The Box Office Podcast

Andy Gorham, self-titled gentle giant and vanilla gorilla of “Action Twitter,” joins to discuss, obviously, Mortal Kombat II. What went right (an actual Mortal Kombat tournament), what went wrong (the return of Kano meant Cage was redundant), and whether a solid ($38.5 million, and now with $41 million in four days) domestic opening is enough to compensate for a mediocre ($21.5 million) overseas debut?Did the caveats and complications around Project Popcorn and COVID mask that this was another “nobody cares outside of North America and a handful of overseas markets” franchise/IP? Could MK ever be more than a niche property? And why the hell didn’t we get at least one “Babality”?The big curtain raiser question concerns our favorite Hugh Jackman performances, during which Lisa Laman makes me regret having co-hosts by naming my personal pick first and beating me to the “He won’t phone it in even for nonsense like Pan” compliment, thus forcing me to pick (among many worthy contenders) on the fly.She makes up for it by offering a hellish, darkest-timeline Greatest Showman casting choice, complete with another terrifyingly good impression. By the way, not unlike Anne Hathaway, Jackman has been at this for so long and with such a varied filmography that he’s got a slew of turns that for others might be all-timers, but for him is “Tuesday.”Meanwhile, alongside why I do think Todd Garner’s pre-release online broadside against critics (for a film that came out of the gate with superlative reviews) did a hell of a lot more harm than good, we discuss sky-high grosses for The Devil Wears Prada 2 and Michael, alongside increasing optimism over The Mandalorian and Grogu (and further down the line) Street Fighter.We make time to discuss why Billie Ellish: Hit Me Hard and Soft was such a delight and the tragic end to James Cameron’s 32-year “every film earns at least $1.45 billion worldwide” streak. Speaking of optimism, Jeremy offers his tentative thoughts on a tentative agreement between SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP, and everyone celebrates a better-than-hoped-for opening for the better-than-expected The Sheep Detectives.Recommended Reading (or Listening)…* Scott Mendelson argued that the success of The Devil Wears Prada 2 shows why, if it must dumpster-dive for nostalgia-targeted IP revivals, Hollywood should stick to the films that were actually popular in their day.* Jeremy Fuster dug into the details of a tentative deal/potential four-year contract between SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP.* Lisa Laman offers her picks for the five summer blockbusters that had the most macro-sized impact on the seasonal Hollywood landscape.* Ryan Scott discusses how a theoretical Mortal Kombat 3 will have to deal with a surplus of heroes and villains all demanding their moment in the sun.* Max Deering couldn’t make this week’s episode, but he did go long on Mortal Kombat II on Action For Everyone.* Andrew Gorham’s latest Star Wars-centric podcast offers a recap of The Mandalorian’s first two seasons in advance of The Mandalorian and Grogu.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* Andrew Gorham - Imperial Scum Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Somehow, Chriss 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

If you followed any of the online discourse related to The Devil Wears Prada 2 in the run-up to its release, you’ll recall much back-and-forth over the new film seeming to be, in terms of its pre-release trailers and TV spots, not as bright, colorful or otherwise “cinematic” as its 2006 predecessor. The question of why some films look and feel smaller and visually drabber than those before the 2010s (and beyond) has become almost mainstream discourse. I won’t pretend to have an expert opinion, and the explanations range from creative to financial, from an industry-wide switch from film to digital to an early-2010s change in real-world lightbulbs from sodium-based to LED that affected how the world looked to our cinematic eyes. Anyway, having missed the All Media screening before release, I caught up with 20th Century Studios’ comic follow-up this past Thursday at Regal Sherman Oaks Galleria. Or more specifically, I saw the film in one of roughly 50 locations currently offering “HDR by Barco.” Having recently interviewed the Executive Vice President of Barco Cinema (an industry leader in laser projection, among other bullet points) for the conversation that this post is setting up, I wanted to wait until I had sampled Barco’s “High Dynamic Range” format before publishing. I can attest that the film looked and sounded spectacular. Yes, it was a massive screen inside a giant auditorium, one big enough that walking up the stairs from the first row to the last qualifies as exercise. Without comparing this new(er) format with the likes of Imax and Dolby, The Devil Wears Prada 2 in “High Dynamic Range” looked every bit as richly colorful and eye-poppingly bright as the washed-out trailers did not. It wouldn’t be the first time a film I thought looked “at least as shiny as expected” in theaters looked duller and more washed-out when viewed at home on a VOD or SVOD platform, and that didn’t used to be much of a surprise. And I do wonder to what extent this discourse is, in part, about folks who mostly consume their filmed entertainment in non-theatrical environments being the ones who tend to send the “trending on X” narratives. Anyway, the goal isn’t just for this $100 million comedy to look superb on a currently exclusive and more-expensive “premium” large format but for it to look as good as hoped at every theater near you.Fortunately, Mr. Gerwin Damberg agrees with me on that front. Amid roll-out of laser projection as par for the course to plans to make Barco HDR both more widely available and potentially less of a premium offering, at least some of the conversation concerns the challenges, pitfalls, perils and promises of a future where every random matinee of any random movie at any random multiplex will be expected to look, sound and play at least “this” good. I am heartened by theater companies investing $2-3 billion in upkeep and improvements, while concerned about the increasing emphasis (at least in media and industry discourse) on “premium large formats” as the do-or-die variable for a successful theatrical release.There’s a fair share of science, tech and commerce in this 38-minute conversation, even as Mr. Damberg stressed that (my words, paraphrasing, etc.) he hopes the visual upgrade will be less quantifiable and more just subtly impressive to most general moviegoers. Frankly, this is one where I didn’t have to chime in all that much. Oh, and because this was recorded just before CinemaCon, I didn’t get a chance to ask him about his thoughts concerning Disney’s InfinityVision, but maybe that can be the hook for a sequel. Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

