← The Town with Matthew Belloni
The Town with Matthew Belloni
SubwayTakes, Tiktok Vs. YouTube, and New Late-Night TV With Kareem Rahma
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- [00:00]
A
This episode is brought to you by FX's Love Story. John F. Kennedy Jr. And Carolyn Bessette. The critically acclaimed series explores the undeniable chemistry, whirlwind courtship and high profile marriage of one of the most iconic couples of the 20th century, with Sarah Pigeon and Paul Anthony Kelly leading a cast including Naomi Watts, Constance Zimmer, Alessandro Nivola and Grace Gummer. Called a stunning portrait of love by variety of Love Story is Emmy eligible in all limited series categories. Now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney plus for bundle subscribers, This episode of the Town is brought to you by stars Outlander. Everything has led to this. The final chapter of the time traveling drama and cultural phenomenon starring Sam Heughan and Catriona Balfour is only on Starz. Vogue declares Outlander one of television's greatest love stories, and the rap raves Balf and Heughan have perfected this on screen relationship. Industry voters can access all episodes@starsfyc.com it is Wednesday, May 6th. The Creator Economy is filled with young people who are raised in front of a camera, digital natives who pretty organically live their lives and build their businesses online. But that's not the only path. Our guest today built a career in media out of the spotlight. First he was an editor and executive advice back in the day, then became the growth editor at the New York Times, co founded a podcast company and did some entrepreneurial stuff. And then one day about five years ago, he decided to make the jump to front of the camera. Media personality Kareem Rama has had a ton of success since doing so. He created the digital show Subway Takes, which is exactly what it sounds like. Kareem on the subway, talking casually to people who have takes, some of them famous, many of them not famous. He launched the show in 2023 and he's grown its following to 2 million on Instagram, 1.3 million on TikTok and nearly 1 million on YouTube. And it's a real business. Got guests like Cate Blanchett and Austin Butler and Spike Lee all filmed on real working subways, often with interruptions from fellow writers. He's got another show, keep the meter running on TikTok, which he's about to launch into longer form on YouTube. So it's a good time to have Kareem on the show to talk about making that jump from editor to creator, building a real business on social media and YouTube, the whole digital video landscape these days. And of course his own Subway Takes today. It's becoming huge online after you turn 35 from the ringer and Puck. I'm Matt Bellany and this is the town. Okay. We are here with Kareem Rama, who is the host and producer of so Subway Takes and Keep the Meter Running, which is now coming to YouTube. You're going from TikTok to YouTube on that one, correct?
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B
I'm going from TikTok to YouTube, baby.
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A
And longer episodes.
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B
Yes. Yes. We're going from an average of 6 minutes to an average of 25 minutes with that show.
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A
Oh, wow. That's a lot.
- [03:06]
B
Yeah, it's super exciting. I've been wanting to do it for a long time so that, you know, the original version of the show started before Subway Takes, and it took off even more quickly than Subway Takes. But. But you can imagine what telling a cab driver to keep the meter running does to your budget. So at the time, I put that show on pause, put it on hiatus and put my focus into Subway Takes,
- [03:30]
A
but also explaining to a cab driver, like, what's going on and like what the show is and can you sign this release and everything?
- [03:38]
B
Yeah, I mean, that. That's what you got to do. But it's. It's the spontaneity of hailing a cab and. And, you know, sometimes I have to hail like 15 cabs before someone either says yes or yeah.
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A
What's the percentage of get the fuck out of here?
- [03:52]
B
I'd say on a good day, it's probably 50%.
- [03:58]
A
Actually in New York, I would have thought more, but. All right, well, I'm. I'm glad you came on the show. I'm a fan and I wanted to have you on because I sort of relate to you because you were a behind the scenes guy. You were at Vice, you were at New York Times, you did some entrepreneurial stuff where you were trying to build a company, and then all of a sudden you're public and you decided to make that leap to being the guy. And for me, like, I was always a behind the scenes guy as well. I was a lawyer, I was a journalist, I was a magazine editor. And at some point, it sort of clicked in my head that objectively, I was probably the best person to be front facing as much as I didn't want to want to be front facing at Puck. And then on this show, I kind of said, all right, you know what? If I'm. If we're going to do this, I probably have the right background and I could try to make this work. Did a similar thought process go through your head when you decided to go from the guy behind the scenes? To the guy in front of the camera.
- [05:03]
B
I mean, I. I think it's one of those things and. And you have it, which is that you have the passion. You have the passion and. And a little bit of kind of delusion to think that, like, I'm the best man for the job. And for me, it's a very similar situation where I'd seen people doing things, I'd helped people do things, and ultimately every time I did that, I was like, man, I just. I think I can do it in my own way, in my own style, give something people knew and selfishly make a career in hanging out, which is a very cool job.
- [05:39]
A
But it also very difficult because there's a lot of people trying to do that. What did you say to yourself? I need to do this to break out? Because I'm sure there. There's a lot of people that listen to this show that are making similar decisions or representing people who are trying to break out. And your show, it's unique in its simplicity. It's just a guy on the subway asking for takes and having that conversation. So what was your thought process and how you break out and grow?
- [06:12]
B
I think for me, the perspective of having the career pivot at age 33 and having done all of these things before I became an entertainer allowed me to kind of think about the whole chessboard and differentiating myself from others doing it. And the others doing it are oftentimes a decade younger than me. Right. But having that perspective, I knew. And even working at Vice in the New York Times, like, I knew that at the end of the day, the one thing that really sets you apart is. Is quality and storytelling. So from the. From the offset, like, I could have been cheap and, like, used iPhones to shoot my shows, or used one camera instead of two or sometimes three to shoot my shows and cut costs. But I knew that using cinema quality cameras would make a difference. When you're watching things on a phone, it just looks cinematic. And having the kind of the dual cross coverage when every other show appears to be flat because they just use the same camera and cut back and forth, having the dual cross coverage like a real television show would differentiate me. So I really came into it from a quality perspective first and a storytelling perspective first. And I know that's a cliche word and everyone uses it all of the time, but it was never. For me. It was like, let me engineer. Let me create a gmo, like a viral object. It was always like, the virality will be the outcome if the show is good. And if the show is sticky and if I, you know, I'm having a good time, like, people want to watch other people have a good time. And every time I get into a cab or jump on the subway to talk to these people, I'm having a good time. And I really think that that's kind of the alchemy behind it. Of course, the formats are both super simple and easy to understand with keep the meter running. I jump into a cab and say, take me to your favorite place and keep the meter running. Super easy to get on. Subway takes. I look at the person and say, so what's your take? And they can say literally anything they want in the world. So those entry points are, are, are, are simple and easy and a thumbstopper. But then once you start watching, it's a pleasant experience. The sound is good, the color is good, the. The audio is great. Like. Yeah. And it, and it matters a lot, I think.
- [08:35]
A
Yeah. I, I think because you see that as a through line in a lot of the successful creators, that the shows have production value. How do you pull that off on a subway? Do you have guys that are keeping the crowds at bay and making it look natural when there's like four different lighting apparatuses on a, on the car?
- [08:53]
B
Let me tell you, it is so hard to shoot subway takes. It does look easy, but, you know, we don't know. There's no, There's. There's. We have a live audience every time. Sometimes they're going to work, sometimes they're going to pick up their kids from school, Sometimes they're going to the grocery store.
- [09:10]
A
So sometimes they're having a psychotic break,
- [09:13]
B
and sometimes they're having a psychotic break. I have a couple of those stories. Most of the time they're happy to have, you know, some free entertainment on the subway as they make their way, but. But it's hard. We don't shut down a car. We don't have people blocking traffic. If you want to walk through the shot, walk through the shot. If you want to chime in, chime in. And people do chime in often, and it makes the show better. But logistically, it's difficult to pull it off. I mean, it's a small crew, but it's also a big crew when you're getting on a crowded subway car. So we try to keep the footprint small.
- [09:48]
A
But you don't shoot at 2 in the morning or something to produce crowds.
- [09:51]
B
No, I mean, we definitely don't shoot at rush hour. Rush hour. But usually I'm shooting between, like, 11am
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A
and 3pm there's no permitting, or you don't go through the city film office or anything like that.
- [10:02]
B
No, and I would hope that we are allowed to shoot for as long as possible, because I do believe that Subway Takes is the best commercial for the MTA that's ever existed.
- [10:10]
A
Yeah, I'm sure you're going to get a nice phone call from Film New York when this airs. I mean, look, you know, professionally produced content, we charge a permit fee, but
- [10:22]
B
here's what I'll say. When a lot of rumors are out there that the subway is unsafe and you got a video of Charlize Theron sitting there next to me, I think it's a pretty good. It's a pretty good co sign to take the MTA well.
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A
And you didn't show the four handlers that went and scrubbed down the seat before she sat down and are keeping away the riff raff.
- [10:43]
B
It's so surprising how chill everyone is. Like, I'm always like, oh, God, this person's like Cate Blanchett. I'm like, she's literally gonna hate this. Like, why is she doing this? And then they're always like, I just had the most fun I've ever had. Like, you know what?
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A
It's street cred. It's a safe way for them to say, I am of the people and look at me. You should go see my movie. Because I'm just like you. I take the subway.
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B
Right. But even then, you can still be a deviant and request, like, security or whatever. And sometimes people do bring their own, but it is always surprising that they're having fun. Yeah. Know what I mean? And. And I really think that people want to do the show, which, again, is another kind of, like, reason that the show's good is I'm not forcing anyone. I'm not. I'm not really, like, reaching out, saying, like, please come on the show.
- [11:32]
A
It's not Billy on the Street.
- [11:34]
B
No, it's not Billy on the Street. Although I love Billy on the Street.
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A
I love that show, too, but that's a different thing.
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B
Yeah. Yeah, it's a different thing. And. And I think because I'm not begging people to come on, like. Like, anyone who wants to come on is like, I would love to come on. And I'm like, great. I would love to have you on.
- [11:47]
A
Do you prefer celebrities or real people?
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B
I wouldn't say that there's a preference. I think that the DNA of the show and a lot of what is missing in entertainment in general is not you know, celebrity based content, because there's so much celebrity based content. So it's actually really refreshing to see independent voices on the train giving their takes, whether it's a writer, an actor, a musician, a painter. Like, that's what I really tried to. I try to provide a platform to people who would love to be on Kimmel next year or the year after or the year after. You know what I mean? I'm trying to make a place where when I was first starting out, I would have, like, it would have been a big break for me. So that's really the, that's my booking process is like, you know, someone who maybe doesn't have reps, but I think is a hilarious comedian and I meet them at a comedy show and I'm like, man, you know, you should be on the show. And that's how I book a lot of people is like, is exactly what Craig was saying. Like it happens in the street. Like I'm doing a lot of street casting and, and it's, it's, it's amazing.
- [12:49]
A
And the goal is you, you hit on people before. Like if you would have had Timothy chalamet as some 17 year old Knicks kid coming back from the game and you get him and then four years later he's a huge star.
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B
Yeah, I like that. I mean, I don't take any credit for anyone's success, but there have been many people that have come on the show that I was like, oh, I was early.
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A
Yeah. All right, so we are business podcasts. I want to talk about the business of subway takes. 2 million subs on Instagram, 1.3 million subs on TikTok, almost a million subs on YouTube. How do you make money?
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B
I make money mostly through brand partnerships. So brands come on and they sponsor an episode of Subway Takes or they sponsor a couple episodes of Subway Takes. And that is mostly how the show is generates revenue.
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A
So like 60%, 70% of your income is from that.
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B
I'd say probably 90.
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A
Oh, wow. So the rev share from the platforms is 10% of your business.
- [13:48]
B
Yes. And we have, I mean we don't even have it activated on Instagram because you're not, you can't monetize videos that are collab posted. And we from day one have collab posted every single video. And it would feel weird to all of a sudden say, well, we want to monetize, so we're not collab posting anymore. So you can only monetize non collab posted videos on Tik Tok. You know, it's just not a lot ofMONEY on YouTube. We're doing pretty well, especially because we started doing Subway Takes Uncut, which is the longer version of the show. Those episodes are like 20 to 25 minutes, so there's more ad roll in there. But I definitely say YouTube, you know, is. Is provides us the most amount of programmatic revenue. But the lion share of revenue for Subway Takes is from brand partnerships. And then to make Keep the Meter Running, I partnered with a company called and Media who's like, I guess a venture studio for content. And they essentially helped me bring the new version of Keep the Meter Running to life. So that's how that show was supported.
- [14:46]
A
And again, that's why you went from TikTok to YouTube, because you could monetize better.
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B
It's not the only reason. It's like, it's like the storytelling. Like, I'm. I'm actually not out to like, monetize the shows. You know what I mean? I feel. I feel like both the shows.
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A
You don't like money?
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B
I love money. I think money is awesome. It's my favorite.
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A
You're not out to monetize.
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B
No, I'm out to have a career. Like, I'm out to have. I'm out to have. I'm in the business of Kareem Rama. Honestly, like. Like, a lot of people have asked me, like, you should start a studio, you should start a media company. You should, you know, you should. You could produce 10 other shows. And I'm like, but I'm in the business of Kareem Rama. Like, I want to be the asset. I want, you know, I want to be the talent. Going back to what we were talking about earlier is like, at age 33, I had this kind of moment where I was like, you know, we live in a very talent driven world and like, celebrity driven world. And when I was pitching both Keep the Meter Running and Subway Takes, in the beginning, like, a lot of people were like, well, who's the talent? And I'm like, well, I'm the talent. Like, I'm early, but I'm the talent. That's how we make new talent.
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A
And then they said, no, no, no, no, no. For real?
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B
Yeah, for real. Who's the talent? You know, did. Has anyone ever said, like, oh, you. You and Craig can't host the show. It needs to be talent. And you're like, I'm the talent.
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A
No one has said that. But we're not. I mean, this is. This is totally different. This is like a very specific niche show that I happen to have a background that makes me, you know, the
- [16:08]
B
host, and I'm the talent for you.
- [16:11]
A
That's what's interesting is that you broke through doing a thing that you could find elsewhere on the Internet. You could find interview shows a lot. And what's your take? And give me, you know, sports radio is built on that. But you broke through, and that's what's interesting to me. And I do think it's talent. I think you have a demeanor in a way with people that's appealing, and the production value is high, and it's a good gimmick. People on the subway, everybody relates to that.
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B
Yeah, and the same with the cabs. Like, it's. You've all. You know, you've all gotten into a cab, and the taxi driver is, like, kind of crazy or has, like, an amazing food spot to show you, and, like, it's a very relatable environment. But I also think that, like, I feel like a lot of entertainment at the moment feels like you're being lied to or it's fake or it's, like, too perfect.
- [17:02]
A
You must ask the handlers for these stars. Okay, so what else are they doing? Are they doing smart lists? Are they doing Chicken Shop date? Are they doing all these other shows that ostensibly now you compete with for these guests?
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B
I think the difference is my show is 5% celebrity driven. Like, it's not the. It's not the main attraction. So. So. So. And then, because we.
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A
And you don't need it. That's the. That's the difference.
- [17:31]
B
Maybe. I think that, like, you know, I published seven episodes a week, actually. No, now five. It was seven. Now it's five. It was two, then seven, then five. And, you know, one in 15 is. Is a famous person. And, you know, just logistically speaking, there's no way I could do seven celebrity episodes in a week. It's just impossible with my schedule, with their schedules, with the fact that it's not comfortable. You know, there is no studio. There's, like, every time I'm gonna shoot, it's like I assemble a team, and then we figure out a subway line, and then we, you know, we want to go shoot on the F, but the F is down. So last minute, we're texting their team saying, hey, we're pivoting to the 1. And it's just like, it's not a great experience for me. It's really stressful. The days before these shoots, I'm, like, a little bit like, oh, God, I have to do it again. Not In. But, but then I, I'm. When I'm doing it, I'm so happy and it's so fun, but the production is hard. And, you know, I've never booked anyone based on the press tour. Sometimes people come on just because they want to do the show. A lot of times people aren't promoting anything.
- [18:37]
A
Yeah, Spike Lee was a good one.
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B
Yeah, he was just there.
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A
Yeah. Hasan Minaj.
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B
Yeah, they were just, they were both just there. And I think that's also cool.
- [18:46]
A
Hasan Minaj had take. I mean, the celebrities have takes prepped.
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B
They do. And, but, but we, you know, we don't want someone to come and just give because the. Some people have been turned down for not having a great take.
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A
Oh, wow. So you pre.
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B
Take them on. On the celebrity ones. We're like you. Because we. They have to be prepped, otherwise they.
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C
What was the worst take that didn't air?
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B
Oh, my goodness. Do I have to do this?
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C
Can you. You don't just say who said it, but he does give us the take.
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A
She does. I want to know which celebrity had the worst take.
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B
I.
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C
And if you won't say that, I want to know just what the take was.
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B
It was. It was bacon as a spice.
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C
Oh, I know who said that.
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B
And it was someone who was running for president. And I, and I. And I was like, I don't think.
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A
I don't want to be said that.
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B
Yeah. And I was like, I don't want to be blamed for losing.
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A
So she, she crumples up bacon and uses it as a spice on food.
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B
Yeah. And then I said, oh, okay, that sounds delicious. I said, but. And then I said, what kind of spice is it? And then she goes, well, it's not a spice. It's more of a flavor. And I said, well, you were the one that just said it's a spice, so how can we talk about the bacon? And then I also don't eat bacon, which I made. I was like, I don't eat bacon, so let's like, do something else because it'll be more fun that way. It was just a bit of a.
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A
And she was adamant about the bacon take.
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B
I don't know if I don't think it was her. It was definitely people.
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A
They. They focus. Grouped. That.
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B
They did. They did.
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A
She'd never heard of bacon bits.
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B
Yeah. I don't know. And here's what I'll say. She had a great take that I originally was like, let's do that one. And it was that she doesn't like when people take their shoes off on the plane. And I am an avid shoe taker offer even if it's a two hour flight.
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A
Oh, you are? Oh, I think that's gross. With socks it's still gross.
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B
You don't take your shoes off.
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A
What are we as a culture? People go on planes now as if they're going to their own personal bed.
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B
Oh, don't get me wrong. I'm wearing, I'm wearing a suit.
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C
I agree. We should go the other way. People should start wearing suits again.
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A
I know
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B
I'm wearing the suit, but the, the, the socks are out. The white socks and a suit. And it's like that. I think, you know, we want to mix the high and the low. You want it, but you got to let those puppies breathe. On a flight. On a 12 hour flight, you got to let those puppies breathe.
- [20:59]
A
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- [22:08]
B
It depends on where I am in New York City right now. I say that the rats are being treated badly and we need to figure out a new way to deal with them. Because just killing them I think is not cool. Because that's the solution. And everyone talks about it like it's normal. They're just like, yeah, we're just going to kill the rats.
- [22:24]
A
What do you want? You want to send them to a colony or something?
- [22:26]
B
Yes, there are many unused islands on this island and we could just put them on Rat Island. I think it would be really nice. But the, the better question is like, who's your dream guest? And I have a really good answer for that, and I really, genuinely believe it. Ben Affleck. I want Ben Affleck.
- [22:42]
A
Oh, he'd be crazy. Amazing guest. Whenever he does press, we wanted him on this show. You know, he's really smart about the entertainment business. When you get him going, he just hold, you know, $100 million or more on an AI company out of nowhere. Like, he's great. Ben Affleck, open invite. Come on the town.
- [22:58]
B
He's okay. And Subway Takes too. He's our white. He's our white whale. But I, I just think he's one of the.
- [23:04]
A
Would you go to Boston and do it on the subway there?
- [23:07]
B
100%. I'm there and I'm there tomorrow. I'll figure it out. I'll figure it out with the city. We'll figure it out how to take that train. I don't know what it's called. What's the Boston train called?
- [23:16]
A
I don't know. But you should do like the old school talk shows where you do a week in la on the subway. Here, there's nobody on it. You would have free reign.
- [23:23]
B
We're, we're, we're in process because we've done London, we've done London, we've done Berlin, we've done Chicago, we've done Paris. And recently we started cooking up plans to come to la. You should come on when we're in la.
- [23:38]
A
Anytime. All right, so what, what is your team? What is. What does Team Kareem look like?
- [23:43]
B
So on. Keep the meter running. I have a producer named Adam Faze on Subway Takes. I have a producer and co founder named Andrew Kuo. A lot of the people that shoot the shows are shared, but usually there are at least two shooters, sometimes three, depending. Sometimes four, depending on the situation. BTS photographer, two associate producers, and then my management team who's helping with the scheduling and the coordination. So on any given. On Subway Takes, on any given shoot, it's probably. And then like, there's an editor, there's a sound mixer. I mean, it's a whole product. They're both major productions. And my thesis and hypothesis is that. And actually, it's not even my thesis. Maybe it is my thesis. My passion is entertainment. My passion. I look up to Hollywood. I've always wanted to be in Hollywood. Now I have a version of Hollywood that exists where I'm making TV shows. They're being distributed on different screens. I would, you know, with, with whether that screen is a YouTube screen at home on your TV or an Instagram screen on your toilet, on, on your phone, or if, if, you know, one of the streamers, Netflix or HBO or whoever wants to do a show, I'm down to do it. But I couldn't wait to be in the industry. And it just so happened that, like, I guess I made it like I made my own little mini industry within the industry and it's now merging and
- [25:11]
A
that's how people do it these days. No one's going to give you an opportunity. You got to create it for yourself.
- [25:15]
C
Kareem, as an online creator, we, we've had a few people on, you know, we had Sean Evans on from Hot Ones. If you were offered the role of a TV show host, a traditional kind of media path, Late Night with Korean or do you. Yes. Or do you prefer the, like, social media, YouTube or, or is the legacy traditional path still interesting to you?
- [25:36]
B
The legacy traditional path is still interesting to me. And I get asked this question a lot about late, like, Late Night in particular. They're like, late night's dead. Late Night's. And I'm like, I don't think Late Night's dead. The format of Late Night is not dead. And you can see the proof is in the pudding when you look at the clips the next day on YouTube
- [25:54]
A
or you're doing a version of it on YouTube.
- [25:57]
B
Yeah, I don't know if it's a version of it. It's like maybe, you know, the evolution of Late Night. And I don't know, it's like, is an interview. Like I used to call intentionally. I used to call Subway Takes a one Minute podcast. When I first started, like between zero followers and a hundred thousand followers, I used to call it a podcast. And the reason was because one day I realized that everything's a podcast. Like, if you are listening to the David Letterman show or Kimmel or whatever, and without watching it, like, you're still kind of listening to it. Like, everything is a podcast. So.
- [26:31]
A
Well, especially now that they're all on video, right?
- [26:33]
B
And, but that means that this is a talk show. Like, you know, it's all one big thing now. And I don't know, like, I don't, I don't think that the format is dead. I think that the audience habits are changing. People are watching Late Night the next day instead of the night of SNL is a good example. Like, people watch it the next day all the time. The clips are being distributed. So like, and people are watching them on YouTube all the time. So I don't think that the format itself is broken. I just think that like audiences have a lot more control and want to watch things when they want to watch them. And this appointment viewing at 11:35pm is tough, you know, but, but I think that late night is, can, can be fixed, I guess, but it's more of a distribution problem than it is a format problem.
- [27:20]
A
Well, I would be interested to see how Subway takes would rate at 1235 on CBS because you know, they are giving their late night time slots to Byron Allen to program his standup show. And there, you know, that's a, he's paying for that time and then selling the ads himself. I wonder if you would get a decent number just putting your YouTube show on CBS.
- [27:46]
B
I, I don't know, I'll have to ask you guys.
- [27:49]
A
I know it would be an interesting. And obviously if you started asking people about sex positions and things, you could be on hbo. What, what is success in three to five years?
- [27:58]
B
You. Ah, man, that's such a, that's a toughie because I kind of shoot from the hip constantly.
- [28:04]
A
You're replacing Kimmel?
- [28:05]
B
No, I don't want to replace Kimmel. Shout out to Kimmel maybe for having me on the show. I don't, I don't know. Like I, I, I see, I don't look at myself as a talk show host. Like I feel more than anything, I feel like a Bourdanian sort of element to myself. Yeah. And, and, and that's, there are subways
- [28:25]
A
all over the world. You could do a travelog where you're on the subway in Maresh and you're fighting off the crowds in Tokyo and all that.
- [28:35]
B
I mean, that's the plan for season two of Keep the Meter Running. I'm hoping that it takes me this year. We shot nine episodes in New York. We're shooting an international finale which has not been shot yet. That's the beauty of having your own schedule. And I do think that the next season of the show will look more like a Bourdainian show. Less about the driver, more about the city. But yeah, I don't know if I want to replace everyone or anyone. Just, I just want to, I think I'm just me, you know, which is its own thing. But I did struggle with this at the end of last year where I was like, am I Seth Meyers or am I Bourdain or am I Pedro Pascal? Like, what is my path?
