Moana 2 shattered Thanksgiving weekend records with a sky-high $225 million Wed-Sun debut, right alongside Wicked Part One’s equally impressive $118 million Wed-Sun *non-opening weekend*. Oh, and Gladiator II kept up with the competition, relatively speaking, as it showed that there’s room in the moviegoing marketplace for more than one — or even two — big-deal franchise-friendly mega-budget tentpoles. But, sorry Red One, definitely not four big-deal franchise-friendly mega-budget tentpoles.Listen as Lisa Laman decries the extent to which Disney’s tentpole-focused strategy has overwhelmed Searchlight, Jeremy Fuster passionately explains why the Academy Awards both still matter and are more important than any other awards show, while Scott Mendelson notes that the dual success of both female-skewing, family-friendly musical fantasies shows that there are no more excuses for Hollywood to be shy about placing one major movie right alongside another one.Meanwhile, we say a temporary farewell to one of our co-hosts as we essentially killed off a major character in one of the year’s final episodes. Fear not, it’s of his own volition, and it’s less Halloween Ends and more Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. Surely nobody could have survived that fall, explosion, tidal wave or being chopped in half by a laser sword before drifting down a bottomless gorge, right? Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

The conventional wisdom that Wicked Part One’s $112 million opening destroyed (audiences don’t mind musicals, and they don’t mind the whole “part 1 of 2” thing) and whether a $55 million domestic debut is good enough for the pricy Gladiator II (which, inflation aside, is relatively high for an R-rated action movie not based on a comic book). Meanwhile, some digressions related to Moana II’s upcoming Thanksgiving release, how Bonhoeffer represents the status quo for Angel Studios and a deep-dive conversation prompted by a listener question about “What If?” box office scenarios. What if Amazing Spider-Man had bombed in 2012? What if The Interview had been even a modest hit in 2014? Could Disney have survived the theoretical failure of Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl in 2003? Lisa also explains why Tom Cruise and Adam Driver are current examples of great actors who make comparatively poor career choices. Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

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 [email protected]. 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 [email protected]. 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 [email protected] 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

The gang is back to dissect what went very right with A Quiet Place: Day One and almost inevitably wrong with Horizon: An American Saga. Lisa laments the ongoing emphasis on movies for older audiences. Jeremy explains how Kevin Costner’s passion project was a relative hit in certain parts of the country. Ryan anoints Lupita Nyong’o as a genuine movie star (or at least an A-level added value element). Scott asks if we are already in the midst of the long-promised permanent COVID-era theatrical recovery. Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Ryan Scott and Lisa Laman do it "solo" to discuss the $101 million second weekend for Inside Out 2 along with better-than-expected openings for 'The Bikeriders,' 'Thelma' and 'Kinds of Kindness'. Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

‘Inside Out 2’ soared to infinity and beyond, nabbing $154 million domestic and $294 million worldwide in its global theatrical launch. That’s good, right? We’re all in agreement that it’s great news for the box office and the multiplexes. However, if Bob Iger and friends are to capitalize on this, they have to -- to quote my favorite Disney animated film -- make the right choices and (say it with me now) keep moving forward! Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

A well-liked sequel to a successful sequel in a popular franchise opened at the high end of realistic expectations… what a shock...! What a $107 million global debut for Bad Boys: Ride or Die does (and doesn’t) say about Will Smith’s current drawing power...After The Watchers stumbles, is horror in trouble or are the movies underwhelming? Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Since Hollywood didn’t bother to release any new wide openers last weekend, I gave the box office folks the weekend off. In the meantime, and this may be a backdoor pilot of sorts for a second semi-regular podcast, I spoke last week with Business Insider entertainment correspondent Jason Guerrasio. His as-it-happened reporting was essential in exposing the less-than-glittery gold that was the year of MoviePass. He’s an executive producer on the new documentary Movie Pass Movie Crash. Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Whether or not Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga should have performed better or was an inevitable “online fandom doesn’t equal audience interest” misfire, such a film shouldn’t have been expected to hold up theatrical — alongside The Garfield Movie — almost by itself. That’s the crux of the chat amid a historically grim Memorial Day weekend box office session. Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

We dissect If’s complicated $33.7 million domestic debut (remember G-Force?), whether we should be “happy” that The Strangers: Chapter 1 opened with $12 million (if horror becomes as franchise-dependent as every other theatrical genre…), and whether anyone should be surprised at the Amy Winehouse biopic Back to Black earning less than $3 million for the weekend (I was there… in early 1992… when The Babe bombed). Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

We talk about the solid $131 million debut for 'Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,' including what went right, why it got a B from CinemaScore and what the math looks like (especially sans China) in terms of justifying follow-up. Oh, and 'Poolman' opened, too, I guess. Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Does the mediocre opening weekend suggest a broader theatrical problem, or was Ryan Gosling in a Hollywood love letter to itself less enticing to regular moviegoers? Plus, how this is all, of course, the fault of our 'Star Wars' Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

