Between Screenings
Between Screenings is a film podcast hosted by Neil Jeram-Croft and Tom Percival — two critics who live for cinema and the conversations it sparks.
Each episode dives into what’s new on screens big and small — from festival discoveries and arthouse standouts to the biggest blockbusters and hidden gems. Expect honest reviews, spirited debates, insider perspectives from the festival circuit, and the kind of film chat that usually happens in the lobby, between screenings.
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Between Screenings
Why Watching "The Odyssey" in IMAX Elevates the Epic to a Cultural Moment
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In this episode, Neil Jeram-Croft and Tom Percival discuss the blockbuster success of 'Oppenheimer,' the cultural impact of Nolan's films, and the upcoming film festivals and releases including Dune 3 and Spider-Man. They analyze marketing strategies, film formats, and the future of cinema in a detailed conversation.
Hi, and welcome back to Between Screenings. Uh, delighted to be chatting all things film again with Tom Percival. Not much uh other than a certain Odyssey has happened since we last spoke, I don't think, Tom. I mean, think films have come out, films have underperformed, and the Odyssey has come and conquered them all, I believe.
SPEAKER_02Yes. Like the walls of Troy falling before Odysseus and his clever wooden horse. Uh, cinema has buckled at the knees for The Odyssey, which is currently breaking box office records, out, you know, selling out the BFI IMAX here in London until September 10th, I think the last time I checked. Um it is genuinely a phenomenon we haven't seen arguably since Barbenheimer in terms of cinema sort of for uh excitement. Um but what can you expect? It's Christopher Nolan, isn't it? You know, whenever the guy makes a movie, this is the type of thing that happens. And I do, I do think it's you know, I do think it's testament to his ability, like to how well loved he is as a filmmaker, that he can make essentially a three-hour retelling of a poem from ancient Greece, and you get normal people turning up to watch it. Because this is the type of thing you can see, you know, slightly more uh artistic director, shall we say, wanting to do, and it makes two quid and 50 pence, and you know, that director never works again. But because Nolan's detached to it, it's doing gangbusters.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and it's the first ever film shot entirely on IMAX. So I think the the sort of drive for people to go and see it in IMAX, especially in 70 mil IMAX, where there aren't as many projectors. I know in America people are travelling huge distances um to do that, and like you say, BFI IMAX in in London is sold out um till sort of mid-August. Uh, I went and saw it at the 70ml IMAX in Manchester um on the Friday morning at 8am, and it was completely sold out, it was absolutely packed. Uh, and it was kind of nice watching a film that didn't chop and change between aspect ratios, it just stuck in the big old IMAX format throughout the whole film. And I I've only seen it in IMAX. I'd be interested to go and see it in another format because I'd love to know what it'd look like in um Cinema Scope because it looked beautiful in IMAX. I was worried that everything was going to kind of be the main focus was going to be the centre of the screen. And uh I was watching it thinking, huh, how are they gonna crop this for um for other formats? But I'm sure they've done a brilliant job in in moving it to other formats. But yeah, it's it it's it's something people are excited about. It's a cultural moment. I think, like you say, with Christopher Nolan, I think it's not just a film being released now, it is a its own kind of cultural moment. And part of that comes into how much money someone like Universal will spend on marketing for the film. Like let's not beat it by the bush. Like they've spent hundreds of millions uh marketing the film.
SPEAKER_02So I walked through Leicester Square the other day, and there was a literal uh Trojan horse just you know, sat outside sat outside the Odeon. So, you know, they've it's not like they've scrimped on the marketing budget for this. Um I will say, just on it being a phenomenon, like I I think I've been on gone on public record saying that I hate going to the cinema with the general public on this podcast. If I haven't, I do. Um people always on the phones, people always talking. Um, when Em and I went to the BFI Max to see the film, there was a group of lads sat behind us, and I did think to myself, oh great, you know, this is there's gonna be talking, there's gonna be fucking shenanigans all the way through this. Hearing them talk through the trailers, they were so excited for so like they were just they were like, oh my god, this is you know, Christopher Nolan doesn't miss and all of this, you know, like genuine enthusiasm for cinema. And they were like, Do you think we're gonna get the Dune trailer? Do you think we're gonna get the Dune trailer? And it was lovely to see, and I will say that, you know, my um my biases were proven wrong. Those people who went out to see the film absolutely loved it. And as we were leaving, they were so excited. They were like, oh my god, that was that was epic. And I mean, of course they'd say that, but I really, really enjoy just how excited everyone is for this. It does seem like it does seem like people people are willing to turn out for good movies, and that's excellent to say.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and um the the the audience were very well behaved in the the screening I went to. There's this the weird phenomenon of people taking photos of the title card um with the BBFC card, I die I which I just don't get, but but I mean more part to you if you like getting a photo of the BBFC card, you go for it. Um did you get the four-minute clip from Dune?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I did. Um and I'll be honest, I wasn't oh I I don't like Dune. I'm a Dune skeptic anyway. I think Denny Villaneux has done an excellent job of capturing the grandeur and the scale of you know Frank Herbert's novels, but I really I've always felt those films are super cold, which is ironic considering how much of it is sunny desert. Like I don't care about any of the characters, and I never have.
SPEAKER_00Like No, that is kind of a feature of the books as well. Have you read the books?
SPEAKER_02No, I started I've started Dune, the first one, about four times, and I've always got about hundred pages in and gone, there are better things I could be doing with my.
SPEAKER_00I mean, the problem with Paul Atreides is uh I don't he's not a particularly likable character in the in the books, really. The books are kind of cold. I went and saw Dune 2 in the IMAX and was probably sat a bit too far forward because it was just a bit too much. And I kind of went again, it was like an 8 a.m. screening and I ended up sort of nodding off during it because it's just so sort of monotone in terms of its colour palette and stuff. I think it's just a bit hypnotic. So I need to re-watch. Um I really enjoyed one. I re need to rewatch one and two before three. But again, I think the clip was underwhelming. I think I think clips out of context are never good, particularly. No.
SPEAKER_02And they've chosen like they've chosen an action scene of them like storming a planet. Um, I was really excited for June.
SPEAKER_00I was really excited for June after the uh trailer.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah, but it's it's it's very strange, and it's very sort of like I get why they've chosen it because you know it's you're showing something in IMAX, you want something that captures the you know the sheer scale of it. And that scene sort of does, but it didn't intrigue me. It was just people getting blown away on a beach somewhere, and it was a bit like, I've already seen this in saving private Ryan, and it was double.
SPEAKER_00Those um the sort of battles and the the taking over of other worlds and all this sort of stuff, you don't ever you don't there's no battle scenes in the book really um in terms of when they go off and conquer everywhere. They're just we're just told they went off and conquered everywhere, and um you kind of see the fallout of it. So I'm interested to see the film, but yeah, I think it's another signal for me that clips just aren't the best way to promote a film. Um, I just out of context, there you you you've got no context.
SPEAKER_02I do remember seeing the clip before The Dark Knight, before Mission Impossible in IMAX and genuinely being like, wow, that's uh that's something I need to see. But I seem to remember they did the bank heist, you know, the opening choosing, which is just like so it's a it's an action scene, but it's also setting up so much of the movie. Like I yeah, I do think it's it was just an odd choice. We haven't actually asked uh addressed though, Neil, whether we enjoyed Oppenheimer, uh not Oppenheimer, sorry.
SPEAKER_00We enjoyed Oppenheimer, I can tell you that a little while ago.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I do uh Oppenheimer remains my favourite uh Nolan movie. Uh what did you make of the Odyssey?
SPEAKER_00I really enjoyed it. I mean, I didn't I I don't I'm not I didn't do classics at school, I didn't go to one of the schools that studied classics. Um I've never read uh Homer's Odyssey or The Iliad. Um I kind of feel like I should, but then I also feel like I've got better things to do with my time. Um because they are quite long. I'd quite like someone to translate it in a way that I don't have to read airy fairy uh prose. Because I think as um some scholars have pointed out, it wasn't written in airy fairy prose, it was written in the language of the time. So it doesn't need to be um in sort of uh language that's not easy to understand. So I'd like someone if someone get if someone wants to uh to do it in that version, then great. I think it's not uh it's not a as Elon Musk would put it, as I had recently has on Twitter, it's not a historically accurate portrayal of a fictional poem. Yeah um it's not it's not sort of completely faithful to the poem in terms of what happens from what I believe, but you know, it's a work of the poem itself is a work of fiction, kind of potentially based in historical fact. I know that the Troy probably was a actual city um in kind of the Turkish region, yeah. Um and there may well have been a battle there, um but whether there was a horse that went inside or not, they don't know, and all these other things. So, you know, I didn't go in being like, oh no, they've not done that bit, they've not done that bit. Why have they made Calypso not just shag his brains out for seven years and and all the other stuff that I since know happens in the poem? So I kind of like the fact I didn't go in with that baggage. The bits of it I really liked, I think I I it didn't feel like three hours. I think that's the best compliment I can give it. I came out and I was like, that was really good. Like that was really good. I think I leaned across to Elizabeth who does PR for the festival and said, Well, you know, if I was any other film releasing this year thinking we've got a chance of getting that best picture Oscar, I'd delay my release. Yeah. I just wouldn't bother because you it is it I will if a better film comes out this year in terms of Oscar contention, I I'll be amazed. The only possible thing that could stand against it for Oscars is how early it's come out. But we look at what Sinners did last year, and I don't think that'll be a problem for it.
SPEAKER_02No, and I mean I mean you could argue, oh, it's too popular for the Academy, but Oppenheimer was super popular. Um, you know, I just the only thing I can think of that might mean it doesn't get Academy Award attention. I mean, it definitely will get attention, but stop it winning is I don't know how arsed Christopher Nolan will be to campaign for it, to be completely honest. Now he's got the Oscar for um Oppie.
SPEAKER_00Universal will.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that is true. And I imagine Matt Damon will be fancy in his chances as well for um lead actor.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, though my my guess is there'll be a campaign for uh Robert Patterson for supporting, maybe even Tom Holland for supporting, and definitely for probably sh uh Charlie Steron and Anne Hathaway for supporting. Because you can now, you know, I I I think it I wouldn't be surprised if they all they they tried to campaign for all of them.
SPEAKER_02I've heard Samantha Morton is the one who they want to put forward for Circle.
SPEAKER_00Really? Yeah, which surprised me because it's a short period of time.
SPEAKER_02Well, yeah, I know, but like it's it surprised me because people like so uh my my my fiancee um is a massive Nolan fan. She runs a Nolan podcast called Nolan, Me, Nolan, You. And she went to the premiere, so she saw it a few days ahead of uh myself, and she really bigged up the Cersei scene for me. Like she said, this is the moment of the movie you're gonna love. And I really did enjoy that moment, but I wish she hadn't, simply because I was expecting something, you know, like life-changing. And I think it's a great moment, and I really like the effects of her like moulding the men, spoilers, into pigs. Um, but it didn't, it wasn't my favorite moment of the movie. I think the stuff when he gets back to Ithaca, you know, with uh where he's sort of like wandering around his house as a beggar, that for me is in the third app, that's the best stuff in the film. Because I really like the uh Matt Damon sort of like getting one over on Robert Patterson and all the stuff with Penelope. Like I think that's the heart of the movie for me. Um but yeah, I think I so I loved it. I initially, when I came out of it, was a bit like, is that good? Like I thought it was great, but I was a bit like, I found the beginning very stop start, you know, like when they're hopping from island to island.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_02And I found it a little bit episodic, and they dealt with the Cyclops so quickly that I was like, ooh, that felt a little rushed. And unlike you, I did have a preconceived notion of what the Odyssey was through two sources, because I'm super highbrow, one being the rest is history podcast, which literally did an episode on uh the Odyssey the day before.
SPEAKER_00And secondly, Elizabeth Fedorso listened to that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, well, there you go. And secondly, The Simpsons did an adaptation back in the 2000s, which has been burned into my brain. Of course. Um I remember the the Cyclops being such a bigger part of it than actually was in the movie. So I was like, oh no, are they just gonna rush through all of, you know, like the trials along the way? But I was very wrong. Like, I actually think once you get past the it sort of slows down a little bit and you there's a lot more breathing room. And I really I came to understand what Nolan was trying to do, especially with the final reveal that the Greeks are essentially the sea people, this sort of like semi-mythical rumored people who are attacking other nations, like the islands across the Mediterranean, who are the sort of driving force behind Telemachus' plot and why he wants to, you know, uh why he's so desperate for Odysseus to return. I thought it was a really clever twist. I didn't see it coming. I really enjoyed it. And I think everything Nolan cut from the original myth is to underline and make uh that central idea he has of like, this is what happens when you, you know, you you let standards fall. You know, you are only as good as you are to others. And you I thought it was really clever. Um, I just I had a great time with it. Um, I was really, really impressed. And like you said, I did not feel the two hours 55 minutes or whatever it is. I sort of blinked and it was over. Um I would like to see it again. It's just getting to see it again right now. It's a little bit of an issue because there's just no tickets outside. Well, I could go to a normal screening, I suppose.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but I feel like that's cheating.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, I don't once you've seen it in IMAX 70mm, I almost don't want to see it in anything else.