- [29:14]
A
I often have that same debate. Well, I am looking forward to the day that you witness a stabbing or something and solve a crime. And you and Charlize Theron are deemed national heroes for your crime fighting on the subway.
- [29:28]
B
Well, I have a bit where I pitch a movie to every celebrity and no one's ever said yes.
- [29:32]
A
Are any of them going anywhere?
- [29:33]
B
Nope. But, Charlize, I. I pitched the first Monopoly movie based on the game.
- [29:38]
A
Oh, that's happening.
- [29:39]
B
Oh, it is.
- [29:40]
A
Yeah. Lionsgate has it, but it's Margot Robbie, not. Oh, not Charlize.
- [29:45]
B
Wait, that's. I mean, maybe it'll be good.
- [29:47]
A
Yeah, they. But. And she's only producing.
- [29:49]
B
Okay, okay.
- [29:50]
A
You could be the. You could be cast as the Monopoly Man.
- [29:52]
B
That's what I was going to say. So you're saying there's a chance.
- [29:54]
A
There is a chance.
- [29:55]
B
I could be Mr. Monopoly.
- [29:57]
A
You could.
- [29:57]
B
All right.
- [29:58]
A
Thank you for coming on the show, Kareem. Appreciate it. Good luck with the new show.
- [30:01]
B
Thank you so much. I really appreciate you guys for having me.
- [30:05]
A
We are back with the call sheet. Craig, Mortal Kombat. Does this mean anything to you? I know you're not a game guy.
- [30:12]
C
I've played my fair share of Mortal Kombat at like bar arcades, but I. I'm not, you know, some.
- [30:18]
B
Finish him.
- [30:19]
C
Yeah, sure.
- [30:22]
A
Yeah. I am not a Mortal Kombat person. I don't know anything about the franchise. But I do know that this thing came on tracking a couple weeks ago at 50 million for this weekend. This is a Warner Brothers new line Release, Mortal Kombat 2. The interesting thing about this movie is it's a sequel to a movie that did not do very well. The first Mortal Kombat. Well, the first of the reboot, they did some in the 90s. The first one did 84 million total worldwide and opened to 23 in the
- [30:56]
C
US and it was 2021 and it was released day and date.
- [30:59]
A
Yes, this was pandemic era. Like Project Popcorn. Warner's just putting them all online and did not do that well. But the reaction was strong. The numbers on digital were strong. So they said, eff it, let's do it. We're doing another one. Simon McQu, back to direct, unfamiliar with his game, did not know this. Director Carl Urban starring. What say you? Let's set the line. I've seen some lower than 50 million. The NRG number came down to 48 and some of the others, screen dollars and stuff, have it a little lower. Let's set the line at 48. Are you over or under?
- [31:36]
C
I think my instinct is to take the under. However, I feel like underestimating video games is stupid.
- [31:45]
A
And these days maybe. God, that's a crazy thing to say considering the long term history of video game movies. But yes, lately seems like people show
- [31:53]
C
up and this does kind of have a window. I mean, it's competing against Devil Wears Prada, which is not the same demo at all.
- [31:59]
A
No.
- [31:59]
C
And you know, this has a couple of weeks before Mandalorian, so. And like I said, sometimes you don't want to bet against video games. And this was, this is the most popular fight fighting video game of all time. So maybe I'll, maybe I'll zag and take the over.
- [32:13]
A
All right, good for you. I love it. I'm taking the under. Just, I don't know, 48 million is a lot for this kind of movie. I think the audience will be there, but not to that extent. You know, not, not that it's a scientific pro, but I just interviewed some high school kids and they were not into this. And I think to get to that number, you've got to get young people into this movie. And I don't think they have, but that's my opinion. We'll see. I'm gonna take the under on this. Warner's prove me wrong. Okay, that's the show for today. I want to thank my guest, Kareem Rama, producer Craig Horbeck artist or Jon Jones. And I want to thank you. One more episode this week. It's going to be recorded tonight live in Hollywood. We are doing a live episode with David E. Kelly, the prolific showrunner. We will have that episode later this week.
- [33:07]
B
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