This is your weekly digest for recent film industry news that caught my attention for the week of 07.06.2026.
This Past Weekend In New Movies
The biggest release over the big America 250 July Fourth weekend was Illumination’s Minions & Monsters, which garnered the best critical reviews of the franchise but only okay audience scores that seem to have contributed to a solid opening weekend at the box office that nonetheless underperformed previous entries. Among critics, it earned a 91% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 69 on Metacritic. Among audiences, it posted a 76% on the Popcornmeter, a 3.3 on Letterboxd, a 6.6 on IMDb, and an A- CinemaScore. It’s a bit ironic that just as the franchise delivers its best-reviewed film, it ends up with less-than-stellar word of mouth and box office, due in part to what I think is simple franchise fatigue now that it’s approaching two decades of existence. As much as I had fun with the latest installment, and you can read my B+ review, I think it would probably be best for Illumination to take a break from this series for a while.
Angel Studios’ counter-programmer for the weekend in Young Washington seems to have been met with the typical culture-war debates and ideological positioning that almost all of the studio’s films generate. Critics are giving this one mixed reviews, while audiences seem to have liked it for the most part. Granted, those audience scores are likely boosted by an older, more right-leaning crowd that wanted to vote with their wallets and probably walked into the theater already prepared to call it a masterpiece, but that’s often the case with Angel Studios releases. They certainly have their share of awful stinkers and outright propagandistic films, but their biopics tend to land in the middling-but-inoffensive category that I’m usually okay with. I watched this over the weekend, and that’s pretty much where I landed. It’s an okay, inoffensive movie that probably would’ve been better suited for streaming than a theatrical release, but Angel Studios has certainly given us much worse. I do, however, get annoyed every time one of their movies ends by asking audiences to buy another ticket for someone else just to boost the box office. Among critics, it earned a 60% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 50 on Metacritic. Among audiences, it received a 92% on the Popcornmeter, a 2.6 on Letterboxd (to be frank, given that site’s user base, I wouldn’t be surprised if that score was review-bombed), a 7.2 on IMDb, and an A CinemaScore.
Netflix made the interesting decision to make the latest entry in a British franchise its big July Fourth release with the straight-to-streaming Enola Holmes 3, which is receiving the weakest critical reviews and audience scores of the trilogy, suggesting it’s probably best to end the series here. Among critics, it earned a 73% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 60 on Metacritic. Among audiences, it posted a lowly 54% on the Popcornmeter, a 3.0 on Letterboxd, and a 5.8 on IMDb. I’d agree that this is easily the weakest of the trilogy. It has a noticeably cheaper look, some really rough editing, and a few performative moments that made me roll my eyes. That said, it still lands on the “good enough” side for me because it makes better use of its ensemble than the previous two films, and it actually feels like a proper mystery adventure rather than simply another Enola Holmes escapade.
This Next Weekend In New Movies
The next few weekends will see very little counter-programming from smaller studios as we enter the heart of the summer blockbuster season. The biggest release of the upcoming weekend is undoubtedly the live-action remake of Moana. Word on the street is that it’s tracking a bit below Disney’s hopes, especially with Moana 3 reportedly already in the works. It does make me wonder if audiences are starting to tire of these live-action remakes in general, though Lilo & Stitch was a huge box office success last year. Personally, I’d be lying if I said I was excited for this one the way I was for some of Disney’s past live-action remakes. The marketing makes it look far too green-screen heavy, with a glossy aesthetic that feels more AI-generated than actual filmmaking. Meanwhile, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson comes across as completely checked out, almost like he’s already thinking about that Martin Scorsese Hawaii-set crime film he’s reportedly set to begin filming next year. As usual from Disney of late, there isn’t a press screening in my market, so I’ll be watching this one with general audiences.
But this will be one of those rare weekends with not one but two major studio releases. Alongside Moana, we’ll also get the latest entry in the Evil Dead franchise, Evil Dead Burn. This is reportedly a standalone story set within the Evil Dead universe, with no major ties to 2023’s Evil Dead Rise. I’ve generally enjoyed the Evil Dead films, but I also can’t claim to be a massive fan of the franchise, so I’m expecting to like this one even if I’m not overly excited for it either. Warner Brothers also isn’t bothering to hold a press screening in my market, so this will be another one I’ll be catching with general audiences.
Recent Film Industry News That Caught My Attention
With us now at the halfway point of the year, the biggest Oscar prediction sites and markets have started converging on their initial forecasts. Gold Derby launched its prediction center with The Odyssey emerging as the Best Picture frontrunner, though Project Hail Mary has seen a notable surge in support on there. Meanwhile, the Next Best Picture team unveiled its first consensus predictions, with The Odyssey also coming out on top. Award Expert has had predictions open for a while now, and its community likewise has The Odyssey as the consensus favorite. Like I said the other week, the first stage of awards season campaigning is getting closer and closer than some are ready to realize.