With Jeremy Fuster unable to make it this week, two of our more frequent guests, Chrissi Michaels and Aaron Neuwirth, stopped by to discuss all things Michael.By the way, the Michael Jackson biopic earned $7.65 million on Monday (-70% from its $25.4 million Sunday gross), bringing its domestic four-day total to $104.9 million.The subjects of discourse include, of course, what was in the movie, what wasn’t, and how legal complications forced the filmmakers to craft a more commercially viable King of Pop biography.However, all parties agree that there could have been a happy medium between the “Passion of the Michael” melodrama that the filmmakers (and those supervising the late singer’s estate) wanted to produce and the almost comically “just play the hits” jukebox final cut.The participants (including Max Deering, Lisa Laman and Scott Mendelson) each declare their favorite music biopic, while discussing the still semi-regular habit of pundits underestimating the breakout appeal of “not a white guy” crowdpleasers, the complicated circumstances that cloud this otherwise aspirational success story and the challenging (but not impossible) hurdles posed by a potential sequel.Recommended Reading…* Scott Mendelson’s studio-by-studio CinemaCon dissections, Angel Studios, Studiocanal and Sony Pictures Classics, Sony, NEON and KGids, Warner Bros., Universal, (Amazon MGM Studios, Paramount, Disney/20th Century Studios* Jeremy Fuster couldn’t make it this week, but if he had, he likely would have put some of his written Michael weekend box office analysis into spoken words.* Lisa Laman reported on “Sapphic Open Mic Night,” a semi-regular event in Dallas highlighting the art created by an oft-silenced community.* Ryan Scott offered up his morning-after analysis on Michael’s blow-out box office debut.* Max Deering tipped 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 Michaels 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.* Aaron Neuwirth discussed, back when the music video was attached to opening weekend IMAX prints of The House with a Clock in Its Walls, why Michael Jackson’s Thriller was one of the very best horror movies ever made.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, Fangoria and Inverse* Max Deering - Fangoria and Action For Everyone* Chrissi Michael - c(ine)m(a) studies* Aaron Neuwirth - The Code is Zeek and We Live Entertainment Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Shawn Robbins, currently at Fandango and owner/operator/etc. of The Box Office Theory, stops by for a slightly extended episode, since it’s a triple feature. First, we talk about the weekend box office, namely Lee Cronin’s The Mummy and Normal alongside a promising platform launch for Mother Mary amid solid holds for Super Mario Galaxy, Project Hail Mary and The Drama. We also, closer to the end, offer up our crystal ball predictions for how Michael might gross in its domestic opening weekend. None of us thinks it will do Bad(ly), but some guestimates might be more Off the Wall than others.Second, we go long(er) discussing what was seen (Dune Part Three looks spectacular), said (longer windows) and promised (more movies) at last week’s CinemaCon presentations. We share what we liked and didn’t like about each studio’s presentation (including why Scott Mendelson is now comparatively down on Digger) and how it felt like the first “normal” CinemaCon any of us have witnessed in nearly a decade.Third, with Michael opening this weekend, we took a beat or three to discuss what might break out or break down amid the upcoming summer movie season. Pretty much everyone agrees that Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Toy Story 5 are the preemptive frontrunners and that The Odyssey is among the few that might reach, as Jeremy likes to say, “escape velocity.” But the overall sense of the season is that there are actually enough movies to allow for solid overall grosses even if each would-be tentpole doesn’t secure best-case scenario box office. Recommended Reading…* Scott Mendelson is slowly working his way through the CinemaCon punditry.* Jeremy Fuster (and Casey Loving) go long on something we’ve all discussed since nearly the very first episode, that Jack Black is a butts-in-seats movie star.* Lisa Laman has finally found an AMC multiplex that she doesn’t despise.* Ryan Scott notes the one key plot thread amid the second season of Apple’s Monarch: Legacy of Monsters that’s essentially cribbed from the 1998 reboot.* 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.* Shawn Robbins breaks down the factors that could shape what’s looking like a roughly $70 million Fri-Sun weekend launch for The Mandalorian and Grogu. 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, Fangoria and Inverse* Max Deering - Fangoria and Action For Everyone* Shawn Robbins - Box Office Theory Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Pardon the delay on both the podcast and the CinemaCon coverage. Honestly, there has not been a ton of outright news offered up amid the panels, so I’m hoping those who are interested can wait for a deep-dive analysis of what was said and shown until I have time to actually spellcheck the damn thing(s). Anyway, Michelle Kisner stopped by for this week’s (recorded on Sunday) Box Office Podcast. I invited her on because of her high-brow scholarship of low-brow cinema (yes, that’s a compliment). However, we honestly spent so much time discussing The Drama’s excellent legs and the always-frustrating zero-sum game and selective amnesia concerning films for and by “not a white guy” audiences, that we ended up saving Faces of Death (which, to be fair, inspired far more media coverage than ticket sales) for the very end.Alas, I’m again running late, so no “recommended reading’ for today. However, per usual, 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 and Fangoria* Michelle Kisner - TheMovieSlueth Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Kenny Miles, film critic and CinemaScore poller, returns for his (I think?) third go-around on The Box Office Podcast as we discuss, well, it’s pretty obvious.Jeremy Fuster couldn’t make it because of… journalism. Still, he gives A24 its flowers and offers a pithy, not-incorrect summation of The Super Mario Galaxy’s $400 million-plus Wed-Mon global debut.Meanwhile, Lisa Laman, Scott Mendelson and Kenny Miles discuss the various facets of last weekend’s blockbuster video game movie debut and what went relatively right for The Drama.Lisa explains why the video game movie has become a big-deal franchise sandbox without the movies getting much better.Kenny digs into the (whether genuine or astroturfed) online debate concerning critical judgment versus moviegoer attitudes.Scott argues that movies like The Super Mario Galaxy were never supposed to be the sort over which pundits and critics fawn.Everyone agrees that...The “Leo points and reacts” meme is not the best template for crafting IP-driven franchises.Zendaya seems to be a butt-in-seats movie star.A24 has become very good at using humor to sell less-than-conventional star vehicles.A24 is now a branded home not just for “elevated horror” but quirkier, edgier, of-the-moment and YA-skewing romantic dramas, comedies and melodramas.As long as A24 doesn’t try to remake Bloodsport or reboot Texas Chainsaw Massacre, all should be well in its respective mushroom kingdom.Recommended Reading…- Scott Mendelson breaks down why the dueling trailers for Supergirl and Masters of the Universe highlight a key reason why Marvel/DC superhero movies so lorded over the franchise tentpole pop culture mountain amid the late 2010s.- Jeremy Fuster digs into yet another round of Hollywood being skittish about comparatively inclusive movies, even while such movies are no less commercially perilous than your stereotypical “about a white guy” vehicles.- Lisa Laman warns about Skydance’s purchase of Warner Bros. (which has already bought Paramount) by discussing the damage done to New Line Cinema after its merger with WB in 2008.- Ryan Scott notes the bemusing coincidence of Paramount’s Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie and Warner Bros.’ The End of Oak Street on the same day (August 14, 2026). So, uh #SawPatrol 2.0? If both films succeed, it’ll boost David Ellison’s promise that, if the Skydance merger occurs, the promise of 15 films per year from Warner Bros. and Paramount isn’t just happy talk.- Kenny Miles reviewed Sylvain Chomet’s A Magnificent Life.- Luke Thompson (last week’s guest, since I didn’t have time for a “recommended reading section) offered up a deep-dive for Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut.And in closing...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, Fangoria and Inverse* Max Deering - Fangoria and Action For Everyone* Kenny Miles - We Live Entertainment* Luke Y. Thompson - Mortal Cinema, TV Line and SlashFilm Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Luke Y. Thompson returns for his… uh… fourth guest spot since February 2025, giving the likes of Aaron Neuwirth and Chrissi Michaels a run for their money. Of course, he pops in just BEFORE we get a second Masters of the Universe trailer. But fear not, he’s already been penciled in for June 8. The hero of the moment is again Project Hail Mary, which had one of the biggest second-weekend grosses for any under-$100-million opener. It also took one of the smallest weekend-to-weekend percentage drops for any non-holiday $60 million-plus opener. I think it’s going to be a long, long time before til touchdown brings it ‘round again to Prime. Meanwhile, there’s also time to discuss an underwhelming start for They Will Kill You, a halfway-decent (relatively speaking) launch for Forbidden Fruits and the continued box office sprint for India’s Dhurandhar: The Revenge. That one just passed Baahubali: The Conclusion to become the biggest Indian movie ever in unadjusted domestic grosses. Oh, and Lisa Laman has apparently spent too much time over at Out Now with Aaron and Abe and has thus A) gotten lost in the woods and B) neglected to remember what team she’s playin’ for. Consequently, Ms. Laman hosts the first-ever Box Office Podcast “game.” You won’t believe the shocking, uh, twist?Apologies for the lack of “recommended reading” this week; I’m way behind schedule (partially due to having flown with my youngest to Ohio to visit my parents). However, 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 and Fangoria* Max Deering - Fangoria and Action For Everyone* Luke Y. Thompson - Mortal Cinema, TV Line and SlashFilm Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Aaron Neuwirth (of 2 Black Guys Talk Godzilla and OutNow With Aaron and Abe) pops in yet again to chat alongside Scott Mendelson, Lisa Laman and Jeremy Fuster about why Project Hail Mary soared so high, why Ready or Not: Here I Come was the opposite of a breakout sequel, and the reasons for and (hopefully) consequences of Universal’s choice to expand its industry-llow theatrical window to one in-sync with most of the distribution industry. It’s the only podcast in the world that brings both the Rango magic and the Beatric at Dinner whimsy!Among the subjects of debate and discourse…* Everyone names their favorite cinematic alien.* So, um, is Ryan Gosling a movie star?* Can Amazon make Project Hail Mary more than a “beginner’s luck” fluke?* Is Kathryn Newton box office poison? - A thorough and completely serious, above-board and not at all sarcastic investigation.* What the hell is The Pout Pout Fish?* The (mostly) good news and (potentially) bad news about Hollywood’s push toward IMAX and related premium-large format auditoriums.* Thoughts on the first teasers for Dune Part Three and Spider-Man: Brand New Day.* Universal’s shift to longer windows is a smart choice at the right time.* Will Scott find time to catch up with the 444-minute Dhurandhar dualogy?* And, dear god, so much more!Recommended Reading…* Scott Mendelson goes full free-association, discussing the Dune Part Three trailer, the double-edged sword of Warner Bros.’ success stories, and how the recent absurd controversies over media appearances by Maggie Gyllenhaal and Timothee Chalamet underscore a changing “cost > benefit” conundrum in even seemingly mundane interviews and publicity appearances.* Lisa Laman notes how the streaming-era preponderance of action-comedy buddy flicks typifies an industry-wide retreat from the kind of aspirational “streaming will offer what Hollywood won’t” feature film offerings that initially allowed streaming platforms to undercut theatrical in the first place.* Jeremy Fuster explains how, assuming they are both relatively good/crowdpleasing/etc, Dune Part Three and Avengers: Doomsday can concurrently kick best-case-scenario box-office butt.* Ryan Scott speaks exclusively with Andy Muschietti about whether he’ll get around to the long-rumored “super cut” of his It movies.* Aaron Neuwirth was just on the pod three weeks ago, so I’ll merely note that he gets quoted extensively in the first teaser trailer for Lionsgate’s domestic release of The Furious. I’ll admit that when he first told me that he might be in the trailer, I hoped it meant that he’d be a random henchman who gets pulverized. I suppose this makes more sense. Despite Aaron’s excited recommendation, I am still looking forward to Kenji Tanigaki’s Hong Kong action spectacular. Oh, speaking of Aaron, if you want to hear the traitorous hussy Lisa Laman plying her verbal punditry elsewhere, she guested on Out Now with Aaron and Abe two weeks ago to discuss The Bride.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 and Fangoria* Max Deering - Fangoria and Action For Everyone* Aaron Neuwirth - The Code is Zeek and We Live Entertainment Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

