The Box Office Podcast

It is a tale of two franchise-friendly $250 million tentpoles and to what extent the streamer deserves nuance and mercy for a domestic and global opening weekend that would be an outright disaster for a legacy studio. Sure, Red One was greenlit and budgeted for streaming, but why make excuses for the very streaming companies that helped undercut the legacy studios’ ability to release non-franchise theatricals in the first place, especially when the film in question isn’t a studio programmer like Challengers or a prestige flick like Killers of the Flower Moon? Meanwhile, hopes are high for Gladiator II (which earned a decent $87 million in its overseas debut) and Wicked Part One (which is set to play the role of the pre-Thanksgiving YA fantasy epic of the year indeed), while Moana II is tracking so high that we’re just hoping that it’s… better than Inside Out 2. Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

We all try to distract ourselves by discussing the long-game value of Christmas movies and the coming triple-whammy of Gladiator II, Wicked Part One, and Moana II, which will help bring the overall year-end closer to 2023 than any of us dared hope back in January. You can also enjoy our wildly off-topic discussions about what Hollywood tried to make in the 2010s. From here on out, Timothée Chalamet shall be known (in a superlative, complimentary sense) as “The Dune Twink.” Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Ryan had to skip out on this episode, so it’s just Scott, Lisa and Jeremy talking shop. We spend half the episode discussing the good news (Venom 3, Anora, Conclave, etc.) and the bad news (Here, Juror #2, Absolution). The second half is a listener mailbag episode, including some very macabre conversations about potential Pixar sequels and why The Good Dinosaur 2 should be a cross-over/combo sequel to Ice Age and Dinosaur. Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Venom: The Last Dance is more evidence that the late-2010s Marvel/DC superhero boom has ended, with the sub-genre now as execution-dependant as any other franchise film. Still, a $120 million threequel that will probably clear $400 million worldwide allows Sony a graceful off-ramp for their decade-long efforts to make Spider-Man’s rogues gallery into their own cinematic universe. Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Smile 2 showed that you don’t have to be a breakout sequel to be a successful follow-up, while Terrifier 3 was no one-weekend wonder. Joker 2 plunged again while Wild Robot and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice shrugged off PVOD availability and Anora notched the second-biggest per-theater average in five years. Meanwhile, a dive into the listener feedback bag led to some spirited debates about the decline of the theatrical comedy, inexplicably incorrect opinions and hints of simmering conflict waiting just below the surface. Exciting! Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

A deep dive into the genuinely unprecedented box office success that was Terrifier 3, as well as a look at A) just how badly Joker Folie a Deux performed on its second weekend and B) why nobody gave a damn about “origin story” flicks about Donald Trump and Saturday Night Live (which Jeremy righteously tears to shreds). Also on tap are a few listener emails, leading to a spirited discussion on the commercial fortunes for next summer’s Jurassic World: Rebirth. Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Joker: Folie à Deux lost its wheels and laid an egg, but we four cranky box office pundits aren’t going to let him get away. All four of us agree that, hey, at least this means Terrifier 3 might top the domestic box office this weekend, so… huzzah? Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

What went right for The Wild Robot? What went wrong for Megalopolis? What does the success of the former mean for the vitality of original or “new to you” animation and a possible comeback for DreamWorks Animation? Does the commercial failure of the latter mean anything beyond the apparent lack of modern-day appeal of an original sci-fi drama with mixed reviews from a legendary director whose last outright hit opened a month before Titanic? All that and much more...! Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Rank doesn’t matter. It’s the raw dollars earned that counts. It’s still gotta sting that the opening weekend of Paramount and Hasbro’s well-reviewed Transformers One earned less than the third weekend of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. That’s the crux of our latest weekly box office chat, along with Never Let Go being the latest Lionsgate theatrical whiff, a (friendly) critical debate about The Substance and a response to a listener email about our most anticipated films for the remainder of the year.As always, if you like what you hear, like, share, comment, and smash (using a cartoon mallet) that subscribe button with every justified ounce of strength and passion. If you want to bother us and offer good cheer, request in-show discussions, or offer ideas for bonus episodes, ping us at Asktheboxofficepod@gmail.com. Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

After a super quick recap of the mid-September that was (Beetlejuice 2 tops again, Speak No Evil opens to entirely “fine, whatever” opening grosses, two aggressively niche MAGA-friendly flicks make the spectacularly idiotic choice to open on the same weekend, etc.), we devote the rest of the show to answering questions sent to Asktheboxofficepod@gmail.com. Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

The gang is back to talk Beetlejuice (WB’s success with offseason tentpole scheduling), Beetlejuice (how copious IP and actor-specific fandoms for multiple generations created an all-quadrant event movie), Beetlejuice (How does Tim Burton capitalize on this late-era success?). We also talk Showbiz Direct’s next steps after a halfway decent theatrical showing for Reagan, a box office update for the year’s best movie (#BeaverPilled). Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

In an episode fit for 1.25x speed, this 95-minute epic offers special guest BoxOffice Pro's Daniel Loria amid the summer wrap-up. Jeremy reaffirms that as Disney goes, so goes the entire theatrical industry. Lisa argues Imax should be utilized to retrain audiences to see theatrical comedies. Daniel declares multiplexes need more mid-range hits alongside the tentpoles. Ryan discusses the breakout success of Longlegs and the value of FOMA moments. Scott expressed his disappointment with Fly Me to the Moon tanking. And more! Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

