Avengers Doomsday Coffee Shop, Lex Luthor Warsuit, Taylor Swift Toy Story 5, Obsession Movie Cast

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:54]Hi everybody. Welcome to today's live stream where we have an incredible lineup of stories. My goodness. But before we get started, of course, as always, it's the first live stream of the week, which means it's time to gift some memberships. You guys are always so generous. Uh so I always try to uh match that generosity by giving five memberships at the start of every week.

[00:01:21]Memberships are a great way to support this channel. it helps uh me out, but also other people benefit as well because YouTube selects people who interact with this channel the most uh to get those memberships. Uh so yes, also uh if you're wondering, my Masters of the Universe review will go up on Thursday and then on uh Friday I'll be reviewing Scary Movie. I'm sorry those reviews are a little late, but I'll be um I should be back on track after this week. Uh you guys are so sweet. Thank you so much. And yes, happy Pride Month.

[00:01:58]Uh June, we've just kicked off a new month and that of course um is a very important month. Okay, so we're going to have a great time. We have three excellent stories. The way it's going to I mean six, I'm sorry. It's the new the new uh format. I'm still fiddling with it a little bit as you can see. I'm not totally done. Um, but uh, we're getting there. So, we're gonna have six stories.

[00:02:24]Uh, we'll talk about each one afterwards. And then, of course, as always, at the end of the live stream, we'll do an ask me anything for 10 minutes. And I am going to react to the Wolverine gameplay trailer, which is going to go up today. Uh, State of Play starts at 5:00 pm, uh, Eastern Standard Time. So, it's going to be a PlayStation. They're going to be promoting a bunch of PlayStation. I love saying that. Um, and Wolverine is the big event. Uh, which was one of the reasons that I knew that they were not going to be doing a Doomsday trailer today. So, let's get started. Okay.

[00:03:03]Boop. So, yes, everybody was very sad. I feel bad. Part of me wanted to say, "How many times are you guys going to fall for this stuff?" But then I felt kind of sad that so many of you were excited and got let down yet again. It's going to be Comic-Con. I know there's a rumor going around that they might drop the trailer on July 18th. Like some people have deciphered some runes and they're like, "Oh my god, look, he's going to do it then." I really think it's going to be Comic-Con. And I'll explain to you why, as you can see in this breakdown. But uh let's talk about what happened because it was quite the cluster f thanks to IGN. Okay. Just just goes to show you how desperate things are right now in the U entertainment news space and it's rough. I'll tell you. I mean I I concur.

[00:03:49]It's difficult right now. But that IGN would clickbait like that is uh shocking. Uh they got community noted though. So that was kind of funny. Okay.

[00:03:59]So what happened?

[00:04:02]So, the Russo brothers are at London South by Southwest today and that was well known in advance and they um they have a person who works for them named like what is Donald Mustard I think his name is. He sounds like he's from Clue and he used to work for Fortnite and he in particular was like starts at 10:00 a.m. surprise at 2:00 p.m. London time and everybody went nuts. Thanks Big League Chew. And everybody was like oh my god it's happening. it's happening.

[00:04:32]Um, and so IGN ran a headline that said, "Avengers Doomsday trailer tomorrow." And of course, nobody clicks through to the story where they admitted that that was just fan speculation, but it was the clickbaitiest of headlines. It's gotten over a million views. It was nuts. Um, but usually the thing is is that, you know, I think Marvel set a precedent where they didn't really announce the teaser trailers, the teaser teaser trailers for Avengers Doomsday, and there was a lot of confusion around that. So, people feel there's some chance that this might come out of nowhere. But for the most part, they'll at least give you a 24-hour heads up, not only for fans, but for other uh studios, you know, who are releasing trailers. It's like nobody wants to release a trailer the same day that Avengers to Doomsday trailer drops. So, it would be kind of mean not to give people that heads up.

[00:05:26]So, like for instance, when Spider-Man Brand New Day was dropping its trailer 24 hours in in advance, they were like, "Who wants to see a couple of frames?"

[00:05:35]And they made it really clear. So, I think that you'll get I think that, you know, it's either going to be Comic-Con or you'll probably get a 24-hour heads up. So, what did happen? Well, I was talking to one of my sources and they were like, "It's a coffee shop." And I was like, "What? Are you for real?"

[00:05:55]I knew that it wasn't going to be the trailer because as I tweeted, it's too early. And people got angry with me.

[00:06:00]I'll always keep it real with you, though. I was like, "It could potentially be the trailer, but it's so unlikely." So, I was like, but I thought maybe it would be a poster or a really good look at Doom. And there were rumors, by the way, that there was a Doom teaser that had been cut earlier back in December. They never aired it.

[00:06:18]So, part of me felt maybe they were going to drop the Doom teaser. So, I thought there was like a small chance that that might happen. Um, thank you, Alpaca. That's very sweet of you. Um, so yes. So, but my source was like, "No, it's a coffee shop." And I was like, "What?" So, yes, it's a coffee shop called Doom or Domia, and you can buy a drink from Doom. Okay.

[00:06:45]Although, I did see that they were selling iced tea, which I have to cut back on. I overdid it on the iced tea.

[00:06:50]Um, but I was like, maybe I get it. I mean, how long's the line? But does it come in a cool cup that I can keep? I don't know. But yes, only in London.

[00:07:00]It's not even a popup in multiple cities. Only in London can you go and get some coffee from Doom. So there were some things in the menu like for instance one of the menu items is the previous leader of Latvia who in the comics Doom had unseated. So people were like I bet that coffee cup is showing that storyline and you're like guys these are literally crumbs. You're literally eat like licking crumbs off the coffee shop floor. Have some selfrespect. But I think it just goes I mean I mean at least people are excited about it. So I think that I would bet you that I mean I don't know if you noticed that the Russo brothers didn't look very happy today. And I wondered if they saw the social media reaction. It's their own fault. They should have said we have a fun little surprise for you or for the people in London. You know they should have made it really clear that it was tiny and it was it was something that was only for people in the UK in not even in the UK in London itself.

[00:08:00]But I think that Star Wars Mandalorian and Grou was a real wakeup call for um the Disney IPs where they were like, "Oh no, like we're not guaranteed to be successful and we might not even, you know, I think they felt there was some level of guarantee like you might not be a huge hit, but you would do okay."

[00:08:18]Although you would think after Marvel's performance at the box office in 2025, everybody would be nervous because like Thunderbolts didn't even make 400 million at the box office worldwide.

[00:08:29]That's nuts. So, I would think that, you know, but I think that Mandalorian Grou doing so poorly. I'm sure everybody's like, "Uhoh, this is scary." And by the way, I want to remind you because I see the deck officer is talking about Spider-Man.

[00:08:46]These are different studios. Sony is in charge of Spider-Man's advertising, whereas Disney Marvel is in charge of Avengers Doomsday's advertising. It's different studios, different companies.

[00:08:57]I'm sure there's some discussion between the two of them, but it's not the same.

[00:09:02]Now, everybody kept holding out there was still a 2 pm UK time, which is 9:00 a.m., which is a trailer drop time to be fair, Eastern Standard Time, that there would be some surprise at 2 p.m. People are like, maybe something will happen at 2. Maybe they'll show the trailer at the coffee shop. Maybe they'll have a poster that they start giving out. Who knows?

[00:09:22]Although, anyone who showed up at that coffee shop at 10 a.m. would riot. So, what was it? It was the Russo brothers.

[00:09:29]The Russo brothers came to do some signings. Um, I mean, that's nice. And I think I don't know. I don't know how I feel about signings these days because so often they just go right up online. You know, it's not really fans who get it, but you know, a professional autograph hounds who then resell it online. So, uh, you know, but they're very aggressive because it's their source of income. uh celebrities have talked about how aggressive those uh autograph hunters can be.

[00:10:00]So yeah, so it was a meet and greet and that's that's what it ended up being and I think it ended up being not a great day for Avengers Doomsday and it was all large I mean it was you know it was their own fault for just doing too vague of a tease and then also um they should have corrected after they saw what IGN did. They should have been like, "Bing bing, IGN, what the f are you doing to me?" And then they should have corrected to try and um because they knew what they had coming.

[00:10:28]Now, yes, the fans are getting frustrated because this is turning into quite the tease.

[00:10:36]So, I said when I tweeted yesterday, I said, "Look, um, Disney for their December releases has traditionally released those trailers at the end of July." And some people were like, "No, no, usually there's like a teaser a little bit earlier." Well, those teasers were the December, January teasers that were in front of Avatar to uh three. So, they've already done that stage. You know, everybody's like, "We've already seen something from Dune." Well, technically you've already seen something from Avengers Doomsday as well. Uh those were four teaser trailers. Um you know, and they were a theater exclusive at first and there was a lot of dismay as to like they leaked from a scooper and then that scooper was seemingly rewarded. It was a very weird time, you know, and I you I'm surprised that they're still having those issues.

[00:11:30]Uh, and then to add insult to injury, they played the trailer not once but twice at Cineacon. They were like, "Ah, you know, um, and that was very clever, you know, um, organic or not, it's a great headline to say they played the trailer twice, right?" Uh, anyone could play the trailer twice technically, and perhaps in the future they will. But, you know, it's frustrating that a group of not just executives, but influencers and press have seen this trailer um uh months in advance. And so, I think it's frustrating to fans that the trailer exists and it's not being shown to them.