In a show that’s half box office punditry and half Oscar telecast discourse, original co-host Ryan Scott returns for what’s a comparatively old-school episode. Among the subjects this week are everyone’s favorite Oscar night win, Hopper’s strong domestic hold, Colleen Hoover going 3/3 with Reminders of Him, and Undertone’s solid debut. The last one, as Lisa Laman notes, should remind studios that there can be gold in them there film festival hills. Everyone was/is pretty content with the 98th Academy Awards telecast, while noting they really gotta stop cutting off winners’ speeches and start promoting non-tentpole flicks during the show or during commercial breaks.Meanwhile, all parties think that Scream 8 is likely to get made, that Masters of the Universe is likely to underwhelm and that the key reason to be excited for Black Panther 3 is the specific talent (a post-Sinners Ryan Coogler and reportedly Denzel Washington potentially playing the heavy) as opposed to lingering MCU-specific loyalty. Finally, some time is spent discussing the alleged controversy of Timothee Chalamet’s alleged attacks on opera and ballet, as Ryan correctly notes that Marty Mauser tripping up on the last lap is the most fitting life-imitates-art Oscar scenario since Llyeyn Davis failed to procure even a Best Actor nomination in 2014.Recommended Reading…* Scott Mendelson finally drops his excessively tardy picks for the year’s most important theatrical release for each major (and minor) studio.* Jeremy Fuster discusses how Universal’s shift from 31-day (and eventually 45-day) theatrical windows represents distributors taking stock in the ongoing pleas from exhibitors amid the last few years of shrinking exclusivity windows.* Lisa Laman offers her picks for the biggest snubs and surprises, as well as the best and worst moments, from this past weekend’s Academy Awards.* Ryan Scott argues that 2017, with a slew of very big hits but also a bunch of expensive, high-profile flops, represented what should have been the nadir of Hollywood’s obsession with IP-for-IP’s sake franchise filmmaking.* Max Deering compiled an ideal playlist for those on a neo-noir grunge kick.---As always, if you like what you hear, please like, share, comment, and subscribe. 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] Mendelson - The Outside Scoop and Puck NewsJeremy Fuster - TheWrapLisa Laman - Land of the Nerds, Dallas Observer, Looper, Comic Book and AutostraddleRyan Scott - SlashFilm and FangoriaMax Deering - Fangoria and Action For Everyone Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Charlie Jane Anders, long-time sci-fi author and sci-fi entertainment journalist (whose work has won — among others — the Crawford Award, Hugo Award, Lambda Literary Award, Locus Award, Nebula Award, and Theodore Sturgeon Award) joins the gang as we dig deep into what went right with Disney and Pixar’s Hoppers and what went wrong with Warner Bros.’ The Bride. Among the topics of discourse are everyone’s favorite Pixar flicks, the value of kid-friendly memes for all-quadrant toons, the ups and downs (real and imaginary) for Disney’s previously A+ animation brand over the last 15 years, whether Maggie Gyllenhaal’s big-budget monster-mash ever had a commercial chance in hell and if Scream 7’s massive decline portends grim fortunes for Scream 8.Recommended Reading* Scott Mendelson notes that Hoppers’ solid opening again debunks Disney’s narrative implictely blaming its early 2020s box office struggles on wokeness.* Jeremy Fuster reports on a distinctly “America 2026” demand among the unions representing Universal Studios park workers: protection from ICE.* Lisa Laman goes long debunking the idea that cancel culture or performative wokeness was anything beyond an online bubble and/or a strawman to wield against the disenfranchised voices supposedly controlling the narrative.* Ryan Scott details how, believe it or not, Scream 7 could have been even worse.* Charlie Jane Anders picks 2025’s best sci-fi/fantasy novels.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 and Fangoria* Max Deering - Fangoria and Action For Everyone* Charlie Jane Anders - Washington Post and Happy Dancing Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Semi-regular guests Aaron Neuwirth (of 2 Black Guys Talk Godzilla and OutNow With Aaron and Abe) and Brandon Peters (The Brandon Peters Show) reprise yet again to discuss the confluence of Tinseltown terrors and real-world horrors that makes a $64 million domestic and $97 million worldwide debut for Spyglass and Paramount’s Scream 7 feel… less than cheerworthy. Max Deering couldn’t make it because… I guess fighting off zombies in and around Racoon City takes priority over (and makes me doubt his dedication to) The Box Office Podcast.All agree that A) the so-called “boycott” was never anything more than a few social media hashtags and B) most folks viewed the seventh Scream film as just another installment of a recently revived horror franchise whose past two sequels played to relative fortune and glory. And, speaking of vexed train engines, all participants agree that Skydance now (probably) owning both Paramount and Warner Bros. is an almost-certain-to-be cataclysmic event.Brandon Peters argues that those pissed about Melissa Barrera being fired from Scream should have put their energy into boosting the likes of Your Monster, Abigail, and her (Simu Liu-starring) Peacock streaming show, The Copenhagen Test. Lisa Laman offers a few recommended films by Palestinian filmmakers. She argues that the same Hollywood suits that ignored the outcry over Barrera’s firing should also ignore online calls for inclusivity in franchise films and shows. Jeremy Fuster notes Paramount’s genuine marketing success in selling a new Scream movie, seemingly pitched at older fans, that nonetheless attracted strong viewership among the younger demographics. Come what may, at least the kids didn’t feel like the olds had snatched away their Scream franchise.Aaron Neuwirth discusses the uniqueness of the Scream property beyond just whether an installment centers on Sidney Prescott or Sam Carpenter, leading into an extended digression about the unexpected endurance of the Insidious saga, which horror franchises comparatively belong to “today’s kids” and whether or not Texas Chainsaw Massacre can actually even be more than an IP-for-IP’s sake whiff. Hint: “On your left!” “Do your thing, cuz!”Scott Mendelson notes how Scream 7 plays like a proverbial Creed IV that fired Michael B. Jordan and recentered Sylvester Stallone while gaslighting audiences about its successful, acclaimed Rocky-free predecessor, while mourning a current pop culture that metaphorically watches Ben Affleck’s final scene in Hollywoodland and declares, “I want that, actually!”As for the “Skydance now owns WB and Paramount” situation, there’s little reason for hope or optimism. It’s not as heavy an episode as that all might sound, although there’s a certain “laugh so as not to cry at the end of the world” mentality. Jeremy fears for the future of theatrical, doubts Ellison’s promises to release 30 movies a year, and mourns the coming consolidation bloodbath.Lisa worries about quality and variety from studios potentially owned by a guy whose idea of a “good movie” is Ghosted and The Fountain of Youth, and who is prioritizing conventionally macho fare, no matter what the marketplace dictates.Brandon notes the potential peril for physical media while wondering if this is the grim endgame foretold way back when The Exorcist made exactly enough money in 1973 to start attracting the attention of the corporate world. Aaron notes that Skydance’s hires, such as Brett Ratner, John Lasseter, Johnny Depp, and Max Landis, feel more punitive than coldly calculated, and may be merely SEO-friendly distractions for even less-ideal hires or plans for the studio(s).Finally, Scott again wonders why the hell Warner Bros. keeps being bought by and frankly abused by a series of seemingly smaller companies. Recomended Reading…Scott Mendelson argues that, as long as Disney and Pixar’s animated sequels and live-action remakes continue to make buckets of box office, it should barely matter whether originals like Hoppers, Elio or Hexed make all that much in theaters.Lisa Laman dissects the complicated new normal of determining what still qualifies as a box office bomb.Jeremy Fuster digs into everyone’s genuine terror over the Ellisons potentially controlling 1/3 to 1/2 of the big-deal entertainment ecosystem.Ryan Scott raises a glass to Jeff Nichols’ terrific sci-fi melodrama Midnight Special on the eve of its tenth anniversary.Aaron Neuwirth’s latest podcast episode details his time at this year’s Santa Barbara Film Festival. Sadly, unlike last year, Kevin Costner did not bring along the latest chapter of Horizon: An American Saga.Brandon Peters’ newest ongoing series dissects the 1960s Batman show — episode by episode — on the eve of its 60th anniversary. I popped in for the fourth installment to discuss Mr. Freeze’s surprisingly “grounded” and “dramatic” debut.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* Max Deering - Fangoria and Action For Everyone* Aaron Neuwirth - The Code is Zeek and We Live Entertainment* Brandon Peters - The Brandon Peters Show Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Longtime film writer, movie reviewer, entertainment journalist, and author Marya E. Gates is this week’s extra-special guest. Considering this relatively barren weekend for new releases, it would have been deeply ironic had this (among other things) expert in the realm of silent cinema arrived on a week with little to talk about. The good news is that while Hollywood mostly took the week off (again), the 105-minute episode is nonetheless packed with tangents, digressions and the usual chaos you’ve come to expect. We’ve got anecdotes from the world of film marketing, discourse about whether Sony’s “send these movies to Netflix” gambit might still have boosted the Sony Animation brand, and debates as to why How to Make a Killing likely never had a chance, even if it had received a wider, higher-profile release. Included is also a conversation concerning Jacob Elordi’s budding stardom, during which our guest (quite accidentally and indirectly) drops the most vulgar line of the show. The question of the day is everyone’s favorite Elvis Presley song, as Max Deering finally sees Return to Silent Hill and tries his best to explain why his current home country (The Netherlands) is apparently gripped by Roarball fever.Recommended Reading…* Scott Mendelson discusses whether GOAT is the start of a new era, or at least a return to the early 2010s era, for original animated films. * Jeremy Fuster investigates the chilling possibility that films for/from/about women might actually have a future in the COVID-era box office recovery.* Lisa Laman discusses, well, “Please, Keep Letting Directors Talk About Movie Theaters And Projection Formats.”* Ryan Scott argues that the marketing for Lucasfilm and Disney’s The Mandalorian and Grogu implies that, well, “Begun, Star Wars sequel trilogy nostalgia has.”* Max Deering kinda-sorta takes center stage in the latest Silent Hill-centric episode of Action for Everyone.* Marya E. Gates has written almost everywhere about almost everything entertainment/movie-related, but for now, just buy her book Cinema Her Way: Visionary Female Directors in Their Own Words.As always, if you like what you hear, please like, share, comment, and subscribe. 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, Looper, Comic Book and Autostraddle* Ryan Scott - SlashFilm and Fangoria* Max Deering - Fangoria and Action For Everyone* Marya E. Gates - Roger Ebert, Cool People Have Feelings Too and much more. Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Longtime journalist and podcaster Jordan Crucchiola guests on this week’s episode as the gang discusses the reception and commercial performance of Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights. Well, she eventually skips out at around the halfway mark since she hadn’t yet seen the other new releases amid a crowded President’s Day weekend. Still, the remaining four of us (Scott, Lisa, Jeremy and Max) have much to say about the differing fortunes for the other movies. To wit…Max hashes out the complicated issues related to casting Jacob Elordi as “not quite a white guy” Heathcliff, which Jordan notes that white filmmakers (even women) can find themselves in a lose/lose scenario when telling stories about or in conversation with race-based inequities. Scott explains why, in a rare exception, he finds himself indifferent to the outcry over this specific would-be whitewashing, as Jeremy notes that the film is another instance of disproportionately hyperbolic online response skewing the more middle-of-the-road real-world buzz. There’s a lot where that came from, but once Jordan sneaks away, the gang gets down to “real business,” including whether $35 million is exceptional or merely pretty good for Sony’s original GOAT. Jeremy argues that the lowered ceiling remains an issue, while Lisa argues that the sky-high results for non-sequel animated films from the early 2000s to the late 2010s might have been a momentary fluke. Everyone agrees that Crime 101 cost too much and grossed too little, and they all have opinions about what Amazon is or isn’t up to regarding its theatrical plans. Finally, everyone gives a modest hat tip to the “could have been so much worse” debut for Good Luck, Have Fun Don’t Die while noting that at least some subjective disappointment over Wuthering Heights’s mere $38 million Fri-Mon domestic debut was about hyperbolic expectations and an unexpected plethora of healthy competitors and holdovers. In the long run, it’s arguably better for the big tentpole to open a little smaller alongside healthy competition rather than having the entire theatrical ecosystem depending on the official big would-be blockbuster pulling the best-case-scenario box office. Apologies, but I’m running behind, so no “recommended reading” for this week. That said, if you like what you hear, please like, share, comment, and subscribe. 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, Comic Book and Autostraddle* Ryan C. Scott - SlashFilm and Fangoria* Max Deering - Fangoria and Action For Everyone* Jordan Crucchiola - Feeling Seen, Vulture and NPR Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

In what was a needlessly barren weekend in terms of new releases from major studios, the newbies and the smaller distribution outlets picked up some of the slack. So, for the occasion of what was technically Super Bowl weekend, Chrissi Michael, content strategist by day and box office nerd by night, returned for the fourth time as she attempts to stake her claim as the Steve Mart… err, uh… Emma Stone of The Box Office Podcast. Among the subjects of discourse…* Jeremy and Max don’t say jack s**t since neither of them could make it.* Scott, Lisa and Chrissi dissect Send Help’s staying power.* Lisa notes the sheer volume of semi-regular small-scale/indie releases.* Chrissi offers a critical deep dive into Charli XCX’s The Moment* Scott notes the surprising muscle shown byVertical and Bleecker Street* Lisa argues that Solo Mio again shows that rom-coms can still work.* Chrissi demonstrates that she’s far too committed to the Box Office Podcast.* Scott accidentally makes Dracula sound much better than it actually is.* Everyone engages in way too much Wuthering Heights pre-release chatter.* And more!Apologies, but I’m running behind, so no “recommended reading” for this week. That said, if you like what you hear, please like, share, comment, and subscribe. 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, Comic Book and Autostraddle* Ryan C. Scott - SlashFilm and Fangoria* 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

In his long-awaited debut in the revolving (or fifth?) fourth chair of The Box Office Podcast, long-time film pundit and action film expert Vyce Victus pops in presumably/theoretically to discuss the latest Jason Statham joint. And while we find enough time to discuss Shelter’s place in the Statham canon, as well as tipping our hat to Ric Roman Waugh as a regular director of high-quality “dad movie” action flicks, most of the chat is taken up by Scott, Jeremy, Max and Vyce taking stock of Markiplier’s genuinely impressive DIY accomplishment, the unto-itself aspirational launch for Sam Raimi’s Send Help and what a $7 million debut for Amazon’s $40 million Melania does and doesn’t mean for life, the universe and everyrhing. Lisa couldn’t make it, but… well… something-something post-credit cookie… Apologies, I’m behind schedule, so no “recommended reading” this week. 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 NewsJeremy Fuster - TheWrapLisa Laman - Land of the Nerds, Dallas Observer, Pajiba, Looper, Comic Book and AutostraddleRyan C. Scott - SlashFilm and FangoriaMax Deering - Fangoria and Action For EveryoneVyce Victus - Action For Everyone Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

