2026 Holiday Blockbuster Pool Preview

As always, if I forgot some Oscar-bait documentary film about snail racing in the Galapagos Islands, you can always write it in yourself on the pool form. These are the "heavy hitters" or at least the movies with a wide release!!! 

November 5, 2026

The Cat in the Hat

Trying to move on from the ill-fated and much-hated Mike Myers live-action Cat In The Hat movie, they’re animating this one with the voice of Bill Hader. I hope Thing 2 steals the show. Big fan! 

Godzilla Minus Zero

The sequel to my favorite film of 2023. Lightning may not strike twice, but Godzilla does!

Wild Horse Nine

An indie-film all-star cast of Sam Rockwell, Parker Posey, John Malkovich, and Steve Buscemi star in this comedy (well, indie-comedy) about the CIA involvement in the Chilean coup of 1973. I mean, yeah, sure, we all remember that coup, right?

Drummer Boy

Also known as the musical version of Young Washington (they were filmed at the same time and used the same props and customers… love the hustle!). This time two brothers are thrown into opposite sides of the Revolutionary War and this kid next to them won’t stop banging on his drum all day. 

November 11, 2026

Ghost Soldier

Speaking of hustle, Angel Studios made a massive hit out Sound of Freedom and now Sony Pictures is “keeping the faith” that they can do the same thing with Jim Caviezel kicking ass and quoting scripture in their film released deliberately on Veterans Day. It’d be a little more endearing if Sony actually offered free tix to vets on opening day instead of “Thank you for your service, now give us your 20 dollars.”  

November 13, 2026

Ebenezer

With all the greats that have played Scrooge (George C. Scott, Michael Caine, Patrick Steward, Scrooge McDuck), we can now add another name: Johnny Depp. Will this become this generation’s favorite version of a holiday staple or is this a chestnut we’ll roast on an open fire?

How to Rob a Bank

The latest action-comedy from David Leitch (Deadpool 2, Bullet Train, The Fall Guy) follows streamers broadcasting their heists while the FBI is trying to catch them. What?! Nothing about the Chilean coup in 1973? Definitely not an indie-film. 

Victorian Psycho

Uh, imagine a serial killer in the 1850’s of jolly old England that’s wearing a bonnet instead of a hockey mask. Hey, it’s based on a book so it’s clear for learned people! Oh, so was American Psycho. Nevermind. 

November 20, 2026

The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping

This time we get to actually see what happened during Haymitch’s legendary quarter quell in the 50th Hunger Games. I’m a little bummed they recast instead of de-aging Woody Harrelson for the whole 2 ½ hour runtime. Maybe they couldn’t CGI-Out the gasps of breath as he’s running around. 

I Play Rocky

It’s a bio-drama about the legendary story of how Syvester Stallone wrote the Rocky script and fought to have himself cast as Rocky. I hear Sly thought this movie should’ve waited until after he died. Did he not see his own Escape Plan movies? It’s time! 

Paper Tiger

When the description is “Neon's gritty crime drama starring Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson,” I don’t think there’s much more for me to add. Happy Thanksgiving!

November 25, 2026

Hexed

So, when did Disney need to start releasing movies with the “From The Studio That Brought You Frozen And Zootopia” taglines?! I mean, you’re freaking DISNEY! Those taglines are for movies with nothing going for them. Like “From The Guy Who Was In The Closet Next To The Filming Of Avatar.” Oh wait, maybe this is them telling us all we needed to know about this movie. Gulp. 

The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth

FYI, this is a 2-week limited window release before the Netflix premiere (like the previous Knives Out movies)... You’ve been warned! This is a follow-up on the Brad Pitt character from a Quentin Tarantino movie that Tarantino wrote and is letting David Fincher direct. Is this how Quentin’s going to get around only doing only 10 movies? He’s Dr. Seuss when he writes and directs, but he’s Theo LeSieg when writing and letting someone else direct.  

Focker-In-Law

I have no idea on what Brink’s Truck was rolled-up to get everyone back 16 YEARS since that last Fockers film. Ariana Grande is now in her third Holiday Blockbuster Pool in a row though. Well played!

December 4, 2026

Violent Night 2

The most anticipated movie of the year. We never knew how much we needed a Home Along meets Die Hard till it happened. And now… Someone wasn’t good for goodness sake and I can’t wait to see what they’ve got coming to them! 

December 11, 2026

Zero A.D.: The Birth of Christ

A “thriller” based on Silent Night? Apparently this nativity story focuses on Mary and Joseph’s flight to Egypt while King Herod is trying to kill all the babies in Bethlehem. Yeah, everyone’s favorite part of the story. I hope they can keep Baby Jesus safe so Ricky Bobby has someone to pray to in Talladega Nights.   

December 18, 2026

Avengers: Doomsday

Can’t tell if MCU fans are excited or terrified about this movie, but they’re all going to at least see it once. It’s when you go back two, three, ten times that you get a Brand New Day like Spider-Man just had. 

Dune: Part Three

The series that gives blue eyes a bad name (don’t tell Frank Sinatra) is back for its final bow. When I thought Dune 2 was the last film, I was like “Huh, well, that’s a weird way to end.” Hopefully, I won’t feel the same after Dune 3. More importantly, Denis Villeneuve can finally move onto his next project: James Bond!

December 23, 2026

The Angry Birds 3

You know how there are some family films you know you saw with your kids and you have no memory of them. This will now be the third of them that had Angry Birds in the title. 

December 25, 2026

Jumanji: Open World

Since The Rock and Kevin Hart haven’t had a hit since the last Jumanji film, it’s kind of a no brainer. The only brainer is why did it take so long. Seven years?! This isn’t Grand Theft Auto here. 

Werewulf

After the holiday success of Nosferatu two years ago, Robert Eggers is at it again with an even hairier monster. It’s almost a reunion project as Nosferatu actors Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Willem Dafoe, and Lily-Rose Depp are all back as well. It’s like how they made two films at the same time with Drummer Boy but without the music. Is it too late to add some?  

2026 Summer Blockbuster Pool - Final Report

The NFL season is about to begin, it’s actually raining in Southern California this weekend, and no one has wanted to see a new movie since Spidey came out six-weeks ago, so it must be time for the end of the 2026 Summer Blockbuster Pool!

Let’s take a look at some of the films that made this summer so memorable… or, sadly, the films that are already streaming on Roku and we’re like, “Wait, did that film even ever come out?”

The “I Mean, Really?!” List

While the film industry is praising its biggest box-office grosses in a decade, it wasn’t because of these flicks. 

- Animal Farm bought the farm.

- Billie Eilish - Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour was a swing and a mish. 

- In The Grey was in the red.

- Is God Is is what counter programming is not. 

- I Love Boosters but people like indie films in the fall.

- The Breadwinner was stale from the first trailer. 

- Masters of the Universe mastered nothing.

- Stop! That! Train! didn’t stop anyone.

- The Death of Robin Hood wasn’t even the death of Robin Hood movies.

- Jackass: Best and Last was likely neither. 

- Evil Dead Burn should’ve used more sunscreen.

- The End of Oak Street ended being good about 30 minutes in… Starbuck!

The “Made About What You’d Expect” List

They didn’t light the world on fire, though no one should’ve expected much more. 

- Mortal Kombat II

- The Sheep Detectives

- Scary Movie 6

- Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu (In hindsight, it was crazy to think this would be as big as a “real” Star Wars film. It was like an X-Files movie and did way better than an Agatha All Along movie would!)

The “Any Way You Slice It, It’s Still Meatloaf” (shout out, Tim Curry) List

These films expected to be bigger players and they just got played.  

- Disclosure Day never got around to actually disclosing anything. 

- Supergirl spent half the film without her powers just like this movie did.

- Moana (The Rock’s Version) found how far people’ll go to see live action remakes of movies they don’t want to see… not that far.   

- Minions & Monsters has everyone at Universal scared if the Minions no longer print $300 million grosses. 

The “Happy Surprise” List

- Backrooms refused to go down the path of every other $20-$30 million grossing indie horror film and opened the door to almost $200 million!

- Coyote Vs. Acme was canned by former nincompoop WB President for a $30 million tax write-off, sold to another company, and now will likely finish with an over $100 million global box-office run. Another long deserved feather in the cap for everyone’s favorite Caninus Nervous Rex.

And with that, because Monday was Labor Day, it’s time to acknowledge and congratulate the actual Top 5 Films of The 2026 Summer Blockbuster Pool!!!  

#5. The Devil Wears Prada 2 - $220.6 million

The fan-service film got everyone’s favorites back on the screen together and people flooded the screens for the victory lap. 

#4. Obsession - $263.5 million

Maybe this generation’s Halloween or The Exorcist. People were obsessed with Obsession and maybe a precursor to The Odyssey and Brand New Day’s staying power. If folks like a film, they’ll keep coming back.  

#3. Toy Story 5 - $480 million

Fans still liked having a friend in the Toy Story series. Over 30 years now of CGI Animated fun and clearly going strong. An amazingly impressive streak.   

#2. The Odyssey - $589.1 million 

While the quips about The Odyssey being the story of a man who refuses to ask for directions will never get old, it’s still amazing to me that we have a filmmaker that can make any movie an event for critics and the masses. I still have friends who are two weeks out from seeing it the first time because they're waiting for their 70MM Imax showing! That is committing to the bit.   

#1. Spider-Man: Brand New Day - $923.2 million

I mean, sure, I expected something over $600 mill and maybe close to No Way Home’s $800 by the end of September, but to do all that and more by Labor Day… that’s just nonsense. So many touches by director Destin Daniel Cretton and his team were the chef’s kisses we needed to make the most beloved super hero movie of the year… and yeah, I’m looking at you, Doomsday! Your Golden Corral buffet way of overstuffing the plate may explain exactly why this less-is-more movie worked.

 

Spidey Explodes As Odyssey Continues to Float - Weeks 13 & 14

Remember all that “super hero fatigue” we hear about when super hero movies underperform at the box-office? What are we supposed to say when a super hero movie has the biggest opening of all-time in 2026? My bad? Or maybe just a page from Stan Lee’s book: Excelsior!

Spider-Man: Brand New Day showed no signs of fatigue with an AmazeBalls $360 million, largest opening ever, debut. Folks can argue it only made a few million more than Avengers: Endgame did in 2019 and with inflation… blah blah blah! It’s the record, people. It did what no other film, with or without super heroes did, since 2019. And, by the way, they’re the only two $300+ openings ever. 

This is baffling stuff to even try and comprehend. What makes something The Eras Tour and the other a Katy Perry residency in Vegas with half-off tickets for $49? No idea. I’m not in charge of this. I can only recognize when one thing is a significantly bigger deal than other things and the latest Tom Holland, Zendaya, and Ned (ok, Jacob Batalon) Spider-Man films are a big deal.

Even on the Monday after the record-setting weekend, Spider-Man Brand New Day grossed $47 million more dollars. That’s bigger than Moana, He-Man, Disclosure Day, and Supergirl’s whole first weekends. With great power comes great box-office. 

Meanwhile, The Odyssey was no slouch with a third weekend gross of $51 million. Matt Damon and his crew have sailed to $395.6 million so far and the seas could be clear enough to make it all the way to the half-billion mark. Buzz and Woody (or really Jessie… Shout out to Toy Story 5 for making it her movie) should be looking over their shoulders.  

Also, kudos to studios starting to release more Broadway shows in theaters after their initial runs. Hadestown: The musical made almost $20 million in theaters and, of course, made tears roll down my face for at least half of it. Greek tragedies with New Orleans Jazz always get me. With Six coming out later this month, hopefully more plays will show what they’ve got on the silver screen. It’s not like the $1.2 billion gross for the Wicked films stopped tickets selling on Broadway or on tours.   

So, Spidey is likely the last of the big hitters this season. Let’s take a look at where we are now while understanding the top three may all change by even next week.

 

The Top Five If Today Was Labor Day:

#1. Toy Story 5 - $462 million

#2. The Odyssey - $395 million

#3. Spider-Man:: Brand New Day - $360 million

#4. Obsession - $262 million

#5. The Devil Wears Prada 2 - $221 million

 

Moana Moans While Odyssey Delivers - Weeks 11 & 12

 

Let’s start with the real news… Director (and writer!) Christopher Nolan has done it again. The Odyssey isn’t just an epic movie, it’s an epic smash. In a world where Hollywood wants to bring back 80’s toys to sell movies in the 21st century, this guy brings out 600 page books on the father of the atomic bomb and a guy in desperate need of Apple Maps and movie fans come flocking. His latest films’ mixture of high-art and pop culture appeal feels like something that hasn’t been achieved since The Godfather. 

