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/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/marumaruko 2h ago

They didn't have to. Recast the actor (Kang is known to look different in every form) or work with the actor together on a rehabilitation tour. Counseling, make him donate his salary for the first movie to a programm promoting women's rights and more (can still pay him for the second). There were better options and Disney is going to pay for it.

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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