[00:12:11]And I can understand that. I can understand that frustration.

[00:12:15]And then, yes, Dune 3, which comes out the same weekend, is being very aggressive. I think because, you know, for all the Dune hypers, I think that Dune 3 is at the disadvantage. You know, it's gonna have the IMAX screens, but how many other screens is it going to have? I think it's going to just have tons of screens. Um, you know, I mean, Avengers Doomsday, we saw how they flooded the market with Prada screens.

[00:12:42]So, I think that Dune 3 is fighting an uphill battle. And so, uh, that's why they were very aggressive out of the gate. But um you know Doom did Doomsday did their stuff at the beginning of the year. So they both are actually kind of tied.

[00:12:57]So as I said, Disney has a very specific publicity strategy for December releases. And Disney has a lot of movies that they're promoting. You know, I knew I guessed I should have said it, but I was pretty sure that Toy Story 5 tickets wouldn't go on sale until after the opening weekend of The Mandalorian and Grou. And sure enough, that's exactly what happened because Disney has to make sure that you want to see the movie that's coming out next instead of looking forward to a movie months down the line. So, they have a lot of movies that they have to promote still, you know. They need you to go and see Toy Story 5. They need you to see Moana, you know. Um, and so they have a lot going on, you know, like these are that's why PE publicity offices get upset with scoopers because these are very carefully orchestrated campaigns and they don't want things to get messed up.

[00:13:46]So if you look at the way things worked for Avatar, they didn't have a trailer until the end of July, which what do you know coincides perfectly with Comic-Con. So that's when I think you're going to see the next trailer. Um, some people again are saying July 18th, but I think it's going to be Comic-Con. So, let's talk about that. Let's not forget that at the end of July, in the beginning of August, Disney has not one but two major fan events. They have Comic-Con where they are returning this year to Hall H. And then, of course, they're going to have D23 Expo this year. D23 Expo alternates with Star Wars Celebration and this year it's uh D23 Expo. So, uh they need they need content, you know, like who we always say who won Hall H, who won Comic-Con.

[00:14:42]You think they're going to use their greatest weapon in advance? They're gonna walk out Robert Downey Jr. on that stage. They're going to do every maybe all the actors or as many as they can get. You know, have the chairs for real.

[00:14:55]That would be cool if they lined up all the chairs like they had for the announcement and then put the people in them. I mean, how many people are going to get a chance to talk? But who cares?

[00:15:04]And then show that trailer. I think for sure. I think I very strongly feel that that trailer will play at D23 and perhaps we'll see I mean at San Diego Comic- Con and then we'll see what happens at D23 Expo. That's going to be a big back-toback push. you know, um, Marvel Kevin Feige, not only did he get like a mandate to put stuff on Disney Plus, I'm sure he has a mandate to make a big splash at these two events. So, that's really important for him. So, he's going to make sure he has stuff for Comic-Con and he's going to make sure he has stuff for D23. I saw that Ben Ten said that potentially that they might do movies at Comic Con and the TV shows like Disney Plus at D23. That's very good strategy. It's very possible, especially because they don't really have any movies, you know, they're on hold right now, uh, outside of, um, Infinity, I mean, um, Doomsday and Secret Wars.

[00:16:01]Uh, and then, you guys are so sweet.

[00:16:04]This is the shirt. The shirt is like this. I'm not wearing a cast, but I appreciate everybody's uh, the fashion has failed me. Uh, I but I appreciate everyone's uh, concern. You're very sweet. Uh, okay. So anyway, so yes, uh, Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Now, remember, Spider-Man: Brand New Day was originally going to come out during Comic-Con, that whole Comic-Con play that they did with Deadpool and Wolverine and kind of, you know, messed up for Fantastic 4. So, Spider-Man: Brand New Day comes out now the week after Comic- Con because they needed two weeks after the Odyssey to try and get some premium screens. So, if it the trailer debuts in San Diego Comic-Con, it will then therefore, as Wanda's attorney said, be able to play in front of Spider-Man: Brand New Day. So, it's perfect timing, and that's really when I think you're going to see this trailer.

[00:17:00]Maybe it will come out for the Odyssey, but I don't see why, you know, Kevin Foggy would just give the trailer away a week before Comic- Con. It just doesn't make any sense to me. Maybe the poster will come out on July 18th, but they really need I mean they need to make a splash at Comic-Con and that's all they really have. Uh okay. All right. So, that's my thoughts on uh what happened today with the Avengers trailer situation, which I thought was very interesting. Um you know, I think the studios in Hollywood are still used to having a one-way street relationship with the fandoms and audiences, but because of the internet, it's now a two-way street. And so I think they still are not totally prepared for that.

[00:17:46]So what does everybody think? Any questions or comments about this story before we go to the next story of the day.

[00:17:54]I'm glad you guys like my shirt. It's new. It's brand new.

[00:18:01]Real life Quinn. It is a shame that they had a full descriptions of the trailer.

[00:18:06]I didn't read or watch any of them because I want to be surprised when the trailer comes out. I do think that that was a shame and I am shocked that that's the way they would want people to experience the trailer for the first time, but um it is what it is.

[00:18:28]It hasn't leaked because they employed very strict security at Cineacon. Um like they were really really on top of it.

[00:18:41]Jo says, "Do you think it's too early for the Russo brothers to release anything for Secret Wars at Comic-Con?"

[00:18:46]Oh, of course. Of course it's too early.

[00:18:49]They because why would they want you to be excited about the movie that's coming out a year later? They want you to be excited about Doomsday.

[00:18:59]Swifty says, "Are you interested in Ana Taylor Joyy's character in Dune?" Oh, for sure. I love Ana Taylor Joy. She can't dress for her life on a red carpet, though. She's trying so hard. I feel so bad for her. She's like, "How about this dress?" And everyone's like, "Don't care." She's like, "This one's even wackier." And they're like, "Nobody cares." I don't know why she can't get her Zenaia fashion moment, but for some reason it just doesn't work for her.

[00:19:28]William Swift. I don't know what's going to go on with the rest of the female X-Men. It's not looking good. Um, I think it would be shocking not to have Fam Kaj John Fam Kaj Jansen and Halib Berry, but you know, Marvel has shocked us before.

[00:19:48]Was Law Roach at once dressing um Ana Taylor Joy? I was talking about Ana Taylor Joy.

[00:20:05]They haven't started filming for Secret Wars, but they have been talking about it. In fact, they were talking about it today at London South by Southwest.

[00:20:17]I'll just give it another moment, then we'll move to the next story of the day.

[00:20:22]Oh, wow. La Roo used to dress Anya Taylor Joy. That's tough. No wonder she must take it particularly personally then. But I guess he decided to only dress Zenaia and now he's trying to, you know, become a celebrity himself.

[00:20:36]Jay Jonah Jameson, how could you be superheroed out? This is like the whole thing that supports the Daily Bugle.

[00:20:46]You got to sell papers with Spider-Man on the front page.

[00:20:55]He dresses Ariana. That's interesting.

[00:20:59]I like Ariana. I don't think her dressing is I would not guess that that was Law Roach.

[00:21:08]Oh, Jay Jonah says that the Daily Bugle stands on its own. That's pretty funny.

[00:21:12]I like it. I like it. You're That's pretty fast. You're pretty sharp there, Jonah. All right, so let's go to the next story of the day. Okay, let's go from Marvel to DC. And I got to tell you, it's not a great sign. Boop. that this did not trend. It trended like 15, but it couldn't get to the top 10 when it dropped, which I was surprised about.

[00:21:35]All right, so let me give you a better picture of the suit.

[00:21:41]All right, so James Gun delivered more news yesterday the way he loves to, and that's by tweeting it himself. I don't know why he hates the press so much. It's weird. Uh you know usually what studios do is they reach out or they make well usually a studio will have a press release uh or they will um go out to a publication and give them an exclusive to kind of build a build or uh help strengthen a relationship with a publication. So it's weird that James Gunn continues to be like I will just talk to the people directly. I mean if he was getting better results I would say keep doing it but he's not. So it's weird. So yeah, he tweeted out this picture and um you know it looks exactly like the supersuit in the Jim Lee art um that was tweeted out that he tweeted out in the first place when he announced the movie. So we it's not a surprise that Lex Luthther's going to be in a super suit and it's not a surprise too much that it looks like this. It is very comics accurate. Now my first reaction was I'm sorry to say what in the CW is this?

[00:22:48]That was honestly what I thought the first time I saw it. I was like, my goodness. And I tried to think about why that was. I think it's the lighting. I think it's the set that it's on. It doesn't feel cinematic to me. You know, uh it doesn't look it the weight. The suit doesn't feel like it has any weight to me. You know, it feels um you know, light for some reason. I'm not sure. Uh, but yeah, uh, I hope it'll I mean I hope it'll look better in the movie, but I was surprised and it's not very well lit, but I guess the point is it's a it's a tease, right?

[00:23:25]I showed it to a friend of mine yesterday and I was like, "What do you think of this?" You know, I don't want to am I always negative. Am I always negative about DC? Let me see if I can get someone else's opinion. And I thought it was interesting. my friend who was like totally comic booked out.

[00:23:39]She looked at it for a second and she goes and I thought this was a fascinating reaction. She said, "It looks more defense than offense." And I was like, "What? That's insane. I never would have thought about that, but it kind of is." You know, it doesn't have very many weapons on it, even though I think you can see the clear Halo influence. And it just kind of looks exploratory almost. It looks like a deep sea diving outfit. I think particularly because of the the setting that it's in.

[00:24:08]It almost seems like it's the bottom of the ocean only with yellow lighting instead of blue. It just kind of feels like that. I thought that was an interesting reaction.

[00:24:17]Now, I have to say that I really liked the 2025 movie that James Gun did. I said it was and I still think the best Superman movie that has been made. I really liked it. And so it's hard for me to be too negative on this because I feel like hey I liked I liked what James Gunn did the last time. So I would it stands to reason I would like what he does again. Although there was a shot of David Corin sweat in the exact same suit. You're supposed to change the suit every movie. It creates a little bit of feeling of momentum and energy. So I it's a big it's actually a really big move that James Gunn has not changed the suit for the second film.

[00:24:58]So, we'll see how that works out for him.

[00:25:01]So, anyway, it was just David Cornwat holding something that's clearly in post going to be made much bigger and he was just kind of like this. He was just like, "Oh, here we go. I got it." And I honestly thought to myself, what are we doing here? This just seems so small, you know? And the last movie only did pretty good. Like, if the Marvel movies hadn't done worse, we people would be saying much worse stuff about how Superman performed. So he James Gun really lucked out that Marvel had such a bad year. But it just I don't know. I hope it feels big, you know, like these two things just feel small to me or like a streaming show, you know? They don't feel like what a movie needs to feel like today, you know, because it's competing with streaming. So I I don't know. Like I I just I don't love the suit. But here was something that I thought was fascinating. So, I was looking into it and I saw one of the trades point out a really interesting Easter egg which I loved. Okay, I was like, "This is the kind of stuff I like." So, wouldn't you know it, Lex Luthther's uh war suit, his super suit, made its first appearance in this Action Comics issue where there were two stories. one for Lex Luthther in his new suit and the other for Brainiac becoming a machine, you know, a robot instead of like having a human uh appearance. And I thought that was really neat. I think James t talk about tweeting stuff out. I think James Gun should have tweeted this out. I think this is really cool. And it would be cool if you want my shirt, Gia, or do you want this as a t-shirt?

[00:26:35]Because I would kind of like this as a t-shirt. I think this is really cool. If anybody wants this shirt, they're still selling it at AFRM. That's where I get a lot of my shirts. Affirm.

[00:26:46]So any because they're really they're like 40 bucks. Okay. So anyway, um I think this is a really cool little Easter egg and to have them in the same movie, you know? I like that. I think he That's right. Wanda's attorney. He loves to tweak comic book covers. Why wouldn't he tweet this one? It's nuts. Like this is like it kind of makes the movie kind of ties it together with a nice little bow. I really like it. So, I thought that was like the coolest thing that I learned from this reveal.

[00:27:14]Um, I just want to take a moment though to say why I don't like the super suit on Lex. I actually hate it. I know that people like it. It's from the comics, as you can see, and they've used it over the years. And the idea, I think this is because there's always a problem with how to tell Superman stories. And I I thought that James Gunn really figured out a good way to tell Superman stories.

[00:27:33]So, I'm a little disappointed that he would fall back on this crutch. So, I always find that they try to give Superman things to hit, right? They're like, "Oh, he has so many power. He's so powerful. We need to give him really souped-up villains souped for him to fight." And, you know, I've always told you that to me what was most interesting about Superman was his moral code, which I think sometimes is an Achilles heel.

[00:27:58]You know, I really like that about him.

[00:28:00]And that's why I think one of the best lines in James Gun Superman is maybe that's the new punk rock. you know, loving everybody and believing everybody. I thought that was really great. But I told you back in the day when I was pitching comic books to DC for Superman stories, the two stories that I pitched was one where Superman refused to hit a woman and that like was a big problem for him, right? Because how does he deal with the female villain? Is he going to punch a woman in the face? I don't think so. So, I found that really interesting. Like Batman would do it. He'd be like, "She made me do it." But Superman would be like, I'm gonna have to figure out a different way to handle this. So, I thought that was interesting. Uh, and then I also had a thing where uh they had um an an alien version of meth come to Smallville because I thought that would be interesting to kind of like just really rip out the soul of Smallville, which is happens to so many middle American towns. um still I think um and kind of you know kind of like injure how Superman saw himself because Smallville is like his basis for who he is. So if you destroyed Smallville, how would that inform the character of Superman? I thought that was very interesting. So those are the kind of things that I like the most about Superman. And I get very bored of Superman just hitting big super powerful villains. So to me, what's so great about Lex is that Lex revels in his humanity. Lex, his whole thesis statement is that humans are not only as good as Superman, but better. And he of course feels he's the ultimate example of a human. And so for him to level up like this and turn himself into like a big bad is just it's to me it's the antithesis of Lex. I feel Lex would feel it is beneath him.

[00:29:50]So, I just really dislike just turning Lex into another big thing for Superman to hit. It bothers me immensely.

[00:29:57]Uh, at least James Gun kind of turn turned it into chess, right? Where Superman was controlling um Ultram Man, you know, which was the clone. That was at least a little bit more interesting to me. So, I don't like it. I hate this stupid suit. Not this. Not this. I don't I don't love the way this looks, but I have to be honest with you. It would be almost impossible impossible for me to like a Lex Luthther warsuit, any version, because I hate the idea of the warsuit so much.

[00:30:28]Okay, so I do agree that there's clearly a Halo influence to the look of this suit.

[00:30:34]Halo being an extraordinarily popular video game, although not so much recently, right? I don't hear people talking about Halo so much, but it does seem very Haloy. Um, so I don't know, but it seems kind of bulky. I'd be like, "You got a lot you got a lot of room in there, huh, Lex?"

[00:30:52]And he's like, "Yeah."

[00:30:54]I'm like, you know, he's like he's like, "Does this?" I mean, and Lex is very um very vain, by the way. So, I think he would not want a war suit that makes him look fat. Uh, yeah. And, you know, that's funny. You know, it would it should, you know, it doesn't look Iron Manlike to me, but it would be good if it was Iron Manlike. That's a good point, tall guy. I would love it if it was a little more Iron Manlike then, but then it would just turn Lex Luthther into Tony Stark. And there obvious similarities there for sure.

[00:31:23]Now, one of the things people picked up on the most, of course, was the Argus logo, right? And that right dead center in the middle of Lex's chest is the Argus logo.

[00:31:36]Now, Argus, of course, is the organization that Peacemaker was working for and that Lex has made a deal with over in Peacemaker season 2.

[00:31:45]Again, I don't know how I feel about this. This would imply that Argus is calling the shots and it's their idea to pair Superman and Lex Luthther up together. I would much prefer it if it was Lex's idea and that Superman agreed.

[00:31:58]I don't think they need a middleman, which is Argus. And I think that's again James Gunn's ego getting in the way where he's like, "Oh, I want to tie in Peacemaker and these other characters that I created and I'm like, I don't care. I think that that goes against the comic book and the characters." So, I don't know. We'll see how it works out.

[00:32:17]Again, I liked the second movie so much.

[00:32:19]I mean, the first movie. I like the movie the la this the James Gun Superman movie so much. It's hard for me to feel like he's going to nerf it so badly on the sequel. But, I don't know. I don't know why we have to do this dance.

[00:32:34]Why must we do this dance?

[00:32:38]So, we'll see what happens. All right.

[00:32:41]So, uh I think it looks bad. I don't like the idea of a war suit, but I really like James Gun's Superman. I particularly like his Lex Luthther. So, I'm still excited for the movie. You can't make me not excited about your movie, James. You can't do it no matter how hard you try. And you're trying real hard.

[00:32:57]All right. Any questions or comments about this?

[00:33:04]That's right. Well, Jay Jonah Jameson, you would know. Uh, yes. Lex is too much of a narcissist to put someone else's logo on his superuit. Yeah, he would chisel that thing off. He'd be like, I need to go to the bathroom and chisel that thing off.

[00:33:20]I think that is a good point, though.

[00:33:21]That's why it feels wrong. You're like, Lex would not wear someone else's logo.

[00:33:30]Timothy, you don't need to watch Peacemaker. It's fine. I mean, I thought the show actually wasn't bad to be honest with you, but James Gun made a lot of promises he didn't keep.

[00:33:40]Uh, Stephen says, "Superman has the issue also sometimes the X-Men comics have with Gene Phoenix. Once you make someone all powerful, sometimes comics don't know what to do." For sure. It's very hard for comic book writers. And I think that's right. Gene has suffered the same fate. And also because she has such a good moral code as well, they're like, "What do we do with her?" You know, and they're like, "She maybe kisses Wolverine, but Jean would never kiss Wolverine." She does because Wolverine's that sexy of a hairball. Um, but you know, she never means it and she's always very remorseful.

[00:34:18]Chico, I think Lex Luth Well, Brainiac is very, very powerful, you know.

[00:34:23]Although I have to say I do wonder. Oh, here's another thing. I forgot to tell you this. You reminded me of this. This is very interesting. So, Lex Luthther's original war suit was based on Kryptonian technology. And that makes me wonder if this is all going to be Kryptonian tech. If uh Brainiac will be Kryptonian AI and if the Lex Luthther super suit will be Kryptonian uh tech. I do wonder that. I think that's very possible and I wouldn't mind it. I like tying everything together. Then maybe I'd be a little more okay with the warsuit.

[00:35:01]Uh Jonah Jameson, you're on fire with the questions today. Uh good job uh for the press. Um I don't know if this helps Supergirl. I think it distracts from Supergirl. Why isn't James Gun tweeting about Supergirl?

[00:35:15]At least it makes it feel like DC is alive.

[00:35:25]Jennifer says, "Well, I remember in the animated series of Superman animated series that the reason Krypton fell was because of Brainiac." That's right, Jennifer. Bonus points for you. I remember those episodes as well. I liked that version of Brainiac quite a bit. I would like to go with that storyline, you know.

[00:35:44]Oh, he tweeted about her today. Well, that's good.

[00:35:49]Not enough though.

[00:35:55]Real life Quinn, he just tweeted. I love it. I think it's tweeted, but that's pretty funny.

[00:36:02]I don't like Bizarro. I'm not a Bizarro fan. I mean, I guess I should say I love Bizarro.

[00:36:10]Hate him. Not a fan.

[00:36:16]Yeah. Wanda's attorney. It almost feels like they're sending Supergirl out to fail, which is a real shame. You know, femaleled superhero projects need more support, and it's just been a shame.

[00:36:27]All right, so I think we're ready to go to the next story. We've only done two stories and it's been half an hour. Oh, we're going to have quite the live stream. Okay, I guess maybe I'll put in chapter times today. All right.

[00:36:40]Boop. I know. I can I can see by some of your usernames that this is the story you've been waiting for. Tay-Tay and Toy Story. That's the initials match, TS and TS, which I think was pretty funny. Now, why would Taylor Swift do this? I think it's pretty obvious she's trying to get that EGOT, and this is a very easy shot at getting the O, an EGOT. She's already got a ton of Grammys. Uh, so the EGOT st that's the EGOT is supposed to be like the greatest thing you can accomplish as a as an artist, right? So, it's the Emmy, the Grammy, the Oscar, and the Tony. And she's already got, as I said, tons of Grammys, and this is a really obvious chance to get an Oscar. Like, it seems like pretty much a slam dunk to be honest with you. Uh, and then she would just have to get an Emmy and a Tony. And so, I think that I mean, I think this just came along and she was like, "Yoink, yes, please."

[00:37:37]Now, the best song Oscar always annoys me because very often the songs that are nominated aren't in the actual film. It drives me insane. I hate it. It's always like they should call it the best end credit song. It really is frustrating to me. So, I will give bonus points to a song that actually takes place in the movie. I would prefer it if the characters actually sung the song, but I guess, you know, you can't do that in a m if it's not a musical. But yeah, so Oh, does she have an Emmy already? What did she get an Emmy for?

[00:38:11]Then she's getting closer. Even more powerful than we thought.

[00:38:17]Shallow.

[00:38:19]Oh, a TV special. Oh, all right. Right. So, Taylor Swift has an Emmy for her shallow TV special, tons of Grammys, and probably an upcoming Oscar uh for best original song, which means she just has to put together a Broadway show. That's all. Although, I have to say, a Taylor Swift Broadway show would do so well. Uh, okay. Or she could perform in a Broadway show, but we all know she's a horrible actress. She's a great singer, but she and I, By the way, Taylory Swift can do everything but act, it seems, so there's no shame in that. But, you know, she's really a bad actress. Okay, so the best original uh best song Oscar.

[00:39:03]It's pretty easy to win this thing. I think there's not a lot going on at the Oscars. You know, it's usually a pretty slam dunk category with the winner emerging pretty early on. And I would be like, anybody else who's doing a song this year, I'd be like, tough luck for you. Uh, okay. So, Billy Isish, of course, won for What Was I Made For? And that's clearly, I think, going to be the model for this song, right? It's the same situation. Um, so that makes a lot of sense to me. And Billy Isish won the Oscar. So, I think, you know, I think there's a very strong chance that I almost guarantee that Taylor Swift is going to win the Oscar for this song.

[00:39:42]So, that's why she's doing it.

[00:39:44]Now, the song is called I knew it. I knew you.

[00:39:49]I guess it's about like I knew I was supposed to be a toy and I knew you were my owner or something like that. Like I guess, you know, and it's a clever idea for the song. You know, Taylor Swift said the legend goes as she says that she watched an early screening of Toy Story 5 and came home right away and wrote this song. So, I think you could use that for lots of things. You could use it as a love song, right? Like you knew that this relationship was going to be something and that means you instantly knew the person as well. So that's pretty good. I think that's a clever idea for the song. But I think what's even more clever is what a shrewd business person Taylor Swift is because I couldn't believe that she was selling three versions of the same song on three different discs. Oh, Tay, you are quite the business master. So, yesterday when this announcement was made, you had 48 hours while supplies last to do a pre-order of all three versions of this song. And I can see some of you bought all of them.

[00:40:53]So, she made you pay for the same song three times. That's brilliant. That's why people were talking about for her latest album, The Life of a Showgirl.

[00:41:03]That's why she had so many variant covers and that's how she was able to have such such high sales and break records because she's cheating kind of through different versions of the same material. Now, it's not cheating if they let that loophole exist. And I'm surprised they haven't closed the loophole, but very clever. So, yeah, I was like, that's amazing. So, I think one's like the regular, one's like the acoustic or something. I mean, it's amazing. And so she just like so that's the reason Taylor Swift is willing to do this because she's getting an Oscar probably and it's just a ton of cash.

[00:41:36]She's got to pay for that wedding somehow. Although I'm sure that Travis will chip in. Okay, so that's hilarious.

[00:41:43]But yeah, that's amazing. That's amazing. You know, I got to admire it. I got to admire the hustle.

[00:41:52]Now, another nice thing is is that it's nice to have Taylor Swift do this song considering the fact that Jesse is the lead for this movie. And that's going to be a bit of an uphill battle. You know, they haven't really made that clear in the advertising. You know, especially the way some fan groups and internet personalities who need video content uh act this way uh these days. So, I think like, you know, Disney's trying to hide that a little bit, you know. Um, but it is Jesse's movie. She is the lead. She, you know, um, she I'm not a fan of Bonnie either. I don't think Bonnie is connected the same way that Andy has.

[00:42:32]Like, they're like, "We really want Bonnie to play with us." And we're like, I think audiences are like, "Here's an idea. Why don't you go find a new kid?

[00:42:40]Let Bonnie enjoy her new lily pad and you go find some new kid." But yeah, so Jesse's the lead. And I think that a Taylor Swift song strengthens that and I think helps fight any negativity about it because Taylor Swift is just so popular. So it kind of aligns Jesse and Taylor Swift, which I think is adorable.

[00:43:00]And I think that's great. I think that's great for Taylor Swift. I think they clear they clearly have a similarity to their brands and I think it's a really good fit for both sides.

[00:43:12]All right, next.

[00:43:15]Will this help Toy Story 5 at the box office? I think it will. You know, again, Disney's a little nervous.

[00:43:20]Although Toy Story is tracking to have the biggest opening for the franchise to date and the biggest opening for the year. We talked about this on Friday.

[00:43:28]It's tracking to open with 150 million domestic. That's incredible. They don't even have to do the worldwide number because for once in a while, the domestic number is actually big enough.

[00:43:38]So, that's incredible. So, Taylor Swift has a huge social media presence. Huge.

[00:43:44]So, she's going to be tweeting about this movie all the time. So, that's going to help. She's going to definitely be at the premiere. Ah, that's going to be fantastic. She's going to get a ton of attention. And for a cast that for the most part is pretty much older at this point, you know, it's they've been making these movie for movies for over 20 years. This, I think, isn't like really a very long time. This will bring down the age of the cast and make it seem more relatable. 30 years. I thought it might be 30 years. That's incredible.

[00:44:14]That's incredible. Although, I think everybody's still looking pretty sharp to be honest with you. Oh, that's right.

[00:44:19]Greta Lee should be helping, but for some reason, you know, Greta Lee is a really respected and wonderful actress, but not a big social media following.

[00:44:28]So, I think that's fantastic that you're going to have the movie premiere and social media. And it also it makes the movie feel very current, which I think is important. It makes it feel like Toy Story is still popular with today's audiences, with today's generations, you know, at that 18 to 24 demographic.

[00:44:46]That's so important. So, I think it's a great idea. I think it's very smart and I think it's smart for Disney and I think it's smart for Taylor Swift. Um, I wonder how long she can get away with selling so many versions of the same song.

[00:45:03]I'm surprised. All right, any questions or comments about this story before we move on to the next one?

[00:45:11]Jennifer says, "I took a kid I was babysitting to see the original Toy Story when it was out and we had a bit of an adventure in babysitting night. I took him to see it in downtown Sacramento. That must have been interesting. That's awesome."

[00:45:28]Legendary Movie Critic says, "This is Jesse's first main story line since Toy Story 2." That's right. This is what brought Joan Cusack out of retirement that she was so pleased that Jesse would be the lead.

