Swift Beats Rock

It’s just the terrific trio this time around, as Scott, Lisa and Jeremy dig into what went (mostly) right with Taylor Swift’s second glorified feature-length theatrical commercial and what went so very wrong with A24 and Dwayne Johnson’s The Smashing Machine. Meanwhile, after a shockingly good overseas hold, behold some cautiously optimistic long-term “projections” for One Battle After Another, as well as a frank explanation of A) why Release Party of a Showgirl opened with barely 1/3 of what The Eras Tour debuted with in October 2023 and B) why Avatar: The Way of Water’s theatrical reissue opened to less than 1/3 of what Avatar grossed in its September 2022 reissue. Oh, and Lisa — who has seen almost no pre-Casino Royale 007 films — watched GoldenEye for the first time. In terms of the written word… Scott Mendelson anchored day 51 of Ted Hope’s #FilmStack Inspiration Challenge. Jeremy Fuster dissected the glory that is Art the Clown’s Terrifier-themed maze (and his impromptu appearances where you might least expect him) at this year’s Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights events. Lisa Laman explained why Emily Blunt wasn’t remotely a good fit for her supporting turn in The Smashing Machine. Ryan Scott’s “Tales from the Box Office” highlighted what proved to be a somewhat defining (even if its lessons have now become comparatively forgotten) October 2000 box office showdown during which the new and youth-skewing (Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro’s Meet the Parents) pancaked the old and nostalgia-skewing (Sylvester Stallone’s Get Carter remake). 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] (which I finally fixed so that it’ll forward to my personal business email, natch). Oh… and the paid subscriber chat for October 9 is set for today at 11:00 a.m. PST. * 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 and Fangoria Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe