After a super quick recap of the mid-September that was (Beetlejuice 2 tops again, Speak No Evil opens to entirely “fine, whatever” opening grosses, two aggressively niche MAGA-friendly flicks make the spectacularly idiotic choice to open on the same weekend, etc.), we devote the rest of the show to answering questions sent to Asktheboxofficepod@gmail.com.
Since this was a less formal episode than usual, I got to be more of a loose cannon, closer to when I rant and rave as a guest on someone else’s podcast. That is, I suppose, a benefit of letting Ryan take a co-pilot position for this podcast. Think Robert Downey Jr.’s character arc in Charlie Bartlett…
In terms of the written word…
Lisa Laman argues that studios should seriously examine how much they spend on monoculture-targeted television advertisements, at least for films that aren’t necessarily expected to be conventionally mainstream and in terms of making comparatively generic advertisements that water down the specificity of a particular picture.
Jeremy Fuster doesn’t have any “new” WrapPro articles this week, so I dug up a “Dammit, I missed this one” deep-dive from early July detailing Tinseltown’s thoughts five years after an industry-wide “pivot to streaming.” I’d argue it worked about as well as “pivot to video,” but that’s just me. This was a team effort between Jeremy, Alexei Barrionuevo and Lucas Manfredi, and it’s “save it for the bathroom”-worthy (yes, that’s a compliment.
Ryan Scott’s latest “Tales from the Box Office” discusses the tenth anniversary of The Maze Runner, which he notes was among the biggest “rate of return” successes (the original earned 10x its meager $33 million budget and the trilogy earned around 6x its overall $156 million budget) of the YA era. That’s just one “positive lesson” from the last unmitigated success story of the Harry Potter-to-Hunger Games era.
As always, if you like what you hear, like, share, comment, and smash (using a cartoon mallet) 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. This was a fun “special episode,” and I’d like to do these on a (give or take) monthly basis.
Jeremy Fuster - TheWrap
Lisa Laman - Looper, Cultress and Autostraddle
Ryan C. Scott - SlashFilm and Fangoria
Ep. 33 - The Listener Mailbag!