by Emily Nagle
Top 5 Highest Grossing Films for September 30 – October 2, 2022
5. Bros ($4.9 million)
4. Avatar [2022 re-release] ($5 million)
3. The Woman King ($6.8 million)
2. Don’t Worry Darling ($6.8 million)
1. Smile ($22.6 million)
With Halloween just a few weeks away, audiences are beginning to flock to cinemas for “Smile”, the first horror film to be released this month. “Smile” stars Sosie Bacon as Dr. Rose Cotter, a therapist who begins experiencing disturbing events that she is convinced are supernatural. It’s been met with positive reviews from critics, who enjoyed its sound design, production value, and jumpscares.
Also popular in theaters is “Bros”, a gay rom-com following two men with commitment issues who find themselves getting into a relationship with each other. Boasting a predominantly LGBTQ+ cast, this film opened to positive reviews from critics, and Rotten Tomatoes even writes that it’s “a whole bunch of fun to watch.” Despite this, the film’s opening weekend didn’t meet producer Billy Eichner’s expectations – the film was projected to earn $8-10 million in its opening weekend. This is likely due to a multitude of factors, including the abundance of other films that released that day on streaming.
by Emily Nagle
Amidst the streaming wars, Invincible is hitting the airwaves, having just acquired the YTA Broadcast Network.
Launched in 1985 as the Nostalgia Channel, YTA reaches 41 million homes across the United States. Following the acquisition that was completed last month, the channel’s programming will be targeted at “fanboys, nerd culture and gamers.”
“YTA came to us as an opportunity to acquire a traditional over-the-air broadcast TV network,” Invincible CEO Thomas Ashley explained to Broadcasting+Cable. “One of our goals is to increase the distribution and improve the content that’s on the network. We have a large library to pull from.”
With 18 free ad-supported streaming TV channels offering every genre from horror and thrillers to comedies and animation, Invincible has no shortage of content. Most notably, several shows created by renowned producer Thom Beers (Deadliest Catch, Storage Wars), who joined Invincible in 2020 with the company’s purchase of his channel Business Rockstars, will be added. The first Beers show to be added to the network will be “Kings of Kush”, which chronicles infomercial star Anthony Sullivan’s adventures in starting a CBD farm.
Galxy’s unique “Watch & Earn” feature will even be coming to YTA, so viewers will earn money whenever they watch the channel.
by Emily Nagle
Happy almost-October, movie fans! With a new month comes lots of new, exciting shows and movies to stream. And with Halloween around the corner, there’s no shortage of spooky stuff! Here’s a taste of the content being added to the most popular platforms.
Netflix is seeing the return of some of its most popular shows in the next month, including the seventh season of “Nailed It!” (October 5), the third season of “Derry Girls” (October 7), the sixth season of travel show Somebody Feed Phil (October 18), and the sixth season of its animated adult sitcom Big Mouth (October 28). New films include the first three “Rush Hour” films, the first four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies, and just in time for spooky month, the first and second live-action film adaptations of “Scooby Doo” (October 1).
Next month, Hulu will be bringing back “The Good Doctor” (October 4) and “Grey’s Anatomy” (October 6) for their sixth and nineteenth seasons respectively. It is also adding a plethora of scary content just in time for Halloween, including Monster House, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (October 1).
Still craving more scary stuff? Tune into Watch It Scream! or Frightflix on Galxy for some free indie horror films.
by Emily Nagle
British comedy horror web series “Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared” is now a full-length television show. Here’s the crazy part: this short-form YouTube series translates incredibly well to a longer format. The lengthened runtime compared to the web series allows for character development, as well as more time for trippy, stunning visuals that aren’t as cheerful and innocent as they seem.
“Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared” follows Red Guy, Yellow Guy, and Duck. Together, this colorful crew embarks on surreal adventures where they learn abstract concepts, ranging from the true meaning of friendship to what happens when you die. With each lesson comes a new teacher, in addition to lots of songs. The trio’s educational journey is told through mixed media – while the main characters are puppets, the show also utilizes other mediums, including CGI, traditional animation, and claymation. Your eyes certainly won’t get bored looking at this show!
While new musical teachers are introduced in each episode (although the ones from the web series make cameos), the show is excellent at establishing the personalities of the three main characters. Yellow Guy is this puppet who’s childlike and goofy, so the others dismiss him a lot. Duck is the most curious one, asking more questions than his housemates. Finally, there’s the perpetually unenthused Red Guy, who’s quick-witted and always the first to make sarcastic comments. In each episode, one of the characters will often get sucked into their own little side-quest, and we get to see their own unique ways of coping with the situation.
Even though it’s super creepy and existential, “Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared” boasts a unique flavor of humor. The funny moments in this show aren’t based around adult content (there isn’t even any profanity!), but rather around being unsettling. A lot of it is shock-based, but not in the way you’d think. It’s slightly unnerving visual gags such as a vending machine that dispenses an unknown brown liquid, as well as witty, well-written dialogue between the characters.
Currently, “Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared” is only available to watch in the United Kingdom, where it’s on Channel 4. But that’s not stopping “Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared’s” large fanbase – the series has racked up a quarter of a billion views since its debut in 2011 – which is resorting to alternative methods to view the show, such as rushing to sites like soap2day and YouTube to watch it before potential copyright claims take the episodes down. Some are even changing their device’s location through NordVPN so they can watch Channel 4.
If you’re a sucker for quick-witted comedy or searching for horror that’s more subtle, then “Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared” is right up your alley! Each episode is about 22 minutes long, and there’s six of them, making it the ideal binge. And with Halloween only a month away, what better way to kick off the spookiest month? If you haven’t yet seen the viral video that started it all over a decade ago, here it is. The web series is an even shorter binge, with six installments that are all less than 8 minutes long.
by Emily Nagle
The last weekend of September was the highest-grossing one all month. Two major releases broke into the top 5 this week, and were both met with rave reviews.
Top 5 Highest Grossing Films for September 23-25, 2022
5. Pearl ($1.9 million)
4. Barbarian ($4.8 million)
3. Avatar [2022 re-release] ($10 million)
2. The Woman King ($11.1 million)
1. Don’t Worry Darling ($19.2 million)
This weekend’s biggest release was thriller film “Don’t Worry Darling”, which boasts an all-star cast that includes Harry Styles, Florence Pugh, and Olivia Wilde. With the immense success of Styles’ “Love on Tour”, it’s no surprise the film shot to number one for its premiere weekend. Despite its praise for its cinematography and production design, it’s been met with criticism for its writing and direction. Additionally, viewers have found Styles’ performance in the film to be inadequate, with one critic calling it “surprisingly dull and low-wattage”.
In preparation for James Cameron’s upcoming film “Avatar: The Way of Water”, its predecessor, the 2009 science fiction epic film “Avatar“, was rereleased in theaters this weekend. More than a decade after its initial premiere, it remains the highest-grossing film in box office history (right ahead of “Avengers: Endgame“), making more than $2.8 billion worldwide. Its elaborate motion-capture visual effects paved the way for an increase in 3D animated films. While critics have praised “Avatar” for its stunning visuals, they criticize its predictable story and underlying social and political messages.
by Emily Nagle
Let’s-a go! The first trailer for Illumination’s long-anticipated Super Mario movie is finally ready to premiere. It will make its debut to the attendees of New York Comic Con on October 6, 2022.
Illumination’s untitled Mario film was announced back in 2018, and confirmed to be co-produced by Nintendo’s representative director Shigeru Miyamoto and Illumination’s CEO Chris Meledandri. Ever since, it’s been subject to many rumors from fans, especially after the cast list was released last fall. It’s set to feature an all-star voice cast, including Chris Pratt as Mario, Charlie Day as Luigi, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, and Jack Black as Bowser.
After being delayed from a release date of December 2022, the “Super Mario Bros.” movie is set to release in theaters next year, on April 7, 2023. After it leaves cinemas, it’ll be available to stream on Peacock for 45 days.
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