Are the Dumb Big Film Franchises Finally Dying?
This is a preview of our pop culture newsletter The Daily Beast’s Obsessed, written by senior entertainment reporter Kevin Fallon. To receive the full newsletter in your inbox each week, sign up for it here.
This week:
Y2K culture is back, which is horrifying.
Are film franchises dying? (No. But maybe!)
Actors can be really stupid. But so can we!
A little fun thing for Severance fans to look at.
A little fun thing for me to look at.
My Big Straight Weekend at the Movies
We’re all tired of them. Even if the social-media chatter doesn’t reflect it. Even if the box-office dollars don’t necessarily say it. Even if the Oscars are giving out bogus awards to moments from them featuring problematic actors. We’re tired of the film franchises. You can admit it.
Yes, Spider-Man: No Way Home was the biggest movie in years, a total blast, and a perfect outlet for any and all people looking to accelerate their crush on Andrew Garfield. And The Batman sparked enough interest that many people willingly sat through its three-hour runtime for it to become a similar box-office success. But it is with only the slightest of flutters in my heart and smallest of giddy grins on my face that I report that the Hollywood franchise seems to be in crisis.
Jared Leto’s Morbius just earned the distinction of having the largest second-weekend drop-off in ticket sales in comic book and superhero-movie history. Because of his arrest and history of alleged misconduct, Ezra Miller has played into Warner Brothers’ decision to delay the release of The Flash and put on “pause” any future projects with the actor. Miller also, of course, stars in the Fantastic Beasts franchise, a once surefire Hollywood franchise money-minting machine that has now been mired in so much controversy—Rowling, Depp and Miller, oh my!—that its upcoming release this weekend is being met with deafening silence.
That’s all well and good because I recently had one of the most fun movie-going weekends of my life attending screenings not of the quirky indie movies, musicals, or the rom-com fare I typically champion, but action-packed, adrenaline-filled, grab-a-bucket-of-popcorn-and-toss-it-in-the-air films that merit so much more excitement than we usually only reserve for franchise flicks.
Everything Everywhere All at Once is a blast. People on social media are histrionically talking about it like some sort of cinematic savior because it really does feel that way: something so fresh and daring, but which taps into everything that traditionally delights us about the experience of going to a theater and seeing something on the big screen.
Then there’s Ambulance. I do not know why you all have not seen Ambulance, perhaps even several times. It is, in my mind, the quintessential Michael Bay movie. Couldn’t get enough of it. Jake Gyllenhaal could run me over with his emergency vehicle, and I wouldn’t mind.
It’s refreshing to have these movies as alternatives to the franchise nonsense at a micro moment in time when those films seem to be struggling (they’ll be back), but also great to have them as proof that there are really, truly better options out there.
We’ve All Been Enabling Jared Leto
While talking with British GQ this week about the new Fantastic Beasts movie (as mentioned: cursed), Mads Mikkelsen gave the first quote about method acting and an artist’s process that finally made sense. Sorry not sorry, Jared Leto.
And, rightfully, he places equal blame on the press as he does pretentious actors: “The media goes, ‘Oh my god, he took it so seriously, therefore he must be fantastic; let’s give him an award.’ Then that’s the talk, and everybody knows about it, and it becomes a thing.”
Severance Is Even More Brilliant Than We Already Thought
Severance has been the TV surprise of the year, as far as I’m concerned. The first season, which recently finished, is so good, and so ripe for gushing about and analyzing that, for your own health, I highly recommend you ensure that you have someone to watch and talk through it with.
If you’ve seen the series, you might delight in this tidbit that a keen-eyed fan noticed. (If you haven’t, it’s not a spoiler but just a very cool detail that shows how meticulous the attention to detail is on this show.)
Baseball Officially Has My Attention
Well this happened, and now I can’t believe that I have no choice but to love sports.
What to watch this week:
Russian Doll: A solid Season 2 for a great show, what a concept. (Wed. on Netflix)
The Flight Attendant: A solid Season 2 for a great… well, see above. (Thurs. on HBO Max)
Outer Range: Is it a Yellowstone copycat? Sure. Does that matter? Nope! (Fri. on Amazon)
Better Call Saul: Turns out this show is pretty good. (Mon. on AMC)
What to skip this week:
The First Lady: Viola Davis, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Gillian Anderson… and yet not good? (Sun. on Showtime)
Father Stu: Maybe don’t go see the weird Christian film with Mel Gibson in it. (Now in theaters)
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore: And let’s put this franchise out of its misery, too. (Fri. in theaters)
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