Weekly Digest: 06.01.2026
Weekly Digest For Recent Film Industry News That Caught My Attention For The Week Of 06.01.2026
Introduction
This is your weekly digest for recent film industry news that caught my attention for the week of 06.01.2026.
Recent Film Industry News That Caught My Attention
Cynthia Erivo gave a fascinating interview for Variety’s Power of Women series, and I collected a few quotes that stood out to me most:
Regarding the jokes about and dismissal of her relationship with her Wicked and Wicked: For Good co-star Ariana Grande, she said, “It’s very interesting, watching what people’s perception is versus what the reality actually is. Lots of psychologists seated at home deciding who we were, what we were going through, what we were doing and why. I think that people didn’t really believe that we were actually friends. But that’s also because people don’t know me very well. If I’m a friend, then I’m a friend. If I’m not, then I’m not.”
Regarding the incident at the Singapore premiere of Wicked: For Good, in which she ended up having to defend Grande from a social media prankster who jumped a railing and tried to accost her, leading to jokes about Erivo being her bodyguard, she said, “I think that we haven’t really come to terms with the insidious nature of how we view Black women. And I’m sure people will read this and think, ‘Oh, for goodness’ sake, it’s not about that.’ But it is. Because that’s what was being made fun of. It was my physique; it was my shape; it was the fact that I was bald; it was about what I looked like. And because of that, there was this assumption that I was bigger than my co-star and so I had to be controlling or protecting, and that was my role. I would hazard a guess that it would not have been the same had it been the other way around.”
Regarding how that incident affected her Oscar campaign for Wicked: For Good, she said, “I just felt like my humanity had been bastardized. I felt like something I did instinctively had been made to be something that it simply was not because of the way people see women who look like me, and because of the assumptions that are made, and I just didn’t want to be a part of that, really and truly. I didn’t want to put myself through it. I didn’t feel like I deserved it.” She also added, “It didn’t help that it felt like there was already a sort of upturned nose at the second installment, even though we all knew there was a second film coming and we were just doing our jobs.”
I have a ton of things to say about these comments as someone who adored the two Wicked films, built a sizable following on X through my fandom of them, and watched in horror as the second movie’s campaign seemed to melt down the longer the season went on. There simply isn’t enough space here for me to address all of these points and fully expand on my thoughts regarding what went wrong, so I would highly recommend checking out tomorrow’s podcast when its sixth episode drops. I’ll be able to say much more there.
What I will say here is that I agree with Erivo on many of these points, and I hope both her and Ariana’s future film prospects, and any potential awards campaigns, are treated better than the Wicked films were by certain segments of the film journalism world.It appears we now have writers for Paddington 4, and one of them happens to be Armando Iannucci, who wrote and directed The Death Of Stalin, one of 2018’s best films (2017 for British audiences). The third installment, Paddington In Peru, was one of my favorites from last year, though it wasn’t received nearly as enthusiastically as the first two films. I still found it to be a great comfort-food movie, but it paled in comparison to its predecessors. Hopefully this next installment can recapture some of that magic.
It appears the rumor making the rounds is that Simon Kinberg’s upcoming Star Wars trilogy might secretly be a plan to deliver Episodes X, XI, and XII of the main Skywalker Saga. I really hope this isn’t true, as I’m one of those who came to loathe how the sequel trilogy turned out and don’t see why we should return to the Skywalker story rather than explore other corners of this galaxy this series is set in. With the franchise’s recent box office stumbles, I fear Disney may become even more convinced that “this is the way” forward by leaning into nostalgic, safer ideas like this.
And speaking of Star Wars, Marcia Lucas, George Lucas’ ex-wife, who helped reshape what was originally a poorly received cut of the original 1977 Star Wars into the beloved classic it became, has passed away at the age of 80. She won an Oscar for editing the film and also worked on classics such as Taxi Driver and Return Of The Jedi. One could argue that she helped save what would become one of the biggest franchises in film history from a disastrous beginning.
This Past Weekend At The Box Office
This past weekend’s box office champion was Backrooms, the A24 horror film based on the viral YouTube series. It broke records both for the distributor’s biggest opening and for its young director’s debut. The movie was a hit with critics and liked, but not loved, by audiences. Among critics, it landed at an 89% on Rotten Tomatoes with a 77 Metacritic score. With audiences, it ended up with a 74% Popcornmeter score, a 3.4 on Letterboxd, a 7.1 on IMDb, and just a B- CinemaScore.
