Marcus and Friends (dogs) Deadpool inches closer The last two major blockbusters of summer 2024 are coming up over the next couple weeks, with Twisters opening next week, and then Deadpool & Wolverine on July 26. Deadpool is expected to be one of the biggest films of the year, and is tracking for a $160-165 million opening By Sarah • Jul 12, 2024 10:20 am
Movie Reviews and Previews Kevin Costner’s box office bomb This is the year of rich A-listers spending their own dime on passion projects—some might say “vanity projects”—and in Kevin Costner’s case, it isn’t working out as hoped. His awkwardly titled Western epic Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 is bombing at the box office, and By Sarah • Jul 11, 2024 01:12 pm
Sports Brad Pitt goes vroom Over the weekend we got our first look at Brad Pitt’s Formula 1 movie, now officially titled F1. It’s directed by Joseph Kosinski, and stars Pitt as a veteran racecar driver who comes out of retirement to show a younger driver, played by Damson Idris, the ways of By Sarah • Jul 08, 2024 10:42 am
Business of Hollywood A Paramount merger is back on (probably) This is starting to feel like Wayne and Garth shouting “game off” and “game on” as cars interrupt their street hockey. I know I am dating myself with this reference, but it feels the most apt for the start-stop nature of whatever the f-ck is happening at Paramount. Just last By Sarah • Jul 04, 2024 12:59 pm
Business of Hollywood Intro for June 28, 2024 Dear Gossips, Six months ago, there was a report that Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount, two of the oldest and most storied Hollywood studios, were considering a merger. That deal did not materialize, though Paramount ended up coming within literally TWO MINUTES of merging with Media—owned by tech nepo By Sarah • Jun 28, 2024 09:44 am
Movie Reviews and Previews Intro for June 18, 2024 Dear Gossips, The summer box office see-saw continues to do its thing, going from the lowest low of the dismal Memorial Day weekend, now to the highest high of Inside Out 2 opening with $154 million domestic ($295 million globally). It’s a “return to form” for Pixar, but only By Sarah • Jun 18, 2024 09:29 am
Business of Hollywood Sony is the first studio to buy theaters In 2020, the US Supreme Court ended the “Paramount decree”, which kept movie studios from owning movie theaters, a piece of 1930s anti-trust legislation created in a time when most movie theaters had just one screen and studios self-dealing their own films to their own theaters could block competitors from By Sarah • Jun 13, 2024 10:54 am
Business of Hollywood Intro for June 6, 2024 Dear Gossips, In 2020, South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho won Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Picture for Parasite. He had previously directed the masterful Memories of Murder, as well as international hits The Host and Mother, and he’s made a couple of films for the Hollywood system, By Sarah • Jun 06, 2024 09:23 am
Movie Reviews and Previews No one wants the Trump movie Ali Abassi’s film about a younger Donald Trump and his business daddy, Roy Cohn, The Apprentice, debuted at Cannes to generally good reviews. The film stars Jeremy Strong in his first post-Succession screen role, Sebastian Stan, and Maria Bakalova, plus Abassi is a generally admired filmmaker whose last film, By Sarah • Jun 03, 2024 11:29 am
Business of Hollywood Intro for May 31, 2024 Dear Gossips, I promise one day we will get through an entire week without talking about AI but the movie people won’t stop talking about it, which means we have to, as well. The latest is from Sony Pictures CEO Tony Vinciquerra, who told investors in Japan that at By Sarah • May 31, 2024 09:11 am
Business of Hollywood Intro for May 29, 2024 Dear Gossips, Yesterday, I wrote about the (many) ills plaguing theatrical exhibition of films at home, on their nice big TVs with their nice sound systems. I get it! Especially when you add in overall comfort, lower cost, optimal snack options, and lack of rude people. Watching movies at home By Sarah • May 29, 2024 09:10 am
Movie Reviews and Previews The dismal holiday box office It was Memorial Day weekend in the US, a three-day weekend that often signals the start of summer. For film fans, though, Memorial Day is usually a big movie weekend, dominated by a blockbuster release. Well, not this year. 2024 is the worst Memorial Day box office in almost 30 By Sarah • May 28, 2024 10:47 am
Movie Reviews and Previews Glen Powell kicks off his big summer Hit Man drops on Netflix on June 7, and while I am deep in my “I am mad about Hit Man selling to Netflix even though it was Glen Powell and Richard Linklater who decided to sell it to Netflix and yet I am not mad at THEM” feelings, I By Sarah • May 16, 2024 11:19 am
Business of Hollywood Intro for May 9, 2024 Dear Gossips, Everything old is new again, as yesterday Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery announced they’re partnering for a new streaming bundle that will combine Disney+, Hulu, and Max. This is in addition to a sports bundle coming from Disney/ESPN, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Fox Corp (the part By Sarah • May 09, 2024 09:03 am
TV Updates Intro for April 19, 2024 Dear Gossips, It’s time to talk about AI again! This is going to be an ongoing and ever-evolving conversation, but this week a couple things happened that clearly illustrate the pitfalls of engaging with AI in the entertainment space. First, beloved indie studio A24 used AI to generate some By Sarah • Apr 19, 2024 09:07 am
Movie Reviews and Previews Cinemacon 4-11 CinemaCon drags on, or is it just this week? Yesterday, Paramount held their panel, which is a little weird given that that the studio is currently for sale and several board members are stepping down as the company is engaged in talks with David Ellison’s Skydance for a sale By Sarah • Apr 12, 2024 09:50 am
