Welcome to Week 14 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 overlapped with the Independence Day holiday, which this year fell on the 250th anniversary of the United States. Regardless of what the hell was going on in Washington, D.C. this weekend, it’s an objective fact that this holiday weekend total was noticeably lower than previous years…though it was not for lack of options! Though Supergirl is falling rapidly, Toy Story 5, Disclosure Day, and Backrooms had middling to low drops, and notably, the Obsession star is beginning to fade – it’s been a hell of a run, but when a film drops from third place to sixth, it’s very difficult to reclaim the same momentum…and with a physical and streaming release on the way, it will soon be far more widely available beyond the theatrical space. The biggest increase of the weekend belongs to Olivia Wilde’s The Invite, which went marginally wider with 21 new theaters, an expansion that afforded it a 111% increase.
This past week’s biggest release was Minions & Monsters, the seventh film in the centuries-spanning Despicable Me expanded universe, which had an extended weekend total because of its early release on Wednesday, July 1. Unfortunately, the lower-than-usual turnout affected Minions as well, ensuring that it began with $37 million for the weekend for a $61 million domestic total thus far, a fine showing in general but poor compared to its franchise predecessors (Minions: The Rise of Gru earned $107 million in its first three-day weekend). This is a real shame, not just because I’ve grown a genuine affection for the Minions as of late, but because their latest adventure is one of the best in their sixteen-year history! Packed to the gills with references to classic cinema and gut-busting gags from start to finish, Minions & Monsters deserves better. Its first half is sublime, and though its second half (when the movie remembers it has to have a plot in addition to its story) doesn’t quite measure up, it’s a wildly entertaining ride that deserves an even bigger spotlight. It truly is fun for the whole family!
Young Washington also debuted in theaters this weekend to $19 million, an acceptable showing for a film that seems to have been rushed out in preparation for America’s 250th birthday. It only feels right for the Angel Studios release, which employed the use of generative AI in about 100 shots, to fall by the wayside in favor of celebrations for the event it coincides with. It is the type of film for which its base will show up, but it’s not likely to make a splash beyond that circle.
Also notably new this week is Enola Holmes 3, which premiered July 1 on Netflix. Being a streaming-exclusive film, it is not eligible for the League, but I found it fascinating how little fanfare or marketing the film received, considering it’s a modestly-budgeted action/mystery with several big stars, and the Enola Holmes series is one of Netflix’s most reliable franchises. To be fair, the film is not very good (while it’s generally a good time, it pales greatly in comparison to its two predecessors), but Netflix has spent a fortune promoting movies and series with far less promising prospects before. Why do they let such expensive sequels fall by the wayside? Is it because they believe the built-in audience will return, no matter what? How is that audience supposed to know it’s even coming out if they don’t see any indication of that on the social media they spend so much time on? Enola Holmes 3 is yet another example of this baffling strategy, and it seems to be making as many waves as its marketing did, which feels proportionately appropriate.
Additionally, David Leitch’s heist comedy How to Rob a Bank has been delayed from its September 4 release date to November 12, moving it away from a sparse Labor Day weekend and instead putting it up against J. J. Abrams’ next sci-fi film, The Great Beyond. Unfortunately, though, that does make it ineligible for the draft, freeing up a spot for any movie that dares challenge Adam Wingard’s action thriller Onslaught for the top spot (though something tells me that many of the late July and August releases will still rule the box office).
The Invite is the big critical score winner this week with 140 bonus points, second only in the League to Obsession’s record 150. Jackass: Best and Last also received a smattering of points, and Supergirl emerged with only 15, leading its total to a number eerily close to its worldwide box office total. The Invite also snagged a spot in the Letterboxd Top 500, netting it 15 extra 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 (or, rather, this week, since the dispatch you’re currently reading is out horridly late), Disney attempts to harness ten-year-old nostalgia and squeeze it for every cent it’s worth with the live-action remake of Moana, Warner Bros. conjures evil spirits with Evil Dead Burn, and Sony Pictures Classics is happy to have a seat at the table with surreal comedy (and, bizarrely enough, The Wizard of Oz retelling) Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass.
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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