Critics Hated It, Audiences Loved It, Now What

We settle our Moana box office bet and dig into why critics and audiences can see the same movie so differently. Then we look ahead to a packed slate, celebrate indie cinema community, remember Sam Neill, and put our money down on Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. 
• school holiday box office context and why legs matter after July 
• Moana live-action numbers and what “underperform” really means 
• Rotten Tomatoes critic score vs audience score as a signal 
• upcoming releases including Spider-Man Brand New Day, Eye Object, Savage House, and NZ International Film Festival 
• why longer runtimes change the theater experience and how to plan a screening 
• Put Your Soul On Your Hand And Walk and the role of documentaries in cinemas 
• Great Indie Cinema Road Trip and Kate Rodger joining the show soon 
• remembering Sam Neill and the films that define a generation 
• The Odyssey cast, IMAX buzz, and our opening-week prediction showdown 
Odyssey this weekend, go out and check that out. 

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

Transcript

Cold Open And Catch-Up

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Eat, sleep, movie, repeat, repeat. A podcast on all things movies with Brent Harbour and industry insider Ross Churchell.

SPEAKER_01 0:10

G'day Ross, you've survived the school holidays once again.

SPEAKER_02 0:14

By the skin of my teeth, Brent. Honest to goodness. I've only just made it through. How's it been? Look, it's been it's been pretty good. It's been pretty solid, but um what we lost in the school holidays compared to a lot of the other winter school holidays is rain. I know some areas of the country had a bit of weather, but boy, it was pretty dry up, were we?

SPEAKER_01 0:33

It was, and you know, it's blue skies and cold temperatures and people outside enjoying themselves.

SPEAKER_02 0:39

Yeah, absolutely. And I can't say as a blame them because uh my pasty white skin that never sees the sun. Honestly, if I fell into a snow drift, you wouldn't be able to find me.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

Hopefully we've got some good results for the movie, so let's get into it.

SPEAKER_02 0:52

Yeah, absolutely. Look, it's been a pretty solid holidays with um, look, three very good kids' films that all pretty much took uh a little bit of business away from each other, so it's been pretty solid. So yeah, we will talk all about that in just a second, but here we go, folks.

Welcome, Sponsors, And The Vibe

SPEAKER_02 1:06

Welcome to another episode of Eat Sleep Movie Repeat, brought to you by Cafe Cinemas Carrie Kerry and Lido Cinemas in Hamilton, your home of fine film from around the world. Uh look, this is the show that we talk about movies, we're talking about what's coming very soon, we're gonna have a few rants. I specifically think there's gonna be a few rants in this episode. Yeah, we're just gonna talk about movies, have a bit of fun, and uh try and stay positive in this world of pretty much negative stuff that we're constantly having to listen to all the

Moana Bet Settled By Numbers

SPEAKER_02 1:35

time. Alrighty, so let's uh start, Brent. We'll reconcile last uh episode, the last show.

SPEAKER_01 1:40

Okay, so this I'm interested in this because I haven't looked at this script because I don't like to see the numbers first up. So we're talking about Marana and we were both in two minds about this movie. Yeah, look, this was a this was a tricky one.

SPEAKER_02 1:54

Part of me was thinking it was not going to do as well as it I expected it to. Part of me thought I'm probably underselling it and it's probably gonna do massive. And I know that you were very conservative on it, um, but look, it's a live action adaptation of the Moana film from just over 10 years ago, the original Moana came out. It's got Catherine LaGuya as Moana, Dwayne Johnson as Maui, and they're sailing the Pacific in search of adventure. Most Kiwis have seen Moana. We know what this movie is about, as they you know search for the heart of the goddess Tafiti and uh restoring Moana's home and everything else. So, Brie, look, you expected the film would do 1.1 million, um, which is actually, in my opinion, I thought that was it was quite low because um it is the school holidays. But, you know, this is where it gets pretty tricky with these live action recreations of of these films. And I went a bit more bullish, I said 2.4 million, but I do recall that I said it could go as high as three. And if I'm honest, I expected it to be well beyond 2.4 million. Look, the film grossed a reasonably good number, uh, but but I think to most people in the industry, it underperformed. It ended up at 1.95 million on its Wednesday to Tuesday opening week. So, Brett, you're welcome. I have won another round.

