Crying In Popcorn While Guessing Moana Money

We argue over New Zealand box office wins and losses as Toy Story surges on nostalgia while Minions and Monsters opens far below expectations. Then we preview the school holiday slate and put bold opening-week numbers on the line for Moana Live Action while sharing indie and upcoming films we think could surprise. 
• reconciling our box office guesses and the running scoreboard 
• why Toy Story connects with both kids and adults 
• why Minions and Monsters may be delayed by holiday timing 
• quick recommendations for The Invite and Jackass Best and Last 
• Moana Live Action cast details and the New Zealand angle 
• our Moana opening-week predictions and scheduling worries 
• indie presentation highlights including I Play Rocky and Savage House 
• what we’re watching for across the rest of the year, from Spider-Man to Practical Magic 2 
do go on our website at www.cafecinemas.co dot nz. Check out the coming soon page 

Book your tickets to the movies at Cathay Cinemas Kerikeri here  -   or at Lido Cinema Hamilton here!

Transcript

Welcome Back And Quick Banter

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Eat, sleep, movie, repeat, repeat. A podcast on all things movies with Brent Harbour and Industry Insider Ross Church Albert.

SPEAKER_03 0:10

G'day Ross, how are you? I'm much better than you, Brent. How are you feeling? Not too bad. I've been hit by the first winter bug, but that's okay because I know that we're heading into the school holidays for the cinemas, and there's rain on the way, so hopefully that'll be good for you.

SPEAKER_01 0:25

Yeah, and look, and I've just gotten over that uh annoying bug that's been going around. So just in time for the movies to crack on, all the kids to come back in and bring all the diseases back to the movie theatre and film me full of bug by the end of the school holidays. So looking forward to it.

SPEAKER_03 0:39

But you'll be able to fall asleep in all the money, so that's good.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

Well, I wouldn't say that, but uh, you know what? If if that's if that is the case, I'll let you know. But uh You'll Scrooge McDuggett. We've got a few things up our sleeves. Let's just say that. Uh I'll tell you all about that in a minute. But uh welcome. Welcome everybody to season four, episode twelve. Good, can you believe it? Uh halfway through the year of Eat Sleep Movie Repeat. Brought to you by Cathay Cinemas Kerry Kerry and Lido Cinemas Hamilton, your home of fine film from around the world. Look, this is the show where we're going to talk about a bit of movies. We're just a little local podcast, but hey, if you are listening to us from around the world, we really do appreciate it. And uh, you know, we just talk about movies, we tell you about things that are fun, things that are happening. We may occasionally go off on tirades and rants, but look, that's okay. Uh, nobody's got their feelings hurt enough to actually ring them in complain yet, which is always good. Take a win. Take a win. We did with season four here, we're doing all right. Right, let's crack on.

Box Office Scoreboard And Results

SPEAKER_01 1:38

As you folks know who listen to this show all the time, we do start the show by reconciling the previous podcast's uh box office um results and our guesses as to how the box office is gonna go, folks. How are the box office gonna go? And last week we did two movies, uh Toy Story and Minions and Monsters. Uh now on the line, Brent, this is for all the glory, okay? And uh I'm ahead of you at the moment, so trying to get that a little bit further ahead. So, look, let's just recap Toy Story. Um, have you seen the movie, Buddy Chance?

SPEAKER_03 2:10

I haven't seen it, but I I am looking forward to it because the trailer is just great. And you know what? I've seen so much feedback online about oh, there must have been lots of dust in the theatre, um, you know, adults who saw them as kids taking their kids, and it's it's been a real nostalgia sort of run that I've seen so far.

