Month: July 2022

Earlier this month, Bruce Springsteen announced the US dates for his 2023 tour with The E-Street Band. The string of dates will kick off in February with a performance in Tampa Bay and continue through mid-April before coming to an end at Newark’s Prudential Center. Fans were excited to get their hands on tickets for the upcoming shows, but prices quickly frustrated some while turning away others. Tickets for shows at Tampa Bay, Tulsa, Boston, and more went for upwards of $5,000 on Ticketmaster which made their frustration very understandable. After hearing some of their complaints about the ticket prices, Ticketmaster issued a response in defense of their pricing model.

“Ticketmaster says [the most expensive tickets] represent only 11% of the overall tickets sold,” Variety reports. “By the ticketing service’s calculations, that left the other 88.2% of tickets sold at fixed prices that ranged from $59.50 to $399 before added service fees.”

They continued, “Ticketmaster further says that the average price of all tickets sold so far is $262 with 56% being sold for under $200 face value…The service further broke down the percentages on the 56% of tickets it says were sold for under $200. It said that 1% were sold under $99, 27% went for between $100-150, and 1% sold for between $150-200.”

Ticketmaster concluded by noting that “prices and formats are consistent with industry standards for top performers.”

With the unexpected release of new Billie Eilish songs, a controversial track by Fletcher, and a song from Panic! At the Disco, the pop world was busy this week.

Each week, Uproxx rounds up the best new pop releases. Listen up.

Billie Eilish — “The 30th”

The “Bad Guy” singer dove headfirst into vulnerability with this pained ballad “The 30th”: “Sometimes you look the same / Just like you did before the accident / When you’re staring into space / It’s hard to believe you don’t remember it,” she sings, her vocal delivery overflowing with emotion.

Panic! At the Disco — “Middle Of A Breakup”

In usual Panic! At the Disco fashion, “Middle Of A Breakup” is full of theatrics, swears, and drug references. Hedonism at the forefront of the track: “Blessed be your last cigarette / Makeup sex in the middle of a breakup,” Brendon Urie belts.

Fletcher — “Becky’s So Hot”

Drama aside, Fletcher’s “Becky’s So Hot” is a ferocious, fearless anthem about thinking your ex’s new partner is, well, hot. Both humorous and a bit vengeful, it succeeds at being catchy, the melody will remain in the listener’s head after the song is done.

Madison Beer — “I Have Never Felt More Alive”

Madison Beer’s “I Have Never Felt More Alive” is for the feature film “Fall,” which is not hard to imagine because the song is cinematic and intense. The build-up is packed with anticipation, and Beer’s vocals are sprawling, adding to the sense of catharsis.

The Chainsmokers — “Time Bomb”

“Time Bomb” is about trying to move on and grow up, despite the relentless atmosphere of party: “I guess I’ll stay on this vibration / I don’t need your reciprocation,” they sing, adding that they’re “getting tired of this simulation.” This song goes further into the vulnerable texture that The Chainsmokers have been exploring.

Max — “Wasabi”

Max has made it possible to write a love song called “Wasabi,” and it’s as spicy as one would expect. Against a restless, ebullient beat, he sings: “Baby you got that body / That extra little something, Wasabi.”

Clinton Kane — “Keep It To Yourself”

On “Keep It To Yourself,” Clinton Kane is having trouble healing after a relationship while watching his ex move on much faster than he’s able to. The vulnerable track has a powerful build-up, and his voice is hurt: “You should probably keep it on the low,” he sings in a kind of plea.

Jessie Ware — “Free Yourself”

Jessie Ware knows how to make a feel-good anthem, and this one’s perfect for the summer. The lively beat is infectious, and her unabashed vocals make it even bigger and brighter: “Free yourself / Keep on moving up that mountain top,” she sings.

Ali Gatie — “Can’t Give Up”

“Can’t Give Up” is brimming with pain as Ali Gatie sings about feeling haunted by someone from his past. There’s lots of rain and tears, but he refuses to give up: “I’ll sing to your shadow even when it gets dark / I’ll keep all your secrets tucked inside of my heart ,” he sings.

