Was Despicable Me 3’s domestic downturn a fluke or did the extended wait and pre-COVID nostalgia for the brand prevent a continual box office downward trajectory for Hollywood's top-grossing animated franchise? How bad is a $3 million Fri-Sun/$6 million Thurs-Sun debut for The Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot, which was supposed to be Angel Studios’ big summer season event? Were we wrong to expect more from A24’s MaXXXine? All that and more, in episode 23 of The Outside Scoop: The Box Office Podcast.

The gang is back to dissect what went very right with A Quiet Place: Day One and almost inevitably wrong with Horizon: An American Saga. Lisa laments the ongoing emphasis on movies for older audiences. Jeremy explains how Kevin Costner’s passion project was a relative hit in certain parts of the country. Ryan anoints Lupita Nyong’o as a genuine movie star (or at least an A-level added value element). Scott asks if we are already in the midst of the long-promised permanent COVID-era theatrical recovery.

Ryan Scott and Lisa Laman do it "solo" to discuss the $101 million second weekend for Inside Out 2 along with better-than-expected openings for 'The Bikeriders,' 'Thelma' and 'Kinds of Kindness'.

‘Inside Out 2’ soared to infinity and beyond, nabbing $154 million domestic and $294 million worldwide in its global theatrical launch. That’s good, right? We’re all in agreement that it’s great news for the box office and the multiplexes. However, if Bob Iger and friends are to capitalize on this, they have to -- to quote my favorite Disney animated film -- make the right choices and (say it with me now) keep moving forward!

A well-liked sequel to a successful sequel in a popular franchise opened at the high end of realistic expectations… what a shock...!

What a $107 million global debut for Bad Boys: Ride or Die does (and doesn’t) say about Will Smith’s current drawing power...

After The Watchers stumbles, is horror in trouble or are the movies underwhelming?

Since Hollywood didn’t bother to release any new wide openers last weekend, I gave the box office folks the weekend off. In the meantime, and this may be a backdoor pilot of sorts for a second semi-regular podcast, I spoke last week with Business Insider entertainment correspondent Jason Guerrasio. His as-it-happened reporting was essential in exposing the less-than-glittery gold that was the year of MoviePass. He’s an executive producer on the new documentary Movie Pass Movie Crash.

Whether or not Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga should have performed better or was an inevitable “online fandom doesn’t equal audience interest” misfire, such a film shouldn’t have been expected to hold up theatrical — alongside The Garfield Movie — almost by itself. That’s the crux of the chat amid a historically grim Memorial Day weekend box office session.

We dissect If’s complicated $33.7 million domestic debut (remember G-Force?), whether we should be “happy” that The Strangers: Chapter 1 opened with $12 million (if horror becomes as franchise-dependent as every other theatrical genre…), and whether anyone should be surprised at the Amy Winehouse biopic Back to Black earning less than $3 million for the weekend (I was there… in early 1992… when The Babe bombed).

We talk about the solid $131 million debut for 'Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,' including what went right, why it got a B from CinemaScore and what the math looks like (especially sans China) in terms of justifying follow-up. Oh, and 'Poolman' opened, too, I guess.

Does the mediocre opening weekend suggest a broader theatrical problem, or was Ryan Gosling in a Hollywood love letter to itself less enticing to regular moviegoers? Plus, how this is all, of course, the fault of our 'Star Wars'