Scott Mendelson

Box office columnist at Puck News and otherwise doing the news analysis/film criticism/box office punditry thing at The Outside Scoop via Substack.

[Scott Mendelson @ScottMendelson]

If you feel like finding me at the new (for now) "good place"...
And if you want to subscribe to my S*bst*ck and/or listen to my weekly podcast, please do that, too. (The extra screenshots are mainly for the clean four photos cropped 16x9 appearance.)

[Scott Mendelson @ScottMendelson]

@ja_y007 That's actually what I say in the post, natch.

[Scott Mendelson @ScottMendelson]

As #RamayanaMovie topped the global #boxoffice on Monday with another $17 million, I dug into A) whether the mega-budget tentpole can possibly become theatrically profitable and B) why #TheCatInTheHat is struggling amid a slew of unique, demographically specific event movies. ⬇

[Scott Mendelson @ScottMendelson]

Because, as I’ve said countless times since 2010, the fact that everyone has heard of Superman does not mean they will automatically want a movie featuring Superman.

[Tyler F Martin @tytheanimator]

Your personal feelings and grifting aside, a movie studio is a business. Skydance saw Spider-Man: Brand New Day pull in $1 billion and naturally asked why Superman, the most recognizable superhero in the world, only brought in $600 million.

[Scott Mendelson @ScottMendelson]

via @ScottMendelson
https://t.co/xJ7Fks1Gt0
"Something For Everyone"
(The non-#GodzillaMinusZero weekend box office post I meant to write yesterday before DC got “rebooted” yet again, but now with Monday updates where applicable)

[Scott Mendelson @ScottMendelson]

@ravenwing263 Beside the point, frankly. 99% of the audience that showed up in December 1998 did so because it was a cute-looking rom-com reuniting Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan (and fwiw, it involved the then-novel notion of emails and online dating).

[Scott Mendelson @ScottMendelson]

Once again, this is not and was not an IP or a franchise. Yes, 1998’s You’ve Got Mail was itself a remake of Shop Around the Corner, but its appeal at the time was 99% “Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, reunited again after Sleepless in Seattle"!!!

[Deadline @DEADLINE]

'You've Got Mail': Jason Orley Directing New Take On Rom-Com For Warner Bros. https://t.co/zwIg8lw3v5

[Scott Mendelson @ScottMendelson]

@moviemattk #justice4Gamera!!

[Scott Mendelson @ScottMendelson]

“We’ll test someone like Matthew Broderick.”
“Guys...!”
“Or we could do Cusack?”
“Guys! I play Pee-Wee.”
“I have no idea what that means.”
“I *play* Pee-Wee!”
Coming next Christmas. Jeremy Allen White (or Dominic Sessa) is Paul Reubens in ‘I Play Pee-Wee’.

[Scott Mendelson @ScottMendelson]

@Logaferlopez "One will fall!"

[Scott Mendelson @ScottMendelson]

@BrianDuffield Am I reading this wrong, or did someone somewhere decide that Quantum of Solace is even better if you watch it before Casino Royale?

[Scott Mendelson @ScottMendelson]

I went long(er) on why it’s highly unlikely that repeated attempts to create a tentpole-sized DC Comics cinematic universe will have any more luck than the first attempts did when the concept and the characters (Wonder Woman, Harley Quinn, Aquaman, etc.) were novel and exciting.

[Karla 🇲🇽 • Method Acting Apologist • @Artisticneed]

So many people asking themselves why DC can’t build a cinematic universe is funny because if you were there from the beginning the answer is very simple. During its inception the MCU was afforded two things DC never got: Time and Low Expectations.

[Scott Mendelson @ScottMendelson]

@CPthreeio Fair or not, I’ll argue that, in this circumstance, quality has only partially to do with it. Offhand, Aquaman, WW, Shazam and Birds of Prey were great (and Joker won a bunch of Oscars), and yet... :-/

[Carbon Helium @CarbonHelium]

Notice how no one’s levelling this criticism against Wild Horse Nine, a film that asks you to sympathise with a dying CIA agent who assassinated presidents

[Anthony Emerson❤️🌲🦞🇾🇪🌹 @AnthonyMEmerson]

It’s really underdiscussed how much of American conservatism is based on the premise that only conservatives are allowed to wield power and that the will of the voters is something to be worked around if not outright ignored

[Kirby's Last Snack @KirbysLastSnack]

Feige has talents and a good eye for things but his single, massive advantage over DC peers was the ability to continue doing his thing without a corporate buyout upending the table every 3-4 yrs with leadership changes. He had plenty of issues, but was able to keep trucking.

[Scott Mendelson @ScottMendelson]

If an interconnected DCEU couldn’t succeed a decade ago on the backs of the first on-screen Batman/Superman team-up or the first movies focused on Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Harley Quinn, then, well, good luck trying again when even the MCU is struggling. https://t.co/I4d6OJTTAS

[Scott Mendelson @ScottMendelson]

I went long(er) on why it’s highly unlikely that repeated attempts to create a tentpole-sized DC Comics cinematic universe will have any more luck than the first attempts did when the concept and the characters (Wonder Woman, Harley Quinn, Aquaman, etc.) were novel and exciting.

[mark @midsommark]

This will be the sixth time we have destroyed the DC cinematic universe, and we have become exceedingly efficient at it.

[Scott Mendelson @ScottMendelson]

@oluok1 Agreed.