The Big Picture · Discussion · Interview

Old Movies vs. New Movies: How ‘Avengers: Endgame Encore’ Beat Brad Pitt, Robert Pattinson, and an Awesome Weekend Movie Lineup

September 28, 2026/ 140 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins

Old vs. new: a stacked weekend of originals gets flattened by a seven-year-old re-release, then John Wilson on his concrete documentary.

9 films across 2 segments.

AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.

The Weekend at the Moviesold vs. new, and the re-release that won the weekend

Avengers: Endgame 2019

Re-released as 'Endgame Encore' in 'Infinity Vision,' a PLF up-charge that looked and sounded the same. Won the weekend at $26M. Four new end-tags (Loki at Peggy's door, a TVA timeline war, Ruffalo/Hulk, a Doom sigil) undo the Cap and Iron Man send-offs to set up 'Doomsday.'

Heart of the Beast 2026

David Ayer's Brad Pitt-and-his-dog Alaskan survival thriller with J.K. Simmons. $20M. Competent and grim; Sheridan-coded. Pitt is on autopilot except for one scene with the dog; the four German shepherds get the applause. Reported tug-of-war between Ayer's action cut and the Pitt/Chazelle cut.

Forgotten Island 2026

DreamWorks original rooted in Filipino mythology; two teen girls stranded in Nicali. Post-Spider-Verse hyperactivity: manic, scary for little kids, with a memory-demon villain (Jenny Slate). The friendship core lands; everything else is ratatat. Weekend disappointment at $12M.

Your Mother, Your Mother, Your Mother poster

Your Mother, Your Mother, Your Mother 2026

Bassam Tariq's post-'Blade' movie: Mahershala Ali as a devout hitman crossing Houston to find breast milk for his kids after his wife dies. Samurai-assassin action stitched to a raw parenting drama; John Cho broad and funny. The family half hits harder than the villain.

The Weight 2026

Patrick McKinley's Depression-era thriller: Ethan Hawke and Russell Crowe smuggle gold 100 miles through the wilderness. Solid and Sorcerer-flavored, with strong period detail. Hawke stuck in anguish mode; the tacked-on daughter subplot drags.

The Love Hypothesis 2026

Claire Scanlon's fanfic-to-streaming rom-com (Reylo origins), straight to Amazon. Lili Reinhart and Tom Bateman as scientists in a fake relationship. Charming leads, but overlong, badly written, cast a decade too old for 'PhD students.' Enough here for a 42-minute episode.

The History of Concrete 2026

John Wilson's first feature doc, expanding after a strong single-theater run. A Hallmark screenwriting workshop applied to a movie about our oldest building material; wry, human-scaled, built on the people he finds.

In conversation

John Wilson on

The History of Concrete 2026

Wilson on Long Island, first-person doc as its own art, finding the meta 'struggle to fund it' frame a year in, and refusing to blur into fiction like his peers.