The Box Office Podcast

ComScore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian guest-stars (as Ryan Scott takes a breather) amid a look at Civil War ’s second-weekend hold (the good) and the debuts for Abigail and Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (the bad) prior to a deep dive into the upcoming summer movie season (barring a miracle, the ugly). Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

* What does Civil War ’s chart-topping $26 million debut mean for A24? * Scott and Lisa think a new Blair Witch is a horseman of the apocalypse situation. * Ryan thinks we should all stop worrying and love the Blair Witch. * Jeremy and Ryan talk about what they saw at CinemaCon. And so much more!! Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe

On the measured success of 'Monkey Man' and why 'The First Omen' is a classic "IP for the sake of IP" mistake. Thoughts on why the 20th Century Studios IP has mostly been so much of a dud for Disney, how 'Civil War' will play for paying moviegoers and what constitutes success or failure as the streaming bubble bursts and theaters are grateful for each and every major new release. Get full access t...

On today’s astonishing episode…! * How the MonsterVerse rose from the ashes of King of the Monsters . * Do "spectacular by pre-Covid standards” results for Bob Marley, Late Night with the Devil and Love Lies Bleeding offer cause for optimism? *Small drops for Dune Part Two rebuts conventional wisdom about PLF-or-bust moviegoing. All that and more! Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmende...

Is Sony turning Ghostbusters into a viable franchise? Immaculate 's record-high (for Neon) opening implies Sydney Sweeney has some drawing power. IFC Films triples their own personal best with a $2.8 million debut for Late Night with the Devil . Trailers for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Furiosa and Alien: Romulus each offer three distinct forms of shareholder-friendly generational nostalgia. Strong pr...

Ryan Scott was recovering from SXSW. He’ll be back next week. Mendelson, Fuster and Laman discussed Mark Wahlberg’s dwindling bankability after years of being a streaming butts-in-couches movie star (can Ryan Reynolds and Kevin Hart avoid this fate?), Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire being sold less like a sequel to Ghostbusters: Afterlife and more like a sequel to Ghostbusters II, how Spyglass “own go...

What does a strong $58 million domestic opening for Kung Fu Panda 4 mean for DreamWorks and feature animation in general? How far can Dune Part Two soar — especially at the domestic box office? And what went mostly pretty well at the 96th Academy Award? All of these mysteries and more will be answered by 3/4 of us in our sixth episode. Ryan Scott is at SXSW this week, so he’ll be back next episode...

Most of this week’s episode concerns the $82.5 million domestic (well played, Ryan) and $182.5 million worldwide opening weekend for Dune Part Two. We talk about the massive share for PLF screens, the lower expectations for the first ‘Dune’, how young stars made an adaptation of a 59-year-old novel seem cool and how Denis Villeneuve’s Dune avoided the fate of Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049....

Among the topics Bob Marley ’s place near the top of high-grossing musical biopics, how this four-part Beatles movie is going to work, whether the underperformance of Ordinary Angels bodes ill for aspirational Veggie Tales -style faith-based flicks (an actual debate between myself and Lisa… yay friendly conflict?), whether Oppenheimer can reach $1 billion worldwide (they think it’s half-way there,...

Episode three is right on time, with all four of us again chatting about the weekend box office that was. Ryan C. Scott (SlashFilm) returns after a brief abscence, joined again by myself along with Lisa Laman (Collider and Looper) and Jeremy Fuster (TheWrap). While we do briefly talk about the Fantastic Four casting, as well as thoughts on Kung Fu Panda 4 ’s eventual release and the $600 million-p...

Episode two is a day late, since we all wanted to chat about the various Super Bowl trailers which of course didn’t air until Sunday evening. Alas, Ryan C. Scott couldn’t make it but it’s still me, Lisa Laman (Collider and Looper) and (popping in at the 9:30 mark) Jeremy Fuster (TheWrap) discussing the miserable Super Bowl box office, the mostly interesting Super Bowl-aired movie trailers and the...

Join legendary box office pontificator Scott Mendelson alongside a handful of younger, cooler but no less knowledgeable box office pundits. Currently, it will be me alongside Jeremy Fuster (TheWrap), Lisa Laman (Collider), and Ryan Scott (Slashfilm). Spoiler: He is what they grow beyond. In this episode, we discuss Argylle's box office failure, Carl Weathers's passing, the perils of a theatrical i...