[00:45:42]Hashtagpie says you ain't ready for Toy Story 5 according to some of the leaks.

[00:45:46]Do I own any Toy Story merch? Well, as you many of you know, I had a mold situation years ago at this point, but I lost all my collectibles and it kind of turned me off of having collectibles because I got afraid that I would lose them once more. So, I'm not a collectibles person, but I do have a friend who owns a Jesse cowboy hat and owns some Jesse stuff. She really loves Jesse. The same friend I asked about Lex Luthther, by the way, and I know she's very excited. That's right. Joan Kusak is retired. Apparently, Joan Kusak owns a furniture store or like a home furnishing store in Chicago called Judy Maxwell Gifts.

[00:46:25]I don't collect Funkos. I don't collect anything.

[00:46:28]I collect a good time. I collect I collect memories and experiences.

[00:46:36]My favorite character from Toy Story, Alberto, it used to be Woody, but I don't love what they've done with Woody.

[00:46:42]Uh, so I guess maybe I'd go with uh Buzz and Jesse.

[00:46:54]Oh, David. I didn't know Greta Lee was friends with Taylor Swift. Perhaps that was helpful. Boy, Tay has a lot of friends, doesn't she? She's like, "You're not going to draw me into a contract dispute, are you?"

[00:47:13]Hey. Hey. I Hm.

[00:47:18]Oh, that's right. Greta was in the Opalite music video, but I don't know if that means they're friends. I mean, Donald Gleason was there. They were all on the uh Gordon Graham Norton show together. Ah, thanks Swifty. Who's my favorite singer?

[00:47:31]Well, I know you want to hear me say Taylor Swift. I like a lot of singers. I really like Chapel Ron. I got to tell you, I'm still kind of in my Chapel Ran moment.

[00:47:47]I'm glad you liked my comment about collecting life experiences.

[00:47:55]Mystic says, "That's how you succeed in the business, friends." I have mixed feelings on that. Wouldn't you hate to think that your friends were only friends with you to get opportunities? I mean, look, I mean, you have to question how real Taylor Swift and Blake Lively's friendship was, considering the way that worked out.

[00:48:20]So, All right, I think we're ready for the next story. Okay, this is interesting. All right, put your business hats on. We're about to do some business stories. I'm pretty excited about these. Okay, and thank you to everybody who's joining today, both in the chat and uh who are watching. Uh I'm sorry, you know, um I'll try to do some live streams this month that are open to subscribers as well. Uh, but I appreciate everyone who tunes in for these live streams. Okay.

[00:48:57]Boop. Oh, so somebody asked me about bonuses for Obsession cast members, and I thought it would be a really great thing to discuss and alive.

[00:49:06]So, Obsession was made for just $750,000.

[00:49:10]I mean, that's a lot of money, but not very much when you consider how much it costs to make a movie. I saw an interesting tweet about that as well where someone said, "Please don't get too much into making movies for this amount of money because nobody can really get paid when you're making a movie for this amount of money." Uh, and really the cheapest movie you can make where people get paid union rates um and like a living wage is $10 million, which interestingly enough is what Back Rooms was made for. So, you know, uh, Obsession is a true indie film, a labor of love where you hope that it'll get you an advancement in your career. And then, uh, Backrooms is a true Hollywood starter movie where they really are able to put, uh, a good amount of money into it. Uh, okay. So, um, however though, Obsession has now made, and it's still going, it's made $150 million worldwide.

[00:50:03]That's incredible. That's 150 times what it costs to make it. That's amazing.

[00:50:09]Now, I want to tell you a little difference about how deals work. I want you to understand how deals work. So, now a back rooms was made within A24, but Obsession was an acquisition.

[00:50:24]Obsession was made independently for this $750,000 and then Curry Barker took it to the Toronto International Film Festival for their Midnight Madness screening which is for more commercial films and then it was acquired by Jason Blum and Focus Features. So the way acquiring works is that they buy the film upfront. They buy the whole thing. They buy it for a chunk of change and that's where Curry Barker probably made his money. They probably bought it, you know, for like a million or 1.5. Um, you know, Curry Barker had never released a movie before, so they're not going to give him a ton of money for it. Maybe they gave him points, but it's very hard to get points early on in your career. So, I think it's unlikely that he got points. So, they bought out the whole rights. Oh, folk.

[00:51:14]Are you sure that's true?

[00:51:20]I would be very surprised if it was 15.

[00:51:24]That would be more than back rooms cost.

[00:51:26]Why would you pay that much money for something like that?

[00:51:30]I'd be really surprised if it was 15 unless there was some sort of bidding war for it. But that seems No, people would be talking about the fact that Obsession was technically more money than Back Rooms, but let's see. Okay.

[00:51:47]But still, most of this stands. Okay.

[00:51:50]All right. So, um, some something that people talk about is the Blair Witch cast because they came back many years later and they talked about, you know, their film was also bought out and they talked about how little they got despite the film being so successful. And one of the most infamous things that they said was that yes, they did get a gift from the studio and that was fruit baskets.

[00:52:14]That they just were sent fruit baskets as a as a congratulations on the film's success. And so they found a way to sue.

[00:52:21]Now, they couldn't sue for the original film because again, it was bought out.

[00:52:25]The rights were bought.

[00:52:27]So instead, what happened was that they sued for their likeness being used without their permission for the second film.

[00:52:35]So they got $300,000 each and the condition that they could no longer sue, that that would buy out the rights for them. So, and they agreed to that. They agreed to that. And so that's all they got, you know. Uh, and I think they were particularly bitter because their careers never went anywhere.

[00:52:52]So, let's talk about how this works. So, you have the right thing to do versus setting a precedent.

[00:53:00]So, obviously, the right thing to do is to give some kind of gift to Curry Barker and the two leads. Those are really the only people I think you would give a gift to. Uh, and they used to do this all the time when there were television shows, you know, like you would get everybody in the cast would get a Porsche if the show did extraordinarily well in the ratings.

[00:53:19]Like that's typically how it has gone in the past in Hollywood. So, it's usually a car or something like that because it's a great thing to put on social media. It's a good chunk of change. You can resell it if you need to, etc., etc. So, that's usually what they do. It's usually a car.

[00:53:36]So, they could do that. Uh, or they could do a bonus. Okay. Uh, oh, so it was confirmed for 14 to 15 million. Ah, the press does such a bad job these days. Okay. So, that's that's I wonder where that money went. It's it's rumored, I believe, that a pretty good producer actually worked on uh Obsession who has experience. So, he must have taken some of the money and I guess the Barkers took the money. Uh, if here's the thing I have to tell you. If Focus Features paid $15 million for Obsession, it's on Curry Barker to give bonuses to his cast. I would not feel it was my responsibility as the studio to give a bonus when I gave $15 million for the film already. I would say it would be up to Barker to give that money. And maybe I would give the car. Maybe I would give a car. But if someone's going to give a cash bonus, it really should be Barker.

[00:54:30]You know, Taylor Swift, speaking of Taylor Swift, she gave bonuses out of her own earnings to her own crew. And so Curry Barker should at least be giving them like the 300,000 or $500,000.

[00:54:41]That's who should be giving it, not Focus Features.

[00:54:46]Now, there is some concern that you don't want to set a precedent, right? I mean, these movies are supposed to be low budget. You want to keep high profit margins. So other producers and studios might get upset with you if you were to break that tradition, right? So that's kind of the little bit of a problem you have to worry about. Although you could point to the Taylor Swift uh precedent and say that maybe that was a good idea.

[00:55:10]Now that I hear how this is shaking down, I really do feel that because they paid 15 times what it cost, it's up to Curry Barker to hand out bonuses. Uh and the crew, you could give bonuses to the crew. It's unusual in film to give crew bonuses to be honest with you. I mean, it's an unfortunate reality, but it's very unusual to give crew bonuses. Uh Keanu Reeves gave crew bonuses because he made just so much money on The Matrix. So, he's famous actually for giving very big bonuses uh all the way down to to all the below the line people uh because he made so much money. But uh again, that's the talent and Curry Barker made 15 times what was put into this film. So that would allow the producers and the investors to reap substantial benefits while still having a substantial amount of money left over.

[00:56:01]So it's really up to Curry Barker and I would encourage him to do it because it would only help his image more. He could even if someone said give $100,000.

[00:56:10]He could give a $100,000 to like the main people, you know, I would probably say the two leads and then I would maybe give 50,000 bonuses to the cinematographer and people like that, the production design team, you know, just give bonuses to people, you know, and it would probably at the end of the day only, you know, one to two million.

[00:56:31]That's all it would cost in terms of the overall hole. So, he should do that. So, I would say it's on Curry.

[00:56:38]But if I was Focus Features, I wouldn't want to look bad either. So, I'll give him a car, too. Okay.

[00:56:45]So, yes. So, the standard playbook is, so you're an actor, you're a working actor, you're struggling, you're Michael Johnston, you're indie uh uh Navarretti.

[00:56:56]What is supposed to happen for you if you're in a big successful movie? Well, the way it works is that first of all, you're supposed to get better representation. Although Indie Navarati um or Naetti already has clear clearly good representation because she was on Smallville or Superman and Lois. So she gets work already. So she already has representation. But yes, you're supposed to get a good agent or manager out of this. Then a big franchise is supposed to come a calling. And one of you even said Marvel should be going after this actress Andy. And that's a really good point. I think you know both of them.

[00:57:32]You would think that Marvel and DC and Star Wars would be like, "What about these two? They're very popular." So, that is another thing that you're supposed to get as a benefit.

[00:57:43]But, I do want to point out that Jeff Hiller, I forgot to upload his photo, but Jeff Hiller won an Emmy last year and he has a story out about how in 2026, and we're about halfway through, he has not worked at all despite being an Emmy winner. And that's just to point out how difficult this business is. And that's why the actors and the writers have gone on strike against uh streaming services um because they want those residuals. Residuals keep you alive in this business during the droughts.

[00:58:15]Nobody in Hollywood works consistently in front of or behind the camera. It's very rare unless you're an executive.

[00:58:21]And even these days that's less and less. So you need those residuals. You need those checks coming in. I still get checks for Zombieland, too. And I had like two, three lines. I mean, they're not big checks anymore. Uh they never were huge, but I'm still getting like 50 bucks every couple of months. So, it's really important to get these residuals.

[00:58:42]Um, and so that's important. So, Jeff Hiller needs I don't know if he's getting residuals, but you know, that's really important, but it's just really hard. It's a very difficult business and it's not a consistent source of income which is another reason that so many actors and people in Hollywood diversify their portfolio. Both Jeremy Rener and Courtney Cox despite being hugely successful as actors make the bulk of their money in fact from flipping houses. And I believe that uh George Clooney made the bulk of his fortune from uh a liquor brand that he started with Randy Gerber, Cindy Crawford's husband. So that's what you want to do.

[00:59:24]You want to, you know, you need a better source, a more reliable source of income, you know, and so yeah, Curry Barker, Curry Barker, he probably, you know, I'm certainly not giving Curry Barker points if I gave him 15 million up front for a $750,000 movie. Uh, but you know, he already got a $10 million offer for his next project and um he's obviously going to get a lot of pay big paydays going forward. He'll start to get paid in the million-doll range going forward. You know, at least one or two million going I would think because he's such a big name at this point. So, yeah. So, that's how it works. That's how it works. You know, these are supposed to be stepping stone projects. You're supposed to wait till you hear about back rooms in just a moment. That's going to be amazing. But yes, so any questions or comments about this story?

[01:00:24]That's right, Kareem. Yes, George Clooney and Randy Gerber sold it and made a ton of money off of it.

[01:00:36]SMR goo says that they don't see these people sharing profits unless it's been put into a contract. Yes, it's very unlikely unless it's contractually obligated. But sometimes, you know, you do it for the publicity or to avoid bad publicity. So, if you guys keep asking if these people got any money, maybe you can shame Curry Barker into giving them a bonus, but it is unlikely.

[01:01:03]Fernando says, "How long do actors have to book something like a franchise before it's too late?" Um, I think you have a couple of months. I think, you know, it's not good when the conversation changes, you know, when people start talking about something else or somebody else. So, you kind of want to lock stuff down. Um, you know, maybe also, you know, but you don't things don't necessarily happen right away. Uh, you know, we were wondering what Paul Anthony Kelly was going to do after Love Story and it turns out that he's going to stick with Ryan Murphy. So, I think they have some time, but if they haven't signed anything big by the end of the year, then they should be a little bit nervous.

[01:01:43]Tall Guy, you should always read your contract, but I think some of the best advice that was given by Peter David was you can only sign the best contract you can at the time. You don't have a lot of leverage. You know, neither one of these actors had the leverage to ask for points or bonuses when they signed on for this project. They just were too small. So, uh, getting the role itself is the win.

[01:02:09]Hashtag says Indie would be a great Polaris. I think she's too small for Polaris.

[01:02:14]They're both in for Young Cable. They're both too small. It's like physically small for those roles.

[01:02:25]Swifty, I'm still working on the higher tier of membership situation. It's been hard to find the right thing.

[01:02:31]And I'm glad you are a Zombieland fan and that I could be a part of that there.

[01:02:37]Franco says, "Do you think Indie uh has the look for Marvel or DC?" I think she'd be a good fit with Marvel to be honest with you. And some of you are saying X-Men, and I I think she's a good choice for X-Men.

[01:02:49]Oh, and SMR Goo says, "The convention circuit. You can make a lot of money on the convention circuit." That's right.

[01:02:55]Um, so you said you just saw Matthew Lillard and he thanked the audience for providing another livelihood from photos and autographs and appearance fees. Yes.

[01:03:03]Um, I have mixed feelings about that. I think that, you know, they ask sometimes for quite a bit of money, but as long as you feel you get your money's worth, then I think that's good.

[01:03:14]But yes, the convention circuit and you're seeing the boys actors start to cash in on that as well. Uh you can make a ton of money just going to conventions and doing meet and greets and signings.

[01:03:25]Uh but that you can make it's very very uh influent, you know, very lot of money.

[01:03:36]I gotta tell you though, it's usually for actors who are second or third tier um and you think need the money like Matthew Lillard is a good example of that. I would be a little nervous. Uh I wouldn't tell Indie or Michael, maybe Michael, but Indy's she has too much heat off of obsession. I would tell her not to do that. At least not yet. She can always do it in the future.

[01:04:05]Elizabeth Olsen, I'm sorry to say, needs the money because she doesn't get a lot of work. And I wonder if doing conventions hurt her a little bit. I would have told her not to do the conventions for a while there. All the Marvel actors were doing it, you know, like know there, you know, Chris Evans and Sebastian Stan, Paul Bettney, but yeah.

[01:04:34]All right, let's get to the next story.

[01:04:36]All right, you're going to like this one. This one's really interesting.

[01:04:40]All right, boop. Okay, so yes, Back Rooms 2. Back Rooms 2 is moving a ahead pretty quickly. And of course, they're going to make a sequel. When your movie opens with 118 million worldwide off of a $10 million budget, yeah, you make a sequel. I said they were for sure going to make a sequel probably for both these movies, right? And that also um it even has already had a huge Monday. A lot of qualifiers.

[01:05:05]They're like, "Ah, a back rooms is the biggest Monday for a horror movie in June." And you're like, "How many of those are there?" But it did beat a Conjuring movie. So that's pretty impressive. But yes, people are continuing to see it, which points to uh not maybe not too big of a second weekend drop, which is a concern that we have because Five Nights at Freddy's fell over 70% in its second weekend.

[01:05:27]So Kane Parsons Kane Parsons is going around saying he definitely wants to make a sequel. He is in the back room's business and he has ideas to keep it going. Uh ideas to keep it going. So he has been promoting a sequel even before the movie was released. So he knows what side his bread is buttered on and it's the backside. So that's great. But I thought, you know, Puck News had a really interesting story today about how the project originated. And you want to talk about someone getting cheated out of their cut of the money, here you go.

[01:05:59]This is an amazing story. So, it turns out that Shawn Levy is the one who discovered Back Rooms. Or in fact, it was his partner, um, I think Dan Cohen, and it wasn't even his partner. It was his partner's assistant, Lucas Ford, who uh was trying to make his way in Hollywood and had gotten himself a prime position as being the working the desk, which means usually you're the number one assistant uh for a big Hollywood player. So, he was the assistant for Cohen at Shawn Levy's company. And he found this little video about that Kane Parsons had made or Kane Pixels back in the day. and he had been tasked uh Lucas Ford had been tasked with finding new and upcoming ideas and talent and he just thought this video was cool. This was even before the video had blown up. So he was like, "Hey, we should call this guy in that." He wasn't even a development executive. He was just an assistant who they had said, "Why don't you go look for some stuff while you're sitting at the desk and you have some downtime? Go look for cool things for us to maybe option." That is incredible to me. That is incredible.

[01:07:12]And Lucas Ford, in fact, does not even work there anymore. He left that company to start his own production company, I think, called like Ford Films or something.

[01:07:23]And he doesn't get anything for back rooms. Not anything. He discovered it.

[01:07:28]He brought that guy in uh to um Shawn Levy. And that is the whole way that it became successful. So, you think someone's upset? I bet you Lucas Ford is upset. and he couldn't ask for anything.

[01:07:41]He couldn't ask for points. And that's something to consider, you know, when uh when you're, you know, you have to weigh the pros and cons, although he was not promoted at this company. So, why would you give such a good idea to people who you're just an assistant for that you have no participation in? That's really something to consider. Although, what could Lucas Ford have done with back rooms as an assistant? There wasn't anything he could have done with it. So, it's really a tough that's like the tough situation in Hollywood, you know, like what ideas do you give to your boss? You know, is it for in exchange for a promotion potentially? Like, you know, I Yeah, that's right, Dory. Ideas are the real currency. So, you got to be really careful, but at the same time, you have to also move ahead. So, if you keep all your ideas to yourself, you're never going to move ahead either. So, it's a tough it's a give and take. It's a balancing act. You have to find the right balance.

[01:08:36]I think it's a shame that he wasn't promoted within the company.