The complicated new math of films distributed by obscenely wealthy streaming companies where it hardly matters if a $55 million flick like Zendaya’s Challengers makes a rate-of-return profit on theatrical alone. What is the “success” point for these “theatrical as PR for streaming” movies in terms of making the distributors happy with the box office results? How good (or bad) is a $15 million opening for a film like Challengers amid the current status quo compared to the mid-2010s when studio programmers were in a healthier place? Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

ComScore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian guest-stars (as Ryan Scott takes a breather) amid a look at Civil War’s second-weekend hold (the good) and the debuts for Abigail and Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (the bad) prior to a deep dive into the upcoming summer movie season (barring a miracle, the ugly). Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

* What does Civil War’s chart-topping $26 million debut mean for A24?* Scott and Lisa think a new Blair Witch is a horseman of the apocalypse situation.* Ryan thinks we should all stop worrying and love the Blair Witch.* Jeremy and Ryan talk about what they saw at CinemaCon.And so much more!! Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

On the measured success of 'Monkey Man' and why 'The First Omen' is a classic "IP for the sake of IP" mistake. Thoughts on why the 20th Century Studios IP has mostly been so much of a dud for Disney, how 'Civil War' will play for paying moviegoers and what constitutes success or failure as the streaming bubble bursts and theaters are grateful for each and every major new release. Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

On today’s astonishing episode…!* How the MonsterVerse rose from the ashes of King of the Monsters.* Do "spectacular by pre-Covid standards” results for Bob Marley, Late Night with the Devil and Love Lies Bleeding offer cause for optimism?*Small drops for Dune Part Two rebuts conventional wisdom about PLF-or-bust moviegoing. All that and more! Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Is Sony turning Ghostbusters into a viable franchise? Immaculate's record-high (for Neon) opening implies Sydney Sweeney has some drawing power. IFC Films triples their own personal best with a $2.8 million debut for Late Night with the Devil. Trailers for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Furiosa and Alien: Romulus each offer three distinct forms of shareholder-friendly generational nostalgia. Strong pre-release tracking for A24’s Civil War implies that a comeback for non-franchise *movie-movies*.All that and more! Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Ryan Scott was recovering from SXSW. He’ll be back next week. Mendelson, Fuster and Laman discussed Mark Wahlberg’s dwindling bankability after years of being a streaming butts-in-couches movie star (can Ryan Reynolds and Kevin Hart avoid this fate?), Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire being sold less like a sequel to Ghostbusters: Afterlife and more like a sequel to Ghostbusters II, how Spyglass “own goal”ed Scream VII into a proverbial Rise of Skywalker, if 87North become a Blumhouse-like brand for lower-budget action movies and more!! Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

