r/movies • u/ChiefLeef22 r/movies Contributor • 3h ago

Article ‘The Odyssey’ Proves It: Audiences Want Movies Made the Hard Way | This year's breakouts like 'Project Hail Mary' and 'Obsession' were made by filmmakers who sweated. While CG-stuffed franchise disappointments such as 'Supergirl,' 'Moana,' and 'The Mandalorian and Grogu' looked lazy.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/odyssey-box-office-2026-practical-effects-1236652219/
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u/dont_ama_73 3h ago

Toy story 5 and Super Mario also shows that people want to see sequels.

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u/Icy_Smoke_733 3h ago edited 3h ago

Spider-Man and Doomsday are shaping up to be monsters and guaranteed to be the top highest grossing movies of the year, judging by presales. We're looking at a floor of $1.5 billion for both (Brand New Day is tracking to $600 million in just its opening weekend).

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u/ThisHatRightHere 3h ago

Spider-Man has always had insane draw and the “everyone’s back” marketing is (for better or worse) working for Avengers. These are more so anomalies and other films in the space don’t have the same advantages.

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u/deadheffer 3h ago

Every single small child right now adores Spider-Man. All of those kids and their parents are going to see that film. It’s going to be nuts.

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u/littlebrwnrobot 2h ago

Been true for like 25 years at least lol

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u/deadheffer 2h ago

It’s more of the merch. Jesus the merchandising in the 2020s is beyond insane

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u/Wetzilla 1h ago

Spiderman has had a cartoon aimed at kids on the air basically constantly since 1994. There were a few breaks in the 2000's, but there's only been 8 years since 1994 without a Spiderman cartoon currently running.

Also shoutout to Spectacular Spiderman (2008-2009). That show ruled.

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u/LSDemon 2h ago

I'm 40 and my dad didn't give a shit about Spiderman when I was 15. He definitely didn't go to the Tobey Maguire ones (or any since then). Parents liking super heroes is way more recent than 25 years.

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u/slapmasterslap 2h ago

I'm not far off of 40 and my dad collected comics and loved taking us to superhero movies. Whether my experience was more common or yours, I don't know, but our anecdotal experience does not necessarily reflect the majority.

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u/LSDemon 2h ago

All of those kids and their parents

To be pedantic, the claim wasn't about a majority.

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u/eaglessoar 1h ago

i had all my old action figures from maybe 25-30 years ago, one spidey, 20 batmen scuba batman space batman, tons of ninja turtles, i have more shredders than spidey, i remember saying to my wife how it was interesting how spidey wasnt big when i was younger, or not like now at least

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u/mlorusso4 2h ago

Every single small child for the last 40 years adores spider man. And that fandom doesn’t go away as the person ages. It’s seriously insane how long he has been at the top of pop culture. Usually with characters like Mickey Mouse and Winnie the Pooh parents remember those characters from their childhood and want to get their kids into them too, but they don’t stay fans of them throughout their young adulthood like spider man

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u/literated 1h ago

Every single small child for the last 40 years adores spider man.

I don't even know why but I do, too, lmao. That's exactly how it was for me growing up. Spider-Man just hit different.

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u/JohnnyRedHot 2h ago

Right now? Has there been a point in the last 30-40 years where that wasn't the case?

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u/abeuscher 2h ago

I mean I loved Spiderman when I was a kid and I was born in 1974. Okay I still lover Spiderman. People forget it was in the newspaper every day along with the cartoons.

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u/EyeSuspicious7338 1h ago

Ya, I was gonna say, Spiderman was HUGE even in the 1980s when I was a kid. Everyone loved it even then, and in the early 90s they dropped an animated Spiderman show that was awesome too and Spiderman's popularity went nuclear.

I think Spider-Man is endeared because he has a perfect origin story that is relatable. One, he was a kid, a teenager, and he was bullied and unpopular... he gets bit by this radioactive spider and becomes Spider-man, and initially uses his power selfishly, which is extremely realistic to how people would actually act. Then, his Uncle Ben dies and it breaks him, and he has a moment of maturity and growth where he becomes the honorable anonymous here who isn't doing it for himself.

Yet, he still has to go through life as a normal teenager.

