Well, welcome back to reviewing to me! That’s right! After a year long hiatus, I am back baby! To celebrate, let’s review a new movie that absolutely NO ONE is talking about!
We Bury The Dead is a new zombie survival horror flick that is written and directed by Zak Hilditch and stars the INCREDIBLY lovable Daisy Ridley! Here we follow a woman named Ava (Daisy Ridley) as she goes on a journey to find her missing husband while being forced to confront grief, loss, and the undead that keeps haunting her throughout! She meets a couple of folks along the way who help guide her but soon Ava discovers that the more she tries to discover the truth about her husband’s disappearance and the land of zombies, the more heartbreaking the truth might actually be.
Admittedly, there’s not a ton that can be said about We Bury The Dead other than what you would expect to be based on the cover and premise of the film. It offers a fresh take on the zombie subgenre, that unlocks a very unique vision from the perspective of Hilditich of the land of the undead, while being able to dive into the kind of themes mentioned before in ways that wasn’t done in from similar films such as World War Z, The Walking Dead, and The Last of Us. It certainly does take it’s sweet ass time to get from Point A to Point B and does occasionally slip into those plot conveniences and coincidences that tend to be a staple for these kind of flicks but for the most part, We Bury The Dead is solid and engaging enough that it won’t have you thinking too much about them before the credits roll.
Daisy Ridley is the main driving force of the film and manage to keeps that same engaging presence she always gives no matter what film she is in. She contains great chemistry with the limited cast she is able to interact in, particularly Brenton Thwaites. So much so that most of the film’s momentum comes to a screech halt every time Thwaites is NOT onscreen and only regains that momentum again once another zombie gets thrown into the mix.
However, for a film that is clearly prioritizing atmosphere over action, it does it job about as remarkably as it can. The cinematography is breathtaking, the tone is as grim as the way the zombies look, the visuals is able to assist in the film’s telling of a story about seeking closure in the wake of absolute tragedy, and the haunting score by Clark is able to give off more of that tension, cluster phobic vibe than all the Resident Evil films combined (Don’t let me down this time, Zach Cregger!). While you still get your occasional zombie kill beat here and there, it’s the film’s overall approach to it’s atmosphere and scary vibes that are the main driving force here.
It’s definitely not a perfect movie by any means but the flaws aren’t enough to squander this picture. Like I said, this is a rather slow moving motion picture, which is a warning to those that are going into this purely for the zombie kills and blood gore fest. And the way it resolves certain plotlines, while makes perfect sense thematically, might make one feel empty emotionally and as part of the whole picture. Then again, I feel like if ANY of us become a part of a zombie apolaypse, we would have very little to actually be happy about afterwards.
Regardless, We Bury The Dead is a damn good time for what it’s going for. It’s an engaging another horror flick that checks all the boxes you want out of these post-apocalyptic films while also finding enough of a new voice of it’s own that makes it go well with the shelf of other recent zombie horror flicks. It’ll likely not be on your mind too much just days after you watch it, but hey as a way of kick starting of what will likely be ANOTHER chaotic year, it does it’s job perfectly well.
Other comments:
Sorry if this is a rather short review but I figured I needed to flex my muscles a bit because it’s been over a year since I last done a full review for this blog! I do expect to go more in depth with future reviews but also, I wouldn’t mind doing mini-reviews for films once I become incredibly busy in my personal life.
Also, have a very happy new year! Whatever your New Years resolutions are, I really hope you stick with them because they are important!
Another year of entertainment has come and gone so it’s time to look back at some of the very best that it had to offer in terms of films. It’s been a wild and chaotic year and 2026 is looking to be even more wild and chaotic! That’s why it’s now time to share my picks for the top ten best films of 2026 (that I actually saw)!
I did not see EVERY film I wanted to see by the end of the year. These include films that have gotten rave reviews from critics and audiences such as Bugonia, Drop, Good Boy, and The Long Walk. I’ll see them whenever I can but I couldn’t see them on time for this list. Perhaps in the future, I’ll make an updated list of the best films of 2025 and I might include them once I see them. But for now, just know that I couldn’t see every critically darling to come out in 2024.
Before we get started with the list, I decided to bring back something I entirely skipped out on last year but decided to bring it back this year. That being a special mention AND an unqualifiable mention!
The special mention refers to a specific film that I couldn’t find room to put into my best-of lists but I do think it’s at least worth a shoutout. Whether it’s from a personal bias or a film that has been overlooked/undiscovered, this category is reserved specifically for those kind of films.
The unqualifiable mention refers to a specific film that could be destined to be an all-time classic or even a game changer for the genre or medium it’s a part of but it’s quality is strongly dependent on how it will stand the test of time in either the current moment of the franchise it’s a part of or the current moment of pop culture or even just events in general.
Special Mention:
There was a brand new 2D animated Looney Tunes adventure that came out this year and nobody went to see it. The Day The Earth Blew Up felt like being transported back in time, a time to where you would see fresh and exciting 2D animated adventures on the big screen with no reservations whatsoever! This is a loving throwback to the early Looney Tunes animation, it moves at a brisk pace with physical comedy left and right, and it felt nice that films like this are still able to sneak their way into theaters and make for a very enjoyable theatrical experience. If you have been someone that has been STARVING for brand new 2D animated flicks, make sure to check out The Day The Earth Blew Up!
Unqualifiable Mention:
I don’t think there has been a film that captures this exact moment we are living it in terms of current events and encapsulates how absolutely f**ked up the 2020s has been to our insanity! I’m not the biggest Paul Thomas Anderson fan but he absolutely brought his A-game here! It’s about as perfectly shot, acted, and directed as a film can get! The main thing on my mind about One Battle After Another is how will history look back upon this picture as the political landscape changes in the next several years, ESPECIALLY in a post-Donald Trump world! Will history look back on it as Democrats making a point about how illegal immigration should be treated with much proper care and that I.C.E. was NEVER the answer to it?! Will history look back on it as Republicans being in the right and shows how insane the left has gotten since 2016?! And the biggest one of them all: will film studios allows more films like this to be made as not just political landscapes changes but also more and more studios start to emerge with one another, with billionaire corporations taken over and jeopardizing the entire idea around creative filmmaking? Regardless, One Battle After Another has developed quite the reputation since it’s release and will continue to do so as the years go boy. As we enter to what many are considered the “post-woke” era of America, I imagine this film could be seen as Hollywood’s one last bold statement about these uncertain and troubling times we are living in!
Now here are a handful of films that just BARELY missed this list
The Naked Gun (2025)
Ne Zha 2
Demon Slayer: Infinite Castle
The Housemaid
Now onto the main top ten!
10.) Companion
Remember when these kind of films where mocked and ridiculed because the idea of men wanting to have sex with robots was considered too unrealistic?! (*laughs* 2013’s Her *laughs*) In all seriousness (or at least as serious as I can make it be), this about as tight (and scarily realistic) exploration of humanity engaging with A.I. in more ways than one! It’s certainly pulpy but it knows that and is proudly so. The entire cast is great (with Sophie Thatcher being PURE robot mother), the direction is sublime, and it’s able to have a good sense of humor that doesn’t take you out of the experience! Although this might become a film that will get harder to watch for me as these sexbots could possibly become more common (Finger crossed it doesn’t!), Companion does make for one very engaging sci-fi thriller that should not be missed!
9.) Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
Rian Johnson and Daniel Craig return once again to deliver a mystery thriller that’s not only just an excuse to show off an expansive cast that Mr. Johnson was able to get during their free time but also has delicious commentary on religion and Christianity. It’s a good showcase as to how one’s religious faith can be corrupted if they refuse to see through any other lenses and how Christian nationalism can turn people away if they go too far in injecting their beliefs onto others. As someone that grew up as a Christian, that message and it’s overall examination of my religion really hit home with me. Throw in perhaps the most compelling mystery in any one of these films to date with an intriguing setting and a cast that always looks like they are having fun in these movies, Wake Up Dead Man shows that the mystery/thriller genre is really where Rian Johnson hits home at. Even though this is the third Knives Out adventure to date, I can see this working to those that either loved or hated the previous two films.
8.) Superman (2025)
James Gunn arrived to save the day with his own take on the man of tomorrow while also aiming to give DC a second leash on live with a rebooted cinematic universe. Superman (2025) presents us with a Clark Kent we can all get behind and root for, acting as the perfect counter-culture hero who values kindness in a world that no longer calls for that. And after over a decade of Superman portrayals that have ranged from him being moody and depressed to being flat out evil, it’s more than refreshing to see Superman here being someone that represents hope, optimism, and has absolutely NO agenda other than wanting to be a good person that saves people. The cast is all near perfect (the main trio of David Corneswet’s Clark Kent, Rachel Brosnahan’s Lois Lane & Nicholas Hoult’s Lex Luthor could not have played off each other better), the tone feels right at home with classic Superman, the spectacle is cool, and it even has those traditional superhero elements from earlier superhero films such as Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man that I have missed in these kinds of movies for so long. I don’t know how the future of Mr. Gunn’s DC Universe will hold after the inevitable WB merger with either Netflix or Paramount but I’m still glad we are able to still get superhero flicks that reminds us all why we love superheroes!