As summer winds down with a comparative whimper…Scott rambles about how The Crow was never a viable brand or franchise.Jeremy explains what Laika is taking from Coraline's success.Lisa explains that theaters need films that are “just” films.Ryan discusses the robust overseas performance of Alien: Romulus.Everyone unloads on Lionsgate for that entirely avoidable Megalopolis trailer snafu. Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Ryan and Lisa (cordially) debate whether Disney has allowed the more adult-skewing Fox brands to stay true to their R-rated roots. Still, both agree that Lionsgate’s Borderlands is a monumental tentpole disaster. Jeremy notes the Alien Romulus demo stats which imply that it’s “Baby’s first Alien flick” for many younger viewers while succinctly speaking a grim truth about the current “anti-spoiler” culture. Scott rants about the seemingly “fabricated from thin-air” controversies related to It Ends with Us as he joins the guilty-pleasure enjoyable Alien Vs. Predator pitches. We all respond to listener emails asking us to A) clarify our position on post-release spoilers and B) our grimdark prequel origin stories concerning how we all became box office pundits. Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Both Deadpool & Wolverine and It Ends With Us nabbed $50 million+ weekends, again showing Hollywood there’s more than one way to build a blockbuster. Lisa Laman details the key lesson from the mega-hit Colleen Hoover adaptation. Ryan Scott begs Lionsgate to stop making Borderlands-sized franchise failures. Jeremy Fuster ends the show with a righteous diatribe contrasting D23’s bread-and-circuses pageantry with the struggles facing the filmmakers responsible for Disney’s biggest hits. Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

The gang is back to discuss what continues to go right for Deadpool & Wolverine, what only went kinda-sorta okay for M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap and what went 104% wrong for Harold and the Purple Crayon. There are fewer digressions than usual, although we do note Warner Bros. Discovery’s very bummer summer and Longlegs being Nicolas Cage’s biggest live-action hit in nearly 17 years while imploring Imax to give the people what they crave: Hundreds of Beavers: The Imax Experience. We also answer our first piece of viewer mail. Keep them coming. Otherwise, we’ll have to actually figure out what to say on our own. Alas, Jeremy had some technical difficulties so he was mostly killed off after the first 1/3. He’ll presumably be resurrected by the next episode.In terms of the written word…Jeremy offered up a quick August box office preview.Ryan offered up a Tales from the Box Office for the tenth anniversary of Guardians of the Galaxy and a requiem for the commercial failure of The Iron Giant. As someone who, even as a 19-year-old, always felt it was a tough sell, I’ll note that the weekend on which it opened, alongside The Sixth Sense, The Thomas Crown Affair, Mystery Men and Dick, might be the very best wide release newbie weekend of my lifetime. Finally, Lisa continued her Twilight Tuesday series, for which she watches and discusses the final three films in The Twilight Saga for the first time. I cannot wait for her to experience the glory that is Breaking Dawn Part II, but this latest piece is interesting in that it offers something I haven’t seen much of, namely evaluating Robert Pattinson’s performance as Edward Cullen in relation to his more celebrated quirky/goofy turns in Devil All the Time or The Lighthouse. Meanwhile, she wrote up a piece on the all-but-certain demise of the Disney+ Marvel television “universe.” Honestly, taken on their own, most of the shows were varying degrees of “fine,” (I’m most partial to Hawkeye and She-Hulk), but the damage their existence did to the brand cannot be overstated.As always, if you like what you hear, like, share, comment, and smash (using a cartoon mallet) that subscribe button with every justified ounce of strength and passion. Oh, and if you want to personally bother us and offer good cheer, requests for in-show discussions and ideas for bonus episodes, ping us at Asktheboxofficepod@gmail.com.Jeremy Fuster - TheWrapLisa Laman - Looper, Cultress and AutostraddleRyan C. Scott - SlashFilm and Fangoria Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

50 minutes of (almost) nothing but Deadpool & Wolverine, both in terms of its box office bonanza and what the four of us thought of the picture. Spoiler: I was not the crankiest critic this weekend. Plenty of thoughts about what went right (adding Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine negated a possible decline in interest), what didn’t go wrong (the kids showed up, R-rating be damned) and why a success specifically like this (using two established marquee characters from the Fox library) doesn’t really solve the various problems plaguing the post-Avengers Endgame MCU anymore than Inside Out 2 has “saved” Pixar. But in both cases, they may have turned death into a fighting chance to live. Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

There were only two really big pieces of news, namely the $81 million domestic opening weekend (along with the softer-than-hoped overseas earnings) for Twisters and the ridiculously solid hold for Neon’s Longlegs. Meanwhile, Inside Out 2 is about to become the biggest animated movie ever if you don’t count The Lion King (which I don’t even if my co-hosts think I’m full of s**t). Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Despicable Me 4’s spectacularly consistent (for his franchise) holds and raw grosses... As Longlegs surprises, keep Osgood Perkins away from Netflix... The complicated financial variables behind a $10 million opening for Fly Me to the Moon... Why A24 started the Oscar race a little early with 'Sing Sing'... What the hell is going to happen to Kevin Costner's 'Horizon'? Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Was Despicable Me 3’s domestic downturn a fluke or did the extended wait and pre-COVID nostalgia for the brand prevent a continual box office downward trajectory for Hollywood's top-grossing animated franchise? How bad is a $3 million Fri-Sun/$6 million Thurs-Sun debut for The Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot, which was supposed to be Angel Studios’ big summer season event? Were we wrong to expect more from A24’s MaXXXine? All that and more, in episode 23 of The Outside Scoop: The Box Office Podcast. Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe