Channing Tatum went on First We Feast's Hot Ones to hype his new movie Roofman and ended up venting about how streaming has scrambled the whole filmmaking machine. It was candid, a little spicy (pun intended), and very inside baseball in the way only someone who has to pick projects for a living can be.
Streamers, money, and why the pipeline feels broken
Tatum was asked to expand on something he said in his recent Variety cover story, where he basically argued that streaming has shaken the business in ways that are both helpful and messy. His short version now: getting a movie made, or even deciding which one to say yes to, has turned into a maze.
"You are incentivized to make bad things to get paid, rather than make something really, really good."
He was talking about the current market logic, where the smarter financial move does not always align with the better movie. He said it feels upside down, and as a guy who grew up loving movies, he wants to spend his money on good ones. The frustration is pretty clear: he wants to make stuff for the audience he used to be, but the system keeps nudging in other directions.
Not all doom: he thinks the shake-up needed to happen
Tatum is not waving a white flag. He actually thinks the disruption will lead somewhere useful. In his view, streamers showed up for a reason, the old way needed to change, and the business had to morph. He just sounds ready for the industry to figure out what the next stable version of that looks like.
Self-owns and a Marvel cameo he barely claims
The interview was not just industry talk. Tatum looked back at a few past choices too. He called his 2010 romance Dear John basically generic, the kind of movie that did not stick with him. And yes, he pops up briefly in Deadpool & Wolverine, but he says he does not even feel like he is really part of that movie given how quick the cameo is.
What he is selling right now
All of this is happening while he promotes Roofman, which pairs him with Kirsten Dunst, Ben Mendelsohn, and Peter Dinklage, among others. No shock that someone on a press run is thinking hard about which projects are worth saying yes to. The surprise is how blunt he is about why that is trickier than it used to be.