The Daily Nut

🍄 Mario Blasts Off to the Stars

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 13:30:18 +0000

It's-a me, box office domination!

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie hit theaters last week and did exactly what everyone expected it to do - absolutely crushed it. The sequel to 2023's billion-dollar smash pulled in an estimated $130 million over the traditional three-day weekend and $190 million over its first five days. Globally? A cool $372 million. That makes it easily the biggest opening of 2026, blowing past Project Hail Mary's impressive $80 million debut from a few weeks ago.

Now here's the thing. Critics are once again falling all over themselves to trash a movie that audiences clearly love. The Rotten Tomatoes critics score sits at a pathetic 43%, while audiences gave it a 91%. Sound familiar? It's the exact same playbook as the first movie. Critics complained about the "thin script" and "underdeveloped arcs" - buddy, it's a Mario movie. Nobody's showing up for Oscar-caliber dialogue. They're showing up to see Yoshi and Rosalina on the big screen for the first time, and by all accounts, the movie delivers. It earned an A- CinemaScore, which tells you everything you need to know about how real people feel about it. IMAX and premium formats drove 44% of the domestic take, which means people wanted to see this thing on the biggest screen possible. Can't say I blame them.

Meanwhile, Zendaya and Robert Pattinson debuted The Drama to a solid $14.4 million in its opening weekend. For an original, adult-targeted dark comedy made on a $28 million budget, that's a perfectly respectable start. It's always nice to see something that isn't a sequel or a reboot actually find an audience.

Project Hail Mary continues its impressive run, having pulled in another $30.6 million last weekend for a domestic total north of $217 million and $420 million worldwide. That's now Amazon MGM's highest-grossing film ever. Ryan Gosling really can't miss, can he? The movie cost $200 million to make, and it's already well past the break-even point. Good for them.

Pixar's Hoppers is still hanging in there at over five weeks with $149 million domestic and north of $500 million worldwide. And Reminders of Him - the Colleen Hoover adaptation - is quietly doing solid business at $45 million domestic on a $25 million budget. Not every movie needs to be a blockbuster to be a win.

Speaking of Star Wars...

In what might be the most satisfying entertainment news of the year, Kathleen Kennedy has officially stepped down as president of Lucasfilm. I'll pause while you collect yourselves. Dave Filoni - who we hope actually understands and respects the source material - is taking over as president and chief creative officer alongside Lynwen Brennan as co-president. Kennedy will stick around as a producer on The Mandalorian and Grogu (hitting theaters May 22) and 2027's Star Wars: Starfighter, but the days of her running the show are over. After what she did to the sequel trilogy this is long overdue.

And speaking of franchise disasters, let's take a moment to pour one out for Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, which has been officially cancelled by Paramount. The show's premiere peaked at roughly 1,300 concurrent viewers on YouTube and pulled a disastrous 8,000 likes to 27,000 dislikes ratio. The critics gave it an 88% on Rotten Tomatoes while audiences scored it at 43% - which should tell you everything about the state of professional criticism in 2026. Viewership collapsed to under 40,000 per episode, and it never once cracked the Nielsen Top 10 streaming charts. Nerdrotic famously ran a livestream of a plastic Spock action figure sitting in a chair that pulled triple the concurrent viewers of Paramount's official premiere. You can't make this stuff up.

Looking Ahead

April's got some interesting stuff on deck. Next week, The Mummy gets a horror-focused reimagining from Lee Cronin (the guy behind Evil Dead Rise) on April 17. He's promised it'll be "unlike any Mummy movie you ever laid eyeballs on" and is citing Poltergeist and Se7en as influences. Color me intrigued.

Then on April 24, the Michael Jackson biopic Michael arrives. The trailer broke records with 116 million views in its first 24 hours - more than any musical biopic trailer in history. Jaafar Jackson, MJ's actual nephew, stars in the lead role. Antoine Fuqua is directing, and the supporting cast includes Colman Domingo, Nia Long, and Miles Teller. This one could go either way, but that trailer interest is undeniable.

Looking beyond April, Supergirl drops June 26 with Milly Alcock starring, plus The Mandalorian and Grogu comes out on May 22.

Until next time - go see a movie.

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Box Office Update

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie - $130,000,000 (Opening Weekend)
The Drama - $14,400,000 (Opening Weekend)
Project Hail Mary - $30,600,000 ($217,000,000 Total)
Hoppers - $5,800,000 ($149,600,000 Total)
Reminders of Him - $2,200,000 ($45,300,000 Total)

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🚀 Project Hail Mary Holds Firm

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 14:25:46 +0000

Project Hail Mary didn't just hold the top spot at the box office this weekend - it held firm and comfortably. The Amazon MGM sci-fi flick pulled in a massive $54.5 million in its second weekend, dropping only 32% from its $80.5 million opening. For those of you keeping score at home, that's the kind of hold that makes studio executives weep tears of joy into their overpriced lattes. The film has now crossed $164 million domestically and blew past $300 million worldwide, officially making it Amazon MGM Studios' highest-grossing movie ever.

And here's the thing - it earned every penny. No multiverse nonsense. No legacy sequel bait. Just a guy alone in space with an alien buddy trying to save the world. Turns out when you adapt a beloved book with a charismatic lead and a director who actually cares about telling a good story, people show up. Weird how that works, right?

The movie is tracking to be the first true blockbuster of 2026. Andy Weir's novel was super popular, and the adaptation nailed it. Gosling brings that perfect mix of humor and heart that the role demands, and the whole thing just works. Hollywood, take notes - this is the blueprint.

Elsewhere at the Box Office

Pixar's Hoppers continued its solid run in second place with $12.2 million, bringing its domestic total to around $138.5 million. The little animated flick that could keeps chugging along, proving that Pixar still has some gas in the tank when they bring original ideas to the table instead of sequeling everything to death.

In less happy news, Warner Bros.' They Will Kill You had a rough debut, opening to a pretty brutal $5 million. The horror flick starring Zazie Beetz just couldn't cut through in a marketplace that's been stuffed with genre offerings lately. Not every horror movie can be Scream, folks.

Reminders of Him held on with $4.7 million in its third weekend for a solid $69.5 million total - a nice little win for the book-to-screen pipeline. And Ready or Not 2: Here I Come rounded out the top five, continuing its decent run.

Meanwhile, Scream 7 quietly crossed the $200 million mark worldwide in its fifth weekend, and Sony's animated GOAT ticked past $100 million domestic. Not bad for a couple of movies that flew a bit under the radar.

The Boy Who Lived... Again

Then, the biggest trailer drop of the year happened. HBO unleashed the first teaser for their Harry Potter series on March 25th and the internet absolutely lost its mind. The trailer racked up over 277 million organic views in just 48 hours - more than doubling HBO's previous record.

The first season is officially titled Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (going with the original UK title - a nice touch), and the cast looks... interesting. Three young newcomers take the lead roles. The adult cast is where it gets interesting though. John Lithgow as Dumbledore? Eh. Janet McTeer as McGonagall feels right. Nick Frost as Hagrid is kind of inspired. And Paapa Essiedu as Snape - well, following up Alan Rickman is basically an impossible task, so good luck to him.

We wrote an article a while back that argued this series would smash records, but there's always a risk. You can’t, for example, ignore the already massive controversy around the casting of Snape. Whether you agree with that or not, any negative overall sentiment or audience feedback puts the $100 million per episode project at risk. Indeed, this will be one of the most expensive productions of all time, reaching over $4 billion - maybe $5 billion - when it’s all said and done. Messing with the source material isn’t necessarily something I’d do with that much money on the table. The fanbase is fanatical after all. Say half of them are pissed off with not only this casting decision, but characters that get cast in future seasons; do you lose half your audience? We’ve seen how that’s worked out for other franchises and the results speak for themselves.

Looking Ahead

This weekend is going to be big. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie hits theaters and early tracking suggests it could be one of the biggest openings of the year. Nintendo and Illumination struck gold with the first Super Mario Bros. Movie, and there's no reason to think audiences won't show up again for the sequel. Expect a monster opening.

And looking further down the road, May is pretty packed. The Mandalorian and Grogu hits the big screen on May 22nd - the first Star Wars movie under the Dave Filoni era at Lucasfilm. With Kathleen Kennedy officially out and Filoni running the creative show, a lot of fans are cautiously hopeful that maybe, just maybe, Star Wars can get its groove back. No pressure, Dave.

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Box Office Update

Project Hail Mary - $54.5M (Total: $164.3M)
Hoppers - $12.2M (Total: $138.5M)
They Will Kill You - $5.0M (NEW)
Reminders of Him - $4.7M (Total: $69.5M)
Ready or Not 2: Here I Come - $3.8M (Total: $52.1M)

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🚀 Houston, We Have a Hit

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 14:29:36 +0000

It finally happened, folks. A movie based on a book that people actually read turned into a box office smash that people actually want to see. Project Hail Mary - the Ryan Gosling-led sci-fi epic from directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller - blasted off this weekend with a jaw-dropping $80.5 million domestic opening. That's not just the biggest opening of the year. That's the biggest opening Amazon MGM has ever had, torching the old record set by Creed III back in 2023. And worldwide? $140.9 million. Not too shabby for a movie about a guy floating around in space talking to an alien.

Here's what's wild about this one - it's not a sequel, it's not a reboot, it's not based on a 40-year-old IP that some studio executive dug out of a filing cabinet. It's an original story (well, adapted from Andy Weir's novel, but you get the point). Audiences gave it an "A" CinemaScore and IMAX screens alone pulled in $27.6 million globally. The thing cost about $200 million to make, which is a hefty price tag, but at this pace it's going to earn that back and then some. Turns out, if you make a good movie with a great lead and don't try to lecture the audience about the state of the world for two hours, people will actually show up. Crazy concept, right?

Elsewhere at the box office, Hoppers continues to have solid legs in its third weekend, pulling in $18 million and pushing its domestic total past $120 million. Pixar needed this one, and they got it. No message movies, no identity crisis - just a fun animated flick that families want to see. Meanwhile, Dhurandhar: The Revenge snagged the #3 spot with $9.6 million domestically, though the real story there is its insane international performance - this Bollywood sequel is on track to become one of the biggest Indian films ever made. Ready or Not 2: Here I Come debuted at #4 with $9.1 million - a modest start for the horror sequel, but the original was a sleeper hit, so don't count it out just yet. Rounding out the top five, Reminders of Him held on with $8 million in its second frame.

Turning away from the box office for a moment, it’s worth reporting this week that Chuck Norris passed away on March 20th at the age of 86. This was a guy who was the real deal - a genuine martial arts champion with black belts in everything from Taekwondo to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu - who became one of the most iconic action stars of the '80s and '90s. Missing in Action, The Delta Force, Code of Silence - these were the movies you watched on a Saturday afternoon and felt like you could run through a wall afterward. And then there was Walker, Texas Ranger, which ran for nine seasons and gave us one of the most no-nonsense TV heroes of all time. Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Van Damme - they all came out with heartfelt tributes, and rightfully so. And let's not forget, Chuck Norris was arguably the internet's first meme before "meme" was even a word. They literally don't make them like him anymore. Rest easy, Chuck. The roundhouse kick in the sky just got a whole lot more dangerous.

Looking ahead, April is stacking up nicely. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie hits theaters on April 1st, and the final trailer looks like a blast - Chris Pratt, Jack Black, and now Donald Glover as Yoshi. The first Mario movie made $1.3 billion, so expect Nintendo to print money again. On April 17th, we're getting Lee Cronin's horror reimagining of The Mummy (now retitled The Resurrected), which ditches the adventure vibes of the Brendan Fraser classic for straight-up horror. Could be interesting, could be a disaster - we'll see. And then April 24th brings us Michael, the Michael Jackson biopic starring his nephew Jaafar Jackson, directed by Antoine Fuqua. The trailer broke records when it dropped, and early buzz says Jaafar is something to see.

Oh, and did you catch the trailers that dropped this week? Sony finally unveiled the first look at Spider-Man: Brand New Day, bringing Tom Holland back to the web for a July 31st release. And Warner Bros. dropped the Dune: Part Three trailer right after Timothee Chalamet's Oscar night - talk about timing. December 18th can't come soon enough for that one.

It's a good time to be a moviegoer, Nuts. The box office is up 21% year-to-date, original stories are winning again, and we've got some massive titles on the horizon. Grab your popcorn.

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Box Office Update

Project Hail Mary - $80.5M (NEW)
Hoppers - $18.0M (Total: $120.3M)
Dhurandhar: The Revenge - $9.6M (NEW)
Ready or Not 2: Here I Come - $9.1M (NEW)
Reminders of Him - $8.0M (Total: ~$25M)

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🏆 Hollywood's Biggest Night + Hoppers Keeps Hopping

Mon, 16 Mar 2026 15:47:53 +0000

One Battle After Another took home Best Picture along with five other awards, including Best Director for Paul Thomas Anderson (who, if you can believe it, had been nominated for 11 Oscars before this and never won a single one). The film also grabbed Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor for Sean Penn (who didn't even show up -classic Penn), and the brand new Best Casting award, the first new Oscar category in 25 years.

But the biggest story might've been Sinners. Ryan Coogler's vampire horror epic came in with a record-shattering 16 nominations - the most any film has ever received - and walked away with four wins, including Best Actor for Michael B. Jordan.

Jessie Buckley took home Best Actress for Hamnet, Amy Madigan won Best Supporting Actress for Weapons, and Conan O'Brien returned as host for a second year, opening the show dressed as Madigan's character Aunt Gladys. He joked that every seat filler in the building would "be Michael B. Jordan" in reference to his twin roles, and the camera cut to a crowd of Jordan lookalikes. Peak Conan.

Oh, and KPop Demon Hunters won Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song. Didn't see that coming.

Hoppers Still on Top

Over at the box office, Pixar's Hoppers held the number one spot for a second straight weekend with $28.5 million, bringing its domestic total to $86.8 million. That's a solid 37% drop from its massive $46 million opening - strong legs for an animated film that's clearly connecting with audiences. Globally, it's already sitting at $164.7 million. The little beaver that could keeps chugging along.

Reminders of Him Overperforms

The big new opener this weekend was Reminders of Him, the latest Colleen Hoover adaptation. It pulled in $18.2 million domestically - nearly double what industry trackers had expected ($10-12M). Directed by Vanessa Caswill, the film stars Maika Monroe as a woman fighting to rebuild her life and reconnect with her daughter after a stint in jail. Add in $10 million from overseas and you've got a $28.2 million worldwide debut. Hoover's book-to-film pipeline remains undefeated.

A24 Strikes Again

A24's Undertone quietly crept into third place with $9.3 million from 2,570 theaters. This Canadian horror film, made for just $500K, follows a young woman and her friend who run a paranormal podcast - until anonymous recordings start drawing them into genuine terror. The kicker? Only two characters ever appear on screen; everyone else is just a voice. It's the kind of wild creative swing that makes A24... well, A24.

Box Office Elsewhere

Scream 7 landed in fourth with $8.35 million, pushing its domestic total past the $100 million mark and its worldwide gross to $176.9 million - officially making it the highest-grossing entry in the entire Scream franchise. Not bad for a horror sequel that plenty of people counted out.

GOAT rounded out the top five with $4.7 million in its fifth weekend, pushing the animated Sony film north of $90 million domestic. Meanwhile, The Bride! continued its freefall with just $2.1 million in weekend two - a brutal 70% drop from an already rough $7 million opening. This one's headed straight to streaming.

Coming Soon

Keep your eyes on Project Hail Mary, Ryan Gosling's sci-fi epic from Andy Weir (The Martian), hitting theaters this Friday, March 20. Early reviews are glowing - it follows an astronaut who wakes up alone on a spaceship with no memory, tasked with saving Earth from an extinction-level event. Big sci-fi energy.

And get this: the first full trailer for Spider-Man: Brand New Day reportedly drops March 18. Tom Holland is back, four years after No Way Home, in a world that's forgotten Peter Parker exists. It's directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and swings into theaters July 31.

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Box Office Update

#	Movie	Weekend Gross
1	Hoppers	$28.5M
2	Reminders of Him	$18.3M
3	Undertone	$9.3M
4	Scream 7	$8.4M
5	GOAT	$4.7M

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🦫 Hoppers Hops to Glory

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 14:12:12 +0000

Remember when everyone was writing Pixar's obituary? Well, they just hopped right back into the conversation.

This weekend, Pixar's Hoppers absolutely crushed it with a $46 million domestic opening (and a whopping $88 million globally). That's not just good—that's the biggest original animated opening since Coco back in 2017. Yeah, we're talking nearly a decade of sequels and spin-offs before Pixar reminded everyone they can still cook up something fresh.

The premise? A college student's consciousness gets transferred into a robotic beaver, which somehow sparks an animal uprising. It's bonkers, it's brilliant, and audiences are eating it up with an "A" CinemaScore and 94% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Playing in 4,000 locations with an $11,500 per screen average, Hoppers even topped Onward's 2020 opening ($39.1M) and matched Ratatouille's 2007 debut. The overseas markets loved it too—UK led with $6.4M, followed by Mexico ($3.7M), France, and Germany (both $3.6M).

The Bride Gets Left at the Altar

Meanwhile, Maggie Gyllenhaal's The Bride!—her female-lens remake of Bride of Frankenstein starring Christian Bale—had a weekend to forget. Despite the pedigree and the prestige vibes, it stumbled to a dismal $7.3 million domestic opening ($13.6M globally).

Look, we love a good auteur swing, but sometimes they don't connect with audiences. This one's already getting the "wait for streaming" treatment from most moviegoers.

Box Office Elsewhere

While Hoppers dominated the top spot, the rest of the box office was fairly quiet. Holdovers continued to grind out modest numbers, but nothing came close to challenging Pixar's animated juggernaut. March is historically a ramp-up period before the summer blockbuster season kicks in, so we're in that transition zone where studios are testing the waters.

Oh, and Zootopia 2 hit Disney+ on March 11 after its 105-day theatrical run, so if you missed it in theaters, you've got your weekend plans sorted.

Industry Tea Time

Merger Mania: The Paramount-Warner Bros Discovery merger is chugging along toward a Q3 close (pending regulatory approval and shareholder votes). Early counts show the combined slate could drop 27+ movies in 2027 alone. The question everyone's asking: will more consolidation mean more creativity or just more sequels and safe bets?

Writers on the Move: The WGA sits down with the AMPTP on March 16 for what could be contentious negotiations. Meanwhile, their own staff is still picketing outside union HQ. Hollywood labor drama never sleeps, folks.

Coming Soon to a Theater Near You

Keep your eyes peeled for:

Project Hail Mary - Ryan Gosling wakes up alone on a space station with zero memories. It's from Andy Weir (The Martian), so expect big sci-fi vibes and problem-solving montages.
Reminders of Him (March 13) - Another Colleen Hoover adaptation is coming for your tears. Bring tissues.

The spring movie season is officially heating up, and if Hoppers is any indication, audiences are hungry for fresh stories. Let's see if Hollywood keeps delivering.

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🐒 Monkey Man is Peanut Approved

Sat, 13 Apr 2024 01:52:06 +0000

Monkey Man is officially Peanut Approved. We’ll keep it short and sweet. Is this one of the great movies in the genre? No. Is it one of the best movies in theaters and worth seeing? Absolutely.

Monkey Man will surely suffer from comparisons to the likes of John Wick, which we would also have to admit is the more entertaining movie. That being said, keep in mind this is Dev Patel’s first go at directing. First time directors rarely deliver something this good, so the idea that Patel will go on to direct and produce more movies is very exciting. Additionally, with a budget of $10 million and a box office of more than $16 million one week into its release, Patel has likely secured the right to direct again should he choose to. We look forward to seeing what he comes up with next.

Also in the box office this weekend is newcomer Civil War. Directed by Alex Garland (Ex Machina, Annihilation), the film has received notice due to political discourse around the film’s premise. The film was tracking to become A24’s biggest opening film to date. That being said, with a budget of $50 million, a relatively low profile cast, and the divisive nature of the film’s premise, we think it’ll have a difficult time making money. Further, Godzilla x Kong is still early in its release and Sting also releases today, so the horror-inclined audience will definitely be opting for that. Each of these factors, plus good news spreading about Monkey Man, creates a difficult environment for Civil War. Either way, we’ll see it and let you know what we think.

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👊🏼 Road House Double Feature

Wed, 03 Apr 2024 20:59:04 +0000

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ON TO THE BOX OFFICE!!!

Or in this case, the television… Right now, you can head to Amazon Prime and do a Road House double feature. The original, starring Patrick Swayze, and the remake, starring Jake Gyllenhaal are both streaming there. The original is a certified classic. It’s definitely cheesy at times, but it’s fun to see Swayze, who was a huge star at the time, busting heads and just looking entirely cool and charming for 114 minutes. Peanut Approved contributor, Joseph Meinert, took to Twitter to share his thoughts. Click on the image to see the entire thread and his thoughts on the two movies.

In the box office, we saw Godzilla and King Kong return to the big screen this past weekend. The movie did $80 million domestically and has totaled over $202 million worldwide to date. For reference, Dune: Part Two did $82 million domestically in its opening and the previous installment, Godzilla vs. Kong, did $31 million in its domestic opening. It’s interesting to see how these change over time. Will there be bigger openings and lower total box offices as times change and movies move to streaming faster? We’ll keep you posted.

On the release radar this weekend is Monkey Man from first time director Dev Patel. Dumb name, but looks like a fun genre film that stars Patel and also comes with Sharlto Copley - a hilarious and underutilized actor - highly recommend you watch him in Free Fire if you haven’t.

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🗡️Dune Update🗡️

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🗡️ Dune Dominates Worldwide

Thu, 28 Mar 2024 14:45:01 +0000

With $579 million ticket sales worldwide, Dune: Part Two is not only the biggest movie currently in the box office, it’s the biggest movie of 2024, which I suppose is a given how early in the year we are. That being said, we’ve just struck four weeks of Dune being in theaters, so it will now be met with some serious challengers. Ghostbuster: Frozen Empire was released this past weekend and tomorrow we get Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. Talk about empires... These two movies are would-be blockbusters that will be vying to take ticket sales from Dune: Part Two. In Ghostbuster’s first weekend (Dune’s fourth), it took the #1 spot of the weekend domestically. Godzilla x Kong will likely supplant that this coming weekend. Whatever happens, Dune fans can rejoice as Warner Bros. is roughly $79 million into profit with Dune: Part Two and will very likely develop another installment, which would be an adaptation of Dune: Messiah.

Also of note in the box office is Kung Fu Panda 4 (Universal Pictures) and Immaculate (NEON). Kung Fu Panda - one of our favorite franchises - is having a solid run. It currently holds a $283 million worldwide box office performance. With its $85 million budget, it’s likely made more than enough for Universal Pictures to green light another installment, which even in this age of tired sequels and reboots, we can’t complain about - these movies are just pure family fun, which is tough to get tired of as long as the jokes are good and Jack Black is singing and having fun.

Immaculate on the other hand, is an interesting one. We all know Sydney Sweeney has taken the world by storm; she seems to be in no less than 3-4 movies a year nowadays. If you don’t know, NEON has put out some really great movies. However, they haven’t always been able to overcome the box office. In this case, Immaculate had a budget of $9 million and the worldwide box office is sitting just below that, meaning that after the next two weeks or so, they’ll likely be looking at a breakeven if not a slight loss.

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😂Dune Memes😂

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🗡️ Dune: Part Two (2)

Mon, 11 Mar 2024 21:40:43 +0000

Dune: Part Two has been out for a little over a week now. The reactions have been overwhelming. From hilarious memes of Javier Bardem’s Stilgar portrayal, to fans making makeshift worms out of hoverboards, Dune: Part Two is taking the world by storm.

As incredible as the reaction and reviews have been, it will still be tough for the film to make the big time profit the studio is hoping for. The reports were that between the production and marketing budgets, the film would need to make more than $500 million. While currently sitting at a $376 million worldwide box office, we have no doubt it will achieve this; the question is really whether or not it will have legs and achieve a historical box office on par with the rave reviews.

Dune saw its first big challenge in its second weekend from Kung Fu Panda 4 this past weekend. Jack Black & crew did in fact take the top spot domestically. Both of these films will no doubt have impressive box office runs. What will be interesting is which has better legs and who claims this coming weekend’s #1 spot. There are limited wide releases until Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire on March 22, so we expect the aforementioned titles to battle it out until then.

The other big news we have for you is obviously last night’s results from The Academy Awards. Check out all the winners and nominees here. The headlines read that Oppenheimer owned the night. The film was awarded with 7 wins, while Poor Things was next in line with 4 wins. Of the winners, Christopher Nolan and Robert Downey Jr. took home their first Oscars for Directing and Best Supporting Actor, respectively. This being their first wins is long overdue considering how long and impressive both of their careers have been.

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All the Dune Memes

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🗡️ Dune: Part Two

Thu, 29 Feb 2024 20:36:07 +0000

For many of us, this is the most exciting week of the year. Dune: Part Two comes out tomorrow and from the early screenings and many premieres around the world, word is officially out that it lives up beyond the hype. Earlier in the press tour, Christopher Nolan likened the film to The Empire Strikes Back; the ultimate compliment when referencing a sci-fi sequel. Speaking of Nolan, since the review embargo ended, many have been comparing the film to The Dark Knight. Additionally, just this week, Dune: Part Two debuted as the highest rated film ever on IMDb.

Despite the hype, it’s still difficult these days for a film to make a profit. In this case, we’re looking at a budget of around $190 million. There’s likely a marketing campaign of $100 million or more on top of that. One report this week claimed the film is looking at about a $170 million opening worldwide, which if true, means it could make some serious money. It certainly has a lot of momentum around it from the many positive reviews.

Although it’s the biggest and only film event of the year for some, let’s take a minute to look ahead and see what might be able to top it. Right now, the biggest titles on the release schedule for the remainder of the year, include Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Deadpool & Wolverine, Transformers One, and Mufasa: The Lion King. Honestly, with the exceptions of Mad Max and Deadpool, these all feel so played out that it’s doubtful they will perform as well as their studios will be hoping them to. Our guess? The biggest movie of the year is going to come down between Dune and Deadpool. That being said, many of these movies and the others we’ll be reporting on throughout the year are bound to be great. Be sure to follow us on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok, so you don’t miss a thing!

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💅🏽Celeb Gossip💅🏽

Meme of the Week

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🕸️ Madame Web

Wed, 28 Feb 2024 21:56:54 +0000

Madame Web is a total pass per Peanut Approved.

Unfortunately, this movie was doomed from the start. Early in 2020, S.J. Clarkson was hired to develop and direct the movie and the rest is pretty much history. Until Madame Web, Clarkson had only directed a handful of TV episodes (Collateral, The Defenders, Jessica Jones, and a few others). If you didn’t know, directing television and movies is a completely different game. The director of a movie is much more akin to the “creator” or “showrunner” than the “director” in television. Clarkson also directed a Game of Thrones prequel pilot in 2019 that was so good that HBO passed on it and never so much as mentioned it again. Presumably, the news of this god-awful pilot hadn’t come out before she was selected for Madame Web. Nonetheless, plucking someone with only a handful of TV directing credits and putting them on a big-budget movie - and an action movie, no less - is a surefire way to create a box office bomb.

Funny enough, one of our friends said the movie had the look and feel of a show on the CW, which after seeing it turns out to be a pretty accurate description; and you can’t really be surprised by this knowing the director’s history. Seriously, the movie was rife with cheap plot devices and low quality effects and editing. The biggest offender was the antagonist’s ADR, which is essentially a VoiceOver track done in post production to fix the dialogue caught on camera. Anytime the guy talked, his lip and body movement was so disconnected from the words being said, you had to stop and wonder if the theater’s audio and projector were out of sync.

The film has been in theaters for two weeks now and hasn’t recouped its production budget yet ($80 million), which certifies it as a box office bomb. The marketing spend was an additional $60 million on top of the $80M.

Also dooming this movie from the start was the basic premise of the plot, which makes an attempt at being a Spider-Man prequel by showing a tribe of Spider-Man-like people in South America, but without actually leading into the story of Spider-Man in any way shape or form (Uncle Ben is a supporting character, while Peter’s birth is shown, but his name never mentioned). Anyone familiar with the Madame Web character will know that this backstory was completely fabricated and has little basis in the character’s pre-existing source material - something any writer or producer of this type of IP should know by now isn’t going to fly with fans.

The last thing we’ll say, and we promise we only mention this to echo what the internet has been saying… how do you cast Sydney Sweeney in a superhero movie and not have her in a skin-tight suit for THE ENTIRE LENGTH OF THE FILM?! Look, we know that no amount of those double D’s could have saved this sorry-ass production, but at least they may have had a chance at recouping their marketing budget. And don’t call us misogynistic for saying so; we’re just letting you know what the internet has had to say about it… :)

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🐱 Argylle Disappoints

Tue, 06 Feb 2024 19:00:28 +0000

In box office news… Argylle, directed by Matthew Vaughn, known for Kick-Ass and the Kingsman franchise, and starring Henry Cavill, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Sam Rockwell, was released this past Friday. The cast is star-studded, also including Bryan Cranston, Dua Lipa, John Cena, Sofia Boutella, and Samuel L. Jackson. With the cast and Matthew Vaughn’s many other box office successes, this movie has all the makings to have a successful run in theaters. Despite this, the movie had a disappointing opening, only doing about $18 million over the weekend.

The movie’s financial success doesn’t mean that it does not entertain. Personally, we haven’t had a chance to see it yet, but we’re predicting it to be a classic display of Sam Rockwell’s genius-level humor. And if you’ve got the hots for Cavill or Dua Lipa, this scene might be reason enough to check it out…

The other topic of much discussion this past week is the impending arrival of Denis Villeneuve’s DUNE: Part 2. The star of the conversation? The promotional Dune 2 popcorn bucket;

We’ll refrain from discussing the number of sexual innuendos made on the internet about this bucket… In all seriousness, the film has had premieres in Mexico City and (we believe) several other locations as the marketing campaign ramps up. Fans are excited about the addition of Austin Butler and Florence Pugh to the cast over the previous installment. The biggest hype of all, however, has been Christopher Nolan commenting that the film is Villeneuve’s The Empire Strikes Back. Anyone familiar with the zeitgeist of film history understands how high of a compliment this is. It indicates that the film is a shockingly good addition to an already great franchise, that does not detract or aim to provide the same story as the first installment. It also indicates the potential for a heavy cliffhanger setting up the possibility for a DUNE: Part 3, which would be an adaptation of the second book in the franchise. Villeneuve has already commented on his desire to do such, which would allow for the proper conclusion to the Paul Atreides storyline.

Earlier last year, we saw the first looks from this film, which we shared with you immediately on social media. Be sure to follow us on YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram so you don’t miss these things!

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🌕 A Killer Day in Film History

Fri, 20 Oct 2023 23:25:10 +0000

Today is one of those long anticipated days for the box office this year. Back in 2017, we learned that Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Robert De Niro were considering teaming up again for an adaptation by Eric Roth of the novel, Killers of the Flower Moon. Eric Roth was responsible for writing and co-writing films, such as Forest Gump, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Dune, and more, so Killers of the Flower Moon was already looking like a win from these first reports.

Earlier this year, we saw the first looks from the film, which we shared with you immediately on social media. Be sure to follow us on YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram so you don’t miss these things!

First look at ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’

This is the tenth film Scorsese and De Niro have worked on together in the last fifty years. The pair, along with DiCaprio are some of the highest respected and decorated figures in film history, which makes this a very special day in film history. Scorsese himself is an outspoken advocate of the theater, so if you’re interested in seeing this piece of film history, be sure to get out to the theater instead of waiting for it to hit the streaming services.

In other entertainment news, Spider-Man 2 for the PlayStation 5 released today. It’s set to be one of the biggest video game releases of the year. At the box office, Taylor Swift: The Era Tour is outperforming all the movies currently in theaters. Anyone else feel like this whole Travis Kelce thing is a little too convenient on the timing?

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💥 Barbenheimer Blew Up the Box Office

Fri, 28 Jul 2023 14:54:49 +0000

GM. What a week it has been with the simultaneous release of Barbie and Oppenheimer this past weekend. As we reported last week, the internet has had a ton of fun with this all summer; the Barbenheimer memes just keep coming, proving that competition isn’t always a zero sum game. Indeed, both films were effectively able to market for each other and both films did record numbers at the box office. Barbie, with its PG-13 rating and generally more upbeat nature, was clearly going to have a wider appeal and naturally took the #1 spot of the weekend. On a budget of $128-$145 million, the movie opened to $162 million domestically and has since done $495 million worldwide. With marketing, the breakeven was likely around the $300 million point, so it’s safe to say that Warner Bros. (the distributor) was smiling and laughing all the way to the bank this week.

Oppenheimer on the other hand, with its R rating and darker, slower tone, naturally came in second, but still did massive numbers. On a smaller budget of $100 million, it opened to $82 million and has since accumulated $229 million worldwide. Both films have done and are doing great, but while Barbie seems to have been a cultural and marketing phenomenon, Oppenheimer seems to be the real deal film here. There is already a ton of Oscar buzz for the film in all categories, including Best Actor for Cillian Murphy.

Collectively, Barbie and Oppenheimer produced the 4th biggest box office weekend in history. We’ll be interested to see how the two movies do in this second weekend as it seems that Oppenheimer is clearly the front runner in critical and audience acclaim. Will they both see an equal drop in ticket sales from their opening weekend? Will Oppenheimer hold stronger and take the #1 spot for the weekend? We’ll report what happens next weekend. In the meantime, be sure you’re following us on Twitter and Instagram so you don’t miss a thing.

WAIT! That’s not all that’s going on at the box office. Additionally, Sound of Freedom is still absolutely crushing in ticket sales from its July 4th release. The incredible true story of former government agent turned vigilante to rescue hundreds of children from sex trafficking jumped Insidious: The Red Door in weekend totals two weekends ago from the previous weekend. And in a completely unprecedented move this most recent weekend, Sound of Freedom brought in more ticket sales domestically in its third weekend than Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One did in its second weekend. Mission: Impossible was naturally never going to outrank Barbie and Oppenheimer in their opening weekends. Putting those aside, no one in their right mind would have ever predicted that Mission: Impossible would rank 4th domestically in its second weekend. It proves how good Sound of Freedom must really be if its having this strong and long of a run at the box office. As for Mission: Impossible, it’s still done pretty decent with $378 million worldwide. Many are saying it’s phenomenal and we can’t wait to see Part Two. The moral of the story? Go see all the movies currently in theaters!

A quick note; Haunted Mansion from Disney and the horror/thriller Talk to Me from A24 are both seeing wide releases this weekend. We’ll report on their openings next week!

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💣 It's Barbenheimer Time!

Fri, 21 Jul 2023 22:20:16 +0000

Today’s the day! This weekend will likely remain the most talked about weekend at the box office of the year. Some are calling it Barbenheimer, which of course means that both Barbie and Oppenheimer are seeing a simultaneous release this weekend. The internet has had a ton of fun with this fact leading up to today, which may just go to show that competition isn’t always a zero sum game. Indeed, both films are tracking well with Barbie projecting to potentially be the biggest opening of 2023 and Oppenheimer already grossing $10.5 million in Thursday previews.

We’ll have much more to say about both of these films after the results of the weekend are in and we’ve had a chance to see them, so be sure you’re following us on Twitter and Instagram so you don’t miss a thing.

As excited as we are about this weekend, we can’t let it overshadow all the other killer stuff that’s going on at the box office. Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One dropped last weekend to rave reviews. Our own Michaela Burton loved it and it unsurprisingly took the top position at the box office. In total, it’s done $264 million worldwide with $95 million of that being domestically. The budget was $291 million, so it will have to keep up the momentum, but we think it’ll be a big success for Tom Cruise and we’re looking forward to Part Two. We’ll keep you posted on its performance as long as your subscribed here :)

Additionally, Sound of Freedom is still crushing in ticket sales from its July 4th release. The incredible true story of former government agent turned vigilante to rescue hundreds of children from sex trafficking jumped Insidious: The Red Door in weekend totals this past weekend from the previous weekend. Insidious is still doing extremely well, having pulled in over $127 million worldwide on a budget of $16 million, which makes it all the more impressive that Sound of Freedom overtook its rank in weekend totals last weekend. Last, and maybe indeed least, Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny has died off at $308 million worldwide and will go down as one of the biggest bombs in Disney’s history. Don’t worry, Disney, Warner Bros. is right there with you with The Flash, which has ended its run with a lower domestic total than Green Lantern. Yikes…

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🇺🇸 Indy Filmmakers Outdo Indiana Jones

Tue, 11 Jul 2023 22:43:17 +0000

Afternoon. Please do us a huge favor again this week and forward this to three fellow cinema lovers. The more we can grow our little community, the more content we can bring you.

This past weekend, the box office had some pleasant surprises. First and foremost, Insidious: The Red Door knocked an old and haggard Indiana Jones clean off his block. The new installment in the Insidious franchise did $33 million domestically against a measly $27 million for ol’ Indy. That’s more than a 50% drop for The Dial of Destiny from its previous opening weekend and what will be a $200+ million loss for Disney. Oppenheimer is hitting theaters this month, but I think we all know the title for biggest bombing this year will be retained by Disney.

While Insidious did the biggest numbers, the real talk of the town this week has been Sound of Freedom. The incredible true story of former government agent turned vigilante to rescue hundreds of children from sex trafficking opened July 4th on 2,634 screens and expanded to 2,852 screens once the weekend hit. It’s currently only playing in the U.S., but has managed to accumulate $41 million in ticket sales in just a week of screenings.

With a reported budget of $14.5 million, Sound of Freedom is already likely well in the green, and we suspect based on all of the buzz that it will not see a huge drop in ticket sales in the coming second weekend of its release. In fact, we are predicting it will do bigger numbers than Indiana Jones this weekend, which brings us to the most interesting part of all of this. Sound of Freedom was in fact completed in 2018. However, through Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox, Disney shelved the film. For years, the filmmakers tried to buy back the distribution rights. Eventually, Angel Studios was able to secure the distribution rights and was able to crowdfund the release and marketing through 7,000 individuals despite the obstacle set forth by Disney. Now, they’re shoving it in Disney’s face at the box office by outdoing one of the largest, most popular franchises of all time.

Before we wrap up, we just wanted to remind you that Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One hits theaters this weekend. Tom Cruise has been promoting the movie is a lot of really fun ways; discussing whether he will see Barbie or Oppenheimer first, surprising fans at advanced screenings, and so on. He and this franchise are such a big part of the cinema, which is what we champion here, and we hope you’ll get out and see it this weekend and let us know how much you enjoyed it!

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🤠 Indiana Jones & The Box Office of Doom

Thu, 06 Jul 2023 23:02:55 +0000

Afternoon. In the last newsletter, we discussed the recent box office bombs that were The Flash and Elemental. The Flash, as it turns out, is poised to be one of the largest financial losses in Warner Bro’s history. Disney, however, couldn’t resist sitting back and letting Warner Bros. take the title for biggest bomb of the year, so they followed up this past weekend with Indiana Jones & The Dial of Destiny. Six days into its release, the movie has accumulated $154 million world wide. Not bad except for the fact that the budget was reportedly $300 million. After marketing costs, the movie will need to break $600 to $700 million in order to profit, meaning that, like The Flash, this could be as much as a $200+ million loss for the studio.

Fortunately, there are a lot of great looking movies still to come this year that we can all look forward to. The first of those comes next weekend in the form of Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One. The weekend after that, we get the release of Oppenheimer and Barbie, which has naturally become a highly anticipated head to head release. Additionally, for the horror fans out there, another installment of the Insidious franchise hits theaters this weekend.

Also mixed in the July release schedule are a bunch of re-releases, so if you are not feeling those box office bombs we previously discussed that will linger throughout July, you might be able to check out some of the following classics: Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Castle in the Sky, National Lampoon’s Vacation, and Heathers.

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⚡️ Gone In A Flash

Fri, 30 Jun 2023 15:40:14 +0000

GM. Big news in the box office this week. But first… if you could do us a favor and forward this to two or three of your friends, helping us grow our little community here will help us to keep delivering awesome box office updates and entertainment industry news right to your inbox!

The Flash, we believe, was meant to be Warner Bros. attempt at a multi-verse-like movie in the vein of what Marvel has been doing with their MCU. When it comes to movies in the past ten years, DC always seems to be following in Marvel’s footsteps, but never with the same level of execution (although that could be argued as of late with what Marvel has been putting out). The Flash was no different. With a current worldwide gross of $216 million and a budget of around the same amount, it is looking like this is going to be a major financial loss for Warner Bros. to the tune of over $100 million.

Indeed, in its second domestic weekend, The Flash saw a 73% drop in ticket sales from its opening weekend. The only comic book movie to ever have a worse drop was Morbius. The nail in the coffin will likely be the fact that due to this drop, the movie is being removed from 1,500+ theaters today. Obviously, this was not what Warner Bros. had in mind. They pulled out all the stops for this movie, with the inclusion of Supergirl and bringing back Michael Keaton as Batman, they had hoped this would be a big draw for audiences. It turns out it was little more than fan favor and gimmicks, which audiences seem to be waking up to. We want good movies regardless of what actors or characters or crazy multi-verse/time travel plot devices they include.

In other box office news, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is still crushing; it’s now the fourth highest grossing movie of the year worldwide. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is entering its fourth weekend in theaters with some momentum still going. The movie has done $346 million worldwide so far, which makes the tragedy of The Flash even more difficult to swallow for Warner Bros.; with such a more established franchise and characters, we expect Warner Bros. was expecting to easily outdo the Transformers in this head to head. Speaking of financial ruin, Elemental is also in theaters with a budget of $200 million. The worldwide total so far? $131 million. Another $100 million + loss for Disney. What is going on with the state of movies these days?

Unfortunately, the hits look like they are going to just keep coming. This weekend, we are seeing the release of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Another tired old franchise and once beloved character being drug out for another adventure. From what we’ve read and heard, this thing is nothing more than ‘modern’ writers taking the chance to drag ol’ Indy out in order to show him the error of his ways and masculinity. Maybe that narrative is wrong, but as we are advocates of the box office, why don’t you head out this weekend to see it and let us know what you think!

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🧜🏼‍♀️ Memorial Day Mermaids

Wed, 31 May 2023 15:20:16 +0000

GM. Over the long holiday weekend, we saw the release of Disney’s live action remake of The Little Mermaid. The announcements and trailers for the film were met with some criticisms around casting and the general look of the CGI characters, which seems like a pretty fair critique when you have a look…

That being said, the movie managed to do $95 million domestically over the weekend. Its worldwide gross currently sits at $195 million. While it was a pretty big opening, with a budget of $250 million, it’s going to be interesting to see whether this becomes profitable or not for Disney. For those that don’t know, the ticket sales need to do more than just surpass the budget; movies usually have an additional marketing spend of anywhere from 40-100% of the movie’s budget. With this being such a high profile movie, we’d guess it was on the higher end, which means its box office run will need to net over $450-500 million. For perspective, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania ended its run with $476 million - a likely loss for Disney, which makes The Little Mermaid’s performance of even greater importance for Disney’s profitability this year.

Possibly of greater interest than the box office discussion surrounding The Little Mermaid is the story that’s been speculating its review scores. With as much criticism the early images and trailers received, people were surprised to see a R*tten T*mat*es audience score of 95% - higher than that of The Jungle Book (a very well received movie). For us, the speculations are anything but false; this is nothing more than Hollywood’s back dealings and smoke and mirror tactics that they have always used and which people are catching onto and moving to independent forms of entertainment as a result. It turns out, that one of the explanations is because the score that is/was being displayed is the “verified audience”. In other words, in less you are crazy enough about movies/Disney (aka not your average movie goer) to have the purchase of your ticket verified, your review doesn’t count. Upon switching to view all reviews, you find the movie currently sits at a whopping 57%. That’s not deceiving at all (sarcasm). And that’s exactly why Peanut Approved exists; to offer an unbiased alternative to the Hollywood establishment machine that protects itself at all costs. We love movies and we want to tell you honestly what’s worth your valuable time and money to go see; leave it to the Hollywood elite and they’ll have you watching whatever it is that protects their pockets and not what’s actually worth seeing.

Also still in theaters is Fast X, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and The Machine. The weekend, we are blessed with Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, which if is anywhere as good as its prequel, will be a great one to get out to the theater and see.

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🚀 Guardians of the Galaxy Debuts

Mon, 08 May 2023 12:34:31 +0000

GM. Since debuting on April 5th, The Super Mario Bros. Movie has held the top spot at the box office - that is until this past weekend. With the release of the third installment of the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, Nintendo, Illumination, and Universal’s month long standing at #1 with Mario has finally come to an end. By no means is its theatrical run over, however. Having made a $1.1 billion splash in only a month means there are likely plenty of people still vying for a chance to go see the movie. Pair that with the fact that the release schedule is pretty clear until Fast X hits theaters on May 19th means there’s likely to still be plenty of showings over the few weeks to catch it at your local theater.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has seen generally positive reviews. Some are loving it, while some are saying it’s only marginally better than the other movies from the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase 4 and Phase 5, which is a nice way of saying it’s not complete shit.

The rag-tag space team did $114 million at the box office this weekend. There were reports from over a week ago that the movie was tracking towards a $130 million release. So, while this movie will definitely make money for Disney, we expect the final total - just like the opening - will be a bit shy of what the studio was hoping for.

As we mentioned, the release schedule is pretty clear for the next couple weeks, which means Mario and the Guardians will continue to be the story over that time. Our suggestion would be to check out Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant while you still can and then circle back to The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Guardian of the Galaxy Vol. 3 if you haven’t seen them yet since they’ll have a longer run of showtimes.