Welcome to Week 11 of the Knock on Wood Movie Fantasy League dispatch. Every week (more or less), we’ll bring you a recap of the past weekend’s box office, alongside an overview of the new release films and an updated leaderboard, complete with full teams and points!
This weekend’s domestic box office had the steepest drop in four weeks (33.7 percent), but that should only be expected after a completely unforeseen run of miracles. Every release left over from previous weeks dropped (which is also to be expected), but horror continues its rampage with Obsession, Backrooms, and Scary Movie netting a collective $44 million in the second, third, and fourth spots. In fact, Obsession jumped up two spots back up to #2, proving the appetite is still there, and doesn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon…it’s coming up on an impressive $300 million, putting it firmly in the conversation for the most profitable movies of all time when considering budget versus box office return. Old reliables Michael, Sheep Detectives, and Devil Wears Prada 2 are still there, too, and climbing the charts back into the Top 10!
Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day is by far the highest-profile new release of the weekend, outperforming generous tracking to earn $44 million in its first weekend. It has a commercial premise but not the most marketable sensibilities, especially when it comes to Spielberg’s oeuvre, and has proven to be one of his most controversial movies of the century so far. For my money, it’s a brilliant film that adds an astounding amount of layers to the Spielbergian thematic onion, and though it very deliberately subverts the expectations of how an extraterrestrial disclosure movement would practically unfold, I found it incredibly moving and quite exciting. People will like what they like, but I’m shocked that there is not more love for this movie out there. I expect it to drop dramatically through the box office over the next few weeks as the discourse wards general audiences away.
Also new in theaters this weekend is Stop! That! Train! The disaster spoof comes to us courtesy of Adam Shankman, and features a revolving door cast of modern drag icons and celebrity cameos. It debuted at #10 with $2 million, a respectable number for a fairly niche original film, but one that might be higher if the film hadn’t very blatantly used generative AI for certain shots (despite what Shankman insisted to the contrary).
Perhaps the best new release of the weekend is The Furious, and though not eligible for this draft, this pan-Asian martial arts thriller swooped into the Top 10 with $2.8 million (and a hell of a lot more internationally). If you haven’t heard of it, The Furious is an English-language Hong Kong action film directed by Japanese filmmaker Kenji Tanigaki, and featuring a cast from all across the continent, including Chinese actor Xie Miao and Indonesian performer Joe Taslim. It’s been widely heralded as a revelatory action masterpiece, and the hype is real – I find movies like this very funny because they prove that such excellence is possible, and highlight just how inadequate and lethargic most Hollywood action is by comparison. Check it out if you can!
Unfortunately, Scary Movie came up zilch on critical points, but Masters of the Universe clearly found its audience, because it netted those who picked it an additional 40 points! Check out our leaderboard here. For the most up-to-date scoring on each movie, check out this spreadsheet. Additionally, I’ve made a Letterboxd list of every film chosen by our players for the Fantasy League. You can view that anytime here.
Next week, the real test for the Pixar sequel machine comes with Toy Story 5, and Pig director Michael Sarnoski returns with a dark retelling of the Prince of Thieves’ final days in The Death of Robin Hood. Both are among my most anticipated of the year! The third new release next weekend is Girls Like Girls, singer/songwriter Hayley Kiyoko’s directorial debut based on her eponymous novel, which is itself based on her seminal lesbian anthem. I saw an early screening last night, and I’m happy to report that it fulfills its promise as a sweet, endearing queer love story, the likes of which we sorely need more of on the big screen.
As a reminder, submissions for the MFL are now closed. Thank you all for playing, and I am very much looking forward to seeing the board change every which way over the next few months! Please let us know if you have any feedback, and don’t forget to come back here next week for a recap and the updated leaderboard!
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