[01:08:40]But anyway, okay. So, apparently, according to Puck News, what happened was is that Lucas Ford, the assistant, found Cain Parsons, brought him in to the company to have a meeting, and then Shawn Levy started shopping the idea around and getting people to join in. And I was surprised to find out that Kane Parsons had an agent really early on thanks to all these big Hollywood names that he was meeting. And they were the ones that were able to to convince A24 to come in at the development stage.

[01:09:14]And so these are two very different scenarios. Kane Parsons is a Hollywood baby. He was brought up through Hollywood. He is a Hollywood project whereas Curry Barker did everything totally Well, his father apparently works in the business as well. When you see a successful, particularly someone who's very successful at a young age, they usually have a parent that was not so successful but is in the business and had connections. That's the situation with Timothy Shalomé. That's the situation with Tom Holland. They all have parents or people in their lives who were already successful or had connections within the industry. That to me is always very interesting. And then this new person was able to start like as a child and that because you know Kane Parsons was taking meetings when he was a teenager on this project. So he might be 20 now but he was approached by Hollywood when he was in his teens.

[01:10:08]So really really interesting.

[01:10:11]Okay.

[01:10:13]Uh that's right. You know Fad it would be nice if Kane Parsons remembered that Lucas Ford called him in. Uh, and that just goes to show you how quickly people can get Hollywoodized. You know, you think these new people are like the new voices. You're like, "Oh, you're going to change the business." But you'd be surprised. Just like when people start to make a lot of money, they start to become like all the other billionaires.

[01:10:36]When people get pulled into Hollywood, they start to act like the rest of Hollywood, which is why Hollywood shouldn't be so afraid of new voices because they're pretty good at assimilating them. So, you're like, "Yeah, what are you worried about? you know, you guys are really good at pulling these people in. I wouldn't call it nepotism because they're the parent is usually not very successful.

[01:10:56]Uh they've really struggled, but at least they were able to get some doors open for the younger generation.

[01:11:04]Okay. So, so very interesting.

[01:11:07]Fascinating.

[01:11:09]So, changing the system doesn't work because I think you can change the system a little. I think it's hard to change the system by huge things. I think you can pivot the system, but I would also remind you that the system usually exists for a reason, you know, like I think you're like, "Oh, the system." And then the system says, "Oh, come in." And then you're like, "Wow, the system is now working for me. Why would I destroy the system that is working for me?" And that is, I think, something to remember about how any business works, you know, or any system works. You're obviously against it when you're on the outside, but you can't really change your system from the outside. You can only really change it from the inside. And then when you get inside, you're like, "Ah, wait a minute.

[01:11:52]It's working for me." A great The reason that quote is so great from Andor where Stellan Scarsgard says, "I burn my life for a sunrise I'll never see." Is because this is very true even when you're trying to make a change within, let's say, an industry. Are you willing to burn your career and potentially never have any success so that you can change the system? That's why people who are um who do make such change are so lauded by society because of the sacrifice that they make. It's a really an incredible sacrifice to make with one's life.

[01:12:31]Okay, so anyway, sure enough, Kane Parsons is looking for a writing partner. He's looking for another Hollywood name. And I wouldn't be surprised if it's another big Hollywood established writer that works with him on this. Um, isn't that interesting?

[01:12:47]Well, like why doesn't Kane bring in a new writer like himself? But, you know, he's doing very well being the only new person in a sea of very experienced people. He's the inexperienced face on a machine that is actually extremely entrenched.

[01:13:04]So, that's really interesting to me.

[01:13:06]Now, for the sequel, I feel there are some really important things that need to level up here. The audience scores are an alarming situation. Okay. Um, they're not great. Some people went to see the movie, didn't love it. So, you're going to have to work really hard to make sure you can bring those people back to the theater. They might not, you might be harder to get them back. I would bring in more mythology. I think they need a lot more mythology. Um, you know, to get people more involved to pull them into the story. I think they need more scares. I would bring in the bacteria. So, there's this weird like object that looks a little like Forky from Toy Story actually running around the back rooms online in the online videos. Um, although in some of them it's the weird like um Oh, I don't want to give things away, but there is a monster in the movie which looks very different. So, but I've seen variations of that in some of Kane Pixels or Kane Parson's original videos. But I think they need to bring the bacteria in, and I think they need to have more scares. I think there were some very good scares in back rooms, but they need more.

[01:14:13]And then I don't know how they're going to top some of the amazing installations in the third act, but they need to create even more interesting back rooms, both in terms of the layout and um what's in them. So, and that seems to be what Kane Parsons really brings to the table. I think Kane Parsons is really good actually at coming up with um these like still lives that have really uh captured the imagination of his audience. So, that's what I think.

[01:14:41]That's what I think. Um so, let's go through your questions and comments before we get to the last story of uh the day.

[01:14:51]Uh, David says, "Uh, Rinade, uh, Redsvy passed on weapons for Julia Garner's role, but did back rooms." Well, that's so funny to me. And that's why I thought it was funny in The Flash when they had Eric um, Stoultz get Back to the Future and then that meant that Michael J. Fox got foot loose and then Kevin Bacon got Top Gun and it was just like a domino effect. just to just just to show you how it is in Hollywood and how close some actors come to roles that become so iconic for people who who ended up getting them.

[01:15:31]Steven says a backroom's escape room.

[01:15:34]That's not a bad idea. That's actually a very good idea, Stephen.

[01:15:38]Um they should do that. I would, I have to tell you, I would totally sign up for a back rooms escape room.

[01:15:56]Amara, I scrubbed through the backroom shorts. I was like, I don't understand the appeal of these. I mean, I could see that they were very much like the movie.

[01:16:04]Um, but I just don't get the I I get the movie, but I don't get the appeal of the shorts.

[01:16:21]Oh, Timothy says maybe they should add the levels. The back room's mythology has millions of levels, even if they look different. Yeah, I think there's definite places for them to go.

[01:16:36]Uh, NGN8, I love hearing about your theater experience in Brazil. That's so cool to think of people seeing this movie across the globe.

[01:16:44]Oh, that's right, Olive. Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios would love it, too. That's a very good choice.

[01:16:50]Yeah, that would be great.

[01:16:52]I love that they're doing more current films like Sinners. I think I bet you for sure they they're probably on the phone right now saying especially um no obsession is a Universal movie. So you might see an Obsession Room maybe um or Maze but back rooms is uh A24 That's right, Amara. They were entirely CGI when they started. That is very interesting to me that Kane Parsons just taught himself how to use Blender. That is really impressive. I think he, you know, for all that I'm really pointing out how he has a lot of Hollywood bigwigs behind him, but that he's still, you know, to his credit, you know, they're not behind somebody else. So, he did a really good job with that.

[01:17:52]Um, but I they actually built the backroom set for the movie, which I think is really cool. Or a large parts of it. I hope they preserved it. I would love to go to that.

[01:18:09]NGN8, I bet you back rooms isn't an open concept anymore.

[01:18:15]I think they would be able to sue at this point because they released the film. You know, also speaking of participation, how about the person? I mean, this isn't even Kane's original idea. Somebody else found the photo and posted it and the first step of the lore. It was just a still photo. So, I think that's fascinating, you know. Uh, but that's the, you know, when you have anonymity on the internet, how do you prove that, you know? I think that's really interesting.

[01:18:53]Um, I don't I think that if you tried to make a back rooms movie, I think that uh A24 would sue and they would argue that it was um a conflict of the copyright of the movie.

[01:19:09]So, if you try it, don't put much too much money into it because I think there's a very strong chance it might get taken down.

[01:19:21]That's a tough call though because that might make fans turn on the IP. So, um maybe they'll have to see how it goes.

[01:19:33]Uh legendary movie critic. I agree. I watched Obsession first and then Back Rooms, and I thought that was a good order to watch them in. Okay, let's do the final story of the day and then we'll do the 10-minute ask me anything.

[01:19:45]Boop.

[01:19:49]All right, so AMC had a very nice headline yesterday. Uh for the month of May 2026 alone, they had 25 million movie goers come to their theaters both domestically and overseas. uh I think uh o what is it cinniplex odon is theirs overseas or just odon um but yes so that's very big for them and in fact what was so nice about the headline is that is the biggest number of people who have gone to the theaters for them since before the pandemic since 2019 and 2019 was an incredible moviegoing year I think like the entire top 10 was in the billion dollar club or something like that it was amazing so that's why it's been hard for Hollywood to lose so much ground after the pandemic. So, it was very exciting to see so many people going to the movies in May and for that was for these movies.

[01:20:42]Uh, Michael, The Devil Wears Prada 2, Obsession, Back Rooms, and of course, The Mandalorian and Grou. So, that's pretty cool. Um, so I think even you have to include even Mandalorian and Grou because it's still open with like 80 million and people were still going to the premium screens for the Memorial Day weekend to see it.

[01:21:05]Now, this is really big news for Hollywood, like huge news for Hollywood uh because they've been so scared that people maybe just don't want to go to the movies anymore. So, the fact they've been able to get movie going back up to prepandemic levels, even for just a month, shows that there's a future still from the movie business, which woohoo, thank goodness. It looks like it looked for a minute they're like it was going to get cancelled.

[01:21:28]But to me, the most interesting thing here is is AMC A-list partially responsible for this because no other theaters are reporting such a surge in movie going and AMC A-list is truly a phenomenal rewards program. I know not everybody has it, but the people who have it really use it. You get four movies a week. Uh although right now I'm currently holding all my A-list reservations for June movies. So I'm even though I have AMC A-List, I'm paying for additional movies to go and see them actually, which is nuts. Uh but I'm almost more so using AMC A-list as a reservation system to hold on to really good seats. Uh sometimes I will release the seats and then go quickly get them pick them up again with my AMC A-list once uh me and my entourage have things free up. But it's really tough. You got to you got to you got to play this. You got to use the system.

[01:22:28]But I really feel that AMC more than any other movie theater is really getting people to go to their theater. And I think AMC A-list is a huge part of that.

[01:22:38]I think they have the best rewards program. And how do they make money? I think concession stand uh sales, you know, every time you go, you know, you're gonna get something to eat hopefully. And then also the popcorn buckets and other memorabilia that has become a huge business uh where they're just selling out and they're just selling, you know, they're it helps make it more of an experience. But yeah, so this is a shorter story. I just thought it was great that movies were doing well and that AMC, I think, really has the best rewards program. Uh I mean, it's interesting. I I read that Delta has the best rewards program for airlines and I think that AMC has the best rewards program for uh movie theater going uh okay any questions or comments about this before we do the Q&A that's right fad if people are going to the movies and the Box office headlines are good. People are like, "Maybe I should go." So that helps, too.

[01:23:54]Oh, Juan Carlos says that Barnes & Noble also has a weekly book and huge discounts. Oh, that's great. I think rewards programs are really important.

[01:24:12]Chris says, "Harkens theaters is where it's at. I've never been to a Harkkins, but I'm glad." That's an amazing stamp of approval.

[01:24:23]That's right, J. Jonah Jameson. Tik Tok and video games aren't killing movies after all. In fact, Hollywood has just learned to work with them.

[01:24:38]All right, let's go to the Q&A. I think you guys are ready for the Q&A and we'll do 10 minutes.

[01:24:43]All right, you can ask me anything that you would like and maybe I'll answer it.

[01:24:50]Ah, chicken nuggets. I do love chicken nuggets.

[01:25:04]Fahad says he does not have A-list, but for every eight tickets you buy, you get a free one. Oh, that's great. I'm glad you have some kind of rewards program.

[01:25:11]Steven says, "Did you see Anna Kendrick will be directing the Seven Thousands uh Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo for Netflix?" You enjoyed her directorial debut, Woman of the Hour. What are my thoughts? Um, I thought her debut was only okay. I'm not familiar with that story, but I'm glad that she's continuing to get work. Anna Kendrick kind of faded away.

[01:25:34]Chris says, "Harkens is always clean and a manager walks the theater twice per movie to keep people off their phones."

[01:25:40]God bless him. I hope he's okay. I wouldn't do that in New York. You got to see who's on the phone before you're like, "Maybe we just live like this."

[01:25:48]Okay. Hashtag says, "Grace, you misread me." said, "Michael already voices um Oh, he already voices Young Cable in X-Men 97." Oh, I didn't know that.

[01:25:56]That's interesting. So, since Marvel knows him, they might cast Oh, well, she I don't think she's a good Polaris, but I could I The connection's very interesting.

[01:26:05]Uh NGN8 says Grace excited for Sony's event today. Yes, I'm excited about Wolverine. I'm going to be reacting to that for sure. Oh, maybe if they do something for Intergalactic, I would maybe inter I would maybe react to that as well. And thank you. Ah, love to you, too.

[01:26:20]Wanda's attorney says, "He-Man box office predictions. I think it's going to be bad." I haven't seen it yet. I'm going to see it on Wednesday, but um The Rotten Tomato score, last I checked, was not good. Not conducive to going to see the movie. What is it?

[01:26:36]They're hiding it at the bottom again.

[01:26:38]It's so annoying. 75.

[01:26:41]Um, you know, Billy Malloy. It looks like I'm not going to get screeners for Lat. So, I'm not sure what I'm going to do about Lat. might not be able to cover it, which is frustrating. Maybe I'll cover it when it's over.

[01:26:56]Um, let's see here.

[01:26:59]I thought Sentimental Value was pretty good. I don't really like depressing movies, so it was a tough Oscar year for me.

[01:27:14]David, what are you talking about for Deborah and Ava?

[01:27:22]J. Jonah Jameson, I think Sydney Sweeny's brilliant for naming her company Honey Trap. I think it's very smart. Make the Barbarella movie.

[01:27:30]Uh oh, Brett says, "What's your stack looking like this week?" Oh, I will start I started posting my stack and I will continue to do so on my social media.

[01:27:41]I'm glad you like my thumb holes, Swifty. I'm a big thumb hole fan.

[01:27:48]Frank says, "Will you get House of the Dragon screeners?" No comment. Let's see here. Oh, I didn't like Halfman uh LP1.

[01:27:57]I didn't like it. I thought I thought it was just too It had too much of a negative energy to it, even though I thought the acting was good.

[01:28:07]Hashtagpie says, "Who would you cast as the X-Men?" Starting with Polar. Why do you want to start with Polaris?

[01:28:14]Uh, do I I don't I don't think I don't want to see Peter Clafly buried beneath all that blue fur for Beast. And I don't know about Odessa Azion as Rogue, although she certainly has the hair.

[01:28:30]Thanks, Isaac.

[01:28:32]Alberto, I did read up on the Euphoria finale. Um, I hope everybody was satisfied. It was certainly an interesting last season.

[01:28:59]All right, just a few more minutes. Any questions you might have?

[01:29:22]Oh, the Hacks finale. Oh, that's funny.

[01:29:25]I hated the ending of Hacks. I'm not a fan of the final season.

[01:29:33]What's a hidden gem of a movie I'm excited about for 2026? Well, it's not so hidden anymore, but I'm looking forward to Prime Time from Robert with Robert Patson. I I really like Robert Patson. I think he makes really interesting choices.

[01:29:47]Um, what's for dinner, Ryan? I'm thinking of making some fried egg sandwiches.

[01:29:53]I go to a Regal sometimes. Um, there's a Regal Down in Battery Park. Uh, but I had two really bad experiences there, so I haven't been back since.

[01:30:07]Hashtagpie says, "I do like Polaris, but then again, I was just connecting her to the convo about casting for the X-Men.

[01:30:12]Do you have any specific names in mind for them? Uh it's hard to talk about it because they are like getting cast now.

[01:30:19]So, um I don't have anyone in particular that I'm interested in.

[01:30:33]Is that breakfast for dinner? I guess it kind of is.

[01:30:39]Jo tips for going to New York City during the month of July. It is very hot here, but luckily most of our activities are indoors.

[01:30:51]Uh, let's see here. Nan Nandino says, "Hey, Grace, do you think we'll get more Punisher after Spider-Man?" Well, I think it depends on how Spider-Man does.

[01:31:01]Uh, then if it does very well, then yes.

[01:31:04]Floppy Disc Channel says, "What about Indie for Zatana?" Um, maybe. She's very She's so tiny. I think she'd be a good kitty pride, something like that. I think of her something like a like someone who's physically smaller. And for some reason, I think of Zatana being a little bigger.

[01:31:28]Turkey bacon. I don't have any turkey bacon.

[01:31:34]Let's see here.

[01:31:47]Oh, Billy Malloy, do you recommend Empanada Mama? I've seen them, but I've never tried them. Maybe I'll try. The best ever. I do like empanadas.

[01:31:59]That's why Zatana should be tall because she always wears the fishnet stockings.

[01:32:03]That's an excellent point.

[01:32:08]Yes. Uh JJ Studios, I will do weekly breakdowns of House of the Dragon for sure.

[01:32:17]Uh yes, NGN8, I'm sorry that I'm behind on these reviews this week, but next uh after this, I should be back to reviewing movies when the embargo's lift. Knock on wood.

[01:32:34]Uh, let's see here. Gico, I did try the K-pop Demon Hunters McDonald's meal. I got a very rare card. I was told I did not like the pickle fries. I tried I'm glad I just tried it on one fry.

[01:32:52]Stephen, I will definitely read Absolute Catwoman for sure. I'm picking that up.

[01:32:58]I don't think they should remake Breakfast at Tiffany's. I'm upset they're remaking The Birds, which apparently has nothing to do with The Birds. Uh, when I read the synopsis, I think you should not remake these really famous things. I think people should go watch the originals.

[01:33:12]I didn't mean to bang on the desk for emphasis there, but I'll take it.

[01:33:19]All right, one more minute left.

[01:33:26]Um, Fad, watching anything on streaming or video on demand this week? Um, I've watched uh six of the eight Cape Fear episodes. They're incredible and I really strongly recommend that you tune in for Cape Fear on Friday.

[01:33:52]Lestat is on Sunday and I don't know about Lestat because as I just said hashtagpie I didn't get the screeners.

[01:33:58]It looks like they were very very selective as to who they gave them out to uncool.

[01:34:06]Uh happy happy Pride month to you too, Ryan.

[01:34:16]All right, that's the 10 minutes. I must go. There will be a live stream tomorrow. So, I will see you tomorrow.

[01:34:22]And thank you for joining me. And I had a wonderful time with you as always. Bye bye. But see you. See you tomorrow. Bye bye.