7.) F1
Coming off the highs of the box office juggernaut that was 2022’s Top Gun Maverick, director Joseph Kosinski follows that up with yet another incredibly well made and genuine crowd pleaser that was just made to be seen on the big screen! Brad Pitt proves he still has a bit of star power in him as he enters his 60s and Damson Idris is a young movie star just waiting to burst out onto the scenes (Marvel Studios better have him casted as King T’Challa whenever the timing is right!) The incredible racing sequences and off-the-chart sound designs made the experience worth the extra few dollars for IMAX, there’s a solid pace and momentum throughout despite the 150+ minute long runtime, the character drama works, the themes surrounding tough love, mentorship, teamwork, and redemption are all executed to near perfection, and even the standard cliches you would expect for these kind of racing movies have their special place here. While I’m not entirely sure this is an experience that will be as satisfying to watch at home as opposed to the big screen, F1 are the kind of old-school summer blockbusters films that we need more of now than possibly ever before!
6.) Weapons
After delivering an instant horror classic with 2022’s Barbarian, Zach Cregger is able to deliver a masterful follow-up in Weapons that is better in just about every way! This is like if you take Prisoners, Pulp Fiction, Insidious, Barbarian, and Evil Dead, put them all in a blender, and you get this absolute delightful treat as an result! It’s intense, perfectly paced, engaging as hell, will get under your skin in the best way possible, and will have you put together the pieces in very satisfying ways as soon as the credits roll. Plus, it might just have probably the most satisfying payoff of a climax that I have seen in a movie in 2025! Between this and one other possible mention on this list, it’s nice to know that not only excellent original horror films are still getting made but they are able to be solid crowd pleasers that even the mainstream audience can get behind! I can only hope that this is a sign to come that Hollywood is willing to take more chances with not just horror movies but original films in general.
5.) K-Pop: Demon Hunters
I never would’ve guessed that an animated film made by Sony would end up having the biggest impact among pop culture of all film released in 2025 but nevertheless, the animated Netflix exclusive, K-Pop Demon Hunters is worth all the hype and then some! I don’t think we have seen an animated musical being this hyped up and celebrated since Frozen! We follow a group of young female K-Pop superstars as they must juggle their work/personal life balance of being beloved rockstars while also during their part-time duty with slaying demons. Once they clash with a boy band, who happen to be rockstars but also demons at the same time, the girls are put to the test with trying to accomplish the best versions of themselves as singers and demon slayers. The animation is breathtaking, the characters are endearing, it moves at such a fast clip that it’s hard to not be entertained by anything happening, and the songs will be living rent free in your area for quite some time. K-Pop Demon Hunters represents a miracle for original animation, proving that there might indeed be some creative spark left for original animated properites!
4.) Warfare
Based on the real-life experiences of Ray Mendoza during his service in the Iraq war as a U.S. Navy SEAL, Warfare act as an re-enactment of an encounter he and his platoon experienced on November 19, 2006, in the wake of the Battle of Ramadi. Warfare is a war film that has no goal other than showcasing the life-changing events that shattered the life and mental stability of a group of hard fighting soldiers that were sent to a war that they had ZERO business being part of (Thanks, Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney (R.I.P. Bozo!)). There’s no traditional Hollywood war tropes, no forms of military or American propaganda, and never tries to waste your time with filler of any kind. It’s 90 minutes of horror, intensity, and filling you in the shoes of being an everyday soldier in the army. The cast shines, every action sequence will have you on the edge of your seat, and it’s so refreshing to see a film where the filmmakers try to be 100% as accurate to the true events it’s based on as possible. If Garland wants to continue making films with real-life and important subject matter, hopefully he takes the rights notes from this film and NOT with say Men (*insert PTSD*) and he might just get even better in the future.
3.) Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein
If you want to talk about a filmmaking match made in heaven, look no further than with Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein! Monster flicks like this are ALWAYS a passion project for Guillermo and man that is absolutely NOT an exception here! It’s beautifully crafted, masterfully directed, perfectly performed by the cast (Oscar Isaac being a main standout as the lead), and it’s able to dig into themes surrounding narcissism, humanity, and identity that are in the novel that the film is based on about as faithfully as it can be. It’s able to take a familiar story but tell it in a new and exciting way that it more than justifies it’s existence. Oh, and big props to Jacob Elordi for making me eat my words and deliver an excellent performance as the Creature! I think everyone knew that Gilluermo Del Toro would always be the perfect fit to helm a modern Frankenstein movie and he’s able to fully deliver on all of those expectations! I only wish I could’ve seen this in theaters!
At least we are supposedly getting a physical media copy for this film! I guess there may still be a God after all!
2.) Marty Supreme
If you thought the Safdies couldn’t get more intense than Uncut Gems, Marty Supreme makes that film look like child’s play in comparison! Here we have a film that is (partially) based on true events of Marty Mauser, a man who had to go through hell and back to become the best table-tennis player on the planet! Once again, Safdie leaves no stone unturned in crafting a film that will make for the most batsh*t crazy experience imaginable but one you can NEVER look away from. I can’t recall a film in recent memory where it just left me GLUED to the seat and left me wondering after every scene, “WTF IS GONNA HAPPEN NEXT?!” It’s sharply directed, moves as about as good as a pace as one can in a film that’s over two hours and it cleverly subverts your expectations from expecting a basic biopic of a typical table tennis player to showing a young man rushing his way into adulthood and facing all kinds of consequences for it. And yes, Timothée Chalamet is an absolute movie star in the making, the kind we absolutely do NOT get anymore! While there will be plenty of people barking at the historical accuracy of this motion picture, that doesn’t change the fact that Marty Supreme will still go down as one of the most exhilarating films of 2025!
1.) Sinners
In a time where Hollywood desperately needs more creative voices than ever, Ryan Coogler comes on in to craft what is perhaps the most original and unique blockbuster in recent memory! Sinners is more than just an expertly well done horror period flick but it’s a genuine glimmer of light of the creatively bankrupted nature in Hollywood. It’s prove that there are still distinct, creative voices in Hollywood and directors that are looking to push boundaries of what filmmaking can be in the year of our lord and savior in 2025! The cast is top tier from top to bottom (especially with Michael B Jordan and Mrs. Josh Allen), it has the right mix of blood, gore, scares, and glorious amounts of sexiness that you don’t get from most films nowadays, the production values are top notch, and nearly every single plot point and thematic arc gets a payoff of some sort by the end. It’s even impressive to have post-credits scenes that don’t just exist to give a tease for the sequel or a cheap gag but to actually expand upon the complete ending of the full complete picture. The fact that this film was able to make more domestically than ANY Marvel Studios film released this year just goes to show that there is indeed a desire for original stories, studios just need to bother putting the effort into it! As the future of the film industry remains dire and uncertain with more studios and corporations taking over and merging with one another, Sinners is a reminder of what modern films can be when you let the titled director cook and take a chance on a new idea! Because of that and more, Sinners is my absolute favorite film of 2025!
SpongeBob SquarePants has been going on for over 25+ years now. And in that 25+ year long gap, he has started in six different feature movies. While the original SpongeBob SquarePants movie was designed as being the epilogue of the entire television series back in 2004, his popularity for Nickelodeon has been off the charts for the past two decades, leading to the show’s continuation to this very day and five more feature movies that have been released since then. Since Search for SquarePants is now out on in theaters, it’s time to rank the six feature-length SpongeBob movies we have thus far from worst to best.
6.) Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie
Saving Bikini Bottom: A Sandy Cheeks Movie is one of the worst things to ever happened to SpongeBob SquarePants and is perhaps the worst of all of the SpongeBob movies. It takes nearly every problem of the very worst of SpongeBob medium and cranks it up to 11. The plot is non-existent, the characters are at their most one-note and nonsensical, there’s not a single joke that isn’t stolen from older SpongeBob material, the direction and special effects for the live-action sequences are jaw droppingly awful, and the main villain is one of the worst, obnoxious, and most cringeworthy villains ever put to film. Not even previous saving graces from other bad SpongeBob movies and episodes such as the animation and voice work are good here. It’s ironic how the main thing going with the villains is that they are a big corporation that is wanting to capture SpongeBob and the rest of Bikini Bottom for the sake of merchandises and branding. When watching the movie, it comes across as Nickelodeon patching itself on the back for letting SpongeBob be what he has become for the past two decades. And especially after the passing of Stephen Hillenburg, that is about the worst possible feeling imaginable.
5.) The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge On The Run
There are plenty of things to talk about with Sponge on the Run that has been talked about in length by hardcore fans. Like how the film acts like snails are incredibly rare now in the ocean despite the show having plenty of different snails in multiple episodes. Or that SpongeBob and Patrick can now go into a casino even though they are technically still kids. Or how SpongeBob literally now has a name for his stove at work. Or how SpongeBob literally says the word, “crappy” in the movie. It all just makes you wonder what Sponge On The Run would have been like if Stephen Hillenburg was still alive throughout the entire production. While there are definitely hints at what the man was trying to accomplish throughout Sponge On The Run, it can never escape that sense of cynicism and studio meddling that I imagine Tim Hill and crew really wanted to break out of from the clutches of the evil corporation of Nickelodeon themselves. Driven forward by a derivative/non-existent plot, contradictions to the SpongeBob lore, and the most forced advertisements for Kamp Koral imaginable, Sponge On The Run feels more like a broken shadow of SpongeBob’s older, peak self than one that feels like a worthy edition to him. At least it’s pretty to look at….I guess.
4.) The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants
The newest SpongeBob movie is FAR from the worst thing that has ever happened to our beloved yellow sponge! This does offers a nice expansion upon the father/son-like relationship between Mr. Krabs and SpongeBob (even if that is likely because of the fact this was originally suppose to be a spin-off series with Mr. Krabs) and a hilariously over-the-top performance with Mark Hamill as the Flying Dutchman! However, Search for SquarePants still can’t shake the feeling off ofjust feeling like yet another SpongeBob movie! SpongeBob’s overall arc about wanting to become a “big guy” feels like a water down version of his “wanting to become a man” arc from the first movie, most of the jokes fall flat, and the overall payoffs to each individual subplots are ones that even the youngest of kid will be able to see coming from a mile away. Does it makes for a mildly passable SpongeBob adventure for kids? Sure! Does it makes for a worthy big screen outing that you should absolutely take the whole family to see in theaters instead of waiting for it to come on streaming or television? Nope!
Although, if you do go see this movie in theaters, you get a rock solid Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Vs A.I. short! I guess that’s something!
3.) Plankton: The Movie
Never in a million years would I guess that a spin-off movie with Plankton would be among the better of the SpongeBob movies but here we are. On the surface, Plankton: The Movie comes across as yet another example of a pointless spin-off and something that just existed for the sake of having content on a streaming service. While that might be true on the business side of things, when it comes to the artistic side of things, this has more heart and charm than you would expected. You really get to see the relationship between Plankton and Karen get explored more here than ever before in the series, while still keeping the sense of humor and lightheartness that the series has always been known for. Not to mention, most of the female characters such as Sandy, Pearl, and Mrs. Puffs get their moments to shine here. There are certain gags that are quite repetitive and a retcon or two that will likely annoy the most diehard of fans but if you were someone that has been disappointed with the more recent SpongeBob movies, Plankton: The Movie makes for a nice palate cleanser and shows that perhaps SpongeBob spin-offs can indeed work.
2.) The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out Of Water
I can totally understand why The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water is as divisive as it is among the fanbase. It contains some of the very best, very worst, and very “meh” parts of all of the SpongeBob movies thus far. That is basically what you get when you go with a whole “throw everything but the kitchen sink” approach to a movie. However, I can’t help but respect Sponge Out of Water for going as far and bonkers as it dares to go. It still has most of the characters that I love from the show, some of which got very little to do in the first movie and have more to do here, it’s got some crazy visuals that I thought I would never see in a SpongeBob movie, some of the movie spoofs it provides were quite fun, and there is a moral, while simplistic and predictable, that I think can resonate with kids the way the first film’s “kids rock” message resonated with me. When looking at it through those lenses, I would give Sponge Out of Water a thumbs up and a recommendation to anyone curious. I can’t say for certain it will work for you nor will you find the movie to be necessary but if you are just looking for an excuse to hang with SpongeBob and his friends for an hour and a half with enough visuals and gags to keep you entertained, I think this will fill that SpongeBob hole for you in ways that other SpongeBob sequels and spin-offs have not.
1.) The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie still remains an all-time classic in my eyes and the very best SpongeBob movie to date! Regardless of whether you view this as an adaption of the show, the epilogue of a beloved franchise, or even just as a simple kids/family film, it all works in every way it possibly can. Even if the clear target audience is for kids, I do think there is something for everyone to get out of no matter how old they are. Beautifully animated, perfectly written, immensely funny, and emotional beats that all feel earned (You are a robot sent from Skyler if you didn’t cry at SpongeBob and Patrick’s “death scene”!), I could not ask for a better SpongeBob movie than what Stephen and company was able to provide to the big screens back in 2004. Even as someone that’s turn 28 years old this year, I can’t help but have a strong attachment to this film as I get older. No matter what age I am, I will always feel proud to call myself a goofy goober! Even though this did not end up being the very last of the series like it was originally intended to, this still works perfectly as a definite end to the franchise. Despite the fact that multiple seasons and films involving SpongeBob have come along over the past two decades, it doesn’t change the fact that the timeless nature of it makes this feel like the main stopping point and everything that came after basically just what came before chronologically. It’s the way that Stephen Hillenburg always intended and quite frankly, it works all the better for it.
Edgar Wright is perhaps one of the more “under the radar” type of directors working in Hollywood today. He’s not really so much well known by mainstream audiences with the likes of Steven Spielberg, Christopher Nolan, James Cameron, Martin Scorsese, and Quentin Tarantino but more of someone that’s mostly beloved by hardcore film buffs. There’s a reason why Baby Driver, a film which made only $227 million at the time of it’s release (which is still good btw), is his most successful film at the box office and the only hit which you can call a genuine crowd pleaser.
Even so, he still has a very dedicated fanbase and cult following and I was say I qualify on both ends. Although some of his recent films haven’t “wowed” me the way his earlier films did, he is still a director that I always await his next big feature film because he’s one of the few directors left that knows how to leave his own personal stamp on a film. Because of that, it’s time for me to rank (most) of his films from worst to best!
And the reason why I say most is because there is two main film exceptions I am leaving off the list: A Fistful of Fingers and The Sparks Brothers. That is strictly because I haven’t seen any one of those films and I have yet to find anywhere which gives me full access to both films. So to anyone that is actually a die hard fan of either one of those movies and actually viewed them as being the absolute best of Edgar Wright, then I deeply apologize for that!
For everyone else, let’s get to rank Edgar Wright’s other seven films, the ones that the majority of the human population acknowledge, from worst to best!
7.) The Running Man (2025)
Wright’s weakest film to date is unfortunately the one that just got released in (mostly) empty theaters. There were plenty of ingredients for a 2025 incarnation of The Running Man to be a success. You got a director that’s skilled with blending action, drama, humor, and chaos in Edgar Wright, you got an up and coming A-list actor in Glen Powell, and updating the 1987 film in a way where we are now basically on the doorstep of living in the kind of future that Stephen King tried to warns us all about nearly 40 years ago seems like this should be an instant classic that’s relevant to our times. While there’s some fun set pieces scattered throughout, Glen Powell is as awesome as he always is, and the first 2/3rds work well enough as a mildly entertaining action flick, The Running Man (2025) gets bogged down by the end of it’s own messaging, not knowing how to properly convey it without shouting it directly to the audience and not knowing which of the three or four endings they wanted to stick with. It’s ironic how the film goes on about how bad monopoly corporations are when they have all the wealth and power in entertainment to manipulate it’s audience when this film is literally made by Paramount of all companies. This also can’t help but feel like the least felt Edgar Wright film to date, with his style and attention to aesthetics feeling distractingly absent here. Is there entertainment to be had in The Running Man (2025)? Sure! But, this 2025 Stephen King adaption is one of the rare cases where a film being too closed to it’s source material can actually be a bad thing!
6.) Last Night In Soho
This is easily Edgar Wright’s most polarizing film to date. Many felt that Wright was too in love with his own style and that let it get in the way of the substance of the story. Last Night in Soho made for a rather unique, mesmerizing, and at times very uneven experience. This psychological thriller sees a young woman out on her own for the first time ever and having to experience the toxic and stressful nature of being out of your own bird’s nest along with the pressure of becoming the person that you are just not. Edgar Wright always brings his A-game behind the camera but he goes all out this time around with his beautiful cinematography, stellar costume designs, chilling score, and haunting imagery and performances that will stick with you even after the credits roll. Thomasin McKenzie and Anya Taylor-Joy are terrific here showing the two sides of the same coin of a woman’s poignant experience of being out on her own in a world full of troubled men. I just wish this film sticked with me on repeat viewings and didn’t have me asking more questions than it answers by the end, especially when all the big reveals come into play. Last Night in Soho is not an experience I guarantee you’ll love but if you are willing to take a chance, it’s worth watching to see if it works for you or not.
5.) The World’s End
While there are people out there that call this the weakest of the Cornetto trilogy, this is still a very satisfying end to these successful trio o films. Maybe it has to do with the fact that this one is looser and more ambitious while not relying as much on the humor as his previous work but I do think The World’s End stands strongly as it’s own unique thing. It’s still constantly funny the whole through, filled with an incredible amount of energy and manages to be as layered as the previous Cornetto films, if not more so here, the action sequences are still great fun to watch, and the cast arguably hit their new level of peak here (Simon Pegg is just a national treasure!) Also, the best cut to black credits of all time period! Maybe it’s because I admire the way that Edgar Wright continues to try and top himself with every single new film that he makes but I just believe The World’s End deserves a tiny bit more credit than it actually gets. It may not be quite the very best of the Cornetto trilogy or Edgar Wright as a whole but man is it ALWAYS bun to watch Edgar Wright try to top himself!
4.) Baby Driver
Yes, I know the casting for this movie has aged worse than sour milk that has lasted for as long as the development of GTA 6 but man, I still can’t help but have an absolute blast with Baby Driver every time that I watch it. Making a heist movie that is based around the concept of a young man motivated by his love for music and being able to one day ride into the sunset with his girlfriend is a concept that fits perfectly in Edgar Wright’s wheelhouse. The action scenes are thrilling, the pacing is breakneck, the cast (their offscreen behavior aside) is a lot of fun, and I don’t think there’s been any recent big movie that’s NOT Guardians of the Galaxy where a director was able to perfectly showcase just how good of taste they have in music. It definitely plays out more conventional than most of Edgar Wrights films and I most CERTAINLY could’ve used some more Jon Bernthal here (Although, his final line is pretty funny!) but even with some minor grips, Baby Driver is an absolute thrill ride that might just be the most “fun” and crowd pleasing film that Edgar Wright has made to date.
3.) Scott Pilgrim vs The World
While it was certainly unfortunate that Edgar Wright was not able to make the Ant-Man movie that he wanted with Marvel Studios, we should all be grateful he was able to make magnum opus of his own within the comic book movie genre with Scott Pilgrim Vs The World. This was quite simply a comic book movie that Edgar Wright was born to make! His directing style and visuals fit masterfully in the world of Scott Pilgrim himself, the whole cast is perfect and fit their roles like a glove, the soundtrack is incredible, the aesthetics are off the charts, it’s perfectly respectful towards the source material it’s based on, and don’t get me started on those kick-ass and creative as hell fight sequences, the kind that you usual don’t get with these kind of movies! Even if we are living in a time of superhero fatigue and the best that the subgenre as had to offer for the past 25 years is easy to forget about now Scott Pilgrim Vs The World is one of the comic book movie standouts that is not Marvel or DC related that is absolutely worth your time!
2.) Hot Fuzz
Edgar Wright was looking to make lightning strike twice following the major success of Shaun of the Dead and he was able to do exactly just that. Wright is somehow able to perfectly translate from the zombie horror genre to the buddy cop genre in a very smooth way here with Hot Fuzz, with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost just having as much good chemistry as a duo that on paper seems unlikely but in reality is a stroke of genius. The plot delivers plenty of twists and turns that will have you thinking even with repeat viewings, this is easily the FUNNIEST film of the trilogy and that Edgar Wright has made, and the ensemble cast all around is able to flawlessly fit in the intriguing world that Edgar Wright has created. The only thing that prevents this from being at #1 is a slightly drawn out climax and there being a couple of moments that feels more forced and only there because it’s what everyone loved about Shaun of the Dead! Aside from those mild nitpicks, Hot Fuzz is still excellent and more than worthy middle chapter to the Cornetto trilogy!
1.) Shaun of the Dead
But yeah, I still don’t think that any Edgar Wright film has been as good as the film that put his name in Hollywood than with Shaun of the Dead! Regardless of what way you look at it, Shaun of the Dead works in every way that it possibly can! It works as a straight-up horror movie, it works as a screw-ball comedy, it works as an incredibly meta and social commentary of the genres it is delighted to be a part off, it works as a family drama, it works as a coming-of-age tale, and it even works as a straight up zombie slasher flick. There is very few films I can think that is able to masterfully combine action, drama, horror, and comedy all at the exact same time but Edgar Wright is able to perfectly control himself behind the camera the whole way through, being able to masterfully execute every single element of the genres that he is paying great respect too. Perfectly paced, perfectly written, perfectly acted, perfectly directed, and having the perfect amount of rewatch value, Shaun of the Dead is simply a masterwork and the best thing to come out of Edgar Wright to this day! Maybe it’s time to bring back Simon Pegg and Nick Frost for the next film!
Movie theaters are in trouble! That’s at least what I’ve been hearing ever since Covid! Ever since that disastrous turn of events that shut down the whole world for a year or two, movie theaters all around the world has seen a significant decline in ticket and concessions sales. That hasn’t stopped Hollywood from doing everything in their power to keep the movie theater going experience alive. Even in the age of streaming, pirating, and Tik Tok, this is a battle that the movie making folks in southern California are willing to fight until they suddenly can’t.
And I don’t think there has been a period of time that has determined just how “well” movie theaters are going throughout the 2020s than this year’s lineup of summer blockbusters. Five years removed of movie theaters being shutdown and two years of infamous strikes, this is probably the most “back to normal” feeling that Hollywood has felt since pre-Covid. If this summer saw yet another underperforming two to three months, then there must come serious questions as to how long movie theaters have before they go extinct.
However, now that summer has come and gone, it’s time to see the results of how all the main feature films did in movie theaters everywhere. And the results are…….complicated.
In case you are wondering how I am judging it, I am gonna look at each major wide release that came out at the start of May to the middle of August. I’m gonna list the film’s budget, how much the film made at the box office, what the projected break even point likely was, how much the film gain in profit, and whether or not it should been seen as a success, flop, or break even point for the studios.
I’m only gonna use math that most tend to use when judging how a film does at the box office. Mostly by taking the budget, times that by 2.5X to cover the whole budget surrounding production and marketing, and seeing how much money it made or lose as a result.
Again, that is not the case for EVERY single one of these movies and this is NOT a direct result as to how the studios view each film from a financial standpoint. This is just my personal guess and opinion as to how each one of these films should be viewed as.
Plus, it’s also worth mentioning that ever since Covid, the definition of “success” is now quite different in the eyes of many producers in Hollywood. Who’s to say that just because a film didn’t do so great in it’s opening two weeks in theaters that the studios sees it as a failure when it became a big hit on digital and streaming? That alone could make it a “success” in the minds of studios.
It is worth remembering that a film’s overall success isn’t just determined based on how it did in theaters but also how it fared in terms of digital, streaming, and physical media sales. Just because not enough people showed up in theaters to give the film profit doesn’t mean people didn’t show it’s support when said film became accessible to all of our home media.
Regardless, I hope you all enjoy this analysis and gives you a good indication of how films are still thriving/struggling in movie theaters!
Thunderbolts*
Budget: $180 Million
Box Office: $382.4 Million
Break Even Point: $450+ Million
Gain/Lose: -$67.6+ Million
Verdict: Flop
Despite the mostly positive reception from fans and critics alike, this could not have been a bigger disappointment at the box office if it tried. Regardless if it has to do with the film starring around D- list MCU characters that most people aren’t familiar or superhero/Marvel fatigue in general, Thunderbolts* most certainly had to pay the price for previous sins surrounding these kind of films. It may have done solid ratings on Disney Plus and did at least kick of the summer movie season better than say…..The Fall Guy last year, but it did follow the tread that most MCU films post-Endgame have suffered from in underperforming box office returns. Between this, Brave New World, and another film to be mentioned later, 2025 has not been so kind to the Marvel Cinematic Universe from a box office standpoint.
Final Destination Bloodlines
Budget: $50 Million
Box Office: $313.9 Million
Break Even Point: $125+ Million
Gain/Loss: +$188.9+ Million
Verdict: Success
The first installment from this long-running franchise since 2011 more than certainly succeeded expectations. Final Destination Bloodlines acted as a nice love letter to the franchise while also acting as a bittersweet epilogue to the amazing career of the late great Tony Todd. I wouldn’t be surprised if we end up getting a sequel 2-3 years time (although hopefully no A.I. Tony Todd is needed). If there is one thing that 2025 has taught theatrically released films, it’s that if you have a low enough budget and give plenty of breathing time in the theaters before dumping it to digital and streaming, you will indeed see some promising theatrical profit in return.
Lilo & Stitch (2025)
Budget: $100 Million
Box Office: $1.037+ Billion
Break Even Point: $250+ Million
Gain/Loss:+$787+ Million
Verdict: Success
Despite all the discourse online about this one and what the true meaning of “ohana” is, it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that the 2025 live-action incarnation of Lilo & Stitch was able to be the most successful film of the summer along with Hollywood’s only billion dollar grosser thus far. There was an entire generation of millennials that grew up with the original animated classic and they all most certainly showed up during Memorial Day weekend to take their kids to experience the inferior version of one of Disney’s very best films in their history. At least it’s not……whatever the hell Snow White was. It’s because of this, I wouldn’t be surprised if Disney changes their mind on bringing Rapunzel and Elsa to the live-action screens in the near future.
Mission: Impossible- The Final Reckoning
Budget: $300-400 Million
Box Office: $598.8+ Million
Break Even Point: $750+ Million to $1+ Billion
Gain/Loss: -$151.2-$401.2+ Million
Verdict: Flop
There was a lot going against Tom Cruise’s last hurrah with his nearly three decade long action franchise and unfortunately, The Final Reckoning was no match for it. Suffering from a bloated budgeted, going head-to-head with Lilo & friends on Memorial Day weekend, and being part of a franchise that arguably peak seven years ago with Mission: Impossible- Fallout, it’s clear that audiences are ready to move on from Tom Cruise damn near killing himself for our amusement. I guess we’ll have to see if Top Gun 3 will be able to replicate the success of Maverick. If not, then we might have to accept that Tom Cruise is not the “Hollywood Jesus” that his ego claims himself to be and that the G.O.A.T. may indeed be washed.
Karate Kid Legends
Budget: $45 Million
Box Office: $115.8+ Million
Break Even Point: $112.5+ Million
Gain/Loss:+$3.3+ Million
Verdict: Broke Even
You all COMPLETELY forgot this movie came out, didn’t you? As a matter of fact, most of you probably didn’t even know this movie existed. This odd culmination of the Karate Kid franchise up to this point clearly failed to set the world on fire but thanks to it’s shocking low budget, it might’ve done just enough to not be a complete failure. And it most certainly probably was able to pick up any remaining losses with it’s digital release. I don’t know what this means for the future for this franchise but at least Karate Kid: Legends can rest easily knowing it’s far from the biggest failure to come out this summer, even if it’s easily among the most forgettable movies of the year.
Ballerina
Budget: $90+ Million
Box Office: $137.2+ Million
Break Even Point: $225+ Million
Gain/Loss:-$87.8+ Million
Verdict: Flop
2025 has not been so kind to Lionsgate and Ballerina was certainly no exception. Despite the presence of Keanu Reeves himself and the positive response from critics and fans, this John Wick spin-off failed to impress at the box office. Perhaps had the budget remain closer to the original John Wick than John Wick: Chapter 4, this could’ve managed to squeeze a profit (similar to a similar female-lead action flick in Atomic Blonde) but not with it’s 90+ million dollar budget (which a good chunk of it most certainly stemmed from reshoots). Whether it’s due to the franchise finally running on fumes or audience suffering from “girl boss” fatigue, Ballerina fell way below expectations, to the point where future John Wick spin-offs and perhaps even a John Wick 5 itself might just be up in the air.
How To Train Your Dragon (2025)
Budget: $150 Million
Box Office: $635.5+ Million
Break Even Point: $375+ Million
Gain/Loss:+$260.5+ Million
Verdict: Success
DreamWorks has finally threw their hat in the ring with live-action remakes and just like with Disney themselves, while the quality may not talk the talk, the box office results can certainly walk the walk. How To Train Your Dragon (2025) was able to capture the hearts of families and mainstream audiences in similar ways that the original animated version did back in 2010 along with the better live-action remakes from Disney (or at least the ones that were able to make a billion dollars). With the success of this film and a sequel in the works, I wouldn’t be surprised to see our favorite ogre and kung panda warrior getting their live-action treatment in the near future. But hey, if it helps cover for any potential loss that The Bad Guys 2 might have, then it might certainly be worth it!
Materialists
Budget: $20 Million
Box Office: $103.5+ Million
Break Even Point: $50+ Million
Gain/Loss:+$53.5+ Million
Verdict: Success
And who says original rom-coms are dead?! Despite the rather mixed audience response, Materialists was able to act as the most successful rom-com in recent memory that does NOT start Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney. And as much as everyone and their mother claim to be sick and tired of seeing Pedro Pascal everywhere, he can certainly help carry an original project such as this, along with Chris Evans and Dakota Johnson of course. Not much to say here than yeah, this did quite well at the theaters for this kind movie and A24 should most certainly see this as a success.
28 Years Later
Budget: $60 Million
Box Office: $151.2+ Million
Break Even Point: $150+ Million
Gain/Loss:+$1.2+ Million
Verdict: Broke Even
This divisive sequel/part one of a two-part story did just enough to break even at the box office but not much else. Perhaps had 28 Years Later been more positively received from mainstream audiences and/or it wasn’t relying on the two-part gimmick, this could’ve done much better. But nevertheless, it did at least enough to justify a Part Two getting made, which can hopefully pick up any sort of financial slack that this film might’ve left behind.
Elio
Budget: $150-200+ Million
Box Office: $154+ Million
Break Even Point: $375 to $500+ Million
Gain/Loss: -$221 to $346 Million
Verdict: Flop
Just a summer after Inside Out 2 gave Pixar the smash box office hit they desperately needed, Elio took any sort of momentum that Pixar might’ve possibly gained and COMPLETELY tripped over itself. From a combination of lackluster marketing, trouble from behind-the-scenes/development, a bloated budget, and Disney doing everything in their power to erase this movie from existence, is it any surprised this film ended up being perhaps the biggest flop of the the summer and possibly the year? Maybe I should’ve known better after doing my summer box office movie predictions but I thought after Inside Out 2, people were ready to hop back on board with Pixar with seeing their film in theaters. Looks like I was dead wrong in that regard and man…….I wish I wasn’t!
F1
Budget: $200-300+ Million
Box Office: $626+ Million
Break Even Point: $500-750 Million
Gain/Loss:+$126+ to -$124 Million
Verdict: Success
There are probably many folks out there that are shocked to see this as being labeled as a success due to the film’s massive budget but F1‘s “success” or “failure” is much more complicated than most. First off, this is a partnership between Apple+ and Warner Bros. Apple was the one that funded the movie and would take credit for the success when the film arrives on digital and streaming, while Warner Bros was able to gain the profit from theater showings. Plus, this wasn’t so much about helping out theaters than it was about promoting the sport of F1 racing all across the world! Take all those factors in mind along with the fact that a movie in 2025 was able to make $600+ million that is NOT a superhero film, live-action remake, video game adaption, or an anime, F1 was most certainly a breakout success that helped add to a terrific year that Warner Bros has had in theaters!
M3GAN 2.0
Budget: $15-25+ Million
Box Office: $39.1+ Million
Break Even Point: $37.5-62.5 Million
Gain/Loss:+$1.6 to -25 Million
Verdict: Flop
This has to be the most BAFFLING failure of this summer! Not because it’s a shock that it bombed because the movie itself lacking quality compared to the first but because some of the most baffling decisions made from a business standpoint. From dumping the movie in the middle of summer when the original did just swell in January 2023 to advertising it as a sci-fi comedy instead of sci-fi horror, it’s like Blumhouse was doing everything in their power to ensure this would be a failure. If that was the case, then they MORE than certainly succeeded.
Jurassic World Rebirth
Budget: $180-225+ Million
Box Office: $867+ Million
Break Even Point: $450-562.5+ Million
Gain/Loss:+$305-418+ Million
Verdict: Success
Here is what was wildly considered the most surprising box office success story of Summer 2025 and…..I don’t necessarily know why. While the Jurassic Park franchise might’ve no longer be the billion dollar juggernaut that previous installments were, Rebirth did prove that people still love seeing dinosaurs on the big screen. And this time around they got to see dinosaurs AND Scarlett Johansson on the big screen! What better winning combo than that! Even if this franchise should’ve ended by now, don’t be surprised if Universal wants to keep the Jurassic ball rolling after the monster smash hit of the summer. Again, this might’ve not been a billion dollar gross but it did more than enough to be considered a success!
Superman (2025)
Budget: $225+ Million
Box Office: $615.7+ Million
Break Even Point: $562.5+ Million
Gain/Loss:+$53.2+ Million
Verdict: Success
Welp, here’s the most hotly debated success/failure story of the summer! Even though Superman (2025) has gained at least $53+ million based on traditional projections (or more according to Variety), there has been a serious argument that James Gunn’s take on Superman actually underperformed and even a failure. If we look at it through the mindset of Warner Bros back in 2013, you might have an argument. But in 2025, if we take the words from CEO David Zaslav and crew, it seems like they have much more manageable expectations and just needed to do enough to make a profit and do well in digital and physical sales to be considered a success. They know they can’t turn everything around in one movie like they thought they could a decade ago and are willing to be more patient in regaining the mainstream audience trust. Looking it that way, Superman (2025) was indeed a success. Sorry Snyder cult!
I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)
Budget: $18+ Million
Box Office: $64.7+ Million
Break Even Point: $45+ Million
Gain/Loss:+$19.7+ Million
Verdict: Success
This might’ve been controversial among die-hard fans and mainstream audiences but thanks to a super low budget of just 18 million dollars, I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025) did good enough to at least guarantee it to be a success. Once again, the lower the budget, the easier it is for your film to be a profit in theaters. More studios should take notes on that, especially with what has come from the horror genre this year!
Smurfs (2025)
Budget: $58+ Million
Box Office: $120+ Million
Break Even Point: $145+ Million
Gain/Loss:-$15+ Million
Verdict: Flop
No one was asking for a new iteration of the Smurfs in 2025! Not kids! Not families! Not anyone! And they were ESPECIALLY not asking for a new iteration with Rihanna, James Corden, or Jimmy Kimmel (Although, PRO-FREEDOM OF SPEECH!)! Literally no one but Paramount should be shocked at the fact that this bombed! And even then, I think deep down they aren’t shocked at all either!
The Fantastic Four- First Steps
Budget: $200+ Million
Box Office: $521.5+ Million
Break Even Point: $500+ Million
Gain/Loss:+$21.5 Million
Verdict: Broke Even
This might’ve been the highest grossing MCU film of the year but it still disappointed greatly, compared to the highest grossing MCU films of prior years. This will likely mark the first year that an MCU film does NOT make it to the top 10 highest grossing overall films of the year since 2011. The Fantastic Four has certainly been more appealing to die-hard Marvel and comic fans than it did the mainstream audience but you can’t help but wonder how much better this would’ve done pre-2019. If adjusted projections are to go by, The Fantastic Four-First Steps will likely be the one MCU film to break even in 2025…..but that’s it. And for Marvel Studios standards, that’s quite underwhelming!
The Naked Gun (2025)
Budget: $42+ Million
Box Office: $102+ Million
Break Even Point: $105+ Million
Gain/Loss: -$3+ Million
Verdict: Broke Even
If we are talking about how much the 2025 incarnation of the The Naked Gun did in theaters, it might’ve fell just short of reaching it’s break even point. However, with making up any potential revenue loss with it’s release to digital and soon streaming, I would believe Paramount was more satisfied with how this one did than say……Mission: Impossible. I don’t think this did enough to “save” comedies or resurrected a genre of films that Hollywood has been quite picky to tackle for the better part of a decade but for what it’s worth, I believe this did just fine.
The Bad Guys 2
Budget: $80+ Million
Box Office: $225+ Million
Break Even Point: $200+ Million
Gain/Loss:+$25+ Million
Verdict: Broke Even
This one is quite a tongue twister. Largely impacted by a slew of summer movie competition along with pulling the trigger to the digital release so quicky, The Bad Guys 2 is more likely unable to match the success that the original did. However, due to working at a sizable budget and having solid digital sales thus far, it seems like it did just enough to match it’s break even point. While we might still get a third movie sometime in the future, I don’t think The Bad Guys franchise has become the success story that DreamWorks had envisioned it being, especially compared to the likes of Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, and How To Train Your Dragon. In that regards, it’s quite a same because this has been a damn good animated series of films thus far! Fingers crossed that a third movie gets made!
Freakier Friday
Budget: $42-45+ Million
Box Office: $152.3+ Million
Break Even Point: $105-112.5+ Million
Gain/Loss:+$39.8-47.3+ Million
Verdict: Success
I still don’t know why this was even made but thanks to it’s lower budget and modest box office projections, Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsey Lohan’s Disney team-up that was 22 years in the making was able to exceed expectations without breaking any new ground. I guess it helps to have a sizeable budget and leaving plenty of breathing room between theater showings and digital/physical releases. If only Disney can get that same memo with everything else they do in the way they did with Freakier Friday.
Weapons
Budget: $38+ Million
Box Office: $266.4+ Million
Break Even Point: $95+ Million
Gain/Loss:+$170+ Million
Verdict: Success
Similar to Sinners and Final Destination: Bloodlines, Weapons was able to prove once again that you can win big in horror by playing small. This genuinely scary crowd pleaser was able to make the best with it’s modest budget to craft a smash hit, standing alongside with plenty of original horror films in recent memory. Even with what was a rather crowded area of theatrically released films at the time it came out, this was able to stand out swiftly to be a nice success story. Now let’s just see if director Zach Cregger can say the same for Resident Evil next year!
Nobody 2
Budget: $25+ Million
Box Office: $39.4+ Million
Break Even Point: $62.5+ Million
Gain/Loss:-$23.1+ Million
Verdict: Flop
Here’s a movie that did so poorly in it’s time in theaters that the studios pulled it completely from the big screens after five weeks and just dumped it to digital. To be fair, this is a rare case that I actually can’t blame the studio for making that movie so quickly. Whether it’s because too much time has passed since the original or it just flew under the radar for a lot of people, the sequel to Bob Odenkirk’s action franchise just did not get the same love and support that the original did (and even then, that didn’t really set the world of fire either). Between Nobody 2, The Final Reckoning, and last year’s flops of Monkey Man, Boy Kills World, and The Fall Guy, perhaps there isn’t as much of a crave for “masculine” action heroes that conservatives and alt-right online influencers would have you believe.
When you take all the box office results into account with the ways that most film analysts use to determine if the movie is a success or failure, this summer has had a total of nine movies that were successes, seven movies that were failures, and about five movies that did enough to break even.
What that tells me is that movie theaters are still not in a great spot but they are NOT ready to die out quite yet. While it’s a shame that certain films like The Fantastic Four- First Steps and Mission: Impossible– The Final Reckoning didn’t become the smash hits that were expected and that other films like Thunderbolts* and Elio ended up being massive bombs, this summer did show that there is at least a want and need for plenty of variety within theatrically released films.
You have live-action remakes, you have dinosaur action, you have horror thrills, you have action-comedies, you have rom-coms, and you have sports films! All of which were able to gain an audience in theaters and many of which were able to take some of the spotlight away from the kind of films that have dominated theaters in recent memory, particularly superheroes and video game adaptions.
That’s why I’m not too worried about the fact that a superhero film might not crack the top 10 of the year or that anime and re-releases might be taken more theater screenings! It doesn’t mean one genre is dying, it means more genres are EMERGING! The more genres of films that is resurrected and emerged, the more demographics are eager to see film in theaters, and the more money studios and theaters make! If Hollywood wants to keep theaters alive, THIS is the way to do it!
Because of that and more, I still believe there is still hope for movie theaters! There are still plenty of changes that need to be made (lower ticket prices/concessions, longer theatrical windows, longer time waiting for films to come to digital/streaming, more movie subscriptions/clubs….etc.) but if studios keep going with this direction while being able to contain a sustainable budget with most big movies they released, there might still be hope for movie theaters yet!
And here’s another piece of the marathon talking about an important specific episode of SpongeBob SquarePants. This time around, it’s for the episode that was designed to celebrate 20 years of the yellow sponge we all know and love called SpongeBob’s Big Birthday Blowout. While it didn’t necessarily act as the finale of Season 12 nor the show as a whole, it’s executed in a way that this could have been the very last episode of SpongeBob and it would be extremely satisfying. To discuss exactly why, let’s dive right into SpongeBob’s Big Birthday Blowout.
The special sees the citizens of Bikini Bottom and all of SpongeBob’s friends and loved ones coming together to plan a surprise birthday party for SpongeBob himself. While the likes of Squidward, Mr. Krabs, Sandy, Mrs. Puffs and…….Bubble Bass of all people prepare for a fiesta in SpongeBob’s own pineapple home, Patrick takes SpongeBob on a tour of the surface world to buy enough time for everyone to get the party ready. It’s when touring the surface world where the two BFFs come across their real-life selves, seeing how the OG cast would operate if the show took place out of water and were all playing completely human characters. Also, we see Patchy the Pirate who once again attempts to get to Bikini Bottom to meet his #1 idol and give him a special birthday president.
The ingredients for SpongeBob’s Big Birthday Blowout can be seen from the initial premise right there. This is an episode that is clearly hear to celebrate and homage 20 years of SpongeBob SquarePants. You have all of the side characters from the show coming together to recognize the importance of SpongeBob’s role in Bikini Bottom, you have live-action cameos from not just the OG cast but also many notable celebrities such as Kel Mitchell, Jack Griffo, Daniella Perkins, and even David Hasselhoff that add to the gags and humor of the episode, you have SpongeBob and Patrick going on an adventure that they haven’t really gone on before, and it even gives an actual arc to Patchy the Pirate that makes the character feel like he’s come full circle. And the best part is that, it’s pretty much able to deliver on all of those fronts.
Of course, it’s pretty difficult to talk about SpongeBob’s Big Birthday Blowout without drawing comparisons to SpongeBob’s last anniversary episode, A.K.A. the controversial Truth or Square, the episode that was designed to celebrate the 10th anniversary of SpongeBob SquarePants. For the most part, Big Birthday Blowout able to do nearly everything that loathed special did wrong. It has the right mix of live action and animated bits without one end overshadowing the other, the majority of the focus goes to the actual SpongeBob characters, it has a plot that has actual momentum, it has gags that are actually quite funny, there’s celebrity cameos that are used sparingly, and Patchy the Pirate has the right amount of screentime and isn’t around long enough for us to get sick of him. It also helps that there was no ads that promised so much reveals and answers to certain questions that the actual finished episode never really had. Whatever Truth or Square was trying to do, Big Birthday Blowout is actually able to do it.
Going back to the title of this article of the marathon as to why I believe this should have been the final episode of SpongeBob SquarePants, it’s mostly because this feels like an actual definite endpoint for the series, arguably even more so than the first movie itself. Heck, had SpongeBob ended after the first movie like originally attended, this special could have still worked as a suitable epilogue 15 years later. This would’ve worked perfectly as being a special “revival” movie for Nickelodeon, similar to what they did with Hey Arnold! and Rocko’s Modern Life recently. It just has that sense of history and passion that everyone remembers about SpongeBob’s glory day while also realizing how far the character himself has come.
And by the end of SpongeBob’s Big Birthday Blowout, SpongeBob has done a lot for himself. He got to tour the surface world with his best friend that he had never been able to before, he got to see how human versions of himself would have played out in that surface world, you got to see the importance that SpongeBob has had on Bikini Bottom and himself throughout 20 years, and perhaps the most unique of all, Patchy the Pirate had finally got to meet his hero in a way that felt sweet and genuine instead of creepy. He even gets one last song to himself, a bunch of well-known celebrities congratulating SpongeBob and wishing him a happy birthday, and best of all, it gave a very special dedication card to the late great Stephen Hillenburg, which I imagine this was one of the last episodes he produced before his unfortunate passing.
I honestly believed had SpongeBob ended after this episode, people would have looked more fondly on the series as a whole rather than just the first three seasons and the original movie. It’s then that more and more people would have discovered some of the latter seasons, particularly Seasons 9, 10, 11, and parts of 12 and see that the series still did have some life left in it. And just before it was about to run out of live once again (the other parts of Season 12-onwards), it was able to end the series on it’s own high, unique note before wearing out it’s welcome once again. It unfortunately didn’t do that but it’s nice to think about it if that was the case.
That’s not to say the episode is perfect by any means. There are certain jokes that get quite old and aren’t very funny, the final song itself is quite…..bleh and not very memorable, and the animation can get WAY too over-the-top and expressive for my likings, something which can be an issue for me throughout a good chunk of the newer episodes coming out. Also, how is it you bring Mindy the Mermaid back but NOT have her have a speaking line or two. I mean you could get all of these other celebrities for a cameo but you could NOT grab Scarlett Johansson for a day or two?
Even so, the heart and passion behind Big Birthday Blowout is clearly on screen for everyone involved. This really felt like an anniversary special that felt like there was time, effort, and care to it that wasn’t present in Truth or Square. Whether that’s because Nick actually didn’t rush and crunch the cast and crew this time around or not, I’m glad that time, effort, and care was able to be felt throughout SpongeBob’s Big Birthday Blowout.
Although Big Birthday Blowout wasn’t the technical end of SpongeBob SquarePants, I think it represented the end of the show for a lot of people. Similar to how I believed that Hello Bikini Bottom! represented an end to Gen Z’s era of the show and Nickelodeon as a whole, I feel like Big Birthday Blowout represented the end of Stephen Hillenburg’s run of SpongeBob SquarePants. This was that one last special episode where you can feel the dedication, inspiration, and just pure finger prints that Hillenburg brought to this series. After all, he was the man that created SpongeBob SquarePants in the first place. Now that he’s gone, SpongeBob will never be the same again.
While some good things have come from SpongeBob in the past five years since Hillenburg’s passing such as The Cosmic Shake video game and (if the leaked version I watched online months ago is any indication) Plankton: The Movie, Big Birthday Blowout still feels like the true definite ending/epilogue of the series. No matter when you stopped watching the show or what era of SpongeBob you preferred, this 20th anniversary special feels like the best love letter possible to SpongeBob SquarePants. While there is still one more era of SpongeBob to talk about for next month, I can’t help but feel Big Birthday Blowout is where the series’ train should have had a definite stop.
Thank you Stephen Hillenburg and I hope you are resting peacefully in heaven right now!
This was when SpongeBob SquarePants got truly as bad as folks claimed the show got after the first movie. While I still stand by my opinion that Seasons 4 and 5 weren’t the worst things in the world, these next three seasons I’m about to talk about is MORE than deserving a seat at the table. Okay, maybe that’s a little harsh. It’s not the worst thing ever but it’s undoubtedly SpongeBob’s roughest time throughout his history up to this point.
There are multiple different factors that played into the poor quality of these three seasons I’m about to talk about. Part of it is because most of the writers from the original three seasons were no longer present. Another part of it is because the writers of these three seasons likely tried to add their own style of humor and slapstick to the show that just fell flat. And of course, there’s that part that might be how the show has gone on for way too long and basically ran out of ideas. However, I do think the one main factor in all of this has to do with Nickelodeon and them relying SpongeBob SquarePants WAY too much to keep their network afloat!
Nickelodeon has been a controversial network for quite some time, ESPECIALLY in recent events (Dan Schneider is going straight to hell!). A big part of that has to do with their habit of expecting a new show to be a big grand hit RIGHT out of the gate and never looking back. When a new show doesn’t meet anything near those criteria, they tend to disregard it quite quickly.
So much so that they won’t even have the decency to air the rest of the episodes of a season but just dump it on their “back-up” network and letting that show go out with an absolute whimper. Or in the case of The Legend of Korra, they’ll just stop airing new episodes halfway through a season on TV and dump the rest of the show on their website. Yes, that really happened!
However, when a show does in fact become as big of a hit as they want, they go too far in the other direction and milk it until that cow is dry. And even then, they’ll just find another cow to milk.
There has been two shows throughout their history that has been the direct result of that: The Fairly Oddparents and SpongeBob SquarePants. With Nickelodeon constantly cranking out new episodes and content for these long lasting franchises like crazy, it played a significant role in their inevitable decline in quality.
It was by the points of Seasons 6, 7, and 8 that Nick was relying HEAVILY on the SpongeBob brand to keep the network at a steady heart rate. They would constantly demand for new episodes to be made as fast as humanly possible. Don’t worry about the overall quality. All that matters is that they get a ton of episodes released so they can be covered for the next two to three years before having to worry about anything beyond that timeline.
When watching Seasons 6 through 8, you can definitely tell that Nick was rushing production for new episodes of SpongeBob that the writers never had time to sit down and figure out what the hell they were even doing. It was that bad!
The end results of that leads to an era of very ill-fated and mean spirited episodes that goes against everything that the show has been up to this point. You have characters acting constantly out of characters, the same repetitive “torture porn” jokes, inconsistent animation with unintentional creepy imagery, messed up morals that aren’t well thought out in the slightest, and episodes that lack any sort of substance whatsoever. If there was ever a time where the post-movie haters got to gloat how right they were with SpongeBob losing his way after the first three seasons, this was it.
Let’s dive a little deeper as to why this era of SpongeBob SquarePants has been the show’s most infamous.
Seasons 6 & 7
You might be wondering why I’m going to be talking about Seasons 6 and 7 at the same time? Well, that’s because they both have the exact same kind of problems that I just mentioned. So much so that it’s pretty hard to tell which season that each episode belongs to. Not only because Nickelodeon aired episodes in between both seasons before either one was officially complete (This would not be the only time they would do that in this show before and after!) but because the majority of the episodes gave that exact sense of ill-conceived, poorly thought out gags and storytelling.
First off, you have the infamous episodes that lacked any sort of substance. These were mainly ones that take the most paper-thin premise imaginable and filled 90% of the runtime with filler. You have Penny Foolish which is about Mr. Krabs trying so hard to get just a little penny from SpongeBob. You have The Card which is about SpongeBob trying to protect a special Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy card from Patrick. You have A Day Without Tears which SpongeBob makes a bet with Squidward that can he go a whole day without crying. There’s also Gone, which is about everyone but SpongeBob disappearing from Bikini Bottom, only to find out they left because it was National No SpongeBob Day! They are about as dull, one-note, and shallow as the premise of each episode makes it out to be.
You have the infamous episodes that show of the lackluster animation and gross out images. There’s The Splinter that shows the most disgusting looking splinter that you will likely ever see on your life. There’s House Fancy that shows Squidward’s entire toenail coming off in rather painful fashion. There’s Keep Bikini Bottom Beautiful where we see Squidward eating, bathing, and sleeping in complete garbage. While the earlier SpongeBob seasons weren’t necessarily a stranger to gross out humor, these seasons take it way too far to the point where these episodes might make you legit nauseous.
You have the infamous episodes that completely butchers the characters beyond repair. You have Boating Buddies, Choir Boys, and Squid’s Visit which makes SpongeBob come across as a complete stalker with the way he refuses to let Squidward have his space and knows his home and lifestyle near perfectly. You have A Pal for Gary that makes SpongeBob look like an arrogant and illogical jerk to Gary, who is literally getting TORMENTED by the other pet in this house. You have Yours Mine and Mine and Stuck in the Wringer which takes Patrick’s stupidity to ridiculous level and making him look like a selfish a-hole. There’s even One Course Meal, which makes Mr. Krabs look like the most soulless crab in the ocean by trying to drive Plankton into committing suicide (an episode which even Clancy Brown admitted he was very uncomfortable doing voice work for). These episodes were so bad that I wouldn’t blame anyone if it made fans not look at certain characters the same way again.
You also have the infamous special episodes, especially one in particular, that were so overhyped and underwhelming that it made people lose interest in the show completely. While SpongeBob vs The Big One was pretty good, just about every other one in Seasons 6 and 7 were about as lackluster as the majority of special SpongeBob episodes. The Clash of Triton was mediocre at best that made you want to sympathize with King Neptune’s whiny and annoying son but failed spectacularly. SpongeBob’s Last Stand was a bold attempt on making commentary on environmental awareness that mostly fell flat and was ultimately forgettable. And do I even need to mention the dull, obnoxious, poorly directed, visually ugly, non-existential story driven, and disappointing as hell special that was Truth or Square. The 10th anniversary special that was nothing but false advertising and empty promises, the worst possible celebration for ten years of SpongeBob SquarePants that you could imagine. That one special alone was so bad that it made plenty of folks drop the show completely, such as yours truly.
That’s not to say there were ZERO good episodes of any kind to be found in Seasons 6 and 7 such as Sand Castles in the Sand and The Bad Guy Club for Villains. It’s just that you would have to dig HARD to find those hidden gems buried within such garbage. Anything else you would find is nothing but trashy, greasy nonsense. A sign that Nickelodeon no longer valued the quality of SpongeBob SquarePants but more saw it for it’s name and brand alone. There’s plenty of fingers to be pointed around here but this was the show at it’s absolute lowest point.
However, why didn’t I lump Season 8 into this as well?! Well, it’s complicated!
Season 8
To be clear, Season 8 was also not a good overall season whatsoever. There were plenty of episodes of the dire examples that I just mentioned to be found here. You have Face Freeze! which showed off the creepiest and most horrifying face expressions that has ever been seen on this show. You have Pet Sitter Pat which made Patrick more unlikable and insufferable than he always has been, allowing poor Gary to be beaten up the whole way through. And it’s better not mentioning Demolition Doofus, the episode where Mrs. Puffs is trying to get SpongeBob literally MURDERED! This was a bad season by all accounts, but it did have it’s moments!
As much as there were plenty of bad things about Season 8, it also had a handful of good things about it. The good things that not only help make it more salvageable compared to Seasons 6 and 7 but also it helped plant the seeds for the inevitable resurrection seasons for the coming years. These were good episodes that helped made Season 8 not just the best out of a bad bunch but also the best possible conclusion to the worst era of SpongeBob’s history.
