Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery 2022
Chris's counterexample: Rian Johnson got a token theatrical run for a movie that would have grossed nine figures.
The Big Picture · Discussion · Auction
The 2025 Movie Auction
January 20, 2025/ 114 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins · Chris Ryan
The January movie auction: three hosts split $1,000 apiece across five 2025 releases, working under Chris's category triggers — two $100M domestic grossers, an 85 Metascore, at least two Oscar nominations, no more than two sequels. First they tally how last year's slates actually paid off, then bid.
A sale of 15 lots across 3 paddles, $2,777 at the hammer.
Top lot: Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, to Paddle 1, $390.
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.
Netflix goes to IMAXbefore the gavel
Barbie 2023
The mega-success that, per Belloni's reporting, jet-streamed Netflix's willingness to put Greta Gerwig's Narnia on 1,000 IMAX screens.
Hot Frosty 2024
Sean's exhibit for the counting-house logic: a cheap Netflix movie the same number of people will watch as a $300M one.
The paddles who spent what
Paddle 1
Sean Fennessey
$1,000
5 lots
Paddle 2
Chris Ryan
$785
5 lots · $215 unspent
Paddle 3
Amanda Dobbins
$992
5 lots · $8 unspent
The board this sale, by hammer price
- 01
$390No.1 Sean FennesseyNominated as Dead Reckoning Part Two; Amanda handed it to him. His guaranteed $100M grosser.
- 02
$35528 Years Later 2025No.1 Sean FennesseyBoyle and Garland's third '28' film; Ralph Fiennes in the cast. A boys-night bidding war.
- 03
$300Opus 2025No.3 Amanda DobbinsMark Anthony Green's A24 debut; Ayo Edebiri and John Malkovich. She spent up because she wanted it.
- 04
$270Sinners 2025No.2 Chris RyanRyan Coogler's original Southern-vampire genre movie; Michael B. Jordan plays twins, opposite Hailee Steinfeld.
- 05
$256F1 2025No.3 Amanda DobbinsJoseph Kosinski's racing movie, one of the most expensive ever made; a June release, so gone by July.
- 06
$206Marty Supreme 2025No.3 Amanda DobbinsJosh Safdie solo; Timothee Chalamet as a real ping-pong champion, with Gwyneth Paltrow. Christmas Day.
- 07
$205Highest 2 Lowest 2025No.2 Chris RyanSpike Lee back with Denzel Washington; a remake of Kurosawa's High and Low, from Apple and A24. Also ASAP Rocky, Ice Spice, Jeffrey Wright.
- 08
$204Eddington 2025No.1 Sean FennesseyAri Aster's contemporary Western, little known about it beyond the cast.
- 09
$200No.3 Amanda DobbinsWes Anderson's espionage comedy; Benicio del Toro and, at last, Michael Cera join the ensemble.
- 10
$110Sentimental Value 2025No.2 Chris RyanJoachim Trier's follow-up to The Worst Person in the World; Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgard, Elle Fanning. Chris's arthouse bet on the 85 trigger.
- 11
$100No.2 Chris RyanGareth Edwards directs Scarlett Johansson and Mahershala Ali. Chris won it while still recapping the Prattverse.
- 12
$100The Running Man 2025No.2 Chris RyanEdgar Wright and Glen Powell remake the Stephen King story; Colman Domingo, Josh Brolin. Out against Predator: Badlands.
- 13
$50No.1 Sean FennesseyKogonada's first since After Yang; Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell. A May release, so unavailable next round.
- 14
$30M3GAN 2.0 2025No.3 Amanda DobbinsA direct sequel, not a prequel; the first only made $95M domestic. A summer release this time.
- 15
$1No.1 Sean FennesseyAuctioned under its working title, The Battle of Baktan Cross. Paul Thomas Anderson; five of his films clear an 85 Metascore.
Titles link to TMDb where a confident match exists. Unlinked entries are too new to be cataloged or aren't films.
Passed in raised, no bid
SupermanThe Fantastic Four: First StepsPredator: BadlandsHavocCaught StealingSpringsteen: Deliver Me from NowhereFountain of YouthIn the Grey
Previous sale 2024 auctions · recapped
Sean Fennessey
- Anora $410
- Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga $375
- Megalopolis $345
- Nightbitch $321
- Hit Man $275
- Emilia Pérez $150
- Mickey 17 $3
- Moana 2 $1
- Nosferatu $1
- The Wild Robot —
Chris Ryan
- Gladiator II $380
- We Live in Time $375
- The Order $320
- Heretic $300
- Dune: Part Two $243
- A Real Pain $200
- The Instigators $130
- Blink Twice $50
- Speak No Evil $1
- Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1 $1
Amanda Dobbins
- Blitz $385
- Twisters $350
- Trap $345
- Queer $225
- Conclave $205
- Challengers $150
- MaXXXine $75
- The Bikeriders $40
- Babygirl $5
- Wolfs —
Also mentioned raised along the way
On the 2025 calendar (raised in passing) Wicked: For GoodZootopia 2Five Nights at Freddy's 2Avatar: Fire and AshThe SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePantsNow You See Me: Now You Don'tFreakier FridayA Working ManFlowervale StreetM3GAN
The 2024 '85+ Metascore' roll call DaughtersClose Your EyesThe Seed of the Sacred FigDahomeyFlowPictures of GhostsHard TruthsAbout Dry GrassesThe BrutalistGreen BorderSugarcaneNo Other LandLa ChimeraTotemSoundtrack to a Coup d'EtatRyuichi Sakamoto | OpusNickel BoysHereAll We Imagine as LightInside the Yellow Cocoon ShellDo Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
Filmographies and touchstones Inside ManHe Got GameMo' Better BluesMalcolm XDa 5 BloodsBlacKkKlansmanGirl 6Get on the BusMiracle at St. AnnaHigh and LowColumbusAfter YangThe Worst Person in the WorldOslo, August 31stRepriseThelmaLouder Than BombsThere Will Be BloodBoogie NightsThe MasterPhantom ThreadLicorice PizzaInherent ViceAsteroid CityEnemyPrisonersSicarioArrivalInceptionInterstellarDunkirkTenetMementoL.A. ConfidentialScott Pilgrim vs. the WorldZombielandVenomTron: LegacyTronTop GunTop Gun: MaverickTwister28 Days LaterA Complete UnknownThe GamblerSing SingDen of ThievesShutter IslandEverything Everywhere All at OnceOppenheimerThe IrishmanPsychoHalloweenRogue OneThe CreatorSaturday NightKingdom of HeavenThe Parent TrapKillers of the Flower MoonGladiator
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV Ted LassoSuccessionBates MotelRoad RulesSpongeBob SquarePants
Podcasts 60 Songs That Explain the '90s: The 2000s
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