All-Time High!

When you have the biggest-grossing summer in domestic box office history, there’s only one person to call. The Box Office Podcast welcomes back Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends at Rentrak (the company until recently known as Comscore), as we dive into what went right (and what could have gone better still) in what indeed turned out to be an industry-best $4.765 billion between May 1 and September 7 of this year. Alongside at least some chatter about the mostly underwhelming Labor Day newbies, the topics of discourse include…* Each of us picking the happiest surprise from the summer movie season* A surprisingly robust and consistently solid indie/arthouse marketplace* Shocker: Today’s kids do (somewhat) like Looney Tunes!* Also, the kids love Insidious!* The likelihood of continued momentum thanks to seemingly exciting films like Resident Evil, Verity, Whalefall, Wildwood and Godzilla Minus Zero* The still-potent value of a good trailer playing before a well-liked movie* Milestones and trivia related to Spider-Man: Brand New Day and The Odyssey* Whether or not “Dunesday” can create the first $500 million weekend* Buddy and Coyote Vs. Acme’s sturdy legs show the potential for smaller films to use the pre-Labor Day weekend frame as a glorified sneak-preview weekend.* And more!(Plus, listen for the two moments where jokes or comments from Lisa and Jeremy make Scott laugh so hard that he has to turn off his microphone as he gasps for air) Recommended Reading/Listening… * Scott Mendelson dives deep into why the $2.4 billion-and-counting success of Spider-Man: Brand New Day does not mean that superhero movies are “back.”* Jeremy Fuster digs into how Jon Voight seems to have convinced Donald Trump to support a federal film production tax incentive. * Lisa Laman discusses the extent to which Netflix is promoting La Bola Negra as a theatrical title rather than an SVOD offering that will first have a limited theatrical run.* Ryan Scott discusses the extent to which Practical Magic 2 can be the exception to the rule, namely in being a successful sequel to an outright box office bomb.* Max Deering’s latest Action For Everyone episode offers a deep dive into what was shown and what went down at this year’s Big Bad Film Fest.* Paul Dergarabedian’s debut episode of Rentrak’s Lights, Camera, Box Office interviews Michael O’Leary, President & CEO of Cinema United.If you like what you hear…Please like, share, comment, and subscribe (using a cartoon mallet) with every justified ounce of strength and passion. If you’d like to reach out and offer good cheer, request in-show discussions, or suggest ideas for bonus episodes, please email us at [email protected].* Scott Mendelson - The Outside Scoop and Puck News* Jeremy Fuster - TheWrap* Lisa Laman - Land of the Nerds, Dallas Observer, Pajiba, Looper, Autostraddle* Ryan C. Scott - SlashFilm, Fangoria and Inverse* Max Deering - Fangoria and Action For Everyone* Paul Dergarabedian - Rentrak Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe