House of R - The 2024 Hype Draft

Episode Date: January 17, 2024

Mal and Jo are set to draft their most hyped things of 2024! They are also joined by Sean Fennessey and Ben Lindbergh to add to the fun and discuss what they are most looking forward to in 2024 (25:04). Hosts: Mallory Rubin and Joanna Robinson Guests: Ben Lindbergh and Sean Fennessey Associate Producer: Carlos Chiriboga Social: Jomi Adeniran Addition Production Support: Arjuna Ramgopal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Services not available in all areas. This is a form of power that our world has not yet seen. the ultimate power. I love you as long as I breathe. Never lose me as long as you stay who you are. Consider what you're about to do, you call it trade is. Silence! Greetings and welcome to House of Our,

the Ringerverse Podcast on the Ringer Podcast Network. I'm Mallory Rubin and it is my absolute pleasure to invite you not only to our newish House of Our podcast feed, but also to our second annual House of Our Podcasts. of our hype draft. As always, joining me today, letting me know that our fellow drafters were in the Amazon with my mom

when she was researching spiders right before she died. It's my house, Savar. Permanent title. Permanent title. Co-host. New York Times bestselling author of MCU the reign of Marvel Studios.

Joanna Robinson. Okay, I promise I'll stop now. I had to get one more in. I thought our New Year's resolution was we weren't doing that anymore. I just can't help it. It brings me joy. It brings me joy. Secondarily, how dare you spoil my number one draft choice of Madam Webb?

I know. We try not to tip the picks. I put my web agenda out there. She's tweeted out. Sometimes it's impossible. Wow. Okay. Joe.

Yeah. The 2024, the House of our Hype draft, is the second annual. And because we love tradition. We love friendship. We love Ocean Vistas. I'm not sure if the third is applicable today, but the first two definitely are. We're getting last year's hype draft band back together.

My sons never show mercy. It is. Button Mesh host Ben Lindberg and Big Picture host and Ringer Draft Daddy, Sean Fentasy. What's up, you fucking clowns? What's going on?

Surled to be back. When you want pure unrestrained hype, just sheer unbridled off the charts energy, you've got to call Ben Lindberg and Sean Fennessee. That's right. We're just, we're the best barometers of hype because we embody hype in everything we do.

Yes. Oozing with Riz. That's what they say about both of us. You're like the Pat McCaffey of Culture Podcasts. That's why you always podcast sleeve. with weights held out in front of you. Bro, you have no idea. Wow.

Look at that. This is why this should be a video pod. Sean just splashed a bicep for us and all of you fuckers missed it. We get the gun show. Sorry to the rest of you. Nobody else bought tickets. Just you three. Did you learn what Riz meant on The Golden Bachelor?

Is that where you heard that word for the first time? And your wife explained it to you? It means being a wacky podcast host, right? That's what it means. That's how it was explained to me in my dotage. Yeah. You're all caught up. on the vernacular of the youth.

Okay. Did you say in your dotage? Yeah. I love you, Sean. This is going to be a very normal podcast. I can tell already. I can tell already. We're going to run through the rules

for the hype draft exercise shortly, but before we do, some very quick rapid fire programming reminders, Ben, you're going to be back with a button mash on Monday. What would you like to preview for us there?

Tell us what's going. I would. We've got a couple games to cover. We're going to be talking about Prince of Persia, The Lost Crown. I know you're all hyped for that. I'm stealing that from your draft boards here, but we will be talking about Prince of Persia, probably the first big game of the year. And also, The Last of Us Part 2 remastered. Yeah, there's another version of The Last of Us Part 2 coming out. So if you haven't yet played it, you want to get a sneak peek of season two, which we will not be drafting today, as it is not coming out in 2024. But, this remaster is. So we'll be talking about that and some casting news. Exciting. Love it. How many Prince of Persia games have there been? Countless. But there has not been one for more than a decade, actually.

Oh, it's exciting. Not since Jake Gyllenhaal put his stamp on the character. Memorable film. Killed the franchise for several years. Did that kill the game franchise as well? I don't know that that was why. I don't know that we can hang that on Jake. It couldn't have helped.

Poor Jake. I love him. My precious Mysterio. Yeah, he's great. He is great. Sean, you're sort of the Mysterio of the Ringer podcast network. What would you, our very own Quentin Beck, like to tease for us today in Big Picture Land? What's going on? It's just the podcast. It comes out twice a week. It's getting increasingly chaotic and weird. But we're doing our best to just keep making like you. No, it's, I mean, it's Oscar season, right? So we'll be covering whatever's going on. with the cool people at the academy and how they vote for things. So cool. So normal.

Yeah, just very chill, exciting movies to hype up like the zone of interest, you know, just like classic IP, like that film. So, yeah, things are normal over there. Thanks for inviting me here for a little change of pace. I appreciate it. Yeah. Sean had the, I think, sincere pleasure

of in our first planning meeting of the new year, sitting across a Zoom screen from me, watching me read off of the notes app on my phone where I had chronicled all of the thoughts I had from the movies I caught up on over the holidays that I wanted to share with him. It was lovely. What was your favorite? Past lives. Can you share with your house of our audience? Past Lives.

I thought that was extraordinary. Just absolutely exquisite. What have we texted? Number two, Teenage Mutant Ninja Tales in May I am. A fucking amazing movie. Joanna and I traded a number of texts about past lives. And also, Margaret. A lot of texts about Margaret.

What's the most important text exchange? Well, we've been texting. I'm not sure if the public is ready for our saltburn commentary. No, they don't need to know what we've been talking about. Certainly, Salburn. Salburn has been an important part of our friendship. Certainly, Salburn. You've always been a bit of a bathtub mommy as I think about it now.

So that movie has incredible Mallory energy. Like insane off the charts, Mallory Energy. I know. I enjoyed my viewing experience. I actually think poor things has more Mallory Energy, but she hasn't seen it yet. Oh, okay, okay. I can't wait. I need to get on time.

I can't wait. I'll make sure you're both on the Zoom with me when I read you my notes, app, thoughts on poor things. Great. And you're welcome to join, too. Please. Thank you. Here in the House of R,

we will be back with you on Friday for our latest deep dive into a television show that we are sincerely loving. Percy Jackson, we will be potting about episodes five and six this week. If you're not watching Percy yet, treat yourself, catch up, join us for the podcast. It has been a blast. Genuinely, genuinely great.

Genuinely. Way better than it needs to be. Just genuinely. Spinoff. When? I need it. So good. Okay.

The last program reminder is always the spoiler warning. It's hard to do that today. We're obviously not going to spoil any plot particulars from the impending releases that we select today because we don't know anything that's going to happen in any of these releases. But we might mention germane aspects of a given fictional universe or franchise from a prior installment, if that's relevant. So, you know, spoiler warning for previous content in the ringer-verse universe, I think that's sort of all we need to say today in blanket fashion. Okay. We're going to go through the draft rules now. They're going to be familiar to anybody who,

wow, look at this appearance from Bug. You guys, you see Joanna's cat right behind her. Just ignore it. That was wonderful. Bug is ready to draft. Don't support her. Everybody listening will be familiar with the rules and as well as Bug. Bug. Bug is familiar with the rules because they're the exact same rules as last year. We loved it. We had a blast. We're keeping the formula. We are drafting as a quartet. It's the four of us. We're going snake draft style. At some point in this podcast, who can say at what minute mark, Carlos will establish the draft order in real time. None of us know when we are picking. We will find out together chaos will ensue. The five categories are the same as last year. They are TV show, movie, animated, sequel,

wild card five categories four drafters 20 total picks what will get left off the board i don't know we'll find out together if you're wondering yes once again a subsequent season of a television show is eligible in sequel that was a rule we set last year we're sticking with it a number of possible selections will be eligible across categories part of the fun is deciding where you want to pick a thing what is eligible for selection? This is going to be a little bit trickier this year than last year, I think. Time frame. Anything that is confirmed for a 2024 release or

this might be the most operative sentence of the entire pod, reasonably expected to come out in 2024 is eligible for today. What does reasonably expected to come out in 2020 mean when so many things got pushed and we're all trying to figure out the release schedule for the year in real time together. Who knows? You can pick something that you think is coming out this year. Your fellow drafters reserve the right to challenge you.

We're going to have to kind of feel that out in real time. I think one of my guesses is we're going to have a little more leeway here than we did last year because a lot of this is unknown. But if something is like decidedly 2025, there are reports saying it has been pushed to next year and you try to pick it for this year, you will be vetoed by your fellow drafters. Any nerd culture property is eligible. Genre fair. Sci-fi, fantasy, superhero stories.

If it is something that we could potentially podcast about in the ringer-verse orbit, you can draft it onto your hype squad. And also any type of media is eligible. So there's going to be a lot of television, a lot of film. But Ben picked two video games last year. You could pick video games. You could pick a comic. You can pick a novel.

Pick whatever you want. It's going out this year and you're excited about it. Feel free to pick it. When you make a pick, specify the release title and the category in which you are selecting it. Any questions about eligibility categories, anything like that? No. I have one, but by asking it, I'm revealing an interest set.

Ask it when you make your move. Yeah. Okay. I think someone at some point, maybe all of us at one point, maybe some of us more than once, we'll pick something that we have to talk through whether it's eligible. And that'll be okay. That'll be part of the exercise today. Sean, if you want to tip your hand now and ask now, go for it. No, I don't. I don't. In fact, maybe I don't even want that thing. So forget I said anything. Moving on. Will you reveal at the end of the podcast after nobody selected it what you were talking about?

I will. I promise that. Okay. We won't have to live forever in the mystery and suspense. That's a relief. What's the goal today? My beloved colleagues and pals, the goal is to have fun. The goal is to celebrate what awaits us on the content calendar. We are each seeking to assemble a hype-tastic roster of impending releases, the things that we're excited about the things that we're anticipating. Maybe the things that are going to wind up being really good and really acclaimed, but this is not an attempt to predict eventual success or quality, which is an important distinction. Ideally, everything we talk about will wind up being good.

But it's really about what hype means to you and what we are anticipating. now what we are collectively or individually really looking forward to finally watching, reading, talking about together. You only live in the hype while it's here. And then you have to actually deal with whether the thing sucked or not. So let's enjoy the hype while we have it. It's just then I find determining a winner so hard. She says as one of last year's losers.

But like, like, if it's just about hype and not about the actual quality of the thing, then what are we voting for? Yeah. If you maintain that that, that the quality is immaterial, then if there's huge hype and it ends up being massively disappointing. I don't think quality is immaterial,

but I think there's a distinction between saying this is like a full-on prediction of what stories at the end of the year will, like, stand the test of time. Part of excitement, presumably, is that you think something is going to be good and meaningful, right? Like, how often are you excited for something that you think is going to be dog shit?

So it's not like completely irrelevant. Mallory just doesn't want to be held to the fact that Mando's season three was her first round picture. last time. I feel pretty good about my overall roster last year. Your roster last year is good. It was pretty, it held up okay.

It held up okay. Your roster is fine. Mando is your first round pick is just the most glaring. We didn't know. We didn't know. Yeah. We're just, we're holding up our fingers to the cultural winds. We're assessing the zeitgeist, just how the culture is feeling currently.

We can't predict how it will be feeling months down the road, right? What's in your heart? I think it does when we live. look back. I don't know how much you've gone back and studied your picks from last year to guide your strategy this year. I've done a lot of tape review on our performances from last year. What would you like to say about it? I did great, first of all. And I'm shocked that Sean showed up again. Got a lot of nerve. Showed up after what you pulled. Who among us has seen the film Aquaman in the Lost Kingdom? Because I have. I was there. I showed up to my local AMC and I watched the film

to support James Wan and his creativity. To support your hype draft? I enjoyed the film. Yes. I supported my team. I supported the filmmakers I admire. I supported Patrick Wilson, whom I love. We're doing great over here on my team.

What would you like to say about secret evasion? Anything? Haven't seen it. Couldn't say. Might have been great for all shot on those. I don't know. Oh, man. The ball is in the air.

This is, I like that Ben drew first blood because Joanna was making fun of me pre-recorded because I often make, make a declaration in this vein, but I really do, first of all, I think the nature of the hype draft is a communal celebration. So I think by the standard of a typical house of our hype draft, this will be very chill. Celebratory. But personally, I am committed to just having, having fun, having a good time. You're going to see a different me today. This is my literally only resolution for 2000. No, actually, I have two resolutions for 2024. Behave. Not on all

draft. Behave on the 2004 House of our hype draft. Oh, just the one. Make a few doctor's appointments. Like get my eyes examined, things like, that's it for the year. Other than that, we'll see how it goes. Let's look at optometrists together. Okay, great. Yeah. Yeah, we're looking for some way to fill our time when we're together in a few days.

It sounds like we just figured it out. Great stuff. I love it. What else would we talk about if not optometries appointments? That's great. I'm so excited for you, Mallory. I don't know why you set yourself. I actually know what.

I support you. I believe you. I'm committed. I'm committed to be nice. be true today. I am so excited. I was prepping for this. I'm like, you know what? There's just a lot of stuff I'm excited to see. I know. You know what? It's like when I stay up late and I tell myself, that's tomorrow Ben's problem, right? When he wakes up exhausted. Well, later. Later than usual. You know. Sean and I have known you for more than a decade. And you have two things are true. You have never not exercised at 3 a.m. And as a result, you have never been awake to respond to a message in the not. to 10 a.m. window. That is true. Yes. When I stay up early, let's put it that way. There we go.

Okay. I put it off as future me's problem. And I feel like that's what happens here with you. There's pre-draft mail and there's draft mail. And pre-draft mail can say that draft mail is going to behave. But then draft mail shows up and all bets are off. Yeah, usually I don't believe her, but I've decided to believe her today because it's a new year. It could be a new year. If not now, when? You know? And when I make a small. collection in a given doomed franchise and say, I believe in the capacity to change, I need to, I need to apply that in a meta sense. So I'm committed to that today. I stand by your, your dial of destiny pick last year. Great movie. I don't know what anyone else was seeing. Anyway, I think that we are aligned. That movie ruled and I don't know what the hell is wrong

with everyone. But in studying our draft boards last year, I noticed that nine out of our 20 collective picks were Marvel or Star Wars, how many would you guess we're going to be picking from those franchises this time? Because things are wide open, not only because of the strikes and the delays, but also because the two titans of last year's drafts, they're taking 2024 off, relatively speaking. Yeah. This is one of the things I was excited to talk to you guys about, like, without everybody tipping what's on their board, it does feel fair to say it's just going to be much more open and the picks will be distributed across streamers and IPs and franchises or non-franchises more widely than last year.

That feels safe. And I think as a result, maybe less consensus heading in in like what the top 10, 15, 20 is, right? Does that feel likely? Can I ask a qualifying question? Please. The TV show has to be new. Yes. Can we put sequels in the movie category?

Or does that go in the sequel category? Sequels can be, you can pick a movie in movie sequel Wildcard. Wait, the TV series needs to be not the next season of a TV series? It can be. Like my, yeah, my sequel pick last year. Oh, it can. You're just saying blah, blah, blah, season four can be. And go in sequel.

Yeah, my sequel picked last year was low-key season two, which I could have picked in TV, but I had already picked Mando, so I put it in sequel. Okay, got it, got it, got it, got it, got it, got to got it. I misunderstood the TV part, and I got really worried because literally everything coming out next year is sequel, so I was like, what are we going to do? Yeah, so you could be some bleed across categories. For sure, for sure, yes. I think last year, I came to the show trying to operate in the spirit of the show.

And so even though I had more or less realized that the Marvel investment that I had made as a human, me as a stand-alone person, had ceased to matter that I was out. I still drafted three Marvel things, one of which was great. Guardians three, that movie rocks. So I have no regrets about that. The other two, like I said, didn't cease here in invasion. Sounds like it wasn't very good. X-Men 97 was not released, unfortunately for me, even though I took it second overall. May or may not have been a mistake. TVD. Two of the top five picks last year did not come out last year. It happens. Yes. It was a chaotic.

See how supportive of I'm being? But I'm trying to figure out, like, when we sat down to do it last year, I didn't know that, like, John Wickford was eligible until you, Mal, you drafted it, right? Yeah, you drafted. And when you drafted it, I was like, is that allowed? Like, so. That was questionable at the time. We debated it. We talked

about it, but I think we all agreed there's a healing factor at play. But I'm, what I'm trying to... And it's super soldier suit. But I'm just trying to figure out for myself, should I just go deeper into house of our ringer-a-verse? Or should I be like trying to bend the rules a little bit. I think you should bend the rules. Because this is actually like

this is the, this is the shit lord year for for genre stuff. Like this is the time. Like this is my time. Like the movies that are on the board, these are like, these are my comic movies that I care about. We weren't going to invite you back until we realize that. Okay. I appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you for seeing me. No. Sean, you're always invited. Every moment you're here with us is a joy. It's an honor.

to have a dream of our. I love being picked on on all the pods that I do now. That's just my job is to just get picked on by all my colleagues. I remember us being very anxious about animation last year, too, and that category turned out to be so stacked. I mean, that was the year of animation. Chris Ryan was watching animation in 2023, so we had no reason to be nervous whatsoever.

I feel like that was more the product of it felt like there was such a clear leader in that category. And I took it first. Yeah, but it was like, shit, if you don't get Spider-Verse, and less a reflection of the overall depth of the category. But it's an interesting observation, Ben, and I do wonder if the strength of the animated slate last year will have a bearing on how things shake out this year. Anything on the 2024-2020 timeline question that,

or just general release slate clarity or lack thereof that you want to talk through before we start? Obviously, some stuff has dates, and then a lot of stuff is a very loose. We're expecting to see this this year. Is there anything anyone wants to discuss there or throw out on how that might impact this election today? I think you should take it case by case.

I have a couple. They're kind of deep in my rotation, though, so it's not going to be a problem until it's a problem. Is everything back on the board? Yes. Yes, sadly. No carryover picks from Wednesday. Yeah.

Yes. I pleaded to carryover Dune Part 2, but I was denied. No. Outer outrageous suggestions. frankly outrageous. Not. Great pick by me. I got a full year of hype out of Dune Part 2.

The hype is undiminished. Your year of hype might help someone else's roster this year. It's true. It happened. Okay. Anything else looking ahead that anybody wants to flag, any themes or patterns that anybody feels they could safely identify without tipping their hands or should we set the draft order? No.

It was funny because I run trial by content we did like the big movie bet of the year, like trying I picked the movie and just genuinely the sequel mania this year, more than any other year, as far as I can tell. So let's do it. I'm going to say I took two video games in last year's hype drafts. I'm going to limit myself to at most one this time. I couldn't help it. Wow.

I stole Spider-Man 2 and Tears of the Kingdom. Your two picks last year were amazing though. Yeah, it was a great gaming year. And you all have tied your hands behind your backs, the hands that you could be using to play these great video games. And I was well within my rights. I still would be, but it just seems unsporting somehow. So I've got games in my back pocket here. Maybe a wild card pick at the end. We'll see how the draft goes. But we also now have a video game podcast on the ring reverse. So I feel like I can get my hype out there. We already did our 2024 hype pod on button mash.

If this is a like strategic plug for button mash, I respect it. But if it's just that you're afraid to be you, Ben, you are in a safe space with people who love you. Follow your passion. Pick whatever the fuck you want. Disagree. I'm going to dunk on you if you take more than one. Oh, man. All right. Should we set the draft order?

Is it time? Let's do it. Carlos. Carlos, are you ready to set and reveal the order of the 2024 House of our hype draft? I am. It has been randomly generated, so I will be taking no complaints. All right.

So the first pick is going to be Joanna. The second pick will be Ben, the third pick, Mao, and the fourth pick, Sean. I had the third pick last year. Why does this keep happening? Wow. I will say. Do you remember how I was first pick last time, and you remember how I just did not make the most of that opportunity, so don't even like... Okay.

When you're first, you can take one wonderful thing off the board and then you should have to sit on your hands for like an hour. That's true. So I will say, and maybe, again, maybe we don't all agree and that'll be part of what we discover very early here. But not to make excuses early, I'll just say I feel there is like a clear top two. Then there's like a, you can go a number of directions from there. But I would love to have a top two pick this year. There are a couple things I would really love to have. I also think there's clear top two.

But maybe that. I agree with you. Let's see. Okay, so it's Joanna with the number one pick. Ben with the number two pick I have three Sean has four so Sean you'll be picking on the turn

and then we'll go back the other direction everybody good everybody ready to roll yes Joanna take it away I agree with Mallory

there's two clear for our brand two clear top two choices and I will admit to being partially motivated by spite in terms of which one I'm picking. And so I will be taking Dune Part 2 off the board

with love all the level of world to bed, but also who actually had a chance to get Dune back and he can't have it. It's mine. I took great care of it for a year. It's yours now. Thank you. It's also my pick for the biggest movie over on Trial by content. So just brand strong across the board amassing the hype behind Dune.

And something that Ben said in Slack, and I completely agree with him, is that the delay has only allowed the hype to build further. And of course, Timothy's wonderful performance in Wonka additionally only, I just said that. That was for Sean. Horrible. Terrible film. A wonderful film. Everyone agrees except for Sean. Yeah.

Do you taking this in movie or sequel? Oh, great. Great question. Less is your movie. I'll put in a movie. A great question asked with respect and a gentle demeanor. I completely agree. After already pointing out that there's a clear top two.

And so if things happen to go south for you in this draft, it is a function of the draft order. No, I'll be very excited. I will be very excited about when I selected three. There's a lot of, I think there's a loaded field here. I just, you know, I think Joe said that there's like, like a, there's a house of our aspects. Yeah.

Though I do honestly think that extends to the top three, that, that in particular. We'll get there when we get there. All right, Ben. Okay. I know what you're going to take. Take it. Well, I agree that there is a clear top two this year. I think the choice comes down to Rebel Moon Part 2, the Scargiver.

Yes. And Rebel Moon Part 1, a child of fire the director's cut. I've been torn between these two, but I've decided to leave them on the board for the rest of you. And I will be taken. House of the Dragon season two. And I'm sorry to do it to you. I look forward to your incredible coverage of the show as I reap the rewards of having drafted it

in my hype draft. I am despondent. You know what, though? I'm happy for both of you because I love you both. And I love House of the Dragon and I love Dune. And here's the spin. not only do I get to select something at three I don't even know if Ben was finished

I just started talking but Ben which category are you picking it in? Great question I think I will take it in sequel okay so you can draft the second season

of a television series in sequel you can yes you can okay what kind of a what kind of a chop shop are you running here Mel I don't understand this at all.

Is it because you don't intend to select a television show even somehow inside of the television show category and your outrage that we're giving people more ways to pick TV instead of movies? Is that what this is? I'm contemplating that. I have some ideas. I have some ideas. But I don't really, as much as I really admire Joanne, I don't really support television

in general. Why am I the like, oh boy. rep for television on the show. YouTube podcast about television together. Yeah, you're a multi-TV podcast host. What's the one podcast where you don't get dunked on by your colleagues? It's the prestige TV feed. It's honestly true.

I will podcast with you for the rest of time because your goal is not to humiliate me and I appreciate that. Correct. Correct. Oh, boy. Okay. I know what I'm going to pick. despite longing for one of those top two, I actually think the number three is also pretty clear for me.

And I have been spared the anguish of having to select between Dune and hot D. I actually don't know what I would have done if I had gotten the number one pick. I think I would have been torn apart and just disintegrated in real time. It would have been like when Rip Tide goes through a monster on Percy. It just sort of turned into confetti and that would have been that. So here I am. In tact and whole and ready to make my third pick. And I would like to do so in song.