Montell Fish — “Darling”

Speaking of pained ballads about loss love Montell Fish’s “Darling” is another. In Bon Iver-like fashion, his vocals are high-pitched and almost whispers as he lulls some of the most heartbreaking lyrics you’ve ever heard: “Are you still in love my darling? / Did you fall out of love my darling?”

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

In 14 years, Foodbeast has gone from a humble blog written by foodies geeking out over food porn and the sorts of outlandish food hacks that probably drive fast food employees crazy, to a multi-million dollar media company with a reach in the billions and content that feels at once youthful and deeply knowledgeable. Foodbeast’s latest project, Kitchen League is a live cooking competition that pits chefs against creators and relies on audience participation to inject chaos (and fun) into it all. The show — which our own Steve Bramucci was recently featured on — is a mega-hit on Twitch and might be the best thing Foodbeast has given us since the Dream Machine, a vending machine that operated on Instagram posts as currency, and dispensed Cup Noodles, video games, and gift cards.

All cooking competitions are pretty cut-throat and can be, at times, pretty sadistic, but even the best ones can’t really provide what Kitchen League can — a way to join in on the fun. That sense of community is everything to Foodbeast founder, Elie Ayrouth, who credits the passion of his team and the community they’ve built via viral food posts and social media with the brand’s success. We caught up with Ayrouth over Zoom to talk about what’s next for Foodbeast and hit him up for his current favorite food hacks. He also did us the favor of finally putting the great In-N-Out french fry debate to rest.

Foodbeast has exploded from its humble food blog roots, what are you most excited about right now?

The most excited I am about any one product we’re doing right now is the show, Kitchen League. Everything that we’ve done up to this point when we first started Foodbeast was basically a bunch of kids trying to emulate Food Network in our own way, with no money. Then fast forward 10 years later, we’re not even using money to do that, but now we’ve taken what Food Network has owned for years in cooking competitions, something you needed network backing and millions and millions and millions of dollars to do and we did it with the community. We created Kitchen League using other creators. It started with GoPro’s in an office, and now it’s a kitchen studio with 20 cameras and there’s no outside funding to put this on.

It was just built on the backs of viral blog posts, then popping off on Instagram, then building a community on Facebook. Then this last frontier that we have right now is Twitch. Really, finally, there is a platform where we could do something, that Food Network couldn’t, even if they threw money at it, they couldn’t do what not only Foodbeast is doing, but what creators on Twitch are doing — which is really just being themselves. We’re hoping to upset that model by just having a live cooking competition and an entire league around it.

Do you have any other new ideas you’ve been cooking up that are also inspired by Food Network? Beyond the cooking competitions, what other things do you want to explore via Twitch?

Once we realized that this platform existed, the next business model for Foodbeast is getting into packaged goods and things. We want to take everything that you use in the kitchen and give it that Foodbeast touch. We started really trivially with this product called, The Double Dip Bowl, which is our first foray into selling anything online. It’s basically a bowl that has two tray compartments in it for the ultimate fat ass, someone that needs a huge dipping container, but wants to hold their chips and their salsa or their nuggets and their ranch in one hand, be able to operate with the other. We’re like, all right, that was a fun, goofy project. When we launched, I think the first 1,000 sold out in a couple of hours… So we said, “Well oh shit, there’s something here to that. What else are we excited to circumvent?”

So then we started looking at the whole kitchen. We started looking at the products we used. We do have a sauce coming out… we’ve been working on this sauce for the past nine months. It’s going to be a bright white, spicy garlic sauce. I’ll give you the name later. We’re still hammering it home. The branding is the last stage. We spent the last eight months dialing in the formula and making sure it has really good ingredients. I didn’t want a label that was like 100 ingredients deep. I wanted it to be like four or five ingredients.

Something respectable.

