Eat.Sleep.Movie.Repeat
A Podcast about Movies from Cathay Cinemas Kerikeri And Lido Cinema Hamilton. Brent Harbour and Industry Insider Ross Churchouse talk about Classic Movies, New Releases and make Box Office Predictions!
Eat.Sleep.Movie.Repeat
Seventy Minutes Of Cats Could Save Cinema
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Spider-Man isn’t just “doing well” right now, it’s detonating records and dragging the whole theatrical ecosystem upward with it. We break down what those massive numbers mean through a New Zealand cinema lens: packed sessions, repeat viewings, and the underrated ripple effect where one blockbuster primes audiences for everything else playing on the big screen. If you’ve missed the feeling of theaters buzzing, this is the kind of weekend that brings it back.
From there, we pivot to what’s new and worth your time. The End Of Oak Street is our big spotlight pick, a tight, 80s-tinged adventure where a family’s suburban world gets ripped into a prehistoric nightmare. Think dinosaurs, jump scares, comedy, and that throwback “go on, take the kids” energy. We talk vibe, audience fit, and why marketing the nostalgia angle matters when Spider-Man and other mega-titles are still dominating attention.
We also hit a lineup that proves cinema isn’t one-size-fits-all: Cat Video Fest as a surprisingly powerful crowd event with 10% going to local cat charities, De Gaulle Tilting Iron as a bilingual historical war epic with a second part on the way, One Night Only as a weirdly smart high-concept comedy, and Primavera as an Italian period drama rooted in classical music and Vivaldi. Listen through, then subscribe, share the show with a movie-loving friend, and leave a review to help more people find us.
Book your tickets to the movies at Cathay Cinemas Kerikeri here - or at Lido Cinema Hamilton here!
Cold Open Spider Web Banter
SPEAKER_00Eat, sleep, movie, repeat, repeat. A podcast on all things movies with Brent Harbour and industry insider Ross Churchell.
SPEAKER_01G'day Ross, you're covered in Spider-Man's Spider Web?
SPEAKER_02I am. And I think the whole world is covered in Spider-Man's Spider Web. Oh, that that I think we should start the podcast again. We've got off to a horrible tangent there. Ugh. Okay.
SPEAKER_01No, no, no. Well, everything has the web, you know, the w the web shooters, it's all good. It's your mind. The web is good.
SPEAKER_02I think we should just all all hail the web. And you can probably guess from that that Spider-Man did quite well last week, Brett, but we'll talk about that in just a second. Alright,
Welcome And What We Cover
SPEAKER_02folks, welcome to Eat Sleep Movie Repeat. Uh with me, Ross, and him, Brett. And uh yeah, look, we're uh just a little uh rambling conversation around movies. We're gonna talk to you about uh films, uh good things and bad things, and we're brought to you by the lovely cinema that I actually own, which is Cafe Cinemas and Kerry Carrie, and of course uh Alito Cinemas in Hamilton, our sister cinema, which is your home of fine film from around the world. And now that we're off to a terrible start, let's try and make this awesome. Let's make this awesome.
SPEAKER_00Hey, look, it's it's up to our usual standard. I don't know what that means, but it's up to our usual standard.
SPEAKER_02It is, and everybody listening is probably going, oh, they've lost it already. Time to turn off. I'll save myself 20 minutes. No, you're gonna be fine. I don't blame you people. Okay, well, look, let's talk about
Spider-Man Records And NZ Numbers
SPEAKER_02the show. The show's about the new movies that are heading your way, and as per every other episode, Brent, we're gonna start by reconciling our previous show's uh box office prediction for the New Zealand box office. Yes. And of course, we did take a shot at Spider-Man Brand New Day.
SPEAKER_01We shot for the moon too with our our guesses as well.
SPEAKER_02We mate, you were you were beyond the moon, I think you were halfway to Saturn. I wasn't that far behind you. But uh look, let's just let's just start with a few of the records that the movie's broken. And and okay, I'll go really quickly. So, biggest opening at a US domestic box office at 360 million, which beat Avengers End Games 357 million in 2019. So there you go, folks. We're finally back to 2019 numbers. Um, the biggest weekend of the US domestic box office for all films combined, which was 430 million, biggest domestic and global opening for Sony Pictures, the biggest domestic and global opening in the Spider-Man franchise ahead of uh No Way Home. It was the biggest US-Canada advanced ticket sales ever at $150 million. It was the biggest US preview night of all time at $72 million, which beat Avengers by $12 million, if you can believe it. Um, and of course, the biggest Friday, including previews at the domestic box office at $169 million, which again beat Avengers Endgame. So one spider has put aside the entire Marvel Ciniverse. There you go.