This is for Joanna. Past eyes of pale fire Black sand for my bed I trade all I've known for the hype draft win With joy in my heart I will select This is a stunning pick obviously

But it's very loyal to our podcast And I appreciate that I will be selecting The Lord of the Rings The Rings of Power season two Which is as House of our core as it gets. I'm going to select this in sequel.

I'm going to select this in sequel. I'm going to keep TV show open for later. They say, the great philosophers of our time, that alone it's just a journey. Now, adventures, they must be shared. And this is something that Joanna and I got to experience and live in real time together with season one. And so looking ahead to season two,

coming at some point later this year on Amazon. I'm assuming fall, possibly early winter. We had such a joyous time covering season one together. So not only am I excited for the next stage in the story, hot saron, mortar belching smoke, you know, the three elven rings have been formed. We've got to look forward to time with the stranger, our beloved Harfuts.

What's going on with our guy at Sildor? The source of so many bits, as Carlos is reminding us, Avion of it, lad. The Rings of Power will be back with our gal-gall. I not only can't wait to see what's next in this world and to continue to see how they take these kernels of appendix canon and build an entire fully realized, rich, gorgeous, beautifully portrayed and rendered universe.

So to look forward to that, to look forward to something that Joanna and I love covering together, and that the House of Our Heads, the bad babies really love sharing with us, how could this not be my pick here? I dazzled. This is like one of the most generous to our little show,

our little indie podcast that we put together and just a few people listen to, that you could be. Because, yeah, this is House of Our Corps, not necessarily broadly. Well, people watch the show, at least the beginning of it. At least the beginning of it. I'm really excited for Rings of Power.

At the end of the day, the listeners of this podcast will be the ones voting, and I'm banking on that a little bit. Good job. Yeah. Clever. Clever girl, as they say. I watch Rings of Power season one, liked it, looking forward to season two. I don't think this is my top Tolkien property on my draft board for this year. Well, put that little tease out there. That's category dependent, though, you know?

It is. I see what you're saying. I'll just say that wasn't on my board. Just not something I was going to. I'll be checking. out. No offense. Joanna again, I know this is very important to you and I support House of ours coverage of that series, but we'll not be watching it. Did you know about one and three people with plaques psoriasis may also develop psoriotic arthritis, which causes joint pain,

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Last year, Sean, you made a spite pick. You took Asoka solely to upset Mallory. Will you be bringing that energy to today's draft? No. I had already selected a Star Wars series and so I was not going to take Asoka. And so... No. I'm bringing a masculine energy to this podcast. That's what I want you guys to know that hopefully all of my picks show the true 360 degree vision of me as a man. My first pick will be Furiosa Mad Max Saga, which is one of my... Tough one for Joe here. Most anticipated movies of the year.

I, of course, love all the Mad Max films. George Miller at the ripe old age of 114 directed this film. Australian legend that he is. This is the fifth Mad Max film and stars Annie Taylor Joy and Chris Hemsworth. It's a prequel to Fury Road. some concern about the trailer. I'd just like to say to the listeners of House of R relax. Relax.

You watched a trailer on your phone. Just relax. It's going to be okay. The film will look magnificent. This is one of the great film artists of our time. I'm taking this film in sequel. I was going to ask if prequels slash spinoffs are eligible for sequel. Yeah.

Of course they are. Yeah. Okay. All right. It's still a loose sequel to like the Mad Mass Saga. Yeah. Who knows what's going on in the time of that saga? We don't actually know.

Yeah, we don't actually know at this point because we don't even have Tom Hardy playing Max. No, no, Max. Interesting that three of the top four picks were sequel, sequel picks given Joe's observation that it is an incredibly deep sequel field. Fascinating. Yeah, I have mostly sequels on my mind. Yeah, that's what's on the board this year.

Sean, can I ask you a quick question based on the only good part of Oceans 13, which is like, do you think the nose plays on Hemsworth? How's that nose working for you? TBD. TBD. I think I'm not sure about the state of Hemsworth in general. Like, where's he at as a performer? What's going on? Like he's, you can be extraction Hemsworth or you can be.

Thor Hemsworth or you can be Disney plus nature documentary series Hemsworth or you can be Black Hat Hemsworth so like which one of that quartet is he going for? You can do it all why you're trying to live

for Shamsworth? I hope it's Lady Ghostbusters Hemsworth. That's my... You think that's what he's going to be playing in Inferiosa? Don't you think the tones match perfectly?

No, I think he's going to be Gonzo Hensworth. I'm really excited for this for him. I am too. It feels closest to Thor to me. So we shall see. So I'm excited about that.

Like to Ragnarok. Yes, to Ragnarok. To Ragnarok. Yeah. It's a love and thunder, the best. Oh, Dark Worlds. And adored.

Bring that dark world. I mean, everyone loves that. Number one Dark World fan here on the pod. I don't know. Underrated film. Unfairly maligned. What's the, what's the Mcuffin and Dark World?

The ether. Yeah. The reality's done. I hope you. heard how it was spelled the way I said it. Anyway. Quality film. Okay, so for my second pick, I am taking a film that's going to be released on my birthday.

This will be my 42nd birthday, and I'll be celebrating as all 42-year-old should, which is by watching the comic action stylings of Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds in Deadpool 3. I'm selecting this for my movie. This is my movie pick. I think that this is weirdly. and we've said this about every single Marvel release for the last 28 months, but this is the most make or break movie

in Marvel history. It is, though. It really is. If this movie is not good or fails to connect with box office fans, it's a huge problem. But you know what? I'm an avowed fan of the Deadpool franchise

despite kind of hating Ryan Reynolds. So this is a paradox of paradoxes, and I'm very much looking forward to this movie and also very curious to see if this is where they start a proper reset. It feels like they are now going to start a proper reset with this movie. What do you guys think? I don't know about proper reset,

but I do know that they are leaning heavy on the nostalgia pedal. They're trying to recapture the No Way Home energy with this. And I think it's going to work. I think this is going to make them a ton of them. I think if this fails, it's a disaster for Marvel. But I think even if it makes a gazillion dollars, sort of similar to Guardians 3, It's not necessarily like, oh, the ship is steady again, do you know, because this is a carryover property, etc., etc.

Yeah. It's kind of like Guardians 3, right, where we said, oh, even if this is good, it's not really that reassuring for Marvel. But I think it's going to be big. And I think it's a good pick because we've kind of cleared off the blockbusters, right? The nerd culture movie blockbusters, that category is looking a little tattered right now, at least on my board. No respect for Craven. Sad. Wow.

Dismaying. Sean, I think it's a great pick. I would have taken it just now if you hadn't. So I have no notes on the selection. What a wonderful film franchise. I can't wait for this movie. I miss Deadpool movies. It's been too long.

The Merck with a mouth. That's also what we call Sean. Sean's known for his direct-to-camera address. He loves to look right down the Zoom camera. Yeah, exactly. And his enthusiasm for Spandex. It's true. It's true. Okay, number of ways that I could go here. I am going to be the first person to test the time frame question. Let's just do it now. Let's do it now. Why not? We might as well have a shared experience on the calendar front together early. Because I will be selecting my second. second round pick,

here on the turn, my television show. A small Netflix property just trying to see if people are interested in these little kids

and Hawkins, Stranger Things Season 5. They haven't started shooting it. Yes, they have. They put a photo up like that they cast The cast is going for a read. They're in production.

They have not beginning of the year. They've not shot it. No. They released season four in volumes, right? In chunks. It is completely in the bounds of possibility that volume one of season five of Stranger Things is just one or two movie length installments.

You don't think they could do that in 11 months? They've been working on these scripts for literal years. And there's an energy of anxiety around the time frame when you, when you're reading quotes from everybody involved. They're like, we really got to get, we really got to do this. We really got to get this out. I think they're going to push to make it happen. What do you think?

I don't. I think there are so many digital effects that they have to put in. Like the Vecna digital effects are going to take them forever. Like, no. So it's a prosthetic suit. It's a prosthetic suit. It's ready from last time. Yeah, I got to go against you here.

I don't think it has to be beyond a reasonable doubt that it will come out in 2024, but I think it needs to be at least like preponderance of the evidence. And I think this is just, just such a big deal. There's the stakes, the hype. I mean, would be a great pick for you, hype-wise. But I think Finn Wilfard said before the strikes, I think, that early 20- I know. Even less than we're putting stock in Matt Smith. It's true. The release state announcement for House of the Dragon. The actors don't always know the time-wise. When Stranger thinks season five is going out. Here's a no way.

Hellfire Club math for you. Okay. Now, granted, pandemic, et cetera. Yeah. But season four... Yeah. The pandemic math is like a whole other... We can't go off that. Sure. Season 4 went into production February 2020 and the first episode aired May 22.

Because they couldn't film because of the pandemic. That's not the same thing. For part of it. For part of it. But pandemic delays did not delay other things that long. So I veto this. I love you. I had to try.

Like I said, I gave the preamble that I was expecting it to be a contention. discussion. Had to try. There's literally no downside to trying to pick one of these things. That's not eligible. And if you had gotten away with it, it would have been a great pick. Yeah, exactly. Had to be bold. Had to try. Okay. Stranger Things. Sean did not comment. I presume that Sean has not seen the last few seasons of Stranger Things and is not interesting discussing. What is stranger things? Can you guys tell me what it is? Remember Barb? When she said little kids, she meant seven foot tall, fully grown adults. Well, I was going to say, like, is part of the reason that production is going to be so long as because they're using the Irishman de-aging technology on all the 40-year-olds in the cast.

That was part of my case for why they're in a hurry. It's like they don't want, what are they going to do when they bring everybody for the premiere just double up and film the 20 anniversary special at the same time for like the Hawkins crew? You know, come on. They have to make sure all of Joe Curie's Fargo hair has grown out for Stranger Things season 5. There's a lot of hair there. With some moose and some spray. We can get to Steve Harrington volume quickly.

Is Matthew Modine still a part of the series? ish, yes. Because I, you know, I watched the film Oppenheimer again recently, and I was observing him, and I was like, even he looks too old to be in Stranger Things anymore. Like, in Oppenheimer, he looks like he's 75. That's not the character he's playing. Am I right? I would recommend Stranger Things, Sean.

It's a great program. It's basically movies now, too. It's movie length. You might like it. That's even worse. One episode is 98 minutes. That makes me want to throw myself off of Ridge. Terrible.

Okay. Longer than 98 episodes or two hours? Yeah, right. It was close. Last year. Yeah, it was bad. It was bad. Come on, man.

Get it together. Maybe the first time ever that we've had House of our podcasts that were shorter than the runtime of the thing in question. I'm not sure it's happened outside of that. Before or since, no. Okay. I appreciate you all engaging in that thoughtful discussion about the nature of time. Thank you.

I will instead be selecting my movie. And again, we discovered earlier when Sean was given us the gun show that it's not a video pod. So nobody could see this. Otherwise, what I would do is I would put on really small little gym shorts in honor of the lead of this film, Paul Muskell, before selecting Gladiator 2. Let's go. I have to assume that this was on Sean's. I'm a man and we'll be picking manly movies. Is this nerd culture?

Yes. I think this fits within myth-making, heroes rising. This is absolutely eligible in our universe. Come on. It's really borderline, but I will allow it. We covered fast in the furious movies on reverse pods before this fits. This is nonsense. This is complete nonsense.

Honestly, what are you talking about? Gladiator is nerd culture. Gladiator is the opposite of nerd culture. It's a genre film, and we dabble in all corners of the genre universe, and this is absolutely something that falls into the realm of studying how myths are created and forged and then spread across our culture. And if that's not at the heart of the house of our experience, I don't know what is. Joanna nodded in agreement.

She nodded hesitantly, I would say. I mean, I already, I can't, I can't, first of all, I can't, like, argue her down two in a row. And secondly, um, see, the more, the more I, the more she takes off the more she takes off, the more she gets closer to picking something that I want to pick, you know what I mean? I don't want to pick Slater either too. So that we would veto and then we would feel bad about consecutive vetoes. No. This is, this is the spot.

This is galaxy's brain. Speaking of stranger things, can you believe that? that Joe Quinn, Paul Muskell, and Pedro Pescal are going to be all in the same movie. And that Barry was, Barry was almost in it. He's not in a... He's out. Denzel? I mean, the cast of this movie is extraordinary.

And I cannot wait to experience this film in theaters, November 22nd. And then listen to coverage on the Ringer Podcast Network. I'm not going to officially veto, but like, is McBeth eligible? Like, what else is on the board here? We talk about Shakespeare quite a bit. This is a big pod for the bard. I would allow Macbeth. Sean, you said at the beginning that you wanted to test the waters of eligibility.

I thought this would be right up your alley. Be the mallory you want to see in the world, Sean. Just like, honestly, pick the most straightforward thing and make the argument. And I will probably support you. I'm trying to think of what's a movie that's coming out this year that fits the bill there. I could just be like, I'm selecting the most straight-down. the middle drama and just making a case for it as you're not having genre elements. I'll figure one out.

You can try. What comes back to me? Can we draft wolves on this podcast? That's a great, great question. Yeah, the new George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Conman movie. Is that eligible? That's a genre. Well, it has wolves in it.

And so just Game of Thrones. So there you go. Love a Wolf. Absolutely love a wolf. Sounds like we're allowing this. Is that where we landed? Yeah. I'm playing under protests.

I mean. Can I just say last night, I was watching the Eagles Bucks game and there was a moment near the end of the game where the Eagles were lining up for a field goal and the bucks went off sides. And as soon as they did it, I was like they did that on purpose to kind of bully the

Eagles into going for it on fourth and five. When they did go for it, they did not get it. That was you trying to take stranger things and then going for Gladiator 2. You just, as Ben pointed out, you just blinked us out. Yeah. It made us exasperated. Oh yeah. Joanna is really nice and is your full-time pod partners

So can start a war here. That is not our dynamic on drafts. No. Not at all. I really disagree. She would be the first to challenge me. It would be, it's the absolute reverse. She would have played Gladiator 2 and gone for Stranger Things 5.

Stranger Things is way more hyped in the nerd verse than Gladiator 2. Like, there's no way she would blow this gambit on on Stranger Things and then... On a gambit. It's a selection of something I'm looking forward to. She too. I love a myth. I don't think this is going to... I don't think people are.

I was excited for Gladysater, too. And so I don't think it's like something we need to worry about is what I'm saying. Internet's boyfriend, you know, it's, uh, yeah, I'm not, I would say I, that's the other thing with like the dearth of Marvel, Star Wars, Grogu's Back, et cetera. I think last year I was like, what am I excited for? But also what do I think other people are excited for? Don't care this year. I'm like, what's my part?

You know, I'm looking forward to rings of power. I am looking forward to Paul Vascal being in this film. And it's been. This movie has been in the works for, in some capacity, more than two decades. What a time in cinema to get together and watch Gladiator 2 together. I can't believe. No one's questioning the hype bona fides here. I'm hyped.

Do you know what the original premise of the original Gladiator sequel was? Tell me right now. It was written by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, the musicians. And it was Maximus Goes to Hell. fights Satan. That was literally the idea. Now, that sounds like a house of our film. I think this further cements that this is a property that is at home in our orbit. Thank you for that, Sean. You're welcome. You are the ultimate arbiter of what's at home in the house of our orbit, but I will just say, as hyped as I am, this was not on my board.

Maybe that's my failing. I should have freed my mind. This means we get to cover Gladiator, too. Exactly. You can't wait to talk about it in November. It's great. I love to justify this. for us. Great news for us. If there is no House of R or Ring or Reverse coverage of Gladiator 2. There will be. There will be. Right now.

No. It's not. This is, we went through this last year. This is not like Reggie Bush's Heisman. People don't retroactively lose their hype draft picks based on how something pans out. It is in the moment exercise. If they did, then you would have to forfeit your last of us pick.

Exactly. Because we covered that on the Prestige TV podcast for some reason. Well, we did have Alconter two that dabbled. on it here. So you might be able to help on. I hosted one, in fact. I think that qualifies. But Dune didn't come out last year. So you would barely have been able to bring yourself to show up today because of the shame of that. If that was how we approached. I got a year's worth of hype out of that pick. Yellow Jackets was apparently a prestigious show. Who's to say? Yes. But yeah, no, I think,

I mean, look, you can take a John Wick. You can take a Fast and Furious. Those people are superheroes. Maximus is not right. I don't want to spoil the end of Gladiator one for anyone. Who needs to know what's going to happen, glad I was too. It's a Lucius moment now. So we'll find out together. It's all about looking forward. Ben, what are you picking? Protests with the commissioner.

I am taking the boys. A show that I'm confident will come out this year and is a nerd culture show. I will be taking it in TV show because I already drafted my sequel. So I'm going to pair this with House of the Dragon, just a heavy hitter's top two TV shows for me here. And as everyone has pointed out, the Boys is now essentially what it started out, satirizing, trying to be the counterculture. You wrote a great piece about this after the season three finale. Yeah. Yeah, the, the alternative programming to the Marvels and DCs of the world. The Boys is now as much of a heavy hitter as anything. It has spawned a franchise. It is an excellent

thriving, growing franchise. And having watched GenVe, I could not be more excited for the boys to be back in town. Are you worried about that, Ben? That the thing that was originally designed to critique the nature of superhero franchise behemus is increasingly, in fact, becoming that, like, on the heels of diabolical. And of course, Gen V, like, the crossover potential now, will we be entering this world where everything is connected? You don't know if you can watch a new season of the boys if you haven't seen Gen V, etc. Or no, just pure, pure euphoria for the joint 2024 election. Victoria Newman, Homelander experience. Seems really like a cheerful way to spend a few weeks. So excited for every election in 2024. But yeah, I am thus far just fully hyped and it's a pure

level of enjoyment. But I think there is something to that that it's tough to punch up when you're at the top, right, when you are a powerhouse. And they now have to decide how do we keep this going without falling prey to all of the superhero tropes, the superhero fatigue? Will we be talking about too much boys at the end of 2024. It's possible. But for now, nothing but greatness from this franchise thus far. It's everyone else's excitement level for the boys four seasons in. You as enthusiastic about it as you used to be?

I haven't been watching Gen V. Is that something I should be spending my time on? I love the boys. I really enjoyed it. I really enjoyed GenV the first season. I think the mileage varied a little bit across the team here. But I had fun. It's dark.

I mean, shockingly dark. It's upsetting. It is upsetting. Okay. We're to Joe on the turn here, Joanna. You've waited patiently. You now have two picks to make back to back. What do you got?

I'm going to do a thing. And I love you all. Here's the thing I'm going to do. In sequel, I would like to pick a movie. a lot of people are very excited about. It's not the one I was going to pick five minutes ago, but then I realized I could do a thing.

So I'm going to do a thing. Also, I checked the pull on the movie bet that we did on Child Buy content and the movie I was going to pick ranked really low. So we're going to put that on the back burner. It is, I'm picking Kung Fu Panda 4 in sequel. Kung Fu Panda 4. people are very excited about this movie. They love the Kung Fu Panda.

I enjoy a Kung Fu Panda movie. I'm a big fan. You said this is in sequel. In sequel. Okay. In animation, I'm taking the Lord of the Rings, the War of the Roherom. Ouch.

Hell yeah. Love it. And now I would like to see what you guys do in animation. Oh, I think animation is loaded. You have options. So that was. That was just an attempted kneecapping of a category. A little bit.

But also, those were, those both were, those both were high on my, those both were my one-inting animated. Great options on the board in that category. I had those. I had, yeah. I was going to take, I was going to take quarter the rings in movie, actually, probably with my next pick. But I'm, I'm extremely excited for that movie. If I did not pick Rings of Power, Elspenter Draft, I was going to try to select Rohirom. I think that's a great pick.

Yeah. I was thinking it might be available a little bit later, but not surprised that it went early given the group gathered today and the enthusiasm for all things. Middle Earth. A Kung Fu Panda 4. Interesting. Yeah, can I ask a question about that? So, you know, we started taking my daughter to the movies.

She's been loving it. Well, she joined the pod. The way she's been talking lately, it seems like sooner rather than later. She has a lot of opinions. Hard to believe with her dad. But anyway, we've seen Wish in theaters. We saw migration in theaters and we saw Chicken Run 2 in theaters. So we were having a conversation about whether or not Kung Fu Panda 4 is a movie

that she could go see in a movie theater. It's been a long time since I've seen a Kung Fu Panda movie, if I'm being honest. I don't know if that's, she's only two and a half. Might be a little early for Kung Fu Panda. Yes? You're saying that it might be early for Kung Fu Panda to be selected where it was here for Alice to see it or both. Column A, column B, you know.

It's okay, Mel. That was like half the depth of my view. Yeah, exactly. Why not try to run with Kung Fu Panda 1 at home and see how that goes? Yeah, I thought about that. Eileen and I were talking about that. That might be our move just to see if she clicks with it. But then if she does, then I have to like spend $500 on Panda related content for the next

six months, which is just like the thing you don't realize is coming for you and they get interested in one animal, but that's okay. That would be fine, I guess. A thing about Kung Fu Panda 4 is like, I'm just trying to take the lesson of this last year and the way that people responded to things like Mario, etc. Like, last year was informative to me, you know, and like animation does really, really well and people get really, really excited for animation and like IP animation. And which is not, which is what both of these movies are, but like, we're there are.

Quiram just looks like absolutely gorgeous. Like it looks like it's going to be amazing. And I'm really, really, really excited for that. Kung Fu Panda, I think, is not something that looks like artistically incredible to me, but I enjoy a Kung Fu Panda movie and people love them. So, you know, it's going on my list. Yeah. It's been eight years since a Kung Fu Panda movie came out.

It's a long time. Is that true? Yeah. Long time for the hype to build. My goodness. Not as long as we've been waiting for Gladiator, too. Oh, okay. What a fascinating strategy on the turn. I'm intrigued. This is interesting. We've got a fascinating board building here. Ben, we're back to you already. Wow. Is it me already? Okay. Interesting spot here. Maller, you're doing such a good job and I support you and I love you so much. And it's also just like now starting to slightly unnerve me. How nice you're being. Now I'm like scared. Just trying something new. If I finished last in the poll, it'll never happen again.

Have you heard that thing about like if you if you you give a fan more time to prep here. He's appreciative. He was not ready. If you hand a woman, if you act like you're going to hand a woman something and you have your fist closed, she's going to assume it's a bug. Even if you've never handed her a bug in your life, it's just leftover trauma from childhood. And that's how I sort of feel about Mallory Rubin right now that she is like has her fist extended to me. And I'm like, is there a bug in there? I don't know.

What sort of bug do you think I might be holding? Like a beautiful ladybug or like a butterfly that has just emerged from its cocoon ready to live a new and vibrant life? Something like that. Sure. Or absolutely terrifying millipede. Something like that. Something Indiana Jones found in the temple of doom. That's what I'm thinking.

Something that is both creepy and crawley. Well, thank you for vamping. Me time. Jeez. You're welcome. I did not need it because I knew exactly where I was going to go with this pick. Despite Joanna's attempts to corner the market on the animation category, I will be selecting with my pick, Arcane, Season 2.

Pandering to Jomi and the person who is controlling the social around this episode. It's true. I respect it. I respect it. But I'm with him. He's got great taste. With this, at least, I have not seen agents of Shield. so I can either confirm or deny.

But Arcane, great show. It kind of came out of nowhere, season one. It was really at the vanguard of the video game adaptations are good now movement. So I have not selected a video game in this draft, but I'm taking a video game adaptation. So that's on brand for me. This is an Emmy winning show. This was incredibly well received. It didn't really depend heavily on the source material.

It kind of did its own thing. And it did it beautifully. just lushly animated, just high production values, just depth of feeling and emotion and character development. And I could not be excited more than I am for this. In fact, did this come up in our draft? Did someone mention whether Arcane would be eligible when we drafted last year? I feel like maybe it was mentioned and we overruled because it was too soon.

But it is, in fact, coming out this year. It is a part of member. Yeah. Yeah. Got in a couple little tiny morsel-sized tastes in the teaser form. Yeah. So always a bit of a risk when you're taking something that's slated to be released toward the end of the year. But on the other hand, you just rack up hype all those months that you're waiting for it to come out, assuming it does come out, the cumulative hype of something that comes out in November or December.

Like The Lord of the Rings movie, which comes out mid-December, could that slip? Yes. But if not, then you get 11. and a half months worth of hype. I don't know if anyone's thinking of it this way. I wanted to quantify the hype somehow, that being my background. I mean, this is an obvious statement, but something I love about doing this episodes, like we did this last year and like with the movie bad episodes we do for trial by content,

is then when you look back at the previous year and the thing that you just did not see coming, that's the most fun. Like what's the massive thing that's lurking that we're not paying attention to? Like the fact that Blue Eye Samurai, which is one of my favorite things, that I consume full stop or scavengers rain, which I do you guys really love, was not on anyone's radar this time last year. That's the beauty of the experiment. Okay, a little bit of an animation run here. I was going to say I play a lot of, in a lot of fantasy sports leagues. That's not true. As you all know, as my close friends, I'm no longer invited

to participate in fantasy football leagues with my friends, which is a sad, true thing. but one thing that I have learned and deeply internalized is you never want to be like chasing a run. So I, well, I'm tempted to get in on the animated fun here. I'm not going to allow the last three picks to compel me to select something here that I would otherwise wait a little bit on. And instead, I am going to pick something that I had at number six overall on my, board. And to be clear, that included stranger things, which is not eligible. And one other thing that I now won't bother attempting to pick, because if I couldn't get stranger things by, I'm not going to be

able to get that by. Which means, like, really in essence, I had this in the mix to select it for. So I'm excited. I am excited to be able to pick this year. I'm happily selecting as my television show, the Acolyte. I think this is something we are all genuinely looking for. I'm surprised. I thought, because I know how much, Sean, I don't know what your feelings on the Ackley are, but I know how excited Ben and Joe both are for this.

So I genuinely wasn't sure it would make it to the past like the middle of the second round. This is the Leslie Headland Star Wars series, right? Yes. Yeah. I mean, I'm in for Leslie Headland.

That's it. That's all I need to know. I'm so excited. I'm so excited for this show. Guys, even Sean is in on a big Disney plus IP thing. What more do we need? I should just stop talking.

Not a lot of Star Wars as we chronicled earlier, but I think safe to say this is like among the most anticipated things, both in the Star Wars verse and also the wider nerd verse. You just mentioned the Titanic Creative Force

behind the project, the cast for the show. This was one of the themes that emerges I was like getting into the top things that were drawing me in the most in building the hype. There were just so many dynamite casts awaiting us in the releases this year. But I think the thing that I'm most excited

about. And I think it's fair to say the thing that many, many, many, maybe all Star Wars fans, certainly most Star Wars fans are excited about, is we're entering a new time period in this story. We are going to the High Republic era. We are going a century before the events of the Phantom Menace. Now, if you've been dabbling in the High Republic story releases on the novel and comic front, you might be having a blast here already. In terms of the television screen, live. action. This is our first time playing in this particular sandbox. That's really thrilling. Like, we need to open up beyond the time parameters of where we have been spending so much of the past few years, more than a few years in Star Wars. So that's really something that is, like,

energizing for us as fans, right? This also is definitely one of those properties that's falling into the, I mean, mileage may vary on if anybody puts stock in this, but this is one of those, like, you talk to anyone who has seen a second of this or knows anything about it. And they're like, this is going to be good. This is going to be good, which is always fun, right? There was a lot of buzz. This is a long time ago already, but the little, like, the teases at Star Wars Celebration back at the beginning of last year already.

It's just can't believe how much time has passed since then. So there's a lot of, like, positive scuttlebutt building around the project, which is thrilling. And we're focusing on the rise of. of a dark power, like a Sith story in a new time period. I still think about that, Leslie Headlin. I remember reading it in a variety write-up of Star Wars Celebration, that it's Frozen meets Kill Bill logline. And I'm kind of like, I don't really need to know more than that. This just sounds incredible. I can't wait for their show. I think we all really want this to be good and believe it will be. I haven't seen anybody. I have a friend who has seen some, and she said that I'm not emotionally

prepared for Manny Jacinto as a four-seeing? I don't know how you'll survive, Joanna. I simply don't know what I'm going to do. I don't know how you will make it through. Yeah. I'm excited not just to break out of the prequel sequel, original trilogy time prison, but also I don't want to saddle the acolyte with and or comps because that's just unfair, but it has a little bit of that feeling of

this is not our standard Star Wars, right yet, just because it feels like such a daunting thing to put on it. It does. I apologize. However, yeah, it's a little bit of a mystery thriller detective type show, which is something a little different from, you know, other than Detective Obi-Wan from time to time, but it's really leaning in that direction. Also, there's a writer's room composed of people who approach Star Wars from different directions. Yeah, this is not just Favs and Faloni following their muses, which sometimes takes us great places and sometimes not so much. This is people who have different case, different interests in Star Wars,

different backgrounds in Star Wars fandom or non-fandom. I'm really excited for this show. Can I do a quick pause to let you guys know that someone just texted me to alert me to the fact that Walton Goggins has joined White Lotus season three? Hell yeah. Wow. I just needed everyone on the show. I just needed everyone to know that.

Excuse me? Shots had to endure my like casting. update White Lotus texts. But they keep casting all of my crushes around the world, including Boyd. You know, this is incredible. This is a great stuff. I was hoping that Ben would pick Fallout

at some point today just so we could talk about Gagons. But here it is. It's happening anyway. And he has presumably his nose in White Lotus season three. Was the thing that you were going to attempt to draft White Lotus season three before thinking better of it? Nerd culture? It's a franchise.

No, it was not, Ben. Thank you for that. question. Asshole. No. I still have TV show open, so maybe I can take a shot at it. Give it a go.

See what happens. It's typically a murder mystery of some kind. It's hard genre. That genre. It's clearly valuable IP for HBO. I don't know. They're doing some sort of this year. Is it?

Spiritual examination as part of mysticism in season three. Yeah. Is it Natasha Rothwell returning to the cast, you know, like a beloved character, like the Han Solo of the White Lotus is returning? Come on. Did you mean Han Solo or Han Solo? Like, is it, are we Fast and Furious or are we Star Wars?

Han Solo. I would support this if you wanted to do this in next year's Hypedraft, since this is a 2025 show, I believe. So, file this away. Get ready. Technicality. Get ready to pick White Lotus number one overall next year. Can I draft White Lotus casting news for TV?

I mean, we would have to start over because that, would be the number one pick. Nothing more exciting is happening in the world of pop culture than the White Lotus season three casting announcements. This is incredible. There's been some really great and exciting stuff, but I got to say, Michelle Monaghan is the one that's going under the radar that is a little bit unnoticed. Like that is, that's really, that's my Irish queen. I just rewatch all of True Detective season one, so did not go unnoticed by me. I'm in the Monahan space. Okay, so I've got two picks here. I've got two films right now, Furiosa and Deadpool three. I see across the board

everyone has their it looks like everyone has their sequel thus far. There are two animations off the board thus far. There are three sequels off, four sequels off the board. Yeah, okay. Two TV shows, three movies. Three movies. Two animated four sequel. Interesting. Okay. Any number of directions still.

Very complicated. This is where the draft gets tricky this part. Yeah. But also, exciting. I'm pursuing a very specific energy for my roster. So, masculine as we established. That's why, yeah, that's why I was surprised you weren't more supportive. You've said you want to pursue a masculine energy, a movie-centric energy, and that you were going to test the bounds of eligibility, and yet you did not stand in my corner in the arena when I selected a gladiator too. Shocking. Which should tell you something about the eligibility of that film.

Or he's just like so consumed by jealousy that he didn't get to make the pick. It could be that. No. Could be that. I, I'm envision, every single thing that I draft, I'm envisioning watching it whilst holding a tall boy of Papp's Blue Ribbon. That's what I'm going for. So far as a lot.

This sounds like a great way to spend a day, honestly. So for my next. With Chris Ryan in particular. I will be, I'll be drafting in TV show and I'll be selecting season one of the television show The Penguin starring Colin Farrell. Nice. I like this. Which in its way is kind of a.

movie because it has spun off specifically from Matt Reeves as the Batman, which I loved, which I thought was awesome. Yes, the Batman's great movie. Is this eight episode HBO Max prestige TV show kind of a movie, though? What's a movie spin-off? It's a movie spin-off. So it's in the realm of movie. Do I wish it was a movie?

I do wish it was a two-hour movie starring Colin Farrell as the Penguin. But we're not getting that. I also don't really know who else is in this show besides Kristen Milotti, who I love from a Palm Springs fame, among other things, and 30 Rock Genius fame. Fargo season two. I don't know if this is going to be good. I don't know if it's even part of James Gunn's plan. This is probably a one and done kind of situation.

But Colin Farrell in that makeup doing that voice, sold. I agree. Yeah, good pick. Sort of stole the movie. I'm excited for the show. Denegrate our pets. Okay. Penguin is off the board.

I've got animated and I've got wild. Card left. Yeah. So you could still take two more movies or shows that you wish were movies.

I can, I can. Well, I can only really see one animated movie left on the board that makes sense for me.

Maybe I'm not aware of something. And so I don't think I'm going to take, I don't know what I'm going to do yet. I'm going to take my wild card right now.

Okay. Gosh, I've got so many potential options for movies for movies in wildcard. I'm just going to

myself and take Venom 3. Venom 3. Hell yeah. Wow. This is an incredible Sean performance. I love this. Co-written by Tom Hardy

and his best friend Kelly Marcell. This is Kelly Marcell's directorial debut. Look, it go wrong. They have fully wrestled control of the franchise

away from the studio and are making whatever they want. The last Venom film was directed by Huck. Can anyone remember? Andy Circus. Andy Circus.

That's right. He made a film called Venom, colon, let there be carnage. Insane movie. It was, yeah, an amazing time with the movies. It was like 86 minutes of insane CGI and Woody Harrelson.

Michelle Williams is somehow, somehow Michelle Williams is involved. She still is cashing $3 million checks to sit on stoops and say, I'm sorry about Venom. Yeah. Honestly,

one of the truly good film franchises that we have left, Just let psychotic actors cook in superhero movies. That's all I'm asking. I'm just pumped for Venom 3, which has dominated the box office every time it's come around. So I expect nothing less this time. It's just a remarkable moment on the pod. I'm speechless.

This is stunning. Such a premeditated pick, too. He had so many options. He was looking down the fields. I had Venom 3 on my board and I'm not ashamed to say it. Open receivers. I do think he has the most coherent strategy. Like, no, no, like the vibe.

The vibe is not a strategy. Decided. No, the vibe. Just vibe. I'm building a team. I'm building a team. It's not, it's not, it's not a, it's not a team that is literate or learned in any way. But it is a team.

Oh, man. Boy. Okay. Oh, I have a couple things I really want to do here. I have to pick between two things that are pulling at me with great ferocity and weight here. Will either of these make it back? me. Probably not. Oh, man. All right.

Fuck. I'm so torn. I have two things I really want to take, and I'm excited that they're both here, and I... Do you want me to vamp by talking a little bit more about venom? Yeah, if you could talk about how you would relate to your symbiote for, like, 45 seconds. That would be great. There are two Nepo Babies who have also joined the cast of White Lotus

season three. It's Patrick Schwarzenegger. Oh. And Sam Nobola. Sam Nivola, who I just has to assume is Alessandro Niveola is an Emily Mortimer's kid. He's fantastic in which he's in about, oh, in white noise. Really good in white noise. Oh, he was really good in white noise. All those kids were Nepo babies in white noise.

Yeah. And then Amy Lou Wood, who's in sex education, who's wonderful, is also joined White Lotus season three. So this is a large cast. I've decided what I'm going to do. Thank you. You're welcome. I really just had like such a conflict in my heart. which Joe's, you know, is the only thing.

Yeah. Worth writing about. Yeah. Okay. I mean, guys, it was the number two overall pick last year. And it's still here. I will be selecting X-Men 97 in animated.

And I will be doing so gladly. I feel like Sean was counting on this making it back to him. I kind of can't allow it. With a straight face, X-Men 97? Oh, yeah. Great. Absolutely. People are hyped about this. Carlos, can we insert here the clip of Mallory and Ben dunking on Sean for picking this last year?

Just because it didn't need to go number two overall, not because I wasn't excited for X-Men 97. This was, if I didn't get Deadpool where you could bring some of the X-Men energy because of Wolverine, I really wanted to try to get X-Men 97. the revival of the beloved animated series from the 90s back in our lives soon. This is, I think, an important, some of what you were talking about earlier with Deadpool, I think applies here too, even though this series is not going to be part of the MCU continuity in the way that Deadpool will. The, let's, like, have something in our lives that allows us to be excited about Marvel storytelling in particular, but superhero genre stories more broadly.

like I'm looking forward to the specific release, but also that broader sensation being ignited once again. And then obviously there's just a fever pitch level of hunger. For X-Men, we need a fix, we need a real fix, enough of these teases that are dappled throughout other properties. Like, let's really do the thing. And some of our pals, beloved colleagues, whose judgment I value and trust,

got to see a tease for this at the screening for what if and said it looked fucking dynamite. And that carries weight with me. So I am thrilled to select X-Men 97 in animated and also thrilled that I was able to do that without making it the number two overall, or in my case this year, number three overall pick in the draft. Here it is. Round four. Great spot for it. Love animation. Or picking it in a year when it was not released. Yes, or that. Ben is really hung up on the X-Men 97-Shaun selection from the last year. I had this is my number one, number one rated animated pick for the year

in a pretty loaded category. This was number one on the list for me, so I'm excited to be able to get it here. This is going to be a great show. What are we talking about? Yeah, sure. Thank you, Sean. I agree. I agree. I'm, I'm liking the way my roster's coming together. This is good. X-Men 97. I can't believe I wound up with the Star Wars and Marvel property after all of that, but you know what? It's not the worst thing in the world. It's not the worst thing in the world. It's not the worst thing

the world. And I've got wild card left. We all do. All right. Ben, it's back to you. This is where you're going to take a video game? Not yet. No. I'm going to take my movie. And I will say not a lot of movies left on my board here. I think there are some left that might garner me more votes that might be more hyped. But I think this is a pick that when we all look back after a year and say, what should have been picked, then this will be there. I'm going to take. take a movie that I believe is Sean Fennesse's most anticipated movie of 2024. Undrafted thus far, maybe not masculine enough to be selected in this draft. But I will be hitting the bong and taking Mickey 17 with my movie pick.

Okay. I have a question about this. This formally came off the slate, the release slate. I know it did. So what do we think? It's not like it didn't get moved to a different period. of the year. It got taken off the slate.

Right. Now, it was slated for a March release, right? So it would have to slip a lot to miss this year. Also. So you think it's going to come out that you're just are not prepared to say when yet. Not this movie is moving to like a 2026 or something. I read some speculation that they're just trying to position it for a bigger awards push possibly. Maybe it's a sign of confidence in this film.

But apparently just because of the strikes and various. I can't wait for this movie. Let me be clear. My feedback is simply about the date. I think the movie sounds fucking amazing. That's fair. Right. I mean, you've got our pets, Stephen Yoon, et cetera.

The cast. Mark Ruffalo in a non-marvel movie. I think I'm moving it to get it away from Dune, their own movie. That could be, that could be too, right? Yeah. But it is strange and they didn't announce it. What do you think, Sean, what's your expert read on the date thing? Do you think this is still coming out this year?

I don't know if I have had a more active day. of texting than when this news was announced. And I got, I got all form of feedback from friends, people who work at the studio, agents. Like, it was, I felt like I was like Army Archard Circle like 1992. Like, I was really connected that day. And here are the things that I heard. I heard, this is all rank speculation. So I am reporting nothing.

This is just people gossiping. Yeah. Okay. Reddit won't. No one has ever taken anything out of context said on a podcast after a preamble like that, so I'm sure it'll be fine. All right. Aggregate me.

Just merely weeks ago. Aggregate me to high heaven. I heard the most paranoid thing I heard was just that David Zazlov personally felt that the film was too weird and wanted to sell it as soon as possible. I'm more hyped than ever. I do not think that that is what happened, but you never know. I also heard that they simply just felt like it would have a better launch off of a can premiere where it would no doubt get huge press and that they would basically try to put into play the killers of the flower moon playbook, which is to say big can premiere, noisy celebration

of bong, then mothball the movie for five months once all that praises come out and then roll it out in the fall for an awards run. I've also heard that post-production has been a little troubled, that this is a bigger film for bong and that there's a lot more work that needs to go into it. And some of that was affected by the strikes. So I don't know. I genuinely don't know. It is my number one most anticipated movie of the year. This is like, you know, he really is in that kind of like top two or three favorite

filmmakers. Look forward to everything he does. It is clearly science fiction. Bong's movies, though, you know, they don't, like, they fit inside of genre storytelling, but don't play by genre rules. So it's definitely eligible based on what you guys. have said for the draft. Contemplative sci-fi.

Right. Yeah. Philosophical sci-fi. If you were having a Cannes premiere, that would be why they wouldn't be able to say a date. released by Warner Brothers. Yes. Are you saying, do you think that you made a better pick than my Venom 3 pick? Just out of curiosity? I don't see how anyone can feel that anyone made a better pick today than Benham 3.

In terms of hype, perhaps not. In terms of which movie might win an Oscar, I don't want to. Ben, that's definitely a different podcast. Yes, but it's a podcast that Sean hosts, so he should appreciate that. But, yeah, I mean, I'm betting on Bong here. I would liken this to when I, took. How do you live, which we know as the boy in the heron with a late round pick last year, just betting on Miyazaki's track record, right? So will the hype be as high as some other picks

I might have made here? Perhaps not. But I think just given the track record of the director involved in the cast in this case, it's got to be good. Just as the follow up to Parasite, hopefully that will help build the hype too. Yeah. And you have some other like IP behemoths here. Yeah. You have some room. One for them. One for me. Yeah. Great pick, Ben. This movie sounds amazing. I can't wait for it when it comes out in 2004. Simply cannot wait. All right, Joe, we're back to you on the turn.

These are your final two picks. I feel more certain than I've ever felt about anything in my life that I know one of your picks. I'll be astoundedly. Really? I think so based on how we spent our last year, but maybe not. Maybe you're going with a strategy.

than what is in your heart? I don't know. I don't know. Surprise me. What do you got? I put on, I, I, I'm not playing with my heart this year. I'm, I played my heart last year and I got screwed. So, though not playing with my heart. I'm not sure it's doing many favors for me anyway. Um, anyway, point being, movie. No, I already did movie. Wild card. I, I, Wild card, I am playing... I was going to play this earlier. I'm going to play it now. I'm sorry. I actually am genuinely I think this is going to be good.

I'm playing Joker Folly Adieu. This was also one of the things I assumed you would pick because you love a musical. I love a musical. Okay, so this is your wild card. Did not enjoy the Joker. This is similar to Sean saying he doesn't care for Ryan Reynolds, but he loves Ed Polly Adieu.

I didn't care for Joker, and I'm still extremely excited for Folly Adieu. Powering Todd Phillips movies go. I don't know how to do that. I can't do it on the fly. Why is it number one? Hangover three. Number two.

Are you mad that I took Folly Adjia from you? Was I going to round out your bro? No. I can't take it there. But it was between Venom 3 and Joker, too. Yeah, I was considering it too. Musicals are back, baby. I know.

We are in a musical moment. Listen to the Mint Edition episode on what should have been a musical if you haven't. Haven't yet. What a time they had. I had a truly fun, fine time of the movies with The Mean Girls Music this weekend. It was good. It was good. I liked it.

I don't understand what people were talking about who didn't like that. The people who didn't like it, there are two categories I see. Number one is people who did know it was a musical in the first place, and I cannot blame them. And number two is, and if you want to hear more on that subject, Ben Lindberg did a great episode of Today Explained or has a great piece on the ringer.com. What a great website. And then people who love the stage music. I didn't know the stage musical that well. And so they like cut a ton of songs and like did a bunch of things that people are stressed about. Anyway, Renee Rapp. What a what a talent. Ali, amazing. Okay. TV show. Down to your TV show and the thing you love most in the world is here. Yeah, but like we we both saw the Chris's special. That spooked me a little bit. Oh, I'm shocked right now. It's not going on. It's not going on. It's not happening.

All right. It's, do I, is I, I feel like I cannot. I'll just say it because of my last pick. I don't feel like I can double Dune. It feels illegal to double Dune. Does it not? You can. It's here.

I could. Someone's probably going to take it. And if I don't double Dune, then I'm. Take it. Why not? Completely different time period. Show, not a movie. You love Dune?

It's a big Dune. You're Dune on the mind? I know you're being supportive, but I'm scared you're tricking me. I will say, I feel sure you're not interested in the thing that I'm considering. No. I feel confident. From a voting perspective, I guess you've already captured the Dune audience here. Yeah.

But the Dune audience is a sizable one, you know? Yeah. But she already has their vote. Activate the Army. Ride that sandworm to victory. Or you could just take Dr. Hu, I think that you absolutely fucking love and adore. I'm just nervous. I'm nervous after the Christmas special, which felt mixed buzz to me. Because I know the other two that I have, you guys don't care about.

There's something else that is coming out that you've mentioned many times you're very excited about on the TV front. Yes, I know, but I don't think you care about it. What do you mean? We might be talking about different things. Okay, I think we're talking about it. All right, I'll do, I'm doing, doing, doing colon prophecy. Okay. Okay. Is this dated right now?

It is as not, it has a 2024 date on it. And I think it's as sure as the penguin coming out is. I think that feels like the right read. It doesn't have a specific, you can absolutely count on sitting down this day. But like they're doing the, we didn't use the volume. All our sets were practical. Like they, I think this is far enough along that it's happening, right? Joe, are you worried at all?

This is something I'm also very much looking forward to. I think everyone is. Are you worried at all about the troubled production and all of the switches and swaps and everything that went on there? Or are you feeling like this is just the creative process to find where a show needs to be? There are companies where when I hear trouble production, I get scared. This is not yet in that realm. No. Like Marvel no longer has my benefit of the doubt necessarily when I hear trouble production.

I'm like, you're. Yeah, Dune, double Dune With some Joker and animation filling That's my very weird slate That I put together here for you today. Ben, you're up. Your last pick. I'm a little worried you're going to take the thing

that I'm planning to take, but it's, maybe not. Still have a chance to take Star Wars and be true to your purest essence. Yeah, just place my faith in Jude Law. That's what I thought Joe might pick. I thought you might pick Skeleton. Well, sorry. I have heard that that is not coming out this year.

I don't think that's like a public reality, though, right? I think you certainly based on everything out there in the world. I mean, it was originally announced for last year. That's why I said, Heard with italicizing it. I've heard this. That would be a bummer if that didn't come out. There's not enough. Don't let that dissuade you, though, if you're...

No, I hope for the best. but I don't know enough to place my faith in that show. Gosh, there are a lot of ways I could go here. I could just cast Meteor on your draft boards and select Final Fantasy 7 rebirth. You are going to pick a game, right? I don't think I am, you know, because I don't want to win that way. I don't want to win that way.

I want to win. I want to be on your turf, on your territory, and win playing by the same constraints that you all do. Could I take advantage of it? So everyone is being so strange today. Of an entire rich medium. This is one of the weirdest episodes of how far we've ever done. I honestly feel that way.

We talked at length about Final Fantasy 7 rebirth on button mesh. So I could go in that direction. I could take Star Wars applause. Oh, I know. I know. I know. I just, I feel like there's just a slight asterisk.

I feel like I'm taking advantage of something that you've all sort of excluded for yourselves. Nobody else feels a way about it. It does. It's just to be clear. You took Gladiator, which I excluded from myself. However, I'm going to forego video games here. We have a whole podcast to cover those.

And I will take with my wild card. It truly is a wild card. I'm taking the three body problem. God damn, fuck. You know what? I feel great about this pick now. I can't believe this lasted so long. I'm shocked.

Yeah. I mean. I was, I knew you were going to take it here. Damn. I'm sorry. Look, it could go wrong. It could go horribly wrong. She was like, Joanna, pick June or Dr.

Who. Ben, pick a video game. I knew something. I knew there was a bug in your hand. I knew there was a bug in your hand. I knew it. I did not think that Joe would pick this. And I did not think that Sean would pick it.

But I felt sure that Ben or I would pick it at some point today. And it was just a question of when. And sometimes you risk waiting and it doesn't work out. That's okay. Part of the draft experience. Yeah. and said, no, I'm putting all my chips on Weiss and Benny Off. When have they ever let us down before?

So you're putting your heart in the same hands that once cradled it and then melted it like the Iron Throne. Yes. Tell us about it. Safely stewarded us for several strong seasons before that happened. So, yeah, D&D are adapting the famed series here. There are huge stakes. There are a lot of people at the Ringer who are. excited about this adaptation of remembrance of Earth Past. This is going to be a big bet for Netflix.

I am hoping for the best. It looks good, I would say. I'm encouraged. I thought the last trailer look great. Yeah, me too. That set some of my doubts to rest. So I still have some doubts. And maybe we should say, you know, I am not uncertain here, Billion style when we're making a pick on the ring of draft board. But for my well card. In action. I love it. Yeah. It is.

Guys, it is Paul Jammati season. It is. Yeah. Making moves right now. Are you aware of the previous adaptation, the Chinese adaptation of the three body problem, which came out last year, I believe. And I have not seen it, but just reading up on it, there are 30 episodes in season one of that show.

And these are like hour long episodes adapting the first book, I believe, which is not even the mediest book in terms of source material. So if you miss, if you will lament the loss of long seasons and you want 22 episode seasons back, go check out the Chinese adaptation of the three-body problem, which will give you more than you want. But I'm pretty excited for this one. High expectations. Also, some doubts and some misgivings. But this is my wild card. I like it. I thought the most recent trailer looked awesome. Yeah. And it felt like there was an up to. tick in the collective enthusiasm. Yeah, and interest after that trailer, right?

Like some trepidation heading in. Interesting to see the response to the resumption of the Benioff and Weiss press tour that has now begun in earnest. Obviously, it's been a minute since they've given any interviews at all. It was sort of interesting to see what the collective response was to the THR piece. And in general, just that'll be like a fascinating aspect of this to track. But yeah, like this is a property that a lot of people care deeply about and certainly seems very hard to adapt this story.

So that's always an interesting thing, right? Which is something people said about Game of Thrones, as we all remember. I think the thing that I'm worried about in addition to Weiss and Benioff and the question mark above their heads is this being a binge dump. Like, that is something I'm worried about. This is something that I feel like needs the air of a week to week building a momentum. and this is going to be a Netflix binge dump, and I'm just worried about something this dense, just sort of dropping on a weekend, you know?

Yeah, it would help me for hype purposes if this would be a weekly release or at least even just in segments as Netflix has started to do. So that hurts a little bit. But, yeah, I saw that D&D in the press store, they said they have not seen House of the Dragon. So they would not be picking that on their hype draft. But they said they've been loving scavenger's rain, which I did not expect to see. So back in on D&D. Okay.

Did you say press store? Did you say the one interview they do with the one journalist they ever talked to? Press store with James Edwards. Yes. Yes. I hope the show is good. I hope that it's well and thoughtfully rendered and that people enjoy talking about it and that it doesn't just feel like it disappears from conversation in six days because it's a binge.

It would be great to have this as a weekly release. I think we all feel that way. Sean, any thoughts? Over under, how many three episodes, how many do I watch? Of three body problem? Yeah. One and a half.

So I'll take the under then, yeah, on three. Yeah, I'm gonna go with the under for you. I love hard literary sci-fi. That's this. I know, I know. I know about it, but I, Joanna's framing it as like, you're gonna have to watch,

like, these are all getting turned on at once and there's no continuous discussion around it is actually like a genuine impediment for someone like me. I would have much more fun reading recaps, listening to pods about it on an ongoing basis. And I know that this is an ongoing issue with Netflix. That's how all television should be enjoyed.

Yeah. For our benefit. It's the people broadcasting about it. Yes. It benefits the content. It will not be casting your vote for Ben because you do not believe in television and within that you do not believe in binge drops. got it

I let me let me go on the record I actually do believe in television I just think we need to get back to TV

being TV just TV needs TV needs to just remember its role needs to be the little brother yeah

needs to be the small screen get back in your cage get back in your cage TV you want like 25 me

and then you lost me when you tried to denigrate the medium that you I know I know you enjoy I do

I do enjoy it I do the way I enjoy ice cream you know ice cream is good I like the taste of it. I like to end my week with a nice ice cream cone.

But too much is too much. Too much as it ruins everything. As you know, I haven't found out of ice cream every day before bed. We wonder why I always have stomach aches. We'll be looking at dentists too as well this Friday, Mallory. Okay. That would be helpful, actually.

Listen, fewer shows in general, yes. Make them all week to week. Make TV TV again. That's what it should be. Jody Foster, I'm excited for True Detective. I'm a big fan covering it. Prestige, very excited. Jody Foster hit us with a six-hour movie line and I was like, no.

Jody, no. TV is TV. That's why it shouldn't be bingeed. Should be watched week to week. That's what I think. This is a great segue into my pick because I will be selecting another Netflix binge. I will be. I will be selecting.

the Netflix binge in question as my wildcard. That is my one open category here. This was one, actually a little bit similar to three body problem. I had them in kind of similar spots on my personal ranking where, like, I won't be surprised if this goes in the second round. I won't be surprised if I selected in the final round and everybody else says it wasn't on their board because they're so nervous about it. But I, this.

is the truest embodiment of the I am living in the moment with the hype while it is alive and desperately want this to be a thing that's good and that we can share together and love. Will it work out that way? Candidly, I have no idea. But that's what hype is all about. Avatar the Last Airbender,

the Netflix live action adaptation. Hitting your binge drop screen, February 22nd. This is soon. Okay. Obviously the nerves around this are high, right? The animated series is adored, including by us.

The live action film adaptation is like a historic, epic whiff. Reviled. Yes. As a result of that, desire to see a live action adaptation properly rendered is even more keenly felt. And thus, when something like the original creators of the universe, leaving the adaptation a couple years in happens. People get nervous, and I am not here to talk you out of that. I also felt quite dismayed when that happened.

But I do not necessarily think sincerely that that precludes this being good. And the fact that we have these like dual arms now of avatar storytelling, universe exploration, and expansion is kind of a weird place to be in the fandom. But I am eager to dabble in both of those pools and see where the water is warm and welcome. And I honestly thought that the trailer for this rolled. Like, I watch this trailer 50 times in a row, and I cannot tell you the places that seeing Momo

in this trailer sent me. I was like squealing on my couch at home. Being back with Uncle Iro, all of our favorite pals, it's just an exciting prospect. And until they crush me, I will live in that ember of possibility. There's a line in the trailer, felt deliberate, like a message to us.

I'm choosing to view it as like a beacon of hope. Always remember who you are. If this Netflix adaptation remembers the soul and spirit and heart of the thing that we adore, it should be great. I really hope it is. I am in the excited, cautiously excited camp, not the living in fear and dread camp. I don't know where all of you fall other than Joanna in that bucket and that divide. No, I'm not in fear and dread.

I'm in just sort of like when Brian and Mike are out, I'm out. Like, I'm just, you know, like, that's how I feel. I mean, I'll watch it and I, and if I'm, I'm ready to be pleasantly surprised by it. But Brian and Mike leaving, I'm like, what? That's one of the worst signs I've ever seen on it. And like, especially when it's something like this where we're just like, we're redoing a story. We've already watched countless times in love. You know what I mean?

That actually is like one of the reasons I'm excited. for it, though, because the reach of net, and this is, I think it's completely fine, obviously, if nobody else agrees with this, but the reach of Netflix is at a point where it's like the supreme dominant driving force and culture and consumption, right? So it's exciting to me that like more people could discover the universe through the show and then go and spend their time with the animated series. Go watch Cora, read the novelizations, get their Momo and Apahub plushes, all of which, as you know, I proudly own and display in my home. And like, maybe this can be another entryway into the wider world for more people. And isn't that like a wonderful prospect?

More people getting to celebrate this beautiful story and meet these characters. Yeah, I think the expectations for this have changed considerably. Because I remember, I don't know if I mentioned it on last year's hype draft. I may have at the very end when we were mentioning things that we didn't draft but considered or it was on my board somewhere. But at the time, it was pretty toxic, right? Because it was like they had renounced it. Yeah. And also they were pretty polite.

I will say, Brian and Mike are always very polite. So they were like polite about it. They're just like, but also we're leaving. Right. Yeah. But now that some time has passed and we've gotten a look at it and it looks pretty good. And also there have been some examples at least of live action adaptations that have gone well, you know,

whereas people were thinking of like Cowboy Bebop. in the past and now you're thinking of, let's say, you know, I guess there have been some more success, you know, One Piece, right. People liked One Piece, but also One Piece felt so here today, gone tomorrow, right? Like, anyway, it doesn't matter. People liked it when it dropped. So that's true. So there's some precedent for this maybe not being bad.

So this is my like big swing at the end, right? When you try to hit a home run, sometimes you strike out. What will happen with this? I have no idea. I can't wait to find out. I just badly, badly, badly,

badly, badly wants us to be good. I really hope it is. Sean, will you be watching this television program? Absolutely not. Under no circumstances.

I, uh, I am, uh, elder millennial, and so Avatar last airbender doesn't mean anything to me and never will.

Well, until you show it to your kid. In which case, I will fully invest. Sean, it's a beautiful story. You're going to like, when,

But when she's old enough to watch it, you're going to have a great time watching it with her. Great. I look forward to that. I need to see some of these things through her eyes. I have some things I would like her to see through my eyes as well. So I'd like to... Like the entire Fincher collection? That's on the list.

Well, can I just, can I ask a question? I'm just going to ask a question. I'm not going to try to make a move. I'm not going to try to ram something through. You're the only person with a pick left, so go nuts, man. Can we definitively say Can we definitively say

that kingdom of the planet of the apes is not animated? Are there... Are you talking about degrees of CGI that qualify you for animation? Because I would put... I would put like Favro's Lion King is animated to me. Is Avatar animated?

If there's no humans... The other avatar? are there no humans in the other half the time? As I understand that there is one human character in the new film. Okay, if there's one human character in this ape's film, I don't think it gets to go in animated. Is who framed Roger Rabbit animated? Great, great job.

Great job, Sean. Is Ralph Bakshi's cool world animated? Wow, you brought Brad Pitt into it. Okay, I see. Think of it because it's not about the style of animation. Caesar is an animated character, digitally animated. Now, I tried this once before

on a podcast many years ago. I tried to do with Paddington 2. I said, is Paddington 2 an animated film? I was thinking of making, if it got desperate, I was going to make an argument for Paddington in Peru. I mean, this is too bold, but like, I don't... War of the Planet Games,

I would not have suggested this for the first film in that series, but this new film, which I think is a prequel, is almost entirely apes. I think the only human is like a prehistoric... It's 300 years after. Oh, post. Sorry, this is after their reign.

Yeah. Right. The humans have regressed, right? A feral woman. A feral woman. And a bunch of... Now, if you say, if you say, no, nice try, you know, glad of year two, absolutely, this is totally house of our content.