SPEAKER_01 2:28

Oh, look, there's a lot of that going round. I mean, we're playing the Jackass movie at the moment, and the amount of 30-something dads who are bringing in their 16-something boys, and they just say, I loved this when I was his age. And they're having that real family moment, which is what this is all about. Um, it's amazing. But yeah, you're not wrong. Toy Story is doing really, really well. It's definitely bringing some tears to the eye and of the kids and the adults alike, which is really wonderful. And look, it's got all the heart of the previous ones. It's probably the better one of all three, or sorry, no, five of them than it's now. Look to number five, uh. So um look, Buzz Lightyear, Woody, Jesse, they're all there. Um, Mr. Potato Head, who's personally my favourite character of all, Mr. Potato Head. He's kind of like me. He's a bit rotund in the middle, quite angry, and his face is falling, but so uh yeah, he's my favorite. Um, but look, that movie did very well, Brent. Now you expected the film to do $1.6 million. I expected it to about $1.2 million. Bear in mind it opened three weeks before the school holidays started. And the film absolutely knocked it out of the park, Brent. And I'm gonna be grumpy now. Right. You won. You won this one. The film did $1.616 million. You were within 1% of getting it 100% correct. So wow, that's is close enough, is good enough, Brent. So that was an absolute win for you. You took that easily. I'm not gonna make an excuse.

SPEAKER_03 3:54

I'm glad it made that much money. We wanted it to, and I just thought it was one of those ones where you and I went, is it the nostalgia factor or is there a new audience? It seems there's both.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

Oh, look, Toy Story is just a quality product. Um, you know, the animation hasn't really changed from the animation from 20, 30 years ago. They've kept it very much the same, and it just hits with people. It's the kind of movie that it just resonates with with young kids and old people. And of course, the writing in it is really, really clever. They don't they don't treat people like kids, they treat them all like adults, and that's why I think it works as a child child film. Um, the film went on to its second week, of course, because we do this podcast every two weeks, and it pulled in just under another million dollars. So it's already uh, and in fact, as of now, it's it's pretty well on its way to three million dollars. If it hasn't crossed that three million dollar threshold, it will be in the next day and a half. Um, and that's impressive when we're out so far out for school holidays. So, yeah, that's a huge win for kids' films, a huge win for Disney, and it's a huge win for um, you know, the Toy Story and you. So rack it up. Enjoy that, enjoy that, because it's not gonna last. No, I know. So then we guessed Minions and Monsters. Um, and this was a really fun film again. More minions, more more and more minions. And did you see this one by chance? I know you haven't, but that's okay.

SPEAKER_03 5:18

No, I haven't, but I I keep watching the trailer, and suddenly my eldest daughter pointed out the other day they had a minion singing contest at the premiere in Hollywood, and the winner was just she was awesome.

SPEAKER_01 5:30

Oh, look, the minions are again, they're just one of those um animated characters who no matter what you do, you go and see an illumination movie, any almost any illumination movie, and the minions appear at the start of it just to say hello. And um, they're always funny. And this film is critically, this film is getting the best reviews of any minions film. In fact, critics who again are very anti this stuff, who have who have given these movies bad reviews in the past are reviewing it very, very well, which is really interesting, Brent, because you thought the movie would do $1.3 million.

SPEAKER_02 6:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:07

And I thought the movie would do $1.4 million. See, I was going over you there and I was I thought that was pretty reasonable. But the film um was quite underwhelming at the box office and only brought in $540,000. Really? For a minions movie? That's I know it's weird. Yeah, but I have a theory, I have a theory on this, Bread. Uh my theory is that there are three amazing kids' films. Okay, you've got Minions and Monsters, you've got Toy Story, you've got Moana, which is coming, the uh live action remake. And parents have got two weeks in the holidays, and their kids are probably pestering them to see all of these movies. So my suspicion is that Minions and Monsters is being held back by a lot of parents until the school holidays, so that they can take them to Minions and Monsters and maybe in the first week, and they can take them to Moana in that second week. And um, that's possibly why Minions and Monsters hasn't done the numbers. And we'll follow that up on our next show, just really to cover whether or not the box office did take a bit of a bounce once it hit the school holidays to see if that theory proves correct. But that's my theory. But Bren, it breaks my heart. It breaks my heart to say it, but you won again. Wow, two in a row, who'd have thought? Yeah, I know. So look, that brings us to eight wins to you, Bren, for the year, nine wins to me uh at the halfway mark. So next week, and this next uh guest could square things right back up. It will be right back to this, you know. Always happens, doesn't it? Oh well. It did. This happened last year, and then you went right past me, and I was like, oh no. We cannot have another year like this. I tell you what, folks, the three years in a row, I've started out strong and I've tripped at the last hurdle, and then I've had to put it all on the line to get there in the end. Exactly. We will see. It's only halfway. Let's see what happens. Okay,

School Holiday Releases Worth Watching

SPEAKER_01 7:59

so with it being school holidays, there are some big, big films dropping, and let's talk about those. Um, there's a few different films actually. So um this one's showing sneak previewing, actually. This is only showing at Leto at the moment. Uh, it's a movie called The Invite. Now, this is an R16 film. This is more of an adult film. Uh, we will probably be picking the invite up at Cafe, but I might wait till after the school holidays because it's just a bit hard to squeeze everything in. Now, this movie stars Seth Rogan, Penelope Cruz, Edward Norton, and Olivia Wilde, and she also directs the film. And it's basically about a younger couple who live in an apartment building and an older couple who live in the apartment building. And the older couple, their marriage is getting a little bit stale, and the younger couple are a little bit more free-spirited. And so they invite the younger couple to dinner, and interesting things happen. It is um definitely an adult comedy. Uh, there is some uh suggestion that maybe they should spice things up in their love lives as a group. Um, but yes, um, crazy things happen. And again, this film's getting really, really well reviewed. So it isn't a big mainstream film, but I would recommend that if you're interested into sort of like funny comedies, then go and check out the invite. Now, of course, we're showing Jack Ars Best and Last at uh Cafe. So if you enjoy the Jack Ass uh franchise, as I said, we're actually started that film now, and we are seeing um a lot of uh guys who admittedly one guy literally just said to me because I've just come in from the cinema, uh, he said, he said, I'm showing my kid the stupid things that we used to do because we saw these movies and then we did the same stuff, and I'm telling him not to do it, which I thought hilarious.

SPEAKER_03 9:45

Yeah, exactly. Do as I say, not as I do.

SPEAKER_01 9:48

Yeah, um, and Jack Jack Alice has got some classics. Um, obviously they they had some uh real interesting things where they've they always end up an injury uh or some sort of pain, but they are funny, I've got to say. There there was something about that Schottenfreuder thing where you see somebody hurt themselves that does make you laugh. So and they've made a career out of it, so good on.

SPEAKER_03 10:10

Yeah, I saw a part of a trailer that had Wii Man in a tank firing cannonballs at them, and it looked quite painful, I have to say.

SPEAKER_01 10:19

Yes, or the electric uh genital ring.

SPEAKER_02 10:21

Oh, crikey, yeah. Just ridiculous. Yeah, it's really stupid.

SPEAKER_01 10:26

That's why that movie's R16, folks. So again, uh not not for the lilies, but uh obviously we've talked about minions, and that's gonna be playing through the holidays. We've talked about Toy Story, that's gonna be playing through the holidays.

Moana Live Action Box Office Bet

SPEAKER_01 10:38

Um, and then of course we have the big one that opens this Wednesday and then obviously officially opening on Wednesday, but then it rolls into the Thursday, which is Moana Live Action. Now, this is Disney's adaptation of the beloved Moana series. Um I've watched Moana, I don't know, probably about six or seven times in the past. Every time I watch it, I'll enjoy it. Um came out of the blocks really, really strong and was really good. But uh these Disney live action adaptations do tend to never live up to the animated film. Now, I think that will be the case. I don't think it will be as strong as the animated film, but something's telling me that this film, for New Zealand audiences particularly, is still going to be huge. So I guess we will see. So the story is basically about Moana. She is going to go on for the first time uh after hearing the call of the ocean on a voyage beyond the reef of her island of Motonui. And obviously, she meets Maui, the demigod, and goes on an amazing journey. So uh Moana is played by Catherine Lagaya, uh Jay LaGaya's daughter.

SPEAKER_03 11:48

I went to school with Jay LaGuya. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:50

Oh mate, you should have caught him up and got the hookups.

SPEAKER_03 11:52

Honestly, I I I don't want to deviate too much, but Jay and I went back to Avondale Intermediate, where we went to school and judged a talent competition um at one stage, and the guys that won say more than words from extreme. And the guys that didn't win did December 63 by the four seasons, and uh, they got really angry with us when they didn't come in first. Jay was very good at calming everybody down, though.

SPEAKER_01 12:17

The gang warfare at the Avondale Colleges. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Um look, um, so yeah, Maui's played by Dwayne Johnson, everybody loves the rock. Um, it also stars uh Renna Owen from yeah, she she played uh Moana's grandmother in the film, uh, the original film, and in the second film, you know, the the ghost of Moana's grandmother. So having her in it and having that Kiwi connection is amazing. It does have some other Kiwi stars in it. It's got a real diverse cast of um you know Pacific actors and actresses from all across um the Pacific. So it's a very, very cool film, and I think that it's gonna be great. And of course, it also has um oh fight of the Concords. The guy's name's going on in my head. Jermaine. Jermaine Clement. Jermaine, Jermaine Clement. Yeah, Brett or Jermaine? Jermaine, Brett and Nati. Um yes, so yeah, Jermaine Clement. He is the voice of the crab, and oh possibly one of the most underrated and funniest characters in the whole film, if I'm honest. Between him and Hei Hei and uh the pink Poo. Oh yeah. Uh they're underrated, but they are great characters in those films. And um look, I think uh it should be great. Unfortunately, unlike Moana 2, where that they actually did a Moldy version of uh Moana 2, this is not going to be dubbed into Multi. So um don't go expecting that to happen, but you never know. Okay, Bri, so how much money do you think Moana is going to make in New Zealand? And we're gonna go Wednesday to the Tuesday. We're not gonna go when uh Thursday or Wednesday.

SPEAKER_03 13:53

Okay, this is gonna be a bit of a tricky one. It's it's sort of I've seen a lot of comparisons go. Why does it look so dull compared to the animation with the colouring and all sorts of things in it? But you know, the rock. I the trailers I've seen that looks pretty good. So I'm gonna be very optimistic and I'm gonna say 650,000.

SPEAKER_01 14:13

Really? You're gonna that's that's quite low. Bear in mind, just just I'm gonna give you another chance here. School holidays, okay? School holidays, wet weather.

SPEAKER_03 14:22

Oh, true. Big weather. The wet weather's always a factor, and it's the New Zealand connection. Okay. So just I'm I'm giving you a chance here. I don't usually 1.1 million. I've gone up. Yeah, 1.1 million. I'm hoping that it does well. You know what?

SPEAKER_01 14:37

I'm I'm gonna go a bit over the top. Yeah. I think I think this movie is gonna do for this one. I think this movie's gonna do 2.4 million in its first week. I think it's gonna go bananas in its first week. Okay, yeah, I uh well, I hope you're right. Uh look, I I I truly do think that this film uh it's really worrying me. I'm still trying to work out my scheduling for next week. It's been a nightmare trying to decide where to put things, what time to put things on, how to manage this. Because it's either going to go one of two ways. We are either gonna get hammered at the cinemas across New Zealand, or we're gonna be sitting there going, you know, there's gonna be crickets chirping, and I'm gonna be just crying in my popcorn, wondering where everybody is.

SPEAKER_03 15:20

I hope you're right. If it makes 2.4 million, I think that's it. I just give up for the year.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

Honestly, it could I I actually was seriously thinking about going as high as three. Um, I think the movie. It could, who knows? You just don't know. I honestly think it could go bananas. I'm in my gut, I'm thinking to myself, this could be one of our busiest weeks of um in the cinema industry for or for the last two or three years. But you just look, you just don't know. Um, so never mind. We're not over that. So we're gonna talk about a couple other things.

Indie Film Sneak Peeks And Surprises

SPEAKER_01 15:52

Um, we are gonna talk about uh where we are for the rest of the year for this year, because we have to we have to do a recap. We did say we're gonna do a recap this year. Yes. Okay, but before we get to the recap of of how we're going this year, um I went to an indie presentation uh two weeks ago to have a sneak peek at a lot of the interesting art house films and the crossover stuff. Well we'll be talking about movies being crossover, it's that movie that um grandma and grandpa are gonna like, it might be a little bit sense and sensibility, but it then means that but then teenagers and and older kids and and women and men in you know their 20s like it, uh, and sometimes kids like it too. It's just something that you think it sits in that arthouse world, but sometimes it goes across and it does really well in mainstream cinemas. So there's a lot of amazing content coming out, and one of the films, um, which I can't talk about too much because we signed all these things, but these these movies are actually out there on the internet, so you can actually look them up. Um, but one of the ones that cropped up was called I Am Rocky or I Play Rocky, sorry, I play Rocky, and it's the story of how Sylvester Stallone bought the Rocky film from in his head and wrote the script and eventually got it made. And I can tell you right now, that film looks spectacular. It is just one of those films that it captures the imagination, and seeing how he got that movie across the line, I think that that is the movie that is gonna bring out all those people who are in the 70s when saw Rocky, who are all probably in their 70s now, and they'll be look, they'll be coming to that movie and they'll be reliving a moment in their cinema history, which I think is really, really cool. So um, I did see a couple of other films. Um, there's a there's so many good movies coming. Um, there's a really quirky one called Savage House, which is a period drama which I thought looked fantastic, and um I I think it's well worth going and checking out because I have seen more of the film um than I can talk about. But it's it's just it's just a it's a quirky black comedy. It is not the way I've described it to people at work is what would happen if um you know Miss Bennett from you know the Jane Austen books, what would happen instead of marrying the lovely guy, she'd married the real bad guy. It's that kind of a vibe, and it's really, really entertaining and funny. I I thought it was very entertaining and funny. I am the minority, Brent, I can tell you right now. Now, um I'm just gonna quickly jump into our spreadsheet because, you know, reasons. Uh we're gonna get in there and I'm going to recap our year because it has been a bit of a good year. You know, we've had a pretty solid year this year with movies. Yes. So um let's talk about that, and then we can talk very quickly about what's coming up. So, again, at the beginning of the year, we started with that movie Iron Lung. Um, and again, you you won that one, uh Marima, you won that one. Then we had the Kiwi for Holy Days, uh, I won that. Then we had the Oscars, and we both got two apiece, so nothing really changed. Yes, I remember that. Uh, and then we go into that um sort of uh back end of uh Valentine's with reminders of him. Uh we had the kids' movie Hoppers from the Last School Holidays, uh Yumi and Tuscany. Now I won all three of those. And then then we got into Michael's. There's been a lot of movies, isn't there? Michael Jack really. Uh you won that, Devil East Pirata, I won that. Um Sheik Detectives, that was one for me. And Mandalorian Grogu, big surprise. The man who loved Star Wars won that one. Um, and then of course I won the Masters of the Universe one, and that brings us to Toy Story Minions, and now we're into Moana. So while we're here, I'm just gonna put the number in. So I said 2.4 million because I'm an absolute idiot, and you said 1.1 million because again, that seems to be the number that works for you really well, and you always seem to win. Uh but never mind, I'm not gonna get into that. But um, but coming up, see, last year we got to this point, we had the school holidays last year, Brent, and it did soften a lot, and we really saw the industry go flat. This year, I don't think that's gonna happen as much. I think we're gonna see it's not gonna be huge, but there will definitely be an uplift on the previous year. But okay, and the reason I'm thinking that is there's a lot of really good sort of B-grade films filling in the gaps between the blockbusters, which we didn't have last year. Um so you've got uh The Odyssey coming, which we're gonna do a guess on, you've got Spider-Man coming, which we're gonna do a guess on, and that could be one of the biggest movies of the year if if people didn't find it. I mean the Odyssey should be really good, but I think Spider-Man touches across a wider range of people. Um there's a really quirky one called The End of Oak Street, which was originally called Fardale Street, and that one looks really interesting. Um, for those of you who like Quirky Sci-Fi. There's another movie called The Dog Stars, which is about a sort of a dystopian future. That looks really cool. Um, we did talk about this before Practical Magic 2 is coming out. Now, can you remember Practical Magic from back in the I think it was the 90s? Nicole Kidman and uh Sandra Bullock. Yeah, see, now this is one of the trailers I got a chance to see and a bit of the content around practical magic when I was uh down in Auckland. And um, I've got to say the story actually looks pretty good. Cool. Yeah. It's probably not my cup of tea per se, because it is I'm not the demographic that they're targeting, but I still thought the film itself looked looked interesting. Then you got Sean the Sheep, uh, Kiwi movie called Big Girls Don't Cry, um, which actually features a young Kerry Kerry actress. Excellent. So hoping that we can get the her and maybe the director up here for a QA on that, which would be really cool. Um I saw some of the Hunger Games, the new Hunger Games movie that's coming up. Yeah. And again, I think that's going to be one of those big movies for the summer as we cruise in summer. And then, yeah, there's just there's just some good, good movies coming. There's a great kids' movie coming up in the next holidays called uh Forgotten Island, which is I would describe it as a classic. Between uh The Hangover and K-pop Demon Hunters. It does sound weird, but it's it's actually very, very colourful. And again, the trailer's online. You can just go and have a look at the trailer. It's pretty easy to see that. Yeah, but there's there's a lot of good movies coming, Brent. Is there anything that you're really looking forward to?

SPEAKER_03 22:17

Most of the stuff I'm looking forward to is next year. Um, Starfighter coming up, the Star Wars movie with Ryan Gosling. I'm looking forward to that. Um, I I'm looking forward to the Spider-Man movie. I really am. I think that I think that's gonna go well. And the trailer looks fantastic, and you know, I know they've gone back and done a few reshoots, and so generally that's they're trying to make the best movie they can when they do that.

SPEAKER_01 22:40

Look, I think I think you're right. I think Spider-Man is going to be a a top-tier film for us in the industry. You know, we we're always looking for those movies that are gonna make a really big difference. But you know, in saying that, we also keep an eye on those little movies that sometimes crop in, crop up, and come out of nowhere. And it's the little films, that's really the little films that I like looking at because those are the ones, as I say, that fill in the gaps between the big ones. And if you can tell a really good story uh about what's coming up and that keep people interested in coming to the movies and going and seeing films on the big screen, then that really, really

Coming Soon Picks And Where To Look

SPEAKER_01 23:13

helps. Um, and what we're gonna be doing to sort of push that along, Brad, is this uh little thing that's happening very soon. Uh, we're filming it next week, Friday. We've got Kate Roger coming. Oh, have you? Yeah, Kate's coming to the theater and she's gonna be doing some shooting and some interviewing, and she's doing a trip all around New Zealand to independent cinemas, telling the story of the independent cinemas in our country and you know, things that they what they do for their community and what they mean to their community, which is really, really cool.

SPEAKER_03 23:46

So you're thinking about the podcast there for sure.

SPEAKER_01 23:48

Oh, absolutely. I'll do a shameless play for the podcast. Absolutely. Um and as we should, as we should, we should take every opportunity to uh tell everybody how awesome this podcast is and how useless we are in guessing things, and of course, I hope people are playing along at home and enjoying themselves. But uh yeah, um, and I guess what else we got coming up, real quick. I'm just gonna see if I can find out what else I've got coming up, Red, because we do have some films that I've got my eye on. Oh, one of the ones we've got coming up is called Um Spa Weekend. Uh opens in August, and that is a movie for it's squarely aimed at women. It's about a bunch of best friends whose lives have gotten a bit uh boring, and they decide that they're going to go and um have a weekend at a really flash spa. Three of them turn up, and then of course the fourth friend is a bit of a loony who they didn't invite, but she turns up anyway.

SPEAKER_02 24:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:42

And uh Hilarity ensues, and um, it's got Isla Fisher playing the crazy friend, and I love it. Oh, great. Like Isla Fisher, she's brilliant. Yeah. Oh, she has just the best. There's a couple of other cool little films coming up. There's a little art movie called H is for Hawk, uh, and that is starring Claire Foy, and Claire Foy is also starring in that other film I told you about Savage House. And so she's having a, she's an English actress, she's having an absolutely banger year. She's been in everything, it seems. Um quirky comedy again, supertroopers, the um the super troopers movies that have always seemed to do okay. It's coming out in August. So, yeah, look, there's plenty there, folks. If you're interested in movies and you want to know what's coming, do go on our website at uh www.cafecinemas.co dot nz. Check out the coming soon page, and there is plenty on. So uh yeah, let's uh have a really good holidays and uh fingers crossed it's wet and it's busy.

SPEAKER_00 25:37

Thanks for listening to Eat Sleep Movie Repeat Repeat a movie podcast available at Bug Sprout, Apple, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.