I’m not thrilled that Lionsgate has already dropped The Housemaid onto PVOD, even if I’ll note that A) it got a now (kinda-sorta) standard 47-day window and B) it’s probably going to lose a bunch of screens and get steamrolled by Wuthering Heights the weekend after next anyway. This was recorded right as Lionsgate announced that the Sydney Sweeney/Amanda Seyfried/Brandon Sklenar-led flick had passed $300 million worldwide, partially on the strength of James Cameron-worthy holds in North America and especially overseas. Considering the decades of conventional wisdom arguing that Hollywood movies for women and/or minorities don’t travel overseas, well, it’ll top $200 million internationally over the next week.It’s no secret that I came out of CinemaCon 2025 declaring that the sizzle reel for The Housemaid was the best promotional item I had seen in Las Vegas that week and that the erotic thriller/psychological melodrama was #2 on my 2025 must-see list after Avatar: Fire and Ash. However, even being cautiously hopeful as to its commercial potential, even I wasn’t so optimistic as to expect the $35 million, R-rated old-school genre flick to pull the kind of domestic ($121 million) and worldwide (around $316 million) grosses that would have been aspirational even a generation ago.Anyway, to mark the special occasion, Paul Feig was nice enough to stop by to discuss how he made a crowdpleasing, buzzy adult-skewing genre flick. While we are as vague as possible, I would still argue that, yes, this conversation contains spoilers for The Housemaid. Meanwhile, the other areas of discourse include…* How Feig uses the test screening process for good rather than evil* How his lifelong interest in comedy and thrillers intermingle* Whether Hollywood will ever stop treating female-skewing successes as (my words, not his) exceptions to the rule or “flukes”?* What repeatedly stabbing Sandra Bullock in the leg taught him about playing laughs and gasps against each other* Why, he’d now prefer only to direct theatrical films* How the reception for his old(er) movies like Ghostbusters and Last Christmas can change when they are (re)discovered years after the initial SEO-friendly discourse.* Is he actually directing Mamma Mia 3?* And more!I hope it is as enjoyable to listen to as it was to record. In the meantime, the following Box Office Podcast episode will drop on Thursday morning, and I’m planning on another “paid subscriber chat” on Thursday at 11:00 a.m. PST.As always, 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, Comic Book and Autostraddle* Ryan C. Scott - SlashFilm and Fangoria* Max Deering - Fangoria and Action For Everyone Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

The listeners demanded it, the author agreed to it, and so the podcaster (oh-so-reluctantly) allowed it. For those who came in late, Barry Hertz popped by on “An Hour With…”, the semi-regular offshoot of The Box Office Podcast, to discuss his sprawling and comprehensive literary deep-dive into the Fast and the Furious franchise. The book Welcome to the Family has been available in print and audio since late last year and primarily focuses on the first ten core Fast and Furious movies. As such, Mr. Hertz generously agreed to return on a future episode to discuss Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw.As such, this shorter episode, at least initially, was going to discuss only the winding road that led to a Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham-led spin-off opening theatrically in August 2019. The David Leitch-directed action spectacular, also starring Idris Elba and Vanessa Kirby, earned decent notices, grossed more than a good-enough $760 million worldwide, but inspired little enthusiasm for either itself or the notion of a sequel. However, the film remains a late-2010s time capsule that captures the constant push-pull as Hollywood struggled to expand successful franchises into secondary directions without harming the proverbial mother ship. Anyway, near the end of our conversation, we discussed the still-unknown fate of Fast & Furious 11. So, of course, three days later, Universal announced a March 17, 2028, release date for Fast Forever. As such, Mr. Hertz was nice enough to jump back on for a quick Friday afternoon mini-discourse, after exiting a (work-mandated) matinee showing of Melania, which I’ve cut-and-pasted into the end of the first episode as gracefully as possible. Alas, he lacked the courage or journalistic fortitude to ask the handful of Melania viewers their thoughts about the 11th and presumably final chapter in the Fast & Furious saga. Jokes aside, you’ve got the 30-minute conversation about Hobbs & Shaw, an 11-minute chat about Fast Forever, and then the conventional “Who are you and what the hell do you want?” show ending plug grabbed from the end of the Tuesday chat and affixed onto the end of the Friday one. Anyway, as far as “recommended reading,” I mean, obviously buy his book. But besides that, do read his Melania review so that his sacrifice need not be in vain. Plus, also read his terrific piece about how the straight-to-streaming structure has doomed a generation’s worth of movies, including many that in a prior time would have been considered big-deal theatrical releases, to essentially vanish into a black hole of cultural irrelevancy. Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Comscore Sr. Media Analyst Paul Dergarabedian returned to talk shop with the usual gang. He was only able to stick around for the first third before making like Steven Seagal in Executive Decision. Still, that first third covers the “Hey, the domestic box office cleared $9 billion after all!” results for the 2025 Jan-to-Dec slate.There is also chatter about our favorite films that didn’t receive a single Oscar nomination. This intro segment features, intentionally or not, Jeremy Fuster discussing Wake Up Dead Man in a way that makes me wonder whether Ted Sarandos really did have a multiplex-friendly awakening over the holidays.Anyway, “act two” is the three of us discussing the objectively terrible domestic and global debut for Mercy and emphasizing that Amazon MGM Studios, if they want to be treated as a major theatrical contender, cannot be graded on a curve when it comes to big-budget movies opening to far-lower-than-required grosses.Act three is the three of us gabbing about the Oscar nominations. Everyone is thrilled that Delroy Lindo finally got a damn Oscar nomination. Jeremy passionately “defends” F1: The Movie’s Best Picture inclusion. Scott Mendelson wonders aloud just how close Weapons came to scoring a Best Picture nomination. Lisa Laman mourns the Testament of Ann Lee shutout while wondering if the Searchlight release will even get a physical media release.Recommended Reading:* Scott Mendelson goes (too) deep on the monkey’s paw nostalgia at play in the first teaser trailer for Amazon MGM Studios’ Masters of the Universe.* Jeremy Fuster details how Amazon’s Brett Ratner-directed Melania is slated to be the latest example of online and social media chatter not translating to real-world interest. We’ll see if Iron Lung, courtesy of longtime YouTube personality Markiplier, will be an exception to the rule.* Lisa Laman compares and contrasts the not-disimmilar endings to No Other Choice and The Irishman.* Ryan Scott dissects the grim domestic box office for Return to Silent Hill.Your mission, should you choose to accept it: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, Comic Book and Autostraddle* Ryan C. Scott - SlashFilm and Fangoria* Max Deering - Fangoria and Action For Everyone Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Aaron Neuwirth returns for… what is this, the sixth or seventh time (?) since March 2025, to pontificate about what went right (artistically) but wrong (commercially) regarding Nia DaCosta and Alex Garland’s 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple. Among the areas of discourse are whether a mixed reception for 28 Years Later led to this downturn or whether — barring new classic status — this was always going to be a “folks were only curious the first time” IP revival. Also on tap is the continuing plea for studios to actually release more movies in theaters more regularly so that multiplexes and moviegoers aren’t essentially told “take it or leave it” for a single commercially questionable release even amid a previously lucrative holiday weekend.Recommended Reading…* Scott Mendelson discusses the shocking news that Fathom Events will A) be distributing Laika’s Wildwood in North America and B) attempt to become a semi-regular old-school domestic distribution studio.* Jeremy Fuster declares that, yes, Timothee Chalamet is indeed the closest thing we’ve got (give or take Sandra Bullock) to a butts-in-seats movie star.* Lisa Laman offers her picks for the ten Netflix movies that are most in need of and/or deserving of a physical media (DVD, Blu-Ray, 4K HD, etc.) release.* Ryan Scott argues why one of 28 Years Later and The Bone Temple’s most interesting characters damn-well better show up in the third film.* Aaron Neuwirth picks his most anticipated films in 2026.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, Autostraddle* Ryan C. Scott - SlashFilm and Fangoria* Max Deering - Fangoria and Action For Everyone* Aaron Neuwirth - The Code is Zeek and We Live Entertainment Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

While you’d think that the terrific trio, alongside producer Max Deering and special guest Rendy Jones (another superb fourth-chair occupant who’s so young but has been doing this for so long that I shudder to think how old they were when I first started reading their reviews and commentary), would spend most of the time discussing Primate and Greenland: Migration. And, yes, both films get their due discourse. And yes, the monkey business includes a digression into the infamous opening-night reaction to The Devil Inside.However, the first half is taken up by a conversation about everyone’s favorite studio logos and a tough-love chat about the many current struggles at Searchlight since its absorption into the Disney empire. The debate “rages” (not really) over why the former Fox Searchlight has struggled to at least remain as potent a year-end as Comcast’s Focus Features. Is it an inevitable consequence of consolidation? Is it an unwillingness to try and turn the likes of Rental Family into non-award-season hits? It’s probably a little of both.Here’s hoping that The Testament of Ann Lee A) scores its share of Oscar nominations and B) opens wide-ish next weekend with closer to $6 million than, I dunno, $600,000, just to make us look like idiots. We also discuss Neon’s slow-roll success as the hot spot for fans of international cinema, surefire ways to sell The Testament of Ann Lee to regular audiences (think Jermaine Stewart), fancasting for The Housemaid’s Secret and — because this is a box office podcast — the latest Jim Jarmusch flick.Recommended Reading…* Scott Mendelson argues that, with The Housemaid representing her third straight overperforming non-franchise mainstream studio programmer, Sydney Sweeney might just be a movie star.* Jeremy Fuster discussed how concerns and fears about almost inevitable corporate consolidation have dampened the mood even in an otherwise optimistic theatrical ecosystem.* Lisa Laman noted in an older article worth resharing amid the initial publicity run for Avengers: Doomsday that Fox’s 2015 SDCC panel highlighted a Marvel-specific future that never truly materialized.* Ryan Scott discusses how Ben Affleck and Matt Damon arranged for a performance-based bonus pool — to be shared among the cast and crew of Netflix’s The Rip — as a way to deal with (not unlike the Artist Equity arrangements for Air among other films) streaming-specific inequities in terms of profit sharing.* Rendy Jones shares the best (among those they’ve seen) of the indie/festival/arthouse gems we should keep our eyes on for 2026If 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* Max Deering - Fangoria and Action For Everyone* Rendy Jones - Rendy’s Reviews Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

