Don’t F*** With Cat Ladies!: How a Pottery-Making Pussycat Won the Box Office (original) (raw)
Plus, Hollywood’s latest status symbol is a $10K casket and partying in Paris with Zas.
CatVideoFest clawed its way to the top, outperforming some major releases over the weekend. Adobe Stock (4)
The Surprise Box Office Hit Last Weekend? A Pottery-Making Cat
It’s doubtful J.D. Vance bought a ticket, but the ninth annual CatVideoFest sold a record $281,000 worth of tickets during the Aug. 3 weekend, when it opened on 106 screens across the country, with such venues as L.A.’s Vidiots playing to sold-out crowds. “It’s our biggest opening ever,” purrs Will Braden, the Seattle-based videographer who’s been running the festival since 2016. “It was way bigger than we expected.” Indeed, when you crunch the data, the fest — which is really just a 75-minute compilation reel featuring Braden’s edits of the best online feline content of the past year, like YouTube sensation Momo, a cat who makes pottery on a pedal wheel — performed better per screen than some major releases, including Harold and the Purple Crayon and Fly Me to the Moon. And those numbers should only go up as nearly 150 other theaters nationwide plan on adding screenings over the next couple of weeks. Still, Braden isn’t taking all the credit for the success; this year, he says, the event (which also raises money for animal welfare organizations and shelters) got an unexpected boost of publicity thanks to Donald Trump’s vice presidential pick’s recent anti-cat rhetoric. “He very foolishly activated the cat lady army. They are legion, and they love to stick it to people who make fun of cats. I’d be lying if I said Vance’s comments didn’t help our box office.” — JORDAN HOFFMAN
Death Becomes You — Especially in This $10M Coffin
After spending a decade producing The Bachelor, then going on to create FBoy Island and The GOAT, you’d think Elan Gale would have checked everything off his bucket list. But alas, the reality show veteran had an unfulfilled goal: to create an indestructible coffin. “No,” he insists, “it isn’t a joke.” The HyperCasket — a stainless-steel vessel that looks so much like Tesla’s Cybertruck, Gale, 40, felt compelled to include a note on its website disavowing any affiliation with Elon Musk — is advertised as “the world’s toughest casket.” The starting price is 10,000,butoptionalupgradeslikeseatbelts(presumablytokeepoccupantssafeduringcollisionswithothercaskets)anda“self−buryingfeature”(whichthecompanyadmitsmaynotbefullyfunctionalbeforetheendofthecenturyandcouldbeimplementedbya“teamofshovel−wieldingoompa−loompas”)canjackupthepricetoasmuchas10,000, but optional upgrades like seat belts (presumably to keep occupants safe during collisions with other caskets) and a “self-burying feature” (which the company admits may not be fully functional before the end of the century and could be implemented by a “team of shovel-wielding oompa-loompas”) can jack up the price to as much as 10,000,butoptionalupgradeslikeseatbelts(presumablytokeepoccupantssafeduringcollisionswithothercaskets)anda“self−buryingfeature”(whichthecompanyadmitsmaynotbefullyfunctionalbeforetheendofthecenturyandcouldbeimplementedbya“teamofshovel−wieldingoompa−loompas”)canjackupthepricetoasmuchas10 million. “Life is getting scarier, so if I know my final resting place is going to be one where I’m safe forever, that’s the best guarantee I can have,” Gale says with a straight face. Preorders at titancasket.com began July 30. — KIRSTEN CHUBA
So Long, Fred Segal. Where Do the Clothes Go?
Next time you’re shopping at T.J. Maxx or Ross Dress for Less, keep a sharp eye on the labels. It’s entirely possible some of the funkier garments you’ll find on the racks could be Fred Segal originals. The fabled high-end L.A. clothier shuttered its last two stores July 27, ending a 63-year run that at one point included nine locations in California (as well as outposts in Switzerland and Taiwan) and numerous mentions in trend-setting movies and TV shows (remember in Clueless when Cher asks housekeeper Lucy to help her find that “white collarless shirt from Fred Segal” because “it’s my most capable-looking outfit”?). But the company’s bad luck — owner Jeff Lotman blamed lingering effects of the pandemic — could be your good fortune. According to a veteran purchasing executive in the garment district, standard procedure for these liquidations is for the company to offload its remaining inventory — what’s left after in-store going-out-of-business sales — to discount chains like T.J. Maxx, almost always at a considerable loss. So those 15sunglassesyou’retryingonwhilewaitinginlinetopurchasethathalf−offlemonteatreeoilfacescrub?Theiroriginalpricemighthavebeencloserto15 sunglasses you’re trying on while waiting in line to purchase that half-off lemon tea tree oil face scrub? Their original price might have been closer to 15sunglassesyou’retryingonwhilewaitinginlinetopurchasethathalf−offlemonteatreeoilfacescrub?Theiroriginalpricemighthavebeencloserto700. — MIKEY O’CONNELL
Zaz Vaults Over Seine, Lands at NBCUniversal’s Fete
If party crashing were an Olympic event in Paris, David Zaslav would be coming home with the gold. Sources tell Rambling Reporter that the Warner Bros. Discovery CEO left his own studio’s opening ceremony party to pop in — uninvited — on NBCUniversal’s shindig across the bridge, apparently hoping to lure some talent back to his party. Not that Zaz’s event was short on A-list attendees; the company reportedly flew in Tom Cruise, Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig as its guests for the Olympics. Our source reports that NBCU attendees were très annoyed by the gate-crashing. A rep for WBD, however, denies Zaslav ever left his own party.
This story first appeared in the August 7 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
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