Yeah, man. I mean, I’ve seen enough now. Dude, I’m getting older! Every time I eat something with fucking 100 ingredients on it, I’m passing out after, so I wanted something that is a brand in and of itself. So the next frontier is we have this media, we have these shows and now we want products. We want our products in there. We’re built our back off an advertising model. We see the future where we want to have our own products that we’re proud of getting featured in these shows.

Is there another food festival in the works? I know the pandemic has made that impossible for the last three years.

It did. Yeah. The last major festival we did was right before the pandemic hit and it was Nood Beach. It was weird because we culminated with festival after festival. We started with like a couple hundred people at our first one and our last one with Snoop Dog on the beach — around 10,000 people that showed up. Then the pandemic happened.

Oh, so you’re the one to blame!

Yeah, it was us. Snoop gave everyone COVID! It was actually 2019, so still could have been us, who knows? Seriously though, after COVID, we knew we’d want to get back to it one day. We dabbled a little bit. We threw a 300-person invite-only festival. We’re going to get back to it. We haven’t announced any upcoming public-facing ones. We’re kind of just seeing how other festivals do it right now. What are they doing right? What’s scary? What’s unhealthy? What’s healthy? What’s a good thing to do. It’s not big on our priority list immediately, but we do appreciate how much it can bring people together. I know people are thirsty for it, but yeah, we haven’t announced anything and this year probably won’t see anything like public-facing from us.

I was reading about Foodbeast’s vending machine, the Dream Machine and how that started as a joke. What other jokes have turned into realities at Foodbeast?

Kitchen League started as a joke. It was this sadistic idea that if we wanted to do a cooking show, what would Foodbeast’s version of it be? Cooking shows are already pretty fucked up. Especially an Americanized cooking show. You know, “here’s your cooking basket!” then Joe Rogan comes out like, “well, it’s a testicle now,” or whatever. So we thought how it would be even more fucked up if you let the audience at home actually play along. That was the first foray. We’re like, how funny could that be? How viable could that be? We were trying to find the platform for it. It ended up being Twitch, but essentially, it started as a joke.

We have a tendency to kind of blow out our jokes. We try to push it as far as we can go. That one ended up having some legs to it. We’re like, “oh shit, that could be a brand and a league in and of itself.”

What are your favorite fast food hacks?

My favorite fast food hacks? Oh, this is good. I wish I thought about this a little bit more. So In-N-Out, the tomato wrap… Have you ever had a tomato wrap?

I haven’t.

So everyone knows the lettuce wrap, protein style, you can actually ask for a tomato wrap and it’ll hit you tomatoes as the buns. It’s pretty nice. If you don’t like tomatoes, it’s going to piss people off. So it’s a really fun one to show on the internet, but that’s a top hack for me right now. I’m still a sucker for Del Taco. They do the “Go Bold.” They’ll put fries and white sauce on anything you ask. I usually get all my stuff bold at Del Taco. You can even ask for a milkshake bold. They’ll just do anything. They’ll put fries and fucking white sauce in your chocolate shake if you want.

Who is killing it in fast food right now?

I think Taco Bell and Chipotle… those two are killing it. I think Taco Bell’s ability to stay in the news, for positive things, is a testament to their brand for how simple the food is. The core ingredients are pretty simple. I think they’re killing it just in staying in the news. Chipotle is still kind of killing it for value and quality. Those are the two that I would immediately jump to. All things considered, pandemic aside, food industry aside, they’re figuring it out and they haven’t really compromised the quality. So I think that’s cool.

What do you think is missing in the fast food space right now? We don’t really have a strongly visible Indian fast food chain that has made it nationwide.

No. I agree with you. I think the closest one I can think of in the Indian space is Curry Up Now and they’re pretty darn good. They’re just not blowing up the way they could. I also think a Middle Eastern chain, like a proper fast food Middle Eastern chain, not the like Daphne’s Greek cafe of it all, but like I was in Canada recently and they just have great quick service Mediterranean and Lebanese, fast food. It’s crushing. These are like 100 location-chains. This shit would work out here. Why not?

It’s like pita garlic, chicken wraps, and bowls, follow the Chipotle model and go to town.

It’s simple and makes sense.