The 2026 Astra Mid-Season Awards announced their winners, and at this point in the year, the only category that really grabs my attention is Best Picture. They awarded the prize to Project Hail Mary, which doesn’t come as much of a surprise since it’s the consensus frontrunner at the halfway mark of the year.
What did catch me off guard, though, was the runner-up. I expected Obsession to take that spot, but instead it went to The Invite. That film seems to be having a real moment, and it’s making me think it’s on the verge of emerging as a major awards contender once the proper Oscar season kicks into gear later this year.
You can read Next Best Picture’s coverage of the full Astra Mid-Season Awards results if you’re interested in more than just the Best Picture race.
There is some major behind-the-scenes drama unfolding around the upcoming film adaptation of the hit YA novel Children Of Blood And Bone. The source material’s author, Tomi Adeyemi, publicly announced that she will not be supporting or helping market the film, and even posted a screenshot showing that she had blocked the movie’s lead actress, Amandla Stenberg.
The bizarre part is that Adeyemi helped co-write the screenplay and, to my knowledge, approved the lead casting.
I haven’t read the source material, so I can’t speak on the specifics with much confidence, but as I said on X, situations like this don’t happen in a vacuum. Given how involved she was in getting this film made, I have to think something happened behind the scenes that left her feeling unheard or unwelcome.
That said, I’ve also seen people point out that she has a history of public disputes and may be letting her ego get in the way here. Regardless of who’s right, with this film positioned as one of next year’s first major releases, this controversy is almost certainly going to loom over its press tour.
The critical and financial failure of Supergirl is already leading to some finger-pointing. A recent Hollywood Reporter article revealed that the film had been testing poorly more than a year before, even before Superman hit theaters. James Gunn and the studio reportedly got involved in an effort to salvage the project, with competing cuts of the film being screened. In the end, the studio’s preferred cut supposedly won out by just two votes. The report also claims Gunn was responsible for the film’s controversial needle drop ending. I’d recommend reading the full article for yourself, as it offers a much more detailed look at what allegedly happened behind the scenes.
Remember that report about Jonah Hill’s The Cut Off being deemed “un-releasable” by Warner Brothers? Well, the studio has pushed back, claiming that the decision to pull it from the summer release schedule was about release strategy rather than a reflection of the film’s quality. That said, I don’t think those reports about disastrous test screenings are completely baseless. To me, this feels like Warner Brothers trying to save face. As I recommended last week, they should probably just go ahead and dump it on HBO Max.
Some sad news broke this past week regarding the legendary Danny Glover, who announced that he has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. He was quoted as saying, “I can live with it, in a sense. I’m sure as it advances, things are going to be different and changing.”
It’s devastating news, though sadly not entirely surprising given that Glover has largely stepped away from the screen in recent years. He has starred in some truly great films and left an indelible mark on cinema. I wish him and his family nothing but the best as they navigate what is, unfortunately, an all-too-common disease that has affected too many people in their twilight years.
A follow-up on Daveigh Chase’s tragic passing as we’ve now learned more about the circumstances surrounding her death. It has been reported that Chase was living with AIDS and had become homeless due to struggles with drug addiction. According to those reports, she also lacked access to the healthcare that could have helped manage the disease. That answers some of the questions about how someone so young could suddenly die after being hospitalized, and it only makes the situation even more heartbreaking. If those reports are accurate, it’s hard not to wonder how different things might have been had she received the care and support she needed. Just an incredibly sad story that has become even more tragic as more information has come to light.
What Else Is On My Mind
I hope everyone enjoyed their Fourth of July this past weekend. It was a bit of a strange one for me. The history geek in me should have been excited that this marked the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding, but as I’ve talked about before, my patriotism has taken a pretty significant hit over the past decade. Watching President Trump turn the occasion into what felt to me like a failed MAGA festival certainly didn’t make me any less apathetic about it.
I still tried to enjoy the holiday in my own way. I visited my parents and watched both Independence Day and 1776, which felt like a fitting way to celebrate the Fourth.
I do have some unfortunate news. Starting next week, both the Weekly Digest and the podcast episodes will be a bit leaner. I’ve reached the point where I’m losing too much sleep and still don’t have enough time to cover industry news beyond the box office, new film releases, awards season, and major events such as significant passings. As a result, I’ll no longer be covering behind-the-scenes studio drama or interview highlights. I simply don’t have the support I need at home right now to keep up with that volume of content, so expect shorter Weekly Digest articles and slightly shorter podcast episodes going forward. My hope is that what I do continue to cover will still provide plenty of value, and that, in time, I’ll be able to return to covering those extra industry stories once life settles down a bit.
