I’m out of town for a few weeks, and since Jeremy was busy as well, I'm planning on just taking a break. However, Ryan and Lisa agreed to do it themselves. So of course, even with no big-deal new releases, it turned out to be one of the more exciting and optimistic weekends of the year. So listen as Ryan Scott and Lisa Laman discuss the super-strong, $101 million second weekend for Inside Out 2, including what it means for Pixar’s future making originals and the summer season overall.
Meanwhile, The Bikeriders opened pretty well ($9.6 million) for an R-rated, adult-skewing non-IP character drama, while Kinds of Kindness nabbed the year’s biggest ($75,000) per-theater average. Oh, and June Squib’s Thelma earned a huge — for Magnolia — $2.4 million opening while almost everything held up shockingly well. So… with A Quiet Place: Day One tracking well and everyone expecting the best from Despicable Me 4 and Deadpool & Wolverine, hope is alive again in the theatrical marketplace.
Barring a fluke of scheduling, the four of us will be back next weekend to dissect the opening weekend of the Quiet Place prequel and Kevin Costner’s first chapter (of four) Horizon: An American Saga. Meanwhile, Inside Out 2 will presumably continue to play out as this year’s Barbie or Top Gun: Maverick.
In terms of the written word…
Jeremy Fuster’s WrapPro work is mostly weekend box office-specific, but since he couldn’t appear on this week’s episode, here’s his weekend report.
Ryan Scott’s latest “Tales from the Box Office” marks the 35th anniversary of Tim Burton’s Batman. Honestly, I wanted to pen something for the occasion, but I had trouble having anything new to say on the matter about… 15 years’ worth of Batman retrospective essays and commentaries.
Lisa Laman offers another retrospective, noting how Tarzan (25 summers ago) represented one last hurrah for Walt Disney animation's “Waking Sleeping Beauty” era prior to their 2000s-era commercial slump (Lilo and Stich excepted) as DreamWorks, Pixar and eventually Illumination leveled the playing field.
As always, if you like what you’re hearing, do the usual things of liking, sharing, commenting, and *smashing* (using a cartoon mallet) that subscribe button with every justified ounce of strength and passion.
Jeremy Fuster - TheWrap
Lisa Laman - Looper, Cultress and Autostraddle
Ryan C. Scott - SlashFilm and Fangoria
Ep 21: 'Inside Out 2' Bikerides 'Thelma' to The 'Exorcism'