The industry is also missing transparency.

That might be a little corny, but I think fast food chains can weather it if they get a little bit more transparent with their ingredients. Go a bit more of the Chipotle route, because people are just more into whole ingredients. They’re less into going out to eat like healthy or low cal or whatever. Tell us what’s in this stuff. If you can’t tell, start fixing it and get it down. I think that’s what’s keeping Chipotle afloat. I think that’s what sets them apart. Taco Bell’s embraced the other side, but I know Taco Bell’s working on continuing to add transparency, making their ingredients simpler.

But, I think in terms of cuisines, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern and Indian, I think they’re definitely missing in the marketplace. It’d be dope to see that. It’s cool to see Filipino food get a little bit more love through Jolly Bee.

I know you’re an In-N-Out fan.

Love it.

Can you make the case for the fries? I feel like a lone warrior on this hill, defending real potatoes that are cut in front of your eyes and fried. I don’t know how that’s ever a bad thing…

You made the case! I mean, the only thing worse than an In-N-Out Stan, is an In-N-Out hater. We always talk about what the best burger in the game is. People will say In-N-Out then they will immediately say, “but the fries are trash.” Let’s talk about the burgers. The burgers on affordability level, a taste level, to me, an In-N-Out Burger is up there with any burger, regardless of the price. I think the fries are dope. I don’t know what people are talking about. There’s so much customization available to it. Get them well done, if you want them crispy. Animal style is an amazing feat of fast food innovation. People need to be eating that shit all the time!

God forbid, someone cuts potatoes from scratch. They have a whole room with a window so that you could see the young soul working away and crushing potatoes from scratch. Come on, show that some love! It’s good. What are you talking about? That’s why I think In-N-Out’s going to continue to thrive because it’s just that transparency again. The window’s open. You can see them working on one ingredient at a time, these potatoes. That’s why they don’t let you put the fries on the burger behind the scenes. They just have their stations set for these things. It’s beautiful. It’s just a good, transparent model. I think you made the case for the fries. I would use your quote, exactly.

What do you think the best platform for showcasing food is? TikTok, Twitch? I mean, obviously, it seems like you guys have really kind of latched onto Twitch and its capabilities of being able to interface with the audience in real-time.

Yeah. I mean, I’m still a huge fan of what YouTube can do for food. I think the best platform right now is not Twitch yet, unfortunately. I think Twitch goes the deepest, but I do believe TikTok is changing the game a lot. When TikTok came about and foodies realized that it’s not just a dancing platform, I mean, you have a new flock of amazing creators that are now chefs, because of TikTok. They had no chef experience before and just had fun exploring it. You can get from zero to 100,000 followers, zero to a million followers faster on TikTok than on any other platform.

You couldn’t do that on Twitch. YouTube is still a feat to do that. TikTok, I mean you’re a phone and a couple goofy ideas away in your home kitchen, regardless of what it looks like. You can have a galley kitchen with one stove and I can name you three creators that are crushing it and that’s how they started. Now they’re like millionaire recipe creators. So TikTok is that platform of opportunity right now, I think.

Overall, what is your big takeaway as the viral food god?

I remember the first couple of years of Foodbeast, when I was trying to decide if I wanted to go full-time with this thing and if it would be sustainable. It was like, man, Foodbeast’s whole model was built on covering and talking about the things that were new in food. I kept thinking, and I kept having this digging nightmare in the back, like, “will food be interesting 10 years down the line, if I’m blessed enough to be able to continue to do this for a living? Will there continue to be new innovations? Will it continue to be fun?” People are still innovating. People are still finding new stories about food. Now it’s TikTok. I’m learning about like a 13-year-old kid in Dubai, who’s cooking in this dark kitchen, but his recipes are crazy.

I would’ve never found that out without TikTok. That’s still something new in food. The story is, we’re going to continue to eat until our entire food supply is replaced by one fricking pill that will fill you up for the whole day. I think there’s going to continue to be innovation in food. I think if you just find ways to continue to tell these stories, that’s been the secret sauce, where are people telling the most interesting food stories, and let’s just go there. So now it’s TikTok, it’s Twitch, and YouTube. I’m still excited about the new things I’m seeing.