As such, The Odyssey sailed away with a $123.5 million maiden voyage. While this gross may seem lower than other blockbusters, fans specifically are trying to see this film in IMAX theaters and would rather wait then to see it on smaller screens. Case in point, its Monday screenings were $20 million and the next closest film, Moana, made $2 million on that same day. Clearly, folks are still coming out to see this movie in droves. 

This is also a $40 million larger opening than Oppenheimer which went on to gross $330 million, so cinephiles and theater owners both have a lot to be happy about.

Meanwhile, the coin toss on whether a live-action remake works or not continues. It worked for Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon. It didn’t work for Snow White, Dumbo (I seriously forgot that even came out!), and now Moana. The revival of a ten-year old film debuted with $43 million which is even less than Dumbo’s (again, had no idea) $44 million start in 2019. 

For a movie based on a property that is the highest streamed movie in the history of Disney+, it’s just a crazy combination of what went wrong. Too soon? Too same? Too Rock? Who knows. Its 58% drop in week 2 shows that this will be available on Disney+ soon and even then it will probably be watched less than the original Moana. 

 

The Top Five If Today Was Labor Day:

#1. Toy Story 5 - $430 million

#2. Obsession - $258 million

#3. The Devil Wears Prada 2 - $221 million

#4. Backrooms - $196 million

#5. The Mandalorian and Grogu - $178 million

Toy Story Mania, Minions Float, Supergirl Sinks - Weeks 8 - A Lot

 Apparently a lot and nothing at all can happen when you take a few weeks off in June. 

Toy Story 5 popped open the Jack-In-The-Box with a $159.7 million debut. Clearly, this film knew how to properly “blockbuster” as opposed to a lot of the films this summer. While I was terrified that Taylor Swift’s song was going to break me as much as Sarah McLachlan’s “When She Loved Me” song from Toy Story 2, it was thankfully just a throw-away song during the end credits. Crisis averted!

Minions and Monsters banana-ed its way to $62 million over all five days of the elongated 4th of July weekend. That smells more like a fart gun than a dart gun. Maybe it can keep rolling through the month, but this was the slowest beginning of a Minion/Despicable Me movie. Have they finally met their arch enemy… OverExposure?!

Meanwhile, Supergirl was sadly anything but with a $37.1 start. When people bring up things like Morbius has a bigger opening, this is not the Morbin’ Time Warner Bros. was hoping for. Now while we all hear cries of “superhero fatigue” whenever films like this falter, they never mention those same words when Deadpool & Wolverine and the upcoming Spider-Man film debut with $200 million. When a film never gets above the 60’s in testing scores, that’s not because it’s a superhero movie.  

With many big films going sideways, the two low-budget superstars of the season, Obsession and Backrooms, were able to keep putting butts in seats. Can Moana sail her way into the Top 5 this weekend or are the only final players of the season coming in a Trojan Horse and Tangled Web He Weaves? We’ll find out…  

 

The Top Five If Today Was Labor Day:

#1. Toy Story 5 - $365 million

#2. Obsession - $245 million

#3. The Devil Wears Prada 2 - $220 million

#4. Backrooms - $190 million

#5. The Mandalorian and Grogu - $176 million

Mandalorian Melts From Horror’s Memorial Day Heat - Weeks 4-5

 There’s a lot of lore surrounding Memorial Day Weekend as one of the biggest movie weekends of the year. While we’ve learned “huge weekends” can happen at any time now, it doesn’t make the weekend any less of a “Show us what you’ve got” period… and, boy, did they show us.

The Mandalorian and Grogu showed that “This Is The Way” to an $81.7 million opening weekend. That is almost $100 million less than the last Star Wars film debuted with in 2019, The Rise of Skywalker. Any hope that a “sluggish” start, in comparison to other films from a galaxy far, far away, would be offset by stronger holds in following weekends was dashed after the film collapsed 70% in Week 2. 

Maybe all of this will be forgotten when a new Star Wars film with Ryan Gosling comes out next year… but until then, the force is not strong with this franchise.   

Meanwhile, the real story of the past two weeks has been the wave of indie horror hits Obsession and Backrooms. Often franchise films like The Conjuring or Scream can have big openings and then come crashing down the following weekend. Instead, Obsession has now become the first movie since E.T…. That’s right, E. Freaking T…. to see its weekend gross climb for two straight weekends. It’s already at $104 million and it literally cost $1 million to make. Crazy!

On top of that, with the plethora of horror films already released this year, it’s common for one to fall off as soon as the next one arrives. Instead, Backrooms exploded for an $81 million debut while Obsession’s business still climbed. Together they had a $107 million weekend! If this is what the kids want, why did they spend $200 million to make a He-Man movie?!

With the line around the block to visit the haunted house, it made theaters very empty that were showing alternative things. The Breadwinner won nothing with a stale $7.3 million start. Pressure got squeezed with a $5.8 million opening. Likewise, I Love Boosters has yet to find who loves them with a $7 million 10-day total. 

As far as the pool goes, if you bet on Prada performing better than Mando, you’re in great shape. If you were like me and bet the opposite, well… that’s scarier than anything you’ll find in Obsession and Backrooms. Sigh.

 

The Top Five If Today Was Labor Day:

#1. The Devil Wears Prada 2 - $209.3 million

#2. The Mandalorian and Grogu - $136.8 million

#3. Obsession - $105.8 million

#4. Backrooms - $81.4 million

#5. Mortal Kombat II - $77.8 million

Prada 2 Sells Through, Kombat Mortal - Weeks 2-3

Mother’s Day Weekend offered something for all mothers at the theater: famous singer bio-pics, fashion forward comedies, investigative sheep, concert movies, and blood soaked fatalities. What better way to tell mom you love them!

The Devil Wears Prada 2 continued strong at the box-office with a $41.6 million second weekend and only a 45% drop. A steeper drop occurred on the weekend people don’t pretend to care about their parents as it dropped 57% in Week 3 with only $17.9 million. The long-awaited sequel has certainly proved successful, however, with over $175 million total so far and topping $200 million looks like a sure thing. 

Mortal Kombat took the stage for $38 million in its opening weekend and then quickly went Game Over in its second weekend. A 65% drop with $13.6 million means this movie will not be in the arcade for long. 

It will soon have company in the garbage bin, though. Billie Ellish was only allowed to hit people Hard & Soft in 3D for one weekend before collapsing by 87% in its second weekend. Don’t worry, she’s going to be fine. She’s not the one who asked her son, “Hey, what are the odds she sings No Time to Die in her concert film?” before being laughed at repeatedly. A guy can dream, can’t he? 

Meanwhile, The Sheep Detectives found the culprit for who melted my heart and it was them. While it won’t be a titan at the box-office with weekends of $15 and $9 million, I’d certainly watch all 12 seasons of Baaaa, She Wrote if they turned this into a series. 

During Week 3, we had another horror breakout with Obsession with $17 million that will probably be forgotten by this weekend’s Passengers, and the following week’s Backrooms. I love me some horror, but it’s flooding the marketplace so fast that no one can even find it before it’s gone. I didn’t even have a chance to get to Hokum yet! Crazy. 

Other than that, In The Grey and Is God Is couldn’t even see the light of day with mere $2 million debuts. Maybe Guy Ritchie should think twice about proudly promoting that “Written & Directed” label before his next film. We were already wondering about one of your jobs… Is this really the best time to be expanding?

For those curious, Michael returned to the top-spot of the box-office in its fourth week of release. The quickest Google Search I could find for another film that was able to climb back to 1st four weeks out was the first IT in 2017. Pretty impressive and very rare. They’ll Wanna Be Starting Part Two real soon. 

 

The Top Five If Today Was Labor Day:

#1. The Devil Wears Prada 2 - $175.7 million

#2. Mortal Kombat 2 - $62.2 million

#3. The Sheep Detectives - $29.9 million

#4. Obsession - $17.2 million

#5. Hokum - $15.5 million