The Box Office Podcast Scott Mendelson

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