Welcome to Week 16 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 once again crowned a new champion, and it’s a doozy (more on that in a minute), though the remainder of the ranking plays out as expected; Toy Story 5 and Minions & Monsters continued to capitalize on the family-friendly crowd (as did Moana, but I virtually guarantee its shelf-life is infinitely lower than the other two), while The Invite added 500 theaters and Obsession continued its steady, if impressively resistant, drop to the bottom of the Top 10.
The only major release this weekend was Christopher Nolan’s highly-anticipated epic The Odyssey, based on the ancient Homeric poem of the same name. To nobody’s surprise, it debuted at #1 with $123 million, outpacing #2 by more than $100 million and becoming Nolan’s biggest opening weekend for a non-Batman film. Its success (and there is only more to come) can be attributed to a variety of factors, but The Odyssey’s undeniable hype, a train that has been running for over a year now, is certainly its biggest draw, bringing in audiences from around the world that might not usually rush out to the theaters for a nearly three-hour swords-and-sandals adventure picture. There is also the fact that it is the first film in history to shoot entirely in the IMAX format, with the IMAX 70mm theatrical experience vastly preferred by both Nolan and moviegoers. Unfortunately, there are not that many theaters equipped for true IMAX 70mm (only 41 in the entire world), but luckily, The Odyssey is also available in standard IMAX, 70mm, 35mm, Dolby, 4DX, Prime, and whichever premium formats are offered depending on theater chain availability. The marketability and newly widened understanding of these formats is a surefire contributor to The Odyssey’s success, so much so that it’s currently nearly impossible to get IMAX 70mm tickets in New York and Los Angeles, even at three o’clock in the morning. That’s true dedication, and speaks to the influence that Christopher Nolan holds over the multitudinous ways one can watch a movie these days.
Surprisingly, Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass was the big critical score winner, netting an extra 40 points, while Evil Dead Burn blazed behind with 30 and Moana brought up the watery rear with 15. Additionally, though it was only released this weekend, The Odyssey not only smashed the record for reaching one million watches on Letterboxd, but reached a prized spot on the Letterboxd Top 500 Films, which earned it an extra 15 points this week.
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 is…nothing! For the first time since the MFL began, there are no eligible new releases. That being said, it’s a strong sign for The Odyssey, and good news for those who chose it for their lineup…expect it to remain on top!
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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