There will be no “What Else Is On My Mind” section this week.
Introduction
This is your weekly digest for recent film industry news that caught my attention for the week of 08.18.2026.
This Past Weekend In New Movies
We had yet another busy weekend for smaller movies as the catch-up by studios looking to avoid the behemoths that were The Odyssey and Spider-Man: Brand New Day continued. The biggest film of the weekend was Warner Brothers’ The End Of Oak Street, a Dinosaurs run amuck movie that has been in post-production hell for a couple of years now but finally made its way to the public. It received good reviews from critics, but in a situation very similar to Disclosure Day, audiences ended up more mixed in comparison with the genre film. Among critics, the film got an 86% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 70 on Metacritic. Among audiences, it got a 78% on the Popcornmeter, a 3.1 on Letterboxd, a 6.7 on IMDb, and a B CinemaScore. The film ended up on the lower end of expectations, making a little under fifty-million globally during its opening weekend, and I have to believe the legs won’t be great given the mixed word-of-mouth from moviegoers. You can read my B+ review of the film.
Meanwhile, the big counter-programmer of the weekend was another kind of dinosaur movie in the animated PAW Patrol: Dino Movie, which made almost as much as The End Of Oak Street did domestically and received about the same mixed responses from critics and audiences that leaned more positive than not, similar to its two predecessors. Among critics, the film got an 82% on Rotten Tomatoes but a 47 on Metacritic. Among audiences, it got a 95% on the Popcornmeter, a 2.9 on Letterboxd, a 6.2 on IMDb, and an A CinemaScore. In other words, the movie got a pretty decent reception from more populist-minded critics and “normie” general audiences, but was less well received among higher-brow critics and more hardcore cinephiles. I originally leaned C+ on this film but have since bumped my grade up to B-. It’s a generally inoffensive film that kids will enjoy but likely forget about with time.
Black Bear released a film that was supposed to be a part of last year’s Oscars race but has since become their top awards priority for this season (barring them grabbing something at the fall festivals), The Rivals of Amziah King. The film has been met with good critical reviews but somewhat more mixed responses from audiences, though generally more positive than not. Among critics, it has an 89% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 74 on Metacritic. Among audiences, it has a 76% on the Popcornmeter, a 3.5 on Letterboxd, and a 7.4 on IMDb. I really enjoyed this film and gave it a solid A-. It will certainly be one of my favorite films of the year, whether it ends up in my top 10 or top 20. However, the movie does take a wild swing halfway through that I believe has led some audiences to feel like they were robbed of the film they were watching in the first half, which likely explains some of the mixed responses.
Neon released the stoner comedy The Wrong Girls, which bombed hard as I expected given the little marketing reach I saw for it. The movie got very mixed responses from both critics and audiences. Critics gave it a 58% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 59 on Metacritic. Among audiences, it got a 3.3 on Letterboxd and a 5.9 on IMDb. I caught this one myself and have to say I was on the more mixed-response side with it, giving it a C+.
The other smaller comedy film we got was the road-trip, Green Day-adjacent Nimrods, which I thought was an okay little B- movie elevated by my love for peak Green Day. The film has gotten okay-to-solid reviews from both critics and audiences. Among critics, it has a 75% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 55 on Metacritic. Among audiences, it has a 94% on the Popcornmeter, a 3.6 on Letterboxd, and a 7.2 on IMDb.
Angel Studios released The Brink Of War, which is turning out to be a huge box office bomb for them. Given the upcoming midterms, I’m shocked right-wing channels didn’t market this to their viewership more, since it’s a film from a right-wing-coded distributor about the objectively biggest accomplishment from a right-wing president (Reagan). However, the movie, which I thought was an okay but unremarkable watch that I gave a B-, gained decent reviews from critics and audiences. Among critics, it got a 72% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 51 on Metacritic. Among audiences, it got a 2.7 on Letterboxd, a 6.9 on IMDb, and an A CinemaScore.
And finally, Netflix released straight to the streamer a new Sandler family-adjacent release, Don’t Say Good Luck, a coming-of-age dramedy that received positive scores from both critics and audiences. Among critics, it got a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 73 on Metacritic. Among audiences, it got an 85% on the Popcornmeter, a 3.4 on Letterboxd, and a 6.8 on IMDb. I have to say I don’t know if I can put my finger on why, but these Sandler’s kid movies just don’t do it for me like they seem to for others. This was actually my least favorite new watch of the weekend, and I gave it a lowly C-.
This Next Weekend In New Movies
Next weekend will be yet another quiet August box office weekend, with the biggest release being Sony’s Insidious: Out Of The Further, yet another addition to the long-running horror franchise that keeps getting panned by critics while moviegoers continue showing up for it. I’ll be watching this and may even do an Insidious marathon in preparation, given that I’ve never tried watching these movies that way and want to see if they play better for me when viewed in a binge. I won’t be doing a full written review for it like I do with each weekend’s new major release, though, as my focus will be on releasing some new Best Picture projections.
We have a new Jason Statham dad-movie action flick in Mutiny, in which we watch Statham do his Statham thing on a ship. I’m anticipating this to play like his other films - okay but forgettable movies that I could see my dad watching on a Sunday afternoon on FX or TNT when football season isn’t on.
Neon will be releasing a new horror thriller with It Ends, which seems to be about a group of friends who find themselves driving into a mysterious apocalyptic circumstance. The film will expand more nationally after next weekend, so look to see if you’re in an area lucky enough to get this on this weekend or if you’ll have to wait two weeks to see it.
And finally, I wanted to point out that Vertical is releasing a spring British hit to the States with The Magic Faraway Tree, a kids fantasy movie based on the old children’s books that has an impressive ensemble including Andrew Garfield, Claire Foy, Rebecca Ferguson, among others. I’ve actually already watched this (as have almost every hardcore cinephile in Europe by now) thanks to a screener link that was sent to me. I thought it was an okay and inoffensive kids movie that is elevated by amazing production design and costumes.
Recent Film Industry News That Caught My Attention
The biggest news of the past week for many was easily the major announcements from Disney’s D23 convention, which they hold every other year over in the Los Angeles area. As expected, Disney announced a good chunk of the new X-Men cast for the reboot, which will release in May 2028 and, I believe, kick off the new phase of the MCU in a post-Doomsday and Secret Wars world. They also announced more information on sequel plans for The Incredibles 3, Coco 2, and Frozen III, along with the reveal of Zootopia 3. They talked more about this year’s animated film Hexed, next year’s Gatto, and upcoming animated titles like Disney’s Clay and Pixar’s Ghost Market. Disney also gave us the first teaser for the new Star Wars: Starfighter film, which will star Ryan Gosling. On the live-action side, Disney gave us looks at the live-action Lilo & Stitch 2 and Tangled. They also officially announced a third Princess Diaries movie and a sequel to The Simpsons Movie. While I had a positive outlook on some of these announcements, I mainly walked away feeling like it was yet more lazy sequels galore from Disney, and I’ll expand more on this in this week’s podcast episode.
The NYFF Spotlight lineup was revealed, helping round out all the NYFF titles you can expect to see if you’re attending the festival later this year. Next Best Picture, as always, provided a great rundown of the lineup, and I’ll be commenting more on it in this week’s podcast episode.
TIFF also announced some last-second lineup additions just in time for the schedule being released for those attending in a few weeks. Next Best Picture also provided great coverage of the new additions, and I’ll expand on them in this week’s podcast episode.
The Paramount and Warner Brothers merger legal battle with state attorneys and the WGA took another turn this past weekend, as David Ellison is now threatening to move Paramount out of California if they don’t settle and cut themselves off from the lawsuit. To add more wrinkles to this, the DGA and IATSE put forward some promises they want from Paramount regarding guaranteed job opportunities for the unions if they agree to back the deal, and the heavily favored Democratic candidate for governor is now signaling he would settle to keep Paramount in the state when he comes into office next year. And to add to all of that, we have breaking news as I write this digest that Paramount is now demanding that the state attorneys and WGA pay for whatever money they have to pay as a result of the forced delay in the merger. I’ll have more to say about this in this week’s podcast episode.
One major subplot to the Paramount and Warner Brothers merger drama is that it appears Barbie 2 is in danger of not happening, as WB head David Zaslav is concerned they don’t have the money to make the film happen, even with Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach approaching them with an idea they have for a sequel. On one hand, it’s nuts to think WB is scared to greenlight a sequel to a movie that made over a billion dollars and was a major awards season contender. But on the other hand, as someone who was not a fan of that Barbie movie and doesn’t see any need for a sequel, I find myself in a weird position of kind of rooting for this to end up running the clock out and Barbie 2 not coming to fruition, as it seems like Mattel is due to get those rights back if something isn’t greenlit in about the next four months.
We finally have some clarity regarding the latest Children Of Blood And Bone drama update, and this will be the last time I’m going to bother with this story barring some really major revelations coming out. It appears that after the colorism backlash that erupted among the fanbase regarding the casting of man lead Amandla Stenberg, author Tomi Adeyemi blew up at the lead star when she invoked Adeyemi’s name to defend her own casting, which is bizarre to me given that Adeyemi supported and defended the casting publicly. This led to tension on set, and now Adeyemi is turning on the film with a release planned for early next year. I’ll have more to say on this in this week’s podcast episode.
Sunday night saw the shocking news spread that Hayden Panettiere passed away at the age of just 36. Early speculation and reporting from outlets seems to be that a medical event caused by substance abuse may have been the cause, which aligns with her history of battling alcoholism and addiction, as well as, quite frankly, experiencing a lot of abuse in the business as a child star that no doubt contributed to her demons. Panettiere was a major part of my generation growing up and watching movies and television, and this loss is a stunner that shook me a little given that she is literally just a year younger than me. I’ll have a ton more to say on this week’s podcast about her legacy, but for now I’ll just leave it at this, I hope she is in eternal light and that her family and friends have the support they need in this difficult time.