SPEAKER_00No, which is gonna be a struggle for home end because I don't have a 70mm IMAX projector in my head.
SPEAKER_02No, no, but you know, maybe now is the time to upgrade.
SPEAKER_00Maybe. Um, yeah, I think there was a couple of bits of like, I don't know if they were CGI or when when they missed the bit where they missed the whirlpool and then the Kraken or whatever it is comes out of the the cliff. I just thought that looked a bit naff.
SPEAKER_02I thought that was the nafest bit of the movie. Um I will say, and I've thought this about Nolan forever, the man cannot shoot an action scene. Like, he's gone better than The Dark Knight Rises, which I think is the day of his um his ability to shoot a fight scene. But there I was a little confused by the blocking, you know, when Odysseus is sort of fighting everyone off at the end. I was a bit like, I you can use the excuse of, oh, it's we're, you know, we're seeing it through Odysseus' eyes, and it's confusing and frantic. And I was a bit like, or is it just poorly conceived compared to some of the action scenes we've seen in other movies?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, I I I didn't mind that fight at the end. Um you kind of knew where it was going. Um But I d I'd I'd have liked Tom Holland to get a bit more involved in just running up and getting stabbed in the stomach and having a bit of a scuffle in the equipment room.
SPEAKER_02So I want to talk about Tom Holland because I've seen several very mean articles and tweets saying that he's the worst thing in that movie. Um I really think it's unfair.
SPEAKER_00Like it I I think that I would say it's unfair. I'd say that I'd say if you're gonna make that criticism, then re- what you're realistically saying is his character is the worst thing in the movie. Because it it's very specifically that his character that he he's I think he does the character he is playing absolute justice in the film. I don't think his acting is bad. I think some people just don't like that his character is in a very difficult position. Like he wants to be able to take his dad's throne, but he's surrounded by men who have armies and are significantly more powerful than him. Um and he kind of just has to watch them court his mum while his dad's away. Like it is all like I I think it I think it the character and the the the situation of the character is more what people don't like than than how Tom Holland approached it, because I don't I don't think he approached it badly at all. I think he was I thought he was good in it.
SPEAKER_02I I agree, and I think like he's playing Telemachus as younger than he is, because the character's supposed to be about 20, but that's to s and he is sort of like I don't want to say whiny, but he's definitely he's comes across as immature and a bit like you know, you'd want to give him a bit of a shake. But that, like you say, is the point of the film that, you know, he's not ready to take his father's throne yet. Uh he's stuck, you know, and he's like you say, he's around surrounded by enemies, he doesn't really know what to do, and we see him come of age through the events of the movie. Like, I think it's really unfair. And I've seen a clip of him with Anne Hathaway, and they're like, she's going like, well, she's acting circles around him. And, you know, you can argue that she is a better actor than Tom Holland, but equally, she's Anne Hathaway, one of the greatest actors currently working in Hollywood. And, you know, he's still doing a really good job. I think he's the equal of Robert Patterson. When they had their dialogue together, I didn't think to myself, wow, Robert's acting his um, you know, uh acting uh circles around Tom Holland. It was just seems like a bizarre criticism, and I don't like that variety article that ranked him 17th out of the entire cast. Because it just seemed really wildly unfair.
SPEAKER_00No, I mean there are some amazing performances in there, and I think, you know, I I think his character is probably just one of the weaker characters in it. I think that's what it suffers from.
SPEAKER_02Um it's not affected the box office though, has it?
SPEAKER_00Uh no, it's not affected the box office. But will people have Tom Holland fatigue next weekend?
SPEAKER_02Well, we'll find out, but uh I he is everywhere at the moment. Uh Zendaya. Yeah. Yeah. I've just literally just finished writing a story about Tom Holland because he was on Hot Ones with John Bernthal, and he's earned the the ignominy of being the first celebrity to throw up while doing Hot Ones.