But, you know, kingdom of the planet of the apes. I'm open to this. Yeah. I, Ben, you seem the most opposed maybe. What do you think? No, it's a slippery slope, but... We can always rain in it again next year, you know? Every year is a new experience.

What's the like non-body-snashed version of Mallory shows up next year? I'm so nice today. I'm trying to leverage this moment of kindness. Yeah. I'm more receptive to this than the gladiator. I'm fine with it. Let's stretch the parameters. Let's do it.

Let's do it. I've got a backup. rigidly boxed in. I've got a backup. No, we're going to, no, you can't play your backup because we're letting you do apes. Yeah. You're letting me do apes. Yeah.

So then I get to retain my movie, movie, movie, movie, movie, movie, movie, movie, movie, movie, movie, movie, movie, movie, movie, movie, movie, movie. The Penguins is a TV show. It's true. You got to accept an acknowledgment of the penguin is a television show. You know? It's actually movie, movie, movie, movie, and Venom 3 is cinema. This is why the apes won, because human beings could not acknowledge.

The truth in front of them. Mallory, don't you feel like Feroos is kind of a TV show if you think about it? Get the fuck out of here. Get out of here. Wow. I really, no one even brought this up, but I do actually want to draft Transformers 1. I don't know where the hype is on Transformers 1, but an animated movie from the guy who directed Toy Story 4 and wrote Inside Out

with Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry as Optimus Prime and Megatron. Like that is, Scarlett Johansson is doing a voice in this film. So take it. It's like a big, big $100 million animated movie.

Steve Inside Out, is it weird that no one took Inside Out too? I... That was going to be my question. My question at the very beginning of the episode was is Pixar House of Our territory. Yes, definitely.

It is. But I'm surprised Inside Out too was not selected. I had that very... high on my... You know what the number one problem I have with it is? It doesn't fit

with Sean's mood that he's cultivating. I'll say that. I will happily watch Inside Out 2 while holding a Pabst. My problem with it is is that the movie is called Inside Out 2.

Like, we can do better than that. Like, let me get a colon or a dash. Inside out, colon, inside. Inside, some sort of play on the outside in, you should get anxiety in title.

There's a way to, we can be better than this. Inside Out, Col and teen turmoil. Inside Out 2 is just like so desperate on Disney's part where they're like, please like me, we're having such a hard time right now. Yes, what? I watched that trailer and it worked.

I was like, this looks dynamite. I think it will be good. I think it will be good. Especially with the Pixar sequel stigma, you'd think that they would want to hide that. That's what I'm saying. Pixar is the Pixar strategy to re-release all of its COVID films this year is like fascinating.

has been on heavy rotation in my household. What is Pixar up to this year is the question? Sean, which are these three movies that you just talked about? Are you actually picking? He's doing apes. Yeah, I'm doing apes. I'm doing apes. Apes is directed by Wes Ball, the director of the Mace Runner films.

Do you guys know what West Ball is directing next? What's that? He's doing a video game movie, right? Yeah, Legend of Zelda, Ben. That's right. Oh. Yes. That, so this is a future hype draft.

This is his tune up for Zelda. Yeah. that better be good. He better than possess that up. Yeah. Geez. I'm very worried about that movie. You think you saw an angry Ben today with this.

All right, we did it. That's the draft. Is everybody happy with their teams? How's everyone feeling about their hype rosters? I'm really confused how I got here. What happened? Honestly. But here I am.

Feeling good. Projecting confidence. And there were a few others I was surprised. Didn't get picked. Yeah. What are you most surprised not to see selected? Skeleton crew is a shock to me that no one picked that. Yeah.

It's too much of a cipher for me right now. But I was sort of surprised Invincible didn't get picked. I remember you swooped in with Invincible last year, right? And I guess it's just that it's half a season, right? It's four episodes. Part two, right? Yeah. Part two of season two, maybe a little bit less.

Yeah. Simplating for folks. No one picked Agatha. No Dark Old Diaries fans here. No. No Walking Deadheads. excited for the return of Rick and Michone. I thought you might pick Walking Dead, Ben.

I thought you also might pick Bad Batch. Final Bad Batch season for your animated if you didn't pick yours elsewhere. Yeah. I was really close to picking interview of the vampire season too. That was what I was just going to say. The fact that Joe did not pick Doctor Who, or Interview with a Vampire

is a stunt. God. What a good show. Do you have those things? So I'm very very surprised by that. I do. I love. Interview with the vampire I would just like to apologize to my heart for not picking that. That was an amazing first season. So good, Ben. Thank you.

It was so good. I'll meet you on the prestige fees for season two. Did you consider picking Halo season two in the first round, Ben? I did not. No. I did not. I will be watching. Perhaps we will be covering on button mesh, but no.

I was wondering whether anyone would take the plunge. I don't know if this is partly the troubled production specter or partly the release date uncertainty, but Severance Season 2, anyone, think of going there? Oh, I mean, I had it incredibly high on my list, but once everyone dunked on the Stranger Things time frame, there's simply no way you can make the case for severance. I just don't remember. I don't remember the show severance. Did that ever exist? I'm not sure. It's been. You've been severed. No, I think. There was that Apple tweet in January, just the tweet of Mark. And then Ben Stiller has been out there like, we're working on it.

Yeah, I think it's more realistic than Stranger Things because they entered production, I think, pre-strike, right? And then I think they resumed production. So you know, it's like about troubled. Yeah. If people think that severance is coming out this year and it was not selected, then it disqualifies the entire exercise. The only defense for not having it picked is that we don't think it's coming out this year. I think it is coming out based on what I'm pretty. I think it is.

I just, I mean, all the behind the scenes stuff, which they have denied strenuously, but kind of concerning. Although there was behind the scene stuff in season one. And season one was wonderful. So who knows? sometimes Bronx Zoo Yankees, you know? One of my favorite finale ever. Yeah. That season one finale.

Yeah. Thought about Fallout. Yeah, Ben, I'm surprised. You really resisted the pull of the gaming properties in a number of specs. You got arcane. You got Arcane. You got some League of Legends in there. Yeah.

I thought about Justice League crisis on Infinite Earth because there are like three of them spaced out over the year. So you can get a triple dip with the hype. Thought about. No, I picked the first. franchise. I thought someone would pick the franchise. Oh, I was thinking of picking the franchise. Yeah. I really was. I thought Sean might pick the franchise. Yeah, me too. I thought the franchise struck me as a Joe Sean as his TV show. Yeah. The franchise sounds wonderful. The Armando Inucci show. I guess I hadn't considered that. Also, Sean, it's a show about

making a movie. Yeah, about, yeah, so there you go. But making a house of our movie. Yeah. Yeah. I thought about, um, your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. I'm looking forward to that. I'm also, I'm getting a little bit of, we're getting some interest in Spider-Man in my home too, which I'm kind of like, how do I support this? That's exciting.

Spidey and friends, I don't really like that much. I find it to be kind of annoying. I don't know if you've dipped into that, Ben. Yeah, I've seen a little bit. This one could be better. I was a father of a daughter. You know what else? I like his creature commandos.

Let's just keep showing me weird cast-off DC projects that were greenlit six years ago. which I'm sure will be terrible, but I'm very interested in. Also, I really, I wish I could have shown some love for Alien Romulus. Alien Gronoulos.

I was just going to mention that. Yeah, I thought that alien Romulus had a real chance. I thought you might go for that or perhaps Nostratu. Yeah. I just took that in a big picture auction. Trailer job today?

Yeah. I've seen the film. I've seen, I'm embargoed from sharing my thoughts on Space Man. Can't say whether we should be hyped. This year. Constellation. Another Apple TV Plus sci-fi. What is a quote-unquote original on here?

Yeah, because I was thinking Old Guard 2, Godzilla X-Kong. No, I was thinking like on our list. Ghostbusters. Mickey 17. I'll call the three-body problem just because it's an adaptation, but it's never been done before. Mickey's based off a book, though, right?

It is. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But like these are adaptations that have not been like... Outside of a, yeah. Yeah, but everything else is a sequel or a second season or... You know, a spinoff of an existing thing. Yeah. That's how Hollywood works these days.

But we've got, yeah, there's another Witcher, Sirens of the Deep. Masters of the Universe, anyone? You love Liam Hemsworth, right? So here we go. Good draft. Guys, there's a lot of stuff coming out. HouseWare has a lot to do this year. Is Beetlejuice 2 House of R?

I would say so. There's sandworms. If I can put Dune twice, on my list, and I can put Beetlejuice. You could have had an all-standworm slate. Oh.

No, Waker Part 1? Oh, you know what I actually almost put on was Twisters because I'm actually genuinely excited for Twisters. Me too. No Sonic the Hedgehog 3? I need more respect for Twisters

from you, Mallory. Glenn Powell and Daisy Edgar Jones, Mallory. Most astonishingly of all, no one picked, even though it has no the impending third Imperian book.

Fourth Wing Hive, Iron Flame Hive. I mean, that's going to be like one of the biggest books ever published when it comes out. You guys reminded me of the franchise. When is that coming out? Franchise? Does it have a date? I'm ready for that now.

I don't think it hasn't, it doesn't have an official date on it yet. But 2024 is what they have said. That is going to be fun. It's going to be really fun. That's going to be fun. Now, was Severance the thing you said was even more out there than stranger things and you weren't even going to try it? Or was there something else?

It was. I was at severance. Squid game on the time. Squid game. Okay. Also remember Squid game? I mean, that could definitely come out this year. But it's just so hard to know. That's another prong of my MakeTV TV

again, which is put things out regularly. In close succession from the previous season. Oh, boy. Final thoughts on anything that wasn't selected, on anything that you did select, how you're feeling about your own team, how you're feeling about content in 2024, how you're feeling about the ringer? Anything?

Thumbs up from Sean on IP and sequels and the guns are back. A thumbs up on one hand and a Pabst in the other. Yeah, you can finally put those weights down, Sean. Podcast is over. You're one to talk, Ben. I think this is a very fun exercise and I'm delighted to be invited. And I thought you guys were pretty ultimately kind to me despite the fact that I drafted a bunch of movies. It could be absolutely fucking terrible.

But Venom Venom 3 is just It's an iconic pic that I loved Let Tom Hardy cook Let him cook Describing that with a stray face Was your finest performance yet Even with a Disney lull

Even with post-strike delays I'm heartened by how much there was here That I am legitimately hyped about Right if this is This is the worst case scenario This is like oh the release slate is looking thin And look how much there was So I hope we're all winners because all the content that comes out in 2024 is just great.

Some high variance picks, but we had fun. This was definitely a weirder pipe draft than last year. This was a very strange exercise, but that was part of the joy of it. I have to say, some really weird slates here. I can't wait to watch all of this. I'm just extremely disoriented by you keeping your promise, and I love you and happy New Year. New Year and New Mal. Thank you.

Now I'm going the other way. No, I'm going the other way. You lost your edge. You blew it. This is the behavior of a weakened mind. I promised Joe after our last draft that I would try really hard to be nice next time. And I lived up to that word and I am not bound by the promise in the future. It's true.

Today I was. Maybe regrets. Maybe I have some. Maybe we need you. If you played harder, you could have had Venom three. That's all. You got to need to tell yourself. We need the heels.

You know what I mean? Here's the thing at the end of the day. And this is the perfect end note. At the end of it. We all have Venom 3, and that is actually the beauty of the house of our hype draft. We all get to share all of this. That's a threat. That's a threat. All right.

That's a wrap. Remember, you can vote for your favorite hype draft, whatever that means to you. None of us were able to define what that should mean to you. Go with what's in your heart. You can find the polls on the ringerverse Instagram and the. the ringerverse Twitter. Thank you to Sean and Ben for joining us today. Thank you to Carlos Chiroboga for producing this episode.

Arjuna Ram Gapal for his additional production work on this episode and Jomi and Deneron for his work on the social for this episode. Joe and I'll be back with you on Friday for our deep dive into Percy episodes five and six. Until then, this is Channel Dune. We will love you as long as we breathe.