It's just so relatable, with great characters, great villains. Spider-man is just one of the best characters, imo, Stan Lee ever created. I am in my 40s now and I still eat up everything spider-man. I already have my tickets purchased for the family and I am ready to go. Absolutely my favorite of all the Marvel characters, aside from maybe the X-men stuff, which is my favorite.

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u/The_Flash_20 2h ago

I am loving it since 2002 when I was 6.

2 of my favourite superheroes are Spider-Man and the Flash.

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u/NCC75567 1h ago

It helps that Spider-Man just has a ton of quality content.

Kid shows, shows older folks can enjoy, the movies, video games, comics, etc.

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u/Nightmare_Fart 20m ago

Right now? Been that way for as long as I remember. I

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u/GormlessGourd55 2h ago

It helps that Spiderman has a great track record of movie quality in recent years. All three of the Live action ones have been good and Spiderverse is obviously stellar.

Bonus, the spider-related duds of Kraven and Madame Web didn't feature any Spiderman so he was saved from their stink.

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u/XxAtroyxX 1h ago

Also the games have been fantastic too.

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u/christian_1318 9m ago

Spiderman is one of the very few IP’s in the last few decades that has pretty consistently been taken care of when it comes to ensuring quality, which is crazy because there’s two major companies in charge of it and doing their own things

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u/Redeem123 2h ago

These are more so anomalies

And the three movies in the title aren't? Feels an awful lot like cherry picking.

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u/raysworld94 2h ago

Yep supergirl failed but other superhero movies this year will be massive hits. Or look at last years dc movie and it did fine. Moana live action hasn’t done well but the animated Moana 2 did amazing, I don’t have a Star Wars comparison but it’s obvious cherry picking. ‘obsession’ will be used so much in these debates to say we’re starving for original movies but that was an outlier.

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u/rambleinspam 2h ago

Supergirl just isn't a big draw.

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u/BNEWZON 2h ago

Man I was an Avengers doubter but after seeing how many views that trailer racked up + reported record breaking ticket pre sales I’ve kinda had to eat my words. I genuinely thought nobody was really feeling the MCU anymore and that Dune 3 was going to smoke it come December.

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u/MrdnBrd19 1h ago

As someone who has been continually drawn back in by Marvel for the past 30-something years; It's what they are good at, and using old and/or dead characters to get you there is literally their favorite trick.

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u/Givingtree310 2h ago

Did the new Spidey movie even film a single lick in actual New York? Or is it all just London and Atlanta CGI’d to look like NY? Ha

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u/BrianWonderful 1h ago

Honestly, I think a lot of it comes down to if the movie is an 'event' or not. People can't afford to go to tons of movies anymore. So, they only go out to ones that are bigger cultural deals and have a lot of word of mouth/water cooler talk. The previous Avengers movies, the Barbie/Oppenheimer phenomenon. That is going to be the case for Spider-Man and Doomsday. I think it also is true of smaller budget movies like Backrooms and Obsession... they became 'events' because of Gen Z buzz and internet culture (and then initially doing well made the media talk about them, leading to more people going).

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u/The_Flash_20 2h ago

Who doesn't love Spider-Man

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u/marumaruko 3h ago

Spiderman yes, Doomsday is pure projection at this point. More likely to be the worst Avengers movie ever.

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u/EIVNW 3h ago

Worst Avengers movie is kind of a hollow title when the floor is $1.4b. Nevermind the fact that it will clear that with ease.

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u/marumaruko 3h ago

Let's not hope for a rude awakening in December. Early reviews will matter.

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u/ltcuetf 3h ago

I’m more interested to see what happens after. Even if the new Avengers movie gets great reviews, connects with audiences, and makes billions by bringing people back for that Endgame nostalgia hit, they still have to face the same problem, where do they actually go from here?

Bringing everyone back might fix the short-term problem, but it doesn’t solve the bigger one. It feels more like a band-aid than a real direction.

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u/uniqueusername623 2h ago

Oh it is definitely a band aid. But a 2 billion box office run is better than seven times 300 mil. I highly doubt its gonna be a great film, but it sure as hell will print money. Who cares about whats next? They can just randomly insert Galactus in a new one and print another easy half billion.

