After appearing on all 46 of the first episodes of The Box Office Podcast (even the late June episode where it was just her and Ryan holding down the fort), Lisa Laman had to sit this one out. She’ll be back for episode 48, so you can listen to me roll my eyes at all the Nosferatu nonsense *and* shudder at the hardcore deep-dive Sonic the Hedgehog nerdery in one single episode. This time, however, we’ve got a special guest star… (copies and pastes the whole thing cause I’m a lazy b*****d), Comscore Sr. Media Analyst Paul Dergarabedian!!!

Anyway, it’s mostly chatter about how well Sonic the Hedgehog 3 performed over its initial domestic debut and to what extent Mufasa: The Lion King has a shot in hell at recovering thanks to that magic “Christmas-to-New Year’s” period after a comparatively terrible opening weekend. We then all discuss the extent to which the overall marketplace has been firing on all cylinders since Bad Boys for Life and Inside Out 2 in early June. Oh, and listen to Jeremy and Paul gush over the Superman trailer.

Spoiler: You will believe a nearly Medicare-eligible man can cry while watching the first trailer for the third Superman reboot in 19 years. Paul had to dash at the end of “act two,” and the final portion is just Jeremy and Scott discussing the ebb and flow of the 2025 calendar. Oh, and for whatever reason, we had some tech issues in that portion, so Jeremy’s audio is a little “fish underwater.” Beyond that, it’s a fun, ping-pong-ish conversation in a shorter-than-usual episode

Get full access to The Outside Scoop at scottmendelson.substack.com/subscribe