James Hunt

Yeah, this looks awesome and I'm hyped to see more

Their success is amazing, I'm not sure if it's a "new era" so much as a continuation/evolution - horror has been one of the most reliable genres at the box office this decade, when so many other movies have struggled through/post-pandemic, going back to things like Smile, M3GAN, and Talk To Me in 2022 which were (somewhat) similar in becoming viral, word-of-mouth hits, Five Night's at Freddy's (which sort of feels a bit like a pre-cursor to Backrooms' success), Zach Cregger's movies, etc. Obsession in particular obviously takes it to a new level though, given its week-on-week-on-week increases are near-unprecedented (but Focus did pay $15m for it, so it's not like it being a success at all is some kind of shock). There's obviously a YouTuber factor to this now as well - these guys are like big name directors/actors to younger generations because they've cultivated a following in a similar, perhaps even deeper, way (Iron Lung another good example). And part of me does worry that the lesson from this will be "let YouTubers make movies" and we'll get all the big studios racing to hire any and every YouTuber with a following and probably kill the fun of it quite quickly. Likewise "IP" in the Backrooms sense - to a lesser extent with how Barbie led to a deluge of toy movies being announced, there'll probably be more of this stuff as well. I think the idea that "franchises are dead" is very much being overstated, and it's not simply wanting something "new" - otherwise movies like Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die ($9m), Mother Mary ($2.9m), Is God Is ($4.5m), to give just a few recent well-received examples - would've also performed better. I'm way too old to truly speak to what Gen Z and below wants, but the suggestion is that they want things that are "theirs," often made by people who can relate to their experiences, feelings, interests, and that does include IP (hence Minecraft being such a huge hit last year, the GentleMinions thing a few years ago, etc - it does work with franchises too). Ultimately I think a huge part of this, especially for younger people having grown-up in a pandemic and with lockdowns but true of all filmgoers, is wanting something that feels like a true communal experience. Mando & Grogu didn't promise that, these movies did (and horror as a genre as always a) been really good at selling/delivering that, and b) been the most finger-on-the-pulse genre). I'll be interested to see how far it can go beyond horror - success of something like Project Hail Mary is different, but also great - but on the whole I think it's a very encouraging time for the box office, where both original movies and franchises can both thrive. (Also, make movies with lower budgets, Hollywood.) Fuck me this ended up being long so I'll stop rambling

Yeah. I think The Hobbit could've been very good if they... hadn't tried to make it like Lord of the Rings. The upcoming movies feel like too blatant an attempt to simply use the IP and recapture nostalgia for the original trilogy rather than stories that are worth telling now, but we'll see. Also I gave up on The Rings of Power after one season, so can't speak to how that's worked out but the general response doesn't seem great

Cloverfield Paradox being so bad really ruined it

You lost me at "Zack Snyder"

I'd rather they didn't. There are now more bad or middling LOTR movie/TV releases than there are great ones, and nothing that convinces me that's going to change anytime soon (especially without the rights to The Silmarillion, meaning they're going to keep being more contained in what they're doing/telling). Would certainly love to be proved wrong by The Hunt for Gollum or Shadow of the Past, though

I mostly agree, though if it's a good film and they were to pull off it being a genuine Cloverfield surprise in the movie, I wouldn't necessarily be mad at it, just depends on the execution. I lean towards it not being one, but they're obviously hiding some other big twists, so...

The highest-grossing movies of the summer will be a Toy Story sequel, a Spider-Man sequel, a Minions sequel, and a Disney remake... 😅

We're seemingly getting Savage Hulk again in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and with it some version of Grey Hulk (with the latest look at him revealed here). Getting "the other guy" back is long overdue, and I'm excited to see Hulk smashing again, and intrigued by what causes him to turn grey. What are your thoughts?

We just got the full trailer for the movie (here). There's a danger with the marketing of showing too much, but this looks really great, and like one of the most fun, creative dinosaur movies we've had in ages - I'm very excited for it, how about you? Will this be something you go to the theater for?

Agree with what's been said above, and that the streaming-to-theatrical pipeline demonstrably does not work (Brave New World, The Marvels, Mando... none did great business). It also doesn't really matter in this case: it did decent money opening weekend, which is basically a bonus for something that otherwise would've been made for Disney+, and the real test of the franchise is next year. I also think it's very much worth celebrating the general state of the box office right now, because the more original (not that Backrooms truly is, but still), fresh stories that can make money, the more diversification we can get alongside the big franchise/IP stuff, and everyone can win. Feels like the healthiest we've seen it in quite some time and I hope that continues trending upward

If we're counting Scarlet Witch, absolutely her. I also think it'd be fun to see Justin Hammer again (in a better movie, of course, but who doesn't want more of Sam Rockwell in anything?). Wouldn't say no to more Dormammu if they ever make Doctor Strange 3.

Have to agree with Gorr taking the top spot, wasting Christian Bale in a bad MCU comedy was criminal

We just got the final trailer for HOTD Season 3 (https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/news/the-most-epic-fantasy-franchise-returns-with-new-trailer-that-promises-all-out-war/) and it looks SO epic. I hope they can get the right balance of character work and "conversations in dark rooms" that underpin it all, but my good, the Battle of the Gullet might just blow everything else out of the water. We're less than a month away, are people excited? Cautiously optimistic? Over it? Didn't realise it was coming so soon because it's been two years?!

I don't think it's a hot take (or if it is, it's one I agree with). I did think the Daredevil/Punisher mini-arc in the first four episodes of Season 2 was great, but the rest was very eh, and the Hand stuff was badly done. I didn't love all of Born Again Season 2, but thought it was more consistently good

Even though he's been around for a decade and will have appeared in seven(!) movies once Brand New Day releases, it still feels too early to think about Holland's Spidey going anywhere. He's so good and there's still a lot more to do. I'm excited for them to get to Miles and/or Spider-Gwen eventually, but hope they take their time with it, especially to give some distance from Spider-Verse as well

I'm a big Endgame fan, though agree it could definitely be tightened up. Curious what you'd cut to take 90 minutes off it though!?

Secretly the most damning review of Age of Ultron possible

This was me wanting to put it in the Top 10

Yeah - Harrison Ford's broken leg saved TFA in more ways than one! But even then, The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker were also both scheduled for May at some point and got pushed back, which makes it crazier that Solo, the movie they had to reshoot 80% of, is the one they didn't move back.

Yeah. I remember going to see it three times in the theater, which I'm not sure I would've done if it weren't over the holidays. Something about the Star Wars magic returning at the same time as Christmas magic just felt right, in the same way LOTR at Christmas did back in the day. Plus all the BB-8 merch, of course

Fucking hell, alright, you win 😅

Yeah. It's fun enough, but I never got the hype. I remember being quite frustrated by it because it consistently chooses comedy over any sense of emotion that would give the movie some actual weight and meaning, when that was one of the things Taika Waititi had done so brilliantly in Hunt for the Wilderpeople.

This is on the (increasingly long) list of TV shows I'll watch when I eventually re-subscribe to Apple TV. Parks & Rec writer + Atlanta director + The Americans star is a great combo

Can't really argue. The Last Crusade was very close to getting in my top 10, might be on another day. Greatest blockbuster director of all time and it's not really close