SPEAKER_01Um perfect.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Which I'm sure the PR people are really happy with because, like you said, like, but as I just admitted, it's got a headline on my on the website I work for.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. What did you think about the sort of lack of the gods, I suppose, in the Odyssey? Because that's the other thing that that the story has a lot more of. I mean, the Greeks, you know, the Greeks loved the gods falling in love with humans because humans are sort of fallible and have a bit more passion because they die, whereas the gods are immortal. Obviously, you've got Calypso and you've got Athena briefly sort of just appearing out of nowhere to chat to Odysseus. But there's no Poseidon, there's no uh there's none of the other gods who feature in in the Odyssey.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, but I think like it's not the story that Nolan wants to tell. Like, Nolan is telling a story where essentially Odysseus is telling us his story. Like this is what, you know, like the film is essentially Odysseus telling Calypso, here's what's happened to me. Oh, you're never gonna believe that. I'm at a Cyclops. And I always took it as is magic real, is magic not? Obviously, you know, like the you can bel you can choose to believe that yes, it is, um, because we've only got Odysseus's word that, you know, I fought a Cyclops and I met a woman who turned my crew into pigs. You can argue, well, what how did Calypso keep him there? Well, you know, maybe he was just high on whatever that plant was and it was just a natural. Yeah, the lotus flower. And it really didn't bother me because I think the film does a fantastic job of showing you the gods without showing you the gods. Like the sea itself is clearly meant to be Poseidon in that movie. The thunderclouds and the thunderstrikes are meant to be Poseidon, uh, sorry, Zeus. Like, I think if you'd have stopped it to go, you know, like um like Jason and the Argonauts, which essentially ends with the gods going, God, what a great chap that uh Jason fella is. I think it really would have taken people out of the movie. And I like the ambiguity around, well, is any of this real? Or is this just Odysseus's retelling of it? Is the Athena he sees really Athena, or is it PTSD from his time in Troy and the murder of that uh priestess? Like, I think it's clever. I think it's you know, it gives you something to talk about, it gives the film a little more meat. And I think if you'd have just gone, oh yeah, no, gods are real, and here is Zeus, like it would have it would have broken the it would have broken the flow of the movie when I was already complaining about how episodic it felt at the beginning. I don't know how you feel about it.
SPEAKER_00Again, I think it he wanted to ground it in the human story of uh Odysseus getting home. So I think to suddenly bring in all powerful gods of the sea and other things like that was probably a bit much. I mean, Calypso is a god, and I think the other gods had to intervene to to get her to release Odysseus in the original story. Um I mean, it it is different. I think in the original story, she kept him on that island by promising him eternal youth. Um Yes. And uh pleasures of the flesh. Yes. So maybe maybe eating lotus flower is a euphemism for something, Tom.
SPEAKER_02Perhaps. Yeah, because well, so in the original, I've been told off for talking too much about the original, but in the in the poem, when he goes to Hades, which by the way is my is probably my favorite set piece moment in the film, like when the dead people come out of the ground. He meets Achilles. And Achilles basically says to him, When I was a kid, uh I was given the choice of a short life, a short but brilliant life where I'd become fame, you know, famous and renowned around the world, or a life of a long life of ignomy, you know, of ignomy, uh, where no one would ever know my name. And I wish I'd chosen ignomy rather than um fame. And people have the scholars have taken this as like the the the Odyssey is a criticism of immortality. So I imagine when they cut sorry, no, the Odyssey in like basically is this all propaganda about live the longest life you possibly can, which then is contradicted by his decision to leave Calypso when she offers him immortality. So I wonder if Nolan was like, well, that doesn't quite scan. So I'm gonna cut that from the uh from the sh from the film.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I I think he wanted to kind of keep it as this sort of slightly hazy, drug-induced retelling and memory coming back to him of what happened so he could sort of do that piecemeal bringing back together the putting the stories together, uh, leading up to Calypso actually allowing him to leave um the island. Um and just to just to point out, Charlie's Thuron looked fantastic as Calypso. Yeah, I mean she seems to have eternal youth.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, she's yeah, she does. She uh she met the real Calypso in the mad, and she was like, Do you want to live forever? Um so yeah, right.
SPEAKER_00So what I see, a thumbs up for the Yeah, a big thumbs up. Um my prediction, if it's not well, there's an absolute guarantee um I would put my house on it. I'm not going to, but I would put my house on it that it will be on the Oscar best picture list.
SPEAKER_02I think that's the safest bet you could possibly make right now.
SPEAKER_00My guess is the odds for that won't be very good though.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, no, you're not gonna you're not gonna make a fortune by putting that on polymarket now.
SPEAKER_00Um But yeah, I thought it was really good. If you've not seen it, go and see it. If you can, go and see it in 70 mil IMAX because it is just incredible in that format. Um I think there are you can either go to London or to Manchester for that. Um isn't the other 70 mil at the science.
SPEAKER_02The other day are the yeah, we've got the Science Museum and we've got but they are both sold out until September. So your only option is to go to Manchester. Go to Manchester.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's fun. Have a fun day out in Manchester and come watch at the 70m IMAX at the print works. You put your own Downing Street now. Nearer the back. You want to be nearer the back. Because it's an old school IMAX where it is at the front. Supposedly there's not a bad seat anywhere in the cinema, but uh the ones at the front are very close.
SPEAKER_02I have sat at the front of that iMac. I can tell you there are bad seats in that iMacs.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Do you think um do you think this is a signal that the films like Supergirl, um, I don't know, Masters of the Universe, what else has flopped this year? Um uh Mandalone and Grogu. Is this a sign that if those films had just been better, people would have come out to see them? Or is this just the Nolan factor?
SPEAKER_02I think it's really difficult to tell at this point. I think it's like you can argue that, you know, uh Supergirl is too ske too obscure a character, you know, maybe to attract a general audience. We have seen that people like I don't necessarily agree with this, but it's clear that there is when you have female-led superhero movies, it people are less interested. I mean, like Black Widow, um the Marvels. Yeah, but Captain Marvel broke a bill, but it came off the back of Endgame, you know. So like it it's I I don't wanna I don't wanna prescribe a pattern to it when, you know, there there are other factors at play, but yeah, I then you look at like Mando and Grogu, which I think Disney have really salted the ground for themselves with Disney Plus. Like, why would I ever if if unless you know I I know this is coming to Disney Plus eventually, so why would I spend what 25 quid going to see it in the cinema?
SPEAKER_00I just think that was the wrong film to try and bring Star Wars back um to the cinema. I think Starfighter next year will be much more interesting to see how Star Wars does um theatrically again.
SPEAKER_02But equally, you're giving me a reason to go to the cinema because Ryan, I love Ryan Gosling, and I'm not saying I don't love Pedro Pascal, but it's just that I've you've taught me that that character is a TV character. Um I I think the big test for all of this is gonna be next week. I think on Wednesday next week, when Spider-Man comes out, like that's gonna be if Spider-M does 800 mil, and this sounds ridiculous to say, let's say, you know, Spider-Man finishes its run at 800 mil like worldwide, that will be considered a flop. I think I will consider the superhero bubble well and truly over.
SPEAKER_00I think the trades are going to be very, very hard on it if it doesn't have the biggest opening weekend of the year. I think you're probably right. I think you are probably right. And I think like if it does 120 million opening weekend, I think that they're gonna be calling it the death knell there.
SPEAKER_02I I am genuinely fascinated by what's gonna happen with it because it it really does feel like we're getting to crunch time with this type of movie. Like um, you know, like the interest is clearly waning. Um uh when you compare it to stuff like the Odyssey. In fact, you know, even look at something like um Project Hail Mary much earlier this year, you know, a film that did really, really well out of nowhere, but it was because the movie was so good. You know, people wouldn't stop talking about it. Obsession is exactly the same. You know, these movies, like, they feel like they're just better than, you know, I I've I don't I didn't hate Mandalorian and Grogu. I just thought it felt like low effort. And the same with Supergirl. All of these movies just feel like someone was obligated to make them rather than, you know, anyone wanting to. I will say, I feel like Spider-Man watching the trailers and watching Tom Holland constantly on the hot ones promoting it, you know, it feels like this is a movie made by someone with a little bit of a vision, and that, you know, uh like uh Daniel Destin Cretan, I think, is the director, he's spoken about like reworking the script to be what he wanted it to be, and Tom Holland played a part in that. So I'm cautiously optimistic. But if this does, like you say, if this has a bad opening weekend or even a good open, just a good opening weekend, yeah, I think people will smell blood in the water on it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, because it's Spider-Man. I mean, Spider-Man is is i he's one of the big ones.
SPEAKER_02I it's interesting as well. I mean, I like this is anecdotal. Uh I so I but I've got tickets booked to see Spider-Man on Wednesday morning. Uh sorry, the on Wednesday, which is because they're doing that stupid four-day weekend preview event they do to, you know, fudge the numbers on their uh on their opening weekend box after this. And it is sold out. Like the screening that I that I'm in is sold out. Um and that there are there's a press screening on Tuesday, which unusual normally it's quite easy to get plus ones to these sort of events, but you can't have a plus one to this, which again both seems to suggest there's vast interest in it, at least from the media world. Um, so I I think there are reasons to be hopeful for it. It's just it's gonna be a bumpy ride, I think, is is probably the best way to look at it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think the thing with Spider-Man, you often get people who don't, you know, necessarily go and watch all the other superhero movies going to see Spider-Man. It's whether people worried, like I went and watched the whatever the first one was called, uh with Tom Holland in. Uh I hadn't been involved in Marvel and the Avengers, I didn't, you know, I wasn't too bothered about all that kind of stuff. But I went and saw the Spider-Man because I like Spider-Man. Uh I saw the second one, I think, in the cinema, and then the third one, I was like, this doesn't look like a standalone Spider-Man film. This looks the multiverse of madness. I don't care. Um I don't want it too ingrained in all this wide, I don't want to know about Doctor Strange coming in, all this wider plot stuff. I just want a Spider-Man movie. And the poster worries me slightly uh for that. But again, I've just looked at my local Cine World on um for Wednesday afternoon in the super screen, and it is rammed.
SPEAKER_02So I will say I think I think you're spot on. Uh because I think No Way Home is easily the weakest of the Holland movies because it is literally just remember this from the 2000s, uh, the film. But I think there's a little bit of a catch 22 because you're gonna get people like you saying, I just want a Spider-Man movie. Like I'm not interested in seeing, you know, everyone like is and in cameos, cameos, cameos. I just want to see a decent Spider-Man movie. But I think there's a vast part of the audience now who've been trained to think, well, if Andrew Garfield isn't in this, what's the point? Do you know what I mean? Like, what do you mean Tom uh Toby Maguire's not in it? I don't want to watch a movie with just one Spider-Man. So I I'm curious what word of mouth is gonna be. Because, you know, if it's a small scale thing, people are like, it's boring. You know, where were where was Doctor Strange? Where was the multiverse? Like, it's gonna be an interesting one.
SPEAKER_00I just want a film like with a plot like Supergirl where she's just trying to save a dog.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Well they're gonna get down with that. I can I can I can I can get down with that. This end of the universe stuff, I'm tired of the universe ending. I don't care.
SPEAKER_02Well, one thing, speaking of the end of the universe, one thing that I I guess you could claim bodes well in theory for Marvel is they released the trailer for Doomsday this week.
SPEAKER_00They did. That did okay.
SPEAKER_02Uh it did beat yes. I think it um beat the record set by GTA 6 for the most watched trailer of all time. Uh I may be wrong there, but I know it did. I remember I think it had been up for 30 seconds before someone sent it to me and it had 10 million views in those current leaders. Yeah, I mean you'd be happy with. I mean, if you were, you know, you were making a movie and you put out your trailer, you'd you'd take that, wouldn't you?
SPEAKER_00And that's at and that's at the official account. I uh I don't know if people are aware, but when when studios release trailers, they'll release them on their own official account, like the Marvel Entertainment account in this instance, but then they'll also give it to every other YouTube account that has a decent film following to put up on their account as well. So it will be like AMC Theatres will have it out and all the other it'll be up all over the place. That's 48 million just in the one place. Uh and then there's the people doing Doomsday trailer breakdown.
SPEAKER_02Oh yeah, of course.
SPEAKER_00Live watch of the Doomsday trailer, live reaction.
SPEAKER_02I mean, the the interesting thing with Doomsday is do you know what day it's coming out now?
SPEAKER_00Uh the same day as Dune.
SPEAKER_02The same day as Dune 3. So Robert Downey Jr. and Timothy Chalamet have called it Dune's Day. Go see Doomsday and Dune. Um, I think Marvel, oh sorry, I think Disney probably are spitting feathers that they don't have the IMAXs because Warner Brothers apparently booked them years in advance for Disney.
SPEAKER_00Just to be clear, that isn't counter-programming a la Barbenheimer.
SPEAKER_02No, it's not. It's the same, it's slightly cannibalistic, isn't it? You know.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I I I really expected them to move, uh, at least one of them.
SPEAKER_00No, they're being stubborn.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean, we'll see. You know what? Maybe in December I'll be eating my words. Maybe I'll be like Dunes Day was bigger than Barbenheimer. I mean, I doubt it, but right.
SPEAKER_00And then just to wrap up, because um, I think we've been we've been chatting long enough, the the Venice have announced their lineup. Um, and again, in a sort of carry-on from Cannes, the um lineup isn't as Hollywood heavy um as previous years. Although they have got some pretty big big name titles. So they've got Martin McDonough's new film, uh, they're opening with Danny Boyle's new film, um, they've got the new film from Werner Herzog, um, they've got the new Coriada, they've got a lot of buzzy indie films as well. They've got a documentary about some band called Oasis who got back together uh last year, apparently. Um, so yeah, I mean they've got some really good titles. Um, it will be a starry affair, you know. They'll have plenty of celebs in attendance at um The Lido. Um so it will be, it'll be it'll be a starry affair, but yeah, just slightly less Hollywood than than usual, kind of carrying on from Can. Uh I mean new Martin McDonough, new Danny Boyle, Casey Affleck's new film, um and then just a load of um stuff that looks really interesting from up-and-coming directors and from from moteurs. They've got the new Paul Schrader movie, um, they've got a Russell Crowe directed film, um the Travolta one. Uh well, it's a documentary, so I'm hoping it's slightly better. Um so you know, they'll have the star power out on the Lido, and that's that's what that's what they want. There have been some I mean, I'd I'd love to find the quote actually. Let me see if I can find the quote um from the head of no no, it was the head of Locano, don't worry, it was the head of Locano, not Venice. Um but it was an absolutely mad quote um for their programming of the festival. Um just one of the more pretentious things uh you've ever read.
SPEAKER_02I feel obligated to tell people as well that Robert Pattinson's new movie is gonna be there, which is the adaptation of To Catch a Predator. Oh which, if you're around in the 2000s, will hold a certain cultural cachet with you that I don't think Gen Z are gonna be entirely into.
SPEAKER_00No, probably not.
SPEAKER_02Um I was shocked to see Digger isn't gonna be there, by the way. I thought I thought that was gonna be nailed on.
SPEAKER_00Yes, I I mean I'm we were all they still could be announcing more. Um definitely could be more coming. Um so yeah, so Locano, this is the this is the Locano guy. Uh let me just read you this quote. So the question was let's start with so-called philosophy behind this year's selection. You've described it as curated diversity. Can you elaborate? It puts the accent on curation and diversity. But diversity understood in all its forms. It's a curated multiplicity of possibilities in the spectrum of filmic expression. I don't know what any of that means. It's just words, I believe.
SPEAKER_02Is it was this spoken aloud or was this a written statement?
SPEAKER_00I uh yeah, I don't know.
SPEAKER_02Because I don't think any human in the history of humanity has ever spoken like that ever.
SPEAKER_00No. No. Just mad.
SPEAKER_02I I genuinely don't know what it means. Is that gonna be the philosophy for Manchester 2027?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think we're gonna take on the same philosophy. Because I don't I mean it's it it I don't know what it means.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, well, if it gets Robert Pattinson to come to your film festival.
SPEAKER_00Well, no, so that wasn't that wasn't Venice, that was the head of the film note. That was the head of the five. Oh apologies, right? But maybe that maybe that's the sort of thing I need to be saying when I do my press releases. Maybe maybe my quote writer, maybe my speech writer's not writing enough absolute guff uh for for me to regurgitate.
SPEAKER_02Tell Elizabeth that these are the type of things you want to be saying in the press release for in future.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, exactly. Right, on that note, uh go check out the Venice lineups, go see the Odyssey, and uh, I mean, if you want to, see Spider-Man. But yeah, might as well. Right, we'll see you next time between screenings. Bye.