The Linda Lindas are on a roll. The AAPI femme-fronted young punks dropped their debut album, Growing Up, this past April and have already performed on The Tonight Show, had Bikini Kill’s Kathleen Hanna in their music video for “Why,” and are opening for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Japanese Breakfast later this year.

So as their star rises, The Linda Lindas are giving a glimpse into how they began: As a cover band. They’ve just released a cover of The Go-Gos 1981 tune, “Tonite” and it feels like one budding L.A. punk group tipping a cap to the L.A. punk legends who paved the way for them. The Linda Lindas’ version has a little more fuzz and it’s a cool veneer on the early 80’s tune. The band shared a statement on the song:

“The Linda Lindas started out as a cover band, and we’ve played more songs by The Go-Go’s than anyone else. And even after we started to write our own songs, we never stopped playing ‘Tonite.’ We love the idea of us going out and owning our town, and ‘Tonite’ is as fun to play as it is empowering––especially the part where we all sing together. ‘We rule the streets tonite until the morning light’ and so should our fans. Because the cover is such a hit at shows, we decided to record a studio version to pay tribute to the greatest all-female rock band of all time, a crucial part of the L.A. punk scene, and our heroes.”

Listen to The Linda Lindas cover “Tonite” by The Go-Gos above.

Doja Cat has made it no secret that there are times she’d prefer to skive off her duties as an internationally renowned pop-rap star in order to play video games all day — and with her recent throat surgery, she probably gets to do just that. While that might be a little disappointing for her fans, she recently made a big update to her website that combines both interests and just might offer a comforting consolation as they await her return to recording, releasing, and performing new music.

Fans checking out Doja’s website now get to explore a video game version of the world from Planet Her, complete with a cutesy, pixel avatar of Doja herself in one of three outfits from the album’s release cycle — including the hilarious caterpillar outfit from her 2021 VMAs hosting gig. Navigating the usual music site staples — videos, tours, merch, etc. — involves maneuvering your tiny animated Doja Cat through a Pokemon-esque city and entering different buildings with the respective signs out front. While there aren’t any truly video game-y elements (y’know, like platforming, fighting enemies, or trying to reach a goal), it’s a fun take, combining Doja’s hobby and her career while making the wait for her comeback more manageable.

Interestingly, Doja actually has another game coming out this year as she is being added to the popular social game House Party with her own unique storyline. That’s out in Fall 2022. In the meantime, you can check out DojaCat.com to play around on Planet Her. You’ll need a password to get in, which you can get by joining her mailing list — although, if you poke around enough on social media, someone’s bound to have shared it by now.

This week is a big one for Lizzo: On the latest Billboard Hot 100 chart, “About Damn Time” rose to No. 1, making it Lizzo’s second chart-topping single after “Truth Hurts” reached the summit in 2019. Naturally, Lizzo has some celebrating to do.

After the news broke yesterday, Lizzo tweeted, “We got the #1 song in the country YALL!” A little bit later, she shared a video of herself and a friend happily popping bottles of champagne in celebration. She wrote, “IMA BE DRUNK BY 5.”

On TikTok, she also posted a video of herself flashing this week’s Hot 100 top 10 graphic and excitedly dancing to her song “2 Be Loved (Am I Ready).”

She was similarly pleased after learning a day earlier that her new album Special debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart, making it her highest-charting album so far and 2022’s highest-charting LP by a female artist. She tweeted, “WE BEAT THE PROJECTIONS B*TCH!!! MY HIGHEST EVER CHARTING ALBUM YET!!! Thank you thank you thank you thank you for loving #special.” She also shared on Instagram, “I know I need to charge my phone… BUT THIS IS MY HIGHEST CHARTING ALBUM. THANK YOU FOR LOVING SPECIAL.”

