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The brutal financial margins that come for almost everyone in arthouse film eventually.
However, despite fans worst fears, its not Marvel that seems to be the model.
Indeed, on a surface level, each project is almost comically HBO-y.
You have Dwayne Johnson taking himself seriously, just like inBallers.
You have a post-apocalyptic video-game adaptation, just likeThe Last of Us.
On a spiritual level, too, these projects seem animated by the ethos of 21st-century HBO.
When I watched theCivil Wartrailer, I didnt just think ofGame of Thrones.
Of course, in the Zaslav era, even HBO is not exactly HBO anymore.
On HBOs current slate,The Last Of Ussits comfortably alongside a tiny gem likeSomebody Somewhere.
And in the past few years, their outputs have come to almost mirror each other.
Correction: A previous version of this article misstated the budget of Alex GarlandsCivil War.
