As we enter a major weekend for Hollywood, how successful are Wicked and Gladiator II projected to be?

Although Thanksgiving cooking is a major event on its own, the next two weekends serve as a time when major studios try to cash in on the audience’s free time. The two major releases this weekend, John M. Chu’s Wicked and Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II, have bot h heavily campaigned for eyeballs, leaving questions about whether both can find box office success during the first week of their respective domestic releases. Internationally, Gladiator II has been released in some territories and made more than $80 million dollars in the process; Wicked has yet to open up its wide release but is projected to make more than $100 million in its opening weekend. With many referencing Barbenheimer, due to both films’ heavy promotion and different audience demographics, it does beg folks to wonder how each film will ultimately do financially and during awards season. Rebecca Rubin, senior film and media reporter for Variety, joins us to discuss this.

Feature: Critics discuss what’s behind the idea of movies being longer, and how to best prep for them

At a time when rolls of film dominated the land, making a blockbuster was going to be expensive when you had to consider a physical film that had to be distributed across the globe. It’s an issue that made films longer than 120 minutes feel like an occasion. However, in the world of digital cameras, the unique quirks that came with the film were no longer an issue, making it easier to extend the length of a given feature. Auteurs like Christopher Nolan and Martin Scorsese have tried their best to keep viewers’ attention, with recent projects like Oppenheimer and Killers of the Flower Moon, respectively. In the vein of West Side Story (1961) and Lawrence of Arabia, Brady Corbet’s upcoming film The Brutalist uses an intermission to give viewers a break. But ultimately… are Hollywood’s movies longer now? And for viewers interested in watching these long movies– what are ways to fully devote yourself to a film?

FilmWeek: 'Gladiator II,' 'Wicked,' 'Joy,' 'Spellbound,' and More

Larry Mantle and LAist film critics Charles Solomon, Amy Nicholson, and Claudia Puig reviewthe latest releases on FilmWeek.

• Gladiator II
• Wicked
• Flow
• Joy
• Spellbound
• Agent of Happiness
• The Merry Gentlemen
• The Glassworker

FilmWeek: 'Red One,' 'Elton John: Never Too Late,' 'Daruma,' and More

Larry Mantle and FilmWeek critics Lael Loewenstein, Manuel Betancourt, and Charles Solomon review the latest releases on FilmWeek.

• Red One
• All We Imagine as Light
• Elton John: Never Too Late
• Bird
• The World According to Alle Willis
• Bogart: Life Comes in Flashes
• Ghost Cat Anzu
• Daruma
• Buy Now: The Shopping Conspiracy
• Night Is Not Eternal
• Overlord: The Sacred Kingdom
• The Lost Children

Feature: As Hollywood begins its “Christmas creep,” we talk our favorite holiday movies

The holidays are here… or at least film distributors are under that impression. It’s been two weeks since Halloween has wrapped, and in that time we’ve seen some new Christmas-centric films make their ways to theaters and streamers. This week’s most-promoted theatrical release being the Christmas, action-comedy Red One; the film includes stars like Dwayne Johnson, Chris Evans, Lucy Liu, and J.K. Simmons. Last week on the show, we had the chance to discuss Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, two films that fit into the rich tradition of comfort movies that you can watch with your family during the holidays. So for this week’s FilmWeek feature, we’ll speak to our critics about the trend itself and hear about their favorite movies centered on the holiday season.

Feature: New book ‘Opening Weekend’ provides insider perspective on film marketing

Although the film industry can be quite lucrative, there are a lot of moving parts to how a film gets to be a “success” or “flop.” As it relates to building up hype for a movie, marketing teams play a huge role in growing excitement and finding ways to resonate with general audiences. A new book, Opening Weekend: An Insider's Look at Marketing Hollywood's Hits and Flops, by longtime film marketing executive Jim Fredrick. Frederick’s career in the business has included working on the marketing team for films like Eyes Wide Shut, The Shawshank Redemption, and even the Harry Potter film franchise. So for this week’s feature, we’ll talk to Frederick about Opening Weekend and get an insider’s understanding of how marketing works within the film industry.

Jim Fredrick, studio marketing executive, and Chapman University film professor; he’s also the author of the new book Opening Weekend: An Insider's Look at Marketing Hollywood's Hits and Flops

FilmWeek: "Heretic," "The Piano Lesson," "Small Things Like These," and more

Larry Mantle and LAist film critics Christy Lemire and Andy Klein review this weekend’s new movie releases on streaming and on-demand platforms.

• Heretic 
• The Piano Lesson
• Small Things Like These
• Elevation
• The Last Rifelman
• Christmas Even in Miller’s Point
• The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
• Meanwhile on Earth
• Sallywood
• Weekend in Taipei

The upcoming general election has of course been on many peoples’ minds, and what better way to work through the angst than by viewing how generations of artists have tried depicting politics on the big screen? Since early September, Turner Classic Movies has been airing some of the most political films to be released, with some examples being The Great Dictator and JFK. So for today’s feature, Larry and LAist film critics Andy Klein and Christy Lemire talk about their favorite election-related movies, getting into what makes them so topical and worth looking back at following their initial release.

Larry Mantle and LAist film critics Christy Lemire and Andy Klein review this weekend’s new movie releases on streaming and on-demand platforms. They also remember actress Teri Garr, who passed away at the age of 79.

• Here

• Blitz

• Emilia Perez

• A Real Pain

• Juror #2

• Endurance

• Freedom

• The Gutter

• Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat

FilmWeek: 'Venom: The Last Dance,' 'Conclave,' 'Memoir of a Snail,' and More

Larry Mantle and LAist film critics Peter Rainer, Wade Major, and Charles Solomon

• Venom: The Last Dance
• Conclave
• Memoir of a Snail 
• Martha
• My Name is Alfred Hitchcock
• Magpie
• Carville: Winning is Everything, Stupid
• Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band
• Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989)
• The Remarkable Life of Ibelin
• Rule of Two Walls
• The Sacrifice (1986)

Feature: Larry talks to Sean Baker and Mikey Madison about the work that went into making ‘Anora’

Since his 2012 feature-length film Starlet, critically acclaimed director Sean Baker has made films that bring realism to the lives of sex workers across the United States. Angelenos are likely familiar with the locations of Starlet and Tangerine, with the former taking place in the San Fernando Valley and the latter in Hollywood. Baker would eventually shoot his next films in Florida and Texas, but his latest picture, Anora, brings viewers to Brooklyn, New York. In Anora, Mikey Madison portrays Ani, an exotic dancer who eventually finds herself eloping with the son of a Russian oligarch. The film has garnered positive reviews since being screened at film festivals and was awarded the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival by fellow filmmakers judging the competition. For this week’s feature, we sit down with Anora’s writer-director Sean Baker, and the film’s star, Mikey Madison.

Anora is now in select theaters and will expand on November 1