I started learning Korean, because of my love for music or K dramas and stuff, I really liked how disciplined Korean people are,\u201d said Jennifer, a 20-something woman from Long Beach, Calif., who attended KCON with a friend. \u201cI really want to take after that a little more in terms of like, waking up, doing your skincare, eating good and just engaging with other people. I think that\u2019s what I really like about the Korean culture.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAlso in today\u2019s episode, Variety TV critic Aramide Tinubu explains why she is so high on Jason Momoa\u2019s new Apple TV+ drama series \u201cChief of War<\/a>.\u201d<\/a> The story of the unification of the Hawaiian Islands in the 1700s is brought to life with incredible precision \u2014 and an enormous production budget that can be seen on the screen. The series has been Momoa\u2019s passion project for 10 years, Tinubu observes.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cSo not only is he directing episodes and writing, he is the star of the series. He plays a Maui warrior named Kiana, and essentially he doesn\u2019t want to be fighting. He\u2019s very good at his craft, but he doesn\u2019t want to be doing this, but he\u2019s sort of lured into these wars,\u201d Tinubu says. \u201cAnd he\u2019s very stoic, he\u2019s not someone who is jovial, as we see Jason Momoa in real life. It\u2019s a really strong performance. The amount of work that it probably took for him to be at the center of this story and be a creator and directing and writing. He\u2019s wearing many, many hats and he does it beautifully.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t(Pictured: Jason Momoa in \u201cChief of War\u201d)<\/p>\n