Episode 510 - Mailbag Monday

SPEAKER_1 (0:01)

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Matt Neglia (0:28)

Hello everyone and welcome to Mailbag Monday, part of episode 510 of the Next Best Picture Podcast, where the Next Best Picture team answers your fan submitted questions. We've got a lot to talk about as far as movie releases, the award season, film festivals, box office, comings and goings of the industry.

We answer questions from our official Twitter slash X account and also through our private Discord for Next Best Picture. I am your host, Matt Neglia, the owner, editor and chief of nextbestpicture.com and here to join me to answer these questions, we have Ema Sasic.

Nadia Dalimonte (1:00)

Hey everyone.

Matt Neglia (1:02)

Nadia Dalimonte.

Nadia Dalimonte (1:03)

Hello, hello.

Matt Neglia (1:04)

Sara Clements.

Nadia Dalimonte (1:06)

Hey guys.

Matt Neglia (1:07)

And Tom O'Brien.

Tom O'Brien (1:08)

Hi everybody.

Matt Neglia (1:10)

So we're going to just dive right into it here, y'all. Let's see what the fandom, the NBP Film Community had to send us for this week. I'm sure there's a lot of questions here related to the New York Film Festival, the Oscar race. Let's start off first and foremost, though, with real insight. Could you see Behemoth following a similar awards trajectory for Searchlight Pictures this year to Is This Thing On? and Rental Family last year?

And now I know I'm the only one who's seen it here of the group, but as an outsider perspective, based on reactions, reviews, what you've heard, what is your read on it right now?

Tom O'Brien (1:48)

I'd say that neither one of those films from last year really had acting potential, whereas I think Pascal is in the hunt, in the bubble for that fourth or fifth slot. So I think it's a step up from that, but I think the reaction may not have been what they had wanted if they wanted a Best Picture nominee.

Ema Sasic (2:13)

I was just about to say, comparing it to those two films, I was going to be like, well, looks like there is no more respect, unfortunately. But similarly, based off of what I've seen read, it seems like Pedro may really be the only chance here, but even that may be slim due to lots of other big names emerging and coming out already.

Matt Neglia (2:36)

Okay, John Anzalone. Morning, y'all. Let's say Digger got reviews in the green on Metacritic, as I believe it should have, an open to 25 million. It still would be considered a big flop, but would perception in that case still enable for it to be a surefire best picture nominee, a crew still favored for best actor? Well, yeah, I mean, the perception is everything in this case. You know, if you're seen as a flop critically and financially, people are gonna write you off as an awards contender. That's usually the way that this works. It's like, look at Michael. Michael got worse reviews than Digger, but made so much more money, and that's why it's still in the conversation, you know? But if you have a combination of both of those things, it's really tough. I can't even really think of one in recent memory, because Bohemian Rhapsody, not the best critical reception, but made a lot of money. Joker, made a lot of money, mixed critical reception, didn't really matter. Don't Look Up, mixed critical reception, but a Netflix release, didn't need to make money.

You know, it's like, whatever best picture nominees over the last couple of years that had middling to low, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic scores, can you think of that had both bad scores and lost money?

None, right? So yeah, I think Digger, like, a lot of people are saying, oh, it's still in the hunt. I think it's more in the hunt for crews and techs. I think Best Picture, while it's still there, it's like very low, very, very low on the overall list. I would say, like, if there's like a top 15, it's number 15

Nadia Dalimonte (4:19)

Yeah, maybe crews and makeup at this point.

Matt Neglia (4:22)

Maybe. I mean, a good comparison, too, is think of Smashing Machine last year. Came out around the time when the fall film festivals were around.

Huge Best Actor prospects for Dwayne Johnson, a huge movie star, ended up just getting a makeup nomination. That's what this might do. And it's also Kazuhiro as well.