"Spider-Man: Brand New Day" opened to $320 million domestically this weekend, missing the all-time opening weekend record by just $2 million. I'M SURE THEY'RE STILL COUNTING...I WOULD BE! "Toy Story 5" became the third film of 2026 to cross $1 billion. The summer box office has cleared $3 billion, with the year on track to reach $10.5 billion. And December still has "Avengers: Doomsday" and "Dune: Part Three" opening on the same day.
Now look at what's happening in Los Angeles while all of this is going on.
Stages sit empty. Lots that sold at record prices a few years ago are quietly back on the market. The physical infrastructure of Hollywood is idle while theaters across the country are turning people away. The audience showed up. The industry hasn't quite caught up with them yet.
Let me be honest about franchises, because the argument deserves it. "Spider-Man" at $320 million. "Toy Story" at $1 billion. These are not accidents. They are the result of someone decades ago being willing to take a genuine risk on an unproven idea. A fresh franchise that keeps earning its audience is one of the most powerful things this industry produces. The problem isn't the franchise. It's that the 2027 slate already includes "Sonic 4", "Ice Age" again, "Godzilla" again, and an "Avengers" holdover. The harvest is extraordinary. The planting is the question.
Which brings me to "Field of Dreams".
Build it, and they will come. Iowa farmer builds a baseball diamond in a cornfield. Everyone says he's crazy. He builds it anyway. They come.
Scotland understood this. They built the incentive programs, the stages, the trained crews. And Hollywood came. Spider-Man, one of the biggest films in franchise history, shot in Glasgow and at Pinewood in England.
California built it first. The original field. The stages, the back lots, the creative ecosystem that made Hollywood synonymous with the movies themselves. The world came because someone built something worth coming to.
Now the lots are for sale. The stages sit empty. The productions follow the incentives, as they always have and always will. We have a great incentive in California (could be better, ATL, Post only, MORE MONEY), but we really need a FEDERAL INCENTIVE / JOBS CREDIT for this industry!
But the audience didn't go anywhere. They are in the theaters right now, $10.5 billion worth of them. The demand is here. The field just needs tending.
Iowa built it, and they came. Scotland built it, and Hollywood came. California built it once, and the world came.
Build it again! They are already coming!!
🎬 #California #Hollywood #FilmIndustry #FieldOfDreams #BoxOffice #ProductionIncentives #TheatricalExperience #BuildItAndTheyCome
https://lnkd.in/gmDWTjyf
