Matt Damon talks and laments about this. What killed the mid-budget movie was the collapse of DVD sales. Without DVD sales, there is no extended "second bite"

Matt Damon talks and laments about this. What killed the mid-budget movie was the collapse of DVD sales. Without DVD sales, there is no extended "second bite" that allows word of mouth to build up. So, instead, your marketing is $30-$50 million and you need to make that back. Getting a second bite is also responsible for the recycled pablum with China pandering--if you say something that the Chinese government deems unacceptable you lose your shot at that market. As for "episodic", I suspect that's less a "deep dive" and more ADHD background watching on a phone. "Encanto" was an absolute poster child for this--"HEY! LOOK UP NOW! HEEEEEEEEY!" "Okay, volume back down. You can go back to your text messaging for a while." "HEY! LOOK UP AGAIN! TIME TO PAY ATTENTION! HEEEEEEY!" ad nauseam.