Lizzo is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The Gray Man has only been available on Netflix for a few days, but apparently, that was enough time for the streaming giant to realize it has a hit franchise on its hand. Not only is a sequel starring Ryan Gosling in development, but Netflix is also working on a spinoff film from Deadpool writers Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese.

“The audience reaction to ‘The Gray Man’ has been nothing short of phenomenal. We are so appreciative of the enthusiasm that fans across the world have had for this film,” directors Joe and Anthony Russo told Variety in a statement. “With so many amazing characters in the movie, we had always intended for ‘The Gray Man’ to be part of an expanded universe, and we are thrilled that Netflix is announcing a sequel with Ryan, as well as a second script that we’re excited to talk about soon.”

The Gray Man continues the Russo Brothers ongoing relationship with Netflix, which just revealed a release window for Extraction 2. The first film starring Chris Hemsworth as Tyler Rake was another action hit for the platform, but unfortunately, fans are going to have to wait just a little while longer for the sequel that’s now scheduled to arrive in 2023. Via Collider:

While the finer details of the plot around Extraction 2 are still being kept under wraps we do know that there are some returning names to the sequel’s production. Once again stepping behind the camera is Sam Hargrave, who made his feature film directorial debut with the first film and Joe Russo will once again pen the script. Joe and his brother Anthony Russo will also be producing the film through their AGBO production company. Hemsworth will also serve as a producer while also starring in the film.

As for the Russo Brothers returning to Marvel, that has become murkier. They recently revealed that directing Secret Wars is still their dream project. However, Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige told Comic-Con audiences will not be directing the just-announced Avengers: Secret Wars. “We love them, they love us,” Feige said. “We want to find something to do together, it’s not this.”

(Via Variety)

Patton Oswalt is kind-of everywhere right now. Sadly, I haven’t heard about him reprising the Constable Bob role in the upcoming Justified offshoot limited series, but he’s soon appearing as the voice of Matthew the Raven in Netflix’s series adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman. He’s also starring as a catfishing parent in I Love My Dad, and he’s been doing the stand-up comedy thing, for which his fourth Netflix special (We All Scream) will arrive in September.

To promote his nonstop schedule, Patton spoke with The Hollywood Reporter, and naturally, the subject turned to cancel culture because it so directly affects the comedy sphere. And he taking it all in stride, it seems, which isn’t unlike Seth Rogen’s on-point observation about the usefulness of comedy and how some people should accept that their jokes “aged terribly.” Patton skews a little differently on the subject, and while stresses that context is always important, comedians should realize that “wokeness” really isn’t a new invention:

“[P]ushing the envelope doesn’t mean digging your feet in while the envelope moves forward — you should be ahead of that envelope, that’s how you should be pushing it. And again, the whole battle over wokeness, it’s nothing new. This happened in the ’80s, it happened in the ’90s and it’ll happen again in another form. That’s what I was talking about [in the special]. I do a joke about in the future, what am I going to be canceled for? And you don’t know, but you want to at least try to keep progressing.

From there, Patton also expresses the belief that the truly great comedians (like Richard Pryor, George Carlin, and Lenny Bruce) all “found clever, brilliant ways” to kick around their existing restrictions, which made their sets “fun and thrilling” to witness. Holding back from punching down is also important! That last part is my version of events, but the full Patton Oswalt interview is well worth reading and can be found here.

(Via Hollywood Reporter)

There are a lot of details surrounding Prey, the fifth Predator movie that isn’t an Alien crossover, that are pretty interesting. First and foremost, this is a great movie that captures the spirit of the first Predator. You know, where the movie was more concerned with showing us a showdown between a Predator and a human and kind of left all the lore up to the imagination? In Prey, instead of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Dutch, we have Amber Midthunder’s Naru, a Comanche warrior who blurs the line between who is hunting and who is being hunted. (Also, like the first film, this is a very violent movie.)

Second, this movie is set in 1719, which is a direct hand-off from Predator 2 when a Predator literally hands over a pistol from 1715 to Danny Glover’s Mike Harrigan. As director Dan Trachtenberg explains ahead, that seems like the way more interesting direction that Predator 2 opened up as opposed to making two Alien vs. Predator movies.

