Was the failure of Tron: Ares inevitable by virtue of Tron never being an A-level franchise? Or is the box office decimation of Disney’s $180 million threequel a matter of the specific choices made for what became this past weekend’s little-loved and little-seen would-be tentpole? Maybe Disney should have said “No” to Jared Leto’s self-aggrandizing pitch and cast a younger or at least more popular older actor to anchor a big-deal franchise entry.

No matter, there’s plenty of Tron discourse as Kirsten Acuna (the coolest entertainment staff editor at People Magazine) and Aaron Neuwirth (the second-coolest host of 2 Black Guys Talk Godzilla) pull another two-for-one guest hosting shift. It’s another Power Rangers-worthy (two minorities, two women and one generic white guy arbitrarily in charge) line-up, which I suppose makes sense since it seemingly took Tron 3 a thousand years to become “free” even if it absolutely failed to conquer Earth.

It’s just the terrific trio this time around, as Scott, Lisa and Jeremy dig into what went (mostly) right with Taylor Swift’s second glorified feature-length theatrical commercial and what went so very wrong with A24 and Dwayne Johnson’s The Smashing Machine. Meanwhile, after a shockingly good overseas hold, behold some cautiously optimistic long-term “projections” for One Battle After Another, as well as a frank explanation of A) why Release Party of a Showgirl opened with barely 1/3 of what The Eras Tour debuted with in October 2023 and B) why Avatar: The Way of Water’s theatrical reissue opened to less than 1/3 of what Avatar grossed in its September 2022 reissue. Oh, and Lisa — who has seen almost no pre-Casino Royale 007 films — watched GoldenEye for the first time.

In terms of the written word…

Scott Mendelson anchored day 51 of Ted Hope’s #FilmStack Inspiration Challenge.

Jeremy Fuster dissected the glory that is Art the Clown’s Terrifier-themed maze (and his impromptu appearances where you might least expect him) at this year’s Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights events.

Lisa Laman explained why Emily Blunt wasn’t remotely a good fit for her supporting turn in The Smashing Machine.

Ryan Scott’s “Tales from the Box Office” highlighted what proved to be a somewhat defining (even if its lessons have now become comparatively forgotten) October 2000 box office showdown during which the new and youth-skewing (Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro’s Meet the Parents) pancaked the old and nostalgia-skewing (Sylvester Stallone’s Get Carter remake).

If you like what you hear, please like, share, comment, and subscribe (using a cartoon mallet) with every justified ounce of strength and passion. If you’d like to reach out and offer good cheer, request in-show discussions, or suggest ideas for bonus episodes, please email us at Asktheboxofficepod@gmail.com (which I finally fixed so that it’ll forward to my personal business email, natch). Oh… and the paid subscriber chat for October 9 is set for today at 11:00 a.m. PST.

* Scott Mendelson - The Outside Scoop and Puck News

* Jeremy Fuster - TheWrap

* Lisa Laman - Dallas Observer, Pajiba, Looper, Comic Book and Autostraddle

* Ryan C. Scott - SlashFilm and Fangoria

The host of The Brandon Peters Show (the only pod with a less creative title than “The Box Office Podcast”) returns to discuss One Battle After Another, which pulled a giant *shrug* of a $22 million domestic debut. Did the reviews, buzz and Oscar attention fail to move the needle, or did all the positive variables merely prevent an even lower opening? And with two in a row, is Leonardo DiCaprio now a mere $20 million-plus opener compared to the $30-$40 million highs seen in the 2010s? Sure, WB can afford to let this one underwhelm in relation to its budget and perhaps aspirational hopes, but theaters sure would have preferred another Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood or even The Departed.

Meanwhile, because the real news of the weekend was the perfectly-fine $13.7 million debut for Universal and DreamWorks’ Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie, longtime “kids entertainment in the streaming era” expert and pundit Emily Horgan stopped by all the way from Ireland to discuss the reemerging trend of kids toons and related youth-skewing shows getting the “Now it’s a movie, dammit!” treatment. While Brandon makes a convincing case for why Gabby should have perished in her feature film debut, all agree that the current upswing in such youth-skewing releases is a net-positive in terms of cultivating the next generation of regular (or even semi-regular) theatrical moviegoers. Oh, and Emily also agrees that Paw Patrol 3 should have been a Dark Knight remake, dammit.

Terence Johnson, he of 2 Black Guys Talk Godzilla and Le Noir Auteur, joins to chime in on Justin Trippin’s Him, including how director Justin Trippin’s theatrical cut differs from Zack Akers and Skip Bronkie’s original Black List-ed screenplay, as well as what didn’t appeal to a self-professed movie romance fan about A Big Bold Beautiful Journey. Those two, obviously, dominate the discussion. Among other topics, there’s a minor “debate” concerning whether anyone should have really felt duped walking into Him expecting a film *directed* by Jordan Peele. And all parties agree that Sony’s marketing for the Margot Robbie/Colin Farrell melodrama didn’t offer much beyond abstract romantic drama. The episode concludes with several minutes of One Battle After Another box office preview-specific chatter, so it’s a mostly business-as-usual 80-minute chit-chat. Oh, and there are spoilers concerning the original screenplay for Him as well as (somewhat generic, I would argue) spoilers for the finished picture.

TheWrap’s Managing Editor for Pro and business, Roger Cheng, joins TheWrap’s Jeremy Fuster (and Scott Mendelson, formerly of TheWrap and Lisa Laman, never from TheWrap) to discuss the blow-out domestic debut for Crunchyroll and Sony’s Demon Slayer Infinity Castle. But it’s not just all Demon Slayer chatter, as there’s ample time to discuss Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, Conjuring holdover business, and Jeremy’s frankly batshit insane pick for “favorite Stephen King movie.”

Lisa Laman was busy participating in a conference in Atlanta, so Jeremy Fuster and Scott Mendelson welcome back Kenny Miles to this week’s episode to discuss the blow-out opening weekend for WB and New Line’s The Conjuring: Last Rites. Miles, per usual, discusses his experiences and opinions related to his work as a CinemaScore pollster, while also bringing some insight into the films’ ongoing appeal to the more spiritually inclined.

Meanwhile, all parties agree that the biggest movie stars of The Conjuring Universe were not Annabelle and The Nun, but rather Ed and Lorraine Warren, as played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Vermiga. And everyone has an opinion as to how the franchise might continue (regardless of whether it should) sans the marquee actors and, give or take his future participation, James Wan as assurances that whatever comes next won’t succumb to “IP for IP’s sake” mistakes.

Yes, it’s a little odd to spend the majority of our conversation discussing a movie that barely topped $2 million over the Fri-Mon Labor Day box office, but them’s the breaks. After all, when Hollywood’s biggest new release is a 50th anniversary reissue of Jaws, well… we can only salute Weapons so many times.

Anyway, Luke Y. Thompson and Michelle Kisner, both affirmed B-movie experts, offer their thoughts on the extent to which this specific (comparatively kinder and/or gentler) Toxie makes sense in terms of the property and what’s popular in 2025.

Yes, there is some chatter about the shark movie — and how a handful of very successful rereleases tie into a desire for tangible experiences and the kids’ genuine interest in movie theaters *because* it gets them off of their smart phones for 2-3 hours.

We briefly wonder out loud whether Austin Butler is slowly building his brand as an old-school (smaller budgets, fewer expectations, etc.) butts-in-seats leading man, and lightly debate whether The Roses is “thing good” (a remake that isn’t selling itself as a remake) or “thing bad” (still a remake that went out as a Searchlight flick instead of as a 20th Century Studios release).

And, yes, we again note the “Occam’s Razor” notion of the box office being below even last summer (especially for in-season newbies) because there aren’t enough movies and too many of those films are IP-for-IP’s sake revamps aimed at folks my age. When Netflix is getting KPop Demon Hunters and movie theaters are getting This is Spinal Tap II, well, that’s your problem right there.

The picture, for reasons that are 99% related to the theatrical marketplace, came and went in theaters last month. But the early days of August brought not one but two excellent original thrillers that play like newfangled horror fantasies filtered through the world as it is today. WB helped turn Weapons into a sleeper smash hit, which should, by the time you read this, zoom past the unadjusted $137.4 million domestic total of The Conjuring. Meanwhile, strong buzz and good reviews notwithstanding, Sketch (review) was notable primarily for being Angel Studios’ first festival acquisition and, relatively speaking, their first theatrical flick not explicitly predicated on Christian dogma.

The good news is that, with the latter available to rent or buy digitally (and/or watch for free if you’re an Angel Guild member), you can catch up with the film just as you did with many (if not most) of your childhood favorites, namely at home. And while the terrific picture was no box office smash ($8 million, low even by Angel Studios standards), it’s also cheap enough perhaps to become an old-school post-theatrical favorite akin to Labrynth, The Monster Squad and (budget notwithstanding) The Iron Giant. That’s just one issue I discussed with writer/director Seth Worley in this (edited for time and clarity) 45-minute conversation.

The other topics include the real-world influences, the origins of the film’s high concept (a young girl whose macabre drawings come to life and wreak kaiju-style chaos amid her small town), the challenges of crafting an Amblin-worthy all-quadrant horror fantasy on a comparatively low budget, the obsticles in getting the money folks to roll the dice on an unapologetically emotional non-IP fantasy film, and Sketch’s surprising fate as a secular crowdpleaser from a (primarily) religious distributor. There’s more of course, but the crux is that I dug the hell out of Sketch, and I wanted to talk to the guy who made it.

In a world where movies like Bumblebee earn kudos and huzzahs for approximating the very kind of “kid and their magic pet” fantasies that the Transformers movies put out of business, Sketch never had a shot in heck at Free Willy or even Earth to Echo-level box office. However, the film got made, it was a nationwide theatrical release, and I hope that it becomes a genuine post-theatrical cult favorite. Anyway, I hope you enjoy. If anyone in Hollywood is listening to this, if you want me to potentially pretend to give a damn about Gremlins 3, Goonies 2, Second-to-Last-Starfighter, or what-have-you…