When the first movie is the great one, you can at least say the series began at its peak. When the last movie is the great one, you can argue the whole thing was building toward payoff. But when only the middle chapter becomes the masterpiece, it usually means the trilogy hit a level of confidence, emotional precision, and narrative intensity that the other two films never fully reached before or after. That middle film becomes the one time the machine is running at exact temperature.

And that does not always mean the other two are bad. Sometimes the first film is strong. Sometimes the finale is respectable, ambitious, or even moving in places. But the middle one is where character, stakes, conflict, and craft suddenly stop feeling like pieces of a franchise and start feeling inevitable. The middle-films I’ve listed below pass that test with excellent marks.

6

‘X2: X-Men United’ (2003)

Image via 20th Century Studios

I have affection for the first X-Men, and I think The Last Stand has fragments of a much better movie trapped inside it, but X2: X-Men United is the one time that original trilogy truly feels complete. The reason is simple: it stops acting like the mutants are just a superhero team and starts treating them like a political, emotional, and biological crisis from every angle at once. The school attack alone tells you the movie has leveled up. Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) is not just the cool outsider anymore. He is suddenly in a position where the kids need him, and the mansion feels less like a comic-book base than a fragile refuge being violated.

The other reason why X2: X-Men United is extremely special is how well it spreads dramatic pressure across the whole cast. William Stryker (Brian Cox) being power-hungry, Magneto (Ian McKellen) gets to be dangerous, charismatic, and perversely right about how far humans will go, Mystique (Rebecca Romijn) becoming more than attitude and blue makeup, all of it is spot on. Then Jean Grey (Famke Janssen), Scott Summers (James Marsden), Storm (Halle Berry), Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming), Rogue (Anna Paquin), Pyro (Aaron Stanford), and Iceman (Shawn Ashmore) all feel like they belong to the same morally loaded story instead of separate subplots jostling for space. And then the film’s act with the uneasy alliance between Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart)’s team and Magneto’s side is where X2: X-Men United really earns masterpiece status.

5

‘Dawn of the Planet of the Apes’ (2014)

Image via 20th Century Studios

I like Rise. I admire War. But Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is the masterpiece because it is the one that fully understands tragedy as a social process. It is not just a sequel about apes and humans clashing. It is a movie about trust being built slowly and then destroyed by fear, pride, grief, and opportunism. That is much richer material, and the movie handles it beautifully. What makes Dawn of the Planet of the Apes so devastating is Caesar (Andy Serkis). By this point, he is no longer simply the emotionally intelligent center of a franchise reboot but a leader carrying history in his body.

He remembers captivity. He remembers revolt. He has built a world for his people in the forest, a world with family, rules, and dignity. So when the humans arrive needing access to the dam, the whole movie immediately gains pressure because coexistence is possible, but only barely. That barely is where the film lives, and it is why every exchange matters. Malcolm (Jason Clarke) reaches for peace in good faith. Ellie (Keri Russell) sees the apes as beings, not obstacles. Dreyfus (Gary Oldman) wants survival badly enough that fear keeps turning into hardline logic. Koba (Toby Kebbell), most importantly, carries trauma like acid. And Koba is why Dawn of the Planet of the Apes becomes a masterpiece. He is the embodiment of what happens when memory of abuse never stops organizing your worldview.

4

‘Before Sunset’ (2004)

Image via Warner Independent Pictures

This one may be the quietest entry here, but emotionally it might be the most lethal. Before Sunrise is beautiful. Before Midnight is fearless and bruising. But Before Sunset is the masterpiece because it is the one that turns romantic possibility into emotional reckoning with almost unbearable precision. Nine years have passed, and Richard Linklater understands the most important thing about that gap: it is not just time. It is accumulated life. Failed relationships, compromises, self-invention, regret, the stories people tell themselves about why they didn’t choose differently, all of that is in the room before Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Céline (Julie Delpy) even properly reconnect.

That is why Before Sunset is realistic. It runs on conversation, but the conversation is not casual. It is excavation. Every smile has history under it. Every joke is covering pain or testing intimacy. Jesse arrives with a novel that has obviously kept this one night alive inside him for almost a decade. Céline arrives with anger, intellect, charm, and that very particular kind of adult self-protection where someone can sound breezy while actually trying not to reopen a wound. Hawke and Delpy are so good here. The film lets attraction and disappointment coexist in every scene. It is not “do they still like each other?” Of course they do. The real question is whether recognition came too late to matter. At each stage they get less able to lie cleanly. The Paris sunlight almost makes the movie feel easy at first, which is cruel, because by the time Céline talks about the environmental work she throws herself into and Jesse starts revealing how dead his marriage feels, you understand what this movie is actually doing: measuring the damage of one missed chance.

3

‘The Empire Strikes Back’ (1980)

Image via Lucasfilm

This is one of the clearest examples of the middle chapter outgrowing the trilogy around it. I love Star Wars. I think Return of the Jedi has real emotional payoff. But The Empire Strikes Back is the masterpiece because it takes everything the first film made mythic and then subjects it to difficulty, failure, and emotional complication without losing one ounce of adventure power. The brilliance starts immediately with Hoth. The rebellion is not triumphant and mobile anymore. It is freezing, cornered, improvising under pressure.

Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) gets pulled further into the Force, but the movie is careful not to make that growth clean or easy. Yoda (Frank Oz)’s training is not there to hand him cool powers. It is there to reveal impatience, fear, and incompleteness in him. Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher), meanwhile, are getting one of the best romance-through-friction arcs ever put into a blockbuster. And then there is Darth Vader (David Prowse). This is the movie where he stops being a great villain design and becomes something much worse and better: a personal catastrophe. The film ends on pain, uncertainty, and separation. That is why The Empire Strikes Back remains untouchable.

2

‘The Dark Knight’ (2008)

Image via Warner Bros.

The reason The Dark Knight towers over the trilogy is that it is the one chapter where the franchise stops being primarily about Batman and becomes about what Batman does to the moral chemistry of Gotham. Batman Begins is strong because it builds Bruce, fear, and the city. The Dark Knight Rises has ambition, but it buckles under the weight of its own ending. The Dark Knight is the one that feels like a total statement. Nothing in it is merely setup or cleanup. Everything is active pressure.

Batman (Christian Bale)’s existence has produced a new class of criminal response. Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) is introduced not as a replacement hero in a simplistic sense, but as the legitimate public face Gotham desperately needs so Batman can imagine becoming unnecessary. Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal) sits in the middle of Bruce and Harvey not just as romance, but as a measure of which version of Gotham still feels possible. Then the Joker (Heath Ledger) comes in and does not simply threaten lives. He attacks the terms by which the city understands order, heroism, and moral choice. That is why the major sequences all matter beyond spectacle. The bank robbery, fundraiser, interrogation scene, and then Batman taking the blame at the end is the final proof that this chapter understood sacrifice at the level of myth and politics at once.

1

‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’ (1966)

Image via United Artists

This is #1 because it does something very few middle chapters ever do: it becomes so monumental that it practically rewrites the scale of the trilogy around it. A Fistful of Dollars is great. For a Few Dollars More is excellent. But The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is the masterpiece because Sergio Leone stops making just westerns and starts making a world. Bigger, dirtier, more ironic, more tragic, more expansive, more musically mythic. It feels like the trilogy suddenly realizing how enormous it can be. The thing people undersell is how well The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is written. Blondie (Clint Eastwood), Tuco (Eli Wallach), and Angel Eyes (Lee Van Cleef) are not just types.

Their motives are incredibly clean, and the movie keeps tightening the lines between them until the whole treasure hunt becomes a study in greed, dependency, humiliation, and tactical patience. Tuco is a huge part of why the film clears the others. Wallach gives him so much hunger, resentment, cunning, and wounded pride that the movie stops being a cool-guy western whenever he is on screen. He makes it human and ugly in the right way. Blondie is brilliant too — someone always slightly withholding moral clarity, which keeps the film from becoming simple hero mythology. And Angel Eyes is one of the great western villains. Then the Civil War material enters and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly becomes even richer. Not to mention that it had a perfect ending too.

The Real Housewives of Atlanta’s Drew Sidora has publicly addressed a court order that instructed her to vacate the home she shares with estranged husband Ralph Pittman.

According to court documents obtained by TMZ on Friday, April 10, Sidora, 40, was ordered to vacate the former couple’s marital residence in Georgia “by May 31.” The outlet also reported that Sidora and Pittman, 43, “will share joint legal custody” of their two children: son Machai, 10, and daughter Anija, 8. (Sidora is also mom to son Josiah, 15, from a previous relationship.)

Sidora addressed the legal situation via an X statement on Sunday, April 12. “Good morning. Some details regarding my divorce have recently become public, although the process is not yet finalized. During this time, Ralph and I are committed to co-parenting and doing what’s best for our children,” she wrote. “While certain things are beyond my control, my focus remains on showing up every day as the best mother I can be.”

Her statement continued, “Living in the public eye comes with challenges, but I’m choosing to move forward with grace, growth, and intention. My children are my priority, and I’m committed to leading with love, peace, and positivity. There is no ill intent toward anyone, just a continued focus on healing, evolving, and becoming the best version of myself.”

Related: ‘RHOA’ Star Drew Sidora Still Living With Ralph Pittman Amid Divorce

Drew Sidora is keeping it real when it comes to her divorce from her estranged husband Ralph Pittman. “It’s still not settled and yes, we’re still living together under the same roof,” Sidora, 39, told People in an interview published Friday, July 19. The Real Housewives of Atlanta star went on to share that her […]

Us Weekly has reached out to a representative for Sidora for comment.

TMZ also noted that a judge said “due to the current financial circumstance of the parties,” Sidora will “continue splitting the expenses” until she “leaves the home.”

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Sidora, who joined RHOA in 2020’s season 13, told Us Weekly in November 2025 that despite Pittman filing for divorce from her after eight years of marriage in February 2023, he remained living in the basement. (Sidora filed her own divorce petition after Pittman’s was filed, and the pair have been going back and forth in court for months amid accusations spanning alleged infidelity and unpaid loans.)

Related: RHOA’s Drew Accuses ‘Serial Cheater’ Ralph of Mental Abuse in New Docs

Hours after their split news broke, Drew Sidora and Ralph Pittman’s divorce is already getting messy. The Real Housewives of Atlanta star accused her estranged husband of cheating and abuse in new court documents. TMZ obtained the Bravo star’s amended divorce complaint on Wednesday, March 1. In the paperwork, Sidora states that she cannot take […]

“Him downstairs, still there, and we’re still going through the process,” Sidora told Us at BravoCon 2025. “I was actually supposed to be in my final trial today, so this has been a very difficult, challenging day, but the judge allowed me to be here because it was so important for me to show up and be here. So I’m grateful.”

A representative for Sidora told TMZ on Friday, “This matter is still being actively litigated, and is in the middle of the final trial. The Second Temporary Order is, in fact, temporary, and does not reflect the final outcome of the case.”

For years, animation was considered a cinematic genre aimed at entertaining children, while adults mostly endured it. That notion can’t be further from the truth, though. Through the work of visionaries like Hayao Miyazaki, Guillermo del Toro, and the late Satoshi Kon, animation is seen as a proper medium nowadays, perfect for exploring daring and imaginative storylines with endless possibilities. Animation is the place where true dreams are realized, allowing for far more creativity than a live-action picture.

We’re halfway through the 2020s, but the decade has already produced a few animated efforts that have defied all expectations and proven themselves absolute masterworks of the medium. Whether they’re surreal fantasy tales, reinventions of the classic fairy tale, or minimalistic stories full of heart, these animated movies of the 2020s are true masterpieces. They inspire audiences, provoking all manner of emotions and, most importantly, staying in our hearts and minds long after the credits roll, in the unique and beautiful way that only genuine works of art can.

‘Puss in Boots: The Last Wish’ (2022)

Image via Universal Pictures

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish follows the legendary feline swordsman Puss (Antonio Banderas) as he realizes he is down to his last life after wasting the previous eight. After a near-death encounter with a dangerous wolf (Wagner Moura), Puss settles for a boring life as a domestic cat. Things change when he learns about the mythical last wish, which has the power to restore his nine lives. Joined by his former lover, Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek), Puss embarks on the adventure, but he’s not the only one looking for the last wish.

Who would’ve thought that a sequel to a mostly forgotten 2011 animated movie would turn out to be one of the greatest animated triumphs of the last decade? Indeed, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish far surpasses its predecessor in every possible way. The storyline is complex, the animation is truly stunning, and the emotional payoff is among the most emotionally powerful and cathartic in any animated feature. The film’s handling of heavy themes, most notably anxiety and death, is commendable, presenting them in a way that younger audiences can understand without dumbing them down. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is perfect proof that animation can be colorful, funny, and whimsical while still delivering poignant and layered narratives about some of life’s tougher issues.

‘The Boy and the Heron’ (2023)

Image via Studio Ghibli

Speaking of heavier narratives in animated form, it’s time to discuss Hayao Miyazaki‘s latest effort. The Boy and the Heron follows Mahito (Luca Padovan), a young boy dealing with his mom’s passing and his father’s new marriage to his aunt. While at his new home, Mahito meets a mysterious grey heron (Robert Pattinson), who convinces him to enter a new and mystical world full of danger and confusion. There, Mahito will have the adventure of a lifetime and will come to terms with some of the most complicated emotions battling inside of him.

A fantasy masterpiece of the 2020s, The Boy and the Heron is one of Miyazaki’s most personal efforts, containing several autobiographical elements, thus serving as an intimate portrayal of one of animation’s most defining figures. It’s all in favor of an introspective and highly symbolic story about the nature of creation and the sacrifices it demands. The visual style complements this elusive but engaging narrative, with some of the most fluid and striking animation in Studio Ghibli’s already impressive library. Many might find The Boy and the Heron‘s allegorical and almost oneiric approach unyielding and perhaps a tad challenging. However, all those who are willing to engage with its admittedly distant nature will find a powerful tale that engages on an emotional and psychological level.

‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ (2023)

In 2018, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse reinvented the rules of animation with its distinct and highly influential visual language and gentle exploration of the nature of heroism and the expectations of legacy. Five years later, its sequel not only reached the same levels but arguably surpassed them. In Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) meets a team of Spider-People, the Spider-Society, led by Spider-Man 2099 (Oscar Isaac). The young hero soon finds himself at odds with them over a difference of opinions about how to best deal with a new multiversal threat, The Spot (Jason Schwartzman).

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse does everything the original did, including just as much wildly inventive action enhanced by some of the most beautiful and jaw-dropping visuals in modern cinema. Where it arguably surpasses it is in its treatment of the traditional superhero tale: whereas Into the Spider-Verse perfects it, Across the Spider-Verse subverses it by challenging its ideas about what it truly means to be a hero. The film is full of something sorely missing from many other superhero movies: something to say about the action-driven characters at the center of its story. Here, superheroes are not defined by their suit or affiliations, and the story is about more than just action sequences and setup. Yes, it does end on a cliffhanger, but Across the Spider-Verse never sacrifices storytelling for spectacle.

‘Robot Dreams’ (2023)

Image via NEON

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2023 might just be one of the best years for cinema, because not one or two but three animated masterpieces came out during those now-iconic twelve months. The last one in this list is the Spanish tragicomedy Robot Dreams, about the lovely and powerful connection born between a lonely Dog and his Robot companion. The two spend an unforgettable summer together, but when circumstances separate them, these two unlikely companions will need to find a way back to each other.

I won’t lie: Robot Dreams is one of the most heartbreaking animated movies you will ever experience. The film pulls no punches in its depiction of sorrow and how life’s unpredictability can lead to unspeakable emotional tragedy. Through Robot and Dog’s relationship, the film explores ideas of connection, loss, the nature of love, and the importance of letting go of the past. Here, life is something you endure, but in between the pain and misery, there are moments of beauty and joy that make it all worth it. Robot Dreams doesn’t reinvent the formula, but it presents it with such emotional intelligence that it makes it seem novel, not to mention genuinely heart-wrenching. The final moments are as great a representation of catharsis as has ever been depicted on the silver screen. You’ll laugh through the tears, and you’ll surely never forget this delightfully sad gem.

‘Flow’ (2024)

Image via Dream Well Studio

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No movie was a bigger surprise in 2024 than Flow, the Latvian animated feature that defied all expectations to become a runaway critical and commercial success. It features no dialogue and is set in a seemingly apocalyptic world, focusing on a black cat who joins forces with other animals — including a capybara, a dog, a lemur, and a whale— to survive as the water level rises dramatically.

Dialogue-less movies can be challenging for modern audiences. Luckily, Flow offers more than enough visual marvel to not only engage but genuinely compel. It’s truly astounding just how riveting this tale of survival is, as we follow the cat and his friends trying to stay afloat, literally. It’s not about making sense out of the situation — these are, after all, animals acting on instinct and not at all concerned with the “why” of their predicament. Thus, Flow becomes an exercise in specificity, allowing us to connect to it on a deeper, more visceral level. More impressively, it was made using Blender, a free and open-source software, proving that animation is truly limited only by the creator’s imagination. The result is one of the most beautiful and unforgettable animated movies of the last decade, a genuine step forward for the venerable medium.

Before Alan Ritchson was leading action franchises and getting fan-cast in basically every tough-guy role under the sun, he was Thad Castle. And honestly, for a lot of people, that’s still one of his most iconic performances. Blue Mountain State was chaotic, ridiculous, and completely committed to its own brand of college-football insanity. It never cared about being tasteful, and that was exactly why it found such a loyal audience. Now, Netflix subscribers are about to lose not just the series, but its follow-up movie too.

Blue Mountain State is currently listed to leave Netflix on May 2, while Blue Mountain State: The Rise of Thadland is set to leave a day earlier on May 1. That means fans doing a full Thad Castle rewatch are officially on the clock.

What Is ‘Blue Mountain State’ About?

Created by Eric Falconer and Chris Romano, the original series follows the players of fictional football powerhouse Blue Mountain State University as they juggle games, parties, and the kind of terrible decision-making that made the show a cult favorite. Darin Brooks stars as quarterback Alex Moran, Ritchson plays team captain Thad Castle, Chris Romano plays Sammy Cacciatore, and Ed Marinaro stars as Coach Marty Daniels.

Following the show’s conclusion, a feature-length follow-up Blue Mountain State: The Rise of Thadland hit in 2016, with Ritchson returning to lead the mayhem. Then, in 2024, news broke that a sequel series was in active development. Though no network has yet been confirmed, Prime Video (home of Ritchson’s breakout hit Reacher) and Netflix (where BMS picked up its cult following) were both floated as contenders. The revival is expected to see Ritchson back as Thad, alongside Romano and Brooks.

Blue Mountain State: The Rise of Thadland picks up after the series and brings Alex, Thad, and Sammy back together for one more gloriously stupid adventure. In the film, Alex tries to save the Goat House by convincing newly drafted NFL star Thad to buy it, which naturally leads to an outrageous party spiraling into total chaos.

Blue Mountain State and The Rise of Thadland both leave Netflix next month. You can also watch Ritchson’s breakout hit War Machine on the streaming platform.

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Release Date

2010 – 2011-00-00

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Writers

Eric Falconer, Chris Romano

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It takes a lot for a show starring Bryan Cranston to not immediately get framed through the lens of Breaking Bad, and Your Honor definitely had that hanging over it from the jump. The setup was always catnip for that comparison too: a good man makes one terrible decision, then keeps making worse ones in the name of protecting family. But whatever shadow it started in, the series found a real audience of its own, especially once Netflix gave it a second life. That run is now coming to an end.

Your Honor is listed to leave Netflix on May 31, with both seasons departing at the end of the month. The show first arrived on Netflix in the U.S. on May 31, 2024, after originally airing on Showtime, where it ran for two seasons from 2020 to 2023.

Adapted from the Israeli series Kvodo, Your Honor centers on respected New Orleans judge Michael Desiato, whose life unravels after his son is involved in a fatal hit-and-run involving the child of a mob boss. Cranston stars as Michael, with Hope Davis as Gina Baxter, Michael Stuhlbarg as Jimmy Baxter, Hunter Doohan as Adam Desiato, Carmen Ejogo as Lee Delamere, and Isiah Whitlock Jr. as Charlie Figaro.

Is ‘Your Honor’ Worth Watching?

Collider’s review stated that Your Honor Season 2 does not hit as hard as the first season, but it still proves there was more story left to tell. After the brutal ending of Season 1, this new chapter shifts away from pure panic and into the fallout of everything Michael Desiato did. That change gives the show a different energy. It is slower, darker, and more focused on grief and consequences than nonstop tension.

“Your Honor effectively shows the fallout and aftermath of violence. We’ve been so conditioned to revel in stories about powerful gangsters, glamorizing them and the lives they lead. Whether it’s the Baxters in their ivory tower or the Desire gang on the lower ninth, these characters can not hide behind the face of money and power. Michael Desiato is a living example of the destruction that organized crime can cause — and how it’s almost impossible to fully stop. The show sometimes falls behind all these themes and conversations that it tries to execute, but when it does catch up, it makes for an unsettling but sobering depiction of what happens when it feels like all trust and hope are gone. It’s grim, slow, and not as exciting as the first season, but Your Honor Season 2 paints an authentic image of grief, corruption, and the fight for power.”

Your Honor leaves Netflix next month on May 31.

When you hear the words “sci-fi horror” spoken in succession, it’s very likely you immediately think of Ridley Scott’s 1979 masterpiece, Alien. Maybe you specifically even think of the film’s iconic poster, an ominous hatching space egg and the brilliant tagline, “In space, no one can hear you scream.” Scott and 20th Century Fox’s space-set thriller was an instant box-office sensation, won an Oscar for its visual effects, and these days appears in virtually every conversation around the best movies ever made in the horror and science fiction genres, respectively.

What made the film so special? It’s hard to overstate what Scott brought to the original film as a master stylist. Alien is simultaneously visually stunning and intentionally unremarkable, taking a cue from the lived-in futurism that made George Lucas‘ Star Wars so fresh two years prior. Dan O’Bannon‘s script is excellent, naturalistically immersing us in the day-to-day of space truckers without a clear protagonist until the third act, when Sigourney Weaver’s cool-headed Ellen Ripley emerges as the sole survivor, blowing H.R. Giger‘s disturbingly sexualized Xenomorph into space in a breathless stinger ending.

Alien is a restrained, yet timelessly disturbing and terrifying landmark film that indeed lives up to its reputation, and as a defining work of sci-fi horror, it’s nearly impossible to beat. The following three movies are masterpieces, too, and they’re the only sci-fi horror movies that are even greater than Alien.

3

‘The Thing’ (1982)

Image via Universal Pictures

The financial and critical failure of The Thing upon release in 1982 is a complicated and shameful situation. The grisly R-rated remake of Howard Hawks‘ 1951 The Thing from Another World opened in the wake of Steven Spielberg‘s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, a hopeful and family-friendly sci-fi that captured hearts and became the highest-grossing movie ever made. Now, contrast that with John Carpenter‘s bleak and terrifying cosmic body horror, and it’s a little easier to understand the reception. Still, there’s really no forgiving the misguided vitriol at the time. The Thing was reviled, and Carpenter’s career was never the same. None other than Roger Ebert, who’d previously championed Carpenter’s work, especially Halloween, said the following in an infamous negative review:

Take it from someone who adores Ebert and has read a remarkable percentage of his decades of output: this is the worst thing he ever wrote. Over the years, and thanks to home media and television, The Thing has come to be recognized as arguably Carpenter’s finest film, an extraordinary study in paranoia and isolation. The characters in the film are exactly as they were intended to be, engagingly and recognizably ordinary, as was the case with Alien. It makes the film all the more effective. It’s one of those rare, great horror movies where there’s an external threat, but the question is ultimately whether that’s even the greatest threat at all.

2

‘The Fly’ (1986)

The thing that’s most top of mind with The Fly is perhaps the most surprising for the uninitiated: David Cronenberg‘s landmark work of body horror is one of the best romantic movies of the 1980s. This is one of the most affecting and well-acted cinematic love stories, full stop. Jeff Goldblum gives the performance of his career (a woeful Oscars snub) as Seth Brundle, a scientist whose obsession drives him to fuse with the DNA of a housefly. Brundle’s gradual tragic mutation goes down just as he’s started to fall in love with science journalist Veronica Quaife (Geena Davis). There’s a surprisingly sympathetic love triangle with Veronica’s editor (John Getz), and The Fly packs a staggering amount of story into 96 minutes.

The Fly is body horror that works on many levels. Thanks to the excellent lead performances, it’s most potent as an allegory for the helplessness of watching someone you love succumb to terminal illness. This is a profoundly sad movie that, ironically, is made a little easier to stomach because of the science fiction and horror elements. The makeup effects here won the Oscar, because how the hell could they not? The Fly received substantial critical acclaim upon release, and if anything, it’s only become more beloved over time.

1

‘Aliens’ (1986)

Image via 20th Century Studios

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This may seem like a cheap shot, but so be it. Seven years after the runaway success of Alien, up-and-coming director James Cameron took the helm, in a move that would make or break his career following the breakthrough success of The Terminator. Weaver returned as Ripley, reportedly serving as peacemaker on occasion between the British film crew and tyrannically perfectionist Cameron. It was a troubled shoot, but absolutely no one could deny the juice was worth the squeeze. Aliens takes everything that made the original work and expands upon it, with the added element of it being an action film this time around. Alien is a textbook example of a slow-burn masterpiece; Aliens is one of the most unremittingly intense movies ever made, even when watching it a full four decades later.

Weaver received an Academy Award nomination for her work here, all but entirely unprecedented for genre filmmaking at the time. The actress herself once said that “Aliens made Alien look like a cucumber sandwich,” and while that may seem a bit exaggerated, so much of what gives the sequel the slight edge over the original comes down to this great performance, which is one of the best-loved in film history. James Cameron writes believable action heroines better than anyone, and Ripley’s evolution into matriarch savior is so compelling, especially in a wildly imaginative, frankly nuts finale with Stan Winston‘s Alien Queen.

Aliens enjoyed even more critical and financial success than the first, and Cameron had proven he was no fluke. Alien and Aliens are, deservedly, untouchable landmarks of cinema, and not just genre filmmaking. Both are considered among the finest films ever made, and your personal preference over which is the better of the two will vary.

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Release Date

July 18, 1986

Runtime

137 minutes

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Director

James Cameron

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Writers

James Cameron

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A good opening scene is a necessity if you want the rest of the movie to be good, for obvious reasons. You could technically win someone over after a messy opening, but it would be hard, and the only real examples are when the messiness is intentional in a way that makes sense once more of the movie has played out (think One Cut of the Dead, which has an extended opening sequence that feels amateurish, but then the rest of the movie makes clear why it felt that way, and then that whole stretch of the film works in hindsight).

So, examples of flawed openings to great movies are rare, if outright non-existent. But in the interest of trying to find some potentially unique angle regarding opening scenes, what about some that are pretty great, if not perfect? This whole intro hasn’t been very good, truth be told, but that’s spiritually in line with the topic and whatever. Some of these movies are good, if a little flawed, like their openings, and some of these movies get better after a strong – but not flawless – opening sequence.

10

‘Titanic’ (1997)

Image via Paramount Pictures

Titanic starts off low-key, but it’s got the time and space to do so, since this is a long movie, to say the least. The prologue here is therefore also pretty drawn-out, involving an exploration of the wreck of the titular ship, with a discovery within (or lack thereof) getting the explorers in touch with an elderly woman who was, more than 80 years earlier, on board the ship during its one and only voyage.

There’s an additional reason to care about the inevitable disaster, and some exposition here that helps once the main chunk of the movie’s playing out. How much time spent on the framing device here and the stuff in the present day feels a little confusing early on (and maybe James Cameron showcases a little more underwater footage than he needs to, but the man does love his underwater stuff), but this part of Titanic is eventually important… albeit not quite as memorable as either the love story or the sequences that show the disaster itself.

9

‘Dawn of the Dead’ (1978)

Image via United Film Distribution Company

Of the first three zombie movies George A. Romero directed, Dawn of the Dead is the most fun, and the least bleak. There’s a somber quality to much of the relatively quiet Night of the Living Dead, while Day of the Dead is claustrophobic and also has a post-apocalyptic feel, but Dawn of the Dead is almost like a hangout movie, for a good chunk of its runtime. A slice-of-life movie about life during a zombie outbreak.

Four people hide out in a shopping mall for much of the film, which is bookended by two huge sequences: one with society going to hell and starting to collapse, and then one about the safe haven that was the mall starting to collapse. The ending is a little stronger, in terms of showcasing zombie-related carnage and mayhem, with the opening throwing you into things almost too forcefully. At least it feels that way, at first, but you can appreciate why Dawn of the Dead does that initially once the dust, to some extent, settles.

8

‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ (2015)

Image via Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

The best Star Wars trilogy remains the original one, and it’ll probably always be that way, but the less loved sequel trilogy does some things right, only really collapsing (like, well and truly) with The Rise of Skywalker. The Force Awakens was the first of the new/post-George Lucas Star Wars movies, and as a re-introduction to the whole franchise and its world, it’s honestly pretty good.

It was directed by J.J. Abrams, and he does have a reputation for starting things better than he ends them (though criticizing him for Lost’s ending is silly, because he wasn’t involved with that show much after season 1, and also, the Lost ending was honestly good). Anyway, The Force Awakens does a good job at making the First Order feel like a genuine threat straight away, albeit maybe too effectively, since they’re considerably less intimidating in pretty much every subsequent scene/movie. But Kylo Ren does make an impression, as does Poe, even if you could also criticize some of the humor jammed into this otherwise dark/intense opening sequence.

7

‘Uncut Gems’ (2019)

Image via A24

There is an opening scene to Uncut Gems which is far removed from the rest of the film, but does establish where a narrative-important black opal comes from, before getting a bit psychedelic (this doesn’t happen again until the very end). The opening also extends to the action that takes place in New York City, with the chaotic tone of the movie being established in a brutally effective way.

Put simply, Uncut Gems is a bit much when it starts, because it feels particularly loud, frantic, and incomprehensible, as opposed to the rest of the movie, which is also all those things, but in a good/thrilling way. For this kind of film, though, maybe the start of it had to feel a little like being thrown into the deep end of a pool without any flotation device. The drowning sensation, it could be argued, is just part of the overall experience.

6

‘Magnolia’ (1999)

Image via New Line Cinema

There is an undeniable confidence to the way Magnolia begins and ends, and lots of the stuff in between those two points too, sure. The ending boldly has something big and kind of wild happen that does finally draw all the different characters together, since there’s a massive event that affects them all, but the beginning of the movie is something else entirely, since it’s a series of vignettes about coincidence, fate, and tragedy.

It does a phenomenal job at setting the mood for Magnolia, and letting you know you’re in for something a bit offbeat, even if it’s relentless and then you get a bit overwhelmed by the point at which various actual prominent characters are introduced, with those introductions also being relentless. It’s maximalist and messy, and it doesn’t feel like the ideal way to start a movie (even an admittedly messy/extravagant one), yet, again, that could all be the point. Ribbit.

5

‘Gangs of New York’ (2002)

Image via Miramax Films

It’s a Martin Scorsese gangster movie set in New York, sure, but a little different from what you might expect, since Gangs of New York goes back in time about a century and a half. There’s a fearsome gangster who runs a surprising amount of the area, and a young man who wants to kill said gangster because when he was a boy, that man killed his father.

So, Gangs of New York is about revenge, and then it’s also about lots of other things and general chaos, lawlessness, and violence. You get that established pretty early on, owing to the memorably brutal opening battle scene (it’s almost big enough to feel like a battle), which is stylistically a little at odds with much of the rest of the film, thanks to some jarring creative/editing decisions, but it at least makes a big impression. For what it’s worth, the rest of the film (including the way it ends) is also pretty great, and Gangs of New York feels more than a bit over-hated at times.

4

‘The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!’ (1988)

Image via Paramount Pictures

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To say something like “uh there are other scenes in the first Naked Gun movie that are funnier than the opening scene” is a weird and pretty much pointless thing to say, but that’s what’s being said here. It’s more a testament to how good the rest of the movie is, though, because Frank Drebin eventually revealing himself to a meeting filled with America’s greatest enemies (purportedly, and at the time) before beating them all up is great.

It gets funnier once the rest of the movie starts, because the opening scene has pretty much nothing to do with the rest of The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!, and, generally speaking, with this kind of parody movie, the most absurd things get, the better. It’s also a good way to parody an exaggeration of the stakes you’d expect when a TV show gets a movie, as that’s what happened with the short-lived series Police Squad! being taken to the big screen with The Naked Gun movies.

3

‘Reservoir Dogs’ (1992)

Image via Miramax Films

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This one’s an easy example. Reservoir Dogs gets off to a great start, with the dialogue being funny and clever, and various characters establishing themselves pretty well, even if they’re talking about largely inconsequential things. It’s a very confidently written and put-together scene, so Quentin Tarantino can be commended for that, as the writer/director… but then he’s also one of the actors in the scene.

And he gives himself a lot of dialogue here, and he does stick out as inferior to the other actors. Beyond the first couple of minutes of Reservoir Dogs, he’s really not in it that much, but… well, it’s not a bad first impression, since this scene is iconic. It’s just that it could’ve been a perfect first impression if there had been a slightly better actor ranting about Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” and some other things right as the film starts.

2

‘Drive’ (2011)

Since there is driving early on in Drive, the opening gets the job done by default. Oh, hey, the opening is also about someone having to do a job, and they do it well. The job involves driving. There is a guy known only as Driver, like, in the credits and everything, and he drives well, getting some criminals away from the scene of the heist they’ve just pulled off.

It’s probably the most exciting part of Drive, and there is only one other big driving-related action scene later on, so that’s potentially misleading. But if you know you’re in for something that’s more about mood and style than action and a genuinely complex story, then that’s all good. The vibes matter more, and the opening set piece establishes such vibes pretty darn well.

1

‘La La Land’ (2016)

Image via Lionsgate

The ambition of La La Land’s opening sequence can be admired, and there are things about it that are spectacular and unique. It takes place on a highway congested with traffic, and it does not look like the sort of thing that was easy to film, even before taking into account the fact it was done in one take (or if there are cuts, they’re undeniably well hidden).

There are lots of extras, a distinct setting, and the song itself (“Another Day of Sun”) is memorable/catchy, but there are issues with how some of it looks and bits of the choreography, or lack thereof. There’s a video here that breaks it down/critiques it quite effectively, though watching it if you’re a fan of La La Land is a bit like hearing someone tell you how a magician pulled off all their tricks (and, further, suggesting how maybe the magician could’ve done those tricks better).

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La La Land

Release Date

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December 16, 2016

Runtime

129 minutes

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Director

Damien Chazelle

Writers

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Damien Chazelle

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Netflix has had bigger one-off action hits, but Extraction is still the closest thing the service has to a proper modern action franchise like John Wick. That’s a big reason it keeps roaring back whenever there’s any new movement around the series. And with Extraction 3 now officially a go, viewers have clearly decided it’s time for another round.

Recent streaming coverage says the franchise has jumped back onto the global charts, with renewed audience interest building as Netflix continues moving toward a third installment. That tracks with the series’ history: Extraction 2 was a massive worldwide performer shortly after release, and both films remain among Netflix’s most recognizable action titles.

The full main cast across the Extraction films includes Chris Hemsworth as Tyler Rake, the black-ops mercenary at the center of the franchise; Golshifteh Farahani as Nik Khan, his trusted partner; Adam Bessa as Yaz Khan, Nik’s brother and fellow operator; Rudhraksh Jaiswal as Ovi Mahajan Jr., the boy Tyler is first hired to save; Randeep Hooda as Saju Rav; Priyanshu Painyuli as Amir Asif; Idris Elba as the mysterious Alcott; Tornike Gogrichiani as Zurab Radiani; Tornike Bziava as Davit Radiani; Daniel Bernhardt as Konstantine; and Tinatin Dalakishvili as Ketevan.

Alongside the soon-to-begin-production Extraction 3, which will bring back both Chris Hemsworth and Idris Elba (marking yet another MCU reunion for the two Thor stars), there’s also Mercenary: An Extraction Series in the works at the moment. This time, the spotlight shifts to Omar Sy, who leads the new eight-episode series. Alongside Sy, the cast also features Boyd Holbrook, Natalie Dormer, Waleed Zuaiter, Ed Speleers, Sacha Dhawan, Ross McCall, Pip Torrens, Sam Woolf, Michael Zananiri, Riyad Sliman, Muhannad Ben Amor, Aaron Heffernan, Jojo Macari, Theo Ogundipe, and Emma Appleton.