I personally was not a fan of this movie. It had some great production design and legitimately eerie moments, but it bordered on pretentious at times for me. The character writing was clunky, and the finale lost a lot of the momentum the movie was trying to build toward. Me and horror have not been getting along very well this year.Focus Features’ counterprogramming release, Pressure, starring Brendan Fraser, Andrew Scott, and Kerry Condon as historical figures that try to plan for D-Day, ended up doing about as well as a small British film could. I think it missed its window for an even better box office showing had it released over Memorial Day weekend, but it seems Star Wars scared Focus away. Anyhow, the film got solid reviews from critics and a warmer reception from audiences. With critics, it landed at an 87% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 69 Metacritic score. With audiences, it earned a 95% Popcornmeter, a 3.5 on Letterboxd, a 7.7 on IMDb, and the rare A CinemaScore.
I watched this on a Saturday evening in a pretty well-attended screening made up mostly of older moviegoers, and it definitely played well with that crowd. As a history nerd with a fondness for “dad movies,” I thoroughly enjoyed watching people who can’t stand one another try to figure out the weather plans for arguably the most important battle in human history.John Carney’s music-based comedy Power Ballad had a limited opening, and both its critical and audience scores have been generally solid so far, but nothing dynamite. Among critics, it landed at an 87% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 67 Metacritic score. With audiences, it’s currently sitting at a 3.3 on Letterboxd and a 7.0 on IMDb. I’ll be catching up with this one in due time.
Propeller One-Way Night Coach, John Travolta’s directorial debut, premiered on Apple TV+ to mixed-to-negative reactions. Among critics, it landed at a 54% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 48 Metacritic score. With audiences, it earned a 2.8 on Letterboxd and a 5.6 on IMDb.
I, for one, found this to be an okay, middling but cute little movie. Perhaps because I just became a dad, watching a little boy and his mother connect during their flight hit me a bit harder than it did for most viewers.
This Next Weekend At The Box Office
After an eighties attempt to bring a live-action He-Man to the silver screen, we’ll be getting another shot with Masters Of The Universe, which incidentally has been receiving some pretty decent reactions coming out of its world premiere just last week. Even so, it doesn’t look like my market is getting a press screening, so I’ll have to see this one with my own hard-earned dollars. I’m hoping it’s a fun and pleasant surprise.
Scary Movie, which is basically the sixth film in the satire franchise, will be attempting to capture the kind of legacy-sequel magic at the box office that films like the 2018 Halloween and Scream 5 pulled off. This is looking like the movie that will end up with the biggest box office haul of the weekend, and I have to admit I’m not the biggest fan of this franchise. I can’t say I’ve liked any of the previous films, and the marketing has left me wanting, as it seems to be leaning more toward appealing to MAGA chuds than its traditional younger and more urban fanbase. Then again, I wasn’t too crazy about The Naked Gun films either, and I ended up really enjoying last year’s legacy sequel, so I’ll try to have an open mind. The film isn’t screening for critics in my market either, so I’ll be seeing this one with a crowd.
Carolina Caroline is a Bonnie and Clyde-style crime drama that was getting some raves at last year’s fall festivals and serves as indie distributor Magnolia’s summer counterprogramming. I’ll catch this one at my leisure and hope it’s as good as some folks say.
Outside of the box office, Office Romance is the big straight-to-streaming release for the upcoming weekend, via Netflix. A romantic comedy centered on Jennifer Lopez and Brett Goldstein, Netflix is hoping it can make some noise.
What Else Is On My Mind
The NBA Finals are all set as the New York Knicks (53-29; #3 Eastern Conference seed) will go toe-to-toe with the San Antonio Spurs (62-20; #2 Western Conference seed). This is a rematch of 1999, when a then-burgeoning Spurs dynasty took on a veteran Knicks squad coming off a decade of struggling to get past the Chicago Bulls. The Spurs won that matchup in five games, and the rest was history.
This time around, it’s two young squads that could be on the verge of becoming dynasties, with the Spurs being led by a potential future multiple-time MVP who just ended the Oklahoma City Thunder’s repeat bid. I don’t have any hate for either of these franchises, but the Knicks having President Donald Trump and WWE’s cringe comedy act Danhausen in their corner makes me lean more toward rooting for the Spurs. Regardless, my official prediction is Spurs in five.The Stanley Cup Finals are also all set as the Carolina Hurricanes (53-29; 113 points) take on the Vegas Golden Knights (39-43; 95 points). This is an interesting one, as the Hurricanes have built a team that could potentially take over from the Florida teams as the new force in the East. However, their opponents are previous champions who have fought and clawed their way here after losing more games than they won, taking advantage of a weak division and the NHL’s points system that I abhor (thus why I combined the loss markers on the teams’ records) to make the playoffs and then going on a run that included sweeping the President’s Trophy recipients, the Colorado Avalanche. My head keeps telling me to predict the Hurricanes, but something is pulling me toward predicting the Golden Knights in six.