Lotta Prada or Narnia and Chill

Somehow, Chrissi Michael returned. She and Aaron Neuwirth stepping in for last week’s Michael episode was more of a concurrent personal favor and/or a last-minute request. Still, she had always intended to reprise for this week’s Devil Wears Prada 2-centric episode.At the risk of stating the obvious, the crux of the conversation is, well, the movie that opened to around $235 million worldwide last weekend, albeit probably more of a review (preceded by a “Why Anne Hathaway is awesome, actually” discourse) than a box-office deep-dive.Nonetheless, we cover the nitty-gritty about why it was such a commercial banger, why it might leg out over the next month and how Michael concurrently held ridiculously well. Speaking of Michael, the music melodrama now looks all but certain to top $300 million in North America and at least $700 million worldwide (and potentially much more than Korea, Russia and especially Japan still on deck).Meanwhile, Project Hail Mary is holding firm. And yes, at least some airtime is allotted to discussing Hokum, Animal Farm and Deep Water. The latter third of the conversation mostly focuses on Netflix’s announcement that it will A) delay Greta Gerwig’s The Magician’s Nephew to February of 2027 and B) give it something approximating a wide-release 45-day pre-streaming theatrical engagement beginning Super Bowl weekend.Whether a change in strategy, false hope or something in between, everyone has thoughts about Netflix finally, at least on an irregular basis, joining the 20th century. Advertising before, after and during your TV shows?! Pre-streaming theatrical releases for your movies?! Such innovators! Such disruptors!Recommended Reading…* Scott Mendelson discussed how The Devil Wears Prada 2 showed that if Hollywood must revive past-tense glories, it’s better off sticking to follow-ups to films that audiences actually liked the first time around.* Jeremy Fuster discussed why AMC is expressing optimism despite posting a quarterly loss for the first 25% of 2026.* Lisa Laman offered up, well, “An Ode to Anne Hathaway’s Oddball Indie Movie Era”. This one’s headline sums it up, and… yeah, she’s right.* Ryan Scott dug into the blink-and-you-miss-it commercial failure of Saudi Arabia’s Anthony Mackie-starring actioner Desert Warrior.* Max Deering tips his hat to Jordan Downey’s The Head Hunter, a very low-budget (around $30,000) hybrid that fuses fantasy with horror while giving each genre comparatively equal footing. Uh… I’m sold.* Chrissi Michael chimed in on the fifth anniversary of one of the very best “Covid casualty” movies of the early 2020s, Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar.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 - Dallas Observer, Pajiba, Looper, Comic Book and Autostraddle* Ryan C. Scott - SlashFilm, Fangoria and Inverse* Max Deering - Fangoria and Action For Everyone* Chrissi Michael - c(ine)m(a) studies Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe