The Lame Halloween

Forgive the lack of a “the top ten movies are” portion; I was on a time crunch and wanted to make sure we had time for “discourse.” It’s just the three of us, as Scott Mendelson, Lisa Laman and Jeremy Fuster talk shop about what really was a weak weekend. * Regretting You’s second-weekend hold is terrific, no matter its rank.* The Black Phone 2 was, by default, the hero Hollywood needed on Halloween. * Bugonia’s *relatively* strong expansion counts as a relative win.* Can even a best-case scenario reception for Predator: Badlands convince the disinterested to show up for “just a Predator flick?” * The three of us pick our most anticipated movies for the remainder of the year. * Oh, and in a skewed change of pace, Scott (not Lisa) pitches this episode’s franchise extension/revival from hell. Also, Scott’s fool-proof plan to discover whether or not Mason Thames is actually an emerging movie star.Yes, even coming in just under an hour, this is a more… casual chit-chatty episode than usual. Not a bad thing, and honestly, it’s probably a good thing, but there you go either way.Recommended Reading - Scott Mendelson discusses Frankenstein’s key advantage in the 2025/2025 Oscar race: it isn’t held to the same commercial standards as conventional theatrical titles like Smashing Machine or Deliver Us From Nowhere.Jeremy Fuster talks with theater executives who are exactly as thrilled by the idea of Warner Bros. being swallowed up by another conglomerate as you’d expect. Oh, and he also digs deep into the “Antitrust” conversation. Lisa Laman details the top-earning musician-specific biopics, and I’ll again note (in terms of predictions for Michael) that there is a vast gulf between the #2 and #1 grossers in this sub-genre.Ryan Scott’s latest “Tales from the Box Office” notes the 15th anniversary of Saw: The Final Chapter, which still did relatively well despite being among the worst Saw flicks.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).* 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