Essays
The Cinematic Universe Is Officially Over
The MCU is contracting. The DCU is in perpetual reboot. The Wizarding World is dead. The Dark Universe never started. A post-mortem for a decade's dominant cinematic format.
Marcus Vell·7 Mar·6 min
TAG
#box office
9 pieces
Film
Anatomy of a $200M Musical Flop: What Killed Folie à Deux
Eighteen months after Todd Phillips' much-hated sequel opened to a $37 million weekend and a 30% audience score, it is time to autopsy the corpse. The film isn't good. It also isn't quite what you've been told.
Marcus Vell·22 Feb·6 min
Film
Furiosa and the Death of Mid-Budget Action
Almost two years on, Furiosa's $175m worldwide gross still looks like the most depressing box-office story of the 2020s. Not because the film is bad, it is not, but because of what its failure reveals about the economics of the action film.
Marcus Vell·28 Jan·6 min
Industry
Mufasa and the Legacy Sequel Reckoning
Mufasa: The Lion King grossed approximately $717 million globally on a reported $200 million budget. By most measures it is a modest commercial success. By the standard Disney sets for the Lion King franchise, it is something closer to a question mark.
Casey Winters·8 Jan·4 min
Industry
Wicked Part Two Arrives With a Strategy Question
Universal's Wicked Part One grossed over $750 million globally. Part Two, released a year later, faces a specific commercial question familiar to every two-part release: does the second half hold?
Casey Winters·18 Nov·4 min
Industry
CinemaCon 2025 Reads the Room
The annual exhibitors' convention in Las Vegas is the single best public signal of the theatrical industry's mood. 2025 was cautiously better than 2024, and the studios noticed.
Casey Winters·4 Nov·4 min
Essays
The Flop Gets Rehabilitated Faster Than It Used To
The flop, as a cultural category, is being rehabilitated inside five years instead of twenty-five. An essay on why, and what is gained and lost in the accelerated cycle.
Lena Ashworth·7 Oct·7 min
Essays
The Opening-Weekend Model Is Broken and Nobody Wants to Say It
Hollywood's opening-weekend-dominant distribution model was built for a specific marketplace that no longer exists. An essay on what has broken, which films are succeeding despite it, and what a replacement would look like.
Marcus Vell·30 Jul·7 min
Industry
AMC Entertainment's Zombie Year
AMC Entertainment is still the largest movie-theatre chain in North America. It is also still, by several measurable metrics, insolvent. How is both of those true at the same time?
Casey Winters·12 Dec·5 min