What does a strong $58 million domestic opening for Kung Fu Panda 4 mean for DreamWorks and feature animation in general? How far can Dune Part Two soar — especially at the domestic box office? And what went mostly pretty well at the 96th Academy Award? All of these mysteries and more will be answered by 3/4 of us in our sixth episode. Ryan Scott is at SXSW this week, so he’ll be back next episode to presumably spoil the s**t out of Monkey Man, Fall Guy and, uh, maybe Late Night with the Devil?I’m running behind, so forgive the lack of more detailed show notes. Oh, and the ending is very abrupt as Lisa Laman’s wifi fritzed in the final few minutes, and by the time she returned, we all had to skip out. As always, if you like what you’re hearing, do the usual thing of liking, sharing, commenting and *smashing* (using a cartoon mallet) that subscribe button with every justified ounce of strength and passion. And do check out my guests’ work at their respective home bases. If you want to bother them on social media, well, that’s what Google is for.Jeremy Fuster - https://www.thewrap.com/author/jeremy-fuster/Lisa Laman - https://shorturl.at/hlqX8 and https://shorturl.at/mvzK8Ryan C. Scott - https://www.slashfilm.com/author/ryanscott/ Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Most of this week’s episode concerns the $82.5 million domestic (well played, Ryan) and $182.5 million worldwide opening weekend for Dune Part Two. We talk about the massive share for PLF screens, the lower expectations for the first ‘Dune’, how young stars made an adaptation of a 59-year-old novel seem cool and how Denis Villeneuve’s Dune avoided the fate of Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049. Also discussed was the $104 million-plus Oscar season performance of Poor Things and how A24 has become a brand.As always, if you like what you’re hearing, do the usual thing of liking, sharing, commenting and *smashing* (using a cartoon mallet) that subscribe button with every justified ounce of strength and passion. And do check out my guests’ work at their respective home bases. If you want to bother them on social media, well, that’s what Google is for.Jeremy Fuster - https://www.thewrap.com/author/jeremy-fuster/Lisa Laman - https://shorturl.at/hlqX8 and https://shorturl.at/mvzK8Ryan C. Scott - https://www.slashfilm.com/author/ryanscott/ Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Among the topics Bob Marley’s place near the top of high-grossing musical biopics, how this four-part Beatles movie is going to work, whether the underperformance of Ordinary Angels bodes ill for aspirational Veggie Tales-style faith-based flicks (an actual debate between myself and Lisa… yay friendly conflict?), whether Oppenheimer can reach $1 billion worldwide (they think it’s half-way there, I think they’re merely living on a prayer), and the tragedy that the reissue of Universal’s Les Miserables did not score a $2,460.1 per-theater average.We end with eye-rollingly specific opening weekend predictions for Dune Part Two, which means (now that they know it vexes me) I’d imagine this is going to be the status quo going forward for all such predictions. Notes - I failed to correctly name the abortion-centric faith-based drama I referenced as earning around $20 million in 2019. It’s not October’s Baby (a different faith-based film that earned $5 million in 2011 but rather Unplanned.The New York Times article, which Ryan Scott references when discussing Focus Features, can be found here.The anime article Laman wrote for Collider can be found here, while Scott’s SlashFilm article on same can be found here. Scott’s retrospective on The Passion of the Christ can be found here. And while he couldn’t make it to this week’s recording, do still check out Fuster’s WrapPro piece on musical biopics as the hot new “trend.”And when I noted in the episode that X-Men: Apocalypse was worse than Dark Phoenix, I didn’t even realize that Ms. Laman had just written a “why Apocalypse — not Dark Phoenix — killed the X-Men series” article. I called it a franchise-killing disaster in my initial 2016 review, which sadly turned out to be accurate.It’s still among the few times that a major studio screened a major tentpole excessively early for critics (we all thought it meant the movie was going to be great) only to get blindsided by a slew of brutal pans. See also: Disney bringing Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny to Cannes. We’ll call this an extension of the Godzilla rule (don’t open your big movie on a Wednesday unless you’re sure you have a crowd-pleaser).As always, if you like what you’re hearing, do the usual thing of liking, sharing, commenting and *smashing* (using a cartoon mallet) that subscribe button with every justified ounce of strength and passion. And do check out my guests’ work at their respective home bases. If you want to bother them on social media, well, that’s what Google is for.Jeremy Fuster - https://www.thewrap.com/author/jeremy-fuster/Lisa Laman - https://shorturl.at/hlqX8 and https://shorturl.at/mvzK8Ryan C. Scott - https://www.slashfilm.com/author/ryanscott/ Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Episode three is right on time, with all four of us again chatting about the weekend box office that was. Ryan C. Scott (SlashFilm) returns after a brief abscence, joined again by myself along with Lisa Laman (Collider and Looper) and Jeremy Fuster (TheWrap). While we do briefly talk about the Fantastic Four casting, as well as thoughts on Kung Fu Panda 4’s eventual release and the $600 million-plus success of Wonka, the majority of the 42-minute chat is about the movie that opened with $52 million over the Wed-Mon President’s Day weekend (Bob Marley: One Love) and the film that earned just $26 million over the holiday frame (Madame Web). We discuss the grim future for Sony’s Spider-Man Universe but a bright future for promising young actors not having to look at franchise flicks as do-or-die acting gigs. We discuss the grim overall domestic box office for the holiday while noting a slow crawl back to normalcy, maybe even a pre-streaming normalcy whereby more films (amd a few smaller films) make up a larger portion of the overall annual domestic box office spend.As always, if you like what you’re hearing, do the usual thing of liking, sharing, commenting and *smashing* (using a cartoon mallet) that subscribe button with every justified ounce of strength and passion. And do check out my guests’ work at their respective home bases. If you want to bother them on social media, well, that’s what Google is for.Jeremy Fuster - https://www.thewrap.com/author/jeremy-fuster/Lisa Laman - https://shorturl.at/hlqX8 and https://shorturl.at/mvzK8Ryan C. Scott - https://www.slashfilm.com/author/ryanscott/ Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Episode two is a day late, since we all wanted to chat about the various Super Bowl trailers which of course didn’t air until Sunday evening. Alas, Ryan C. Scott couldn’t make it but it’s still me, Lisa Laman (Collider and Looper) and (popping in at the 9:30 mark) Jeremy Fuster (TheWrap) discussing the miserable Super Bowl box office, the mostly interesting Super Bowl-aired movie trailers and the fallout (or lack thereof) from Warner Bros. apparently shelving Coyote Vs. Acme for the second time. Among the digressions, a possible summer box office boost for mainstream festival flicks and the question of whether auteurs should still pursue tentpole gigs.As always, if you like what you’re hearing, do the usual thing of liking, sharing, commenting and *smashing* (using a cartoon mallet) that subscribe button with every justified ounce of strength and passion. And do check out my guests’ work at their respective home bases. If you want to bother them on social media, well, that’s what Google is for.Jeremy Fuster - https://www.thewrap.com/author/jeremy-fuster/Lisa Laman - https://shorturl.at/hlqX8 and https://shorturl.at/mvzK8Ryan C. Scott - https://www.slashfilm.com/author/ryanscott/ Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe