The Kristian Harloff Show - Demon Slayer CRUSHES The Box Office + 2025 Emmy Winners Breakdown!

Episode Date: September 15, 2025

Demon Slayer just dominated the global box office and we're breaking it all down! On today's episode of The Kristian Harloff Show, John Rocha and Dan Murrel dive into the massive success of Demon Slayer at the worldwide box office, proving that demons are hotter than ever when it comes to global movie audiences. We also go through the full 2025 Emmy Award winners, highlighting the biggest surprises, upsets, and standout moments. Plus, Matt Reeves gave new insight into his work on The Batman and the upcoming Penguin series during the Emmys—what does this mean for the DCU moving forward? Speaking of DC, is Hollywood now putting more hope in DC than Marvel? We look at the latest shifts in industry momentum and what it could mean for superhero films over the next few years. And finally, we touch on the new plans for a Mandalorian film and how Grogu could be at the center of a huge new merchandising blitz. All that and more on today's show! ⭐ Topics covered: Demon Slayer global box office domination 2025 Emmy Award winners breakdown Matt Reeves talks The Batman and Penguin at the Emmys Hollywood's hope for DC higher than Marvel? The Mandalorian movie and Grogu merch blitz #DemonSlayer #Emmys2025 #TheBatman #Penguin #DCU #Marvel #Mandalorian #Grogu #BoxOffice #KristianHarloff SPONSORS: #CashAppPartner Download Cash App Today: https://capl.onelink.me/vFut/76rlxe00 #CashAppPod As a Cash App partner, I may earn a commission when you sign up for a Cash App account. Cash App is a financial services platform, not a bank. Banking services provided by Cash App's bank partner(s). Prepaid debit cards issued by Sutton Bank, Member FDIC. Visit https://www.cash.app/legal/podcast for full disclosures.

Happy Monday morning, everybody. Welcome to the Christian Horloff show. It's post-emmes Monday. What a big night of Emmys wins for the penguin, for adolescents, for the pit. For so much things that were celebrated there, both mainstream HBO stuff and then also streaming stuff here through Netflix. We want to talk about all of it. Demon Hunter blew up at the box office. We want to talk about that.

Or Demon Slayer, I can talk about all that as well. and of course it's not just me. It's the great Dan Merle joining me as well. So let's get it going, Christian Harlov's show Monday morning. Yo, what's up, everybody? Welcome to a brand new episode of Christian Harlov show on a Monday morning. Wake up, wake up, wake up. We are here to talk about a bunch of stuff going on in the world of entertainment.

And I know I cannot do it alone because there is so much to talk about. I cannot Soldier the Birdland alone climbing up the Mount Everest of conversation on these topics. So we are bringing in a ringer, so to speak, but a man who was my teammates on the founding fathers and a man who, of course, you guys have loved and enjoyed for many, many years and is killing it on his own YouTube channel. That is the great Dan Merle. What's up? Dan, how are you, buddy?

Hey, what's up? I'm so happy that we're all clear on time zones and there's no confusion and everything's running smoothly from the word go. There you go. there you go a little inside baseball conversation to have everybody sorry about being delayed a little bit there was some confusion about when we were starting but we are here together to talk about all things going on and entertainment but dan we should check in with you first how are you how are things how's the move going how's the new studio coming along like where are you at in the process

of your uh of your moving here dead in the middle dead in the middle i'm on about let's see two and a half hours of sleep because because between working on my video for the Emmys, which went up this morning and getting up this morning to go meet somebody doing some work on the house, I might nod off in the middle of the show. That's basically what I'm saying here. I'll have to go louder, I guess, to get you. Yeah, just shout, just snap a couple times if you see me drifting. Shark, damn, shark! I'll just do that. I think that'll get you going for sure. Yeah.

Yeah, but speaking of the Emmys, that's the first thing we're going to talk about here. Before we jump in, though, just want to remind you all, please, the super chats are open. Send them in. You know, we like to start Monday. strong and Dan Merle is here y'all so i know you guys got some questions to ask the dangerous dan and me about everything that's going on so send them in as we go along we'll answer them at the end of the show but dan we should start well uh you know what let's yeah let's make a let's make a decision and start with the emmys let me bring the emmy's up first i was going to start with uh with demon slayer but let's start with the emmy oh that's actually let's get let me bring that up hold on the second

i always have to when we're um improvising on the fly i have to always make sure i've got the right thing going on. There we go. Let's bring it up. Put it on the side here. All right. Let me read it to you. Everything is going on here. So here we go. The Emmys were last night. As Dan said, he did a video for this, the 77th Emmy Awards, Adolescence, the Pit and the studio with the big winners in limited series, drama and comedy, respectively. We can make a little bit of adolescence swept the entire limited series category with six wins out of seven. The sole exception being Kristen Miliani winning best actress for the Penguin. The pick took top drama series along with two acting honors

for Noah Wiley and Catherine Lanasa. Severance took the other two acting honors for Tramble Tillman and Britt Lowerwell and Or won for riding and slow horses for directing. The studio took best comedy series, best actor and a comedy. Seth Roga, writing and directing honors. The two leading ladies of hacks took acting honors while Jeff Hiller won for somebody somewhere.

Ultimately, some of the big shows only landed one win that's and or slow horses in the penguin, but of course they also one creative artist Emmys last week of technical Emmys. And quite a few walked away with none, including the White Lotus, the Bear, The Last of Us, the diplomat, Abbott Elementary, Paradise Matlock, nobody wants this, monsters, the Lonelich Menendez story,

Black Mirror dying for sex, only murders in the bill is shrinking, and The Daily Show. So, Dan, what are your thoughts about the Emmys last night? What do you think happened here? Are you excited for what happened? What's your overall assessment here? Not giving away too much of your video,

but what are your thoughts on all of this stuff? Yeah, no, I was excited. I was kind of expecting, because the Emmys generally, especially when you have these shows that are multiple nominee, 10, 15, 20, 25 nominations. Yeah. It's like, okay, well, they're going to win. So I was expecting Severance to win most of the drama stuff. Maybe White Lotus pick up a couple acting categories. I was expecting the studio to just kind of roll through everything in the comedy category.

Right. And then adolescence to do what it did, which I think is well deserved, because I think that's, I think that, that's, that's a very unique and an important show. And it's just, I know it's all subjective, but, you know, that was one where sometimes I'm annoyed when one show wins everything. Yes. But that one, it was hard for me to look at the other nominees and say, well, I would have put that person over, you've taken that person out of winning and putting it in there.

Krista Miliotti should be very happy that there was no lead actress nominee for adolescence because that opened the door to her winning. Something that I did point out in my video. Yeah. What I loved was you have the pit and you have the studio winning Best Drama, Best Comedy. Right. And last of my research department, which is me, failed spectacularly. I believe this is the first year since 1988.

Wow. Where the winner of Best Comedy and Best Drama were Season 1 shows. Where debut show. It was 30-something and the Wonder Years. Oh, wow. Was the last time that happened. And so it's great to see the Emmys. They so often fall into that pattern of picking a show and staying with it for four or five,

you know, modern family, however many times, Game of Thrones, however many times. It's not that they don't deserve it, but it's, you see, it's hard for the new shows to break in. Yeah, I love that we got two new shows that broke in right off the bat. Yeah, the bear is one that went home empty hand. A lot of people have been giving a lot of adulation and love and awards love to the bear. So to see it getting completely wiped out last night was a little surprising. Avid Elementary had gotten some awards in the past. That didn't get much either. So you're right,

these debut shows coming in and really two completely different types of shows, one more of a procedural and one, of course, one a little bit more of the inside Hollywood stuff. And you might argue, well, of course, as we know, Dan, Hollywood loves to award itself when it does shows or films about itself. But this one I thought was a really brilliant takedown of Hollywood while also respecting Hollywood and loving Hollywood at the same time. And that's usually the best kind of criticism, I think, is making fun of something that you love because it has a heart at the center of all the ribbing that you're giving it. That's what I loved about the studio is that it's one of the few shows on Apple TV Plus that I actually did sit down and watch. And I loved that it wasn't just,

oh, we're going to do a show about Hollywood. I thought it was really smartly written. Yeah. And technically, really impressively done. And the performances I thought, out were all really good. So it was a great intersection of, it did have that leg up being about Hollywood, but I think that it actually was also worthy. It wasn't just coasting on that, on the concept or coasting on the idea. And it was one of the funny shows I saw last year, so it's great to see a comedy series winning in the comedy series category. A little shot of it. Which is apparently something you have to worry about now. That's for sure. People on my channel are sick of hearing me talk about it, but it does annoy me.

It annoys me. It annoys you that the bear is in the nomination category. Yes, it's not a comedy. Right. It is a drama. That's for sure. There are humorous moments within the show, but it's more about life humor than it is about jokes, right? Yes, exactly, exactly. I agree with you there.

Well, what about the pit? Were you, are you impressed by what the pit was able to do? And severance to a little bit of a lesser degree with some of the acting stuff. What were your thoughts on that? I mean, they're both really good shows. I like both of the, I like both of them a lot. I think that it was one of those years where it was a really stacked category. I mean, there are a lot of really good things that were up for voting.

And I think if you saw the vote totals, they'd be pretty close. I think the pit, what may have given it the leg up is it is a more, if you want to call it, quote, unquote, traditional show. Severance is a little bit headier. And so I think that may have contributed to the pit coming in. But again, when you look at the performances that won and the show itself, I mean, if I was going to rank, you know, I don't watch enough TV to do like a year in ranking for TV shows. But if I was going to rank the shows, I mean, the pit and severance would be right up there at the top. They're both really, really good shows. I think the letdown that people might be thinking about with severance is just because it led all shows and nominations.

And so there's that expectation that you're then going to, you know, then it's yours to take. but I think it was a pretty healthy competition. Yeah, I think you talk about the pit and or the diplomat, The Last of Us, Paradise, Severance, Slow Horses, the White Lotus. That's a murderer's row of shows. And there are some shows that didn't make the cut that could have arguably made the cut to be included as well. So, I mean, there's a lot of great drama series that are out there,

but this is the cream of the crop. If they had given it to Andor or Slow Hoasters or Severance over the pit, I would not have been surprised. but the fact that the PIP became like this pop culture thing like it became everybody had to watch it everybody loved it no while he coming in of course me are and all these other things that he's done in the past people had a sentiment for him he's an older actor now so he brings much more weight to his delivery and then all these actors that have come through some that were building up some that were kind of known working together with great chemistry to deliver a fantastic first season and now everyone's

looking forward to the second season which is like three months away so fascinating stuff i didn't i assume that he'd won an Emmy before. When they said this is his first win, I'm like, no. Like, he must have won a supporting Emmy at some point. No, never. So it's great for him. And he really seems to be enthusiastic about what that show represents, not just that he's playing this role.

Like, he really does seem to be engaged with the reality of it and making sure that it's an accurate portrayal and wanting to do justice to that, to very important people in society. So I like that. I like that and I was happy to see him when. Yeah. And then Severance getting, of course, Tramultillman and Britt Lower. So there was enough to spread around in the drama category where it wasn't just like, as you said, like some shows it's just a clean sweep that were,

there was enough balance here to give love to Severance, to give love even to Andor with Dan Gilroy's writing and to give love to the pit for its performances and for the show overall. I think that's a positive sign about the Academy understanding how, great these shows are and awarding these shows in the proper categories yeah i agree i was really happy to see dan gilroy when with and or you know i think it should have been nominated for more yes agree i think that stalin scars guard should have been nominated i think jennaby v o'riley should

have been nominated at a minimum but that's the kind of show where usually a lot of times they get those nominations and the academy's like you know okay well see that's your win you we nominated your little sci-fi show or your little horror show or whatever and be happy with that and come you put on a tuxedo and drink some booze and whatever. I was happy to see that they extended that to the actually and the episode that he won for, which is the Mon Mothma, the Senate episode

is a great one to choose. Agreed. More poignant than ever. With you look at the comedy side of things, the studio beat out Avenue Elementary as you said the bear, but also beat out hacks, which I would argue, like that is a great, I love hacks. That is a great show. I was happy to see Gene Smart win. I was happy to see Hannah Eindbender.

win for writing but like this are some strong uh shows here shrinking i loved what we do in the shadows got a nomination like what were you what were your thoughts on the comedy side of things i'm i don't watch it i haven't watched as many of the the ones in that category like the hacks for example i'm not uh i've watched the first few episodes of in the first season but i haven't caught up with it right but what we do in the shadows i think is a great example of a show that is one of the ones where the emmys go your nomination is your win yeah right hundred percent that's the kind of show where I think that most people would say like, well, they're not going to give it to that, even though a lot of people do think that's the funniest show on television.

Yeah, yeah. But, you know, hacks could have, could have become one of those juggernauts. Yeah. Just like, okay, well, for the next five years, it's going to be hacks. Like it was Veep, like it was whatever they chose for that for some period of time. And I'm glad that they have instead. Now, we'll see if the studio becomes that now. It's very possible.

Yeah, there's second season coming supposedly. Yeah. Yeah, so we'll see. But I just like to see this year more than almost any other year I can remember. I just love to see how much they spread the love around. And Hannah Einders is another one who, because Hax has won so much, I assumed that she'd already won for the show and she hadn't. So for her to get a win is great.

And I just love to see the variety of different shows last night. I agree. Lisa Colonzeus won for the bear last year. So Hannah winning this year. I think this was a stronger season for Hannah. So it made sense that she got that. edge in the end over some really strong actresses throughout the category. What about Jeff Hiller winning?

I mean, I think that was a massive surprise. I think a lot of people thought because of the Sal Sapperstine thing, can I tell you, I'm so done with that. Thank you, everybody who participated in that. But I'm so happy that they did not do that throughout the Emmys and all of that nonsense. I like that we're done with that kind of stuff. But I thought Ike Berenholz would absolutely have the edge of even Harrison Ford over

Jeff Hiller. but this was a hell of a shocking win for him. And what a commentary on the show to encourage people to watch the show. And I thought his speech was absolutely fantastic. And it's great to see one of those actors that you recognize, but you don't know where he was from and you don't know his name and the fact that he gets a moment in the spotlight and wins over Harrison Ford and even Ebben Moss Backrack, who's always great in the bear.

I mean, he really, I think that's another example of a really stat category that just became a free-for-all because there were so many different people split between who they're going to vote for. And the South Saperstein thing, I actually read Seth Rogen. Someone asked him about it. And I respect what he said. He said, it would be corny for us to go up and make our own joke. Yep.

So no, we're not going to do that because it would just be, that just seems weird. I'm like, I respect that. Yep. I agree. 100%. When you look at the lead actress or the limited or anthology series stuff, adolescence winning, as we said already, not a surprise. That seemed like the odds on favorite there,

although the penguin probably gave it a run for its money to it, agree, but it, uh, Milliani, that was a beautiful, a minute and a half speech that was just as an, as a former actor, seeing an actor win for something that they probably weren't sure they were going to even be nominated for, let alone win. That to me felt such an organic and pure expression of a confirmation that you are good at what you do. And that yell at the end of the speech is just like, you know, that excitement when your team wins and you just happen to be your team, And I thought that was just a fantastic speech. And it did surprise me that she won.

I mean, beating out Kate Blanchett, Rashida Jones, Michelle, Williams, Megan Fahey. That's not an easy bunch of ladies to be beaten for a category like acting. So she should feel really proud about that. Were you surprised by this win? Not really. I feel like it was sort of one of those things where she started off as maybe an underdog, but has picked up a lot of momentum. And especially because the penguin got shut out in so many other categories,

I bet that Stephen Graham, Colin Farrell race was very tight. Yeah. I cannot imagine that that was a blowout. Um, I think that some of adolescents' wins were probably not very close, but that was such a tight race there. And I'm glad that she got the opportunity to win in that category. And it was a great speech. And I, and I was watching at home. I was curious who was making the call on when they were going to put up the, uh, losing charity money clock for which winners and who doesn't get it. I was not, I said in my video, I get the bit. It's a funny concept, but I did not like it when they put it on the screen while people were talking because it just undercuts their moment.

And then it becomes about the show and it doesn't become about them. So I don't, I don't necessarily like how they did that. I'm glad they did not choose to do that during her speech, which was very genuine and very heartfelt. And you shouldn't make her feel like she has to rush that moment as long as she's not Adrian Brodying it up there and doing a five-minute monologue, you know. Right. Agreed. Yeah, I thought there was. I mean, I thought, I think Nate was, I think it was a little past Nate to host the show.

I don't think he was the greatest host. It wasn't as bad as Joe Coy, but I think Nate's a great. I love Nate's stand-ups. Like, I love his stand-ups. He's great. He's a fantastic stand-up. Yeah, I agree 100%. I just think the show was a little bit past him at this stage in his career.

Like, you look at what Nikki Glazer did and she killed it. And then Nate just comes along and you can see the difference in hosting. And I agree with you. The Boys and Girls Club, listen, the Boys and Girls Club is a fantastic charity. and it's awesome that they're helping young people in the situations that they're in. But when you put that up there, in essence, you're undercutting people who are here,

as you said, Dan, undercutting people who have, listen, I know we want to hate Hollywood and it's cool to hate Hollywood and hate actors and all of that, but let me tell you something. Actors work hard. They work really hard. Their emotions, their creativity,

their humanity is on display there when they're trying to win these awards, trying to deliver great work, and then possibly winning awards. They do matter to act. who are in the building. Yes, I know it's cool to crap on awards and cool to crap on actors and whatever, but a majority of actors never make it. Two percent of actors make it. Two to three percent, I think it is what it is. Make it. Oh, no, sorry, five percent of actors make it. Two to three

percent make it at the Tom Hanks type of level, you know? So it's such a brutal and ruthless business. So just kind of dismissing actors. And I know there are some pompous ones. There are some ergo ones. We cover them on the hot mic every week. But I think it's important to have these moments to let actors say what they need to say. I think there was a better way to do this because you're in essence saying, hey, if you go too long, you're shitting on children. And I thought that was the dumbest concept

over, I guess it was funny in the pitch, but in the execution, it's like a bad SNL sketch. And I just thought it. That's the thing. Yeah, it was a funny idea. And if they had just kept it to what they did actually, they still did during the show, which is to check in between speeches. When you say, what's the total at right now?

And then you look and it's, you know, it down to 20,000. That's fine. For me, it was just the idea of putting it up there. And you could also tell that it was on the screen in the theater. So the audience could see it too. And so then the audience is reacting to that. And they're not paying attention to what the person is saying.

But leave it to the winner to decide whether they, because I thought it was great that, you know, John Oliver both times. They decided they were going to do a really quick one. And then that's fun. But I just think they overplayed that hand a little bit. And it was also really the only bit that they had all night. It was the only real comedy bit. And I read, and this could be wrong, but I was doing some reading, and I read that he had tour dates like Friday night and Saturday night.

And so he wasn't, couldn't be there. If that's fake news, I apologize. But that's just, I was trying to kind of read up a little bit on him. And I think he's a great comedian. I really do. But in the amount of stuff and how they imply. the bits and then he just didn't have and I know that part of it is his persona yeah but you have to to be a good award show host you have to own that room you have to command that room

command the audience's attention yeah and he didn't his whole thing's just like uh I'm here so what yeah that's the thing okay well whatever anyway okay and in the lines you know he would garbled a lot of things and it's like I'm not you know again he's a funny dude but if that was intentional because that's his energy it's just not the right energy for an award show necessarily. And if that was sort of being nervous or unprepared, I think that's more what you were saying is like maybe maybe he needs just a little bit more time

before he's ready to be the guy on a show like the Emmys or the Oscars. Yeah, I mean, Nikki's been doing it a long time in terms of being a stand-up and all of that. And so she had to work her way to the point where she was able to deliver a great hosting thing. I think there's opportunities for Nate in the future if he works on what he's doing here. Because I agree with you.

the I get that we want to underplay it and award shows aren't that important. I know that's the cool attitude to have and I totally get it. But I mean, you're disrespecting people who work really hard at their craft by doing that. And I know it's the cool popular thing, but I do think it's insulting at times. And so hopefully if he does do it again in the future, I mean, look at Ricky Jervais.

As controversial as Ricky was for Golden Globes, you were interested to see what he was going to do next. And that's what you, I think what you're alluding to Dan really well is that you want to be excited when the host pops back up. Like, oh, what's going to have? happen now. Like you want to see what he or she is going to do. And I didn't feel that I didn't feel that way about Nate at all. And I was like that I love Nate stand up. And so I was really surprised at

how much of a dud he was hosting the show to a degree. And so it was unfortunate. But yeah, he made me laugh. I mean, I'm not going to say I've certainly seen hosts that did not make me laugh. And I think that that's worse. He made me laugh. Well, that's true. But the end, it was the energy, I think. The energy just wasn't, wasn't quite right for the show. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. All right. One last thing. Anything on the other stuff, Outstanding. television movie Rubridge, the reality competitions, Alan Cumming winning here. The late show was Stephen Colbert, which is clearly, you know, because of everything that happened that was the confirmation from the academy that they support him.

As you said, John Oliver, Arcane won for Outstanding Animated Program. I think a lot of people were excited about that. I thought SNL 50 winning was a bit of a shock because I did not think that special was that great. Well, that's the thing with me because I actually, I think it's okay to say this. I had a vote in that category. Nice. And I voted for the, because I thought that the SNL 50 homecoming concert.

That was awesome. Was by far the superior live show. 100%. The actual 50th anniversary was fine. But the homecoming concert, the number of musical acts and set changes and lighting and camera and getting the right shot from the crowd and getting the performer. For me, on a technical level and everything else, that was easily the superior live show. to the SNL 50, that to me was the one that was the most like we're awarding Lauren Michaels.

We're awarding Saturday Night Live. And so that's the one we're going to give it to. I felt that the concert was one of the best live events I've ever seen as far on a production level. Yeah, so many people were in the SNL 50 anniversary, especially you imagine a majority of the academy is friends with someone who was on that show and maybe that influenced the votes. But I agree with you. I mean, I would put the homecoming concert of those two, I would put the homecoming concert. but I personally would have chosen Super Bowl halftime show because there was no bigger cultural footprint

than that Kendrick Lamar performance. It was a massive, massive thing globally. And I think that deserved much more love and the win overall here. But, you know, I totally get it. Anything of the writing? Yeah, we saw all that stuff. I think we covered everything.

Anything else you want to say about the Emmys before we go to a quick sponsor break here, Dan? No, I just, I feel like this was, award shows seem cursed to have either the great winners and a not so great host or a great host and not so great winners. Like, it'd be great if we could, well, actually, you know what, I will say one thing. And I'm sorry for people that already watched my video because I brought this up there. But I think it's worth saying.

My biggest gripe was not with Nate Bargettzi, was not with any of the people who won, anything like that. My biggest gripe with the show, they did not show one second of clips from any of the shows. not one second of a performance, not one second of a series, not nothing. You saw absolutely no moments from the series, no reason to get you to watch it, and I don't understand that.

All the award shows have gone to it, the Oscars barely show clips for any shows. And that really bothered me because this, I think for the television industry, this is their opportunity every single year to get their show out. there, maybe to an audience that somebody who was a fan of severance but hadn't seen the pit or somebody that liked the bear but hadn't seen adolescence. And you get a chance to show off

the best the television has to offer. And they showed not even very few clips, they showed literally nothing from any show other than audio over reading the nominees. I do not understand that decision. It is a dumb decision. And it's, and you know, I guess maybe they think that. if you're watching the Emmys, you've already seen the shows, but it is just a, it's dumb on a marketing level. Yeah, yeah. Because that is your chance to get eyes on a show. I remember the British office, the only, the first time I heard of it was on the Golden Globes because they nominated it. And instead of just, if they did it the way they did now, they'd say the office, blah, blah, and you'd see like a picture of Ricky Jervais, but I have no idea what the show was, but they would

show clips and I would see and I'd go, wow, that looks funny. Yeah. And that got me. interested in saying, I got to find this show. And they don't do that anymore. And I don't get it. It's a stupid day. It's a stupid decision. It's a fair point. It's a 100% of fair point, man.

Yeah, it's a great commentary to make on that. And if anybody from the Academy of the Emmys happens to be watching us right now or listening to us right now, make that change. I'm a member. It's a member complaint. Lodge this is a member complaint. Put it in the box. Put it in the box.

Yeah. Put it in the suggestion box. All right. Well, there you go. Let's go to a solo thing. Dan and all right, thank you guys for watching this first segment. Dan and I will be back in just a second, but we've got 16 super chats. So make sure you're sending in more here as we get along trying to get to 100 super chats.

We'll answer them at the end of the show. But what are your thoughts about the Emmys that let us know what you're feeling about this. Send in your super chat, sending your thoughts. If you're watching this later, put your commentary about the Emmys, what stood out to you? Do you agree with Dan's commentaries on this? Do you agree with Dan's points of views on some of these opinions or my opinions? Let us know down in the comment section. All right, hang on. We'll be right back after this quick sponsor break and talking about the box office, talking about Batman Part 2, talking about more stuff like DC versus Marvel here and some Star Wars stuff right after this.

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to some other comment, some other stuff we want to talk about. Let's move into your territory, and that is the box office. Oh, it's going to be the rest of my day today. Yeah, as soon as we're done here, we jump into that. Let's get into it here. All right, let me read this for a quick, Dan, and then we'll get your thoughts on this. Between the net, let's see here, demons are hot at the global box office. Between that Netflix, K-pop girl band last month,

Edelorraine Warren, and a famed anime franchise is eventful ending. It seems demon, and their hunter-slayers, exercises are hot business. Crunchyroll's Demon Slayer. I'm not going to try to say that. It's coming in on the highest end of expectations. Domestically, the title made over $21 million on Saturday, and now seems set for a massive $70 million opening weekend. The title also hit a bunch of international markets this weekend,

pulling in an additional $62.1 million, bringing it up to a global weekend hall of $132 million. To date worldwide, the title is up to $386.2 million, which are astonishing numbers for what is an R-rated 155-minute film. The Conjuring Last Rights dropped 69% domestically with 26.1 million, but still up to 131 million. Internationally, though, the film, sorry, y'all, is still powering through with an additional 60.5 million and globally hit a very strong 332.9 million. Downton Abbey, which I will be seeing this afternoon.

The grand finale came in third domestically of 18.1 million, which is shocking to me that it even got that much, with a further 12.3 million from international markets bringing its worldwide total of third. 30.4 million and routing out the top five domestically. Sadly, was the long walk with 11.5 million and the Toy Story re-release, which got 3.5 million. So, Dan, a lot of interesting numbers there in the box. What stands out to you? What surprised you or what do you take from all of this? I was just looking at the latest numbers.

The estimates now 70.6 for Demon Slayer. So a lot of times when you see them revise that estimate up, that means it might even come in a little bit higher today. We'll see what it looks like. There is, anime does tend to be front-loaded, so we'll see what the final number is. I mean, I'm a Demon Slayer fan. I was part of that group. I went and saw it this past weekend. I think that, I mean, the first thing, this doesn't surprise me that much. Okay. Last week, the Conjuring absolutely shocked me.

Yeah. With what it did. And I think that, I mean, the big picture thing that I'm looking at is, even I was saying after, as we wrapped up summer movie season, I said, whoa, man, the box office is just going to be trying to tread water till we get to holidays because it doesn't look like there's anything that's going to really. And now we've had two really good weekends in a row. I'm not shocked that Conjuring dropped the way that it did. That's what I call a horror movie drop horror oftentimes, not always, but oftentimes, especially a movie like Conjuring, which is, you know, not necessarily enthusiastically received by audiences. It's just that people rush in because they want to go on the ride. It doesn't shock me that it dropped that much. But Demon Slayer, the $70.6 million, I mean, that's great. And it's great for the box office. It's great for Crunchyroll. I think that we're just going to see that unless people lose interest over the next few years.

I think we're just going to see that build because we got two more in the Infinity Castle series as we wrap up the anime. So it's great for the box office. And I'm happy to see it's doing well. An anime movie opening to $70.6 million? That's crazy. Well, I mean, Netflix came out a few weeks ago. I'm sure you saw it, Dan, the comments. I don't know if it's Serendis or someone below Serendis who said that anime constitutes like 50% of their views monthly or yearly on the streaming service.

And so it is building and getting stronger in its influence and in its crossing over. As we become more of a global entertainment audience, we have access to more stuff. I mean, I grew up in a time in the 80s and 90s where you didn't, anime was like something you had to find in a brown paper bag by, because some sweaty, nerdy dude recorded it off some situation or went to Japan with his parents. You know, or you had to pay like hundreds of dollars for the imported VHSs that would come and they wouldn't even come

with English subtitles. So, I mean, I remember those days. So to see how anime has progressed. And, you know, you took it, you look at Akira, you look at Ghost in the show, the kind of laying the groundwork back in those days to what we have now, which is a global brand like this, where people have easy access to these shows

and easy access to these movies. So it's no surprise that it's growing. And people talk about where are the younger generation putting their money? Where are they watching? What are they into? And it's clear that anime is a big, big deal with younger people. And of course, there are still older people watch, but really the young audience that's into it.

And here's some more information behind this thing with Demon Slayer. It's the sixth biggest opening of September ever, ever. in addition to the best ever for an anime movie. And it's the best for Sony. Pictures over the last two years. It's the best opening for Sony. And to add to what you were saying, Dan, there was per screen engine comm scores post track,

which I don't know how much credit you put into that, but there was very little walk-up business at 33% with 67% of the audience buying tickets in advance. It's something you alluding to, I think. Sources tell this writer here at deadline that is Anthony Delisandra, of course Anthony. Sources tell me that the audience did expand

beyond the core yesterday, evident in its great word of mouth and a 98% audience score. Not to mention the movie didn't just play in NYC and L.A. Core box office epicenters, but the outlier markets as well. Regal Irvine in the O.C., still the top grossing venue in the country

with $167,000 for those screening. So pretty incredible stuff. And it was, it was pretty split evenly between the subtitle and the original Japanese one, the English audio, rather. And so fascinating stuff here, Dan, when you look at the power of this particular film. Yeah, I saw it dubbed.

That's how I watched it initially on Netflix. You know, that's, there seems to be, that was initially a subject to a great ridicule for me, watching dub, but it seems like that's kind of going away, even among anime fans. Part of it is because I think that the dub cast for the show is very good. I have watched shows dubbed before and switched back to Japanese. I just like, if the dub cast is good,

I like to watch it dubbed the first time because I can enjoy the visuals and I'm not, you know, going back and forth and reading and also, especially a show like Demon Slayer, which is so beautifully animated. Yeah. The pre-sale thing doesn't shock me because the, you had to. Yeah. They were selling out. You had to buy your tickets ahead of time because the screenings were all selling out. So that just speaks to the popularity of the, of the movie. And I think that next weekend is going to be very interesting because traditionally when we look at anime,

And a lot of it is much smaller openings and much more niche shows, but it's not unusual for an anime movie to fall 70, 80 percent in week number two because the demand just gets burned out all in the first week. So I'm going to be very curious to see what it does in weekend number two because I think that's going to speak a lot to how much has it expanded its base or did it turn everybody out the first weekend and you're not bringing in people in weekend number two. It's going to be an interesting thing to watch. It's a two and a half hour movie too. Like it's not like a quick hour and 40. Like it's pretty amazing. It's long. How it was able to get that kind of a situation here.

And when you talk about the dubcast, I think I saw a video on YouTube about a minute long where they were highlighting the numerous voiceover actors who are part of it. And Channing Tatum is one of the over actors that's a part of this. Abby Trott is a very well-known voiceover actress as a part of this. Well, and so Rebecca Wong, quite a lot of good English voiceover actors who come in to dub the dub Japanese language and do the subtitles.

So I think's great, you know, so. Yeah. Now, what about the other movies? I mean, Long Walk 11.5. Were you surprised by that, Down to Abbey doing 18 million domestically? We're considering it's the last one of all that's still going this franchise. Are you surprised by any of the other numbers in the box? I mean, I think that's all good news.

Yeah. I mean, honestly, long walk, it's a Stephen King adaptation, but it's not tied to a, it's not like, you know, Carrie or Kujo or one of his more well-known books. So the fact that you can get people out to see the long walk, not really horror forward necessarily, more of the sort of suspense. That was on my list this weekend. I was all over the place this weekend. I was up and out of town. So I want to see that movie very much. And yeah, to get $18.1 million for Downton Abbey. I mean, that's an older audience. Yeah. Usually very reticent to, you know, you don't often see. big opening weekends, first weekends.

A lot of times it's a bit of a slower burn. So to get 18.1 million out, I think the finale element probably played a lot into it. I mean, I look up and down top to bottom pretty much. I mean, spinal tap two is really the only one that I look at. And I'm like, well, you know, that would have been nice if it had done better because it really didn't do well at all. And it wasn't a terrible movie, but that's also, it's not a huge distributor.

It's Bleaker Street. Right. That's unfortunately Bleaker Street puts out some good movies, but a lot of times if I'm covering Sundance or something and I see that it got acquired by Bleaker Street, I'll just say like, oh, well, you probably won't get a chance to see it near you, but look for it on streaming because it's just,

they're just not up there with the other big leagues. I was surprised that Spinal Tap 2 was with a distributor that's small. Yeah, you talk about amended numbers. I'm just looking now as I'm catching up all this stuff. It looks like downtown abbey was actually 19.5 in it, which is pretty amazing. It's higher than the previous type. which was the new era I guess which opened at 16 so interesting I think you're talking about the idea

of it being the last one and what have you so I understand um that energy wanting to see it because that's the way I mean I watched that series from the beginning I do have a soft spot for uh period British pieces it's my thing and and so seeing this kind of like Sanditin and all these other ones that I've seen but I so I'm excited to see it this at this afternoon but like you I was caught up with all kinds of stuff I'd seen Long Walk already. I'm not going to go see Demon Slayer until I catch up in it because I was talking to a few anime friends that fans that follow me. And they were like, oh, no, you have to have seen this other stuff.

There's no, there's no previously on. There's no, there's no conversation where somebody talks to somebody else to fill in anybody in the theater who might not know who there's a no. There are characters introduced who have never been introduced before. You just got to figure it out. And I mean, that's for fans of the show. I was playing a game with myself watching it because I did a refresher. Yeah.

To remind myself, because it's been about a year since the last season aired, and even given that, I was sitting there going like, okay, wait a minute. Now, is this a new character or do I just not remember who they are? Because they'll treat new characters like they're people that you know. And you just got to catch up because they, the structure of the show is a lot of times is fight or action. Yeah. Resolution.

And then they'll go back and tell you who this person is. Or they'll fill in the backstory. So it's, it's already. sort of you're catching up if you know everything. Right. And if you don't know, I mean, enjoy the animation. The animation's great, but there's no handholding. Let alone a stay. They should hand out study guides before the movie starts. They can watch it during the commercial or they read it during the commercials.

There you go. I'm going to cheat and ask you one last question. What's your feeling for this weekend's box office? Him is opening Big Bold, Beautiful Journey is opening. The Michael Chickles, the senior. which might get a little bit of attention from the older audience and from the religious audience there. And yeah, I think those are the name ones that are opening this weekend. What are your thoughts on where do you think it's going to go with those? I mean, I haven't seen much for Big Bold, Beautiful Journey.

Him, I think, has gotten a lot of publicity and press being Jordan Peel and what happened. What do you anticipate here? I haven't, I mean, if you watch charts, you know, I don't put a whole lot of stock in tracking. But I haven't even seen the tracking for him. I've just got a feeling about it. I have a feeling that it could break out. Okay. I don't, I, the reviews aren't, aren't out yet.

Not yet. I think they hit tomorrow. Yeah, their screening. I decided not to make the trip to do the screening, so I'm going to have my reviews going to be out when it, when it hits. But I've just had it for a while now. I've just had a feeling about him. I don't know.

It could be wrong, but it seems like the kind of movie that could surprise some people. Yeah. Especially if it's good. If the reviews are great, I could really see it being maybe, maybe we make it three in a row with a great, really solid number one. I mean, it's smart to drop it right in the middle of college football and NFL season. You know, so people are already in that mindset.

And you add Jordan Peel's name to the whole production. That just gets people interested to see what it's going to be because it looks like a very unusual film. So I'm curious to see how people respond to it. I don't anticipate big, big, beautiful journey doing much at the, the box office because it hasn't been much talk about that movie. But you do have Margo Robbie. You do have Colin Farrell, of course, with the penguin and Barbie. But I don't know necessarily how much that's going to do.

But I agree with you. I think him's going to do well at the box office. And right now I'm looking at some of the tracking here. And as you say, you don't put a lot stock in it. But some of the six-week box office tracking your forecast here, him, 20 to 30 million, and Big Bowl, Beautiful Journey 13 to 18. Those are domestic numbers. We'll see if they matter.

Or blow up. Maybe a little low on him and maybe a little high on. on big, bold, beautiful journey. But I, the box office has been doing crazy things lately. Yeah. It's hard to predict. It's getting harder to predict. And I think it's because there's, there's some, I don't know, we're still finding

the new normal. What's the new normal? What should our expectations even be? Right. It's still hard to figure that out. And it's 2025, but it's, it's, you know, it's crazy. I've been told the 800 million is the new billion. And I need to get, I need to stop adjusting my, I need to accept that.

And so. I would, I, I, I, I, I, I, I. I don't think that that's necessarily an irrational point of view, honestly. I don't. All right. All right. Let's move on to some other stuff here. Dan.

Let's get into some, what do we want to get into? We got the Emmys. We got the, Batman stuff. Let's get into some Batman stuff. You're in the mood for some Batman stuff? You're going to get in trouble with this. I'm always in the mood for some Batman stuff. You know me.

I'm a big Batman guy. All right. Well, let's get to it here. The Batman Part 2. Here we go. The Batman is despite last night's Emmy win for the Penguin. Matt Reeves confirmed to MTV that Kristen Miliotti will not return. Oh, I said, I got to put myself here. Sorry about that. Will not return to be part of the Batman part two. That is confirmed by Matt Reeves as well.

And I've got another thing to throw in here for you all that I want to share real quick because I wanted a bigger breakdown of this. And this is from ComicBookmovie.com, who I love. And I know Christian does as well. but Mark Cassidy wrote this article breaking down some of the stuff that Matt Reeves answered on the red carpet. Here's what he said. He declined to share any specific plot details, but Reeves did confirm that production is scheduled to get underway early next year. We're beginning, we're staffing up, we're starting to get our crew back together.

We're getting ready. We're basically entering pre-production. We're making the movie in the spring, super excited he told THR because of what the first movie was and what the Batman Part 2 is, which is so much a detective story. The idea of trying to protect the secrets of the movie is super important because it's a mystery. Oh, good luck, Matt.

That would be an extra level of heartbreak if that part of it started getting out. You want to keep the surprise so the fans can have the fun experience that I always love going to the movies, which was to go and be surprised. He further went on to say, he's Batman when he gave the script to Robert Pattinson.

So if he doesn't like it, it's not good. So I was super excited because I thought that he would really like it because the things that it does for his character for Batman and for Bruce Wayne has never been done before in this way. And I had a feeling he would respond in the way the fact that he did.

Oh, sorry. And I had a feeling he would respond in this way. The fact that he did was incredibly encouraging. So, Dan, now we have more than six people who've read the script now officially. So this is an interesting situation we find ourselves in. But what do you think about Matt Reeves' comments here? I mean, it seems to be not a lot to parse out of this, but there sure seems to be an energy of excitement.

And are you surprised that Kristen Miliani, recent Emmy winner, is not going to come back? And his reasons are they were too deep into the story to bring her back. Yeah, there's no reason to jammer in there. if there's not a role for her character to play. And they left her in a place where I think it would be difficult to get her involved specifically unless she were going super penguin heavy, which it doesn't seem like they're going to be doing.

I always love, you know, in stories like that, and I get it, you have a job to do as a reporter. He was like, he declined to share plot specifics. Of course he did. He'd be like, oh, so Matt, what happens to the Batman 2? Well, okay, so in Act 1, people who don't really get to be crazy about this, We're bringing in this character. It's a super surprise casting.

Nobody knows about it. And Act 3, oh, we kill this person and we're leaving it. Yeah, of course he declined to share a plot specific. He's not going to spoil his movie on the red carpet of the Emmys. But that's just part of the game. I get it. I'm just glad that the wheels are moving. You know, I was not part of this super impatient tapping my foot like, hello, script, where is it?

I would much rather you take the time to get it done. My only concern is that there could be a loss of audience interest if you wait too long. Yes. But if it results in a great movie and that's the time it took, then that's the time it took. It's just how it is. Yeah, I just, the, and I don't know, the frenzy around this movie seems to be more intense, but I think that that may just be the new norm for DC. I think, yeah, because people, people like that Superman movie. I, we watched about an hour of it again over the weekend because it's available on digital and what have you. And so, and I really love the energy that I know Dan, Dan, I know Dan had some legitimate criticisms of Superman,

so I'm not trying to start this conversation all over again, but I really enjoyed the film for the energy that it brought. Did I have issues with some of the story stuff? Did I have issues that was slightly overstuffed and was essentially setting up the entire universe that are focusing on Superman? Yes, I understood Dan's criticisms for sure. But I think excited people.

And this is the other side of the coin. When you excite people, they want to keep being excited about it. They want to keep being fed that excitement. So I think that's what the fervor is around it. And I agree with you. I wasn't one of these people like this. Matt Reeves, where's the script? It was more like, what's the truth?

That's the place on that. What's really going on here? We saw some logos from the Batman logo on a dumpster or a trash can that was there on the set of Clayface. James Gunn seemed to insinuate that this was something he did not approve or even maybe in his, if you look, read between the lines, maybe saying that it was proved. past him like maybe David Zasloff said that was okay to do that. I don't know what he meant by that, but the other

people are saying that that was put on there or superimposed on there. So there's all kinds of fervor around whether the Batman is going to cross over into the DC universe of James Gunn. I think that's the big thing that people are squaring away. What are your thoughts on that, Dan? As you say, you like to enjoy the Batman.

Yeah, I do. I just James Gunn has such an interesting job. You know, I just imagine him sitting in his office. He's just announced man of tomorrow and getting that and he's obviously got to get that script ready to go because they're you know the production timeline on that's coming down and he's got supergirl i'm sure they're deep into the edit on supergirl he's working on that clay face i'm sure he's deep in that batman part two they're ramping up for that i just imagine him trying to get all of that done and

somebody bursting into his office and being like we've got a problem somebody put a sticker on a trash can and people are freaking out. And now he has to take time of out of his day to explain why an art director who was probably a Batman fan put a sticker on a trash can that nobody is going to be able to see in the movie. But because everything gets photographed and spread around now, he's got to address trash can discourse. It's just it's, he has a very interesting job. You know, it's either, it's either an art director that's having a little fun in the Batman universe or they've got something cooked up that they want to surprise people about. But this idea of like, what's going on?

What is going on with this sticker? Why is the sticker on this dumpster? It's like, does it matter? I mean, let's come on. Let's focus on some bigger things here. We got bigger fish to fry. Dan, how dare you come for everyone's YouTube channel? How dare you, Dan, Marlon?

This is why I'm on my own. This is why I'm alone in a spare bedroom. It's because I don't engage in sticker discourse and my channel suffers for it. I feel you, brother. I feel you. Sometimes, yeah, we talked about it on the geek buddies and Michael had basically we don't even know if this was AI or superimposed. I'm like, oh, yeah, I guess that's a great point.

We don't know what the situation is, but it's the first of Berber. Enhance. Enhance, right, exactly. Like Blade Runner. Yeah. But I think it speaks to the excitement that this is part of it. As I said, this is the flip side of the coin. You want to do well, and Superman did well for what they were trying to do in terms of getting the fan base excited.

Yeah, box office-wise, you can argue the numbers and all of that. But like, it got the fan base excited. But the thing is, people want to now see more. And so they get excited about it. So we'll see. And we'll see if Matt Reeves can keep it under wraps. Do you buy that he said that they're having talks about the Penguin season two? Like, do you think, like does it feel to you like the Matt Reeves universe is just going to play itself out and then be done?

Do you think he's actually having talks about the Penguin season two? I'm kind of on the fence on this. I don't know if I believe in. I mean, first of all, if they are, then Kristen Miliotti won an Emmy in the wrong category. It's supposed to be one and done if you're in that category. That's why Shogun moved to drama last year because they were like, well, no, we want to do season two. It's like, all right, well, then we should go to the drama category. The thing for me is always you need to do it.

sense if if if he has a story if he has an idea that that he's excited about to delve further into this character and and Colin Farrell and and everybody else and Krista Miliotti say okay yeah let's do it then great but this idea of like let's do it just to do it let's do it because we it was it was popular it should always be idea forward yeah and if they never did another season of the penguin I would be fine with that because I think that It was a great origin of how that version of the character and told a complete story. And you saw his entire arc from beginning to end.

And you can use that character in the Batman series going forward without any more backstory or exposition. If they have an idea, if they want to go deeper into the underworld, then great. But I think the worst thing you can do is to go forward with the season two because you feel obligated to or because you feel like, oh, well, it would. It'd be stupid not to because of all the money because then you get into Joker, you know, which, you know, that's a whole other thing with Joker too. I don't think that they did it just for the money, but I also don't think that there was as much thought put into that movie as there should have been. I think they, yeah, I agree with you. I think they rushed that story and then we saw the result of it on screen regardless of Quentin Ternino thinks about it.

You saw the result of what the public felt about that movie on screen. And yeah, I agree with you. I mean, look, it took five years for them to get this Batman, the part two script done. I mean, the penguin, they had been essentially. Matt Reeves had an hinted at working on the penguin while the Batman was happening. So he clearly had had an idea of this with Lauren LeFranck working on it as well. But this is a different situation now. And I think because of James Guns, D.C., because when he did the Batman, that wasn't in motion.

Now that James Guns D.C. is in motion. It's about figuring out where all these pieces fit. And now you've got the possibility that Paramount might be buying D.C. Or Warner Brothers, rather, buying D.C., then there's so many moving parts to this. whole thing that we're not i mean we we could i don't think it's going to happen because i i said this on the on the hot mic i think that if this is really in motion i think behind the scenes there are conversations happening with james gun listen if if we buy this thing we want to continue the dc university you at charge or if we buy this thing we're going to move you out like there's a number of things

that could be happening behind the scenes of conversations that are happening amongst people's agents or power brokers with all this but like there are so many moving pieces to this dan still so it's a different world now from the creative penguin season two and the Batman. Yeah, that would be. God. I'm with you, bro. I can't go through another DC revamp again. I just can't.

Or just just combining Paramount and Warner Bros. It's like, it's just I understand that it's going to go through if they decide to do it because the idea of regulating that sort of thing is pretty much out the window at this point. But it's just so discouraging to think about. another mega merger like that happening, even though it's been said from the beginning. That's what Zaslaw's plan was. It was going to sell it. Flip it and sell it.

Yep. Absolutely. It was a house that flipped. Yes. I hope some cooler heads somewhere prevails on that because that would just be, I think, frankly, disastrous. I agree. Less concrete.

No. Less movies and more people losing jobs. This is not what Hollywood wants or needs right now. Yeah, exactly. All right. Let's move on to some. By the way, everybody, we have 23 super chats. Let's get up there, man.

Dan Merle has taken time from his busy schedule, hang out with us. Let's get some super chats rolling through here. If you want to keep us on the air, superchats is the way to do so. If you enjoy Dan's opinions on things, points of views, my opinions, my points of views, send in your thoughts, questions and comments there with super chats. And also, if you're watching this, leave us your comments. What do you think about the Batman part two and everything is going on about Matt Reeves had to say? And of course, the box office as well.

as we move on to one more thing here Dan what else have we got on the on the horizon all the Mandalorian stuff let's get in some Star Wars stuff here buddy boy DC to Star Wars out of the frying pan and into the fire let's do it it's like my old days on SJU

every day was a gauntlet run through it all this one will be quick though rather than the fourth season Lucas film was bringing back the Mandalorian as a movie we all know this but as reported by SSF SFF Gazette an official press will he at the event says, and this is the event that was the Walt Disney

Studers Marketing Expo in Shanghai, which we also saw the first possible images of Robert Downer Jr.'s Dr. Duman to stand in there. Here's the press release. As the forces air in the galaxy and the Mandalorian's most adorable partner, Grogu has taken the world by storm with his mischievous and endearing charm since his debut. Grogu themed to merchandise spanning all channels, categories, and age groups will soon be available.

The Grogu Storm is about to hit. and Garth is Garth over there at Dark Horizons is throwing his opinion out there that the quote, forces air in the galaxy comment has already got some fans speculating that we may see the character

outside this franchise, potentially even a more grotto version in the film's set post, Star Wars, the Rise of Skywalker. So what are you thoughts on this? It seems like logical that they would focus on Grogu, which was a massive star of Manloin and Grogu,

yeah. I mean, yeah, this is a blur. Britain to get marketers to buy toys. I mean, I don't know if I would take this as an announcement of the future of Star Wars Canon. I think this is just trying to make sure that people sign contracts to make, what are those things, Labibos and plushies and everything else? You know, they want Grogu on shelves next year when the movie comes out. So I wouldn't necessarily say that this was a flag in the ground for the future of the Star Wars universe, because quite frankly, I don't know that they know what the future of the Star Wars universe is going to be.

And if the movie doesn't do well, then he won't be the focus of the next movies because they won't make any more. Because, I mean, we've seen that. If the prequel or sorry, the sequel trilogy had been more successful going as it went, if the Rise of Skywalker had made $2 billion, I can promise you, we probably would have already had a Ray movie or a Po and Finn movie or something along those lines. but they didn't move forward with that because they're trying to gauge

what the audience is interested in. So I wouldn't, I wouldn't, I wouldn't read too much into the Tileys of that. I think they're just trying to get people to buy toys. Yeah. And I think everything is in play right now. As you said, they're so just figuring out what the audience wants on the theatrical side of things,

everything's in play. And opening the door to doing more Grosue stuff seems like a no-brainer because that is the character that really has kind of blown up. up over the last few years out of the Star Wars franchise, no matter what the, um, middling results or mixed results have been for people's reactions to a lot of Star Wars stuff recently. Grogu has kind of, or baby Yoda has kind of, uh, risen above all of that.

So plus isn't a more mature version of Grogu just Yoda or, correct me if I'm wrong, but no, yeah, that's a great point. I mean, I know not character wise, but it's, but it's, wouldn't it just be sort of like Yoda teen Yoda? Where would we go? Would we, would we go? Would we go teenage years? Would we middle age? Where would we be by that point? It feels like we're following the Groot battle, a blueprint here. If we go like Baby Yoda playing video games, baby Yoda being argumentative, teen Yoda rather getting argumentative and whatever, you know,

Teen Yoda dealing with life's problems. So we will see if that happens. One more thing. That's a quick one. So let's do the DC versus Marvel thing. We were just talking about DC, Dan. And this variety wrote a pretty interesting article. I'm going to read some of this and get us into a little information for everyone as well. Industry Trit Paper Variety has done a lengthy piece on the health of eight of the biggest film franchises, taking into account factors like audience interest, both domestic and overseas,

as well as cost-effectiveness and profitability. The results suggest all of the major franchises have some room for improvement, but some offer more hope than others plotted on a graph, taking into account both commercial potential and creative health. The biggest winner of the whole survey appears to be James Bond. What? The hiring of Deneve-Lenouv to direct the next entry has the entire industry excited, but key to that will be the casting of who plays the next bond.

Coming off the worst of the survey was Star Trek with one execs saying someone's going to have to have a disruptive approach for it to be relevant again. Star Wars didn't fare much better, as despite much more commercial potential, creatively, it's seen as in a rut. The results causing the most discussion are for Marvel and DC, though. One top agent says while joining the MCU is, quote, still a crazy, life-changing opportunity. They admit that, quote, I don't have as many clients asking to do one as they

were five years ago. One exec says while the two Avengers are bulletproof, the quote, standalone movies are in trouble because you feel like you can miss it now. Nothing is a close guarantee anymore. DC on the United end is scored considerably higher on the creative health front. The best score outside of Bond with one execs saying gun did the most important thing. The first movie he made was really good. Another is a little concerned. The Supergirl and Clayface are the next Cabs off the rank. I've even heard that phrase before. It's a new one for me. Yeah. I don't know who cabs off the rank. your thoughts on this dan anything surprising this seems pretty logical from what we're seeing ourselves

out there right i mean it sounds like a very subjective thing where it's just sort of like we pulled a bunch of agents and stuff i mean it's not shocking that fewer people are calling about being in marvel movies now than they were in 2019 when endgame was coming out it's yeah i don't know that that whole thing just sounds to me more like because james bond if we're just talking box office and stuff like James Bond has a ceiling yeah has traditionally had a ceiling with a very few exceptions that the other ones don't have and you know Star Trek same thing star Trek is traditionally I mean one of the problems of Star Trek one of the reasons that they stopped making movies was that they the paramount sort of out spent the demand for Star Trek and

made movies like Star Trek beyond that were had such big budgets that the demand for it couldn't justify it and now they've really, I don't know what they're doing with Star Trek now. But I don't know, that just kind of, that all seemed like pretty common sense stuff to me, which is that James Bond is the one X factor because nobody knows what's going to happen next. Marvel is on shaky ground because we've seen the results of that. Superman, D.C.'s on an upswing because Superman was received certainly much better than a lot of D.C. films in the past and Star Trek's kind of, you know, in the, in the toilet right now. But yeah, there's nothing really surprising.

to me there. I think the bond stuff's a little surprising for me. Because as you said, I mean, there's no like $2 billion bond movie. Like all of these films have done collectively, or I guess you could maybe average out the gross. They've done really well the BC Marvel stuff, you know, overall compared to the bond stuff. So I know Deney Villeneuve is an interesting idea. But shall I show you Deney Villeneuve's box office returns? I mean, he's not out here making billion dollar films himself,

consistently like James. If it was James Cameron, I can see it going to number one. But like the fact that there's Denise, I think gets people excited, but I don't know if necessarily that's the thing is that's the top franchise. That's, I think looking at the results of that, of all the ones they talked about, Bond is the one that is all potential right now. Right, right, right, right. So yes, the excitement is going to be through the roof because you have James Bond is a popular

character and you have DeNev as a director. And that's all you have right now. You don't know who the new James Bond is going to be. That's exciting. You don't know what era it's going to be set in. That's exciting. So I feel like the reason it was at the top of the list is because you know the least about it. Right.

So right now it's all anticipation because we don't know anything, whereas the other stuff is known quantities. We know what Marvel's going to do the next couple of years and what DC's got planned and that Star Trek has nothing. And so, yeah, I mean, this to me, it's, it seemed like a more of a ranking of potential and what we know and what we don't know, then like, well, these are, you know, sort of logistically the franchises that are in the best shit. Some people are going to be most excited about James Bond because they want to put their clients in the movie. Yeah, but they want their next client to be the next Bond girl or the next Bond villain. So yeah, of course they're excited about it. They want their next time to be the next James Bond. So they're super excited about it because they're like, yeah, get my people in there.

Let's do it. Pump it up, baby. Pump it up, baby. Pump it up. It'll probably be Shalomey. We'll see what the situation is of being. But yeah, some people were reminding me that Skyfall made it be able to be. I agree. Yes, I know.

That's what I said to a point. Most, there have been exceptions. Yes. Right, right. But it's not all James Bond movies. Exactly. I mean, Marvel was making a run of billion-dollar movies. That's the difference that I'm trying to say here in this moment.

So, yes, I know Skyfall made a billion. I respect that. James Bond is not a consistent billion-dollar franchise. It does well. Like many of those others have been, except Star Trek never has been. But Marvel, you know, DC has been up there before. Yeah. And I think Star Trek has been up there before.

Trek is as you said Dan I look I love Star Trek it is is absolutely my one of my my best my favorite franchises rather but right now with everything that's going on because I love strange new worlds and it's great but the idea of what movie we do next the idea of paramount being bought by skydance what is what is what is what is Allison's point of view going to be on Star Trek what is he want to do so there's going to be changes there's going to be changes and I think their analysis that it has to shake the tree a little bit or shake things up a little bit to make it more relevant. I think that's a valid analysis when you look at Star Trek for sure. It needs a shake-up. Star Trek needs a shake-up. Obviously, it needs a shake-up. I can tell you right now, I mean,

I'm no, I'm not a scooper. I don't have my ear to the ground like a lot of people do. My guess is that Ellison's plan for Star Trek is going to be make a bunch of money as quickly as possible. That's right. That's my guess. Look for Sidney's. Sweeney to be the new captain of Star Trek. We will see. We will see. I know because I get the Holly Hunter. Look, I think it's great Starfleet Academy. I'm excited to see that show.

But I don't know how many people are banging down the door to watch Paul Giamati and Holly Hunter going at it with a bunch of up-and-coming actors in a Starfleet Academy show. I don't know. I don't know. Star Trek fans will love it. But it's always, it has always been traditionally a fairly limited fan base. and occasionally you'll get a movie like a Star Trek 4 or an 09. Yeah.

That breaks out a little bit into the mainstream a bit more, but you can't count on that audience being there consistently. That that's always been the case. And you could argue the great stuff that they've done recently is stuff that is reminiscent of the past, Picard Season 3, and of course, Star Trek Strange the World's very much the original series energy that it has overall. So all right, let's get into some super,

that's all the stuff. Let us know what you think about. the variety article and the Star Wars marketing stuff in the comment section or let us know here through Super Chats. We have 31 Super Chats, Dan. I'm hoping we can get to 100 by the end of the show. We'll see how many we can get to. Take a water break if we get to 100. This is how you keep us on the air. Right now is the super chat. So let's get into it, man. Let's start it off with Mark Long, who says, hi, have a good Monday, everyone. Thank you, Mark. That was easy. All right.

Dingus McNally says trying to get Dan is first and maybe only win support for the boys. Thank you, Dingus. Yes. In life? No, if this motivates you all, you know, every week it's a contest. Who gets the most super chats gets a little extra bonus at the end of the week? Last week it was, I think it was Chris and Winston, who won, I think, or Coy and Winston, maybe won.

So, yeah, give us some love. Let's get to a good number here. Everybody started off. I thought Dingus just thought I'd hit the skids and like, guys, Dan needs a win. And let's just let's get him a W guys. Come on. He's struggling. He's changing videos. Come on, guys.

James Lamario says drove from Austin to Nashville to see nine inch nails last weekend. So what do you all think of their music and Trent and Atticus's work on film schools? Yeah, you want to take this one? Brilliant composers. Yeah. Music was at a weird time for me because I was somewhat younger on the younger teenage year's side. so it was it was banned for a while because of the lyrics and whatnot you know the the parents had really plus we were on the you know mid 90s even there was still tingees of the satanic panic floating around

and so nine inch nails at least where i was in the south had some of that concern floating around it that it was just kind of like oh that's a little too you know weird and you know we're going to make sure they're not drawn pentagram so i don't know uh so i didn't get into nine-ish nails music really that much when it was first coming out. But I enjoy it now. And as composers, brilliant. The only reason I don't mind watching the Tron Aries trailer over and over and over and over again at this point is because that score is pumping to the last half of it. I'm like, yeah, love it.

Yeah, I agreed. I've been enjoying the trailers and loving that score as well. I, a little bit older than Dan, so 9-inch Nils came along my sweet spot when I was getting into alternative stuff. You know, the crow was a great soundtrack. And then that kind of, that captured the energy of what was going on at that time, and the kind of music that it built to that soundtrack. And so Nine Inch Nails, that was something we shared when I was in the military. Guys were listening that all the time in the barracks and hanging out.

So, yeah, I mean, F you like an animal, I can't imagine that went over well with your southern parents there. Dan. New. Straight to the band list. Yeah, no. We don't do that here. Oh, real quick. Luke is letting me know that Christian

Harloff's out of the theater reaction for After the Hunt is up on the channel now so when we're done on this you can go watch it and he corrected me that Chris and Winston won last week Chris Carr and Winston won last week. Congratulations to them. Carlton Rodgers is London calling. What's up Carlton?

I doff my cap to you both. True legends of the movie YouTube community. Great to see Dan Live and John is always of course hashtag respect. Well, thank you very much. Dan's the true legend. I'm just Hang it out. Tim Sim says, well, there goes my brave little stance

that Star Wars doesn't always need to be up to HBO level writing. RIP to that hill I stand on as Andor won the best drama writing Emmy. Is there more Tim? Oh yeah. Jokes aside, surely as Emmy win for Andor backs up the growing demand for improved writing quality

and execution that Filoni and company at Lucasfilm cannot ignore no longer very happy for the five Emmys than Andor won, but should have won more in acting that it got snubbed on. buddy of mine is happy with the pits Emmys and he says it revives the medical drama from Gray's Anatomy's dull later

seasons so interesting what do you know it's overall here I mean you know it's oh sorry no keep on yeah I mean it's I got a question about Star Wars I think a couple weeks ago on my channel and

it's this idea of it seems like there are people that are searching for the one thing that Star Wars needs to be and I think the important thing is that it doesn't need to be one thing. It was one thing. Right. When it was just the Lucas film, you know, the original trilogy. Oh, yeah, yeah. I think that if you want it to thrive, it needs to be able to be several things. So it can be a prestige drama like we just saw with Andrew and Emmy award winning drama. But there's room for other stuff. And I think that trying to put it in one

box is you're never going to find the right box that's going to make everybody happy. Yeah. And I think that part of part of the responsibility for that falls on Lucasfilm for effectively messaging what they're doing and what the tone and the intention of each one of their shows is. And I think they've done it in many cases fairly well. I mean, I think that the, I think they got the vibe on skeleton crew out there pretty well. Yeah. People, I think, knew what to expect, more or less.

But I think that part of that responsibility also falls on Star Wars. fans to maybe broaden their horizons a little bit and say, okay, well, this is what it traditionally meant all those years. But if they're also want to try this, let's give them the license to try that. Maybe it won't work. But let's give them the space to try it. You know, would be nice to bring that back, the idea of wait and see. The idea of let's see what this is before I judge it. God forbid that should come back into our way of approaching. I hope it does. Dinkas McNally says, are you all like me and sad to see the Long Walk only made 11.5 domestically the box off such a good original movie that no one seems to be seeing.

Well, that doesn't seem like an only to me again for a for something that really only has Stephen King's name attached. No, no, you know, Mark Hamel, respect to Mark Camel, but it's not like he's playing Luke Skywalker. I don't think he's playing Luke Skywalker in the movie. That seems like kind of an encouraging result, considering what we've been seeing at the box off. for stuff that isn't a particularly known quantity. And the budget was pretty low on that as well. Yeah, I was just looking at that. The budget was, I think, $20 million.

Yeah, $20 million. So 11.5 is not bad for a $20 million. Yeah, and it's a Lionsgate movie. So you have to add like two letter grades for the fact that Lionsgate got a movie in the top five. That's good for them because they haven't been doing that for a while consistently. So, yeah, I'm not discouraged by it at all. I think that's actually not a bad result. Well, you're looking at Cooper Hoffman, who some people know, but not.

not really that well known. And David Johnson, who some people know because of Alien Rimalist, but it wasn't even the lead of that movie. That was Kaylee Spaney. And look, and people love Francis Lawrence for the Hunger Game stuff, but he's not a name of you go,

Francis Lawrence and then buy $100 million. Like, it's, you know, it's a bunch of really good artists coming together to make what I think was a damn good movie. But, you know, it's not a well-known,

as Stan said earlier in the show. It's not a well-known popular title. This is like the first story Stephen King ever wrote when he was like a teenager in college, or high school. even. And so it's not a well-known book. So that's going to at times, that's going to affect whether it's awareness. So yeah, 11.5 is fine. I'd heard 10. So the fact that he got 11.5, I think, is an actually encouraging sign.

He also says, Crazy Owen Cooper won an Emmy at 15 years old. If I'm James Gunn, I'm looking at getting that kid as Damien Wayne, aka Robin for Brave and the Bold. If he wants to. Right. If he wants to. is the thing is people are like oh they should put him in marvel of DC and some of these actors go you know what I'm good I'm going my route yeah I mean it is it is amazing had the talent that he that he had I mean he wasn't even 15 when he made the show yeah just raw literally raw talent because it was his first gig yeah the raw talent that that that that I'm not even say kid that that actor has and the performance he put on it was it wasn't a novelty of They didn't just give him that Emmy because like, oh, didn't he do good? He was only 13 when he made it.

Oh, he did so good. It's like, no, that was genuinely one of the most disturbing, nuanced, real feeling performances I've seen in a very long time. Yeah, but just that episode with him and Aaron Doherty in the room. And of course, she won well. Like that had alone was a masterclass in acting from both of these actors. And, you know, I love, I love Darren since I saw her in The Crown. You know, so I enjoy her work and had she got awarded. But Stephen Graham, dude, who knew years ago when we saw him in Snatch that Stephen Graham was going to become this like, you know, entity in the world of TV shows and movies?

Like, it's amazing how much he's. I mean, I know Statham is the bigger name, but Stephen Graham, you could argue, is the Matt Damon to Statham's Ben Affleck. I just feel like there's, you know, there's more of an artistic bent to Statham. even and you've seen that even as a thousand blows the show on on hulu was damn good so yeah yeah yeah i think that's a very apt um that's a very apt metaphor and and i loved to i loved how happy everybody was for him when he won acting specifically last night everybody just just jumped on him and was hugging him and it's you could tell that that he really put everything he had into that part yeah uh let's see tim simps oh we read that one jody money says any

surprised that and or lost best directing the gorman massacre episode had won editing and production design and shares the visual effects when was the academy just spreading love around or did and or lack support from a key branch um well i'd have to see see who would see slow horses one for that yes the category were slow horses one yeah yeah i mean not particularly it's in the dramatic in the drama category i mean the the gorman massacre episode is great but editing production design, those are very tangible in that you can look at the sets and you can listen to the sound and you can almost try to make quantitative judgments of that. Directing is so nebulous because you can have a director who does a big, huge action episode

like that. And you can have a director that does a intimate, small, quiet scene between two actors, and those are both impressive and just different kinds of directors. So it didn't really shock me because it's not just about scale, especially in the drama category. There's so much more involved with that. Yeah, Adam Randall, one for Slow Horse, is the other nominees were Amanda Marcellus and John Wells separately for the pit. Jessica Lee Gagne for severance and Ben Stiller for severance and then Mike White for the White Lotus. So, you know, that's, I think that was just another pickum too.

I bet they all got a healthy number of votes. Yeah, yeah. Tim, Sim, all right, there we go. Already got that one. Timson also shout out to Dan has excellent work on box office news. Hope everyone has a great week ahead. Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

Yeah, real quick, Dan, where can people subscribe to your channel and listen to your box office or watch your box office charts every week? YouTube.com slash Dan Merle movies or just type Dan Merle into the search on YouTube. And hopefully I'm the first one that pops up. I don't know of any other ones that do, at least not up near the top. Yeah, I'll be doing. So, yeah, once we're done here, I'm going to grab lunch. I'm going to start prep on charts with Dan.

I'm going to try to grab a nap somewhere in there. And tomorrow morning, unless something goes heinously wrong, tomorrow morning, I'll have the next episode up talking about Demon Slayer, which, by the way, I don't think I mentioned, not only did it set a record for anime, but I'm finishing my research, I believe, was also the highest opening weekend ever for an international film. Oh, wow. Domestically. Okay.

People forget. It is an international film. It's from Japan. I believe it was the best opening weekend ever for an international film. So, oops, sorry, hit my mic. So, yeah, we're going to be breaking down all that kind of stuff. I'm super excited to dive down into it. Nice.

Jake says, I think the fact that Demon Slayer's success, I think the fact Demon Slayer's success making Christian at least consider doing a reaction to it is sending a message to Hollywood anime is a hit. Yeah. Well, I don't know if Hollywood matches Christian Harlov's instincts to do stuff, but you're right that even if someone like Christian Arloff would consider it, I think it does speak volumes that anime's influences growing

if nothing else. Yeah. I think a big thing was the fact that Demon Slayer was on and is on Netflix. Yes. I think that if it were on, and this isn't to demean Crunchyroll by any means. No, no, no. But Crunchy Roll is

its subscriber base is smaller and it's a base that's already very engaged with anime. I think the fact that Demon Sleer was available on Netflix really helped to grow that base even quicker. And they have, Don to Don is on Netflix here in the United States at least.

And I think that that's really helping a lot of different shows. I know that Attack on Titan was for a while and maybe still is on Netflix in addition to Crunchyroll. So I think that's been a big one. That's a global distribution platform and a platform where there are a lot of people who aren't anime fans that are also there. And I think that was key

in Demon Slayer really expanding its footprint. Good point, bro. Elusive Rocks is charged with Dan, the Christian Harlow, the hot mic keep me going every week thank you for the content now is the time to rebel in our arts stay sweaty oh thank you stay sweaty hashtag john snap yes timis is also yes i admit that i'm probably the only one to hear that is enjoying what star wars is offering now but agree it has room for improvement or massive improvement according to the community here take care all right thank you timid dingus also comes back says after watching alien earth and seeing timothy oliphant with white hair

I now want him as death stroke in the DCU. We need more Oliphant. He is, I love that show. He's killing it on that show. I got to catch up. I'm way behind. Oh, okay. Alien.

That's my, that's my, one of my tasks for this week is to get up to, up current. And so I think the finale is next week. And I want to, if I want to review it, I want to make sure that I'm ready to go once the finale's done.

So that's on my list. I've, I've heard good things. Yeah. Good things. Mike Joyce says, loved Hannah Einbender's speech. Yeah.

So did I. I thought everyone gave great speeches last night for the most part. They did. Yeah. On my video, I went through because the Emmys posted the unedited speeches. So I went through and tried to figure out what everybody said when they dropped the audio out. Because there were four where they dropped the audio out.

And she was one of them. Yeah. So. Which is up now on Twitter. If people want to see it, or an X, whatever we call it. Seattle, K. K.O. If only Stephen Graham was younger, he'd be a good MC Wolverine.

I can see that. Bob. He'd have to be. I mean, I mean, you know, I think he, you'd have a lot of convinced he'd either have to do Canadian accent or you'd really have to win over the fan base to not make him Canadian. But he's got the right stature. I think he's got the right build, the right stature. Wow. I could see him get that kind of glowering, you know.

Yeah. So yeah, I think he's got the attitude for it. Absolutely. Beto Powers says, wow, great reunion. Did guys find Elizabeth Banks's best director presentation embarrassing? She was clowning the one male director for being nominated. Yeah. I didn't think she was clowning him necessarily.

I just think you were setting, I think that she was setting herself up and the show up to be a little, I mean, you had to know that adolescence was going to be the odds on favor to win. And I think that when you go out of your way to point out that there are five female nominees and one male nominee, I think you should, I think somebody should have thought ahead and said like, well, the point that you're making is somewhat undercut if the one guy who's nominated wins and that's exactly what happened. So it's, I think it's a great thing to, I don't know, it's a nice thing to celebrate. I agree. I don't think that, I don't think she was clowning on him. I didn't see, I didn't hear anything derogatory toward him specifically, but it, it, it, I think it undercuts the point a little

bit when you, when you make that point and then they give the award to the one guy who I think was very deserving. It, it's sort of, yeah, I don't know. I was a little mixed on that myself. Yeah, but you know, Elizabeth loves to stick her foot in her mouth sometimes. And I think the heart is in the right place because she's trying to basically stump for women getting more opportunities in Hollywood. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. If we were, if men were underrepresented in Hollywood, there would be men complaining about it constantly on award shows as well. Everything is equal in all in that way, you know.

And so I think there's nothing wrong with it. But there's a way to do it that I think is more consumable and doesn't lead to rich. which undercuts your point you know it it was a great thing to celebrate it was an absolutely great thing to celebrate um yeah i think i think you tweak the the tone of it slightly yeah slightly and it and it's there's not an issue and of course we recognize we're two men saying that so but yeah exactly the the the experts uh and people should think about this jake says they should come out with an anime guide for old people hey i you know what if if if if i had the guts to sit down and watch all all of this stuff a la dan murrow watching all that doctor who stuff i would maybe create could create

an entire video on this and do this for old people because i do like anime but like i am not i don't have the energy or the time to do that damn but i mean just one piece alone would be years of your life oh that's true yeah it's a hundred percent it's insanity yeah diggis also says hopefully with production to begin filming in april we will get some cast news soon for the batman part two still hoping for Mr. Freeze as the villain. Are we ready? Are we ready to re? Are we ready to put our feet back in those icy waters? Has Arnold's shadow dimmed enough to bring Mr.

Freeze back to live action? That's an interesting question. Buddy, chill. Mavit the Reaper, Rokin, Merle, the Goats, sending you both positive vibes. I love any time you two are giving knowledge. Oh, thank you. I don't know if I would. qualified as knowledge, but I know we do our best. Do our best, sure.

Joe Ryder says, movies we'll never see, if you had the chance and could only see one movie, which would it be Eric Stoltz back to the future, pre-shot Rogue One or Pre-shot Solo? Oh, pre-shot Rogue One. It's not even a question. Really? Yeah, I would love to. Oh, I'm sorry. No, I'm sorry. Lord and Miller solo is the answer. Pre-shot Rogue One, from what I've seen from Gareth, recently, I'm not that excited. I think Tony saved it. So I would say the Lord and Miller solo, which, I think is the rare mistake Kathleen has made in removing directors or changing directors.

I think that was a massive mistake. So yeah, I would say that one. What about you? I'm fascinated by the idea of, you know, alternate realities and, you know, just the concept of it. So for me, it's got to be stultz back to the future. To see a movie I am so familiar with that I know word for word, scene for scene, line for line, and see the version of it that almost existed. Right.

That's just too, I couldn't pass that up. It'd have to be stoltz back to the future. Right enough. I will throw another one in there. That's Harvey Keitel and Apocalypse Now, we'll forget he was the lead. He was replaced and Martin Sheen came in. Harvey Keitel's Apocalypse now would be fascinating.

Joe riders is, PS, I love you guys, longtime follower of you both. Oh, thank you, Joe. Great picture, Joe. Jake says, Hollywood take notes and animated studios doing things better, far as a four-year plan on releases yeah which animated studios you know a crunchy roll i think oh yeah well i mean this has been i think they've been planning this for a while with yeah

with a demon slayer um match and mccall this two dollars is for new tires for dan's worn out car what it's a new it's new thank you though it's because i'm on the road so much it's because i'm between kansas city st louis and dallas all the time hours and hours and hours but thank you eventually I am going to have to replace it and those $2.00 is good. I'm going to put that in the tire fund because I am on the road. I'm getting ready because the award season. I'm back on the road all the time.

You should start doing blogs on the road. I don't know if you have time, but you should start. GoPowell says, it's nice to see you all together. Thank you, go, pal. Thank you. I hope the time works out for all three together. Yeah, we do that once a year, but hopefully we would do it again.

I mean, I would love us to do a live show somewhere. That would be a lot of fun, the three of us. So we'll see. Go, pal says, Roka, Hobbit, is maybe the worst I've ever heard, but I personally take a clerk's two view of Lord of the Rings. People liking the Hobbit films is not a terrible take. I don't understand. There's a lot of people like the Hobbit. Come on. Not me, but there are a lot of people, yes. I know, I know. Uh, gopals says, though bookwise, I love The Hobbit as a little kid,

but found the first 50 pages of fellowship insurmountantly boring for about 15 years. Oh, that me. I got, well, I did also read it when I was in college. I'd read the Hobbit when I was in junior high, But I started a fellowship when I was in college and oh man that sucked me in from the beginning. I want to talk about insurmountally boring. Watch nine hours of hobbits running across the fields. Come on. All right. Now, I was nice to you about the hobbit, John.

Let's not start. Let's not start a fight. Okay. That's interesting. McCall says, does regals showing old films have a financial benefit? No spoilers. But in Law Walk,

did you like the arc for the long hair blonde in the movie? I didn't. Well, Dan hasn't seen it. So we can't comment on that. I would say to you that is a criticism of the movie. I wouldn't say it didn't like it, but I do think it's a bit shoved in. So I would say that.

But as for Regal showing old films, clearly, I mean, what was this recent? Jaws almost won the week. And so it depends on Star Wars came out, 25 million. So it just all depends on the movie. But I do think it's good to remind people that there are these old movies that people want to go back in the theater and see again. And that's healthy and essential.

for the movie business overall, I think. I mean, for a movie theater, anything that gets a person in that door and at that concession stand is worth it. Unless it's a movie that they pass up on showing one movie that would have done better for it. That's the

only time. But I think as far as theaters are concerned, if they get you to buy a ticket and buy a popcorn or soda, then it's worth it. Because that's it for them. Great. Go pal says, I got into bond from however many nights of bond on TBS in the 90s, right? Seven days of 007.

That's how it started out. It started out as seven days of 007. I think they expanded over the years. Yeah. How do kids now get into it when Amazon keeps most of them behind the paywall? Do kids now get into it? That's the question. I don't know if they do. I think they can watch the Dan. You can start with the Daniel

Craig one and you're just fine. You don't have to go back to Sean or Roger or Timothy or any of them. You can just start with Dan. Goopalbauer says, Giamati will always primarily be pig vomit to me. Oh, come on. He's funny. I loved him in that, but he's moved past.

He's so good in that movie. To be fair, Giamati is incredible in private parts. WNBC. WN. WN. And that's that like southern accent, the things these guys are like,

now a little smell how the kind of foghorn, leghorn type accent. Oh my gosh. He's so good. Yeah. He's so good. WNBC. Yeah

Gobez is still astounding his dad Band Pete Rose for life that's right That's right Yeah that's right Paul Giamati's dad Great documentary on HBO For the any years that are Pete Rose People like that document

Two-part doc was incredible watch on HBO Highly recommended especially because He had just died when the thing came out Christopher Brickner says Anthony Russo said RDJ was doing much Prep for Doom like writing backstory costume ideas And more does this give you more confidence in RDJ's doom

well, I reported on the hot mic that, and Jeff said this, Jeff had elements of this as well, that he'd heard that like they shot three weeks of stuff with RDJ not in the costume. And they took a look at the dailies and said, no, we're going to have to reshoot all of this stuff. And I reported that he has essentially been in charge of rewriting his own scenes.

So I'm, I would normally say, yes, I'm excited about this because it shows a lot of dedication and care. But I think there's a lot of smoke on that set that's leading to a fire. And I'm not sure if it gives me more confidence just to answer your question. What about you, Dan? I've been sort of, depending on how they treat the character, I think that it's either an exciting possibility to have Robert Dynny Jr's Dr. Doom or an act of desperation on a corporate level.

But I've never had a lack of confidence in him, in the role i mean he it's he just won an oscar i mean less two years ago and he's he was fantastic already as iron man so any uh any misgivings i have about robert dynie jr's dr doom it has nothing to do with him as an actor and has everything to do with the creative angle that marvel is taking as far as how they're going to deal with his character yeah i agree with dan completely uh go pal says speaking of philip seymour hoffman how do you feel about the untitled extended cut of almost famous well i have i've never seen it dan i like it i think it's good It's one of those movies that I think is

I don't know if I would say If you've never seen Almost Famous watch that one first But I do think it adds a lot of depth to the characters The theatrical cut is a wonderful movie Yeah So if you're if you're intimidated by the cut The bootleg cut I think it's called or untitled Then the theatrical version is a wonderful film

But I enjoy the extended cut of Almost Famous There's a great scene that's added between Kate Hudson and Billy Crutup in that movie that really shows you more of the two of them together before things start to sort of fall apart that I think is really good. So I'm a fan. But I think it's maybe best to be a fan of the movie first and then go seek that out. Yeah, I think there are some good extended cuts of films that have come out. I have to catch that one.

And there are some bad extended cuts. Like, don't ever see the cinema paradiso director's cut. It will kill the movie for you. The original is perfectly great, but we see the extended cut. It answers too many questions, and that ruins the mystery and the joy of the, and the magic of the movie, in my opinion. Christopher Brickner says, with Long Walk in theaters and Edgar Wright's Running Man later this year, this is shaping up to be a great year for Stephen King adaptations.

Knock on wood. I love that running man trailer. Yeah. I love that trailer. I'm looking forward to that movie because, you know, I'm an Edgar Wright guy anyway. Yeah, yeah. Well, we just did on the Cineophiles over the week in our live show. show talk about Stephen King adaptation. It's like 80

of them. There's so many adaptations. Looking at the stats, my co-host Steve Morris put it out there like that the top three stories that have been adapted into movies or TV shows, it is

what it is the Bible, William Shakespeare, and then Stephen King. That's a hell of the top three to be a part of. So fascinating stuff for Stephen. So it speaks to the power of his work and how it endures. Stephanie, what's up, Stephanie?

A member from my five months here says, hi, Dan, which child actor performance was more raw? Owen and adolescence, Haley Joel Smith and six cents, Jody and taxi driver, Jody Foster, that is, and Natalie Portman and Leon, the professional Elijah Wooden Radio Flyer or Henry Thomas in E.T. I mean, those are like the all-time great.

How do you leave all-fan of Pac-win in the piano? She won an Oscar for that. Well, I was thinking Jacob Tremblay in Room as well. Oh, yeah. All great. I mean, I guess it depends how you define, I mean, raw is such a, like, it's how do you define that in a way of just, because they're all raw in that they're all great. I think that a great performance from a child actor has an element of, well, because they're kids.

So there's a, there's a, there's a certain energy and an authenticity to it. You could call that a raw quality that you don't necessarily get from an older actor, because you it's just you can see that there's a certain amount to me in my opinion for them to get to where they are yeah you can see for them that there's a certain amount that's not pretend for them right right that that that they and it's not that actors that older actors are faking it but i just think there's a place that that a younger actor has to go that it has to be more real for them because they don't have as much to draw on from their life as many experiences and as much sense memory and whatever else for them to sort of put themselves in that situation.

I think they have to imagine that it's real. And I think that leads to a much more sort of natural raw quality in a great kids' performance. And those are all so, you know, they just feel so real. Yeah. It might be recency bias, but, you know, I mean, I don't know. Henry Thomas in the third act of E.T. I mean, that's a kid who's just his heart's broken. And then that's a kid whose dream came true, you know, when he,

when ET's back and then that's a kid whose heart is broken again, but in a different way at the end. And you never, there's never a second that doesn't feel real. But Haley Joel Osman is such a great haunted kid in the sixth sense. And you believe that this, that this kid is just, I mean, they're all great. I don't know. It's hard for me to pick one to say like, that's the rawest. That's the most raw.

But I mean, adolescence, that role is, it is raw in the sense of like, this kid is a live wire. Yeah. And you could trip him at any second. He could trip at any second and not know why. That role is different, I think, than the other ones are on this list. I would agree with that. I mean, I think Jody is the closest to what Owen did.

Yeah. With what he experienced. Because I think even when you watch the professional, there's, you know, I think Natalie's doing great work, but a lot of that is Jean Reno as well. And that adds to the air of menace throughout the whole move. And with Owen in adolescence, he is carrying the story. He is the guy you were worried about

whether he is telling the truth or not. And he's the one shattering everybody who comes within his universe. And that's something that I think we're raw. And just to pick up what you were saying, I think what it is is that kids aren't trained to be raw. They either are or they aren't.

And when you get to actors as they get older, they're trained to find these things and explore these things. When kids are raw with this stuff, it speaks to an innate understanding and they're more open to play and create that stuff with less hangups. And so they're able to explore this stuff with more freedom. And that's what you enjoy when you see them on screen for sure. Christopher Brickner says,

Demon Slay will likely be the first anime film to pass 100 million in the U.S. The fact that Pokemon made $85 million in 1999 just shows how big Pokemon was in the 90s. Yeah. Yeah. Pokemon was a big deal. Yeah. Pikachu, I think, did well. Detective Pikachu did as well, right, when he was out. Yeah, it did. It did pretty good. I know people, some people were thinking sky high numbers for Detective Pikachu.

I think it did fine, but a lot of people were expecting more because of the whole Pokemon. Right. Connection. Phenomenon, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Jake says it's UFO table, not Crunchyroll. Crunchyroll is a streaming service. Oh, sorry. Oh, no. Is that right? I mean, I don't know if he's trying to correct me. I know that Crunchyroll is a streaming service.

I don't know. I think he's trying to correct me. Oh, okay. I don't know in what context that is. But if I'm, if I'm, I'm, I mean, I don't know if I'm speaking of crunchy roll i'm not speaking of it as the i'm speaking of it as the platform the right of the show comics with izzie verse n yc was missing movie fights and dan rants you guys are great thank you i'm missing movie fights constantly oh i love movie fights oh man chris bryctor says if lucas film could go back in time into the making of last jet i do you think they would completely change the film and its story i think they would i i don't know kath, gave him a trilogy off of that movie.

So I would be a hard thing. I think she's still convinced that she was right about that movie and that other people just don't get it. And certainly there's a lot of people on YouTube who would support her point of view. Dan, what do you think of it? I mean, if I could go back in time

and make it so that I somehow brought a clause in my contract so that I never have to cover the Last Jedi. I would definitely do that. Maybe. I don't know. Yeah. It's been almost 10 years. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Maybe. I don't know. I try not to be, because I understand people ask questions in good faith, but I think part of it is just this has been a conversation that's been ongoing forever. Yeah. I was in a different state.

I was on a different channel owned by a different company than owns it now when we started talking about this. I've been through five major life events. the last Jedi came out and it's like I'm talking about listen I would hope my answer would be I would hope hindsight being 2020

that they would go into not just the last Jedi but the trilogy that is the better question that would be my answer I would hope that if they were going to go back and change something they would say okay we need to plan this out we need to map it out and we need to commit to one direction

before we do the movies whether the last Jedi is the same movie and they make the third one different or whether the Last Jedi is a different movie and they make the third one the same a plan yeah overall yeah not last Jedi specific that's what they needed to have if DC can wait five years for a Batman part two you could have waited for JJ to finish whatever he was doing and then move back to do the second installment yeah absolutely or whatever you know yeah how's gonna 420 hi John and Dan uh I know there's a ton of stuff to watch on TV one good series no one's talking about is USA Peacock's the

Rainmaker based on the book slash film comes out on Fridays. Yeah, I saw the trailer. I know that what's his face from Mad Men is in it? John Malaney. John Malaney, what's his name? John Slattery. Flattery, that's it. Yeah, I know. I'd love to see John Malaney in the Rainmaker.

But yeah, we watched the trailer where we haven't quite spun around to watching. What about you, Dan? Have you seen any of this? No, I'm bad at catching new shows. I usually catch up on them later like I'm doing with Alien in right now. But I love a good legal drama. Legal Thriller? Yeah, sign me up. Yeah.

Corn Emperor, I need a heart of darkness, uh, BTS Doom movie doc. Mm. Doom. Like, like, do you think in, uh, like Avengers? Like, oh, yeah, like a sort of fly on the wall. I, you are there type documentary on the making of that movie. I think there'll be a sequel to an MCU book, possibly down the road. That could be possible. Christopher Brickner also says the most impressive thing about Rang of the Sith

re-release was it was grassroots. There was little marketing spent on it. The hype was all from the fans. Well, I mean, they did create a new poster and they did put it out there. I wouldn't say it was all from the fans, but yes, certainly people wanted it and Lucasfilm saw that we wanted it

and created marketing campaigns around it, but yes. Yeah, yeah, for sure. That's the good thing about re-releases for studios is generally your marketing spend does not have to be very aggressive because people hear about it and they know the movie and they don't have to be sold on what it is they just know that it's coming out boom easy yep girl passes how do you feel about honey don't so i thought it was a big step up from driveaway dolls which i liked well enough i would disagree with you 100% didn't see it no yeah it is not a step

up in my opinion or a lateral step uh because these guys got to get back together like this is this is bad stuff like this is bad stuff and and also i'm not the biggest quality person i know it's Everyone must be worshipping at the altar of Margaret Quali. But I'm not feeling the magic like other people do. I did like her in the substance. Don't get me wrong, but I don't feel driven to see her stuff when I watch her sometimes. I feel the same way about Dakota. I think both of them deliver performances that I'm not 100% always all the way in on.

Dakota Johnson? Yeah, Dakota Johnson. I'm with you on that. She doesn't operate on a frequency that I'm always on the same wavelength. But I do feel the quality magic. I do. I quite enjoy her. I think she's very, I don't know, she has a very natural quality to her performance, to her performing style. And I always believe, she brings a lot of believability to her performances that I'm drawn to. Maybe that's what it is. I sometimes don't, I may I don't radiate that kind of stuff, you know, because I felt that way about Garda Gerwig when she was an actress.

I was like, oh, I was so bored with her when I was watching her movies, Stephen Francis Ha and whatever the ones, up the state. or whatever it was. I was like, this mumble core stuff. I just was like, what is this? You know, so it just may be my own personal preference. Yeah. James Payne said, I said, I asked last week, but would like to hear Dan's opinion. Dan, do you know who Adi Murphy is and what would you think of a biopic on his life? Also, who do you want to see a biopic for?

I know the name. I'm sure if you reminded me probably, I'd be like, oh, yes, Audie Murphy. But I feel like I'm going to be ridiculed now for not being able to immediately recollect who Audi Murphy is. Only from people who are over 50. Audie Murphy was a World War II guy who was a hero and performed some incredible acts as a soldier there. And so he's more asking about doing a biopic on him because he had a very tragic ending as well. Well, I love a good, I love a good like interesting biopic.

If someone lived an actually interesting life, then yes, absolutely. Because I love to hear real stories. And I think that you can, as long as you're not untrue to the nature of that story, the spirit of that story, that person's life. You don't have to do every single detail as it happened. If you get the, if you get the essence of that person correct, then I think that you've done a good job. So if it's an interesting story, then yeah, sure, I love it to hear a good story. Always. What about what I want to see a biopic for? I think I've said it before, but it would also be a war movie partially, but Christopher Lee. Talk about interesting life. Oh, yeah. Man. So I actually,

I feel bad because on a early episode of movies, movie fights, like way at the beginning, I think it was Roger Barr, uh, pitched a, uh, a biopic about Christopher Lee and partially because I was fighting against him. Yeah. And partially because I didn't really know at that time as much as I should know about Christopher Lee. I was very dismissive and, uh, and, and ridiculed that idea.

But that was the game also. Yeah. So I'm not stealing Roger's answer, but I am, I am agreeing with him. I think Christopher Lee would be a fascinating bio or series. even, just a guy who did everything. Yeah. I went into a random wormhole the other night, and I saw him on a British talk show back in the 1970s, and he talked about how much he revered J.R. Token. Like, he became a 10-year-old. And he was a man in his 40s, I think, when he did this interview. He became like a 10-year-old

talking about what it was like when he was in the bar when J.R. Token came in to the pub, and he could barely speak when J.R. came over to introduce himself. to the crew because one of the guys he was hanging out with new J.R. and asked him to come over. And Christopher is like, I could barely speak. It's like, wow. This man of immense power was, you know, put down to this place because of his reverence for JR. So, yeah, it would be interesting.

Crazy. Gopast is a Portman Triptitch of Leon, beautiful girls in Mars attacks. Well, you had me until Mars attacks. But yeah, sure. Good stuff for her. Yeah. The text is interesting. Yeah.

Go, Pat, just watched Ken's drunk movie fights. was great. Oh, my God. Legendary, legendary movie fights. We were all so trash. I think that was the one where they had a bartender.

Oof, right. And it was bad news. I just remember I lost, I think that was the one where I lost the fight to Ken. Oh. Because Ken did a few because he won the first one

and he did like the champion of champions for drunk movie fights. Right. But there was one where I lost the fight to Ken and it was the drunken bet that if I could correctly guess Chris Hemsworth's age or something,

then I would win and I did not. Because he knew. I don't know. Yeah, he, yeah, it's, yeah, he's, that was fun. Yeah. From what I remember. Jake says, no, sorry, I didn't mean no offense. John said, I don't know who does the animation.

Is it a crunchy rule? Oh, and I corrected saying. Oh, okay. Sorry. I apologize, Jake. I get, I get defensive because oftentimes, one of my pet peeves is when someone tries to correct me on something and they're wrong and I'm like, no, I know, I'm sorry, I apologize

shake. I did not hear John say that or I would have not reacted. Every minute abs, six minute ads or whatever it is. Yeah. Seven. Corn Emperor says, Cynophilology, Roken Dan's new show with his love. Oh. Thanks man. That's cool.

Page Chaudry says, I'm back from ear surgery. Hey, and happy to see the founding fathers. Please do a live show. Yeah. I'm glad that you're back from, and hopefully your recovery goes well. Yes, agrees. And hopefully we'll do a live show one day. We'll see. We're live now. Chris Brunner says Demon Slaher Infinity Castle budget was just 20 million. Wow, that's pretty impressive. It is. Although I do feel like there has to be the same discussion that was had around the visual effects budget for Godzilla minus one, which is that the we don't quite know what the animation budgets are and what the, you know, how much work animators are. asked to do for the money that they spend. I will say both movies are incredibly impressive

for the budgets for which they were made. My hope is always that that comes with a livable, agreeable working condition for the animators and the visual effects artists that made them. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I agree. Alan Smithy says, hey, guys, I used to be the archivist for the Emmys and had all their tapes in my office.

I dubbed copies of clips for various talk shows featuring winners. I knew more about who won than the Academy did. Oh. That's awesome. That seems like that'd be a fun job. The archivist for the Emmys, like you could, you could literally get anything. Yeah. I would imagine, like, whatever you want. That'd be cool. All right, well, that's our last super chat. Dan, I think we should wrap up the show there. Thank you all so much for joining us. As I said, Christian Harlov's after the theater reaction for out of theater reaction Raptor Hunt is up right now.

Dan, love it to see you. Please let people know where they can find your brother and everything that going on. I mean, I do have an Instagram. No promises, but I do have an Instagram that I post to very infrequently at Merle Dan. I'm not on X or Twitter, whatever you want to call it anymore.

Mainly YouTube. Just find me on YouTube. YouTube.com slash Dan Merle Movies or just search Dan Merle on YouTube. I have charts with Dan. later tomorrow. I'm planning to do my live show on Dan's World on Wednesday afternoon, as always, 4 p.m. Central Time, which would make it 5 p.m. Eastern and do the bath for the rest of the time zones, 2 p.m. Pacific, and then somewhere in the middle for Denver.

And yeah, movie news, reviews, box office, all that stuff, breaking news. I'm always trying to get myself into some crazy research hole of something that I shouldn't spend as much time on or watch a bunch of movies that are just fun to do. So yeah, come hang out. We love movies over there. I love movies. You should love movies. You probably love movies.

Let's all hang out and love movies. There you go. Good bridge. All right, Dan. Go work on your charts, man. We'll see you. Thanks so much for hanging out with us, brother. Have a great rest of your day, bro.

You bet. All right. There was Dan Murrell hanging out with us for this show of the Christian Harlov show. Thank you all so much. That's my brother of the founding fathers. We recently had lunch in San Diego, and we stupidly didn't take a picture. We should have taken a picture, and that's on me.

But it was great to see Dan. hanging out with him and I hope you all enjoy his points of views, his perspectives, and his knowledge and all the stuff that you guys asked about and all the topics we covered on the show. As I said earlier, please remember, leave your comments down below in the comment section. What do you think of the conversations we had, our points of views, our thoughts on all these things, our opinions, all these things. Let us know all of that. And of course, remember to subscribe to the channel down below as well. As for me, you can follow me at the Roka says on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, all the social media stuff. And my channel, YouTube.com slash John Roka says.

it is now the John Roka channel. So please follow there for all the new content that's coming down the Kepike here. I think we might, I'll even go live tonight for the truth or maybe Jeff and I, we can figure out of time. We'll do a hot mic episode and talk more about the Emmys, more about other stuff that's dropping the world

of entertainment. And then tomorrow, of course, spill the tequila geek buddies on Wednesday talking about alien earth and other stuff that's broken. And then, of course, we'll talk hot mic again on Thursday and geek buddies on Friday and more stuff coming up over the weekend. I'll probably have my reviews of the long walk full spoiler and

Downton Abbey coming up as well. All right, thank you guys so much. Take care of yourselves. Be well. We'll talk to you next time with another brand new episode of the Christian Harlov show tomorrow. Peace.