SPEAKER_01 3:17

Well, that's good. Look, I mean, I'm glad it got close to $2 million because I was really concerned about it because again, it's been so much negativity around it, but it's one of those things I think, well, you know, if kids love Moana and, you know, they want to see a live action version of it, then they're gonna go see it, aren't they? They don't care about the critics. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 3:37

And look, the the audience that I've seen, and and funnily enough, I was just talking about this with you a second ago, we've been extra busy for Moana the last two days. So as we're going into that second week, so maybe it is a case of um the the audiences love it. The critics didn't love it so much. The Rotten Tomatoes critic score was only 32%, but the audience score was 90%. So maybe what's going to happen with Moana is it's just gonna play along in the background and just tick along nicely and and rack up a few more dollars. Um, and if that does happen, that'll be quite good for the industry because you know we like to hope that when we come out of these school holidays that we can make it to the next one um pretty steadily, but often in this break between late July and September, it does drop away a lot. So um it'll be good if the movie can just keep sort of uh ticking along, making a few dollars for everybody and entertain the crowds. But it certainly was a bit busier today.

SPEAKER_01 4:31

Look, and it hasn't done that well according to everybody in the US with its box office take, but it's not completely a disaster over there, is it?

SPEAKER_02 4:41

No, I think I think it took $43 million um in its you know opening weekend. They were expecting it to do $6065 and it went 4345, something like that. And um, of course, the rest of the world also adds in some scores there, but you know, I think it's it's very easy to point the finger at all these movies. Yes, they cost a lot of money to make, but unfortunately everything costs a lot of money these days. And I know The Rock really championed this. You know, Dwayne Johnson was the big driver behind this film to get it over the line. So um I think a lot of pressure's on him as well. But everybody's so quick to jump on the bandwagon of it's a flop, it's a failure. I think the film, as I said, will just tick along and it will probably find its feet in the downstream market, particularly for Disney streaming services. They'll get a lot of eyes on it through that as well. Oh well. Another win for you, you're all good. Yep. Look, hey, look, it doesn't matter what the movie made, I won, and that's all that matters, you know.

SPEAKER_01 5:36

Of course, Ross.

SPEAKER_02 5:37

Yeah,

What We Watched And What’s Next

SPEAKER_02 5:38

exactly. And and you know what? I I haven't just been uh working, although it does feel like I had been working for the last 14 days straight, but um I haven't just been working, I've been watching a few movies. I uh have seen the Minions movie, and I thought that was pretty good. I saw the Masters of the Universe movie, and I was hoping to go and see the Odyssey, but uh unfortunately I haven't had a chance because it opened yesterday, and because it opened yesterday, we have actually shifted the show a week so that we could do the Odyssey and actually align with a whole lot of new films that are coming up, which are pretty solid for the rest of the year. So we are going to make a prediction on the Odyssey, and we'll talk about that a little bit more. And of course, the New Zealand uh international film festival is now going to be rolling into August, so there is a lot of big things happening in the market. So there's a good new good, as I said, this movie's rolling out. So there's a um Kiwi movie called Eye Object, which opens next week. Um, and that is another sort of um family-oriented film, so that's uh one to look out for being shot here in New Zealand. Uh, and then of course on the 30th of July, the Spider-Man brand new day movie opens. And wow, that's gonna be huge. That film's gonna be enormous. Yeah, yeah. That is gonna be your three million dollar film, and we're probably gonna cover that, but uh that that's gonna be a massive, massive film. There's a couple of other nice little stories coming out. There's the movie H is for Hawk, which is a um sort of an R House film with Claire Foy, and uh then there's um Savage House, which also stars her, and we talked about Savage House previously. Honestly, I love Savage House. If you want to go and see a good black comedy, 6th of August, Savage House is your film, folks. So um, yeah, but like I said, we'll roll into that um end of August New Zealand International Film Festival, and then you know, beyond that, we're into the September school holidays, and before you know it, we're into Christmas. Um, and they just announced how long the new Avengers movie is gonna be, and it's just on the cusp of three hours long. So there's something to look forward to, Brent.

