The Box Office Podcast

Inherent Vyce

In his long-awaited debut in the revolving (or fifth?) fourth chair of The Box Office Podcast, long-time film pundit and action film expert Vyce Victus pops in presumably/theoretically to discuss the latest Jason Statham joint. And while we find enough time to discuss Shelter’s place in the Statham canon, as well as tipping our hat to Ric Roman Waugh as a regular director of high-quality “dad movie” action flicks, most of the chat is taken up by Scott, Jeremy, Max and Vyce taking stock of Markiplier’s genuinely impressive DIY accomplishment, the unto-itself aspirational launch for Sam Raimi’s Send Help and what a $7 million debut for Amazon’s $40 million Melania does and doesn’t mean for life, the universe and everyrhing. Lisa couldn’t make it, but… well… something-something post-credit cookie… Apologies, I’m behind schedule, so no “recommended reading” this week. If you like what you hear, please like, share, comment, and subscribe (using a cartoon mallet) with every justified ounce of strength and passion. If you’d like to reach out and offer good cheer, request in-show discussions, or suggest ideas for bonus episodes, please email us at Asktheboxofficepod@gmail.com (which I finally fixed so that it’ll forward to my personal business email, natch). Scott Mendelson - The Outside Scoop [https://scottmendelson.substack.com/] and Puck News [https://puck.news/author/scott-mendelson/] Jeremy Fuster - TheWrap [https://www.thewrap.com/author/jeremy-fuster/] Lisa Laman [https://lisalaman.wixstudio.com/lisaportfolio] - Land of the Nerds [https://landofthenerds.blogspot.com/], Dallas Observer [https://www.dallasobserver.com/arts/dallas-forths-best-trans-inclusive-bars-and-businesses-21590543], Pajiba [https://www.pajiba.com/staff/lisa-laman.php], Looper [https://www.looper.com/author/lisalaman/], Comic Book [https://comicbook.com/author/lisa-laman/] and Autostraddle [https://www.autostraddle.com/author/lisalaman/] Ryan C. Scott - SlashFilm [https://www.slashfilm.com/author/ryanscott/] and Fangoria [https://www.fangoria.com/authors/ryan-scott/] Max Deering - Fangoria [https://www.fangoria.com/authors/maxwell_deering/] and Action For Everyone [https://open.spotify.com/show/6OWjC2VooChhsCT8UCzDlL] Vyce Victus - Action For Everyone [https://open.spotify.com/show/6OWjC2VooChhsCT8UCzDlL] Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe [https://scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

An Hour With... Paul Feig

I’m not thrilled that Lionsgate has already dropped The Housemaid onto PVOD, even if I’ll note that A) it got a now (kinda-sorta) standard 47-day window and B) it’s probably going to lose a bunch of screens and get steamrolled by Wuthering Heights the weekend after next anyway. This was recorded right as Lionsgate announced that the Sydney Sweeney/Amanda Seyfried/Brandon Sklenar-led flick had passed $300 million worldwide, partially on the strength of James Cameron-worthy holds in North America and especially overseas. Considering the decades of conventional wisdom arguing that Hollywood movies for women and/or minorities don’t travel overseas, well, it’ll top $200 million internationally over the next week. It’s no secret that I came out of CinemaCon 2025 declaring that the sizzle reel for The Housemaid was the best promotional item I had seen in Las Vegas that week and that the erotic thriller/psychological melodrama was #2 on my 2025 must-see list after Avatar: Fire and Ash. However, even being cautiously hopeful as to its commercial potential, even I wasn’t so optimistic as to expect the $35 million, R-rated old-school genre flick to pull the kind of domestic ($121 million) and worldwide (around $316 million) grosses that would have been aspirational even a generation ago. Anyway, to mark the special occasion, Paul Feig was nice enough to stop by to discuss how he made a crowdpleasing, buzzy adult-skewing genre flick. While we are as vague as possible, I would still argue that, yes, this conversation contains spoilers for The Housemaid. Meanwhile, the other areas of discourse include… * How Feig uses the test screening process for good rather than evil * How his lifelong interest in comedy and thrillers intermingle * Whether Hollywood will ever stop treating female-skewing successes as (my words, not his) exceptions to the rule or “flukes”? * What repeatedly stabbing Sandra Bullock in the leg taught him about playing laughs and gasps against each other * Why, he’d now prefer only to direct theatrical films * How the reception for his old(er) movies like Ghostbusters and Last Christmas can change when they are (re)discovered years after the initial SEO-friendly discourse. * Is he actually directing Mamma Mia 3? * And more! I hope it is as enjoyable to listen to as it was to record. In the meantime, the following Box Office Podcast episode will drop on Thursday morning, and I’m planning on another “paid subscriber chat” on Thursday at 11:00 a.m. PST. As always, if you like what you hear, please like, share, comment, and subscribe (using a cartoon mallet) with every justified ounce of strength and passion. If you’d like to reach out and offer good cheer, request in-show discussions, or suggest ideas for bonus episodes, please email us at Asktheboxofficepod@gmail.com. * Scott Mendelson - The Outside Scoop [https://scottmendelson.substack.com/] and Puck News [https://puck.news/author/scott-mendelson/] * Jeremy Fuster - TheWrap [https://www.thewrap.com/author/jeremy-fuster/] * Lisa Laman [https://lisalaman.wixstudio.com/lisaportfolio] - Land of the Nerds [https://landofthenerds.blogspot.com/], Dallas Observer [https://www.dallasobserver.com/arts/dallas-forths-best-trans-inclusive-bars-and-businesses-21590543], Pajiba [https://www.pajiba.com/staff/lisa-laman.php], Looper [https://www.looper.com/author/lisalaman/], Comic Book [https://comicbook.com/author/lisa-laman/] and Autostraddle [https://www.autostraddle.com/author/lisalaman/] * Ryan C. Scott - SlashFilm [https://www.slashfilm.com/author/ryanscott/] and Fangoria [https://www.fangoria.com/authors/ryan-scott/] * Max Deering - Fangoria [https://www.fangoria.com/authors/maxwell_deering/] and Action For Everyone [https://open.spotify.com/show/6OWjC2VooChhsCT8UCzDlL] Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe [https://scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

2 Mendelson 2 Hertz: Another Hour with Barry Hertz, Talking 'Hobbs & Shaw' and (Eventually) 'Fast Forever'

The listeners demanded it, the author agreed to it, and so the podcaster (oh-so-reluctantly) allowed it. For those who came in late, Barry Hertz popped by on “An Hour With…”, the semi-regular offshoot of The Box Office Podcast, to discuss his sprawling and comprehensive literary deep-dive into the Fast and the Furious franchise. The book Welcome to the Family has been available in print and audio since late last year and primarily focuses on the first ten core Fast and Furious movies. As such, Mr. Hertz generously agreed to return on a future episode to discuss Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw. As such, this shorter episode, at least initially, was going to discuss only the winding road that led to a Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham-led spin-off opening theatrically in August 2019. The David Leitch-directed action spectacular, also starring Idris Elba and Vanessa Kirby, earned decent notices, grossed more than a good-enough $760 million worldwide, but inspired little enthusiasm for either itself or the notion of a sequel. However, the film remains a late-2010s time capsule that captures the constant push-pull as Hollywood struggled to expand successful franchises into secondary directions without harming the proverbial mother ship. Anyway, near the end of our conversation, we discussed the still-unknown fate of Fast & Furious 11. So, of course, three days later, Universal announced a March 17, 2028, release date for Fast Forever. As such, Mr. Hertz was nice enough to jump back on for a quick Friday afternoon mini-discourse, after exiting a (work-mandated) matinee showing of Melania, which I’ve cut-and-pasted into the end of the first episode as gracefully as possible. Alas, he lacked the courage or journalistic fortitude to ask the handful of Melania viewers their thoughts about the 11th and presumably final chapter in the Fast & Furious saga. Jokes aside, you’ve got the 30-minute conversation about Hobbs & Shaw, an 11-minute chat about Fast Forever, and then the conventional “Who are you and what the hell do you want?” show ending plug grabbed from the end of the Tuesday chat and affixed onto the end of the Friday one. Anyway, as far as “recommended reading,” I mean, obviously buy his book [https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/barry-hertz/welcome-to-the-family/9781538771037/?lens=grand-central-publishing]. But besides that, do read his [https://www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/film-and-tv/film/article-melania-trump-documentary-amazon-brett-ratner/]Melania [https://www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/film-and-tv/film/article-melania-trump-documentary-amazon-brett-ratner/]review [https://www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/film-and-tv/film/article-melania-trump-documentary-amazon-brett-ratner/] so that his sacrifice need not be in vain. Plus, also read his terrific piece [https://www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/film-and-tv/film/article-streaming-black-hole-movies/] about how the straight-to-streaming structure has doomed a generation’s worth of movies, including many that in a prior time would have been considered big-deal theatrical releases, to essentially vanish into a black hole of cultural irrelevancy. Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe [https://scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Are We Not 'Mercy'-ful?!

Comscore Sr. Media Analyst Paul Dergarabedian returned to talk shop with the usual gang. He was only able to stick around for the first third before making like Steven Seagal in Executive Decision. Still, that first third covers the “Hey, the domestic box office cleared $9 billion after all!” results for the 2025 Jan-to-Dec slate. There is also chatter about our favorite films that didn’t receive a single Oscar nomination. This intro segment features, intentionally or not, Jeremy Fuster discussing Wake Up Dead Man in a way that makes me wonder whether Ted Sarandos really did have a multiplex-friendly awakening over the holidays. Anyway, “act two” is the three of us discussing the objectively terrible domestic and global debut for Mercy and emphasizing that Amazon MGM Studios, if they want to be treated as a major theatrical contender, cannot be graded on a curve when it comes to big-budget movies opening to far-lower-than-required grosses. Act three is the three of us gabbing about the Oscar nominations. Everyone is thrilled that Delroy Lindo finally got a damn Oscar nomination. Jeremy passionately “defends” F1: The Movie’s Best Picture inclusion. Scott Mendelson wonders aloud just how close Weapons came to scoring a Best Picture nomination. Lisa Laman mourns the Testament of Ann Lee shutout while wondering if the Searchlight release will even get a physical media release. Recommended Reading: * Scott Mendelson goes (too) deep on the monkey’s paw nostalgia [https://scottmendelson.substack.com/p/masters-of-the-universe-trailer-he-man-skeletor-jared-leto-nostalgia] at play in the first teaser trailer for Amazon MGM Studios’ Masters of the Universe. * Jeremy Fuster details how Amazon’s Brett Ratner-directed Melania is slated to be the latest example of [https://www.thewrap.com/industry-news/box-office/melania-box-office-prediction/] online and social media chatter not translating to real-world interest. We’ll see if Iron Lung, courtesy of longtime YouTube personality Markiplier, will be an exception to the rule. * Lisa Laman compares and contrasts [https://landofthenerds.blogspot.com/] the not-disimmilar endings to No Other Choice and The Irishman. * Ryan Scott dissects the grim domestic box office [https://www.slashfilm.com/2085434/return-to-silent-hill-box-office-franchise-future-meaning/] for Return to Silent Hill. Your mission, should you choose to accept it: If you like what you hear, please like, share, comment, and subscribe (using a cartoon mallet) with every justified ounce of strength and passion. If you’d like to reach out and offer good cheer, request in-show discussions, or suggest ideas for bonus episodes, please email us at Asktheboxofficepod@gmail.com. * Scott Mendelson - The Outside Scoop [https://scottmendelson.substack.com/] and Puck News [https://puck.news/author/scott-mendelson/] * Jeremy Fuster - TheWrap [https://www.thewrap.com/author/jeremy-fuster/] * Lisa Laman [https://lisalaman.wixstudio.com/lisaportfolio] - Land of the Nerds [https://landofthenerds.blogspot.com/], Dallas Observer [https://www.dallasobserver.com/arts/dallas-forths-best-trans-inclusive-bars-and-businesses-21590543], Pajiba [https://www.pajiba.com/staff/lisa-laman.php], Looper [https://www.looper.com/author/lisalaman/], Comic Book [https://comicbook.com/author/lisa-laman/] and Autostraddle [https://www.autostraddle.com/author/lisalaman/] * Ryan C. Scott - SlashFilm [https://www.slashfilm.com/author/ryanscott/] and Fangoria [https://www.fangoria.com/authors/ryan-scott/] * Max Deering - Fangoria [https://www.fangoria.com/authors/maxwell_deering/] and Action For Everyone [https://open.spotify.com/show/6OWjC2VooChhsCT8UCzDlL] Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe [https://scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

'28 Years Later' Pull a (Box Office) Boner

Aaron Neuwirth returns for… what is this, the sixth or seventh time (?) since March 2025, to pontificate about what went right (artistically) but wrong (commercially) regarding Nia DaCosta and Alex Garland’s 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple. Among the areas of discourse are whether a mixed reception for 28 Years Later led to this downturn or whether — barring new classic status — this was always going to be a “folks were only curious the first time” IP revival. Also on tap is the continuing plea for studios to actually release more movies in theaters more regularly so that multiplexes and moviegoers aren’t essentially told “take it or leave it” for a single commercially questionable release even amid a previously lucrative holiday weekend. Recommended Reading… * Scott Mendelson discusses the shocking news that Fathom Events [https://scottmendelson.substack.com/p/news-laika-fathom-wildwood-box-office-coraline-3d] will A) be distributing Laika’s Wildwood in North America and B) attempt to become a semi-regular old-school domestic distribution studio. * Jeremy Fuster declares that, yes, Timothee Chalamet is indeed [https://www.thewrap.com/creative-content/movies/timothee-chalamet-box-office-movie-star-marty-supreme/] the closest thing we’ve got (give or take Sandra Bullock) to a butts-in-seats movie star. * Lisa Laman offers her picks for the ten Netflix movies [https://www.looper.com/2075036/netflix-original-movies-need-physical-media-release/] that are most in need of and/or deserving of a physical media (DVD, Blu-Ray, 4K HD, etc.) release. * Ryan Scott argues why [https://www.slashfilm.com/2078941/28-years-later-3-samson-return-story-not-done/] one of 28 Years Later and The Bone Temple’s most interesting characters damn-well better show up in the third film. * Aaron Neuwirth picks his most anticipated films in 2026 [https://weliveentertainment.com/welivefilm/aarons-most-anticipated-films-of-2026-a-month-by-month-look/]. If you like what you hear, please like, share, comment, and subscribe (using a cartoon mallet) with every justified ounce of strength and passion. If you’d like to reach out and offer good cheer, request in-show discussions, or suggest ideas for bonus episodes, please email us at Asktheboxofficepod@gmail.com (which I finally fixed so that it’ll forward to my personal business email, natch). * Scott Mendelson - The Outside Scoop [https://scottmendelson.substack.com/] and Puck News [https://puck.news/author/scott-mendelson/] * Jeremy Fuster - TheWrap [https://www.thewrap.com/author/jeremy-fuster/] * Lisa Laman [https://lisalaman.wixstudio.com/lisaportfolio] - Dallas Observer [https://www.dallasobserver.com/arts/dallas-forths-best-trans-inclusive-bars-and-businesses-21590543], Pajiba [https://www.pajiba.com/staff/lisa-laman.php], Looper [https://www.looper.com/author/lisalaman/], Comic Book [https://comicbook.com/author/lisa-laman/], Autostraddle [https://www.autostraddle.com/author/lisalaman/] * Ryan C. Scott - SlashFilm [https://www.slashfilm.com/author/ryanscott/] and Fangoria [https://www.fangoria.com/authors/ryan-scott/] * Max Deering - Fangoria [https://www.fangoria.com/authors/maxwell_deering/] and Action For Everyone [https://open.spotify.com/show/6OWjC2VooChhsCT8UCzDlL] * Aaron Neuwirth - The Code is Zeek [https://thecodeiszeek.substack.com/] and We Live Entertainment [https://weliveentertainment.com/author/aaron-neuwirth/] Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe [https://scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]