The new-to-the-show guest for the first episode of 2026 is Tre’vell Anderson, prolific author, podcaster and journalist (who was recently named co-director of the Trans Journalist Association alongside TJA co-founder Kae Petrin). Oh, and Jeremy Fuster recorded from Japan, making this another truly international episode. All respect to We Bury the Dead and KidzBop Live: The Concert Movie, the vast majority of the show is spent discussing holdover news alongside hopes and fears for the new year. Among the areas of focus are the sky-high — especially in Asia — success for Zootopia 2 (Jeremy Fuster recorded from Japan, making this another truly international episode), the robust legs for The Housemaid and the continued “absurd by any other standard” earnings for Avatar: Fire and Ash. This includes an important discussion about both the extent to which (and why it matters that) Zootopia 2 is “copaganda” and whether Gazelle is hotter than Judy Hopps. #TeamHopps, but after that, the final third pivots to a bit of “rebellions are built on hope” discourse. No, not about the real-world hellscape necessarily, but merely about what may or may not happen to Warner Bros. and the entire exhibition ecosystem if the streamer buys and (comparatively) kneecaps its theatrical ambitions.Recommended Reading…* Scott Mendelson offered the best movies of 2025 and predictions for the top global grossers for each month of 2026.* Jeremy Fuster’s 2026 box office preview is essentially (my words, not his) “things are looking up, but Netflix can still make it all irrelevant.”* Lisa Laman picked the ten best motion-capture characters, and (among others) I’m thrilled that I’m not the only one who remembers A Monster Calls.* Ryan Scott offered five (pretty reasonable) suggestions for whoever (presumably Dave Filoni) will replace Kathleen Kennedy as head of Lucasfilm. * Tre’vell Anderson’s Time Magazine cover story in May of 2021, interviewing Dear Senthuran: A Black Spirit Memoir author Akwaeke Emezi.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* Max Deering - Fangoria and Action For Everyone* Tre’vell Anderson - podcasts, books and articles Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

This may be the very first weekend since I started this podcast, nearly two years ago, when we literally ran out of time to appropriately discuss the relevant new releases (and higher-profile holdovers). However, unless Kids Bop: The Movie pulls an ERAS Tour, I imagine the next (mostly holdover-centric) episode will make up the difference. No matter, having too many movies that are doing “too well” in for one reasonably-sized episode is an excellent problem to have.Courney Howard, longtime freelance critic for (among other joints) Variety, The AV Club and FreshFictionTV, makes her “in the fourth chair” debut to discuss why Avatar: Fire and Ash is continuing to kick butt, why and how Timothee Chalamet’s Marty Supreme opened so darn well and what did and didn’t work (commercially and artistically) for Anaconda.Among the topics are Avatar 3’s marquee characters (including a raising of the glass for Zoe Saldana), A24’s comprehensive Marty Supreme marketing campaign, and whether Anaconda (which is doing fine on its own smaller-scale merits) would have played better as a scarier, more violent “horror comedy.”Recommended Reading…* Scott Mendelson discussed how The Housemaid gave Lionsgate its third (nearly) consecutive end-of-2025 success from the kind of films (The Long Walk and Now You See Me Now You Don’t that Adam Fogelson’s tenure should prioritize alongside franchise extensions and whatever nonsense Millennium wants them to distribute.* Jeremy Fuster’s year-end review (one of three parts) discusses how theaters can’t just survive on semi-regular or periodic hot streaks or occasional overperforming tentpoles.* Lisa Laman offered five New Year’s resolutions for movie studios and movie theaters.* Max Deering’s 70th-anniversary retrospective on Charles Laughton’s Night of the Hunter discusses the classic thriller’s influence on religious horror films.* Courtney Howard’s review of My Oxford Year for Variety, which got a (comparatively… and not positive) extended reference amid this week’s podcast episode.* Ryan Scott notes the skewed circumstances behind Thursday night’s theatrical screenings of the Stranger Things series finale, for which Netflix receives no box office revenue. The “price of the ticket” was a $20 coupon for concessions at that showing. It’ll help theaters but won’t explicitely boost year-end box office totals. Weirdly enough, it’s somewhat similar to my “modest proposal” for theaters to retroactively comp kids’ tickets to kids’ flicks upon purchase of concessions for that showing.Anyway, I took Ethan to Stranger Things this evening. The show itself was… fine (certainly better than the seven episodes that preceded it). However, it looked and played exceptionally well in my local AMC’s most enormous non-PLF auditorium. It won’t be, but it should be, a “come to Jesus” moment for the company likely about to buy Warner Bros. sometime next year.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 and Fangoria* Max Deering - Fangoria and Action For Everyone* Courtney Howard - Variety, The AV Club and FreshFictionTV Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Sure, you’ll probably be a bit today, celebrating either Christmas or National Jews Get Chinese Food and Go to the Movies Day. The plan is for our “mixed” family (Wendy is half-Jewish/half-Catholic/all-guilt) to do both: open presents in the morning and catch up with Anaconda later that afternoon.However, if you’re stuck at a Christmas gathering and wish to avoid small talk with relatives, here’s 95 glorious minutes to consume that’s subtler than trying to discreetly watch the next three episodes of Stranger Things on your phone.So do listen to our 100th (!) episode as you A) watch the world (of dread and fear) outside your window, B) dry your bitter, stinging tears, C) tune out the clanging chimes of doom and… sing it with me now… D) Thank God it’s them instead of you!To the business at hand. With a $347 million global opening weekend and a (by the time you read this) global total just over/under $500 million, Avatar: Fire and Ash looks to be doing that thing that every James Cameron movie since Piranha II has done.Onto the matters at hand...Yes, I checked, and even The Abyss ($53 million from a $9.5 million launch in 1989) and True Lies ($146 million from a $26 million debut in 1994) both legged out like proverbial motherf***ers, even if the underwater sci-fi flick barely doubled its $45 million budget in global grosses. Also, I’ll assume that Piranha II: The Awakening did eventually recoup its alleged $146k budget, but I digress.In a skewed irony of sorts, both of the elder statesmen (Luke and I) have mostly nice things to say about the third Avatar, while the comparative “barely old enough to rent a car” co-hosts are far sharper and crankier. To be fair, I actually agree with 85% of the criticisms offered, I just didn’t find them dealbreakers, and seeing it a second time in IMAX 3-D honestly “helped” with many of my initial comparative misgivings.Nonetheless, all parties are more than satisfied with the money procured by Jake and Neytiri and overjoyed with the strong grosses offered up via the slew of new movies in what looks to be an “everybody wins” year-end holiday blitz.Topics of discussion…— Jeremy Fuster offers the bluntest and most straightforward explanation of the ongoing divide between the Avatar franchise’s lack of comparative non-theatrical monetization (ie, merchandise) and the sheer-of-the-moment popularity of each respective chapter. He’ll eat his words when Payakan becomes next Halloween’s most popular costume, but he’s right for now.— Lisa Laman expresses frustration with Cameron’s comparative “just because he can” use of high-frame-rate, in a far more regular and less concentrated way than in The Way of Water.— Luke Thompson contrasts the conversation about the repetition of elements from Way of Water in this new chapter with the initial 45-year-old criticism lobbed at the “barely a single movie” The Empire Strikes Back. Scott Mendelson, meanwhile, compares Fire and Ash to the “Richard Donner Cut” of Superman II.— Scott Mendelson, alongside all of the Avatar 3 chatter, gives a hearty horay for everything else in the marketplace while arguing that The Housemaid, not Americana or Christy, is the kind of movie that should be a measuring stick for Sydney Sweeney’s alleged box office bankability.— There’s quite a bit more, including Action For Everyone’s Max Deering debuting as a real-time engineer/producer for the first of… well, however many times he finds it convenient to hide in the corner, while inquiring as to what Avatar 4 might look like, especially if (speculation alert) Cameron opts to produce instead of direct.Recommended Reading…— Scott Mendelson argues that the first Avengers: Doomsday trailer is an admission that Disney has spent the entire 2020s failing to cultivate new-to-MCU heroes, while debunking the “Avatar 3 only opened well because of that teaser for The Odyssey” narrative.— Jeremy Fuster explained why another $2 billion-plus worldwide gross is probably not in the cards for Avatar 3.— Lisa Laman offered up her picks for the best trailers of 2025.— Ryan Scott discussed the late James Ransone’s under-the-radar MVP status in a slew of iconic horror movies over the last 15 years.— Max Deering discusses the Alan Wake video game series and how it deals with hyperstition.— Luke Y. Thompson defends ten ill-received TV series finales.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]. Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Since neither Ella McCay nor Silent Night Deadly Night caught fire (and ash) this past weekend, we invited Greenlight Analytics Director of Insights & Content Strategy Brandon Katz to discuss (among other things) the whole “Netflix wants to buy Warner Bros.” situation beyond just what it does or doesn’t mean for theatrical cinema. Among the topics of discourse…* The challenges with Hollywood still wanting to make “old-school movies” with little outside-the-bubble awareness of newer filmmakes and young(er) would-be movie stars, creating a reliance on decades-past-their-prime talent and decades-past-relevancy IP or (in terms of biopics) real-life historical figures.* Whether Netflix’s attempt to buy Warner Bros. for all of its network television shows and previously theatrical movies is an admission that the streamer broke the system for making new monetizable favorites and now must overspend to get all of the comfort food created and released by its “out of touch” competition.* Our favorite horror remakes, with an early-show conversation about the glories of Franz Oz’s Little Shop of Horrors and its original grimdark finale.* The tragedy of a once-viable high concept flick like The Dust Bunny debuting to relative theatrical obscurity. * Pre-release chatter about how Avatar: Fire and Ash might perform in relation to its predecessors both on opening weekend and (presumably) well into 2026.* And more, including A) Jeremy’s deadpan hilarious response when asked if he has seen Ella McCay and B) what Steven Spielberg should have called Disclosure Day.Recommended reading…* Scott Mendelson explains how Wicked For Good became one of those big-deal sequels that’s viewed as a commercial disappointment only because it’ll only earn about what was (at best) expected from its over-performing predecessor. * Jeremy Fuster offers a deep dive into India’s globally expanding theatrical footprint and its emerging issues, as seen in Hollywood, with a comparative “event movie or bust” mentality.* Lisa Laman offered her preemptive picks for the most likely surprise hits and biggest bombs of 2026 (I, for one, have faith that WB’s animated remake of Funny Games might be a big hit) and runs down the few(er) and not-so-proud big mid-to-late December releases that tanked even amid the end-of-year holiday blitz. #Justice4MortalEngines and/or #Justice4PeterPan. * Ryan Scott discusses IDW’s new imprint, IDW Dark, which will offer comic book expansions for ongoing theatrical horror franchises like Smile and A Quiet Place.* Brandon Katz dug into a “favorite” topic of mine (and presumably yours, if you’re here), namely the commercial decline of the mid-budget “just a movie” movie.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* Brandon Katz - Greenlight Analytics and The Observer Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