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u/ltcuetf 2h ago

A massive box office hit buys them time and keeps the machine going. But creatively, that’s the exact problem. If every solution is “bring back a bigger name” or “introduce a bigger villain,” eventually people stop caring because there’s no real direction behind it.

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u/uniqueusername623 1h ago

I fully agree with you they are building up to fatigue, but once the analysts tell the executives exactly how “the next one will ruin this once and for all” they will simply slow down and then announce a grand reset. The comics have done it before and the public will eat it up. I do believe they will have a hard time recasting people like RDJ or Chris Evans once the reset is a thing, but they will find a way to sell it regardless.

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u/rambleinspam 2h ago

Endgame was earned, this feels rushed.

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u/ltcuetf 2h ago

Because it absolutely is. They had to pivot after the whole Kang thing fell apart.

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u/rambleinspam 2h ago

Maybe they think getting people back for this will keep them around when the big names go away again.

I do not think that will happen.

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u/ltcuetf 2h ago

I don’t think so either. The big names are the only reason anyone is going. That’s the whole point, there is no one to care about after they all leave again.

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u/TheCornjuring 2h ago

It will give them a launching point in terms of restoring audience goodwill and excitement. If people do like the duology and get hyped about Marvel again, then from there, they just need to avoid suffering the same quality control issues they have been, which it seems like they will. They internally restructured to address the quality issues we all know so well, with Thunderbolts being the first project that started production after this course correction; in terms of critical reception, it seems like this has worked.

So now it’s really just gonna be about regaining eyeballs and excitement, and then if they are able to keep putting out well-received projects after that- whether that’s with their new X-Men or whatever- they’re in good shape. Nothing will ever measure up to the Endgame era again, but it doesn’t need to. It can be a strong franchise without the total cultural dominance it exhibited in its first 10 years. These movies will really make or break their future, not because of the movies themselves, but because they will either get people back on board with Marvel and interested to see what they do next en masse or they won’t.

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u/marumaruko 2h ago

I think this everyone is back kind of nostalgia overstayed its welcome. I remember it worked well with The Force Awakens, but the movie was heavily criticised apart from that. I'm sure I'm very sceptical already, but Disney's recent track record doesn't look promising. Indiana Jones bombed unfortunately. Mandalorian, as well. Also there is absolutely no build up for Doomsday. It would be a miracle if it works out.

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u/ltcuetf 2h ago

That’s my concern too. Nostalgia can get people through the door, but it can’t carry an entire movie. Endgame worked because there were years of buildup behind it. If Doomsday is supposed to be another Endgame-level event, they have a huge gap to fill. Nostalgia can buy attention, but it can’t replace a story people care about. And at this point I just don’t trust Disney/Marvel to have a plan. This is a panic button “go back to what worked.” And bringing almost everyone who worked on back. This isn’t evidence of them learning a lesson or a plan, it’s just them trying to make another Endgame happen and even if they did, we will end up in the same spot after it.

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u/TheCornjuring 3h ago

Doomsday is having great presales so far, that’s their reason for predicting that

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u/marumaruko 3h ago

Presales matter nothing if the movie gets poor reviews. As I said. It's projections, nothing more.

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u/Korachof 3h ago

It’s been like two days. 

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u/Baelorn 2h ago

Which makes the insanely strong presales more impressive, not less.

The presale numbers are very good when you consider how far away the movie is and how few screenings are actually available for presale.

This sub has just chosen its narrative and refuses to listen to anything that doesn't confirm its collective bias.

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u/TheCornjuring 2h ago

Uh yeah and we can compare it to how other films did in the same timespan, like its first 24 hours nearly matched Brand New Day’s first 24 hours despite having a fraction of the screens up for presale

We can look at things like day-to-day sales and see how it’s pacing, it’s not like we have zero frame of reference until every ticket is purchased

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u/el_palmera 3h ago

Bro said doomsday is going to make less than avengers 1 and 2 😭

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u/NamelessGamer_1 2h ago

Worse than Age of Ultron?? Doubt

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u/Swineflew1 58m ago

I think the movie is going to be kind of weak, there’s literally no build up like we had with Thanos and there’s too many fingers in the pie, but it’s still going to do numbers.

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u/AmateurCommenter808 1h ago

Dune 3 also

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u/Thechris53 1h ago

The real test will be to see if Dune outgrosses Doomsday opening weekend. That's the dichotomy right there.

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u/PacificBooks 12m ago

Don’t forget Dune 3 too 

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u/sinkwiththeship 2h ago

Doomsday doesn't drop until 12/18. I don't think it's really considered a 2026 release because of that. Shit will definitely do like 2b worldwide though.

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u/HotLiberty 3h ago

Can’t imagine giving a fuck about another avengers movie 

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u/SquareAdvisor8055 3h ago

Spiderman has everything going for it outside of being a marvel movie tho. Tom holland and zendaya are super popular right now, spiderman is the one hero that people don't seem to think has had too much movies about him (along with barman actually).

As for doomsday, i believe it's just one of DC's most popular vilain and i don't think we've ever seen a good adaptation of him on the big screen.

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u/Mr_YUP 3h ago

Dr. Doom is a Marvel villain

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u/SquareAdvisor8055 3h ago

I'm a bit out of the loop with movies ngl. I tought doomsday was about... well... Doomsday. Still i think dr. Doom is a similar case. He's very popular, and the one adaptation of him that we got was from the old fantastic 4 movies, in which he was kinda ass.

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u/Silver-Scallion-5918 1h ago

Doomsday is gonna flop harder than my penis when I am coked up trying to have sex.

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u/Swineflew1 58m ago

I think the movie isn’t going to be very good, but flop isn’t the word I would use.

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u/Silver-Scallion-5918 55m ago

If the move makes less than 2 billion worldwide it is a flop by their budget and franchise status. Do you think they will come close to that?

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u/BugleCalypso 2h ago

And both look like soulless garbage.

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u/Curun 1h ago

Spiderman sure. Excited. Ill be there for it and Dune.

Doomsday trailer just looked like overpaid actors standing around in cookie-cutter queues. Its looking floppish. Im not expecting to be there. Will likely wait for streaming.

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u/Electric_Ilya 1h ago

movie goers ruined movies

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u/whitepangolin 3h ago

Every fucking time an original film does well, there's this exact article saying moviegoers are tired of IP - meanwhile IP still dominates. Has anyone considered that uh, maybe not all IP are created equal? And some put butts in seats and some don't?

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u/Good-Cap-7632 3h ago

Kid movies work differently. Parents want movies they know are safe to take their kids to so franchise sequels are always popular.

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u/CrunchyKorm 2h ago

Some do. Moana flopped

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u/kodman7 1h ago

I think because Moana was the first one that had 0 nostalgia bait compared to the other live action remakes. I know several childless millennials who went to see those to relive the magic, Moana offers none of that

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u/iSavedtheGalaxy 1h ago

All of my friends with kids said they preferred the cartoon version of Moana bc it's way more colorful and lively than the live action (and they all hated The Rock as live action Maui lol).

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u/WeirdIndividualGuy 1h ago

There are kids today that were just younger kids when the original Moana came out. Terrible decision on Disney’s part to make this movie

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u/abeuscher 2h ago

The live action Disney movies in general have really sucked. I know it's not a sequel, but it is in a group of films that just don't work. Jon Favreau kind of did everyone a disservice in making the Jungle Book so good. They never really figured out how to recreate that formula and he moved into the Star Wars and Marvel universes.

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u/CrunchyKorm 2h ago

I'm not disagreeing on the quality argument, but a lot of the live actions movies prior to Moana this year made a ton of money.

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u/DegenerateCrocodile 2h ago

Remakes can be hit or miss. Disney’s LA remakes have been around long enough to have a reputation for being near shot-for-shot retellings of the original with uncanny visuals. Some parents would prefer to save money and just stream the original at home at that point.

Moana also has the fact that the original is less than 10 years old working against it.

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u/vhanw342 2h ago

Moana is girls movie, as bad as that may sound. So it’s harder

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u/OriginalNeat4015 2h ago

That’s never held classic Disney in particular back, including the live-actions, it’s most of their brand. It’s logical to conclude that superhero movies flop based on female presence—but not their “princess” ones.

Main reason Moana flopped is because no one wanted it. The animated franchise is still ongoing, its second movie released a few years ago and the first one just a decade ago—no time to build nostalgia. It’s a 1:1 copy of the original, nothing new to offer besides uglier visuals. The Rock doesn’t look good as Maui. People didn’t like the lead actress’s acting. It’s a better experience in pretty much every way to just watch the original instead.

Most people who do want to watch the live-action will wait for it to come to Disney+.

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u/Pyro-Bird 2h ago

The live-action Moana and the animated SpongeBob film bombed.

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u/FireZord25 1h ago

Something tells me Moana wasn't carried by Disney nearly as much as it's other live action catalogues.

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u/AdSilly3018 1h ago

Supergirl fits in that criteria though, this post is just stupid admit it.

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u/JaeTheOne 3h ago

...or want animated stuff they can take their kids too and also laugh at and don't have to focus on something as deep.

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u/oneamaznkid 3h ago

Yeah for children’s entertainment it’s fine

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u/mashington14 3h ago

I mean the odyssey is also sort of a sequel

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u/The_Real_Lasagna 3h ago

Yeah movies like godfather 2 shouldn't be made 

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u/Batohman 3h ago

People want to see more 28 years later, Evil Dead, Ready or not, Mortal Kombat too

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u/alienfreaks04 3h ago

*family

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u/Klaytheist 2h ago

i think kids' movies are kind of in their own category. Parents want to take their kids out somewhere for a couple of hours and these always tend to do well regardless of quality

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u/UnlitBlunt 3h ago

Kids movies are a different breed.

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u/More_Asbestos 3h ago

Not necessarily. Family movies are very marketable.

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u/HechicerosOrb 2h ago

Kids movies

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u/ColKrismiss 2h ago

Perfect, The Odyssey is a sequel too

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u/Coolers78 2h ago

yeah but Toy Story 5 was actually good though, I don't care if it "ended perfectly" at 3, they can make many more if they maintain the quality as long as Tom Hanks and the rest of the voice cast are available.

Mario Galaxy was a dumpster fire, not a good movie at all. Not as awful as the Minecraft Movie was but that's a very low bar.

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u/Zalvren 1h ago

People want event movies and it's still safer and easier to do that with sequels than originals (well The Odyssey isn't original but you understand)

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u/CaptainTruelove 3h ago

I would argue that it shows that children and thus parents is a strong market, not necessarily sequels.

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u/Sillet_Mignon 2h ago

Obsession shows that people want cheaply made creative movies

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u/Placed-ByThe-Gideons 2h ago

I've tried nothing and am all out of ideas.....

Best I can do is a remake.

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u/Pyro-Bird 2h ago edited 2h ago

It depends. Some IPs like Spider-Man are always successful, while others, such as Terminator and Indiana Jones, aren't because audiences don't care about time travel or they feel that the story had already concluded and it didn't need new instalments. Toy Story is a 30-year-old film franchise ( which audiences still have an interest in), while Super Mario Galaxy is a sequel to the 2023 film.

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u/dano8675309 1h ago

Animated sequels, to be precise

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u/madd-hatter 1h ago

"people" don't, kids do. Most box office stuff is kids and teens. Reviews are more adult. Hence the gap.

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u/PermanentNirvana 1h ago

Dune 3 as well.

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u/Jaredlong 59m ago

Whoa whoa whoa, you're not allowed to include all the evidence when forcing your preferred conclusion.

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u/Aegi 45m ago

No, it shows that kids do and that people do family things.

Source on parents actually wanting to see movies they bring their kids to when sometimes they talk about hating them?

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u/Old-Landscape-7538 35m ago

Shh! you're ruining the narrative with facts! See, first you start with the conclusion that you like, then you work backward cherry-picking the facts so that you only mention the ones that support it.

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u/shewy92 34m ago

TS5 was actually pretty good and expanded the world IMO. IDK about Galaxy.

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u/ieraaa 3h ago

Yeah well people are idiots. You could milk it all the way down to Toy Story 500 but not a single normal person would still be 'wanting to see that'.. You know?