Also, for some strange reason, Prey will not play in theaters, even though it’s a perfect movie for theaters. As Trachtenberg says ahead, Disney wants Prey to be a movie that brings people to Hulu. (And looking at the reporting from Adam Very at Variety, this seems to track with what he’s saying, too. Basically if Prey played in theaters at all, it goes to HBO Max. If it doesn’t, Disney can put it on a platform they already own.)

Ahead, Trachtenberg breaks down why he wanted to make a Predator movie that emulates the spirit of the first movie, but, of course, doesn’t just remake it in full. He explains how Prey‘s story origins start at the end of Predator 2. And, sure, he wishes Prey was playing in theaters and he made the movie to play in theaters, but at the end of the day you are getting a great theatrical movie right in your home. (Trachtenberg was very good about looking on the bright side here.)

Ever since I saw this movie, the MC Hammer song “Pray” has been going through my head. Look, I think it would have melded perfectly with this movie set in the 1700s.

You know what’s funny? Us having an animated end credit sequence is, I think, akin to bringing back the end theme song to a movie. Just because it’s a thing that we don’t get that often anymore. It was actually challenging developing it. It’s like, we did not want to feel like this is Mannequin or Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead…

Those are two movies I was not expecting to hear during the course of this interview.

Of course. In one of your interviews, of course, you’re going to incite something like this. So, we joked a lot about if this movie were to have an end credit, on-brand theme song, what it would be? And I hope that movies do bring that back, that would be awesome. But for us, the thing we’re bringing back is the end credit, animated title sequence.

I actually rewatched Mannequin somewhat recently. “Nothing’s Going to Stop Us Now,” doesn’t play at all during the movie. It’s just for the very end. I thought it played five times in that movie.

Also, one of the few end credit sequences to be turquoise. Very few movies change the color. Superbad, I think, changed the color of its credit sequence and Mannequin rocked the teal.

I think there’s still time to change the end credit colors of Prey to teal, Right?

It’s too late. It’s too late.

I am a huge fan of the first Predator movie. And like a lot of people, aren’t really into the other ones that much. I feel what you two did here was not talk about the lore as much, but go back to what made the first Predator a movie people really liked.” Am I off-base?

No, that’s exactly right. I think that the challenge is giving that feeling the first one did again, without feeling like we’re just tracing that again. But it’s what inspired the redesign of the creatures. On the one hand, it had to feel undeniably Predator. But also deliver in a surprising way. The first movie was so great because you saw this cloaked being and that was already awesome, and then you saw it with the bio-mask. I assumed as a kid, when I saw it, I was like, Oh, that’s the predator. That’s the cool creature in this movie. And then at the end, you see it in its final form and you’re like, Oh no, that’s what it is?

Right.

So I really wanted this movie to also have those three stages. And to have delightful set pieces when it’s cloaked and we’re milking that for all it’s worth and then seeing it in its masked form and having fun sequences there. And then, yet again, delivering still yet one more thing up our sleeve in what it looks like in its final form. So that there’s still new iconography to add in to the franchise.

I feel like some of the other sequels were more interested in the lore of who the predators are instead of just lets see the Predator hunt and fight somebody.

Yes. And it was, I think, very important that this feel like it’s a movie and it’s a Predator movie. You know? As opposed to “it’s just a Predator movie,” and hopefully it’s a good one. This movie is always telling the story of Nadu and it’s an adventure tale and it’s a coming of age experience and everything is servicing that. The thing that makes her underdog story even stronger is that she’s up against this insane, formidable, seemingly impossible threat – which is another element that links it to the original. The original being this action, sci-fi, horror mashup. This one, once again, wanted to do the mashup thing, but for me, what made it more exciting and new, was that it’s more of an adventure, suspense, sci-fi, horror mash up.

So I’d never seen Predator 2 all the way through. So I watched it yesterday. I didn’t realize Predator 2 is the beginning of Prey when a Predator gives the pistol from 1715 to Danny Glover. So I’m glad I watched it. But do you want people to watch Predator 2 first?