The good news is that the theatrical ecosystem is exactly as alive as the main distribution studios allow it to be, as Blumhouse’s Five Nights at Freddy’s notches what is now the third straight $60 million-plus opening weekend in a row. The bad news is that, once again, the fate of the multiplex ecosystem finds itself in existential peril through no real fault of its own.Yes, Warner Bros. gets caught… yet again… in a tug-of-war over the imaginary value of theoretically valuable IP in spite, or perhaps because, of its aspirational year at the box office. Needless to say, none of us are happy about what’s sure to be a definitive story that stretches well into 2026 if not well into 2027 or 2028, as any optimism afford to theaters now sits alongside a lit fuse and the likelihood of another legacy studio being taken off the board for no good reason.So… uh… well, at least this episode has jokes?Recommended reading…* Scott Mendelson explains how and why, for those new to this game, Avatar: Fire and Ash will not need an opening on par with an Avengers or Star Wars movie to potentially soar to the upper rungs of the domestic and global box office.* Jeremy Fuster notes how, despite constant proclamations of doom, gloom and cultural irrelevancy, indie theaters have continued to comparatively thrive.* Lisa Laman explains quite simply why “There are no good corporate mergers.”* Ryan Scott discusses how and why Alien Vs. Predator became one of 20th Century Fox’s most profitable movies.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

As we wait and see if and how Universal chooses to embark on a presumably final film in the $7.3 billion-grossing Fast & Furious saga, Barry Hertz’s recently released Welcome to the Family: The Explosive Story Behind Fast & Furious, The Blockbusters That Supercharged The World offers an impressively comprehensive and potentially definitive look at the 25-year underdog success story. The author stopped by to offer his thoughts, some of which are in the book and some of which are “new to you,” regarding the many unexpected and unpredictable ups and downs, triumphs and tragedies, lucky breaks and unprecedented missed opportunities that slowly turned “a little car movie for spring break” into the top-grossing real-world, non-fantastical action-adventure franchise in Hollywood history. Without rehashing the book’s highlights, I’ll note that Hertz, Chief Film Critic for Toronto’s The Globe and Mail, knows that many of the readers know many of the key events along the way. As such, he uses the history we know as the starting point for a dissection into the how, why and why not related to the movies and moments that made headline news in the entertainment ecosystem and beyond. For example, Hertz discusses the Vin Diesel/Dwayne Johnson feud in terms of Vin being a Sylvester Stallone-ish “serious artist who found success only as a beefcake action hero” and Dwayne being an Arnold Schwarzenegger-ish “anything to please the crowds” showman. Maybe it’s good that Sly and Arnie didn’t truly team up until 2013’s Escape Plan, by which point neither of them had the butts-in-seats stardom to justify inflated egos. And, without giving too much away, he drops at least two nuggets here that A) didn’t make the book and B) genuinely surprised me. Okay, so one of them — a most unusual but on-brand request/demand regarding failed attempts to lure Vin Diesel back for a straight-up Fast and the Furious 2 — might make you laugh out loud. Oh, and gasp when I foolishly reveal my initial thoughts 25 years ago upon seeing a trailer for that first Fast and the Furious.But beyond that, we discussed the unassuming nature of that first summer 2001 B-movie, which turned out to be, well, Fast and the Furious is to Speed as Driven is to Blown Away. We noted how Universal’s failure to lock a conventional sequel in place until years after the fact, with two kinda-sorta sequels arriving in the interim, played a crucial role in crafting a before-it-was-cool cinematic universe. We also noted the notion of many as “fan” — such as myself — coming late to the party, as I was among many who were otherwise indifferent to the first four films, only to be knocked out by the inexplicably spectacular Fast Five. Anyway, among many other pleasures to be found in the prose and the conversation, I was most compelled by the in-hindsight reevaluation of Furious 7’s success in terms of keeping a post-mortem Paul Walker alive enough onscreen to bow out with grace. At the time, James Wan’s 2015 installment was an aspirational, fist-pumping, look-what-Hollywood-can-do success, in terms of technology, filmmaking craft, commercial success, and overall pop culture impact. Today? Well, like a lot of franchises, brands and showbiz players that inspired and entertained in the 2010s, there’s a particular “Die a hero or live long enough to become a villain” sentiment. Cut to 2025 as Vin Diesel teases a “return” for Paul Walker’s protagonist that few fans actually want amid a still-in-limbo “final” chapter that will arguably only get made, presuming it does, because Fast X ended on a cliffhanger. For all that naval gazing and more (less stick-up-Scott’s-ass) conversation about what’s still among Hollywood’s definitive “rip-off, don’t remake” triumphs (Fast & the Furious in 2001 > Point Break in 2015), check out the conversation and then order the book, courtesy of Grand Central Publishing. Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Somehow (an invitation, natch), Aaron Neuwirth returned. In a lengthy but dense Thanksgiving weekend wrap-up episode, the subject is, of course, Walt Disney’s Zootopia 2. The acclaimed and buzzy WDA sequel has thus far earned (counting its $7.5 million “second Thursday” in China) $170 million in North America, $315 million in China and $635 million worldwide. Beyond obvious “What went right?” and “Does the bonkers-bananas Chinese opening mean anything beyond a deep decade-long Zootopia fandom?” Lisa Laman discusses the disturbing circumstances in which the holiday weekend has just eight wide releases in play, and (be it correlation or causation), tentpoles like Zootopia 2 and Wicked For Good are taking up more screens and more showtimes per theater than ever before. Scott Mendelson agrees, noting that A) the kind of films that used to qualify as counterprogramming now barely exist at the theatrical level and B) Warner Bros., Disney, and Universal are essentially the only studios that “matter” in macro terms for the theatrical ecosystem, thereby improving their bargaining positions. Jeremy Fuster eventually unloads with two years’ worth of justified indignation, lashing out at Bob Iger’s semi-regular strawman arguments equating Disney’s early 2020s struggles with the “not a white guy” stories being told — often created by “not a white guy” filmmakers, no less. Trust me, I’d cue up the Independence Day theme music for the occasion. Aaron Neuwirth declares war on previous guest Ryan Scott for his harsh words directed at Godzilla: King of the Monsters. So, there’s a for-charity-bonus-episode if/when the time comes. As Jeremy notes, the unexpected 60-day window being afforded to Hamnet, Aaron discusses the complicated circumstances of successfully platforming well-liked but not necessarily crowdpleasing award-season fare. That’s just a sample — including Scott’s realization that The Housemaid could turn out to be a remake of Mary Poppins Returns — of the treats in store for those brave enough to press play on this uncommonly uncaged and feral episode of The Box Office Podcast.No recommended reading as I got caught up elsewhere, but if you like what you hear, That said, if you like what you hear, please like, share, comment, and subscribe. 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 and Fangoria* Aaron Neuwirth - The Code is Zeek Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

This is a kind of half-and-half in terms of The Box Office Podcast. It’s technically an hour-long conversation with Bruce Nash, owner of The Numbers, as he prepares to release the site’s first-ever full-year market forecast. However, Jeremy Fuster and Lisa Laman were able to jump in amid this mid-week pre-Thanksgiving chit-chat, so it’s a bit of both worlds. In the 60-minute discourse, we discuss Nash’s site and why it’s better or different from all other sites of its nature. Among other things, unlike its chief competitor, it didn’t set itself on fire six years ago, in terms of data availability and usability, for no good cause. The core topic is what we all think may or may not happen in the 2026 theatrical calendar year. Everyone agrees that even the rosiest predictions, for the theatrical ecosystem as a whole, are predicated on Warner Bros. *not* being swallowed up and stripped for “Batman-or-bust” parts by whichever suitor wins this most egregious season of The Bachelor. Lisa wins the “quote of the episode” award, which I just made up right now, when she declares (paraphrasing) that we need “fewer mergers and more movies.” I’d put that bumper sticker on my car in a heartbeat.However, at least from the start, 2026 will get a boost from Avatar: Fire and Ash and a busy January slate that looks closer to 2023 than 2024. The bad news is that there aren’t many titles with even the potential to be a breakout overperformer on par with Barbie or Inside Out 2. However, Chris Nolan’s The Odyssey seems the most likely such candidate by default. The good news is that most 2026 releases may perform as well as hoped (or better) with the bonus of Michael and Mortal Kombat II juicing the overall revenue totals for the first half of the year.There’s plenty of that kind of punditry and analysis, some of it more serious (At what point do we accept that the consistent “This year will be back to normal!” drumbeat is a mirage?) than not (the key circumstance by which Mortal Kombat II could post Avatar-level grosses). Still, we do our best not to make Mr. Nash spend the duration thinking to himself, “Oh god, what have I done?”No recommended reading, but I completely forgot to link to the GoFundMe Lisa mentioned two weeks ago, specifically for the slew of journalists laid off from Vibe following a merger with Rolling Stone. For those able and willing… go *here*.As always, if you like what you hear, please like, share, comment, and subscribe. 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]. The regular Box Office Podcast episode, discussing the Thanksgiving box office, should drop within the next 24 hours..* 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

Before we see to what extent Zootopia 2 ($39 million on Wednesday and $81 million worldwide thus far, or $100 million if you’re counting its $34 million Wednesday and $20 million Thursday in China) reaches the Thanksgiving weekend heights of Moana 2, listen to this extensive, comprehensive and almost intentionally random dissection of Wicked For Good’s $147 million domeatic and $223 million worldwide debut. Chrissi Michael, content strategist by day and box office nerd by night, stops by in this 90-minute chat that features #importantjournalisms related to Muppet Clue, Repo: The Genetic Opera and, spoilers, whether “it’s” made of… corn. Fear not, there is also more… mature discourse about breakout sequels, what Broadway favorites should or should not get the big-budget movie treatment and the importance of adaptations that grow an existing fanbase. Also on tap were thoughts on what studios might be thinking when they split a long book or play into two movies, the logic of making films for/from/about women, and whether Zooptia 2 will give Wicked more of a hassle than Moana 2 did. Most importantly, discover what exactly Lisa was talking about when she declared, “For the first time in my life, I feel… Phantom of the Opera 2007 revival!” Apologies, but I’m running behind, so no “recommended reading” for this week. That said, if you like what you hear, please like, share, comment, and subscribe. 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 and Fangoria* Chrissi Michael - c(ine)m(a) studies Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

