This is your weekly digest for recent film industry news that caught my attention for the week of 06.22.2026.
This Past Weekend In New Movies
• This past weekend’s biggest release was Toy Story 5, and the film was met with great reviews from both critics and audiences. Among critics, the film scored a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 73 on Metacritic. Among audiences, it scored a 95% on the Popcornmeter, a 3.8 on Letterboxd, a 7.7 on IMDb, and the rare A CinemaScore. You can read my own A+ review of the film. The movie ended up making over 300 hundred million worldwide on opening weekend alone, so yeah, Pixar has another massive hit on their hand with this consistently great franchise.
• A24’s counterprogramming for Father’s Day weekend was The Death Of Robin Hood, which ended up receiving mixed-to-positive reactions from both critics and audiences, the weakest scores I’ve seen for a Michael Sarnoski film yet. Among critics, it scored a 70% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 60 on Metacritic. Among audiences, it scored a 64% on the Popcornmeter, a 3.1 on Letterboxd, a 6.4 on IMDb, and a lowly C+ CinemaScore. I haven’t seen this one yet, but given that 2021’s Pig was a near miss for my personal “Best Of” list that year and that 2024’s A Quiet Place: Day One was pretty decent in my eyes, I have to say I’m kind of surprised by the divided reaction.
• A film I didn’t touch on last weekend but that has been getting some raves is the indie counter-programmer Leviticus. The queer horror flick received great reviews from critics and solid enough audience scores. Among critics, it scored a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes and an 83 on Metacritic. Among audiences, it scored an 83% on the Popcornmeter, a 3.8 on Letterboxd, and a 6.6 on IMDb. I’ll have to give this one a look in due time.
• The straight-to-Netflix rom-com Voicemails For Isabella has been getting some really solid critical notices and excellent audience scores for one of these Netflix originals. Among critics, it scored an 84% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 60 on Metacritic. Among audiences, it scored a 92% on the Popcornmeter, a 3.7 on Letterboxd, and a 7.6 on IMDb. I’m always down for a good romance, so I’ll be catching up with this one sooner rather than later.
• And finally, we have the straight-to-Disney+ comedy Never Change!, which was met with less-than-enthusiastic reactions from both critics and audiences. Among critics, it has a lowly 17% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 43 on Metacritic based on a sample of just three reviews. I caught this one last week, and I have to say I agree with the consensus, as I found it to be a very forgettable, lowbrow comedy.
This Next Weekend In New Movies
• How do you follow up back-to-back weekends that saw a new Spielberg blockbuster and a new Pixar sequel? You do it with the next chapter in James Gunn’s DC cinematic universe, Supergirl. The film’s box office tracking has been a bit concerning given the success of Superman last year, and there does seem to be an aura that Warner Brothers isn’t pushing this as the event film it should be. I was personally underwhelmed by last year’s Superman, which ended a great streak I had with Gunn’s filmography, but this one is directed by Craig Gillespie, whose jukebox soundtrack aesthetic is something I’ve always admired. My market doesn’t have a press screening for this one, but rest assured I’ll be watching and reviewing it by week’s end.
• A24 will be counterprogramming with the dark relationship comedy The Invite, which received raves at Sundance, and the buzz is that A24 sees this as a potential dark horse awards contender. The premise has me a bit nervous, as I’m not really into break-up movies and I have no clue how this one will play out, but I’ll be making the time to catch up with it this week if I can.
• Another indie counterprogramming option will be Couture, a French drama starring Angelina Jolie as filmmaker who is given a problematic medical diagnosis. The film received mixed reactions at last year’s fall festivals, but I’m curious to check it out as a big admirer of Jolie’s acting ability.
• We’ll also be getting two straight-to-Netflix releases, the first being Little Brother, a buddy comedy that has been receiving some aggressive marketing. Both Eric Andre and John Cena have been hitting the PR trail hard, so it’ll be interesting to see if Netflix can turn that push into a breakout hit.
• The other Netflix release is In The Hand of Dante, a film that received some truly awful reactions at last year’s fall festivals and again at Tribeca. I mistakenly said two weeks ago that it was coming out then, but rest assured this is the actual release week. I’ve heard nothing but bad things, but I’m far too curious about the premise which involves the great Dante poem not to give it a shot.
Recent Film Industry News That Caught My Attention
• A recent Variety article from Gene Maddaus on the exodus of productions from Los Angeles struck my fancy, and I highly recommend reading it. I’ll be touching on the article in much more detail on this week’s upcoming podcast episode.
• Per Variety’s Clayton Davis, the Academy has chosen a new set of governors for its board, and some notable additions include Guillermo del Toro and Kris Bowers. I’d highly recommend reading Davis’ piece on the expansion of the board, which will now see branches have three governors representing them. I’ll be discussing the article in much more detail on this week’s upcoming podcast episode.
• Ryan Gosling will be honored with the 2026 American Cinematheque Award, which isn’t really a major predictor of awards viability for a performer or director in a given season. However, coming off the honor going to eventual Best Actor winner Michael B. Jordan, it highlights my continued belief that Project Hail Mary remains a strong Best Picture contender. Some have been trying to make the case that the movie is already fading from the conversation, but the audience scores and many of the “Best Of The Half-Year” lists I’ve seen suggest otherwise. This honor for Gosling will likely be used by Amazon to help keep the campaign alive.
• I was dismayed to see that it looks like we’re getting very close to a The Grinch 2, with Ron Howard and Jim Carrey set to return. The original 2000 film remains hotly debated among cinephiles, and I know many millennials who hold it close to their hearts as a Christmas season favorite watch, but I just don’t see what good can come from forcing a sequel. To me, this just continues the depressing descent of Ron Howard’s filmography in the later years of his directing output.
• Speaking of bizarre potential projects, Sean Penn is apparently set to direct a January 6th film starring Bradley Cooper as a police officer caught up in the events of that day. Penn is an outstanding actor, but he’s no Clint Eastwood or Cooper when it comes to directing, so I can’t say I’m holding my breath that this will be anything special.
• Daveigh Chase, who voiced Lilo in the millennial classic Lilo & Stitch, portrayed the creepy videotape girl in The Ring, and provided the English dub for Chihiro in Spirited Away, tragically passed away at just 35 years old after apparently suffering from meningitis, blood infections, and sepsis following hospitalization for malnutrition and extreme weight loss. I can’t claim to be a massive fan of the films she was best known for, but they are classics to many people I know, and hearing that someone only two years younger than me suddenly died is always jarring. May she rest in peace.
• He was more of a TV guy than a movie guy, but we also lost James Burrows at the age of 85. I just wanted to quickly highlight him because the man gave us some of the greatest sitcoms of all time, including my personal favorite television show ever, Frasier, as well as its predecessor, Cheers. May he rest in peace, and I thank him for helping create so many classics.
What Else Is On My Mind
Father’s Day 2026 has come and gone, and it was my first ever experience actually getting to be celebrated. It’s bizarre because at this same time last year, I had no clue I would ever be a dad. I received some great gifts, including a 4K copy of Ben-Hur, a cute custom children’s book and matching custom T-shirt, and a dad journal. We kept things simple, with our only “eating out” being some PDQ, and I cooked steak for dinner. Hopefully, we can go a little bigger next year. I hope all dads, whatever their circumstances in the role, had a great Father’s Day this year.
