2026 Box Office Prediction Draft

Hey, this is Steve Blum and you are listening

to the GeekCast Radio Network. Hello and welcome

to episode 232 of the Cinema Geeks. I am one

of your Cinema Geeks Optimus Solo and joining

me as usual is the Comic Concierge. Hello Dan.

Hello, how's it going? It is going. We are back

at it last. You heard us. We were reveling in

our favorite holiday films. Did you get a chance

to watch any other holiday films after that record,

Dan, before Christmas officially hit? Because

I know it's hard to watch them afterwards. It

just feels wrong. I did watch a few that I didn't

watch before. I checked out this Christmas. I

know the song, but I realized I never watched

the movie. I haven't seen that one either. That

it's incredible like that cast is stacked but

it also has Chris Brown he's in it too, but you

know Idris Elba a lot of like just it's great

like he's Is a small role, but it's it was pretty

it was fine It was a decent holiday film and

I watched Scrooge's finally cuz I mentioned like

that was my list of shame. I'm like I thought

it was okay. I thought I liked it but you know,

it's Still not my favorite Christmas Carol adaptation.

How about yourself? Did you catch up on anything?

I think the only additional one that I was able

to watch, which I believe was after that record,

was The Bishop's Wife from Cary Grant because

it was in that. Go ahead. Yeah, so I watched

that too. I did see that too. Yeah, I mean it

was in my list of I think I have like I don't

know ten more Cary Grant films to watch and I

was like this one Sounds like it may be a Christmas

movie. So I put it on and I was like Oh Cary

Grant is playing an angel and I'm like, I don't

know why but that apparently fits him perfectly

Yeah, I Enjoyed that and I watched the the remake

the Peter's wife. So so which one would which

one did you like better? I like I like the bishops

wife better. I think I think it is Don't know

like Cary Grant and Denzel Washington. You can't

do wrong No, but I think I think like Bishop

wipes bad better a little bit but I think why

for me just like fit like a feel -good like Christmas

like it got a lot of the elements of like a Christmas

movie a lot of the different things that you

see on something like a Christmas Carol and various

other Christmas films and I felt like It was

fun to just see Cary Grant just be like that

character and I felt like it fit his person like

who doesn't buy Cary Grant is like this angel

that was like with magic powers and I was impressed

with some of this special effects for 1940 whatever

year that was 1948 1949 Like there's a couple

tricks up his sleeve as an angel and I was like,

you know what that looked pretty good consider

Yeah, and then you have the ice skating scene,

which is like that's clearly not Cary Grant,

but whatever the the the Come like music composer

musical composer and it's just like I'm totally

blanking on who that was at the second but The

the guy that played in this bishops wife was

in that film with him playing himself And that's

like he was he was actually playing like the

real -life person that had a relationship with

was it Cole Porter? Does that sound right? I

don't know. I think Cole Porter might be the

the person I'm thinking of but Cole Porter had

a colleague in that was a professor in college

and that was literally this guy and so he like

was dabbling in acting as well and his crazy

because he plays himself and then I didn't realize

he went on to like just actually be an actor

in other films too so it's kind of a crazy scenario

but before I go down on a Cary Grant rabbit hole

we'll get back to the topic at hand for today

so you Back in the day, which I don't know if

it was a Tuesday or Wednesday, but it was a while

ago. We used to have like a specific cadence

where we would start the new year here on the

cinema geeks. And we'd have a series of different

episodes that we would do for you guys. We would

do our top 10 of the year before we would do

a box office prediction for the coming up year.

And then we would do like a most anticipated

films list. And I think we typically tried to

close the chapter on the year before first. And

then we moved on to like the box office and most

anticipated because that was the year that was

coming up. We're going to flip the script on

that, though, because I like stalling and I feel

like there's more twenty twenty five films that

I need to catch before we we officially close

the book and do our top ten list. So we're going

to flip the order all around from what we used

to do. And we're going to come and talk about

the box office results from twenty twenty five.

And then we're going to have a fun. heated battle

between Dan and myself as we draft a box office

team for 2026. So instead of us both just coming

up independently with our top 10 predictions,

we're going to draft back and forth to try to

create the highest placing team for 2026. And

we'll get more into the details of that when

it comes time for that in the episode. But before

we do that, we want to talk about The 2025 results

before I get into specifics Dan. Do you have

any clue what your picks were? Do you have an

inkling of how you did or like what are you scared?

I'm scared because I well I can remember is I

know that I did not choose Minecraft and that

was like the biggest movie of the year and I

remember Michael I think was in my in my top

10 that didn't even come out. So yeah, I'm I'm

a little worried. I'm a little worried. We talked

about it when we did this, like trying to make

sure you had films that came out. We also tried

to do that when we talk about our most anticipated,

which I failed a little bit in last year. So

it was interesting looking just before we get

into the specific results. I find it interesting

to, like, look at how the box office has done

overall when you look at, let's say, like the

top 10. Like, if you go pre -COVID, like we're

talking about like 2018. The number 10 film.

Was like two hundred and thirteen million right

so you had to be over two hundred to be in but

we had three films that were over six hundred

that year when you go to twenty nineteen. You

there was only one film in the two hundreds that

made it everything else had to be three hundred

million or more. In twenty nineteen was just

crazy to think about so like they literally had

nine films that year that made over three hundred

million including a five hundred and eight hundred

and the avengers endgame. Obviously COVID hits

in 2020 and there really hardly is a box office

so there's we can kind of like skip past that

a little bit. Once we come into 2021 we're still

recovering a little bit from that so it's definitely

affecting the box office because you could have

gotten in the top 10 with only 121 million. We

did have a 500 plus million with Spider -Man

No Way Home but otherwise it was mostly in the

ones. 2022 is like a big rebound year because

then we get back to there was only one film in

the top 10 outside of the 200 million mark. and

included a huge performance by Top Gun Maverick

with $700 million. We would have lost if we were

predicting back then, I think. I don't think

we would have had that one. 2023 comes along.

We had two sneak -in in the 100s and then three

in the 200s. The top five are all 300 or more.

2024, we had two in the 190s and then three in

the 250s and above and then five above. three

hundred, including two in the six hundreds with

Deadpool and Wolverine and Inside Out. So now

we come to this year. There's really not that

big one. Like if you if you were listening to

like some of those, like three films in twenty

eighteen above six hundred. Right. Like one film

above eight hundred in twenty nineteen. One film

above five hundred and twenty twenty one. One

film above 700 in 2022 like there's always these

like big hitters like two above 500 in 2023 and

two above 600 in 2024 2025 doesn't have anything

in the 500 or plus mark like so there's less

of like that big huge one at the top but it did

take 250 plus 260 plus to be in the top 10 So

it's like not as high of a ceiling but also not

as low as a floor Which is kind of interesting

to see so quite a few films that did alright

and obviously we're still in January So some

of these will change a little bit dependent on

how you judge box office I mean typically if

the film comes out in 2025 it doesn't matter

how long it runs into 2026 you usually count

that towards that in my brain so or if you can

cut it off right at the end of the year, but

We still have three active films. I believe if

my count is right in the theater, which would

be wicked for good Zootopia 2 and Avatar fire

and ash. I believe all those are still in the

theater I don't keep up 100 % on what's showing

every day at the theater, but I think those three

films are still active Actively making money.

So when we go into our predictions We did do

something last year with wild cards, right? We

had our top 10 and then we had some wild cards

that we could throw in there. I will say that

we're not good at picking wild cards, Dan. So

I had what I thought was a sneaky pick because

I knew nothing about it. And all of a sudden

some website labeled it as coming out in 2025,

which was the the fashion of the Christ reboot.

I don't remember what it's called, the resurrection

of Christ or something like that. Not only did

that movie not come out in 2025. It's also not

coming out in 2026 It is scheduled for 2027.

So that was a very bad wild card pick on my part

My other wild card pick was the aforementioned

Michael, which like you said did not come out

in 2025 and that was your number 10 pick as well.

So My your wild card picks also didn't do too

great, but they both came out step in the right

direction of it Which this came out super early

in the year that was just shy of 98 million So

so far we're over four in our four wild cards.

So are we feeling good about the top ten? You

know didn't do better so popular and it was like

a time of year where there wasn't much out but

you know Typically you feel like yours would

have been safe there Elio an animated film dog

man the kids centric film Thought you would have

been good. Like, you know, shame on me for passion

of the Christ, too, and Michael. Like, I should

have done better research. But anyways, I had

Elio as my number 10 as well. So my number 10

was one of your wild cards. Your number 10 was

one of my wild cards. So so far, we're just even

at being terrible at this. No harm, no fault.

Nobody's like pulled ahead or anything like that.

We also both voted for a film that was nowhere

near the top 10, which would have been Snow White.

You had that at your number nine. I had that

at my number eight. It made 87 million and got

completely trashed by critics and All of that

kind of stuff. So I don't know if that's the

worst performing of the live -action Disney films

or not I haven't done the research to know that

but it's got to be close if it's not the worst

So you think you're good going Disney? We were

wrong on that one. Yeah, that's oh for whatever

like a lot of films so far. One, two, three,

four, five films that we have gotten completely

wrong. All right. Let's move into what was the

number 12 so far currently at the box office,

which you did not rank. I had it at number nine.

That would have been Mission Impossible Final

Reckoning. It made 197. Still not in the top

10, though. So it's OK that you didn't rank it.

We weren't supposed to rank the top 12, but.

Clearly I've missed another one there because

I had this one at nine and it ended at twelve.

Then we go to the number eleven last year, which

would be Captain America, Brave New World. You

did not rank this, so you're good. I ranked this

at number six, so I had to make or I had it at

number six. It came in at two hundred million,

which was not enough to crack the the top ten

mark for the year. So so far, four of my top

ten have been named. two of your top 10 have

been named so will see how it goes from here

You have one in the top 10. There we go. Dragon

made 262, almost 263 million. I feel like that's

a pretty good number and it only comes in at

number 10. So that's where the bar is set. Like

I said, it took a decent amount of money to make

the top 10 and we're going to have a whole bunch

of them packed within like 100 million of each

other. The next one that came in at number nine

was where you had Fantastic Four. You had this

ranked eight. It came in at ninth and it is 274

million. And for those keeping track at home,

I did not have How to Train Your Dragon or Fantastic

Four ranked, so that is two more misses on my

part. Coming in at number eight last year was

a film neither one of us had ranked. There's

always one of those. It's hard to predict which

one's going to take that spot. Do you know which

one it is? It's, you know, the the non -IP related,

non -animated, non. Got to be Sinners, right?

Yes, Sinners comes in at number eight with 200

and almost 280 million. And that's the one that's

always hard to predict and it usually happens

in the first quarter Yeah, I feel like with those

films like it dominates that first quarter of

the year when there's not a lot of other competition

And it was definitely centers last year. So we

both missed that one Coming in at seven currently

for last year. This could change but this is

currently where avatar fire and ash sits at 318

Obviously that can climb a little bit you had

avatar ranked at number two I had this ranked

at number one, currently at number seven. So

it's in the top ten. I don't know if it'll climb

enough to get to one or two, though. We'll have

to wait and see. At number six currently for

last year is Jurassic World Rebirth. You had

this at number seven. I had this at number five.

So we both straddled where this one is currently

landing. It's at three hundred and thirty nine

million. And that should. That one's well out

of the box office. So it's not making any more

money. So it should sit there. Just depends if

Avatar can pass it, which I assume it will. At

number five from last year is this is where Wicked

for Good currently sits at 340 million. You had

this ranked three. I had this ranked two. So

there's a chance one of us could still get that

right. We're at least in the ballpark. And then

how about this one? Interesting. I didn't realize

this is how it turned out. You had this one ranked

four. Had this one ranked for and it currently

is sitting at the fourth spot So I guess for

all the terribleness we had at the beginning

we really nailed this one and that would be Superman

at 354 million Currently and that's welcome.

I say currently that's all it's gonna make it

came out in July The third one for last year

would be Zootopia 2. It's at 300 and just about

368 million you had this as your number one.

I had this at number three So if it stopped making

money right now, I'd be fine. It would have been

right where I had it, but I think it's going

to climb a little bit more. I don't know if it

has another 50 million in it or not, but that's

all it would take for you to get that one right

at the number one spot. Yeah, probably not that

much. Yeah. And then we're left with the top

two and one of them I didn't rank and one of

them you didn't rank. We were doing good there

for a while dan and we had seven through three

We each had in our top ten but uh coming in at

number two a film that I didn't rank You had

it at number five. That would be lilo and stitch.

It's currently at 423 million and just above

it by less than 300 000 Is a minecraft movie

which I had at number seven and you did not have

ranked Yeah, so we kind of flip -flop there.

You had lilo stitch five. I didn't have it ranked

I had minecraft seven. You didn't have it ranked

So how we determine a winner in this, in my mind,

Dan, is the fact that even though I did have

the 11th and the 12th film, I only have six films

in the top 10 and you have eight. So I feel like

you get the crown this year. The only ones that

you didn't have were Sinners and a Minecraft

movie. So that's not too bad, Dan. And you know,

I mean victory speech or acceptance speech. It

feels it feels a little weird because like I

didn't have the number one movie. You know what

I mean? It's like the it was like a big, you

know, a big mess because I missed the big, you

know, the biggest one. Yeah, you missed one in

eight and then I missed two eight, nine and ten.

I mean, I'm glad to be wrong about sinners. Like

I honestly did not think. What it had. that type

of box office potential just because You never

know what you know as you see it's the only thing

on here that doesn't Right isn't based upon something

else or isn't a sequel So that's awesome to see

what so that's all I'm glad that it didn't make

as much money as it did and proves just like

Brian Coogler is gonna be one of those directors

that Like one's will probably talk about today

that like, okay, they're making a movie. So they're

an IP within themselves. So it's awesome when

you see another person that enters that category.

Oh, right. I'm curious. I think what he's doing,

get what he was set to do next, but I believe

it was something I wouldn't remember, but I don't

know. I I I'm surprised. Like I like I said,

I remember it. I didn't do Minecraft and I know

Michael didn't come out. So those were my big

misses. So I just needed my I needed my eleven

and twelve to be nine and ten instead to compete

with you. But instead they were just on the outside.

But interesting that it took two hundred and

sixty million to get into the top ten, which

is not always the case. We had one two hundred

million movie not be in the top ten. And then

if you round out the actual. Next ones that would

have came in order last year. We would have had

number 13 would have been Thunderbolts at 190

14 was f1 at 189 15 was conjuring 177 and 16

was weapons 151 those were the only ones that

were above 150 So how does this information play

into your draft board for this next year? Dan?

Do you are you taking any of this and using it?

to your advantage hopefully A little bit because

i do think we have some movies that are very

much related. To what came out last year that

will be coming out this year you know we can

probably get into so that to try to inform also

tried not to go too much off of. What people

are saying online because when we did this really

be reason i didn't include minecraft because

all you saw was this and listen negativity about

that movie. It's interesting cuz like yeah Well,

how much is the online chatter and then how much

is the real chatter like once it comes out? Because

I feel like the word of mouth does play a fact

Like I feel like it definitely hurt Elio and

Snow White last year But then like all of the

online chatter about Minecraft didn't hurt it

at all Yeah, it's it became a meme like it became

a whole cheeky job. It's so like It's hard to

tell it's i think i don't even i don't even know

if they know why minecraft did as well as it

did because but I guess it kids loved it and

Like I think everything I thought about dogman

the reasons why dogman would do well It really

happened with minecraft which I guess makes sense

because it's and it's a bigger property but sometimes

I I know we did we take a couple things into

account and i'm i'm already recognizing and understanding

or realizing that I made an error in my draft

board so far for next year. Because there are

certain things we take into account when we do

this, right? Like, is it an animated film? What's

the audience? Is it an existing IP that we can

look at like previous films within that franchise

or in that universe? Is there some type of comp,

like a film comp that we can make? Like it's

it's sort of like this other film that's already

happened. So you do a lot of that. I know in

previous years, I've paid more attention to release

dates and I'm realizing that that may be a mistake

as we go into this draft because I haven't looked

a lot at the release dates, but I'm wondering

if that helped Minecraft. It came out in early

April and if you look at the list of the top

12 films, there's nothing else in March or April.

So I don't know if it helped that it didn't have

as much competition or not or how much release

dates actually play into it. I'm like you had

like Lilo and Stitch and Mission Impossible were

coming out at the same time, but those aren't

really comparable movies, right? Like you're

not, it's not attracting the same audience, the

same could be said with like Zootopia and Wicked

in a way, like yes, they both came out in November,

but you know, they don't really have the same

audience. But then when you get into July, for

example, we had Fantastic Four, Jurassic World,

and Superman all somewhat competing in that timeframe.

So it's like, how does that play into it? So

kind of bouncing off of that, like, without giving

away any of your you know your strategy as far

as which movies you're gonna pick because then

I'll steal your ideas, but like what did you

Focus on when you were trying to come up with

your draft board for 26. I Tried to look I started

with the ones I feel like have the least likely

out like the their outcome is pretty set in stone

like okay This is it may not be number one But

like I it's got this high likelihood of being

in the top ten. That's where I kind of went first

And I looked at properties that have been consistent

and sense of like how well they've done with

like the certain IPs. And I wish it wasn't all

IP stuff, but that's kind of the world we live

in. And then as well as some directors, I mentioned

how there are certain directors that do really

well. And then also just like those types of

films that have a built -in fan base. Outside

of the film itself that are based upon something

that clearly has A cache or is well known. So

I kind of considered all those I did consider

End dates as well because there are certain films

like near December That are kind of around Avengers

doomsday doomsday that I put Really low on the

list because I have a strong feeling that maybe

they're gonna push those dates to like beginning

of 2027 Because it seems like there's a big film

that's supposed to come out the same day as a

vendor assumed that day and I feel like that's

That seems unlikely. So I was worried about that

one and things so that I did try to consider

that and I did think of I did think of release

dates as well because I think it's June or July

is really stacked and When you have like three

animated films Usually like families are choosing

one like it that's kind of what happens rarely

Do you look to families go to the movies like

three times in one month? So I was like, okay

Which one do you feel like people would be the

most likely to go to so that's what? That all

did impact my my feel like you are so much better

prepared for this than I am and I thought I was

really I mean, it's not like it's not like I

feel like a lot of the films were picking or

It's you know, it's not like yeah I have a deep

sleeper. Uh, no, no, um, trying to think of like

a big deep sleeper from, uh, from fantasy football

this year, but I can't. Oh yeah. Cause everyone,

I, everyone, I just got injured like the third

week of the season. So yeah, it's interesting

because like, like you talked about, like, and

I hadn't really thought about, uh, release dates,

except for I did consider if they had a solid

release date or not. Like one is how close is

it to the end of the year? If it is solid at

the moment, the other one is if it just is like

a. one of those that lists it's going to come

out in 2026, but it doesn't have a month yet.

You're like, are you like, are you really? So

I'm trying to avoid some of that to pick like

a few films that didn't come out like I did last

year. The only other thing I kind of take into

effect, like there's a couple of things that

are hard, right? Like some of them you can just

look at like the previous IPs or films within

that IP and you're like, okay, that's kind of

consistent within this level. Sometimes the comps

that you make for a film are polar opposites

like there's definitely a few on here that I'm

like Well, it's like this one and this one and

this one did really good and this one terrible

So it's like which way do I go? So I also tried

to like think of momentum within a franchise

So like it has the you know, maybe the first

one didn't do as well or the second one didn't

do as well or something but maybe like I feel

like the word of mouth and the momentum within

that franchise is Peaking or going in the right

direction versus like it coming off of a dud

and it might not be I think another thing that's

really hard this year Well, I think two things

that are were traditionally really easy to pick

have not become as easy in the last couple years

So one of those would be comic book films Used

to be like you could just any comic book film

that was going to come out You might as well

put it in your top ten like that's probably how

it's gonna end up I don't know if you can a hundred

percent say that anymore Feel like there was

some comic book or superhero. I should say superhero

not comic be I'm not you're probably ready to

like jump through the screen Superhero films

that used to be you just put it in there and

I feel like nowadays Between superhero fatigue

and different things. There's some that just

don't quite work as well, right? Like I'm trying

to think of some specific examples, but like

Blue Beetle came out And was a superhero film

like it did like 72 million, right? Like not

all of them are that way. And I think the same

can be said for animated films. You used to be

able to pick like the top four or five animated

films that were going to come out that year.

They're all going to be in the top 10. And that

has not been as much of the case. Both Disney

and Pixar, as well as some other studios, have

had some that have not done super well. We just

talked about Elio only doing 72, right? I think

Elemental only did 150 ish somewhere in there.

Wish from the other year did 60 something. So

like it's not as cut and dry with those. So now

I'm like really trying to like decide which of

those animated films, which of those superhero

films are still no brainers and which ones are

going to like follow to the wayside. Like we've

seen some of those other ones, which used to

be, like I said, I feel like you could just slam

dunk for those types of genres or those types

of films. So it's going to be interesting. The

other thing that's going to be interesting about

this is typically Dan and I only have to come

up with 10. Right. We might do a couple of wild

cards or different things like that, but we typically

only have to have 10 films that we really feel

good about. But because we're doing this draft,

it's going to go 20 films deep because we're

each picking 10. So we might get into some interesting

territory as we get into the later rounds. Are

you scared of rounds like eight through 10, Dan?

A little bit, because again, that's what we're

talking about, like. the uh you know release

dates and things like that like i feel like some

of these aren't coming out or like i don't even

know because there's i was you don't want to

find that diamond in the rough right like what

will be this year's sinners will we have one

and i'm like i don't know maybe this will be

it because i try to i try to do the the life

test in the sense of like how well is this known

in the public General public is my wife like

she doesn't really pay attention to like right

movies on a grand scale So I care about this

and like she does know about it and it's like,

okay So that means at least so there's a hit

to kind of put that a little higher on the list

So yeah I think it's something else you talked

about too because when you're trying to come

up with that like out of left field one like

sinners was last year a lot of times I feel like

you want to tie it to a director and Some directors

just have a way of like doing better at the box

office That's even hard this year, and we'll

get more into this when we do our most anticipated

films list. But there is like the lineup of directors

that are potentially putting movies out in twenty

twenty six is ridiculous. Yeah. I don't know

if there's anybody not putting out a film in

twenty twenty six. I don't know if anybody took

the year off. I don't think that's the case.

I feel like every big name director has something

slated for twenty twenty six. So it's hard to

even find that one because. And we might get

into that with the picks, but we'll for sure

talk about that when we get into our most anticipated.

So Dan, I think since you won last year, you.

Like your prize should be able to have the first

pick, right? Like that seems fair enough. That's

fair. We don't think so. I'll do one, you do

two, three and go that way. Yeah, yeah, that's

that's totally fine. And for those keeping track,

I think we did do a draft one other time, which

was. back in 2018, but that was a four person

draft. With both Matt and Amanda on that one,

so I have no idea how that worked or how it didn't.

I didn't review 2018 to see where my mistakes

were so. But I know we've done it one other time,

but it's not helping me in this case. I think

we've done it. I think we did the year before

Tuesday. This is the third time I have the airlift

saved on letterbox for some reason. Nice, nice.

This is the first time it's just been one on

one though. Yeah, yeah, it's only so a little

different. All right. Well you do you have the

floor? So what's your slam dunk number one? No

doubt pick I feel like like what's fantasy football

like the number one spot is almost like curse

because it's like It's you know every year like

all number one. I'll go Christian McCarthy. She's

Christian McCaffrey McCaffrey or Saquon and then

they'll have a disappointing year But I feel

like the safest pick I think you can kind of

go two ways with this, but considering This is

like gonna be the biggest movie ever just since

like cast wise I'm gonna say I'm gonna go with

Avengers Doomsday be like It feels a little it

feels a little shaky going with Marvel I mean,

obviously because they've been on a down there,

but maybe 2026 is a year back for them I don't

know if this isn't a big You know if this isn't

the biggest movie for them or isn't a huge hit

might be the nail in the coffin Yeah, that might

be the end of it or they have to like restart

or figure something out So I feel like i mean

Disney's gonna do any everything they possibly

can to make this the biggest thing ever So i'm

gonna i'm gonna go with it with number one, right?

I don't I don't uh Fault you at all for that

pick So which one of these do you think it's

going to be more close to when it comes to the

comp? So the last I believe the last three Avengers

films have been Endgame, Infinity War, and Age

of Ultron, right? Like those were the last three?

For the big team up? Well, the, well, Endgame,

yeah, Infinity War. Endgame, Infinity War, and

Age of Ultron. So Age of Ultron did 450, Infinity

War did 678, Endgame did 858. Where do you see

Doomsday coming in? I think it'll be lower. Cause

my biggest fear is like, what if it's not good?

Like it's like, and I think about the Russo brothers

are coming back and to be honest with you, like

their output lately has been pretty bad. So,

uh, I don't know. I'm worried it's not going

to be that good. So I'm going to say it's going

to be lower. Perhaps I don't I'm gonna then all

of them but still enough to more than age of

Ultron maybe but not nearly as much as the other

two So maybe hovering right there around 500

or somewhere. Yeah, that'd be Mike. That'd be

my guess right Well, I had I had some different

groupings of films and I happened to have a couple

here I had three at the top so I guess it works

out that we're doing the snake draft because

I can take the other two that you didn't take

and I don't have to think as much so Maybe a

mistake. I don't know. I'm gonna go double animated

films here and try to tap into what I feel like

are gonna be the highest grossing to animated

films that we get next year, so based off of

the performance of the Super Mario Brothers movie,

I feel like the Super Mario Galaxy movie is I

can't imagine it falls off that much from what

that other one did like there's a big group of

people that like Mario Brothers and I think Mario

Galaxy like is not going to do anything to disenfranchise

any of them necessarily. It's also coming out

in April. So if you remember, that's when Sinners

made a bunch of movie. I know they're not anywhere

like the like the same movie, but maybe capitalize

in the pre -summer, not holiday season, like

lack of competition. And when I looked at the

rest of the animated films, I think there's one

that comes out in March. And all the rest were

not anywhere near that. So I feel like Super

Mario Galaxy movie hopefully is a slam dunk.

I don't know if it does five hundred and seventy

four like the other one did, but I see it doing

real close to that, like probably close to five

hundred. So that's one of my picks. I'll let

you react to this next one or these two after

I do my next one, I'm going to double down on

animated and I'm going to also take Toy Story

five because unless that I mean. It's Toy Story,

right? Like all of them have done the last two

of Toy Story 3 did 415, Toy Story 4 did 434.

Even if it drops, I feel like it's still going

to be pretty close to 400. It is coming out in

June. June 19th, I think, is the release date,

so it will have a little bit more competition

from an animated standpoint. So that is, I guess,

the riskiness of it, because there's definitely

a film that's coming out a few weeks after that.

That's also in the animated world that's going

to steal some of the audience away once it comes

out But hopefully by then it has already made

enough money. So i'm going super mario galaxy

movie and toy story 5 dan Yeah, I had so I had

on my board. I had a toy story at three mario

at four Again, I agree with you like toy stories

four which I didn't I didn't realize made a billion

dollars worldwide. So i'm like, okay I think

it'd be highly unlikely for Toy Story 5 to not,

maybe not get a billion, but it's gonna get close.

And same like what you said about Mario Brothers.

We know how well video game movies did last year,

the first one did really well. Second, this one

looks pretty good, too. I've probably gotten

even more fans because of the first film being

on streaming and stuff like that, so I could

see it maybe even outperforming. My only thought

is, I remember when LEGO Movie 2 came out, and

I remember the year we did it, I thought that

was going to do great because it was coming out

at the same time. The first one did so well,

but for whatever reason, the sequel just couldn't

capture that magic again, so could that happen

with Mario? Maybe I don't know but we'll see

so by by doing my double Animated pick I know

that I have now opened it up for you to to do

a double of your own with your first two picks

So I'm gonna go with you know, I'm gonna go with

what's number two on my board And I'm gonna go

with the Odyssey with with Christopher Nolan

now we do we know, you know, it's obviously with

something like the Odyssey like Okay, the last

time I feel like we've gotten a movie like this

is when like Troy came out and that wasn't like

a huge hit Although I really like that. I didn't

I go to I think I saw that movie in theaters

like three times I don't even remember why but

it's Christopher Nolan There is a Greta Gerwig

movie coming out this year with like Narnia with

that's Netflix So we won't have another Barbenheimer

thing, but he he was able to have a movie about

Oppenheimer make billion dollars. So I feel like

an epic like Odyssey Similar there's been a lot

of weird. Online conversation about the odyssey

already i didn't let that impact me because i'm

thinking like we got that with other my lesson

when it came to minecraft i'm not worried about

that i feel like you know no one has that old

fan base as much as any director right now because

name on a movie is just pretty much stillifies

it. This is my goal i mean there have been some

films of his that like. Way back when that weren't

huge hits, like not the illusionists, but I don't

know. So, but I think at this point though, it's

gotten so much buzz. I mean, I know like when

the trailer came out, a lot of conversation around

it. So I think I'm really safe there. Honestly

though, like now we're in territory where I'm

a little worried because there are a lot of different

options. Number five on my board, I'm scared

of four because I'm like, I don't know. Am I,

am I overthinking this? Am I putting it up too

high? But I'm going to go for it. Cause maybe

I ended up being wrong. Who knows? I'm going

to, I'm going to go with Michael at my number

as my number, my next pick it Michael Jackson.

I had this last year. Maybe it was a year too

early, but he, one of the probably the biggest

pop star of all time. I think if it's any good,

it's going to get so many different fans. We

know like how some time musicals will, it's not

necessarily musical, but obviously will have

a lot of music in it. So I feel like there's

a potential there for it to do really well. And

I'll get into why there are some other choices

that maybe people would have gone with that I'm

worried about, but I'm going to go Michael here

just because maybe I'm just hoping that we would

get something that is not. Uh, you know, uh an

ip even though it's a biopic Right top 10, but

i'm gonna put i'm gonna go with that for my third

pick I had both of those on my big board. I won't

tell you where I had them, but I definitely had

the odyssey and michael both uh listed michael's

one of those that's really hard because What

do you comp it to? Like I know I tried to comp

it to some things last year and I can't remember

which ones I put out there but I was like I still

don't think it's comp to anything because michael

jackson was the the Do wonder if it's gonna be

one of those things that does much better worldwide.

Yeah, then it does domestically, but I don't

know I could I could be overestimating it a bunch

but right say And I am also going to fully admit

that at some point during this conversation I

for sure I'm gonna probably list and draft a

movie that's coming out on Netflix That's not

even gonna hit theaters. I did not cross check

all of these so when I do that, you can just

like We'll insert a sound of like a wah wah wah

sound or something when I do it, because I'm

sure it's going to happen. Like, I don't know

which of these is coming streaming and which

of them is going to theaters. So I don't know.

When I make the mistake, just let me know. So

I. Am torn on where to go next. I've already

had two animated films. There's another one that

I would consider, but I don't know if I really

want. Three animated films to just jump off the

bat all on my on my squad here So i'm going to

dip into the superhero pool a little bit as well

and I Think I have this right. It's coming out

this year. I believe it's coming out in theaters

One of the previous ones they both have done

greats one of them did really great Which I don't

know why there was such a gulf between the two

maybe you can tell me because I know you know

more about this franchise overall, but I feel

like I need to go with Spider -Man brand new

day here. Yeah, it's tough because no way home

made it. Do I have this right? No way homemade

800 million. Yeah, it killed and then far from

home was half of that 391. Yeah, like. Homecoming

was 334, so it could be like those two and be

more in the 300s. I don't think it's gonna do

800 but I think no way home definitely benefited

from the fact that you had all the different

Spider -Man coming together. Yeah, even though

it was a they very much marketed it in a smart

way where it was the best known secret that everyone

knew it was gonna happen and I think it and at

that time that's one of people are like all the

multiverse. This is kind of cool and we were

still kind of getting the getting over, not getting

over COVID, but like people getting back to the

theater. So I think it was kind of the perfect

storm. I just worry because like Fantastic Four

didn't do great. And like, and I know I always

see when I have vendors do say number one, I

was worried to put all my eggs in a Marvel basket

because, you know, what if, again, like, like

you said with the, if it's more so like the no

way home. And like I thought knowing home was

fine. So what if this one is even less than that?

I don't know. I guess it's I felt I Felt I didn't

know where to put it. So it was like I'm gonna

I'm gonna try to not Overload my my boy with

Marvel It's like when you try not to put too

many players on the same team because like what

if they're off instincts? Yeah, that was kind

of my thought with Marvel I think my thought

with this one was it might be a stretch to be

my third pick Like it might not live up to that

hype, but I'm feeling like it's fairly safe that

it's going to be. In the 10 top 10 conversation,

right? Like I feel like it should at least make

300 if it does 300, it probably doesn't warrant

my third pick, but. It has the potential to do

more than that, so I feel like it's a like somewhat

of a safe pick, but I don't know. But it may

not warrant a top three pick for me, but we'll

see. And I feel like I'm going to make a similar

pick next, which also could throw things off

a little bit because I'm I have five that I want

to pick right now. I can only pick one of them.

So and I'm really torn on this universe and picking

one here based off of. More recent trends based

off of the fact that it's. not based off of a

movie franchise, it's based off of a streaming

series, but it's freaking Star Wars, man. Like,

it's Star Wars. Like, what's the worst movie

that's come out in that franchise? Is it Solo

at 213 or was there one that was lower? Like,

maybe it's going to be closer to the 10 to 15

mark, but people like Grogu, like they think

he's cute. the the the The plastic I don't know.

Honestly, I didn't know it wasn't going to Disney

Plus right away I assumed it was a release in

theater. I think No, you're right. It is. Okay.

I just I didn't know that and I think and I wonder

how many people Know that and that's my correct

side. That's my I don't did I think my only the

only reason I'm airing on the side of picking

it is because Not only is it Star Wars, but I

feel like Grogu is a big poll for kids So it's

like, but it's like getting a little of both

the Star Wars fans and just general kid audiences

that are children and stuff. They're going to

want to go see it maybe. But my biggest fear

is how long is it going to be in theaters? Yeah,

yeah, that's true. It's mostly the trailer. Again,

not to put all the faith in trailer. The trailer

wasn't awe -inspiring. It was it was fine. And

I don't know where Star Wars is right now these

days. Like, I don't know. It's like in this weird

limbo thing. Like, right, like it's I even feel

like the last season of the Mandalorian wasn't

like beloved at all that much. So I, right. I

had that, honestly, I had that on my board at

14 because I was I was just scared for it. And

I feel like it's tough to do the transition from

TV to movie. Doesn't always translate. No, we'll

see. I hope it honestly hope it does well, just

because I would like to get more Star Wars movies.

Yeah, they need they need a good they need something

to do well. in the theater i mean i think that

and or like they've had some decent luck with

the streaming services shows excuse me but the

films need need a rejuvenation i think yeah uh

so my next pick again is one i i honestly thought

you were gonna go here but i i'll pick it up

i was a little concerned about it last round

but i'll pick it up here and i'm gonna go with

muana the live action muana We obviously Lilo

and Stitch was up that huge last year. So that

was in my back of my mind But what also back

in my mind was how bad Snow White did and I feel

like these live -action movies Are very either

they make all the money or they or they'd make

none of the money right and You know, I think

it helps that Moana and it's like quality It

doesn't seem to matter because I don't I have

not seen the live -action Lilo and Stitch, but

I did not see many people speak highly of it,

but And I mean it's gonna basically just be Moana.

So I don't know it It seems a little because

it's it's super new so it doesn't necessarily

have the nostalgia of Something although I guess

it's a lot older than I realized because it's

on but But I feel like it's you know, it's it's

also coming out in the summer, which I feel In

a more crowded crowded field, so that makes me

a little concerned about it but I think you know,

it's one is so popular wanted to did so well

and That was not the greatest movie in the world.

So clearly a beloved friend franchise Had the

rock is coming back to it. Although I was gonna

say that's all you need to say the rocks in it

like you're safe Well, I mean his movies lately

haven't done great. So maybe but no, so we'll

see how that goes So this next pick, I can go

a few ways. I can realize I don't have an animated

film on my list right now. Unless you count Moana.

So I think I'll go animated. I was a little concerned

about this one just because it comes out shortly

after Toy Story. So that's my big concern. But

also this franchise just makes ridiculous amounts

of money. Still, which I don't get, but whatever.

Minions 3. I want to go with it here. I know

the last Minions movie was a pretty big hit.

I know it's hard to figure out those... What

is that franchise? Because Minions made $800

million worldwide. And then you all have the...

What is it? Rise of Crew? The right that the

other rise of group movies or whatever they are.

Oh, they're despicable me. Yeah, it's been with

me like, like I it's like that franchise. How

many movies that franchise has? But somehow it

keeps going. I know like the so I can't can't

capture that again. I'm not sure. Is this like

a lot? Is it gone just too far at this point?

I don't know. It hasn't failed yet, Dan. I feel

like this was going to be my last pick instead

of Star Wars. It was between Star Wars and Minions.

Yeah. But because I had two animated films, I

was like, I guess I'll go to Star Wars. Yeah.

So I'm going to go with it here. I feel, you

know, it's like you said, it's animated. It's

got it's love those those minions. But I don't

know. I might like my biggest concern is just

to release window because I think if I was going

to the movie theater at a choice between Toy

Story 5, even though I kind of wish that franchise

would end in Minions 3, I'm going to Toy Story

5. So. but sticker shock because of Snow White

or whatever phrase you want to use. But Moana

2 did great. Little Mermaid live action did good.

So I feel like it's safe. I feel like it's one

that that people aren't tired of. And it's still

a modern enough animated film that it's not like

you're trying to resurrect a fan base from Snow

White from 100 years ago to see the live action

one like Moana still kind of top of mind. So

I kind of get that. And I think even if Minions

is the worst performing. Despicable me slash

minions movie. You're still gonna be safe. I

think so And unless it just completely fell apart.

So now I'm in a spot where I'm looking at three

films and I'm really scared of one of them because

It's in the superhero world and I'm really scared

of the other two because of their release dates

So you've kind of put me in a pickle So with

my oh give me Christmas with my first one, even

though it comes out a week before Avengers. Is

that smart at all to pick something that comes

out a week before Avengers? I don't know. I feel

like the last two films have done way better

than they should have though, and I don't know

why, even though I can't explain it. I'm gonna

go with the fourth Jumanji film. I don't know

like the last two did 320 and 400 why I don't

know but they did it and I Guess that's where

the rock has shined. I don't know but it's coming

out a week before Avengers So this is probably

gonna be a pick. I'm gonna regret later but I'm

gonna go Jumanji for and then Do I want to try

to play it safe and stay away from a third movie

that comes out in December or Do I want to go

into the middle of the weeds in the summer? Neither

one of these is good options Dan Man I I'm gonna

do another superhero film just to stay away from

having three of the December 11th through 18th

films. I will go with Supergirl It comes out

in June It's gonna be so still a month before

spider -man comes out So maybe that's enough

time for it to make its money. So I don't know

what you can really compare this to I don't know

if there is a comp I don't know if people are

interested in supergirl or not. I don't know

what the buzz is You probably know more about

like the online chatter with super girl. I don't

so maybe that's a dumb pick But I'm gonna go

Jumanji for and super girl Okay Yeah, I mean

super girl, I think There's been I think a little

split because I know people are like I would

look too much like it's getting a lot of comparisons

the Guardians of the Galaxy, which I think is

weird, but My concern was Supergirl is that like

Superman did good it did pretty well, but it

wasn't the top movie of the year and then I never

had a Supergirl film before and unfortunately

like People don't tend to support female -led

action films or superhero films are all that

much not always and Captain Marvel did amazing

That's what I was kind of hoping for. I was hoping

like channeling Captain Marvel a little bit.

So Perhaps, you know, I like it just I think

this will be the true test of how people Really

feel about this new DC leap relaunch. So Maybe

I'll do really well, but we've seen like DC go

with so many different areas like what if it

gets the flash flopped and Do people have people

stopped associating it this new DC with I don't

know So I hope it does well. I was gonna probably

if you didn't choose it. I was gonna pick it

Because I think it will I have I I won I know

it's coming out and so that's that's a benefit

and that's kind of like where I'm at right now

because There's a certain franchise a certain

movie that I think is going to ultimately do

really well But I'm really worried that is going

to be pushed to next year Because it just seems

like we don't have a lot about it right now and

I feel like there's and I've seen rumors that

they're potentially thinking about changing the

date so I'm going to stick away from that maybe

later on if it's still there I'll draft I just

think there's a big risk there but for this one

I'm going to go with one that I think we have

much more for it seems like it has a solid release

date again and pretty well known Well -respected

property well in the sense of like how well did

box office wise and I'm gonna go with the hunger

games Sunrise of the reaping on the reaping I

should say cuz that's the right title Again,

the hunger game is for a huge I I do worry like,

you know I honestly don't know anything about

this story. Is it a legacy sequel? Is it a prequel?

I don't know a prequel is a prequel. Okay, so

Those are always tough because like, you know

Can you recapture that magic again like is it

is that hunter games has the is it coming on

was that like we had those Like that time we

had a lot of movies like that Will it be big

again? I'm not sure but I feel like there's still

potential there. I still see a lot of people

Talking about Hunger Games still so I do think

there's still a lot of fans of that franchise.

So I think it'll do looking at I have the most

face of the faith of it with everything that's

Coming out right now and just looking to see

you know, what else is out there. There's a lot

of different things and There's you know some

more franchises, but I this again is tough because

I'm gonna go with this. Again, maybe this is

more of a hope than maybe I'm being crazy here,

but we're talking about Steven Spielberg, the

man that made summer movies what they are today.

So I'm gonna go with Disclosure Day as my next

pick. Obviously, it's hard to compare it to anything

besides what Spielberg has done in the past.

And he hasn't really had a huge box office hit.

In a while, but he also hasn't done a movie like

this in a while like his he's kind of done smaller

films and Not the big bombastic Action and think

of last time he's done like a science fiction

film like this So, you know, like the Fable Men's

was never meant to be this, the West Side story.

Yeah, there was Ready Player One, but that never

felt like a Steven Spielberg movie. Then you

have The Post. I think the last time he's done

anything close to this was War of the Worlds,

maybe. You know, so it's hard to, which it's

hard to really compare it to anything. So, you

know, I'm hoping that. We will recapture that

Spielberg magic again again. It's it may not

it's also starring Joshua Connor who I think

is like Becoming that next big thing in Hollywood.

So maybe that's the right step in the right direction,

but I'm gonna go with Disclosure day again, I

think there's a movie out there that may potentially

do better than all these but these all I know

are coming out So I'm gonna I'm gonna stick with

those We keep passing it back and forth to each

other Dan As far as a specific film that we keep

avoiding. Yeah, I don't know if I should do it

any longer though Man my goodness. I have a couple

different ways. I want to go with this one I'll

fall in the grenade with one of these I guess

okay because I didn't last time and I can't put

it off another round so it might not come out

in 2026, but it's also seems like it's really

silly to pick a movie that comes out the same

day as Avengers doomsday, but maybe it's a different

audience enough that it's going to succeed and

maybe Zendaya can carry it through. I don't know

if she even in part three. I don't know. I'll

go with it. Yeah. OK, I'll go with doing part

three. The only reason being because I feel like

when I talked about earlier thinking about momentum

like part one made out. Only made like one hundred

and eight domestic part two made two hundred

and eighty two. I feel like people are excited

and people are into it and it's just gaining

audience. So if it can come out in December,

maybe it can survive Avengers Doomsday and be

like alternate programming for some folks and

be what people are talking about that Christmas

time. Maybe there's enough time for people that

are off on Christmas break and college break

to go see two movies. So I will go to part three

for my next pick. May regret that one Yeah, I

mean I if you were picking it I'm gay I was gonna

like I had to get it next so yeah Yeah, I get

it for my next one. I'm gonna do similar to what

you did with a few of these more non IP but kind

of going to the director and some of the Genre

and stuff like you had your Michael pick and

you had your disclosure day The Odyssey I think

all fit into that realm. I'm gonna go with a

pick similar to that with my next one This was

actually on my most anticipated list. I believe

last year and it didn't come out It is for sure

coming out this year. So I'd like that part that

part. It's coming out in March So again, it's

another one of those that could take advantage

of a less crowded field It's Lord and Miller

who did the Lego movie and that was pretty successful

Ryan Gosling's pretty attractive as an actor,

I believe, for people to go see. And I really

think this has a strong comp to The Martian,

which made over 200 million. So I'm going to

go with Project Hail Mary, unless this is only

being streamed and not going to theaters, which

I will regret. I don't know. But I don't know.

I'm rooting for Project Hail Mary to be good.

And I think it could be good in the same way

The Martian was. Yeah, and that was one I was

I was in between that or disclosure day I I went

with disclosure day just because I feel like

I went with Spielberg and he's a known property

But this was one that I this is when I did the

wave test for because my wife I read the book

and Wouldn't I go see this so I do know there's

a lot of fans of that book I do think I think

it's a good pick because I I would have caught

it if you've not chosen so So dan that means

it's back to you and we're getting into the interesting

territory. Yeah Again, it's one of those things

where There's some of these movies that we've

it's kind of those like okay. We got trailers

for them. So high chance they're coming out But

I think for my next one and this one i'm a little

worried about because there hasn't been much

released about it, but I also think it If I were

to combat to say how well the Joker did, the

first one, you know, it could do amazing. So

I'm going to go with Clayface here as my next

pick. I'm a little concerned about it because

like there's no trailer. It's the, it's, it's

a movie based upon a Batman villain. That's,

I mean, Joker, that's not nearly well known as

the Joker. So that has me a little scared, but

I don't know. I think, I think. It could also

just be something that's amazing and does really

well. The Penguin TV show was pretty popular.

So perhaps it can kind of bring that that same

vibe. There's a chance. But I'm also worried

it could be another one of those that doesn't

come out at all and gets pushed back. So that's

it's tough. And like you said, we are we are

in this is like, you know, when you're in the

last two rounds and you're just trying to like,

maybe this person will be good this year. I don't

know. Uh, so a lot of different options to choose

from and trying to, you know, that we have other

properties going on, but I think I'll go, I'm

going to go this direction again. It's a family

film coming out around the holiday time. Those

tend to do well. We saw it do well. The zootopia

i don't think this will do nearly as well as

utopia but again it's a really well known property

i'm gonna go with the cat and the hat uh the

trailer came out so i know it's it's it's heading

out for the season or the season over this year

i don't know You know the doc sues film was usually

do okay. Never like the biggest things in the

world or anything like that but i feel like it

has a decent floor so and again you know Animated

film doesn't seem like it has a huge amount of

competition compared to some of the other ones

So I will put that a number my night pick with

the cat in the hat Yeah, it was definitely one

of the animated ones I had in the animated section

listed. I think I had one two, three four or

five I had like ten of them listed and I wasn't

sure where to go after about the first three

so I I just got scared about a couple of them

and there's The only thing that worried me about

the cat and hat was that there was another animated

film that also comes out that month I don't know

if it will Interfere too much with it or not

But I also think it's good to pick family or

kid oriented movies around the holidays So I

think that works was actually also eyeballing

a bunch of there's a bunch of films coming out

in November and I feel like You know, that's

when Hunger Games is coming out and I have a

couple other ones that I'm looking at that's

when the cat and hat comes out in November, I

feel like There's going to be room for some November

money making from a couple of these films. I

just don't know which ones they are. So I'm trying

to decide if I want to double down on the November

film and pick one myself. Man, this is we're

into like the tough territory. Yeah. I think

that one's only going to be streaming, so I'm

going to stay away from that one as one of the

other animated films that's on my list. that

was that I may have gotten too early with that

one. No, I mean, you might have been perfect

with those. I think you might have captured a

light in a bottle. We'll see. So let's see for

my number. I think this is my number nine pick

here. Do I want to do that? You went with you

went with a director that you think is going

to be able to carry some. Wait in Steven Spielberg.

And I feel like maybe I should do the same with

this one. You also did it with Christopher Nolan,

right? You did. You got both Nolan and Spielberg.

I did. So I feel like I'm going to do the same

thing with another one that could completely

blow up in my face and they could make nothing

because he can put out some duds. And sometimes

it just doesn't work, but it's coming out in

August, which I don't have anything else on my

board that comes out in August that I was considering.

So maybe one I had one film that was coming out

in August, but it's completely kid oriented so

I feel like maybe it could take advantage of

a gap in the Release schedule, but you never

know with this guy Napoleon didn't make that

much the last duel didn't make that much gladiator

2 made a decent amount But it was also an existing

IP this one's sci -fi though, and I feel like

Ridley Scott can channel some sci -fi occasionally

So I'm gonna go with hopefully writing the momentum

of Jacob Elordi I'm gonna put throw Josh Brolin

in there and I'll take the dog stars which I

know nothing about other than It's Ridley Scott.

It's sci -fi. It's Jacob Elordi and it's coming

out in August where I feel like there's not as

much competition and I'll probably regret that

pick but I'll go with the dog stars Okay, I had

that I had that listed too. I thought about it

same thing. That's I was thinking Wrigley Scott

Right, but like you I Like you think I feel like

he's maybe a little bit past his prime. Yeah,

but maybe he'll recapture that who knows Yeah,

we'll have to wait and see I was hoping because

it's like a sci -fi slash post apocalyptic setting

that maybe he could channel some and I'm gonna

probably I got down between two for my final

pick Dan I don't know whether to go with the

one that's only gonna have a 28 day theatrical

release, but I guess that's normal for a lot

of them Or if I want to do the more family -friendly

film but maybe too far into the tenure of this

franchise that nobody cares anymore. They both

come out the same day, Dan. Which way do I want

to go? Let's try to capitalize on some... Holiday

fun and maybe families and parents and grandparents

will want to go see this one Comes out November

25th a few days before Thanksgiving if I remember

right I don't know what day Thanksgiving is on

this year yet. I think it's like the 27th or

8th I'm gonna go with Fokker in law From the

meet the parents meet the Fokker's universe little

Fokker's only made 148 meet the Fokker's made

280 Maybe this one can get somewhere in the middle

And be enough to sneak in somewhere in the top

20. So I'm that's where I'm going to go. So did

you say your last pick, how many have you? What

do you what are your one, two, three, four, five,

six, seven, eight, nine. I got all my picks.

You have one left. OK, you have 10. Yeah, I got

10 and you have nine at the moment. All right.

So my last pick. A lot of different options here.

So I'll try to walk through it somewhere. I'm

thinking I'm thinking we have Digger, which is.

Probably most notable because it's got Tom Cruise

and you know, we He's not who you know the Mission

Impossible movies. I mean they did okay They

did but what was it 12 this year? So it's hard

to it's also any reach you and his movies are

usually critically acclaimed They don't necessarily

have the biggest box office. So I don't know

about that one There's the Madden movie obviously

Madden super popular, but like I don't know that

could also make like $18 I don't it's a Nicolas

Cage. I didn't think about Fawker and all there's

a lot of different animated movies. So there's

the hoppers That's coming out You have some video

game movies with Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat

2 there's there's the Looney Tunes movie with

coyote first acne, which I know got a Like that

was one of those movies that kind of got shelved

and was able to come back from it Right, but

maybe and there's a new president evil movie

coming out. Don't pick so. Yeah Those movies

did okay like but I think I think It's kind of

it and I don't have any horror movies on my list.

So right now I'm between two films. Oh One is

there's a new insidious movie coming out And

I don't know how well the last insidious film

did, but I feel like horror has done so well

at the box office. I'm a little scared that I

don't have any horror on my list at all. When

I think of last insidious film, let's take a

look. It didn't do 100 million, so not great.

Maybe not the best place to go. Apparently there's

Masters in the Universe movie coming out, but

I don't trust it because we've gotten nothing

about it. I feel like that movie has been coming

out for the last. It is for sure coming out like

they've already wrapped. They like it is for

sure coming out. I'm just so scared that Jared

Leto is connected to it. So like I just can't.

I mean he herself was in it too, but Jared Leto

is in it and he typically does not bring box

office gold. So I'm skeptical. the screen seven

you know, in the screen six I'm good. I'm good

there. There's a new 28 days later movie, but

uh, I don't like last one didn't last year's

didn't do great box office wise I did like but

I think i'm gonna go with I feel like again,

this is a movie that can flop but those angel

films produce movies like they have a fan like

they tend to Do well like they just for whatever

reason so i'm gonna finish mine off with animal

farm as my 10th pick uh it's weird because this

is like from angel studios and it's also with

like a lot of hollywood stars like seth rogan

and stuff like that it feels like it feels very

weird uh and the uh trailer itself i don't think

look like pretty bad if i'm being honest it's

like this is not animal farm at all but this

isn't a list about quality it's a list about

quantity And just looking at the other options,

I feel like. It's my best option that I have

in the sense of the likelihood of it at least

doing decent enough, so I want to middle. I'll

finish it off with Animal Farm. I don't feel

great about it, but there's where I finished

off with. I started my my. First animated film

was my fifth pick and I ended up with two other

ones, so three total. Yeah, it goes well. You

got a chance. Yeah, you got a chance to talk

about a few that you were thinking. I didn't

get to do that because I don't want to tip your

hand too much. Yeah. And this is a cutthroat

draft that we're doing. But here's some other

ones that I was really struggling with. Narnia

is getting 28 days in the theater. OK. From some

quick research. So but it's also coming out November

25th, which was the that was the one I was thinking

of between that and Fokker and they both come

out the same day. I didn't even. I didn't even

consider that because I just thought I was going

straight to Netflix. But how many will people

go to the theater if they know it's coming straight

to Netflix within the month? I don't know. So

it's a little scary there. I also avoided Ray

Gun because that's supposed to be just coming

straight to streaming. And that is an animated

film from Brad Bird that's coming out. So I stayed

away from that because I believe it's still streaming

or just going to be streaming. I thought about

trying to take a pic out of left field and. maybe

Zendaya and Robert Pattinson are gonna make some

magic with the drama, which is a romantic comedy

coming out in June. I thought maybe that could

be one of those off the beaten path that catches

lightning in a bottle, but I just wasn't convinced

enough to pick it. I thought about The Bride

from Maggie Gyllenhaal, but then I was looking

at some of the other films. like that with Frankenstein

and Nosferatu, same with Werewolf, which is coming

out from Robert Eggers. I thought about the Bride

and Werewolf, but I'm like, well, Nosferatu only

did 95, scares me a little bit. You mentioned

a bunch of them, so I won't go over those again.

Like the death of Robin Hood, Robin Hood just

doesn't seem to do a whole lot these days, but

Hugh Jackman is in it. So it's like, yeah, maybe

the adventures of Cliff Booth. The sequel from

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood starring Brad Pitt

is supposed to be coming out. And this is written

by Tarantino and directed by David Fincher. But

I don't know. Like Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

did 142. Is it going to do more than that? I

don't think so. I know the social network has

gotten more and more buzz as time has gone on.

And now they're doing the social reckoning. from

Aaron Sorkin. I just, I don't know. I don't know

if it's going to be something that just goes

bananas or not. It's coming out in October, so

maybe it's a good timing, but I wasn't sure on

that. M. Night Shyamalan sometimes has luck at

the box office, but when you adapt a Nicholas

Sparks film, I don't know if that's the right

recipe for him, so I stayed away from that. We

talked about Johnny Depp doing the Ebenezer,

or he's doing an Ebenezer or Christmas Carol,

which doesn't surprise me that Sounds like something

that Johnny Depp would be cast in, but I'm just

not sure if anybody wants to see Johnny Depp

anymore. There's a Devil Wears Prada remake.

There's a new Mummy movie. I thought about that.

And then some of the other animated films that

I wasn't sure about was Hoppers, which comes

out in March, and Hexed, which is supposed to

also come out on November 25th. I don't know

why everything's coming out on November 25th,

but I thought about those along with the Cat

in the Hat. There's a new Legend of Aang the

last airbender wasn't sure about that so those

were Some of that I would like to think Mortal

Kombat 2 and Street Fighter could get some love

but that scares me a lot There's an I play a

rocky about the making of the rocky film The

original that again, I don't know if that could

catch lightning in a bottle or not But then it's

like directed by the guys that did dumb and dumber.

So I'm like that that seems weird to me So those

are other ones. I was considering any that you

didn't mention in your last little Decision -making

process that you wanted to highlight. Yeah, I

thought about again like those angel student

movies do well there's a young Washington movie

coming out with like Andy circus and Like so

that's I don't know how that would how would

that do you mentioned hoppers? I did think about

that. There's also the sheep detectives that

the huge acting film And I feel like that could

be like an endearing movie that like, you know,

it like hits a kid audience and older audience.

So I thought about that as well. But yeah. And

then there's the variety, which is directed by

Michael Showwater and Dakota Johnson and Hathaway.

Again, like those films are so hard to like,

people don't tend to go see those, unfortunately,

in the theater. I really wanted to see like.

There's a practical magic 2 is coming out right?

I don't again I don't know like how many practical

magic fans are there and I think there's people

that like practical magic from back in the day

love practical magic But how can you come close

to predict a sequel? That's like 30 years later.

Yeah and I was I was trying to think of you know,

cuz the chorus doesn't like thinking is there

anything that could be like a weapons this year

or something like that and I I'm just not as

well Bursts within the horror genre like there's

violent night, too But like I don't know like

sometimes horror sequels do so much better Than

the original because like they you know, the

original gets fans or you know get right and

then it does better so I thought about something

like that. But there's also I don't think this

will do well, but I didn't realize that This

is comic. I really like called before kids walk

into a bank and that's being So, uh, I don't

think that's going to do very well box office

wise, but who knows. Should we, should we run

down our team of 10 here? Do you want to go ahead

and have your time together? Sure. I guess I

can start. So at number one, I have Avengers

Doomsday and then I have the Odyssey. I've got

Michael. Maybe I got that one too soon. We shall

see. Uh, Moana was my next pick. live action

minions three then i have the hunger games the

sunrise on the reaping that is a mouthful uh

disclosure day a clay face was my eighth pick

and then for my ninth pick i went cat in a hat

and i finished it off with another animated film

and animal farm i think you have a good variety

there dan you have some that are just like the

the non -ip director Showcase you got a few of

the animated you got a few of like the big eyepiece

and this like there's a couple superhero films

Like I don't know you got you got a little bit

of everything you got some heavy hitters for

sure. I believe with Avengers You know Hunger

Game Moana minions like I think there's a lot

to love there I was really hoping to sneak in

Michael and clay face and get him away from you

But was not able to do that. So how do you feel

about your team overall? Feel good. I like I

said, I do feel like I probably I probably should

have gone spider -man when I went Michael But

I legitimately forgot all about spider -man.

I'll be honest. I completely slipped my mind

And didn't even conclude like I somehow forgot

it my on my board that I had but I feel good

like I think I Have like you said a good variety

and I have some movies that like I not only hope

you will so that way I'm right but also I hope

you will because like I would love to see us

even Spielberg movie you great again, so Alright,

so my set of ten is gonna go something like this.

I started double animated I got the Super Mario

Galaxy movie and Toy Story 5 Then I went into

some superheroes with spider -man brand new day

and Supergirl. I couldn't avoid Star Wars So

I went with Star Wars Mandalorian and Grogu took

a chance and rolled with Dune part 3 competing

directly with Avengers Jumanji for the Rock,

please. Don't do me the wrong then I got Fokker

and law and I guess my two more directorial or

more like off -the -beaten IP path would be project

hill Mary and the dog stars so that is my Team

I feel like that could be I Feel like I got some

studs and duds. So we'll see we'll see how that

goes I think fucking was a good call cuz maybe

like, you know naked gun did pretty good. Okay

last year and So maybe people just want like

it's coming out. I like that. It's coming out

around the Thanksgiving holiday And like I feel

like some more families are going to watch that

and ready for some comedic stuff in between the

summer blockbusters and December's ridiculous

slate of them. Yeah. And I think like I think

you as well, too, that can like end up being

like top three. Like I could see dude, if you

in part three comes out like that could easily

be a top three movie. And then I think project

he'll marry like it could be one of those like

that does catch fire because it's coming out

and not super busy time. Like I mentioned, it

has a pretty good fan base with the book or how

their fans Ryan Gosling has their fans. So I

might be doing it saying this, but I think it

does. It has potential. So I hope it does well.

Like I said, I hope if we do this and we know

we're going to pick a bunch of IP movies, we're

going to pick a bunch of, you know, all of that

type of stuff in that ballpark or in that playing

field. But I hope that some of our off the beaten

path, even though they are like very well known

directors, like I'd be 100 % fine if Project

Hail Mary and the Odyssey and, you know, Michael

or Disclosure Day or, you know, some of those

did the dog stars. Like if some of those did

good, I would be I would be happy regardless

of which team they ended up on. Were there any

movies that came out that like? If you were gonna

say what do you think is like the biggest flop

of the year? Not like with your picks are just

ones that you saw in your research to like, okay

I'm pretty sure this is gonna be That's Yeah,

that's I think Madden might end up being a flop.

Yeah, I don't know. He looks ridiculous as that

character I don't think there's a whole lot of

David O Russell fans out there anymore Just given

his off -camera stuff So I could see but then

you could have just a bunch of like just football

fans I guess that that power that went through

I can obviously can see Masters of the universe

being a flop I will be there the first week it

opens, but that's just for my own like nostalgic

itch But I could see that one like completely

flopping as well. I could see Narnia flopping

It's a hard one to predict How that'll go? So

it really depends on that Other ones that we

maybe didn't talk about I think Angry Birds 3,

I don't think anybody's getting excited about

that one necessarily. And then I think there

was one other one that I had on here. Why are

we still coming out with scary movies? Scary

Movie 6? I don't think anyone's ready for that

one. And I think the other one is just, that's

why I stayed away from Hoppers and Hexed. Was

because I just wasn't sure I feel like at least

one of those is gonna be a flop and I don't know

why or how or which one So I just avoided both

of them. What about you? I mentioned like practical

magic too. I feel like that might not do very

well I'm really worried about the devil worse

product too. Just because we're like Does that

does that film so like it seems such a it's such

a long time since that original came out and

the legacy sequels are so You know, hit and miss

for a while. But if I had to put my money on

one movie that's going to majorly fraught and

I could be and end up eating crow and being completely

wrong. But I think it's going to be Street Fighter.

I think those posters look utterly ridiculous.

Like, will they be so ridiculous that people

will be like, I have to see this. That's true.

It could be like people go ironically roster

on it. I'm pretty sure. I know. It's like. Mean

WWE's gonna do everything they can to try to

make it a hit but I I Just it just looks so bad

But again, like you said me like maybe that's

the point and it's actually ends up being this

hilarious comedy But video game movies usually

when we had a whole video game series, we know

how bad they can get so I don't know. Yeah, that

one's that one's a hard say I would maybe throw

remain in there too. Like I don't know if I'm

night shame a lion and Shama Milan and Nicholas

Sparks are gonna be a That's such a random combination.

That's so weird. It does have Jake Gyllenhaal

in it, though. So maybe that's going to save

it. I don't know. But all right, so that is our

box office predictions for twenty twenty six.

You have to comment and let us know where we

went completely wrong, which one of us picked

a movie that's not even going to appear in theaters

ever or maybe not at least this year. I think

we outside of one of those December movies get

pushed. I think we did a good job of avoiding

ones that didn't have Release dates. Yeah, I

don't remember us doing anything that was like

an undetermined release date. So Yeah, the one

I'm most scared about that I picked his clay

face because like there's not much out There's

not even a poster so right that has me concerned

and then so especially with all the Stuff going

on with Warner Brothers and everything like that

like that I could mess that movie up. I think

a great deal. So that's my biggest concern is

all I want to know all I want is I want However,

we're scoring this which we haven't even discussed

But I want it to I want it to be going down to

the the you know Like we're neck and neck heading

into the December 18th and then Dune and Avengers

are both gonna come out that day for real. Yeah

That'll be something to look for so yeah, let

us know which picks you like which picks you

didn't you can hit us up on social media I'm

at optimus solo. The show is at cinema geek cast

Dan is at Which one is your Twitter? It's all

Comic Concierge. That's what I thought. It's

all Comic Concierge. You can reach out in any

of those ways. You can go to the website GeekCastRadio

.com and find the episode post and comment there.

Otherwise, just search us out on any of the social

medias and let us know what you think. Dan, any

last words or last thoughts on the box office?

No, I do think it does look like it be a stacked

year like they're like looking at you know, I

don't like by the time we got to like seven or

eight we were we but still that was 20 movies

deep so that which we don't usually do but I

hope it's a great year. I hope it's a great year

for the box office. We could really use it. Like

we need films to do well. Like we don't I don't

I don't want to see the theater die. So if we

end up having a good Star Wars movie, a good

Marvel movie and a good DC movie within the same

year, that's that'll be Great to see, and especially

if some of these films like, you know, if the

Disclosure Day and R. J. Kilmeri also do well,

like that's as well as whatever, hopefully we

do get like another set, like a movie that we're

completely overlooking that does like another

centers that kind of shocks the world would be

great too. Absolutely. So we will keep your eye

out. We'll be doing some more of our beginning

of the year episodes here and there throughout

the next few weeks. We'll do our most anticipated

of twenty twenty six films where we can completely

ignore how much they're going to make and just

talk about what actual films we're excited to

see personally. And then we will also give you

our top 10 films of twenty twenty five here at

some point in the not too distant future. So

keep your eyes out for both of those as well

as some other fun along the way. So that does

it for this episode. Tune in next time for another

chance to listen to more of the Cinema Geeks.