I think that gun in that reference, it also inspired the Aliens vs. Predator franchise, that end sequence. You know?

It did. I have something to say about that, but go ahead.

So I think that – and I guess you didn’t remember that from the movie – that somehow that did seem to permeate a little bit, for me was how we arrived on our date.

I had never seen it in full. I had no idea that scene was even in there. People don’t really talk about Predator 2 much anymore. I saw Prey first…

What’s your feeling on the AVP? The way Predator 2 linked to AVP?

So I was reading about it after I watched it. It seems the effects people also worked on Aliens, so they thought it would be funny just to throw that in there. But it feels like the next obvious story was about the pistol, not a Xenomorph and Predator fighting each other.

I agree.

Randomly, a Predator is handing a pistol to a human for no reason, we should explore what this means seems like the better story to take from the end of Predator 2.

I concur.

So what’s the story with this being on Hulu only? I’m saw this in a theater and it was a great theater movie.

Yeah… I mean, look, we made it to be a big theatrical experience and on the downside, it’s not being released that way. So you can’t see in the theater, but on the upside, the thing you’re getting straight into your living room is a giant theatrical experience. It’s not like a straight video dumping ground. It’s like, “This is a real movie.”

It’s confusing because, other than studio politics, I don’t understand what was going on here?

There’s so many venues that people want people to experience their, I hate to say the word content… They want things to feel premium. Right?

Sure.

So Hulu hasn’t really had… There hasn’t been a 20th franchise baby that has come out yet. So they’re hoping to really ignite the platform to say, “We’re not just putting out the smaller, lower-budget fare. That this is also a place to have giant cinematic experiences.

Because from the outside looking in, the last one obviously didn’t do as well as people hoped. From the outside looking in, I wonder if Disney even wants to be in the Predator business? But it sounds like from what you’re saying, that they do.

It wasn’t that way. I have to tell you.

Okay.

I was terrified after the merger and then the Allens [Alan Horn and Alan Bergman] were going to take a look at the script and see… I was like, “Oh no, what if they don’t get it?” You know what? They loved it. They never said, “Cut the violence.” They never adjusted anything.

No, they did not say cut the violence. This is a very violent movie.

They really didn’t. They really didn’t. In fact, they wanted more dog, which is the one that everyone wants. Yeah, the whole impetus of the dog was to have it feel akin to The Road Warrior. That silhouette of Mad Max and that dog, we wanted to have Nadu and her dog. And they loved that and encouraged us to do more there. So it was not that they never had anything too negative to say, and loved the movie when they saw the first cut of it and wanted to make it as big as they possibly could and capitalize on making Hulu a great platform for giant movies like this.

‘Prey’ will stream via Hulu starting on August 5th. You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

Alex G has just released “Cross The Sea,” the latest from his upcoming album, God Save The Animals. The breezy, guitar-driven track features Alex delivering his signature soft-sung vocals as he promises to be present in a special person’s life.

“I cross the sea, yah yah yah yah yah,” he sings, “You can leave it to me/ I cross the field for my baby/ You can believe in me.”

In the song’s accompanying video, created by Elliot Bech, Alex transforms into an animated dog and navigates the city, alongside an animated bird, who appears to be contributing background vocals.

On his upcoming album, Alex collaborated with guitarist Samuel Acchione, drummer Tom Kelly, and bassist John Heywood, as well as Molly Germer for vocals. In a 2019 interview with GQ, Alex revealed that he is hesitant to invite collaborators outside of his inner circle on his tracks.

“I don’t really want to open the floor because it’s still my sh*t, and there’s politics involved when you let other people in,” he said. N”ot that anyone’s sketchy at all, but I don’t like opening the floor because I’m pretty adamant about my ideas, and I’m not trying to have to be a dick. So I just avoid the process. I avoid the discussions where I’m like, ‘No, no, no, no, no.’”

Check out “Cross The Sea” above.

God Save The Animals is out 9/23 via Domino Recordings. Pre-save it here.