The original permanent fourth chair returns, as Ryan Scott stops by for the first time since early August. Actually, since Jeremy Fuster couldn’t make this week’s show, it’s still a party of trio instead of a quartet. We, of course, discuss the ins and outs of Now You See Me: Now You Don’t (which should be just over/under $100 million worldwide by the time you read this) and The Running Man (which should be at around $35 million globally by tonight). And for those who have argued that I’m too… ruthless of an editor (I don’t entirely disagee), I did let this one hang out a little bit, including more false starts than Point Break or Return of the King has false endings, so those who just want the meat can skip to 14:50 for the top ten rundown and then 26:50 for the actual discourse.Among the tangents, we discuss Aaron Eckhart’s 2020s run as a direct-to-consumer action star, why Ryan is still angry about Godzilla: King of the Monsters, why Lisa thinks that the history-reshaping racism of Birth of a Nation might only be the second-worst thing about it (that’s my joke, but think the oft-shared/memed “I draw the line at animal cruelty” Community scene) and why you might want to drop $50 on Sisu: Road to Revenge (which, by the way, is pretty dang great) topping the domestic box office this weekend.Among the more pertinent topics are the complicated questions related to Glen Powell’s alleged movie stardom, and — in slightly related terms — Chris Evans’ post-MCU filmography, how The Running Man continues a Hollywood trend of reviving franchises or brands that audiences more or less previously rejected (both the 1987 Running Man movie and the early-2010s slew of failed remakes like Fright Night, Total Recall and RoboCop), and to what extent we should readjust the commercial bar for success amid the new PVOD and streaming-supplemented status quo.Apologies, but I’m running behind, so no “recommended reading” for this week. That said, if you like what you hear, please like, share, comment, and subscribe. 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 and Fangoria Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to another irregular spin-off episode of The Box Office Podcast, during which I (Scott Mendelson) sit down with Kevin Goetz. Mr. Goetz is the founder and current CEO of Screen Engine/ASI, among the leading companies involved in (among other things) pre-release test screening and pre-release tracking analysis. He also hosts a weekly podcast of his own, “Don’t Kill the Messenger,” which features inside baseball conversations with industry leaders and influential artists. But the reason for the season is his second book, How to Score in Hollywood, which dropped on November 11 courtesy of Simon & Schuster. Among the insights are the difference between having that big idea and developing it to a commercially successful endpoint, crafting films with specific audiences via commercially viable budgets and marketing spends, and the changing definitions of what audiences consider “theater worthy” and using the test screening process as a positive tool rather than a (my words) “commerce > art” cudgel. In the 50-minute conversation, as always edited for time and clarity, we discuss the common Hollywood mistakes (mistaking a singular hit for an easily replicable pattern, the difference between revisiting and rehashing, etc.), the shows that convinced him that television had caught up to movies in terms of production value and comparative impact and why the modern theatrical ecosystem has to cope with the three “Cs” — Cost, Convenience and Choice. And with that… I hope you enjoy the most recent episode of The Box Office Podcast, which features the return of Ryan Scott, and will drop later this week. Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Max Deering, of Fangoria and the Action For Everyone podcast, returns to discuss the rousing reception (artistically and commercially) for Dan Trachtenberg and Patrick Aison’s Predator: Badlands. But that’s not all, as the longtime Predator fan is here to spread the gospel about the, uh… *darkest* chapter of the Predator universe, namely AvP: Requiem. Is it an unsung (or at least undervalued) “trasherpiece”? Is Trachtenberg a secret “AvP: Requiem Truther”? Will we ever see a version of the 2007 monster mash-up sequel that we can, I dunno, actually *see*? Meanwhile, we discuss whether Badlands can serve as a gateway for younger audiences who are not otherwise interested in prior Predator installments, as Jeremy Fuster reminds us of the complicated reasons why Prey went straight to Hulu. Later, flags are half-mast for Die My Love and Christy and glasses are raised for Bugonia and Regretting You. We discuss why Mubi shelled out big bucks for an almost comically uncommercial flick and whether the boxing flick bombed due to or despite Sydney Sweeney’s SEO-gold online-famous fame. All of that and more, including Scott Mendelson’s simple (and predictable?) reason for selecting Prey as his “favorite” Predator passion play.Recommended reading…* Scott Mendelson noted how the success of Predator: Badlands is a reminder that Disney ruled the 2010s because its 2010s movies were (relatively) good.* Jeremy Fuster discussed how anime saved the domestic box office amid what otherwise would have been a brutal “Weapons to Wicked” slump.* Lisa Laman discusses Disney’s mediocre-at-best 2025 box office run, just before Predator: Badlands, Zootopia 2 and Avatar: Fire and Ash arrive to right the ship.* Ryan Scott’s latest “Tales from the Box Office” discusses the grim commercial fates, 25 years ago, of both Mission to Mars and Red Planet.* Max Deering discusses the popular Alan Wake video game series and how it deals with hyperstition, which, in the game, comes about (simplification alert) in a manner similar to John Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness. 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* Max Deering - Fangoria and Action For Everyone Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

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

Chainsaw Man: The Movie proved that anime is no longer necessarily specialized theatrical programming. Meanwhile, Deliver Me from Nowhere failed to become the next A Complete Unknown and Regretting You did not remotely become the next It Ends with Us. Travis Hopson, of Punch Drunk Critics (and elsewhere) joins as we discuss what went wrong for The Boss and why the latest Colleen Hoover adaptation didn’t even manage a “from The Firm to The Pelican Brief” decline. More discourse is had concerning Bugonia’s platform debut amid a season of indifferently received award-season contenders, long-term expectations for anime as a Sony-distributed animated sub-genre, and the extent to which the issues plaguing Hollywood go back at least as far as the post-Star Wars/Jaws pursuit of previously aspirational box office results.By the way, a paid subscriber chat is set for today at 2 p.m. EST/11 a.m. PST. I’ll send out the official email shortly, but be aware.Recommended Reading…Scott Mendelson notes the ironic coincidence that November’s first would-be biggies are both examples of “Hollywood treats a singular Arnold Schwarzenegger sci-fi actioner as a replicable franchise.” Jeremy Fuster digs deep into how Hollywood’s labor organizations are reacting to what could be an industry-imploding Warner Bros sale.Lisa Laman notes the tenth anniversary of Sony’s Goosebumps, which kicked off the current trend of “Jack Black - Butts in Seats Movie Star for Kids.” Ryan Scott’s latest “Tales from the Box Office” discusses the 25th anniversary of everyone’s favorite Blair Witch flick, Joe Berlinger’s Book of Shadows. I’ll note that the pre-release punditry expecting the film to open on par with The Blair Witch Project (despite the lightning-in-a-bottle nature of that not-exactly-universally-adored predecessor) was one of my “origin stories” in terms of being an overly cautious box office “predictor.” Also, 25 years later, it’s almost aspirational for a horror film to get a whopping $15 million budget…Travis Hopson reviews Found Footage: The Making of the Patterson Project, which is a mockumentary on the making of a Blair Witch-style chiller in the vein of Christopher Guest’s cult favorites.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* Travis Hopson - Punch Drunk Critics, Roger Ebert, JoBlo, ABC 7 News Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

The Black Phone 2 was the hit Blumhouse needed, but the brand still has work to do to get folks excited about its not-sequel, non-IP horror offerings. Good Fortune was another miss for live-action theatrical comedies. While Lionsgate made a few marketing mistakes, it shouldn’t require 100% perfection to garner a halfway decent opening for a star-packed, well-reviewed and present-tense topical high-concept comedy. Meanwhile, After the Hunt, Truth & Treason and Petsa on a Train barely made a ripple amid another unpleasantly small weekend box office cume, with Amazon MGM Studios’ (poorly-reviewed) #MeToo drama inspiring PTSD a decade after Secret in Her Eyes flamed out for STX Entertainment. Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Was the failure of Tron: Ares inevitable by virtue of Tron never being an A-level franchise? Or is the box office decimation of Disney’s $180 million threequel a matter of the specific choices made for what became this past weekend’s little-loved and little-seen would-be tentpole? Maybe Disney should have said “No” to Jared Leto’s self-aggrandizing pitch and cast a younger or at least more popular older actor to anchor a big-deal franchise entry. No matter, there’s plenty of Tron discourse as Kirsten Acuna (the coolest entertainment staff editor at People Magazine) and Aaron Neuwirth (the second-coolest host of 2 Black Guys Talk Godzilla) pull another two-for-one guest hosting shift. It’s another Power Rangers-worthy (two minorities, two women and one generic white guy arbitrarily in charge) line-up, which I suppose makes sense since it seemingly took Tron 3 a thousand years to become “free” even if it absolutely failed to conquer Earth. Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

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

The host of The Brandon Peters Show (the only pod with a less creative title than “The Box Office Podcast”) returns to discuss One Battle After Another, which pulled a giant *shrug* of a $22 million domestic debut. Did the reviews, buzz and Oscar attention fail to move the needle, or did all the positive variables merely prevent an even lower opening? And with two in a row, is Leonardo DiCaprio now a mere $20 million-plus opener compared to the $30-$40 million highs seen in the 2010s? Sure, WB can afford to let this one underwhelm in relation to its budget and perhaps aspirational hopes, but theaters sure would have preferred another Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood or even The Departed.Meanwhile, because the real news of the weekend was the perfectly-fine $13.7 million debut for Universal and DreamWorks’ Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie, longtime “kids entertainment in the streaming era” expert and pundit Emily Horgan stopped by all the way from Ireland to discuss the reemerging trend of kids toons and related youth-skewing shows getting the “Now it’s a movie, dammit!” treatment. While Brandon makes a convincing case for why Gabby should have perished in her feature film debut, all agree that the current upswing in such youth-skewing releases is a net-positive in terms of cultivating the next generation of regular (or even semi-regular) theatrical moviegoers. Oh, and Emily also agrees that Paw Patrol 3 should have been a Dark Knight remake, dammit. Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Terence Johnson, he of 2 Black Guys Talk Godzilla and Le Noir Auteur, joins to chime in on Justin Trippin’s Him, including how director Justin Trippin’s theatrical cut differs from Zack Akers and Skip Bronkie’s original Black List-ed screenplay, as well as what didn’t appeal to a self-professed movie romance fan about A Big Bold Beautiful Journey. Those two, obviously, dominate the discussion. Among other topics, there’s a minor “debate” concerning whether anyone should have really felt duped walking into Him expecting a film *directed* by Jordan Peele. And all parties agree that Sony’s marketing for the Margot Robbie/Colin Farrell melodrama didn’t offer much beyond abstract romantic drama. The episode concludes with several minutes of One Battle After Another box office preview-specific chatter, so it’s a mostly business-as-usual 80-minute chit-chat. Oh, and there are spoilers concerning the original screenplay for Him as well as (somewhat generic, I would argue) spoilers for the finished picture. Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

