The Box Office Podcast

Scott Mendelson

A weekly conversation about the weekend box office between myself (Scott Mendelson) and a few younger (Jeremy Fuster), hipper (Ryan Scott) and cooler (Lisa Laman) entertainment journalists. Spoiler: I am what they grow beyond. scottmendelson.substack.com

  1. 2d ago

    Masters of the Scary Circus

    As expected, Masters of the Universe became the latest example of “good movie, don’t care” IP adaptation in the tradition of Power Rangers, Transformers One, and (at least overseas) Predator: Badlands. And, as somewhat expected, Scary Movie 6 was a nostalgia-skewing relaunch that successfully played to the kids. At the same time, The Amazing Digital Circus was the latest example of a YouTube-created IP successfully transitioning from streaming to cinema. Luke Y. Thompson, as a lifelong He-Man fan with an encyclopedic knowledge of the nearly 45-year-old franchise, still has much to say about the decades-in-development franchise reboot that ended up with an opening weekend that was barely above the second weekend for Backrooms and the fourth frame for Obsession. Meanwhile, Jeremy Fuster goes long on the frustrating double standard often applied to mega-budget theatrical flops released by “money doesn’t matter” tech giants. At the same time, everyone remembers to give Paramount its Scary Movie 6-specific flowers. Also on the docket is discourse related to Dan Lin’s “filmmakers who want theatrical releases can buzz off” New York Times article, favorite Regina Hall roles, whether the YouTube-to-cinema pipeline will have a quality curve, Jared Leto’s inconveniently excellent performance as Skeletor and my personal annoyance over Masters of the Universe’s false-hope mid-credit cookie. Recommended Reading… * Scott Mendelson discussed the reasons why Chris Nolan likely had little issue with convincing Universal to let The Odyssey go out with an R-rating. * Jeremy Fuster digs into what companies might be making a play to buy IMAX. * Lisa Laman notes the four actors who were previously cast/almost cast as He-Man in various previous unmade iterations of Masters of the Universe. * Ryan Scott kicks yet more sand in the face of Desert Warrior. * Luke Y. Thompson uses the new “Action Man” figure to discuss the ins and outs of toys that resemble actors and movie stars. 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 Asktheboxofficepod@gmail.com (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 and Autostraddle* Ryan C. Scott - SlashFilm, Fangoria and Inverse* 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

    1h 28m

  2. Jun 4

    An Hour With... Fathom Entertainment CEO Ray Nutt

    Having already announced his intentions to step down from his role as the Chief Executive Officer of Fathom Entertainment at the end of this year, Ray Nutt also stopped by for a brisk 35-minute chit-chat for another irregular “an hour with” episode of The Box Office Podcast. On the eve of Amazing Digital Circus becoming the latest “from YouTube to movie theaters” success story, and weeks after Fathom’s first trailer for Laika’s Wildwood broke the Internet, the departing CEO discussed hopes that recent success with the 15th anniversary rerelease of Coraline (with $34 million in North America alone) and the aforementioned Wildwood teaser trailer (100 million views in a day or two) will translate into actual butts-in-seats interest for what will be Fathom’s first conventional nationwide theatrical release, on October 23, for a “new” movie. Mr. Nutt also discusses the recently announced Jimmy, a KJ Apa-starring Jimmy Stewart biopic set for November 6 and what will likely be his proverbial swan song. Among the subjects of discourse are what he believes he accomplished during his nine years in the top spot, as the company has sought to expand what it offers theaters, even as it emphasizes quality and variety over sheer quantity. From the expected anniversary releases to brief theatrical runs for faith-based titles like The Blind and comparatively secular flicks like Rob Zombie’s Three from Hell and Peter Jackson’s World War I documentary They Shall Not Grow Old, alongside semi-regular offerings in the realm of opera, Broadway, sporting events and episodic television, the goal has been offering something for everyone without necessarily saying “Yes” to everything. Along with this of-the-moment discourse, there’s time for history lessons on how the digital revolution made any of this possible and how the company weathered both the pandemic and a pre-COVID decline in casual moviegoing. Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

    37 min

  3. Jun 3

    I Believe The Children Are Our Future!

    Chrissi Michael, content strategist by day and box office nerd by night, returns to talk shop for what could be a line-in-the-sand weekend for movies and movie theaters. This weekend’s episode was mostly metaphorical high-fives and champagne-popping, a momentary moment to exhale for a podcast that began on the opening weekend of Argylle. Hollywood might finally be pulling its head out of its ass in terms of (re)discovering the value of newer adaptations of newer IP aimed at today’s kids and/or of-the-moment offering films from talent closer in age to when Orson Welles starred in Citizen Kane than when Orson Welles starred in Transformers: The Movie. Yes, the perennially online generation has finally been given at least a few keys to the kingdom, and recent breakouts like Iron Lung, Obsession and Backrooms show that the so-called YouTube generation has the touch and/or the power. No, one weekend and a few youth-skewing breakouts do not signal an industry-wide revolution. It’s worth remembering that Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu will likely outgross all of these sleeper smashes. Heck, The Devil Wears Prada 2, let alone Toy Story 5, will likely outgross all of them combined. But there’s certainly cause for hope that the theatrical ecosystem might not be entirely dependent upon whether each officially designated all-quadrant, nostalgia-chasing, franchise-friendly, globally-designed would-be tentpole can perform as required. Among the specific areas of discourse, much of the first 1/3 is spent recounting formative horror-movie experiences (even amid a quartet where only Scott Mendelson watched much horror as a youth). Much of the middle is spent discussing how well Kane Parsons’ Backrooms works even for those who don’t give a damn about the source material. Likewise, we all pipe in on the promise and peril of YouTube as a new talent pool. We discuss why horror remains such a viable breakout genre (even beyond budgetary advantages) and how these successes again show that IMAX and other PLFs are supplemental, not essential, to top-tier box office success. And yes, we spend a few minutes discussing whether other genres (and more “not a white guy” talent) can take similar advantage of this new talent pool, which often comes with a baked-in fanbase for the person or property in question. No “recommended reading” this week, mostly because I want to get this episode out a little faster. That said, 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 Asktheboxofficepod@gmail.com. * Scott Mendelson - The Outside Scoop and Puck News * Jeremy Fuster - TheWrap * Lisa Laman - Dallas Observer, Pajiba, Looper, and Autostraddle * Ryan C. Scott - SlashFilm, Fangoria and Inverse * Max Deering - Fangoria and Action For Everyone * Chrissi Michael - C(ine)m(a) Studie Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

    1h 39m

  4. May 28

    "I Wish Audiences Still Loved 'Star Wars' More Than Anything Else in the Entire World”

    Will The Mandalorian and Grogu begin to make things right? That’s the key subject of discourse as our original fourth-chair co-host returns to dissect yet another example of a once-towering franchise pulling merely okay opening weekend grosses. It’s a reunion of the, uh, “core four.” Scott Mendelson, Jeremy Fuster, Lisa Laman and Ryan Scott (does Kermit flail) spend 80 minutes digging into the nitty-gritty over a new Star Wars spin-off that kids and general audiences seem to enjoy and will unquestionably be of more value to Disney as a theatrical movie than it would have been as the fourth season of The Mandalorian. Meanwhile, since Obsession had to go and make box office history and steal all of Star Wars’ pop culture thunder, we spend a sizable portion discussing all of the good news concerning Focus Features and Blumhouse’s $750,000 horror flick that should be passing $100 million worldwide by the end of this sentence. Along with the (should be) obvious takeaways in terms of what Blumhouse should be prioritizing, who Hollywood should be targeting and the breakout potential for non-franchise newbies, there’s some chatter about the still-unanswered (and thus probably still undecided) question of how long Obsession will remain exclusive to theaters. And yes, we spent a surprising amount of time, I say that as a “compliment,” discussing Boots Riley’s I Love Boosters while making a point to offer proverbial “flowers” to Passenger. Paramount’s original chiller opened with $10.5 million over the holiday despite a comparatively under-the-radar marketing campaign and (comparatively speaking) tentpole-sized competition from Obsession. Oh, and I’ll be hosting a paid subscriber chat on Thursday, May 28 and 9:00 a.m. PST. So if that’s the thing that entices you to go from “free subscriber” to “paid subscriber,” well, there you go. Recommended Reading (or Listening)… * Scott Mendelson gets mournful and melancholy about the notion that IMAX is (potentially) yet another company whose success is merely a step toward being bought up by a larger one. * Jeremy Fuster digs into the AI protections in the new SAG-AFTRA contract. * Lisa Laman argues that Disney can help make Star Wars more popular for younger/newer fans by embracing the kind of gleeful goofiness typified by the 2008-2013 “Hyperspace Hoopala.” If it leads to the return of “Darth By Chocolate,” I might buy a Disneyland season pass again… * Ryan Scott offered a handy guide to the history and origins of this weekend’s Backrooms movie. However, I’d advise you to see the movie beforehand, as it’s even creepier and more disconcerting if you go in cold. * Max Deering (who couldn’t make the recording, natch) says his peace about The Mandalorian and Grogu on this week’s episode of Action For Everyone. 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 Asktheboxofficepod@gmail.com. * Scott Mendelson - The Outside Scoop and Puck News * Jeremy Fuster - TheWrap * Lisa Laman - Land of the Nerds, Dallas Observer, Pajiba, Looper, Autostraddle * Ryan C. Scott - SlashFilm, Fangoria and Inverse * Max Deering - Fangoria and Action For Everyone Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

    1h 21m

  5. May 21

    'Obsession' Compulsion and 'Shrek'-cavation

    Rendy Jones returns to discuss what went right with Focus Features’ Obsession (which actually opened with a $17 million opening weekend, with a very promising 2.46x multiplier) and what went wrong for Is God Is. - Rendy notes how Alisha Harris’ terrific crime melodrama caught between Michael (now at $705 million worldwide) last weekend and presumably Boots Riley’s more explicitely “light” I Love Boosters this coming Memorial Day weekend. - Lisa Laman sings the praises of Orion president Alana Mayo for greenlighting the likes of Till, Women Talking, Hedda, Bottoms, Nickel Boys and American Fiction. - Everyone agrees that Obsession is A) the kind of movie Blumhouse should be distributing and B) another strong example of a well-liked high-concept chiller aimed at present-tense moviegoers, hitting a commercial bullseye. - Everyone also agrees that Mortal Kombat II is proving to be a for-fans-only sequel, while Scott Mendelson wonders if the target demos just spent the weekend catching up on Karl Urban’s The Boys before the (pretty good) series finale. - There is some slight disagreement over whether The Sheep Detectives’s softer overseas grossers will somewhat mitigate its solid domestic earnings. Jeremy Fuster is more pessimistic and, thus, probably correct. - There are a few minutes spent offering salutes to Michael, Devil Wears Prada 2, Project Hail Mary and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie and point-and-laugh scorn for In the Grey. - The opening third of this episode’s discourse features quite a bit of Shrek talk, since the first film returned to theaters last weekend for its 25th anniversary. You’ll never believe this, but the general consensus is that Shrek 2 > Shrek the Third! - And yes, there’s another Financial Flashback game, this time based around the highs, lows and “huh?” of 2001. Recommended Reading (or Listening)… * Scott Mendelson discusses why the best box office comp for The Mandalorian and Grogu is not a Star Wars movie but rather Batman Begins. * Jeremy Fuster interviews Drop Out CEO Sam Reich on Game Changer and more. * Lisa Laman argues that 2009 was an all-time great year for theatrical animation and that corporate consolidation means we won’t get another like it. * Ryan Scott champions the notion that The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon is exactly the kind of modern-classic Stephen King book that should be prioritized for feature film adaptation. Here’s hoping Lionsgate optioning the rights (and hiring Strange Darling’s JT Molner to write and direct) bears fruit. * Max Deering pours one out for the 2006 Silent Hill movie. * Rendy Jones champions twenty movies, not just Netflix titles, that damn well deserve physical media releases. 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 Asktheboxofficepod@gmail.com. * 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 * Rendy Jones - Rendy’s Reviews Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

    1h 30m

  6. May 12

    'Devil' Slays 'Kombat'

    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 Asktheboxofficepod@gmail.com. * 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

    1h 40m

  7. May 7

    Lotta Prada or Narnia and Chill

    Somehow, Chrissi 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 Asktheboxofficepod@gmail.com. * 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

    1h 31m

  8. May 4

    An Hour With... Barco Cinema’s EVP Gerwin Damberg

    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

    39 min
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4.5
out of 5
17 Ratings

About

A weekly conversation about the weekend box office between myself (Scott Mendelson) and a few younger (Jeremy Fuster), hipper (Ryan Scott) and cooler (Lisa Laman) entertainment journalists. Spoiler: I am what they grow beyond. scottmendelson.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    Scott Mendelson
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    133
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Scott Mendelson
  • Show Website
    The Box Office Podcast

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