SPEAKER_01 7:48

This is why I'm not seeing the Odyssey. It's too long. I'm not sitting there for that long in this. I'm sorry. You know, I've been scarred for life when we're in high school. They took us to Gandhi, it was three and a half hours, and I've never recovered.

SPEAKER_02 8:02

Oh my gosh, you really uh that's really has scarred you. But you um, you know, one of these days you'll have to come up to the movie theater and carry carry. I'll put a movie on for you and I'll give you a break. I'll put an intermission in. I will pause the movie for you. Good. Now you can go to the bar, have a cup of tea, get some more MMs. Yeah, exactly. Restock MMs. Um, it's really funny too, because I everybody who goes there, you know, they walk in, they go, Oh, yeah, I have a large drink, and you go, dude, yeah, that's that's gonna come back and bite you about 90 minutes into this film when you suddenly think to yourself, Oh, I've got another 90 minutes to go.

SPEAKER_01 8:37

Drink it slowly, my friend.

SPEAKER_02 8:39

Yeah, exactly.

Adult Releases After School Holidays

SPEAKER_02 8:41

Um, and look, you know, we're we've got a couple of films coming out of the holiday, so I always like to try and bring some movies back or on uh that's gonna entice the adults back. One of the movies we've got is Um The Death of Robin Hood, which came out a couple of weeks ago. Wasn't super successful, but it is uh a good sort of adult film that's worth having a look at. And the other film is this uh film documentary called Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk. Um, this is a film from an Iranian director, and she created us this movie when she tried to enter Gaza to show and document the living conditions about what's been happening over there. So this is back in 2024, uh early 2025, and she was unable to get into um Gaza or into Palestine, so she was introduced to a young photojournalist, and the photojournalist and her connected over the internet, and she would send her images and photographs of and show her what was happening and create this documentary. And look, it's a pretty um brutal story about unfortunately how Israel is is literally carbon bombing um Gaza and what's happening to the people of Gaza. And the real tragedy about this whole thing is um the film when it was announced it was going to premiere at the Khan Film Festival in um April of 2025, last year, a Israeli missile actually hit the house where the woman who had been um doing all the work and her family lived, and they were killed. So the film is it's all an obituary of obituary of sorts, you know. It's um it's a very sad story, uh, and but our audiences are are starting to come out now and look at that. Um, it was actually one of those movies that we were asked if we could possibly show. And um, you know, whenever our audience members come in and ask us if they were if there's a movie we can get, we always see what we can do, and and this is definitely one that is worth checking out. If you haven't seen it, it probably won't be in your cinemas, but as I said, it's just one of those movies. If you can stream it, thoroughly recommend you have a look at it. Alrighty.

Indie Cinema Road Trip With Kate

SPEAKER_02 10:50

Now, um, a couple of other things that happened this uh week just gone. So we had a lovely visit from uh Kate Roger.

SPEAKER_01 10:56

Brilliant film reviewer, great on TV three, and just yeah, knows her stuff.

SPEAKER_02 11:02

Yeah, oh she absolutely does. Um, so Kate was uh visiting us as part of the Great Indie Cinema Road Trip, which is a series that Kate is making about independent cinema and small cinema around the country and what that cinema means to the communities of those um towns where those cinemas are. And it is touching base um with um Auckland, is is going to some of the cities as well and going to the independent cinemas that are in those cities. Uh, and they're traveling all the North Island and then they're traveling all the South Islands. So we'll keep you up to date, folks, as to what's happening with that. But look, Kate was lovely, we had a really fun time. She tried to sweep the popcorn off the floor and had to be schooled uh by yours truly. Show you how to do it properly, you know. So uh no, it was great. And well while Kate and I were chatting, we we talked about each sleep movie repeat, and Kate has uh agreed, Brent, to jump on the show.

SPEAKER_01 11:58

That'll be great. So we're gonna get her in the next few weeks and and have a chat. That'll be really good.

SPEAKER_02 12:02

Yeah, we're just gonna make sure our schedules aligned. But you know, well, this totally legitimizes this uh podcast, people. You know, we we're in the big time now. Real people, real journalists are actually going to join us. So we'll probably do an extended show on when we get Kate on, because it'd be really good to talk to Kate about all the things that she does. And as I say, um keep an eye out for the great Indies Cinema Road Trip. That's gonna be a cool series. I will be on it, unfortunately. Um, but please look out for my uh manager Cheryl because it's the Cheryl story, it is definitely not the Ross

Farewell To Sam Neill

SPEAKER_02 12:36

story. Excellent. And of course, um another thing that happened this week, we lost a great uh, great actor of our time, Sam Neal.

SPEAKER_01 12:44

Man, I uh was so shocked when that came through. I mean, then it just filled my Facebook feed, and everybody I spoke to was just so shocked. And he's just a great actor, and and apart from that, just a lovely bloke who is just a good person who loved New Zealand, loved people around him, and it's a really huge loss.

SPEAKER_02 13:04

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, look, he has been a massive advocate for the cinema industry, for New Zealand, for young filmmakers and TV makers, and he's been in everything. It's the he's been in Peaky Blinders, he's been in um Jurassic Park, you know, he's been in so many quintessential movies, right the way back to when I first saw him in Sleeping Dogs, you know, because I'm old, just like yourself there, Brendan. I didn't mean to throw that down, but uh, you know, with these these movies are you know they're quintessential Kiwi films, and he has been there, he's kind of like been a part of a storytelling of our country and of our fabric of filmography for our country. So yeah, it does really hit hard to Kiwis and particularly people in the in the arts, um, because like you say, he was an incredibly great guy, and of course, uh most recently we all saw him back on the screen for the Hunt for the Wilder People's 10th anniversary, which we played earlier this uh earlier this year. So yeah, he will be missed.

SPEAKER_01 14:04

He was really emotional about that too, wasn't he? He was emotional about that screening and how much he loved being on that movie and the character.

SPEAKER_02 14:11

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, Uncle Heck, I mean, the thing I loved about that movie was Uncle Uncle Heck was everybody's uncle. You know? So he um he just embodied that character so well. Um, and he reminds me of so many people in my life, which is quite funny, and I'm sure he does with a lot of other people, just the character. So yeah, he'll be greatly missed. And apparently, um, unfortunately, he passed away because of uh complications with pneumonia, but he had four projects in the you know that are in the can apparently that are all getting released throughout the next um year or so. So we are gonna see him posthumously on the screen, and uh you know it's um it's just a real sad time for New Zealand when you lose somebody of uh that sort of stature. So um my thoughts go out to his family, and um, you know, I hope everybody just enjoys taking a bit of time at that some point and uh checking out some of Sam's work.

SPEAKER_01 15:03

Yeah, well I watched Hunt for the Red October the other day. He's in that with Sean Connery and Alec Baldwin. Just a great movie, and he was fantastic in it.

SPEAKER_02 15:10

Actually, that was one of the I think one of the very first times, I'm not sure if that was pre-uh Jurassic Park or not, but it was one of the first times I'd seen uh him on the big screen in a big budget American film. So

Nolan’s The Odyssey And IMAX Hype

SPEAKER_02 15:23

yeah. And of course, uh The Odyssey. The Odyssey kicked off this week, uh, just started, and it is Christopher Nolan's quintessential uh big blockbuster, massive film. And people are some people saying this is Christopher Nolan's greatest work. So there you go. That's uh pretty high praise. And it I think the last time I checked it's Rotten Tomatoes score audiences and um critics were well in the 90s for that movie.

SPEAKER_01 15:50

So I'm sure it's a spectacle and I and I love that genre. I do love everything. It's got Cyclops, it's got everything in there I want to see, but oh I don't I don't know. Sitting in the cinema for that long, maybe I'll do it for you, I'll do it for you, Rost.

SPEAKER_02 16:05

I'll take in two packets of MMs, a small drink, and Well, I was gonna say, why don't you why don't you go and sit well go and see our friend Dan at Matakana Cinema and just go, Dan, I'm gonna come in and watch 90 minutes and then I'll come back in a week's time and I'll watch the other 90 minutes.

SPEAKER_01 16:20

No, look, I mean, I just sound like a a whiner. I'll go in and watch it because it it does look spectacular. It really does.

SPEAKER_02 16:28

Well, my uh my recommendation would be go and see it first thing in the morning in the morning session when there won't be very many people around. You get the place practically to yourself and you'll probably have a really good time. And then, of course, if you do need to dash out, you won't disturb anything. No, true day. Well, um one of my staff members he jumped in his car, get those, drove three and a half hours to Auckland, watched the Odyssey in IMAX at the 10am screening, jumped back in his car, drove all the way back to Kerry Kerry so that he could do his shift in the evening. Now that's dedication. That is a young man who's totally dedicated to watching a film.

SPEAKER_01 17:06

It would be amazing on the IMAX screen. Film the when you see the behind-the-scenes stuff of those camera rigs. I was told to my daughter who works in film and TV, uh, they're incredible. They had to build those big casing around the cameras because of the noise with them.

SPEAKER_02 17:20

Yeah, they're they're huge and they look like the size of a woman'll know a small car. So look, folks, Odyssey this weekend, go out and check that out. Uh stars Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Ann Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, um, Zendaya, Charlest Theron, and Lupita Nyongo. So you cannot go wrong with a with a cast like that. The film, uh I have not bothered to look how much the film has made so far. I'm kind of ignoring that deliberately for the show. I'll start paying more attention after we make these predictions, though, I can assure you. So, Brett, let's have a quick prediction on what we think uh the Odyssey's gonna do.

SPEAKER_01 18:00

Okay, so after Barbenheimer. Um Well they're actually gonna be. They're saying this is is is this is cracking higher than Oppenheimer. Oh wow, okay, okay. Yeah. I'm gonna shoot for moon beams here. I'm gonna go 2.7 million.

SPEAKER_02 18:15

2.7 million. Well, that is that is a moon shot, isn't it? Hang on, I'm writing it down because I forget these things because I'm old. Okay, I'm not gonna be as bullish. Uh I think it's gonna be look, I think it's comfortably gonna be around the $1.9 million dollar mark. And that would be a great way to come out of the score holidays and a great way for us to set ourselves up going in towards uh Spider-Man, uh the new Spider-Man movie. And you know, I think those numbers will be replicated when we start talking about Spider-Man. How much will that make? It'll definitely be a strong proposition for the box office. And you know what? The trend at the moment is definitely that the box office is better than last year. It seems to be on the rise, and we could only hope that uh things in the northern hemisphere continue to just chill out, just relax, and let everybody feel a little more positive, and then uh I think you know we'll all be getting back to the movies, or you know, going to restaurants or you know, being able to buy clothes.

SPEAKER_01 19:18

Or fill it filling up the car instead of just putting 20 bucks in to get home. Oh, well, you know, or using your bike. All right, well, I think I've I've blown it again and you'll be winning next week, but we'll see how we go.

SPEAKER_02 19:29

Oh, look, look, there's always hope, Brent. And don't be sh don't be surprised. Look, don't be surprised if your number actually is right, because I think there's a bit of a groundswell for that film and and going out in general, because I've seen a lot of people walking into the movie theatre in the last day and a half who have I've never seen them before. You know, they're uh they're total strangers, but they're locals. You say, Oh, are you from out of town? Oh no, I'm I'm from here. Oh, when was the last time I saw a movie? You know, oh, I don't know, puffin' stuff back in the 70s. But this is that film that brings those people out, and when those people come out, plus the normal audience, you can get some some big numbers. So look, I I wouldn't be surprised if you win this one, to be fair.

SPEAKER_01 20:07

Yeah, I need to replenish my MM, you know, stash. So I'm gonna win one.

SPEAKER_02 20:13

All right, all right, all right. I get the I'm getting the hint. It's only taken three years. I know, I I got it before I was just ignoring you.

Predictions Recap And Sign-Off

SPEAKER_00 20:22

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