The Big Picture · Discussion
June 2, 2026/ 120 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins
Sean and Amanda on the weekend 'Backrooms' and 'Obsession' turned into box-office hits, a one-month check-in on their summer prediction game, and quick takes on a dozen releases they skipped while traveling in May.
21 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.
We’re So Back: The Box Officethe weekend everyone was talking about
Curry Barker's horror hit: $81.4M opening ($36.4M on opening night), A24's biggest ever, past 'Everything Everywhere' in three days. Built on a pre-existing internet fanbase; B-minus CinemaScore, 3.4 on Letterboxd. Works best when it stops trying to be a movie and just 'backrooms.' Kane, 20, is now the youngest person to have a No. 1 film in America.
Made for $750,000, now $105M domestic and rising (it went up in both its second and third weekends), the first film outside the Christmas window since 1982's 'E.T.' to do that. A word-of-mouth hit Focus bought out of Toronto for $15M. The Nikki-watching-Bear scene is the part that genuinely unnerved Sean.
The heavily marketed Star Wars entry that came in third. Dropped ~70% after two weeks, sitting near $250M and likely to settle $350-400M: evidence, per Sean, that this moment isn't about studio IP.
The Summer Movie Preview Game: One Month of Receiptsbox-office and Metacritic guesses, checked at the one-month mark; other graded films are reviewed below
Guesses of $210M/$184M and 57/68 Metacritic against an actual 63 and ~$209M (still climbing). Amanda's box-office call landed nearly on the money.
$16.8M and a 76 Metacritic. Both hosts were close, Sean a little ahead on points.
$4.6M and a 77 Metacritic; both overshot the gross.
Guy Ritchie's Jake Gyllenhaal / Henry Cavill film, which neither host had seen. 53 Metacritic, $5.6M, headed to VOD after two weeks in theaters.
Horror sleeper that beat both guesses: $15M after two weeks, 41 Metacritic.
10 Movies We Missedquick takes on the May releases they skipped while traveling
Kyle Balda directs, Craig Mazin writes, from Leonie Swan's cozy-mystery novel 'Three Bags Full': sheep solve their shepherd's murder. Past $100M. 'Babe' meets Agatha Christie: pleasant, remedial as a mystery, and, to Amanda, a touch too pleased with its own meta-ness. Voice cast runs from Hugh Jackman to Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bryan Cranston, and Patrick Stewart.
Anthony Maras's D-Day weather drama: Eisenhower (Brendan Fraser) and meteorologist Captain Stagg (Andrew Scott, playing him as 'British Miranda Priestly') in wood-paneled war rooms yelling about June 5th. Fraser is miscast but the film wins you over; Carrie Condon again as the woman keeping the men okay. A 'napalm ultra of dad movies.'
Boots Riley's first film since 'Sorry to Bother You': professional shoplifters against a fashion mogul (Demi Moore), with Keke Palmer, Naomi Ackie, and LaKeith Stanfield. More invention per frame than anything else this year; both hosts feel the macro doesn't hold. John Carpenter's 'They Live' is the clear influence, with a tune-yards score.
A straightforward concert film co-directed with James Cameron. Well shot, with time spent backstage and under the stage, but thin. She already had the definitive doc in R.J. Cutler's 2021 film. Flopped at $9.9M despite her streaming numbers.
Olivier Assayas adapts the novel: Jude Law as Putin (bad orange wig, frequently shirtless) and Paul Dano as his fictionalized spin doctor. A docudrama, not the thriller Sean wanted, with questionable accents and large blocks of translated exposition. Law is the best thing in it.
A feature spun off the Krasinski series: Ryan pulled back in for one more job, a Bourne-in-reverse across London, Dubai, and New York. 'The Downton Abbey movie version of Jack Ryan,' with Sienna Miller and Wendell Pierce. Expensive-looking and a little bad.
John Carney ('Once'). A washed-up boy-band singer (Nick Jonas) lifts an Irish wedding singer's (Paul Rudd) song and rides it to a comeback. Rudd is winning; the resolution doesn't satisfy. Sold almost entirely by the song.
Netflix. Sally Field and Lewis Pullman strike up a friendship at an aquarium, narrated by an octopus named Marcellus (Alfred Molina), from the 2022 novel. Sweeter than it needs to be; filed under streaming pablum, though Pullman is charming.
Travolta's directorial debut, from his own children's book: 62 minutes on Apple TV+ of a boy riding planes and narrating them, with Travolta reading his own text. Handsome production design; barely a film. Sparks a Travolta Hall of Fame idea for 2029.
Simon McQuoid returns; Karl Urban as Johnny Cage, thrust into the tournament. A 10 out of 10 whenever the characters kill each other, a 0 whenever anyone speaks. 'Highly recommend it. Also, never watch it.'
Morgan Neville's Lorne Michaels documentary, his second on a giant American figure this year. Entertaining and candy-filled, but no closer to the man: the Susan Morrison biography goes deeper. Best bits: Mulaney on why Lorne accepts your material, and the camera trained on Lorne watching sketches.
Daniel Roher. A piano tuner whose ear lets him crack safes falls in with a criminal outfit: Leo Woodall, Dustin Hoffman, Havana Rose Liu. Old-fashioned and entertaining; would have been a Woodall breakthrough at a bigger scale.
Mandy Moore's May release. Name-checked at the close; neither host got to it.
Also mentioned raised along the way
The horror boom that led here The WitchGet OutHereditaryBarbarianSmileTerrifierTerrifier 2SkinamarinkTalk to MeFive Nights at Freddy'sI Saw the TV GlowLonglegsSinnersWeaponsIron LungThe First Omen
Box-office and career comps BarbieOppenheimerCivil WarEverything Everywhere All at OnceFuriosa: A Mad Max SagaChronicleFruitvale StationCreedBoogie NightsTurning RedE.T. the Extra-Terrestrial2001: A Space OdysseySolo: A Star Wars StoryA Minecraft MovieM3GANM3GAN 2.0Anyone but YouMasters of the UniverseSpider-Man: Brand New DayProject Hail MaryToy Story
Also mentioned OnceThey LiveNon-FictionWasp NetworkClouds of Sils MariaPersonal ShopperSummer HoursBoarding GateThe Hunt for Red OctoberClear and Present DangerJack Ryan: Shadow RecruitA Quiet PlaceThe Bourne IdentityPulp FictionWon't You Be My Neighbor?Piece by PieceMadonna: Truth or DareCenter StageMary Queen of ScotsDownton Abbey
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV The MandalorianStranger ThingsWidow's BayEuphoriaJack Ryan (series)The Last of UsChernobylLessons in ChemistryThe OfficeLizzie McGuireSaturday Night Live
Podcasts The RewatchablesBandsplainBlank CheckPopcast
Music The CoupSteal This AlbumGenocide and Juice
Video games Mortal Kombat
Ads TremfyaBoar's HeadT-Mobile Home Run DerbyCarvanaBest WesternAthletic Brewing