Indeed, did Bob even know who Iron Man was prior to the film?
In regards to the bolded part, the COVID-19 pandemic does show how incoherent and self-serving Bob's worldview is. He often disdains blue-collar workers as obsolete and prattles on about "intellectual capital" or some such nonsense, but fails to recognize that survival of fittest applies to adapt to their environment. Prior to the roof, studios like Disney could spend absurd amounts of cash on capeshit films because the system was tailored for people to go to theatres to pay equally-absurd ticket and snack prices. Along comes the roof, which forced several states into complete shutdown. All of the major theatre chains closed their doors and many people do not even have the disposable income because they have lost their jobs. Thus the major studios like Disney and Warnermedia are turning to streaming as their future, however, that is not practical for a film like Dune with $300 million budget. Hell, Disney is moving away from its theme parks to make Disney+ the new cornerstone of its business despite projections that it will not be profitable until 2023-24. I can see the mouse tightening the belt as its income dries up because Bob Chapek is a budget-minded executive.
However, Bob is wailing that the government need to bail the theatre chains out, and I wouldn't be surprised if he wants them to bail out Hollywood. What he refuses to do is adapt with his environment and in doing so is becoming obsolete because his entire career depends on a business model that is unsustainable in the long term. I was listening to Ben Shapiro's interview with the producer of Run Hide Shoot (whose name escapes me) and the dude knows how to budget and market a movie--I'm actually interested in watching the film based on the what I have seen in the trailer. From what I have heard from this interview, we will see leaner and smarter productions now that streaming will supplant the unwieldy capeshit tentpoles that have dominated the medium from 2008 to 2019. Similarly, said producer said it take thirty days to break an old habit and sixty days to create a new one. Audiences have long since passed the threshold to break their old moviegoing habits and forge new ones with streaming services so I have difficulty believing that audiences will be returning to theatres in droves once the pandemic ends.
A massive meteor is heading for the entertainment landscape and Bob is one of the walnut-brained dinosaurs that will go extinct.