TheWrap’s Managing Editor for Pro and business, Roger Cheng, joins TheWrap’s Jeremy Fuster (and Scott Mendelson, formerly of TheWrap and Lisa Laman, never from TheWrap) to discuss the blow-out domestic debut for Crunchyroll and Sony’s Demon Slayer Infinity Castle. But it’s not just all Demon Slayer chatter, as there’s ample time to discuss Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, Conjuring holdover business, and Jeremy’s frankly batshit insane pick for “favorite Stephen King movie.” Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Lisa Laman was busy participating in a conference in Atlanta, so Jeremy Fuster and Scott Mendelson welcome back Kenny Miles to this week’s episode to discuss the blow-out opening weekend for WB and New Line’s The Conjuring: Last Rites. Miles, per usual, discusses his experiences and opinions related to his work as a CinemaScore pollster, while also bringing some insight into the films’ ongoing appeal to the more spiritually inclined.Meanwhile, all parties agree that the biggest movie stars of The Conjuring Universe were not Annabelle and The Nun, but rather Ed and Lorraine Warren, as played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Vermiga. And everyone has an opinion as to how the franchise might continue (regardless of whether it should) sans the marquee actors and, give or take his future participation, James Wan as assurances that whatever comes next won’t succumb to “IP for IP’s sake” mistakes. Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Yes, it’s a little odd to spend the majority of our conversation discussing a movie that barely topped $2 million over the Fri-Mon Labor Day box office, but them’s the breaks. After all, when Hollywood’s biggest new release is a 50th anniversary reissue of Jaws, well… we can only salute Weapons so many times.Anyway, Luke Y. Thompson and Michelle Kisner, both affirmed B-movie experts, offer their thoughts on the extent to which this specific (comparatively kinder and/or gentler) Toxie makes sense in terms of the property and what’s popular in 2025.Yes, there is some chatter about the shark movie — and how a handful of very successful rereleases tie into a desire for tangible experiences and the kids’ genuine interest in movie theaters *because* it gets them off of their smart phones for 2-3 hours.We briefly wonder out loud whether Austin Butler is slowly building his brand as an old-school (smaller budgets, fewer expectations, etc.) butts-in-seats leading man, and lightly debate whether The Roses is “thing good” (a remake that isn’t selling itself as a remake) or “thing bad” (still a remake that went out as a Searchlight flick instead of as a 20th Century Studios release).And, yes, we again note the “Occam’s Razor” notion of the box office being below even last summer (especially for in-season newbies) because there aren’t enough movies and too many of those films are IP-for-IP’s sake revamps aimed at folks my age. When Netflix is getting KPop Demon Hunters and movie theaters are getting This is Spinal Tap II, well, that’s your problem right there. Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

The picture, for reasons that are 99% related to the theatrical marketplace, came and went in theaters last month. But the early days of August brought not one but two excellent original thrillers that play like newfangled horror fantasies filtered through the world as it is today. WB helped turn Weapons into a sleeper smash hit, which should, by the time you read this, zoom past the unadjusted $137.4 million domestic total of The Conjuring. Meanwhile, strong buzz and good reviews notwithstanding, Sketch (review) was notable primarily for being Angel Studios’ first festival acquisition and, relatively speaking, their first theatrical flick not explicitly predicated on Christian dogma.The good news is that, with the latter available to rent or buy digitally (and/or watch for free if you’re an Angel Guild member), you can catch up with the film just as you did with many (if not most) of your childhood favorites, namely at home. And while the terrific picture was no box office smash ($8 million, low even by Angel Studios standards), it’s also cheap enough perhaps to become an old-school post-theatrical favorite akin to Labrynth, The Monster Squad and (budget notwithstanding) The Iron Giant. That’s just one issue I discussed with writer/director Seth Worley in this (edited for time and clarity) 45-minute conversation.The other topics include the real-world influences, the origins of the film’s high concept (a young girl whose macabre drawings come to life and wreak kaiju-style chaos amid her small town), the challenges of crafting an Amblin-worthy all-quadrant horror fantasy on a comparatively low budget, the obsticles in getting the money folks to roll the dice on an unapologetically emotional non-IP fantasy film, and Sketch’s surprising fate as a secular crowdpleaser from a (primarily) religious distributor. There’s more of course, but the crux is that I dug the hell out of Sketch, and I wanted to talk to the guy who made it.In a world where movies like Bumblebee earn kudos and huzzahs for approximating the very kind of “kid and their magic pet” fantasies that the Transformers movies put out of business, Sketch never had a shot in heck at Free Willy or even Earth to Echo-level box office. However, the film got made, it was a nationwide theatrical release, and I hope that it becomes a genuine post-theatrical cult favorite. Anyway, I hope you enjoy. If anyone in Hollywood is listening to this, if you want me to potentially pretend to give a damn about Gremlins 3, Goonies 2, Second-to-Last-Starfighter, or what-have-you… Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

It was mostly all about KPop Demon Hunters — which earned around $19.2 million via Saturday and Sunday showings — as summer otherwise ended with a whimper. The original animated musical fantasy became Netflix’s most-watched original movie at around the same time it was topping the weekend domestic box office. Chrissi Michael, content strategist by day and box office nerd by night, is here to dissect the circumstances. Jeremy Fuster was returning to LA from a vacation and lacked the courage to attempt podcasting mid-air, so it’s just Scott Mendelson, Lisa Laman and the special guest.Along with a deep dive into what Netflix’s momentary and situational theatrical triumph does and doesn’t mean for theaters, streaming, we briefly discussed the summer that was. Among the topics included a lack of big movies aimed at women and girls (cough-KPop Demon Hunters-cough) and how the sheer familiarity of the various brands and franchises being revisited resulted in a ceiling on even successful revivals. We discussed the extent to which Superman appealed to the general population in a way Fantastic Four did not, while discussing the discrepancy between online handwringing over Materialists (and, already, Supergirl) versus the film’s unmitigatedly successful theatrical reception. Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Action For Everyone podcast host Mike Scott returns to A) plug this weekend’s Big Bad Film Fest and B) discuss Timo Tjahjanto’s first foray into Hollywood action filmmaking. He’s joined by Max Deering, also from Action For Everyone, as well as Fangoria. Is Nobody 2 a breakout sequel, or just a “spend more but make less” follow-up?* Is it Tjahjanto’s Hard Target or merely his Maximum Risk?* Who pops in unannounced to discuss last weekend’s big theatrical release?* Is KPop Demon Hunters a rare film that became a pop cultural sensation at least partially because it skipped theaters and went straight to Netflix?* What movie does Lisa Laman describe as “a Disney Channel movie shot in hell”? Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

In this distinctly old-school episode of The Box Office Podcast, former co-host turned semi-regular special guest Ryan Scott returned to discuss the blow-out success of Zach Cregger’s Weapons. Scott Mendelson noted that it’s another example of WB’s marketing might in terms of turning less-conventional programmers into genuine smash hits. At the same time, Lisa Laman stressed that it’s another key example of why it’s still worth it for Hollywood to roll the dice on original or less pre-sold theatrical films. Meanwhile, Jeremy Fuster noted the skillful marketing campaign that, unlike the overly cryptic promotion for BoulderLight’s earlier (and also quite good) Companion, used the film’s compelling high concept hook to hide most of the surprises without leaving audiences totally in the dark. Ryan Scott discussed the unique circumstances concerning how and when Cregger’s Barbarians debuted theatrically, and why it turned what could have been a barely remembered cult horror gem into a mainstream calling card. Miracle of miracles, all of us had positive things to say about Disney, noting yet another “initially Disney+ movie-turned-theatrical-success.” Yes, Freakier Friday was a bit frontloaded. Yes, it’s another example of “kids’ films aimed at nostalgic adults.” However, it scored the biggest opening for “just a comedy” since Girls Trip in 2017, as Disney A) leads the industry in terms of long theatrical exclusivity windows and B) consistently trades intangible streaming buzz for cash-in-hand revenue. Granted, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is still in deep s**t, as Ryan expressed shock at the swift decline of the pretty good Fantastic Four reboot. But if Disney can get back to making money on “just a movie” programmers, then the ebbs and flows of the MCU will be of less zero-sum consequence. Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

A longer and more digression-packed episode than usual, because now semi-regular special guest Aaron Neuwirth kept talking and talking and talking. Sadly, he has been banned from The Box Office Podcast until no earlier than September 21. Although if there’s a movie (re)opening on the weekend of August 15 that justifies a cameo…The core discussion is, obviously, what a massive dip for Fantastic Four says about the chickens coming home to roost in the MCU. We also find ample time to discuss The Bad Guys 2’s perfectly okay opening, mixed signals for The Naked Gun’s attempts to “save” the comedy movie (volume = victory) and a surprisingly rock-solid debut for Neon’s Together. Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

As of this writing, Fantastic Four: First Steps has earned $142.25 million after five days in North American theaters, jumping an “impressive as Superman” 36% from its $10.4 million Monday for a $14.2 million Tuesday. Concerns about a shockingly frontloaded weekend (barely double its $57 million Friday and 21% of its $117.64 million weekend stemming from Thursday previews) notwithstanding, it’s not like the film is collapsing into oblivion now that the hardcore MCU fans have checked it off their proverbial lists.That was the general impression offered up in this latest episode of The Box Office Podcast, namely that Marvel’s latest was a step in the right direction (after the also pretty good Thunderbolts*) in terms of consistent quality and (in terms of Marvel rebooting a previously adapted property) “better-than-before” spectacle and melodrama. Beyond that…Lisa Laman questions whether Shalla-Bal replaced Norrin Radd to allow Johnny Storm to “safely” find himself #HotForTheSurfer (relatable...).Scott Mendelson wonders if the decision to set the standalone film in a fantastical version of 1960s America was an attempt to avoid dealing with real-world topicality.Jeremy Fuster offers pretty plausible explanations for both (subjectively valid) choices. However, he agrees with the group that any goodwill earned from the Fantastic Four will do little to move the needle in terms of Avengers: Doomsday feeling (at this juncture) like anything other than a past-tense nostalgia cash-in.However, as befitting his status as the host of the show, Scott Mendelson (when he’s not making fun of crying children) asks the most critical question: how the hell can an interdimensional being who is barely as tall as Godzilla eat an entire planet? Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Our guest, longtime film journalist and current Fangoria Managing Editor Meredith Borders, joins us all the way from Germany to discuss how Superman is inspired by and appeals to fans of Smallville, as well as to what extent The Smurfs is still popular in Europe. All agree that Superman is absolutely becoming a “normal people give a damn” event movie, trying to legacy-sequel-ize I Know What You Did Last Summer was a doomed and depressing prospect, and Eddington was always fated to be more blogged about then seen. Also, Jeremy Fuster explains why Paramount wasn’t neccessarily looking at global box office for a yay/nay verdict on Smurf, while all parties give their thoughts as to why Clark Kent continues to remain a mostly domestic-skewing property even as Peter Parker and Steve Rogers have become global superstars. Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe