Stole My Line - A Fireside Film Podcast
188 | D23 2026 Reaction and Breakdown - Fireside Discussion

Drew:
We have Inde Navarrette-

Grant:
As...

Drew:
as Rogue.

Grant:
Which is a little bit of a plot twist.

Drew:
It is a little bit of a plot twist.

Grant:
Her name was circulating X-Men for a while.

Drew:
Yep.

Grant:
We all kind of thought she would play Mystique-

Drew:
Yep.

Grant:
because she had mentioned that-

Drew:
Yeah-

Grant:
like in public.

Drew:
she just said that in an interview.

Grant:
She said that in an interview. And then like a few days later, she is now Rogue.

[Intro]

Grant:
Welcome back to Stole My Line - A Fireside Film Podcast where we talk about movies and TV-

Drew:
Yep.

Grant:
outside by a fire.

Drew:
That's kind of our thing.

Grant:
I'm Grant.

Drew:
And I'm Drew.

Grant:
We're talking about D23-

Drew:
Yep.

Grant:
2026, all the big announcements, but we're going to leave one out. And it's "Doomsday Trailer."

Drew:
Yeah, it's true.

Grant:
The reason we're leaving it out is because we already have a trailer 2 reaction up on the channel. We just dropped it-

Drew:
A full exclusive episode.

Grant:
a few days ago.

Drew:
Yep.

Grant:
So please go watch that on the channel. It's linked up here. We're going to break down each one of these announcements, and then we're going to kind of rate it on how fire, how awesome the announcement is. So we're just going to get into it.

Drew:
Yep.

Grant:
Are you ready, Drew?

Drew:
I'm so ready.

Grant:
You doing okay today?

Drew:
I'm doing great.

Grant:
That's great. I'm excited to talk about some- well, relatively excited to talk about some Disney. I want to just start out with the- probably the biggest announcement out of D23, I would say. Do you think it's the biggest one?

Drew:
100%.

Grant:
It's X-Men.

Drew:
Well, maybe other than Doomsday, but it- they're close.

Grant:
I still think this is- on the grand scheme of things, a bigger announcement, though-

Drew:
Yep.

Grant:
because we just got a trailer for Doomsday. This is the bulk of the X-Men cast. Drew, do you want to read us off what the current announced X-Men cast is?

Drew:
I would love to. So obviously, this is not everything. We don't have Beast. We don't have Wolverine. We don't have Magneto. Those are kind of the big players.

Grant:
But we have a chunk of the cast.

Drew:
Right.

Grant:
So we'll get into it.

Drew:
So obviously, we got Sadie Sink as Jean Grey.

Grant:
No shocker there.

Drew:
We've seen Brand New Day.

Grant:
If you want to watch our Brand New Day review, it is also up on the channel.

Drew:
We have Kit Connor as Cyclops. He-

Grant:
I'm a Kit Connor fan, by the way.

Drew:
Are you really?

Grant:
He's been around actually for a little while. He was in Rocketman in 2019, which is a sleeper good film.

Drew:
True.

Grant:
But he's actually been pretty solid. And I think he's like "up-and-coming star" enough, but has enough of a body of work that I'm like-

Drew:
I agree.

Grant:
this is good casting-

Drew:
Yeah.

Grant:
in my opinion.

Drew:
He was just in Warfare, which I really liked.

Grant:
Yes, you liked that one.

Drew:
I liked it. You thought it was fine.

Grant:
It was fine. Yeah

Drew:
And next, big kicker, we have Inde Navarrette-

Grant:
As...

Drew:
as Rogue.

Grant:
Which is a little bit of a plot twist.

Drew:
It is a little bit of a plot twist.

Grant:
Her name was circulating X-Men for a while.

Drew:
Yep.

Grant:
We all kind of thought she would play Mystique-

Drew:
Yep.

Grant:
because she had mentioned that in an interview-

Drew:
Yeah.

Grant:
like in public.

Drew:
she just said that in an interview.

Grant:
And then like a few days later, she is now Rogue.

Drew:
It- it's intriguing.

Grant:
It's worth noting that Cailee Spaeny was attached to the role at one point. At least that was announced.

Drew:
Yeah.

Grant:
And then she dropped out/it didn't work out-

Drew:
Yep.

Grant:
who knows there? I actually thought Cailee Spaeny would have been really good casting.

Drew:
I thought she would have been great. And I mean, Rogue is traditionally very southern.

Grant:
Yes.

Drew:
Do you know where Cailee Spaeny is from?

Grant:
No, I don't.

Drew:
Tennessee.

Grant:
No way.

Drew:
Yeah.

Grant:
Cailee Spaeny, we are from Tennessee.

Drew:
We are, it's true.

Grant:
Not going to say the exact location. But come on the podcast. We'd love to have you.

Drew:
I don't know if she actively lives in Tennessee.

Grant:
I don't- well, maybe she'd just be around at some point.

Drew:
Hey, we loved Beef, so.

Grant:
You want to swing by? No, that would have been good casting. I like Cailee Spaeny a lot. I liked Beef Season 2 a lot.

Drew:
Yeah, that was great. Now, here's the thing. This is acting.

Grant:
Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Drew:
So, Inde Navarrette, incredibly talented. We've all seen Obsession.

Grant:
Yes.

Drew:
So, can she pull off a southern accent?

Grant:
I'm sure she can.

Drew:
Probably.

Grant:
Yes.

Drew:
Can she play like the tension that Rogue needs to have? Almost definitely.

Grant:
Yes.

Drew:
So, I mean, in the hypothetical situation that Cailee Spaeny didn't want to, or it didn't work out, or whatever. And then Marvel turns to Inde Navarrette, who's the talk of the town right now.

Grant:
Yes. It was very timely casting.

Drew:
Right. This is- this might be a both-and situation of it is a publicity stunt in the sense of a biggest-

Grant:
This is a hot name.

Drew:
name in Hollywood-

Grant:
Yep.

Drew:
currently. And she also is very talented and can pull this off.

Grant:
I mean,

Drew:
I think it is a win-win for Marvel and Endi here.

Grant:
I would agree. I think she will be present at the Oscars 2026 kind of race throughout the year. She's in talks for Best Actress/Best Supporting. I think those are deserving. I think Obsession is a very good film. I think it shows a lot of what she can do as an actress. I think people have questions about her appearance as opposed to what they imagine Rogue as. I have no attachment to Rogue as a character.

Drew:
Sure.

Grant:
I don't really care. I- We've talked about this on the podcast before. Casting does matter. You could look at The Last of Us Season 1, but really also Season 2. There's some issues there with, like, how attached people are to a character. And then when that comes to life on the screen, there can be issues there. We've seen a lot of buzz around The God of War TV show that's also kind of in the same boat. I don't think this is going to be, long-term, that big of a deal. I could be wrong. But I think Inde-

Drew:
I don't think it will.

Grant:
I think Inde will do well in this film and be a good Rogue. And I mean, people have been iffy about casting before, i.e. Robert Pattinson as Batman-

Drew: [inserted: found only in stem, not in diarized]
Sure.

Grant:
and it works out. Heath-

Drew:
Heath Ledger as Joker.

Grant:
Now, those are maybe different situations, but like, I don't think- I think the people that have issue with this, I don't think it'll stay an issue long-term.

Drew:
Yeah, and I think mainly it's because Inde Navarrette is very talented. Like I think-

Grant:
Yeah.

Drew:
Obsession, she showed so much dynamic range there that it was very impressive.

Grant:
Small sample size. Like, we haven't had a lot of her, so-

Drew:
That's true.

Grant:
I hope it's not a fluke, but-

Drew:
Yeah.

Grant:
I also don't think it's a fluke.

Drew:
I don't think it is either.

Grant:
I think she's talented.

Drew:
Yeah.

Grant:
So, we shall see. I think I'm overall positive on that casting.

Drew:
Yeah.

Grant:
Next one.

Drew:
Okay, we got Beast with no official casting.

Grant:
Yes.

Drew:
But Charles Melton, also, Beef and Warfare-

Grant:
Yes.

Drew:
has been previously attached to this role, maybe, we don't really know.

Grant:
I think he had a comment that he was like, "I'm kind of a coin flip" is basically what he said. "Ask me one day I'll say something, ask me another, I'll say something else," so.

Drew:
That would have been hilarious if Jake Schreier, Charles Melton, and Cailee Spaeny all ended up in this movie.

Grant:
Yes. Really crazy.

Drew:
But, TBD.

Grant:
Yeah.

Drew:
And then Peter Claffey is another name circling around who played Dunk-

Grant:
Yeah, he plays Dunk in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.

Drew:
Yeah.

Grant:
One of our favorite shows that we've reviewed on the channel.

Drew: [inserted: found only in stem, not in diarized]
It's- it's so good.

Grant:
Peter Claffey's kind of- it's been like in the corners of the internet. I don't even know. I haven't seen any articles about it, but I think Peter Claffey could do very good.

Drew:
I think he would crush it, honestly.

Grant:
He definitely has the build for Beast.

Drew:
Definitely has the build.

Grant:
He has the acting chops, which he's like- he was a rugby player.

Drew:
I know.

Grant:
But you watch A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, he has the acting chops.

Drew:
Yeah.

Grant:
And he has to do a lot as Dunk in that show-

Drew:
Yeah, I agree.

Grant:
like from humor to really emotional scenes to like, I don't know, like speeches in front of large crowds and he kills it in everything, so.

Drew:
Yeah. That might be Stole My Line's pick, honestly.

Grant:
I think if we had to fancast there, we would pick...

Drew:
We want Peter Claffey as Beast.

Grant:
I want Peter Claffey on the podcast, honestly. He seems like a hoot.

Drew:
That would be awesome.

Grant:
I follow him on Instagram and he's always like posting his workout updates.

Drew:
He post about his run the other day.

Grant:
I know, like, man, you make me want to run. I need to go on a run with Peter Claffey.

Drew:
That's so funny.

Grant:
But I think Charles Melton would also be good as Beast.

Drew:
Yeah. I think he's also very talented.

Grant:
All right. Next one.

Drew:
All right. We have Christopher Abbott as Charles Xavier.

Grant:
I kind of don't have any opinions on this.

Drew:
Yeah. If you've seen Wolf Man. He's in Poor Things.

Grant:
I haven't seen either.

Drew:
He is 40 years old, which obviously we're going for a very young X-Men here, which I like. I think we need to obviously reboot the MCU. But also, like, I like that we are casting really up-and-coming people or no-names. I think that's great. I think that's what we should do more often in these big franchise type of situations.

Grant:
We say "no-names" as in they have- I mean, they are people that are well-known within certain legs of the industry-

Drew:
Sure.

Grant:
but are up-and-coming, but maybe have a decent body of work.

Drew:
"No-name" as in the pop culture sphere...

Grant:
They are newer.

Drew:
Right.

Grant:
Okay.

Drew:
So yeah, I think Christopher Abbott has the acting ability. A lot of people have been like, "I don't see it. I don't see him as Charles Xavier."

Grant:
Listen, once he shaves his head, you're going to see it. It's fine.

Drew:
He walked on D23 stage with a full head of hair and a beard, so.

Grant:
Yeah, like, we'll give the casting some grace there-

Drew:
Yeah.

Grant:
I'm sure he'll be great. I think he's the father of Aubrey Plaza's kid.

Drew:
I think that is true.

Grant:
I think I saw something about that. I don't know much about their relationship, but that's just a fact about him-

Drew:
That's a thing.

Grant:
that's in my head. Next- next casting.

Drew:
Yeah, so TBD on that one, kind of. But Samara Weaving is as Emma Frost.

Grant:
I haven't seen- I don't think it's a single Samara Weaving movie.

Drew:
Ready Or Not, Guns Akimbo?

Grant:
I've heard that Ready Or Not is very good.

Drew:
Sure.

Grant:
I haven't seen it. So I guess I need to get on that, but, a lot people-

Drew:
Out of anyone with the current look of the character-

Grant:
She hits it the most-

Drew:
Samara Weaving nails it.

Grant:
Yes, yeah she does look like the character.

Drew:
Yeah.

Grant:
for sure. All right.

Drew:
So we don't really know her acting ability there, but-

Grant:
I'm sure she's great.

Drew:
on looks basis, I'm sure she's good.

Grant:
We also had to like- I mean, we want solid, very good actors in the MCU, but it's not like the craziest performances of all time, usually.

Drew:
No.

Grant:
You want quality actors to elevate a performance-

Drew:
Right.

Grant:
or a character a little bit. So I'm sure she'll be great.

Drew:
And then next we have Maya Boyd as Storm.

Grant:
Never heard of her.

Drew:
This is probably one of my favorite castings, and I know nothing about Maya Boyd, but here's why: they found her off Broadway. And I think that's just-

Grant:
Like on Broadway?

Drew:
On Broadway.

Grant:
But like off of Broadway.

Drew:
They're now pulling her off of Broadway to be in the X-Men.

Grant:
Got you.

Drew:
I just think that's so sick, I think, as an aspiring creative, it's like- that's just the dream.

Grant:
Well, that's where they find a lot of actors, young actors there, believe it or not, like half the Stranger Things kids were Broadway kids.

Drew:
That's true, yeah.

Grant:
So I mean, if you're stage-trained, even just like Broadway stage-trained, it tends to be a pretty good sign for your acting abilities.

Drew:
Yep.

Grant:
I see that you wrote down & Juliet. I actually saw & Juliet.

Drew:
On Broadway?

Grant:
No, the Broadway touring show.

Drew:
Okay, yeah.

Grant:
But I saw it the other day- or the other week.

Drew:
Yeah, she plays Juliet.

Grant:
I mean, yeah.

Drew:
So fair enough.

Grant:
I'm sure she was great.

Drew:
Yeah.

Grant:
Yeah, interesting show. I'm sure that'll be great. No other thoughts there.

Drew:
Yep. And then finally, we have Adam Driver as Mr. Sinister-

Grant:
Which...

Drew:
you don't really need an introduction to Adam Driver.

Grant:
Nope. He's great.

Drew:
He's great. He's one of the most dynamic actors working, in my opinion.

Grant:
Yeah.

Drew:
I think he's fantastic.

Grant:
He's kind of been on a quieter streak recently.

Drew:
That's true.

Grant:
I didn't watch Megalopolis. I don't really care to.

Drew:
Yeah, I don't really care to either.

Grant:
But I mean, if you've seen Marriage Story, even, I mean, I know the sequels are really hit or miss - more miss than hit probably -

Drew:
Yeah.

Grant:
but he's great in them. He is a very well-rounded, solid actor.

Drew:
BlacKkKlansman. He's great there, too.

Grant:
He's very funny in BlacKkKlansman. Yeah, this is, I'm sure, good casting. I don't really care-

Drew:
Yep.

Grant:
or have any attachment to Mr. Sinister, but I like seeing Adam Driver in this role here. I'm sure he will be interesting.

Drew:
Some other things to note, in my opinion, that make this movie really interesting to me is, obviously, you have Jake Schreier, who directed Thunderbolts, but also is the primary director for Beef, which is a very good show.

Grant:
It is very good.

Drew:
And the writers are from one of my favorite shows of all time being The Bear and Beef.

Grant:
Okay.

Drew:
So I'm like-

Grant:
That's really interesting.

Drew:
we have some super solid talent behind the camera and in front of the camera. This feels very much like we're trying to focus on the drama and the dynamics of the characters-

Grant:
Yeah.

Drew:
just based off the writing crew and Jake Schreier-

Grant:
Yeah.

Drew:
more than the spectacle that we've had in the kind of post-Endgame MCU.

Grant:
I think that bodes well for the X-Men movie.

Drew:
100%.

Grant:
100%. Like we just did a review of all five seasons of The Bear, and we've talked about Beef Season 2 on the podcast. In both of those media, you have very incredible inter-character dynamics-

Drew:
Sure.

Grant:
and conflict and tension-

Drew:
Yep.

Grant:
and all the things. Both of those stories are very, very good.

Drew:
Very good.

Grant:
So the fact that that is the team behind this movie, where this movie could really get a lot of runway from inter-character dynamics and tension there, like, I think that's what this movie maybe needs to be. So that bodes well, in my opinion.

Drew:
Yeah. Jake Schreier has also proven that he can manage an ensemble with Thunderbolts. So yeah, I am very excited for this movie. I think it will be very interesting.

Grant:
Yes. I'm actually really looking forward to this. It premieres- or is set premiere May 5th, 2028, which is a ways out, honestly.

Drew:
It's a ways out. That's like two years, yeah.

Grant:
And we still have some casting announcements potentially in the future, depending on what the script shapes up to be.

Drew:
Sure.

Grant:
We'll see long-term. So we did a poll on our channel, which I'm going to pull up really quick. But it was basically a "how are we feeling about the X-Men casting?" poll. And then there are four options, two of them positive, two of them negative, and kind of it was a scale. Our poll currently three hours in with 245 votes, which is like a decent sample size-

Drew:
Sure

Grant:
is we have 22% at the highest positivity, 71% at the like kind of like, "it's a pretty good casting." So like both of those percentages are in the positive category, which 71 plus 22 is 93. So 93% of people that we have polled are positive about this casting.

Drew:
Okay.

Grant:
I think I'm in the same boat.

Drew:
I'm also in the same boat.

Grant:
I don't have a ton of other thoughts besides, I hope this movie is good.

Drew:
I- everything is pointing to this movie will be good. We now just have to wait and see.

Grant:
I agree. And like, I think we got a small sample size of what X-Men could be within this universe with Jean Grey.

Drew:
Sure.

Grant:
Jury's out, but this seems to be a step in the right direction for Marvel. And this is potentially their next big IP.

Drew:
I think it is, yeah.

Grant:
And I think they know they got to get this right because the X-Men franchise has kind of been in a middling state for 20 years with some really great entries and some really, really bad entries.

Drew:
Yeah.

Grant:
So.

Drew:
I also assume Tramell Tillman someone will come back to some capacity and be a player here

Grant:
I mean you can't hire Tramell Tillman and just be like, "Hey, you're only in one-

Drew:
I know.

Grant:
movie ever."

Drew:
I think Damage Control will probably make the Sentinels at some point and like this will be the big at least a plot here. So that's also interesting. But yeah, I think I'm super excited about where Marvel is heading, which is not something I thought I would say probably a year ago.

Grant:
Yeah. I think I'm in the same boat.

Drew:
Sure.

Grant:
I don't have a ton of other thoughts on this besides I want to know what y'all think about the X-Men casting.

Drew:
Yeah.

Grant:
Yep. If you have issues with it, I want to hear why, and also be like open-minded because I feel like people can get really heated about Marvel and about casting and all the things. I just want to hear your thoughts and use reasoning. Don't just insult people if they disagree-

Drew:
That's good.

Grant:
with you.

Drew:
Yep.

Grant:
I don't know, what announcement- well actually, really quick before we do that. We have our hotness scale.

Drew:
Oh yeah, we do.

Grant:
I want to kind of rate each of these big announcements on our hotness scale. Do you want to introduce our hotness scale really quick?

Drew:
Yep. So obviously, if you've been here before, you know, if not, we kind of do this for our hot takes episodes. This is just rating the cultural hotness of something.

Grant:
Yes.

Drew:
So we got Raging Fire. We have Enough For S'mores. We got Some Smoke, Only Embers, Wet Logs. I'm going to say this X-Men cast is Enough For S'mores.

Grant:
I would agree. I think-

Drew:
Okay.

Grant:
it would've honestly had potential to be raging fire-

Drew:
Yeah.

Grant:
if there weren't a few unknowns surrounding the movie.

Drew:
Sure, yeah.

Grant:
But I think this is a very strong announcement. This is probably the strongest announcement from D23 in my opinion.

Drew:
Yeah, I agree.

Grant:
So I feel like if we're talking about "how fire is this announcement?" This is pretty fire.

Drew:
I think it's great. I really am excited for how this goes.

Grant:
It's weird. I feel like it's really since Brand New Day, cultural sentiment around the MCU has shifted more towards excitement.

Drew:
Even with Doomsday, where it's like at the beginning of the year, it was like people are not excited for this movie.

Grant:
Yeah

Drew:
People are so skeptical. And when Brand New Day came out and now this new trailer...

Grant:
I mean-

Drew:
I mean, there were always die-hards and I literally see you writing in the comments right now, die-hard Doomsday defenders.

Grant:
"It was always going to be good." Like, hold on. It was not always going to be good. We had a lot of unknowns around this movie.

Drew:
But yeah, it is interesting how the sentiment of Marvel has turned.

Grant:
I mean. I feel like we watched it in real time because we dropped-

Drew:
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Grant:
a Doomsday trailer reaction to the first trailer and we were like, "this looks a little mid-ish. We don't really know how this is going to fare." And then we did a reaction to this new trailer and the sentiment had really shifted-

Drew:
Yeah.

Grant:
to like, "hey, I'm more excited for this movie now." And I think that's a good thing. I want to see Marvel succeed. I want them to have high quality films. I also want them to not use generative AI - touch on that another time, I guess - but I am hopeful for the future of the MCU.

Drew:
I've said this before and I think you disagree with me here, but that's okay. I genuinely think Kevin Feige is a very smart guy.

Grant:
No, I think I do agree. Yeah.

Drew:
And I think he has seen the cultural conversation and he is now pivoting accordingly. And I think it's actually going to work. You want to know who hasn't seen the cultural conversation because they walk around with blindfolds on?

Grant:
Who?

Drew:
Kathleen Kennedy and Dave Filoni.

Grant:
Well, Kathleen Kennedy isn't really involved.

Drew:
True.

Grant:
But that was a great segue.

Drew:
Thank you.

Grant:
I'm proud of your segue.

Drew:
Thank you. I was pretty proud of that.

Grant:
We are about to talk about Star Wars. Kathleen Kennedy, I think, was a little bit more of a subject to what the fans thought, which can be good and can be bad. We'll dive into that. But Star Wars had some relatively big announcements-

Drew:
Sure.

Grant:
at D23, which is so interesting because Star Wars is one of the most profitable franchises of all time. And yet it kind of feels like they're just a side note at this D23.

Drew:
It's tragic.

Grant:
I don't even know what to think of it. But what do you think? I guess we could start with the biggest thing- well, I don't know if it's the biggest thing. But let's start with Starfighter-

Drew:
Okay.

Grant:
which is the new Star Wars movie releasing next year.

Drew:
Yup.

Grant:
It got a trailer, which you can watch maybe some clips of on Instagram. It's not, like, officially-

Drew:
Yeah.

Grant:
released yet. I'm sure it will, at least by Doomsday, so

Drew:
I haven't seen it. So, I don't really know anything about this movie, except Shawn Levy is here. Ryan Gosling is here. And his name is Kade Auberon.

Grant:
Kade Auberon, "O-beron," whatever.

Drew:
Which is cool. We have a name.

Grant:
It sounds a little bit like every other Star Wars name, but it's cool.

Drew:
But that's fine.

Grant:
Yes.

Drew:
I think Ryan Gosling is incredibly talented, super charismatic.

Grant:
Yes.

Drew:
I think he can basically do anything. Shawn Levy...

Grant:
Okay. I was thinking about this on the car ride here.

Drew:
Okay. Okay.

Grant:
I don't think Shawn Levy is the best director of all time.

Drew:
I don't either.

Grant:
I think his movies lack much visual flair and his storytelling-

Drew:
And depth, yeah.

Grant:
can be hit or miss. But he's not like the worst director of all time.

Drew:
No.

Grant:
I know that you are not the biggest Shawn Levy fan.

Drew:
I just think he's very one-note-

Grant:
Yeah.

Drew:
and has proven he can only do one thing and that's action-comedy.

Grant:
He does have a style of humor that is particular to him that feels a little- well, it's particular to him, but it feels very generic of like, MCU-style jokes/humor.

Drew:
Right. Yep.

Grant:
Like "we're just going to crack a joke in a serious moment to break the tension and it will get laughs-"

Drew:
Yep.

Grant:
kind of vibe. I didn't- from the clips I saw of the Starfighter trailer, this looks a little bit more to be on the spectacle end of his directing as opposed to like the jokes side of it, but I could be wrong. I don't know. How do you feel about Ryan Gosling and all this stuff that's going on?

Drew:
He's making some interesting career plays-

Grant:
I think.

Drew:
and we'll get into that at another date.

Grant:
He said in some interview that he's choosing more fun roles for his kids is something I saw.

Drew:
Fair enough. Like honestly, if you're Ryan Gosling, do whatever you want, dude.

Grant:
Take a stretch of your career to do these fun roles.

Drew:
I don't even care. Will I be excited to see Ryan Gosling in Star Wars? Yeah. Will I be excited to see Ryan Gosling as a Ghost Rider? Also yes.

Grant:
Yeah.

Drew:
But...

Grant:
I don't know.

Drew:
Do I also want potentially more depth that I know Ryan has, again, haven't seen this movie, he could be the deepest-

Grant:
No, he-

Drew:
Marvel and Star Wars we've ever gotten.

Grant:
Sure

Drew:
But I don't know. That's just kind of where my head's at.

Grant:
I think with Ryan, I mean, his best performances are when he was like really going try-hard on trying to win the Oscar and do the dramatic performance, right? But I also think Project Hail Mary is very good and one of his best performances.

Drew:
It is very good, yeah.

Grant:
It's like maybe not his best, but it's at least top five, and I know that sounds crazy, but he's very, very good in that movie. He does a lot in that movie. He's very funny.

Drew:
Yeah.

Grant:
I like that. And he might even get nominated for an Oscar this year. I think he probably will. So we'll see, long term, how his career shapes up, but I want him to at least keep doing some dramatic performances. I don't want him to just become "the Disney guy"-

Drew:
Yeah.

Grant:
and do all these Disney movies because he can. Like, keep putting good art out there, Ryan. That being said, you've been picking relatively well overall, so I don't want to just hate on you.

Drew:
No. You should come on the podcast. We would both cry like little boys.

Grant:
We would. This is the third Ryan Gosling space movie that exists.

Drew:
That's true.

Grant:
I wonder how it will stack up against the other two that exists. We'll see.

Drew:
Yeah, we'll see.

Grant:
If this movie is anything like Project Hail Mary, I'll probably quite like it.

Drew:
Yeah. And here's the thing. I think Shawn Levy and Ryan Reynolds are very similar, humor-wise. I think Ryan Gosling is not a Ryan Reynolds, in the sense of, has a little more depth and honestly more charismatic-

Grant:
Yes.

Drew:
on a broad scale-

Grant:
No, no, yeah

Drew:
as an actor.

Grant:
That's a fair take.

Drew:
So I think maybe like Shawn Levy's writing and - I don't even know if he wrote this movie actually -

Grant:
His direction.

Drew:
Direction, whatever. And Ryan Gosling's performance might work really well.

Grant:
It might. Yeah, gain, Ryan Gosling is not going to turn in a bad performance. It's just how is the film? How is the writing? We don't know.

Drew:
We don't know. The other big Star Wars-

Grant:
Yeah, go for it.

Drew:
thing is Ahsoka Season 2. We got a trailer. What are your thoughts, Grant Crenshaw, on the trailer?

Grant:
I have a confession to make.

Drew:
Okay.

Grant:
I only watched half of Ahsoka Season 1.

Drew:
I also have a confession. I haven't seen any of it.

Grant:
Oh gosh. Well, we will watch it before Ahsoka Season 2 comes out. We will review Ahsoka Season 2 when that comes out, because that's Star Wars and it's big and we want to talk about it.

Drew:
Yep, we will.

Grant:
I need to finish Season 1. I mean, we've kind of beaten a dead horse with Dave Filoni and his characters. I don't think Ahsoka is the most interesting character to continue right now. I think we need to write an ending for her and go tell more interesting new stories. But also, the trailer I saw looked pretty fire, like it looks cool. And maybe Season 2 will be better than Season 1. People like Season 1 enough, but they really only liked the Anakin-Ahsoka episode.

Drew:
Hey, but guess what? We have more Anakin and Ahsoka.

Grant:
That's true. We do have more- I think they saw the first season and they were like, "man, everybody really liked those Clone Wars flashbacks. Let's do more of those."

Drew:
"Let's give them more."

Grant:
But I mean, I'm going to have enough faith in Ahsoka as a character that the season could be very good. I don't know.

Drew:
I agree. I mean, I think this is mainly because I'm more cynical with where Star Wars is right now, but a little bit of it feels cash-grabby in the sense of, "oh, look, we know they want Anakin and Ahsoka. So let's recast Hayden Christensen and..."

Grant:
Or like "bring him back," yeah.

Drew:
"bring him back and have a bunch of adventures with no real point."

Grant:
Well, yeah, again, we'll see. There's a few things about Ahsoka the show, which again, I haven't seen the entire first season, so I don't want to make too many comments, but we are in this era of Star Wars that occurs between the end of the original trilogy and the Mandalorian occurs somewhere in here and then Ahsoka occurs somewhere in there. And then you have the sequels. And we know the outcome of stuff in the sequels. Like, we know where we are. And so when stuff happens in this era in between, it's hard for me to justify because it feels like, "well, long-term it's not going to have that much meaning."

Drew:
Right.

Grant:
And I just don't know if it will long-term.

Drew:
And I think the way to rectify this is have really engaging characters and emotionally impact people.

Grant:
Yes.

Drew:
Star Wars has not proven that they can do that.

Grant:
I mean, I hate saying this, but the Mandalorian and Grogu was a middling entry-

Drew:
Right. It was 100 percent.

Grant:
in the Star Wars universe at best. It was probably one of the weakest Star Wars films I've seen. And it- it was a fun adventure for the first 30 minutes, but it felt like a glorified TV special.

Drew:
And not to- I feel like I talked about The Bear a lot, but something else that like The Bear has these flashbacks where you know where characters end up and you know how things go. And yet you still care about every flashback and every time jump-

Grant:
And every flashback adds depth.

Drew:
right. because you care about these characters and it adds depth. With Star Wars when you were in specifically when we're in this middle chunk between seven and six, where we've been for...

Grant:
A long time.

Drew:
since Disney plus came out. It's just so hard to care.

Grant:
Yeah. I mean, we've said this a million times on the podcast, we will say it again. In my opinion, Star Wars - the Star Wars team - needs to hire a very, very high end director/writer and a good writing team and say, "Hey, we're putting all our chips in on you guys write Old Republic, a trilogy around that and make it super interesting with great characters, but it's new."

Drew:
Yep.

Grant:
And like, put your chips in on that and let one director have one vision, à la Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings or something like that, or Denis Villeneuve with Dune. Do something like that and work really hard on that and put all your chips in on that. People watch it because it's Star Wars, like.

Drew:
Right.

Grant:
And have enough faith in the name brand and like just market the crap out of it. Cast well. I mean, we've even seen how X-Men has gotten a lot of traction around it from some solid casting. Like that's where I think Star Wars should go.

Drew:
Yep.

Grant:
While these announcements are decent. I think Starfighter is a new movie. I'm excited for that.

Drew:
Sure.

Grant:
I don't want to say there's no novelty.

Drew:
Yeah, that's true.

Grant:
I just, I want them to do something a little more special.

Drew:
Yeah, I agree.

Grant:
I- man, I might be nitpicking. I'm probably going to get flamed in the comments, but that's my opinion, so.

Drew:
Yep. I agree.

Grant:
So hotness scale on how fire do you think these Star Wars announcements are, Drew?

Drew:
Some Smoke.

Grant:
Yeah, I think they're middle of the road.

Drew:
Yeah.

Grant:
Okay. That's fine with me.

Drew:
Yeah.

Grant:
I'm okay with saying that. Alright Drew, we have another announcement from Marvel actually-

Drew:
We do.

Grant:
that we haven't dug into yet at all, kind of the last bigger Marvel announcement, which this one has kind of gotten maybe looked over from the Doomsday trailer and then the X-Men casting announcement is VisionQuest got a trailer.

Drew:
It's true.

Grant:
This is maybe one of the longest shows I feel like it's taken to make ever, like-

Drew:
Yeah.

Grant: not actually ever, but like close.

Drew:
Well, close. Yeah.

Grant:
I just feel like this show has been talked about for a while and Vision's story has been needed to be completed for a while.

Drew:
Sure.

Grant:
I'm not sure how many people even care about this anymore. I mean, Marvel fans do, but like I'm not sure Vision is as much in the public eye anymore. What did you think of the VisionQuest trailer? I also think the name is a little silly, but, whatever.

Drew:
Thought it was intriguing.

Grant:
Yeah, I did too.

Drew:
I think something that I found humorous is it was like a some phrase in the trailer was like "The Groundbreaking Trilogy."

Grant:
That- yeah I saw that.

Drew:
WandaVision, Agatha All Along, and VisionQuest. "Groundbreaking."

Grant:
How groundbreaking are we really?

Drew:
I wouldn't call it a "groundbreaking trilogy."

Grant:
I didn't even know we were calling this junk a trilogy...

Drew:
I didn't know it was a trilogy until now, but.

Grant:
Sure.

Drew:
I mean, look, I think WandaVision honestly had a ton of potential.

Grant:
I think it had really great like first five or six episodes of set up.

Drew:
Phenomenal. And then the ending was just kind of bland and boring. I think if they can learn from the mistake there, because again, this trailer looks like it has a lot of intrigue-

Grant:
Yes.

Drew:
and Vision kind of has to split personality going on with white Vision and like he has red Vision's memories. We have...

Grant:
Ultron.

Drew:
James Spader's Ultron has returned.

Grant:
I- He looks like James Spader.

Drew:
He does.

Grant:
Big ol' beard.

Drew:
Um, so like there was lots of interesting depth we could have here.

Grant:
Yeah, I agree.

Drew:
If they can learn from the criticism of WandaVision and not have a big CGI fight at the end and have some depth at the end-

Grant:
Yeah.

Drew:
and really stick the landing, I'm all here for it.

Grant:
I completely agree. I think this trailer looks very interesting. It looks like there's going to be a lot of good character tension/dynamics.

Drew:
It feels very Black Mirror-y.

Grant:
Yeah, a little bit.

Drew:
Yeah.

Grant:
Which is kind of a little bit of what WandaVision felt like-

Drew:
Yeah, true.

Grant:
to a certain extent. I haven't actually seen Agatha All Along. I must confess.

Drew:
I also haven't either. So we'll catch up on that before VisionQuest-

Grant:
VisionQuest comes out.

Drew:
Yeah.

Grant:
But I am more curious how this is capturing the public's eye, how many people will actually watch this show. I mean, it looks good though.

Drew:
It does look good.

Grant:
I'm not going to sit here and say like, "oh, this show shouldn't exist." I mean, this looks like a good entry. This looks a little more interesting than just the bland Falcon and Winter Soldier type show.

Drew:
Sure. Yeah.

Grant:
Maybe that's a bad example or Ms. Marvel or whatever. But like, this looks a little more interesting and a little more, I don't even know the right term here, but just like, I don't know.

Drew:
Potential-filled.

Grant:
Yeah. It's out of the ordinary. It's- yeah, we'll see.

Drew:
I think Paul Bettany is great.

Grant:
He is great. He's very solid.

Drew:
So again, lots of, lots of potential, still kind of TBD on where it will land.

Grant:
It really does feel like Marvel sidelined the whole Wanda, Vision, everything, storyline. Because I feel like that was the focus for a second there.

Drew:
Yeah, it was.

Grant:
Then we had Multiverse of Madness. And then now we kind of had nothing for a while.

Drew:
Yeah, Wanda- what happened? She got killed, allegedly.

Grant:
We'll see when she comes back.

Drew:
But then I think at the end of Dr. Strange 1, wasn't it like "Wanda will return?"

Grant:
I don't even know anymore.

Drew:
I couldn't tell you.

Grant:
It's been a while since I've seen that movie.

Drew:
I don't know.

Grant:
Who even knows? I think that this could be an interesting entry. I will need to do some catching up on where the frick is Vision right now? I don't even remember. We'll see.

Drew:
Yep. All right.

Grant:
Hotness scale?

Drew:
I think Some Smoke.

Grant:
Yeah.

Drew:
Yeah.

Grant:
I would say, I mean, I could even be convinced of Enough For S'mores. Like, I-

Drew:
Yeah. I think- eh, screw it, Enough For S'mores.

Grant:
Yeah, yeah, you know what? We're high on Marvel right now-

Drew:
Yeah.

Grant:
in this era of Stole My Line.

Drew:
Kevin Feige, we believe in you.

Grant:
Until you break our hearts again. No, but this looks interesting. I am more excited for it than I thought I would be.

Drew:
Yeah, I'm excited.

Grant:
All right. We have another plot point in the D23 cinematic universe-

Drew:
We do.

Grant:
that we need to discuss.

Drew:
This is where we take a turn for the worse, in my opinion.

Grant:
Yeah.

Drew:
We have our header in our notes. It's called "Sequels & Remakes Galore."

Grant:
I just want you to list these off Drew.

Drew:
All right. We have Tangled live action, Lilo and Stitch 2 live action. That just hurts my soul to read. Zootopia 3, Frozen 3, Simpsons movie-

Grant:
which is a sequel.

Drew:
Princess Diaries 3-

Grant:
By the way, my wife Polly is very excited for that.

Drew:
So, I mean, so is my sisters and my mother.

Grant:
Yes.

Drew:
Coco 2, Ice Age: Boiling Point. Which one is that? I don't even know. Seven, eight?

Grant:
Couldn't even tell you.

Drew:
Romy and Michele 2.

Grant:
Yes.

Drew:
The Bluey Movie, because we needed that. And then Kingdom Hearts, the anime series.

Grant:
So I put an asterisk by the Bluey Movie and Kingdom Hearts. I think the asterisk there stands for this hasn't been done in a movie format before-

Drew:
But it is a, it's a preexisting IP.

Grant:
or a TV show format before, Bluey has been in TV show. It will now be a 3D animated movie. And then Kingdom Hearts is a popular game series-

Drew:
Sure.

Grant:
that will be an anime-ish series.

Drew:
Okay.

Grant:
We'll see.

Drew:
I mean, here's the thing. With these two specifically, I don't even hate.

Grant:
No, yeah. I'm fine with that, whatever.

Drew:
I think that's fine. Bluey Movie. The kids will eat it up. Disney will make a ton of money.

Grant:
I like The Peanuts Movie.

Drew:
Great.

Grant:
And The Peanuts Movie is based on the comics and then the popular TV specials, so like.

Drew:
Sure.

Grant:
I'm not going to hate on that.

Drew:
Kingdom Hearts are taking a page out of Arcane's book. If they can do a good job, I'm here for it.

Grant:
Yep

Drew:
If you can tell a compelling story. All these other ones.

Grant:
Yeah.

Drew:
That's tough.

Grant:
And I think this is where I get a little sad. And we have, don't worry, a section of original projects that we will talk about after this.

Drew:
We do. Yep.

Grant:
We're not just going to ignore those. We will talk about them. But the ratio here is kind of crazy.

Drew:
It is kinda crazy.

I mean, there's at least nine-ish sequel/live-action remakes/whatever-

Drew:
And there were five original projects that were announced.

Grant:
/updated. Yeah. I think, and maybe this is a weird take or maybe you don't even agree with this, Drew. But I think we're living in an era where they are taking the made-for-TV special, sequel or straight-to-DVD, direct-to-DVD sequel and putting more money into it to try to milk more money sequel out of it.

Drew:
Yeah. I mean, I agree.

Grant:
I mean, quite literally, Lilo and Stitch 2. There is a Lilo and Stitch animated sequel. I think it's called Stitch Has a Glitch. I haven't seen it. But like, that wasn't a box office smashing success.

Drew:
Right.

Grant:
And now we are trying to, I don't know if the sequel will be based on that or not. But like, when you're taking a sequel, trying to milk as much out of it as possible, which can be fine. But then you have Lilo and Stitch 2, Zootopia 3, Frozen 3, Princess Diaries 3, Coco 2. Oh, I think Incredibles 3. I left off this list.

Drew:
Oh yeah, we didn't even put that on the list.

Grant:
Romy and Michele 2, Ice Age 8ish. Like, that's a lot of 2's and 3's right there.

Drew:
Yeah.

Grant:
So, yeah.

Drew:
I think Tangled Live Action is a bad idea. I think Tangled is probably my favorite Disney movie of all time.

Grant:
I actually like the casting. I think the casting looks good.

Drew:
It's- look, I don't have a problem. I think the casting's great. I think, honestly, uh, Kathryn Hahn: perfect Mother Gothel-

Grant:
Oh yeah, she's Mother Gothel, great.

Drew:
So good.

Grant:
Yeah. Yeah.

Drew:
It, it, this movie cannot justify its own existence.

Grant:
No-

Drew:
No matter what. And that's my problem.

Grant:
Even the live action remake I have the most issue with, I think if they did a live action remake once every five years, I'd be like, "you know what, whatever," this movie will make so much money. Tangled 2 will- or Tangled Remake will make so much money.

Drew:
Probably.

Grant:
Because you know what? You know what? My wife said to me, when she saw on Instagram the Tangled Remake live action announcement, she was like, "we are going to see that opening weekend." I said, "yes honey, we will."

Drew:
"Yes honey."

Grant:
I also, I have a movie podcast.

Drew:
Yeah, also, yeah.

Grant:
We have to.

But like the fact that Moana got a live action remake that bombed at the box office...

Drew:
and got a, didn't they get a second?

Grant:
We got to put the finger on the pulse a little bit and be like, "hey, this maybe isn't the greatest idea to keep doing from here on out." Like, I don't know. It's just, it's saddened me to see all the announcements and most of them were sequels/live action remakes.

Drew:
Yeah. Now, again, will Frozen 3 make a gazillion dollars, probably, but I don't really know how to quantify this in actual words. But if the writer's room starts with "what is going to make the most money?" that feels like a cultural problem that will have bigger implications down the line as opposed to "how can we tell the compelling story?" And here are the cultural problems that I foresee in the future. Eventually, people are going to stop caring about Frozen, Zootopia, Simpsons, Princess Diaries, Coco, Ice Age-

Grant:
Like-

Drew:
and Bluey.

Grant:
I'm not sure how well- I mean, I don't want to say this right off the bat, but like, it's been a while since the first Coco. How many people are going to be, like, ready to hop in their seats?

Drew:
Yeah, that's fair.

Grant:
I mean, I'm relatively excited for Coco 2, but I'm not like, "man, I'm so excited. I'm so glad they're making that."

Drew:
And I think Disney will be dwarfed by studios that are putting original IP out there-

Grant:
I mean, in 2026 alone-

Drew:
in the near future.

Grant:
They've seen a craving for original/relatively original content. Project Hail Mary and the Odyssey, which yes, they are based on works, but those did really well in the box office. And then Obsession and Backrooms, which Backrooms is based off some form of work, but like those are original-ish movies, if not fully original movies. And they, those have won the box offices this year-

Drew:
Yeah.

Grant:
outside of Spider-Man, which is its own thing. So like, there are signs that we should make more original stuff and put our chips in on that. If we do it well, it can capture the public's attention and people can be excited about it. Instead, Disney's like, "uhh, we're going to double down."

Drew:
And even like, I don't think I have a problem with a trilogy being written-

Grant:
Oh yeah.

Drew:
but Disney has been so reactionary in the last 10 years of like, literally just following the money that it's like, I mean, take the Spider-Verse, like, I don't have a problem with the Across and Beyond because they were written as a trilogy-

Grant:
Yep.

Drew:
and there's clearly an overarching story here.

Grant:
Yes.

Drew:
But tell me, there's been an overarching story between Frozen 1, 2, and 3.

Grant:
Even with Toy Story 4 and 5, like they don't...

Drew:
Right, exactly.

Grant:
And listen, you got to play the game. Like I'm fully aware of that. This is a business. You have to do the sequel that will make money guaranteed. You have to do the remake that will do- make money guaranteed. When we're talking about Romy and Michelle 2, I don't know, man. Like, I know some of these will be Disney+, not exclusives, but like that's where their life will be and that's okay. It does sadden me that this looks like the majority, "hey, we're going to make moves for money and put out original stuff that we won't even market as hard as we need to."

Drew:
Yeah.

Grant:
So.

Drew:
You want to know what has been marketed hard? Hexed.

Grant:
Yeah.

Drew:
From Disney.

Grant:
Let's talk about... Well, we can rate...

Drew:
I'm working on my segues.

Grant:
No, that was great. We can rate all of the-

Drew:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Grant:other movie announcements as one thing, Hexed has been marketed well? relatively well?

Drew:
Maybe that's just because we live at the theater.

Grant:
Yeah.

Drew:
And we've seen this trailer 47 times.

Grant:
I also don't watch a lot of live TV right now. Maybe when football season starts up, we'll see like a million Hexed trailers.

Drew:
Yeah.

Grant:
We'll be sick of it, but... Yeah. I've seen the trailer. We'll go see it.

Drew:
I've seen it a lot.

Grant:
Yeah. It doesn't have the most unique visual style of all time, but that's okay.

Drew:
Nor does it seem to have the most unique plot ever.

Grant:
Encanto was good. Like, this could be a very good movie.

Drew:
But, hey, look, I'm going to applaud Disney here-

Grant:
Yeah

Drew:
for making an original movie.

Grant:
I will as well.

Drew:
And we will be the judge of if it's good when it comes out.

Grant:
Yes. I think that wasn't the new original film announcement or original thing announcement that I was most excited for.

Drew:
No.

Grant:
So.

Drew:
It was not.

Grant:
I'm going to list them off really quick.

Drew:
Okay.

Grant:
So we have Hexed, which was, I mean previously announced, I'm sure we got some updates on it. We have Gatto, which is a three-episode mini-series based on like a hundred-year-old animated cartoon that kind of was Disney's other thing besides Mickey Mouse-

Drew:
Sure.

Grant:
and it got shelved and then is now getting revived. This is a live-action mini-series directed by Jon Favreau, but it has 2D animation worked into it.

Drew:
Oh, is it live action?

Grant:
Yeah.

Drew:
Oh, I didn't know this.

Grant:
I think so.

Drew:
I thought it was just animation.

Grant:
I'm pretty sure it's live-action, but then they work in 2D animation.

Drew:
Okay.

Grant:
What do you think?

Drew:
I mean, the still that has been posted looks great. Super intriguing.

Grant:
Sure.

Drew:
Very different from what Pixar has done before. So I'm all for that.

Grant:
Oh, wait, no. I'm not- I'm talking about Oswald.

Drew:
You're talking about Oswald.

Grant:
I'm so sorry.

Drew:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Gatto's a movie.

Grant:
Wow, misinformation. Yes. Sorry.

Drew:
Yes.

Grant:
Gatto. We'll talk about Gatto in a second. I'm sorry.

Drew:
I was so confused.

Grant:
I'm talking about Oswald. I got my own freaking words mixed up.

Drew:
Gatto is a movie.

Grant:
Yes.

Drew:
With a specific animation style that Pixar has literally never done before.

Grant:
Yes, yes.

Drew:
And I am all on board.

Grant:
I am on board for that.

Drew:
Because Pixar's trying something new.

Grant:
Yes, I think that's super interesting.

Drew:
And that's awesome.

Grant:
I think I tried it with Elemental. I don't really know how well it worked. I haven't seen that one yet, but this is actually very visually interesting.

Drew:
It's super intriguing. I know nothing about the story or really anything, except for the one still I've seen.

Grant:
Yes.

Drew:
And it's awesome.

Grant:
Again, I'm sorry for spreading misinformation and lies on the internet. When you talk on a podcast, sometimes you just get words mixed up and that's okay. But back to Oswald, that is the-

Drew:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Grant:
three-part animated sort of live-action animated series, directed-

Drew:
Produced, directed by Jon Favreau?

Grant:
Sure.

Drew:
Yeah, we don't know.

Grant:
How do you feel about that one?

Drew:
I know nothing. I think it's fine.

Grant:
Yes. I'm in the same boat. We have Ghost Market, which is another Pixar film, which is in their more normal Pixar animation style. I haven't really seen much on it besides it was announced, it's an original movie. Any thoughts there?

Drew:
It's an original movie.

Grant:
Yep. That's kind of all she wrote. Then we have Clay, which is a Disney animated feature that looks like some form of 2D-3D animation mix, starring Kieran Culkin. That will come out like a little ways from now, so that's another interesting thing.

Drew:
It's original. I- Kieran Culkin's hilarious. That's all I got.

Grant:
Just what's unfortunate is that these announcements feel a little more sidelined, at least in the grand scope of culture. This is not what Disney put all their chips in on.

Drew:
True.

Grant:
When you see the amounts of 3s and 2s in their other announcements, you're like, "oh, well, they're going for the sequels kind of vibe right now."

Drew:
Yeah.

Grant:
I don't think that every sequel is bad, obviously. We had the Toy Story sequels like way back when. Those were great. Like, I think sequels can be good when they're done well and relatively sparingly. It feels like that's all that Disney's doing right now, so.

Drew:
Yeah.

Grant:
Let us know your thoughts on that, anything you want to add to all these movie and TV show announcements.

Drew:
I am really excited about Gatto. I don't know when it comes out, but that's probably my most excited animated movie.

Grant:
Hoppers was very good.

Drew:
Hoppers was good.

Grant:
Yes.

Drew:
But even just artistically, I appreciate that Pixar is taking a swing here and we'll see how it does. But other than that, I agree with your sentiment of "too many sequels."

Grant:
I think, like, again, we are starved for originality in the greater Hollywood scope. Disney, please do more original stuff. I mean, like- and if you're looking at this D23 announcement and you're really excited for Incredibles 3, that's great.

Drew:
Sure.

Grant:
Also, maybe plan to go see some of these original things and help them do well. As someone who has very little influence over your own decisions, that is my personal recommendation.

Drew:
As someone who's talking to you on a screen.

Grant:
Yes. But I feel like that's where we're at. Like, we want original stories to be told. This is something that I think we need to all invest in as a film community.

Drew:
I agree. Yeah.

Drew:
I got a little preachy there, but...

Drew:
That's okay. Um, yeah. Let us know your thoughts on everything D23,-

Grant:
Yeah.

Drew:
X-Men cast.

Grant:
Really quick. We need to do our hotness scale.

Drew:
Oh, yeah. Sorry. Sorry.

Grant:
No, it's okay. How do you feel on the hotness scale for these new movie announcements?

Drew:
I'm gonna say only embers.

Grant:
I think I'm okay- There's a little bit of redeemability here.

Drew:
There's a little bit of heat here.

Grant:
Redemption here?

Drew:
But not a lot.

Grant:
Yeah.

Drew:
Yeah.

Grant:
That's about it. I'm fine with that.

Drew:
Yeah.

Grant:
Uh, what does this D23 really mean for Disney? In your opinion?

Drew:
That's a good question. Um, I honestly think X-Men's huge. We have seen, for better or for worse, that Marvel can absolutely crush it if they make even a decent movie-

Grant:
Yes.

Drew:
I think, that Spider-Man: Brand New Day is good. But, like, in the grand scheme of cinema, that plot, not crazy.

Grant:
No.

Drew:
Not jaw-dropping to any degree.

Grant:
No. The scale of it is impressive, but.

Drew:
It is impressive. Um, but, I mean, one of the fastest movies ever to hit 2 billion, I think it hit it in 18 days. That's crazy.

Grant:
Yep. I think it's the second fastest behind Endgame.

Drew:
Yeah. So, when you have movies with an emotional story, with good word of mouth, and that comes from having an impact on the audience, not just being CGI slop.

Grant:
Yep.

Drew:
I think you can make a serious impact. I think X-Men honestly could nail it out of the park in that department, have great word of mouth, and be the catalyst for this new era of the MCU that they really need.

Grant:
Yep.

Drew:
And I think that they could absolutely crush it here.

Grant:
I think as more time goes on, I get more excited for a potential Phase 0 and let's focus up what the MCU should be.

Drew:
Right.

Grant:
Like, I think I'm excited for that, relatively. I think for the overall state of Disney, I'm still probably in the net negative.

Drew:
I agree.

Grant:
Even though I think Marvel is looking a bit stronger right now, I think Star Wars is still in a giant question mark phase. I think their animation and live action stuff is leaning more negative than positive.

Drew:
I would honestly say, for everything but Marvel, they're leaning more negative than positive.

Grant:
Yeah.

Drew:
Pixar, Disney, and Star Wars, I think all these announcements soured my opinion of those specific branches of Disney than they did alleviate my- my worry.

Grant:
I think even with Marvel, there's not a branch of Disney I can look at and say, I am 100% confident that this will do well within the next year.

Drew:
Yeah, no yeah, sure.

Grant:
And I mean, you can never really say that about anything. But I'm very confident that Spider-Verse trilogy will end up being one of the best animated movie trilogies of all time. But I'm fairly confident.

Drew:
I'm very confident Batman 2 will be good. I'm very confident Dune 3 will be good.

Grant:
Yeah, like there's stuff that I will be confident in. Even Doomsday, I still have some reservations about, even though I'm getting a little bit more on board as time goes on-

Drew:
Sure.

Grant:
and as people wear down my negativity in the comment section, which you do. You have an impact on me, actually, but.

Drew:
But yeah, I think I mean, again, I've said this, I think if Disney cannot pivot soon to being more proactive in, I mean, again, we said this on a podcast sometime ago, but Disney used to be the powerhouse of originality-

Grant:
Yeah.

Drew:
and like- just like the front runners of that and other studios will come and be better than you, Disney, if you cannot make something new and interesting.

Grant:
I mean, you can look at studios like even Laika and Ghibli,-

Drew:
Sure.

Grant:
those are currently like long term, they might be seen in a better light because of the actions you're taking now. And like those are incredible studios for animation. But like you used to be the animation studio in the world and right now you're focusing almost more on live action like half the time, at least since the 2010s. That's just- it's a little sad.

Drew:
Yeah.

Grant:
So I don't know. I want to see more from Disney. I think that there are some steps being taken in the right direction, feels like more steps are being taken backwards and forwards.

Drew:
Yep, I agree.

Grant:
So.

Drew:
Let us know your thoughts on the state of Disney, the state of all these announcements-

Grant:
Yep.

Drew:
the state of anything, your life. Let us know how your life is going.

Grant:
Yeah.

Drew:
Yeah.

Grant:
We'll try to help if you got something going on. I'm just kidding

Drew:
We are not licensed therapists-

Grant:
We are not.

Drew:
nor are we qualified.

Grant:
Nope.

Drew:
No, but we'll give you...

Grant:
We have advice.

Drew:
We'll- yeah, we'll give you some free unsolicited advice-

Grant:
We'll do our best.

Drew:
if you really want it.

Grant:
No, but if you like film and television, we have a ton of reviews up on the channel.

Drew:
Yep, we do.

Grant:
Drew, what else do we have coming up in the near foreseeable future?

Drew:
We are talking about Lanterns right now. We just posted our premiere episode yesterday.

Grant:
Yes.

Drew:
We really liked it.

Grant:
Yep

Drew:
So go watch that. Go watch Lanterns if you want to keep up with us.

Grant:
Yep.

Drew:
We're doing Tony next week- or no, this week.

Grant:
This weekend

Drew:
Crazy.

Grant:
Yes, The Rivals of Amziah King.

Drew:
Yeah.

Grant:
Yep.

Drew:
Little Matthew McGonaghy flicks. So that'll be fun. Obviously we got Dune. We got Doomsday. We have The Social Reckoning. We have Fjord. If you're into the artsy conversation, we have Primetime.

Grant:
Yes, coming up soon.

Drew:
We have anything and everything coming out in the theater, on streaming, we're going to talk about it.

Grant:
Or at least do our best. If you have any MCU hot takes, send those in. I know we're kind of mentioning this at the end of the episode, but we do hot takes episodes.

Drew:
Sure.

Grant:
So if you like those, those are up on the channel. We will talk about MCU hot takes at least by December.

Drew:
Yep.

Grant:
If you don't have anything else, Drew, we're going to get out of here. Take a break.

Drew:
And enjoy a film.