SPEAKER_01And look, I haven't had a look at anything as I do with all the numbers, because I want to be surprised. Was I even close? You were very close.
SPEAKER_02And and look, the film had an absolute blinder at the New Zealand box office. Um, and before I reveal it, Brent, I'll just tell you that the film has so far uh made just about eight and a half million dollars. Wow. In the two weeks and one day it's been going. So that is incredible. It's actually already past the Odyssey, and that made eight million dollars. So next week, Spider-Man will be well into eleven million dollars, which is a huge result. I don't think it's gonna be, you know, getting into Barbie territory at 20 million, but the film certainly has the potential to roll on to maybe $15 million.
SPEAKER_01That is great for cinema, it really is.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, look, it's good, it's good for everybody because the people are coming out and they are seeing this movie um and they're seeing it multiple times in some cases, but of course they are also coming and seeing the Odyssey, and a lot of people who saw the Odyssey saw the trailer for Spider-Man and thought to themselves, aha, that uh that might be something to take the family to. And then, of course, while they're watching Spider-Man, they're seeing trailers for movies like The End of Oak Street and the upcoming Brad Pitt film, Heart of the Beast. And so it's really just starting to get that roll on. And this is what we've been missing for the last few years. So my prediction right now, to the end of the year, is that we're gonna see um the average New Zealand cinema probably up 10-15% on box office compared to last year. Some people will say, Oh yes, but you there's ticket price increases and inflation and blah blah blah blah blah. But you know what? None of that really matters. Right now, it's just a good news story for the industry, and uh, you know, that industry supports a heck of a lot of people and loads of kids who work in cinemas, loads of suppliers who supply food, you know. So everybody's getting uh a little bite of the apple there, which is fantastic.
SPEAKER_01Right, okay. What's the damage?
SPEAKER_02Rondo Brent, last week you guessed $6.1 million, and like I said, that is absolute massive. I don't think we've ever guessed high that high before. I guessed five and a half million, and the film did a very respectable, very, very respectable five million five hundred and thirty seven thousand eight hundred and thirty-six dollars in its opening week. Boy, you were close. You were so close. I was very, very close. I know that's about that wasn't bad really, but um look that just uh I think we both won there. I think everybody won. Everybody who even saw the movie won because it's just a great cool.
SPEAKER_01But you have uh notched up another one that puts you ahead of me again, right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I'm just maintaining a small margin. I think I'm only two ahead of you at the moment. I'll I'll check that before we finish the show. But um look, look, let's get right on cue. Right on cue, Breet. We're gonna go straight on to what we're talking about for the current week. Um, and
The End Of Oak Street Preview
SPEAKER_02of course, the big movie out this week, theoretically, is The End of Oak Street.
SPEAKER_01I can't wait to see this. It looks fabulous.
SPEAKER_02Well, look, I think there's one thing I would say is the End of Oak Street was going to continue to be overshadowed by Spider-Man and by Odyssey, because they're just so strong. But if you are looking for something different and you've already seen those movies, I've seen End of Oak Street. I really enjoyed it. Um, so the movie's 100 minutes long, M-rated, great family film for say the 10 plus audience, 10 years plus. It's the story about a family who are living on this um little road called Oak Street, and there is a mysterious cosmic event that literally rips their entire suburban area out of um their, you know, uh their neighbourhood and transports them uh into uh a prehistoric time, and they suddenly discover that uh, you know, the birds are a lot bigger and a lot bitier, and uh the dogs are a lot nastier. So um, yeah, it's about the family who are falling apart having to stick together. You know, there's the usual problems, and it's set in the 80s, it is such a throwback, you'll love it. You'll absolutely love it.
SPEAKER_01Well, somebody said, and I mean, you if you've seen the trailer, it's the best dinosaur movie since the original Jurassic Park.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, look, I think the it takes elements from a lot of films, and you can feel that. Uh, it takes elements from things like Back to the Future, it takes elements from Jurassic Park, it takes elements from Goonies and Critters and uh tremors, movies like that, but it's really, really uh it's a fun ride, and anybody who grew up through the 80s is gonna enjoy this film and they're gonna probably want to take their kids and their grandkids potentially to see it. I really enjoyed it. Uh it's not gonna be everybody's cup of tea, but I think it's a good solid B plus A minus kind of film if you're looking for a bit of fun.
SPEAKER_01Okay, the next thing is really weird, but it's huge.
Cat Video Fest And Charity Angle
SPEAKER_02It is, it is weird, and it is huge, and it is the Cat Video Fest of 2026. Honestly, if you like watching cat videos on YouTube, this is your time to shine, people. So if you like cat videos, you go along to your movie theater that's showing Cat Video Fest, you watch 70, 75 minutes of hilarious, family-friendly uh compilations of nothing but cat videos, being cute, falling off things, cutting up things, crashing into things, jumping out of things. Just fun entertainment, which is again, this is what being in our industry is all about. It's about entertainment. And you know, there's a bum for every seat, as they say, and uh Cat and Video Fest is a global phenomenon, and 10% of all the money raised goes to local cat charities for rescuing um and rehoming cats, which is fantastic.
SPEAKER_01Oh, good on you. That is a great reason, just there, right there to go see the movie.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and look, again, this is just that a fun thing, and it is growing and growing and growing. We we've tried to play it a couple times and we kept missing out. We've managed to secure it this time, so it's our first year playing it. But I know some cinemas have played this for four or five years now, and they are absolutely um killing it. I mean, the the movie I I saw it had already made eighteen hundred dollars on the opening day, which was the Thursday. We're playing it in on the weekend, and um that was just one cinema. So, you know, that's $180 to $200 straight to the local cat rescue. And I mean, at the end of the day, giving money back uh is really good. We donate a fair bit of money to our local um dog rehoming rescue up in Northland, uh, and we've been doing that ever since uh we bought the business. Um and I think it's just a nice thing to do giving back to charity. I mean, uh community support ours, and we want to support the community.
SPEAKER_01I know that is really good.
De Gaulle Epic Part One
SPEAKER_02Now, um the next movie we got, Bren, is actually a film that came out of the French Film Festival, uh, and it's just there for two weeks. It's called De Gaulle Tilting Iron. Now, this uh featured in the French Film Festival, it was very, very popular. It's a co-English French film, so there's um both uh English and French language, uh, set in 1940s France, and it's all about how Charles de Gaulle refused to give up uh as they were sort of starting to come up and sign the armistice, and he basically wanted to um help free France and and get France away from the Nazis. And um the big thing about this movie, and not a lot of people realise it at first, because a lot of people came out and said the film didn't feel like it finished very well, it felt like there should have been more, and it turned out there was more. Uh, that was part one of a an absolutely epic film about Charles de Gaulle. Uh, the second part is coming out in September, and each of the films is about 158 minutes long, so you know it's nigh on three hours, so it's a six-hour overall event film, which has been spread out. So, uh, like I say, got a ray of reviews in the French Film Festival. Uh, so if you're interested in a bit of history and a war film, um, and you don't mind uh the odd subtitle, uh, this is something that I think people should go out and check out. Cool. And the next one, One Night Only.
One Night Only Comedy Premise
SPEAKER_02Yeah, One Night Only. Um now, One Night Only, again, I've seen this film, and this is a real weird little comedy. Um, it's made by the people who made anyone but you a couple of years ago, which was um the Sydney Sweeney film, which is very, very popular. And it's about a couple, uh, Allie and Owen, um, who are strangers, and how they go out on this one night in New York, which is the one night in the future of America where you're allowed to have sex as a single person with another single person. Outside of that, they have little chips in your hands, and effectively, if you start to uh engage in any uh naughtiness, you basically get picked up by the police and they remind you that you're not allowed to do that. Um, yeah. So it's a look, it's a really funny little concept. It's kind of like the movie The Purge. Again, this film is it's an M-rated film, it's it's so it's funny, it's a comedy, uh, it's well acted. Again, I've seen this film, uh, I kind of enjoyed it. I wasn't initially sold on the concept, but actually when I watched the film, I I did walk in there with uh a preconception that I was not going to enjoy it, and I came out entertained. So as far as I'm concerned, it's a it's a good, you know, B B movie. And the final movie? Yeah, that final movie. Look at that, this final.
Primavera Venice And Vivaldi Drama
SPEAKER_02Um, this is a movie which we have picked up, uh, it's already played a little bit. Uh it's an Italian film called Primavera. It's set in 18th century Venice, and it's about a 20-year-old violin virtuoso who lives in an orphanage, and she's basically confined there, but very, very talented with a violin, and she meets Antonio Vivaldi, the composer obviously from four seasons, and he becomes her new violin teacher. And look, this is one of those films that has just played and played and played, and every time you think uh we shouldn't be playing it again, you get another half to full cinema coming to see it. It's been very well supported, so that was the reason we are bringing it into Northland. Um, we couldn't play it earlier because we had so many other movies with school holidays and stuff, so we had to sort of postpone playing it. But um, I always try and get those movies up here if we can't fit them all in at a little bit later date. And I can tell you right now it's one of my most popular films we started on with Thursday. It's doing really, really well. So again, if you like uh Italian cinema, uh, because it is Italian with English subtitles, if you like uh classical music, uh if you enjoy a really good uh drama, then Premavera is probably a great film to go and check out. Yeah, so look, um what else is going on before we get to our uh box office
Next Week’s Lineup Quick Hits
SPEAKER_02guesses? So we are going to talk about the end of Oak Street and we'll give that a guess. The new films we've got coming up in the next week, there's quite a few. Again, another five films. So there's the movie Tony, which is about the uh early life of Chef Anthony Bourdain. That's based on his uh kitchen confidential um books. There's a Jason Statham movie called Mutiny. Uh if you like a good action film, there's Jason Statham. I do. I do like Jason Statham. I do watch all his movies. There's a fantastic drama from the British and Irish film, piece of I believe, from last year, which has just been released, called And Sons with Bill Nyhey. Now that is a bit of a tearjerker. Uh I do recommend you take a box of tissues, people. Um, you have been warned. Okay. Okay. Uh now there's a horror film, uh Insidious, uh, which is out of the furnace. Now, I'm not a horror film fan, but this is an M-rated horror film. It's not R-rated, so the it's more suspense than horror. It's very much um like the movie Backrooms that we played recently, and Obsession. And it's made, I think it's made or produced by the same studio as Backrooms. So uh yeah, that looks really freaky. Uh, watch the trailer uh through your fingers, Brent, through your fingers. Yeah, I will. But um, yeah, even though it's M-rated, I sat through the first sort of five minutes of it and I freaked right out. And uh, same for another one that's got coming up later, which was um the new uh Resident Evil film. I watched about 10-15 minutes of Resident Evil. Oh, that was really good. And I'm not that person who enjoys those films, but I do want to watch Resident Evil. Um and lastly, we've got a movie called Spa Weekend coming up. Now, this is just a great girls' comedy, um, great girls' night out movie, grab grabbing a group of friends and just going have fun. It's about three women who go on a spa weekend, uh, their fourth uh slightly nutty friend who they didn't invite turns up and uh creates havoc, obviously. Um, and it's it's just a good solid comedy. So, yeah, that's all those movies are on sale right now at Cafe. Alrighty, dude, let's go. What do
Box Office Guess And Wrap
SPEAKER_02we think uh our uh End of Oak Street's gonna make this week?
SPEAKER_01Boy, this is gonna be a bit of a tricky one because we're coming off the back of two massive movies like uh you know The Odyssey Spider-Man, which people still go and see, so where will they spend their money?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, my my gut's telling me that they will continue to spend their money on the Odyssey and they will continue to spend their money on Spider-Man. But uh End of Oak Street will probably pick up a bit. I would question how good their marketing has been. I mean, in terms of like selling the the 80s and vibe of it, but we'll see how that Yeah, I agree.
SPEAKER_01I just I didn't really pick up on the 80s thing, I just picked up on the dinosaurs in the trailer and and the sort of the concept. But you know what? I'm gonna I'm gonna go seven hundred and fifty thousand. That's probably a pretty good shout, actually.
SPEAKER_02Uh I will I will go a bit higher than that. I'm gonna have a bit of confidence in the film, and I'm gonna say it makes um eight hundred and twenty-five thousand. There's enough of a margin there that if you uh you you couldn't beat me to the punch. But I think the movie's got eight hundred and twenty-five thousand at as a minimum. I I'm I think it's probably gonna fall short of a million.
SPEAKER_01Dinosaur movies generally do okay, but we'll see what the results are in a couple of weeks.
SPEAKER_02But yeah, look, if you grew up in the 80s, you're gonna see a lot of things in this movie. You're just gonna go nostalgia, nostalgia, nostalgia. Um, and that was really fun. But look, the film is fun, it's got enough jump scares, it's got enough um entertainment factor and comedy to make it well worth seeing. So, yeah, go check it out, folks.
SPEAKER_00Thanks for listening to Eat Sleep Movie. Repeat, repeat a movie podcast available at Bug Sprout, Apple, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.