Since there really isn’t much box office news to discuss, we spent the entire show discussing the Oscar season that just ended. Lisa Laman explained the commercial realities that helped make Anora the lowest-earning Best Picture winner since The Hurt Locker in 2010. Jeremy Fuster argued that it was more important for the Academy Awards to honor the “best” movies of the year even at the cost of remaining a top-tier pop culture event. Scott Mendelson noted Anora’s place alongside a slew of pre-COV...
Mar 06, 2025•1 hr 9 min
Brandon Katz of The Observer and Parrot Analytics serves as our special “fourth participant” with whom we discuss how badly Marvel has messed up (or been undermined by corporate overlords) in the post- Avengers: Endgame transition to Disney+ television, why The Monkey is performing well outside of comparisons to breakouts like Longlegs and M3GAN and whether Amazon MGM Studios will unnecessarily interfere with the established James Bond formula or dilute the brand through streaming offshoots. Get...
Feb 26, 2025•1 hr 16 min
Scott Mendelson, Jeremy Fuster and Lisa Laman pontificate on why a $101 million Friday-Monday debut isn’t great news for Captain America: Brave New World and could be terrible news for the theatrical industry, which is banking on the MCU tentpole to deadlift the entire first quarter. Concurrently, longtime LA journalist vet and before-it-was-cool geek culture expert Luke Y. Thompson is our special guest in a conversation discussing the give-and-take of politically-minded tentpoles, how disingenu...
Feb 19, 2025•1 hr 8 min
This weekend, we will discuss a disappointing Super Bowl weekend in North America (RIP Heart Eyes and Love Hurts ), why Companion struggled to find post-debut momentum, and the consistently strong performance of Ne Zha 2 in China. Additionally, we spent the second half of the show answering a few listener emails, so keep those coming. Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe...
Feb 13, 2025•55 min
This weekend’s episode goes to the Dog(s), Man. Jeremy Fuster couldn’t make it, but Lisa Laman and Scott Mendelson welcome Kenny Miles to this week’s episode to discuss both the new releases ( Companion and Dog Man ) in a general sense and share his experiences and opinions related to his work as a CinemaScore pollster. We all agree that actually polling folks walking out of the movie on opening night is a better word-of-mouth measurement tool than opt-in online user polls that, of course, can b...
Feb 05, 2025•1 hr 8 min
The actual box office news is comparatively light, so this somewhat became an accidental three-part episode. In the first act, Scott Mendelson, Lisa Laman and this week’s special guest star (Chrissi Michael, natch) discussed the ups and downs of the top ten and the various ways in which younger viewers ingest pop culture. The second act, during which Jeremy Fuster pops in a bit late but not too late (think when you show up 25 minutes after the listed showtime at an AMC theater and Nicole Kidman ...
Jan 30, 2025•1 hr 24 min
As the sad Poe image implies, former co-host Ryan Scott is back, at least for one episode. They never found the body; he fixed the autopilot six months ago, an enraged Superboy punched the space-time continuum or whatever a bunch of times, and/or the entire last season was a dream. Either way, we hope for a few more Ryan Scott guest appearances over the next year to the extent his schedule allows. It was like riding a bike as we discussed why Wolf Man earned too little, with Scott discussing the...
Jan 21, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 51
In what was the first “new” weekend of 2025, Den of Thieves 2 opened seven years after its predecessor with an almost identical amount of money in North America. For the special occasion, The Box Office Podcast welcomed the one and/or only Brandon Streussnig to discuss Vulture’s third annual “Stunt Awards” along with Gerard Butler’s B-level stardom, the nuanced politics of seemingly simplistic grindhouse fare and the key difference between knowing what’s wrong and knowing who or what is to blame...
Jan 16, 2025•51 min
Since there were no newbies of note this weekend, all due respect to Vertical’s The Damned , Scott Mendelson, Lisa Laman and Jeremy Fuster just talked about the holdover business and that pesky “fewer movies than theaters were once accustomed to” issue that still seems to be in play five years after the start of the COVID pandemic. The good news is that Mufasa: The Lion King is legging like a champ, and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is racing into the video game-based movie history books. Moreover, adult...
Jan 07, 2025•48 min•Season 1Ep. 49
In what will be the last episode of 2024, the three proverbial box office musketeers/amigos/etc. are joined by Daniel Loria for a deep dive into what went right over the holiday weekend and why it’s exactly the kind of “everybody wins” frame exhibitors and theatrical proselytizers have been waiting for since, well, even before the COVID era of multiplex melodrama. Mufasa: The Lion King and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 both held like champs, Wicked Part One and Moana 2 got big holiday bumps, and Nosferat...
Dec 31, 2024•1 hr 26 min•Season 1Ep. 48
After appearing on all 46 of the first episodes of The Box Office Podcast (even the late June episode where it was just her and Ryan holding down the fort), Lisa Laman had to sit this one out. She’ll be back for episode 48, so you can listen to me roll my eyes at all the Nosferatu nonsense *and* shudder at the hardcore deep-dive Sonic the Hedgehog nerdery in one single episode. This time, however, we’ve got a special guest star… (copies and pastes the whole thing cause I’m a lazy b*****d), Comsc...
Dec 26, 2024•53 min•Season 47Ep. 1
* It’s basically the “all Kraven and all The War of the Ro…hru…ru… how the f**k do I pronounce that again?” as the Box Office Podcast podcasts about the box office of this weekend’s epic commercial losers. * Lisa lays out just how awful the opening weekend for Kraven really was. * Jeremy rages at the absurdity of offering an anime film with subpar animation to an audience that expects visual panache. * Scott appreciates Sony finally seeing the “ It Ends with Us > Kraven ” light, even while still...
Dec 18, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 46
Weirdly enough, there were well over a dozen new releases this weekend, even if it a few of them made anything resembling “money” in terms of domestic grosses. Nonetheless, this episode offers a slew of tangents including… * The comparative cultural rehabilitation of Chris Nolan’s Interstellar, at least in terms of online nitpicking versus critical and real-world approval * The value of putting old(er) classics back into wide theatrical release * Why Y2K was DOA * Bruce Willis’ complicated 2010s...
Dec 10, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Season 1Ep. 45
Moana 2 shattered Thanksgiving weekend records with a sky-high $225 million Wed-Sun debut, right alongside Wicked Part One ’s equally impressive $118 million Wed-Sun *non-opening weekend*. Oh, and Gladiator II kept up with the competition, relatively speaking, as it showed that there’s room in the moviegoing marketplace for more than one — or even two — big-deal franchise-friendly mega-budget tentpoles. But, sorry Red One , definitely not four big-deal franchise-friendly mega-budget tentpoles. L...
Dec 04, 2024•1 hr 20 min
The conventional wisdom that Wicked Part One ’s $112 million opening destroyed (audiences don’t mind musicals, and they don’t mind the whole “part 1 of 2” thing) and whether a $55 million domestic debut is good enough for the pricy Gladiator II (which, inflation aside, is relatively high for an R-rated action movie not based on a comic book). Meanwhile, some digressions related to Moana II ’s upcoming Thanksgiving release, how Bonhoeffer represents the status quo for Angel Studios and a deep-div...
Nov 25, 2024•1 hr 24 min
It is a tale of two franchise-friendly $250 million tentpoles and to what extent the streamer deserves nuance and mercy for a domestic and global opening weekend that would be an outright disaster for a legacy studio. Sure, Red One was greenlit and budgeted for streaming, but why make excuses for the very streaming companies that helped undercut the legacy studios’ ability to release non-franchise theatricals in the first place, especially when the film in question isn’t a studio programmer like...
Nov 21, 2024•51 min
We all try to distract ourselves by discussing the long-game value of Christmas movies and the coming triple-whammy of Gladiator II, Wicked Part One, and Moana II , which will help bring the overall year-end closer to 2023 than any of us dared hope back in January. You can also enjoy our wildly off-topic discussions about what Hollywood tried to make in the 2010s. From here on out, Timothée Chalamet shall be known (in a superlative, complimentary sense) as “The Dune Twink.” Get full access to Th...
Nov 12, 2024•54 min
Ryan had to skip out on this episode, so it’s just Scott, Lisa and Jeremy talking shop. We spend half the episode discussing the good news ( Venom 3, Anora, Conclave , etc.) and the bad news ( Here, Juror #2, Absolution ). The second half is a listener mailbag episode, including some very macabre conversations about potential Pixar sequels and why The Good Dinosaur 2 should be a cross-over/combo sequel to Ice Age and Dinosaur . Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/...
Nov 05, 2024•1 hr 6 min
Venom: The Last Dance is more evidence that the late-2010s Marvel/DC superhero boom has ended, with the sub-genre now as execution-dependant as any other franchise film. Still, a $120 million threequel that will probably clear $400 million worldwide allows Sony a graceful off-ramp for their decade-long efforts to make Spider-Man’s rogues gallery into their own cinematic universe. Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe...
Oct 30, 2024•52 min
Smile 2 showed that you don’t have to be a breakout sequel to be a successful follow-up, while Terrifier 3 was no one-weekend wonder. Joker 2 plunged again while Wild Robot and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice shrugged off PVOD availability and Anora notched the second-biggest per-theater average in five years. Meanwhile, a dive into the listener feedback bag led to some spirited debates about the decline of the theatrical comedy, inexplicably incorrect opinions and hints of simmering conflict waiting ju...
Oct 22, 2024•1 hr 4 min
A deep dive into the genuinely unprecedented box office success that was Terrifier 3 , as well as a look at A) just how badly Joker Folie a Deux performed on its second weekend and B) why nobody gave a damn about “origin story” flicks about Donald Trump and Saturday Night Live (which Jeremy righteously tears to shreds). Also on tap are a few listener emails, leading to a spirited discussion on the commercial fortunes for next summer’s Jurassic World: Rebirth . Get full access to The Outside Scoo...
Oct 16, 2024•1 hr 6 min
Joker: Folie à Deux lost its wheels and laid an egg, but we four cranky box office pundits aren’t going to let him get away. All four of us agree that, hey, at least this means Terrifier 3 might top the domestic box office this weekend, so… huzzah? Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe
Oct 08, 2024•47 min
What went right for The Wild Robot ? What went wrong for Megalopolis ? What does the success of the former mean for the vitality of original or “new to you” animation and a possible comeback for DreamWorks Animation? Does the commercial failure of the latter mean anything beyond the apparent lack of modern-day appeal of an original sci-fi drama with mixed reviews from a legendary director whose last outright hit opened a month before Titanic ? All that and much more...! Get full access to The Ou...
Sep 30, 2024•1 hr 2 min
Rank doesn’t matter. It’s the raw dollars earned that counts. It’s still gotta sting that the opening weekend of Paramount and Hasbro’s well-reviewed Transformers One earned less than the third weekend of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice . That’s the crux of our latest weekly box office chat, along with Never Let Go being the latest Lionsgate theatrical whiff, a (friendly) critical debate about The Substance and a response to a listener email about our most anticipated films for the remainder of the year...
Sep 24, 2024•1 hr 1 min
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. Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe...
Sep 17, 2024•2 hr 35 min
The gang is back to talk Beetlejuice (WB’s success with offseason tentpole scheduling), Beetlejuice (how copious IP and actor-specific fandoms for multiple generations created an all-quadrant event movie), Beetlejuice (How does Tim Burton capitalize on this late-era success?). We also talk Showbiz Direct’s next steps after a halfway decent theatrical showing for Reagan, a box office update for the year’s best movie (#BeaverPilled). Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack....
Sep 12, 2024•1 hr 1 min
In an episode fit for 1.25x speed, this 95-minute epic offers special guest BoxOffice Pro's Daniel Loria amid the summer wrap-up. Jeremy reaffirms that as Disney goes, so goes the entire theatrical industry. Lisa argues Imax should be utilized to retrain audiences to see theatrical comedies. Daniel declares multiplexes need more mid-range hits alongside the tentpoles. Ryan discusses the breakout success of Longlegs and the value of FOMA moments. Scott expressed his disappointment with Fly Me to ...
Sep 03, 2024•2 hr 36 min
As summer winds down with a comparative whimper…Scott rambles about how The Crow was never a viable brand or franchise.Jeremy explains what Laika is taking from Coraline 's success.Lisa explains that theaters need films that are “just” films.Ryan discusses the robust overseas performance of Alien: Romulus .Everyone unloads on Lionsgate for that entirely avoidable Megalopolis trailer snafu. Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe...
Aug 29, 2024•54 min
Ryan and Lisa (cordially) debate whether Disney has allowed the more adult-skewing Fox brands to stay true to their R-rated roots. Still, both agree that Lionsgate’s Borderlands is a monumental tentpole disaster. Jeremy notes the Alien Romulus demo stats which imply that it’s “Baby’s first Alien flick” for many younger viewers while succinctly speaking a grim truth about the current “anti-spoiler” culture. Scott rants about the seemingly “fabricated from thin-air” controversies related to It End...
Aug 20, 2024•1 hr 10 min
Both Deadpool & Wolverine and It Ends With Us nabbed $50 million+ weekends, again showing Hollywood there’s more than one way to build a blockbuster. Lisa Laman details the key lesson from the mega-hit Colleen Hoover adaptation. Ryan Scott begs Lionsgate to stop making Borderlands -sized franchise failures. Jeremy Fuster ends the show with a righteous diatribe contrasting D23’s bread-and-circuses pageantry with the struggles facing the filmmakers responsible for Disney’s biggest hits. Get full a...
Aug 13, 2024•59 min
