The Box Office Podcast

This was supposed to be just a summer movie preview episode. The bonkers-bananas hold for Sinners, along with aspirational openings for Revenge of the Sith and The Accountant 2, means that half the show was spent offering up the most optimistic “We’re back, dammit!” chatter since last Easter weekend. For this occasion, former co-host turned Sweeps Week Guest Ryan Scott pops back in to (also) share his macro-sized thoughts on the upcoming summer movie slate. Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Longtime film critic, podcaster, and friend of Scott Mendelson (but don’t hold that against him), Aaron Neuwirth, returns to help us celebrate the spectacular domestic debut of Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan’s Sinners. We discuss its impressive weekend upswing, near-unprecedented CinemaScore and PostTrak grades, and how its word of mouth will hopefully mitigate an otherwise expected decline as it starts to lose IMAX and other premium large-format (PLF) screens in the coming weeks.A disclaimer. For reasons unknown the audio went mute during Lisa Laman’s climactic “Who I am and what I wish to plug,” which is unfortunate as she went on an impassioned (and accurate) monologue offering support and compassion to those impacted by Robert F. Kennedy’s absurdist vendetta against those “on the Spectrum.” I won’t say that Kennedy’s latest stupidity didn’t bring to mind Matthew Perry’s controversial comments about Keanu Reeves, but nor will I say that they did not. Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

A Minecraft Movie held firm atop both the domestic and global box office with a hold on par with Beauty and the Beast. Meanwhile, two faith-specific films opened with good-to-great grosses relative to their expectations and obligations. The King of Kings was a much-needed hit for Angel Studios and earned a comparatively robust debut for a non-Disney/Comcast animated film. Drop was the latest underperformer for the previously over-indexing Blumhouse. In a more challenging theatrical ecosystem, 20th Century Studios’ The Amateur opened about on par, give or take, with what might have been expected from an adult-skewing, “new to you” high-concept Fox-released espionage thriller. Additionally, The Chosen’s three-part theatrical release of its eight season-five episodes must be a blueprint for Sony’s eventual release strategy for their four-film Beatles opus.  Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Cinema United and friends spent the entire week listening to studios pledge their loyalty to theatrical exhibition, while theater owners implicitly reaffirmed the commercial and cultural value of the big screen. A day later, the Generation Z-targeted A Minecraft Movie opened so overwhelmingly above even optimistic projections that it single-handedly made the case for them. So yes, Scott and Jeremy spent the week at CinemaCon. They had plenty to say about what was shown (a big “Trust us!” presentation from Amazon MGM Studios, a surprisingly 20th Century Studios-centric Disney panel, etc.), what wasn’t shown (not much from Superman, and nothing at all from Michael), and macro-sized conversations and takeaways from the “largest and most important gathering of movie theater owners from around the world.” Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Pardon the tardiness for this one, I made a losing bet with myself that I’d have time to put this one out amid the week spent in Las Vegas at CinemaCon. Action For Everyone podcast host Mike Scott joins us to discuss Jason Statham’s latest commercial triumph as well as the cultural circumstances that have changed so that the kids no longer go up for “cool movies for cool kids” flicks like Death of a Unicorn. All parties discuss how Snow White’s implosion will impact Disney’s run of live-action remakes. Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Kristen Acuna, formerly of Business Insider, a longtime entertainment/business journalist and a comparative Disney expert, drops by to discuss what went terribly wrong with the fairest of them all. But just because most of the chat concerns Snow White doesn’t mean we’re going to let David Zaslav off the hook for emphasizing ruthless “It’s called show business, not show friends.” mentality and then blowing $50 million on a film like The Alto Knights that wouldn’t have been a hit even back when he was young enough to be a desired demographic. Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Everything is terrible, and everyone is hurting. That’s the general sentiment as longtime film critic, podcaster and friend-of-Scott Mendelson (don’t hold that last one against him)Aaron Neuwirth guest-stars to try and bring some light into the darkness of an unusually bleak weekend at the domestic box office. Hollywood is (finally?) offering more small-scale studio programmers, but audiences are less willing than ever to see them. How much blame falls on the audience for not showing up? How much is about, as Jeremy Fuster reminds us, films like Black Bag just seem close enough to the spy shows like Black Doves and Slow Horses that audiences can watch at home? How much of this is merely the fact that, as Lisa Laman notes, too many of these films are R-rated “romantic comedies… with carnage” genre hybrids? Still, some optimism is offered amid hopes that too few family films will allow Snow White and Minecraft to (comparatively) over-index before a summer filled with more “just an interesting movie that could catch on” counterprogramming than we’ve had since 2019. Anyway, the news is grim, but the episode is not. As they all say, we laugh so as not to cry.In terms of the written word…Scott Mendelson dug into how and why The Electric State’s initial viewership was so stunningly low compared to other Netflix biggies (and not-so-biggies).Lisa Laman asked why a decent movie about the Stonewall riots has yet to be made.Jeremy Fuster offers another deep-dive update into the ongoing attempts to revitalize California’s in-state film and television production ecosystem. Ryan Scott’s latest “Tales from the Box Office” details the tenth anniversary of Cinderella, which offered a novel concept: What if these live-action remakes of Disney animated films were… good?Aaron Neuwirth just started a semi-weekly podcast series with Terence Johnson titled 2 Black Guys Talk Godzilla. The first episode, of course, discusses the 1954 classic, and it’s frankly good enough that I’d listen on the regular, even if they weren’t friends of mine. It looks like I have an excuse to watch Godzilla Raids Again for the first time over the next week or two.As always, if you like what you hear, like, share, comment, and smash 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.Scott Mendelson - The Outside Scoop and Puck NewsJeremy Fuster - TheWrapLisa Laman - Dallas Observer, Pajiba, Looper, Cultress, Comic Book and AutostraddleRyan C. Scott - SlashFilm and FangoriaAaron Neuwirth - The Code is Zeek Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

There wasn’t all that much to discuss this weekend beyond the circumstances of Bong Joon-ho’s Mickey 17 opening with just $19 million in North America. But since we have a whole show to fill, Brandon Peters (veteran podcaster and film pundit and longtime friend of Scott Mendelson) stopped in to sort through the carnage. Among other topics are…- Robert Pattinson’s limited drawing power- The challenges of getting moviegoers to take a chance on a movie at the theatrical level that isn’t pre-sold, pre-digested or based on something they liked- A COVID-era pattern of Warner Bros. being expected to “save” the box office with films like Tenet and In the Heights that were never supposed to be all-consuming mega-tentpoles- Nostalgia for late 2010/early 2011 successful studio programmers like Lincoln Lawyer, Source Code, The Town and The Social Network- Big Oscar bumps for Anora and No Other Land- And More! Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Since there really isn’t much box office news to discuss, we spent the entire show discussing the Oscar season that just ended.Lisa Laman explained the commercial realities that helped make Anora the lowest-earning Best Picture winner since The Hurt Locker in 2010. Jeremy Fuster argued that it was more important for the Academy Awards to honor the “best” movies of the year even at the cost of remaining a top-tier pop culture event. Scott Mendelson noted Anora’s place alongside a slew of pre-COVID pictures like Parasite, Joker, Knives Out and Hustlers which acknowledged that income inequality was more structural than just “Bernie Madoff =bad!”All of us agreed that A) it’s consumers’ responsibility to sample the honored films, but B) it’s partially due to corporate consolidation (especially among studios that have tentpole-level leverage) alongside an overall decline in available screens that makes the difference between a Birdman that earns $41 million and an Anora that earns $15 million in North America. We also discussed which Best Picture winners qualified as genuinely “anti-establishment” while we agreed that A) Conan O’Brien was a pretty damn solid host and B) the James Bond tribute as essentially a eulogy.Oh, and Jeremy gets angry (and we always like him when he’s angry) about perhaps the laziest post-telecast “take” of the season. Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

Brandon Katz of The Observer and Parrot Analytics serves as our special “fourth participant” with whom we discuss how badly Marvel has messed up (or been undermined by corporate overlords) in the post-Avengers: Endgame transition to Disney+ television, why The Monkey is performing well outside of comparisons to breakouts like Longlegs and M3GAN and whether Amazon MGM Studios will unnecessarily interfere with the established James Bond formula or dilute the brand through streaming offshoots. Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe