Coulrophobia hits the film league

This is the latest edition of the Movies Fantasy League newsletter. The editorial window for this season is closed, but you can still sign up for the newsletter, which provides a weekly roundup of box office returns, award nominations and critical discussions on the hottest films.

We’re only two weeks into the MFL season and I’m already sending out this newsletter because the film industry has alienated me. horror 3 Grossing a whopping $20 million, the film topped the box office charts just as America was expressing its preference for Art the Clown over Art…hur Fleck, the Clown Prince of Crime. We’ll get into that Joker: Folie à Deux temporarily falls steeply in the box office ranks. Let’s start with a mea culpa: horror 3The big, triumphant weekend won’t earn anyone MFL points as the film wasn’t available for editing. That’s on me, guys.

The first two More terrible Movies operated completely under my radar, perhaps a function of my psyche’s innate defense mechanism to keep these defiantly over-the-top gore-fests out of my life. I like horror movies, but as you know if you’ve looked at any streaming platform’s horror offerings, the ratio between “low-budget garbage you don’t have to worry about” and “low-budget garbage that does.” “worth seeing” can be very different, high; Word of mouth is very important and there weren’t many people who told me I would like it More terrible Films. It was only a few weeks ago that someone finally told me about these films and their clown-faced protagonist. That’s when the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon began, and I noticed the franchise everywhere, from social media conversations to Google results. I still don’t plan on seeing these movies, but that’s okay. The film industry works better when there are films that attract fan bases that I would never claim and from which I would make money. (Dinesh D’Souza excluded.) Good for horror 3 and his merry band of weirdos who buy tickets to see it! I’m just sorry it wasn’t available for draft. I live, I learn, I forgive myself, I move on.

Aside from crazy-faced clowns tinkering with their victims’ internal organs, this weekend’s box office was kind of crazy. The two major release debuts were the Pharrell Williams documentary in Legos piece by piece and director Ali Abassi The apprenticeabout the rise to power of someone named Donald Trump. piece by pieceEarnings of $3.85 million were good for fifth place behind horror 3the third weekend of The wild robotthe sixth weekend of Beetlejuice Beetlejuicenamely the turkey carcass Slide for two. If more people knew that there might be a Lego, maybe there would be Evil Trailer, it might have been better. But fifth place is better than tenth The apprentice In the end, it only earned $1.6 million from over 1,700 screens. So, yes, that means the rosters that exist The apprentice So far, it is the only active film to enter the overall rankings with one point.

In the meantime, Saturday evening The film was released widely but grossed only $3.4 million from 2,300 theaters, which is bad news for everything from the nostalgia of the pragmatist generation to the idealistic genius.

What joker …ouch. A fourth-place finish with just $7 million over the weekend and a two-week cumulative total of $51 million. Many of you chose this film and I imagine you already regret it. So I don’t want to rub salt in the wound, but this is one of the bigger faceplants we’ve seen in a while. Remember how immersed we all are The miracles last year because they reached the nadir of the MCU? This film had $64 million after two weeks. And considering how the arts and crafts nominations that go to blockbusters tend to go down during awards season financially successful Blockbuster, I wouldn’t expect awards season to save this film. On the bright side, you probably didn’t stub your toe today. So appreciate that.

(The actually positive side: joker (You’ve passed the $50 million threshold, which is 15 bonus points.) Here’s your current ranking:

The podcast department the MFL is also up and running, with representatives from podcasts like Miami Beautiful, We hate movies, Extra hot, great, Scott didn’t see itAnd Unwound is currently at the top of the leaderboard. (Of course they are on the leaderboard because they voted jokerso it’s a mixed blessing.)

Of course, in the podcast department, representatives from over 20 podcasts compete for pride (and prizes!). In a new MFL tradition I just invented, much like the Super Bowl champion kicking off the new football season at home on Thursday Night Football, I have last year’s Podcasters Division champion Katey Rich – Awards Editor – won The ankle and co-host of the long-running hit Fight in the War Room Podcast – on the line to talk about how she picked her team this year, what she already regrets, and how she plans to beat her own team Fight in the War Room Co-hosts for MFL Supremacy.

Joe Reid: Katey, as last season’s defending Podcasters’ League champions, I wanted to start my roster review with you. I see that you have designed:

Dune: Part Two ($35)
Emilia Perez ($25)
The piano lesson ($10)
challenger ($10)
Hard truths ($8)
The outrun ($5)
Flow ($3)
About becoming a guinea fowl ($3)

Did you have a general philosophy when making this selection or were these just the eight films you liked best?

Katey Rich: Let me put on my Miss MFL League crown (why didn’t you send me a crown???) and answer this. I suspect I went by vibes rather than any logic when making this choice, since I made my draft immediately after Toronto and saw so many good films! But I knew I wanted two of the top dollar picks and a few more wild cards to balance the ticket. Dune: Part Twoo, despite the lack of box office take (more on that later), it felt like a sure thing for multiple nominations and still is. And I have more confidence in the $25 tier Emilia Perez as an all-round player Anora or Singing Singingas much as I love all three. So after those two, it was just a matter of finding budget picks that had potential.

JR: Vulture’s Nate Jones said he doesn’t want to push certain price categories with his recommendations. You, on the other hand, have dealt intensively with the candidates for best actress (Marianne Jean Baptiste). Hard truthsKarla Sofia Gascon for Emilia PerezSaoirse Ronan for The outrunmaybe even a late attack on the net for Zendaya). Are you hedging your bets a bit there?

KR: I probably put too much emphasis on best actress! However, I think so Hard truths is also competitive in the script, and as I said, Emilia will take place throughout awards season. I mainly chose titles that will be shown at several different awards shows. If Marianne Jean-Baptiste Gotham, Indie Spirit, Golden Globe, SAG, And Oscar nominations are a lot of points to score, even if winning is an absolute pain in the ass. I’m notoriously bad at math, but I guess this fits?

JR: Since you have made your selection, A24 is listed About becoming a guinea fowl for 2025 (and there has been no announcement that he will be selected to compete in the International Feature Race at the Oscars). How depressed are you?

KR: Guinea fowl will be this year’s equivalent of 80 for Brady: A film on my list that gives me absolutely zero points. It’s a bummer, and in hindsight I probably should have written a draft I’m still herewhich I also saw at TIFF and loved, cost $3 and is actually submitted for the Oscar by its home country of Brazil. But oh well! Time for Flow to surpass and make up the difference.

JR: You take part in the competition Fight in the War Room Mini League this season – here’s your chance to talk some nonsense with your podcast co-hosts! Thoughts on Matt Patches’ draft Mufasa? Dave Gonzales at the draft The Life of Chuck? David Ehrlich during the design The beast?

KR: Okay, I’ve been vilifying Matt Patches for weeks because he placed way too much weight on box office returns. Again, I’m bad at math, but I got (more or less) 350 points Sonic3 $200 million could be raised through clearing Hard truths Over the course of the season, she only received nominations for screenplay and best actress. I had Epoch tour on my roster last year, so I’m not immune to the box office appeal, and I bet I’ll regret not having this Gladiator 2 Points. But still. Dave and I can mourn together our TIFF hits that didn’t make it this year – Life of Chuck was a worthwhile risk for $2, and I considered making the same choice. What David and The beasta film I haven’t seen yet – I’m the person who designed both The outrun And Hard truths. I appreciate a big swing.

Smile 2a horror movie I knew is coming to theaters this weekend. The first Smile opened in September 2022 for $22 million and is on track to gross $105 million domestically. However, tracking for the sequel predicts a slightly shorter opening weekend, so we may be saturating the market with spooky grins this fall.

Anora will also be opening in limited release, which may not be enough to move the needle, but considering it’s the #1 most drafted film this season, it’s going to get a lot of attention . Maybe an indie sensation will emerge.

Questions? Return message? Can’t find your team or minileague on the leaderboard? Write us a message [email protected].