The series is being overseen by Glen Mazzara (The Shield, The Walking Dead), who serves as showrunner, writer, and executive producer, while the directing duties are split evenly between Louise Hooper (The Rings of Power, The Sandman) and Tim Southam (Foundation, One Piece), each taking on half of the season’s eight episodes. Netflix’s official logline is as follows:

“In this action-packed thriller, a mercenary (Omar Sy) embarks on a dangerous mission to rescue hostages in Libya. Trapped between warring factions and ruthless killers, he must navigate life-or-death choices while confronting deep emotional wounds.”

Extraction and Extraction 2 are streaming on Netflix, with Extraction 3 and Mercenary: An Extraction Series premiering on the streamer at a later date.

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Release Date

April 24, 2020

Runtime

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117 minutes

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Pete Davidson is opening up about the deeply personal moment that finally pushed him to get sober. 

During a recent stand-up set in Las Vegas, the comedian shared how a difficult rehab family session with his mother changed everything. 

Pete, who has been candid about addiction and mental health struggles, said her words hit harder than anything else. 

Now sober and adjusting to fatherhood, he says that the painful conversation helped reshape his life.

Pete Davidson Says Rehab Finally Felt Different This Time

Pete Davidson told fans during his April 11 comedy show at Las Vegas’ The Fontainebleau that he approached rehab with a different mindset this time.

In footage obtained by Us Weekly, the comedian admitted he was tired of repeating the same cycle. 

He joked that one of his first thoughts was practical as he wanted to stop wasting money on treatment that never seemed to stick.

“I went to rehab this time. I was like, ‘I’m gonna I’m gonna actually do it so I could save some of this money I’m making and stop blowing it on rehab,’” Pete said.

The “Saturday Night Live” alum explained that part of the process included family week, where patients would speak with loved ones in therapy sessions. 

According to him, the exercise was designed to show addicts how their behavior affected the people around them. For Pete, that session ended up becoming the turning point.

Pete Says His Mom’s Zoom Call Was ‘Brutal’

Pete Davidson said the most “brutal” part of rehab came when he had to speak with his mom, Amy Davidson, over Zoom.

He recalled how direct and emotional the conversation became. “I remember my mom popped on the screen, and she was like, ‘Peter, it’s really hard to be your mom. It’s not a fun job,’” the actor revealed.

At first, he admitted he reacted defensively. Newly sober and still emotionally raw, Pete said part of him initially brushed off her comments. However, Amy did not stop there.

He said his mother then told him, “Peter, ‘It’s very hard to be your mom because I wake up every morning with the fear that I’ll turn on the news and see that my son has died.’”

That, Pete said, broke through. “She went, ‘Enough.’ She f***ed me up,” he added. The 32-year-old also found humor in the pain, joking that the emotional speech happened over Zoom from the house he had bought her while using drugs. 

Still, he made it clear that the moment changed him. “That got me sober.”

Pete Davidson Says Fatherhood Changed His Perspective

Pete has said becoming sober feels even more meaningful now that he is a father. 

The Hollywood star and his girlfriend, Elsie Hewitt, welcomed their daughter, Scottie Rose, in December 2025. 

Speaking on the “This Past Weekend” podcast three months before Scottie’s birth, Pete reflected on how grateful he felt to be entering parenthood in a healthier place.

“Thank God that I’m sober,” he said, adding, “I wish I had more time of sobriety ‘cause it’s only been like a year and change, but I’m very grateful that it happened now and with Elsie.”

He also admitted that in earlier years, his desire for marriage and children stemmed from instability rather than readiness.

“In other relationships or when I was you know I was a drug addict and very mentally deranged, that was my goal. ‘I need to have a kid. I need to get married’ ‘cause that’s how I grew up,” he said. 

Looking back, Pete understood he needed to get healthy before building a family.

Pete Says He Stopped Dating To Focus On Healing

Pete Davidson said sobriety also changed the way he approached relationships. The “King of Staten Island” star revealed that he made a conscious decision to step back from dating and focus on getting himself in a better place mentally and emotionally.

“I stopped dating and I was, like, ‘I need to f-cking get better and I need to be in a place where I could even have a healthy relationship,’” Pete told the podcast host.

He added that starting a family was not something he planned in a rush. Instead, his relationship with Hewitt developed naturally during a healthier chapter of his life.

“I wasn’t looking for a relationship or looking to have a baby. It all just kind of happened at once, and it’s been like awesome,” he said.

By January 2026, the star told Us Weekly that fatherhood had already shifted how he viewed everything else in life.

“The best thing I’ve been telling people is [that Scottie is] the biggest gift,” he said, adding, “Nothing else matters as much or intensely.”

Pete Davidson Sells His Home To Be Closer To Family

A few days ago, Pete said goodbye to the upstate New York home he once called “paradise,” and fatherhood was the reason. 

As The Blast shared, the comedian listed his six-acre North Salem retreat, which he bought in 2023 for $1.95 million, for about $2.28 million after deciding he needed to be closer to his girlfriend and daughter in Staten Island and New Jersey.

Pete admitted the decision was emotional because the property had become a special refuge from city life. 

“It’s literally like living in paradise,” he said, recalling how peaceful the home felt compared to the constant noise of New York. He added that waking up there “was the most special feeling.” 

Still, becoming a dad shifted his priorities. The home holds sentimental value, including the moment Hewitt told him she was pregnant, but Pete said the long commute to loved ones simply became too much. 

For him, staying close to family mattered more than holding on to his private escape. 

As moviemaking as an industry continues to have higher and higher budgets for its most promising blockbuster releases, the potential for massive profits grows ever higher, with prominent modern-day successes having the possibility to be among the highest-grossing films in box office history. However, the risk of such high budgets also means that there is potential for catastrophic box office bombs, losing not just tens of millions of dollars, but losing over a hundred million dollars at the box office.

These hundred-million-dollar losers in the world of box office are far from a new phenomenon, but are certainly much more prominent as the budgets for blockbusters have skyrocketed to exceptional heights in recent years. On top of the high-budget films that completely failed to meet the mark, this can also apply to older or mid-budget blockbusters that had close to zero interest at the box office. These films have become infamous as some of Hollywood’s biggest financial failures.

10

‘The Marvels’ (2023)

Image via Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

For the vast majority of its existence, the MCU has stood as an unbreakable beacon of blockbuster success, with even the smallest of successes still earning hundreds of millions of dollars in profit for Disney and catapulting it as one of the most lucrative box-office franchises out there. However, the hot streak eventually had to end for the MCU, and while they were certainly trending downward throughout the 2020s, The Marvels was their first true box-office bomb, losing the studio $237 million.

The film was largely a victim of terrible timing to be an MCU release, faltering thanks to a string of lackluster releases in the years prior, leading to a complete lack of interest in Carol Danvers’ intergalactic adventure. Most films in an extended universe being asked to follow up the likes of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Secret Invasion were going to falter. The lukewarm execution of The Marvels only made Brie Larson’s MCU outing that much more of a box-office disappointment.

9

‘John Carter’ (2012)

Image via Walt Disney Pictures

Attempting to follow in the footsteps of massive sci-fi blockbusters like Avatar, John Carter has stood as one of the most recognizable examples of box-office disaster, with its massive budget resulting in middling failure that lost Disney $200 million. The thought process was that, since the original John Carter books were massively influential in sci-fi storytelling, they could find similar success if these classic stories were given an extravagant, blockbuster budget.

However, while the film may have largely influenced a lot of sci-fi worlds, this, in tandem, only made the eventual film adaptation feel incredibly generic and uninteresting to general audiences. The film just didn’t have a hook for audiences to really engage with, ironically debuting at second place behind The Lorax. What really hurt the film is that it was one of the most expensive movies of all time, with its overwhelming budget making its $248.1 million box office gross nowhere close to what it needed to find success.

8

‘Haunted Mansion’ (2023)

Image via Disney

Yet another one of the many box-office disappointments that Disney had during 2023, Haunted Mansion stood as one of the most lackluster and poorly executed remakes of recent memory. Despite the film being relatively well-received by the audiences that did experience it, the film had one of the most shockingly ineffective release strategies imaginable that destroyed the movies chances of success before it even released.

Despite overwhelmingly dripping in Halloween and autumnal energy in all of its marketing and its very existence, the film, for some reason, had its wide theatrical release in the middle of the summer, a time when nobody was clamoring for Halloween-adjacent cinema. While this technically allowed the film to release on Disney+ when Halloween actually came around, it meant that it was never going to recoup its $150 million budget. As a result, the film lost around $117 million and further amplified Disney’s catastrophic year.

7

‘Mortal Engines’ (2018)

Image via Universal Pictures

Produced and co-written by Peter Jackson and adapting a beloved series of young adult novels, Mortal Engines had high hopes of being the next big YA dystopian franchise, following in the footsteps of the likes of The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner. However, the book’s greatness didn’t translate into this bloated, sci-fi mess of a blockbuster, and the film instead became infamous as one of the biggest box-office flops of the 21st century.

The film almost single-handedly killed a lot of the interest in YA adaptations as a whole, as its cataclysmic $219 million loss spelled out to studios that simply adapting a beloved YA novel series was no longer an easy path to blockbuster success. It certainly didn’t help that critics and audiences alike did not enjoy this overstuffed mess of a blockbuster, with its debut being completely overshadowed by the release of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

6

‘Mulan’ (2020)

Image via Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

It would have been incredibly easy to fill this list with films that were directly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, as the complete shutdown of theaters transformed many films that would have been blockbuster hits into gargantuan money losers. Easily one of the most prominent was the live-action remake of Mulan, which lost upwards of $141 million, due to not even having a theatrical release in the U.S. Like several other prominent releases of the era, the film instead had a large-scale PVOD release, allowing people to rent the film for $30 on Disney+.

This $30 release was seen as incredibly controversial when the film was first released, both due to its increased price compared to many other premium rentals and the film itself not being worth this price tag. While it’s difficult to tell exactly how much the film earned from these premium online rentals, the pandemic still had a major effect on the film’s attempted theatrical outings in the rest of the world. The only legacy the film has nowadays is as yet another drop in the bucket for Disney’s terrible live-action remakes.

5

‘Missing Link’ (2019)

Image via Laika

Many people are quick to associate the prospects of massive box office bombs with the films themselves being of astronomically low quality, yet Missing Link is an exceptionally charming, award-winning animated film that just did not connect with general audiences at the box office. LAIKA as an animation studio has always placed its artistry first before commercial success, leading to a case such as this, where the most expensive stop-motion animated film of all time only earned $26.6 million at the box office.

The film never had a chance to connect or make an impact with audiences, debuting at #9 at the domestic box office and being massively overshadowed by every other film that was playing in theaters. Its prospects were made even worse when, during its 3rd weekend, any chance of legs were shut out by the release of Avengers: Endgame. However, box-office failure was not the end of Missing Link’s story, as it went on to be nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards and actually won the award at the Golden Globes.

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4

‘Chaos Walking’ (2021)

If Mortal Engines was the failed last rallying cry of the YA genre, then Chaos Walking was the far too late whimper of air released from the corpse of the genre’s box-office prospects. This painfully generic dystopian sci-fi film, with the all-star casting lineup of Tom Holland and Daisy Ridley, was not only crippled by the pandemic but also went through a myriad of production issues. It was eventually decided that Lionsgate would cut its losses and release this hobbled-together mess of a film, losing $132.3 million and even being a write-down for Lionsgate.

The film itself is about as generic as a dystopian YA film can get, being one of the absolute worst modern sci-fi films and wasting the talents of just about everyone involved. It would have been a box office failure even if it had been released at a more opportune time, yet its brazen release in March 2021 was the final nail in the coffin for any attempt at the film finding box-office success.

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3

‘Strange World’ (2022)

Image via Disney

The film releases from Walt Disney Animation Studios in the 2020s have acted as a microcosm of the prospects and misaligned prospects of audiences and studios alike. While sequels like Moana 2 and Zootopia 2 grossed billions of dollars, Strange World crashed harder than any other animated film in the studio’s history. The family sci-fi film lost $197 million and ironically got beaten out during its release of Thanksgiving week by Disney’s own Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which released weeks prior.

This friendly fire paints a picture of Disney not having faith in this film to perform at the box office, and possibly even an act of purposeful self-destruction if you’re open to this type of conspiracy (the film did happen to feature Disney’s first LGBTQ+ lead character). However, the fact that the film has completely disappeared from the public eye in the years following its release paints a greater picture of the overall lack of interest that audiences had for this generic, largely boring movie.

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2

‘Monster Trucks’ (2016)

Image via Paramount Pictures

Sometimes, one can just look at a film and immediately tell that there is nothing of quality within its filmmaking; all the more shocking is when one of these films has an absurdly high budget that it was never going to earn back. Monster Trucks is one such laughably bad idea, being a family movie that follows a tentacle creature who consumes gasoline and hides inside a car, transforming it into a literal monster truck. This awful family movie somehow managed to have a $125 million budget, causing it to lose hundreds of millions of dollars and be a write-down for Paramount before it even came out.

It’s a strange case where the film was understood to be a cataclysmic financial failure before it even touched the big-screen, placing its very existence into question more and more. The film certainly lived up to its perceived lack of quality and bombed at the box office, still standing as one of the biggest box-office failures that Nickelodeon and Paramount have ever released.

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1

‘Mars Needs Moms’ (2011)

Image via Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Losing hundreds of millions of dollars is one thing, but few films manage to lose so much money that they almost single-handedly shut down the studio that helped bring the film to life. Mars Needs Moms is one such film, whose massive losses not only gave it the reputation of one of the biggest bombs of all time, but also caused the closing of Robert Zemeckis’s mocap animation studio ImageMovers Digital.

Being at the forefront of releasing this type of technically advanced motion capture animation with the likes of Polar Express and A Christmas Carol, this film’s gargantuan failure has eliminated any interest in this method of 3D animation. It’s hard to think of another box-office bomb that has had such an overwhelming and destructive impact upon the industry and the people who created the film, losing hundreds of millions in the process and becoming an icon of utter failure in every regard.

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Collider Exclusive · Oscar Best Picture Quiz
Which Oscar Best Picture
Is Your Perfect Movie?
Parasite · Everything Everywhere · Oppenheimer · Birdman · No Country

Five Oscar Best Picture winners. Five completely different visions of what cinema can be — and what it can do to you. One of them is the film that was made for the way your mind works. Ten questions will figure out which one.

🪜Parasite

🌀Everything Everywhere

☢️Oppenheimer

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🐦Birdman

🪙No Country for Old Men

FIND YOUR FILM →

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01

What kind of film experience do you actually want?
The best movies don’t just entertain — they leave something behind.

ASomething that pulls the rug out — that makes me think I’m watching one kind of film and then reveals I’m watching another entirely.
BSomething overwhelming — funny, sad, absurd, and genuinely moving, all at once.
CSomething grand and weighty — a film that makes me feel the full scale of what I’m watching.
DSomething formally daring — a film that pushes what cinema can even do.
ESomething lean and relentless — pure tension with no wasted frame.

NEXT QUESTION →

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02

Which idea grabs you most in a film?
Great films are driven by a central obsession. What’s yours?

AClass, inequality, and what people are willing to do when desperation meets opportunity.
BIdentity, family, and the chaos of trying to hold your life together when everything is falling apart.
CGenius, moral responsibility, and the catastrophic weight of a decision you can never take back.
DEgo, legacy, and the terror of becoming irrelevant while you’re still alive to watch it happen.
EEvil, chance, and whether moral order actually exists or if we just tell ourselves it does.

NEXT QUESTION →

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03

How do you like your story told?
Form is content. The way a story is shaped changes what it means.

AGenre-twisting — I want it to start in one lane and migrate into something completely different.
BMaximalist and genre-blending — comedy, action, drama, sci-fi, all in one ride.
CEpic and non-linear — cutting between timelines, building a mosaic of cause and consequence.
DA single unbroken flow — I want to feel like I’m living it in real time, no cuts to safety.
ESpare and precise — every scene doing exactly what it needs to do and nothing more.

NEXT QUESTION →

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04

What makes a truly great antagonist?
The opposition defines the protagonist. What kind of opposition fascinates you?

AA system — invisible, structural, and almost impossible to fight because it has no single face.
BThe self — the ways we sabotage, abandon, and fail the people we love most.
CHistory — the unstoppable momentum of events that no single person can stop or redirect.
DThe industry — the machinery of culture that chews up talent and spits out irrelevance.
EPure, implacable evil — a force so certain of itself it becomes almost philosophical.

NEXT QUESTION →

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05

What do you want from a film’s ending?
The final note is the one that lingers. What do you want it to sound like?

AShock and inevitability — a conclusion that recontextualises everything that came before it.
BEarned emotion — I want to cry, laugh, and feel genuinely hopeful, even if the world is a mess.
CDevastation and grandeur — an ending that makes me sit in silence for a few minutes after.
DAmbiguity — something that leaves enough open that I’m still thinking about it days later.
EBleakness — an honest refusal to pretend the world is tidier than it actually is.

NEXT QUESTION →

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06

Which setting pulls you in most?
Where a film takes place shapes everything — mood, stakes, what’s even possible.

AA gleaming modern city with a hidden underside — beauty masking rot, wealth masking desperation.
BA collapsing suburban life that opens onto something infinite — the multiverse of a single ordinary person.
CThe corridors of power and science at a world-historical turning point — where decisions echo for decades.
DThe grimy, alive chaos of New York and Hollywood — fame as both destination and trap.
EVast, indifferent landscape — desert and highway where violence arrives without warning or reason.

NEXT QUESTION →

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07

What cinematic craft impresses you most?
Every great film has a signature — a technical or artistic element that makes it unmistakable.

AProduction design and mise-en-scène — every frame composed to carry meaning beneath the surface.
BEditing and tonal control — the ability to move between registers without losing the audience.
CScore and sound design — music that becomes inseparable from the dread and awe of what you’re watching.
DCinematography as performance — the camera not recording events but participating in them.
ESilence and restraint — what’s left unsaid and unshown doing more work than any dialogue could.

NEXT QUESTION →

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08

What kind of main character do you root for?
The protagonist is the lens. Who you choose to follow says something about you.

ASomeone smart and resourceful who makes increasingly dangerous decisions under pressure.
BSomeone overwhelmed and ordinary who turns out to be capable of something extraordinary.
CA brilliant, tortured figure whose gifts and flaws are inseparable from each other.
DA self-destructive artist whose ego is both their superpower and their undoing.
EA quiet, principled person trying to make sense of a world that has stopped making sense.

NEXT QUESTION →

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09

How do you feel about a film that takes its time?
Pace is a choice. Some films sprint; others let tension accumulate slowly, deliberately.

AI love a slow build when I know the payoff is going to be seismic — patience for a devastating reveal.
BGive me relentless momentum — I want to feel breathless and emotionally spent by the end.
CEpic runtime doesn’t scare me — if the material demands three hours, give me three hours.
DI want it to feel propulsive even when nothing is technically happening — restless energy throughout.
EDeliberate and unhurried — I want dread to accumulate in the spaces between the action.

NEXT QUESTION →

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10

What do you want to feel walking out of the cinema?
The best films leave a mark. What kind of mark do you want?

AUnsettled — like I’ve just seen something I can’t fully explain but can’t stop thinking about.
BMoved and energised — like the film reminded me what actually matters and gave me something to hold onto.
CHumbled — like I’ve been in the presence of something genuinely important and overwhelming.
DExhilarated — like I’ve just seen cinema doing something it’s never quite done before.
EHaunted — like a cold, quiet dread that stays with me for days.

REVEAL MY FILM →

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The Academy Has Decided
Your Perfect Film Is…

Your answers have pointed to one Oscar Best Picture winner above all others. This is the film that was made for the way your mind works.

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Parasite

You are drawn to films that operate on multiple levels simultaneously — that begin in one genre and quietly, brilliantly migrate into another. Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite is a film about class, desire, and the architecture of inequality that manages to be darkly funny, deeply suspenseful, and genuinely shocking across a single extraordinary running time. Your instinct is for cinema that hides its true intentions until the moment it’s ready to reveal them. Parasite is exactly that — a film that rewards close attention and punishes assumptions, right up to its devastating final image.

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Everything Everywhere All at Once

You want it all — and this film gives you all of it. The Daniels’ Everything Everywhere All at Once is one of the most maximalist films ever made: action comedy, multiverse sci-fi, family drama, existential crisis, and a genuinely earned emotional core that sneaks up on you amid the chaos. You are someone who responds to ambition, who doesn’t want cinema to choose between being entertaining and being meaningful. This film refuses that choice entirely. It is overwhelming by design, and its overwhelming nature is precisely the point — because the feeling of being crushed by infinite possibility is exactly what it’s about.

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Oppenheimer

You are drawn to cinema on a grand scale — films that understand history not as a backdrop but as a force, and that place their characters inside that force and watch what happens. Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer is a film about the terrifying gap between what we can do and what we should do, told with the full weight of one of the most consequential moments in human history behind it. You want your films to feel important without feeling self-important — to earn their ambition through sheer craft and the gravity of their subject. Oppenheimer does exactly that. It is enormous, complicated, and refuses easy comfort.

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Birdman

You are drawn to films that foreground their own construction — that make the how of the filmmaking part of the what it’s about. Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman, shot to appear as a single continuous take, is cinema examining itself through the cracked mirror of a fading actor’s ego. You respond to formal daring, to the feeling that a film is doing something that probably shouldn’t be possible. Michael Keaton’s performance and Emmanuel Lubezki’s restless camera create something genuinely unlike anything else — a film that is simultaneously about creativity, relevance, self-destruction, and the impossibility of ever truly knowing if your work means anything at all.

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No Country for Old Men

You are drawn to cinema that trusts silence, that refuses to explain itself, and that treats dread as a form of meaning. The Coen Brothers’ No Country for Old Men is a film about the arrival of a new kind of evil — implacable, arbitrary, and utterly indifferent to the moral frameworks we use to make sense of the world. It is one of the most formally controlled films ever made, and its controlled restraint is what makes it so terrifying. You want your films to haunt you, not comfort you. You are not interested in resolution if resolution would be dishonest. No Country for Old Men is honest in a way that most cinema never dares to be.

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Mars Needs Moms

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Release Date

March 11, 2011

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Runtime

98 Minutes

Director

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Simon Wells

Writers

Simon Wells, Wendy Wells

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