The actual box office news is comparatively light, so this somewhat became an accidental three-part episode.

In the first act, Scott Mendelson, Lisa Laman and this week’s special guest star (Chrissi Michael, natch) discussed the ups and downs of the top ten and the various ways in which younger viewers ingest pop culture.

The second act, during which Jeremy Fuster pops in a bit late but not too late (think when you show up 25 minutes after the listed showtime at an AMC theater and Nicole Kidman is still proselytizing), features more conventional box office punditry.

And the third act, if you will, of the week’s conversation centers around Oscar punditry — and the many ways in which distributors and exhibitors could attempt to better cajole folks to actually show up to see the nominated films in theaters.

As noted above, this episode’s guest is one Chrissi Michael, a content strategist who has long obsessed with the box office and who has recently started writing again on a newly formed substack. Spoiler: She almost instantly went from “I have no idea who this is” to “Oh s**t, I either need to hire her or destroy her.”

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