The Big Picture · Discussion · Review

‘Verity’ Is Trash. But Is It Good Trash? Plus: ‘Digger’ Flopped and Warner Bros. Is No More.

October 6, 2026/ 95 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins

A ‘Verity’ teardown (good trash? no), bookended by ‘Digger’s box-office faceplant and the Warner Bros. and Paramount merger that ended the Abdi and DeLuca era.

29 films across 3 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.

‘Digger’ flops and the Abdi and DeLuca era endsthe Warner Bros. and Paramount merger

Digger 2026

$7.9M opening on a $150M+ budget; the Iñárritu/Tom Cruise auteur swing, projected to lose ~$200M. The last of its kind.

Verity 2026

The IP title that beat it. ~$33M weekend.

Sinners 2025

Win. Coogler got the copyright back and it paid off.

One Battle After Another 2025

Best Picture; a forever-movie annuity even if it wasn't a huge financial hit.

Dune 2021

Kept the Legendary franchise on the tracks.

A Minecraft Movie 2025

Mega hit; marketed and released well, sequel coming.

F1 2025

Didn't pay for it, distributed it to a hit.

Superman 2025

A win amid the superhero slow decay; could've been bigger.

Wuthering Heights 2026

Emerald Fennell deal, won over Netflix on theatrical. Neither host loved it, both liked the bet.

Mickey 17 2025

Auteur-driven miss; crossed ~$100M worldwide, still a downside.

The Bride! 2025

Another irritating-to-watch auteur film in the L column.

Coyote vs. Acme 2025

Punted off the slate, sold to Ketchup, then crossed $100M worldwide.

Joker: Folie à Deux 2024

Didn't work; blamed for scaring Hollywood off festivals.

Horizon: An American Saga 2024

Distribution only; pulling the sequel given its performance called an L.

Practical Magic 2 2026

On the list purely because it stunk.

Breaking: ‘Sicario 3’ is happeninga quick news hit

Sicario 3

Blunt, Del Toro and Brolin returning; Villeneuve and Sollima out, Patrick McKinley directing, Steven Knight writing. Reads a bit like a cash grab.

Sicario: Day of the Soldado 2018

The depraved second film; Blunt sat it out.

‘Verity’: trash, but not good trash

Colleen Hoover adaptation (Hathaway, Johnson, Hartnett), dir. Michael Showalter. At war with its source: campy winks undercut by a faithful ‘it was a writing exercise’ twist and a flat ending. Expensive and well-designed, but no fun. C CinemaScore.