A handful of fan favorite episodes this season include the likes of Frozen Face Off, Planet of the Jellyfish, Super Villain Aquatic Villain Team Up Is Go!, Chum Fricassee, the Vacation episodes, and The Krabby Patty That Ate Bikini Bottom. However, there were two special episodes that I believed helped evaluate this seasons quite a bit. Those two special episodes were It’s A SpongeBob Christmas! and the Season 8 finale, Hello Bikini Bottom!
While the Vacation episodes with the main characters going on vacations were light and enjoyable enough on their own merits (even if most of them probably could have just been shorts instead of 11 to 22-minute long episodes), these two special episodes were able to capture a certain spark that the majority of this era couldn’t come close to achieving. It showed that not only is it possible for there to be new SpongeBob episodes that were good but that this show did in fact have some creative energy left within itself.
It’s A SpongeBob Christmas! was the first major SpongeBob episode to be strictly in stop motion animation. It also officially premiered on CBS during November 2012 before airing on Nickelodeon a month later. And believe it or not, it was very, very good. It managed to be funny, charming, moving, and just put you right into the Christmas spirit! For as good as the original Christmas Who? special was, It’s A SpongeBob Christmas managed to be just as good if not better than that already classic Christmas animated tale.
I would also go into deep details into how important Hello, Bikini Bottom! was to this season and the whole show in general but I actually have a special piece of that coming next month. And yes, that will be the monthly piece for this yearly SpongeBob retrospective! There’s just so much to talk about that episode and the multiple meanings that it has. Needless to say, it’s a very special episode and one that I feel should be even more appreciated than it already is.
Overall, I guess you can look at Season 8 compared to Seasons 6 and 7 the same way that folks look at Revenge of the Sith compared to the rest of the Star Wars prequel trilogy. It may not be particularly good but it’s definitely the least bad of the three with some redeemable values to it. However, the redeemable values are definitely worth bringing up as it would eventually build up towards another golden era of the yellow sponge quite later on in the future. This is something that I will be tackling in my next piece of the yearly SpongeBob marathon with talking about why Hello, Bikini Bottom! might be the most important episode of SpongeBob SquarePants.
In Conclusion
I’m not sure what more I can say that hasn’t been said about everyone else on the planet to how bad this era of SpongeBob SquarePants truly was. It’s the era which saw SpongeBob at his absolute lowest point. Due to Nickelodeon’s constant micro management and time constraints along with writers that might have been over their heads, Seasons 6-8, even with the last season’s good elements to it, is what sank SpongeBob’s reputation so hard. It was so bad that it killed any good will that most folks had left in this series. It did so much damage to SpongeBob that it made folks not want to acknowledge the legit good episodes that are a part of it because of how bad the majority of the episodes were. Whenever I feel the urge to claim that post-movie SpongeBob was no where near as bad as many have led you to believe, it’s these three seasons that respond back with an enthusiastic, “Yes, it is!”. And it’s then I would lose this fight completely.
I feel sad that the episode I will be talking about next month had to be a part of this era. In some ways, it basically had to die for this era’s sins to push towards the brighter next era that would come along. And it’s that episode of Hello, Bikini Bottom! that I will be covering in May!
Next Month: Why Hello, Bikini Bottom Is The Most Important Episode of SpongeBob SquarePants
Here we go! Time for another mini-reviews with the two most recent big movies that just so happens to have the word “Empire” in their titles for some reason!
These two movies are two similar beasts but with one being executed way better than the other. The main reason for that is that one is at least well aware how silly and dumb it really is while the other thinks it’s telling a deep and dark story when it’s really not. The former movie I’m referring to is Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire while the latter is Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.
To start off with the newest Ghostbusters movie, are we ready to basically come to a conscious that Ghostbusters really didn’t need to be a franchise?! I’m not just talking about the iffy to inconsistent quality of the movies with only a banger animated show and IP licensed video game to speak highly off. It’s more of the fact that it seems as though Hollywood and even the “dedicated” fanbase of Ghostbusters seems to have forgotten whole hardly what made the original Ghostbusters work in the first place.
The reason the original Ghostbusters work is that it embraces it’s silly and bizarre premise fully and made for a funny mix of comedy/horror with a great cast to boost. It was about as well executed as it could have been that basically anything following that was just always going to look inferior by comparison. Ghostbusters II tried capturing that same lightning in a bottle and failed miserably. Ghostbusters (2016) came closer with its leading ladies having excellent chemistry with one another but fell apart towards the end with forced cameos and gags, a needless CGI heavy battle and one of the lamest bad guys in recent memory. Despite the lacking results of those two films, they were at least more than well aware that the strengths of Ghostbusters came from it’s compelling cast and sense of humor throughout.
Then came 2021’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife. While having a very talented cast and a solid first act to the picture, it got weighed down entirely by its overreliance of fan service and taking the material far too seriously than it should have been. It’s almost as if you made a higher budgeted episode of Stranger Things but just added Ghostbusters elements to it. It felt so off that it’s hard to imagine the iconic Ghostbusters song being played in that exact same universe.
While by no means an awful or unwatchable film, Afterlife seems like a far cry for certain fans out there that refuse to let go of their favorite child’s properties as adults and believe Ghostbusters was always meant to be taken as serious as the goddamn Batman. However, it did at least have a beating heart of it’s own and still felt bittersweet to have the whole film being in the hands of the son of Ivan Reitman himself, Jason Reitman.
Now enter Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, a film that takes all those elements that fell flat about it’s predecessor and increases it TEN FOLD! You got a tone that’s even more jarring and out of place than before, you have so many different characters and plot points that the film has no idea what to do with, the callbacks and references to the original are even more awkward and forced, and even the actual Frozen Empire that the title would suggest really doesn’t play a role until the last third of the movie.
The cast of old and new do the best with what they have, with Paul Rudd, Mckenna Grace, and Dan Aykroyd being the main standouts. And even if every scene with the original Ghostbusters looks as though it was shot as a commercial, they all still feel passionate about playing their iconic characters and will likely delight longtime fans of this franchise. Not to mention, Kumail Ali Nanjiani and Patton Oswalt are always welcome to see no matter what they are in. Thank goodness for this cast because if it weren’t for them, there would be very little to recommend about Ghostbusters: Afterlife.
Maybe I’m just overly harsh because I’ve never been a diehard fan of Ghostbusters nor do I have really nostalgia towards it. Plus, maybe I still have PTSD over the INSUFFERABLE discourse of Ghostbusters (2016) (which is better than this movie, btw)! However, I think even die hard fans will have to admit that it might be time to let this franchise rest on the big screen. There’s plenty of different Ghostbusters medium that anyone can refer to as the definite Ghostbusters follow-up to the 1984 original. Whether it’s Ghostbusters II, the 2009 video game, 2016, Afterlife, and that The Real Ghostbusters animated series, I think the world has had their fill on this franchise.
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire might be to date the worst movie in the franchise because it seems to completely forget what made Ghostbusters special in the first place. It’s not the ghostbusting, it’s not the lore, it’s not the nostalgia bait, and it’s CERTAINLY not the dark and gritty tone! It’s that special spark of an iconic cast of characters, it’s the right mix of horror and comedy, and it’s that perfect execution of its perfectly unique premise. No amount of expansion of lore or trying to repeat the same dance over and over again is going to replicate that. And unless Jason Reitman and company realize that and inspire to make another movie that captures that entirely, then perhaps it’s time to stop with the ghostbusting and let the legends live on in grace!
Now, for Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire! There are many negative points that I just mentioned with Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire that can be applied to this. It has a plot that is nonsensical and overstuffed, it has human characters that are thinly written, it has plenty of sequences made to revoke the nostalgia for monster fans, and it perhaps takes itself more seriously than it should. However, Godzilla X Kong doesn’t work in spite of those glaring flaws, it works BECAUSE of them and is able to make the very best of them!
Yes, the story is just an excuse to get all the monsters in action but it’s able to deliver them when it counts the most and in just the right spots! Yes, the human characters are thinly written but they are carried by a likable and charismatic pair of actors that are able to make the best of them (Please put Dan Stevens in more stuff!)! Yes, there are plenty of callbacks and references but it all feels earn and feels evaluate the experience rather than hinder it. Yes, there are times where it tries to be emotional but it never goes too far with it to the point where it’s completely somber. To put it simply, Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire is able to make the best of these traditional tropes, even if it doesn’t break or evolve them in anyway!
The action with the monsters connected to Godzilla and King Kong is awesome, especially with a final showdown that plays like the Captain America: Civil War of kaiju movies! The VFX and special effects are mostly impressive, with all the monsters looking completely buyable with not much shots that will take you out of the experience completely. There are some solid moments of visual storytelling with King Kong and his tribe, even if there are certain dramatic beats that feel too obvious and don’t ring home as much as say the new Planet of the Apes reboot. And even their characters are quite thin, the cast do make the best work with what they have and help make the human drama and moments salvageable and sometimes even making them land.
If there is one weak spot, it’s that there are times where Godzilla feels like an afterthought in his own movie despite being the first name in the title of the movie. Godzilla is gone for long stretches of the second act while most of the focus is on Kong interacting with his own kind. It makes me wish we could have had similar scenes with Godzilla visiting his kind or seeing that certain point of view with her but that focus is never really a thing. It’s almost as if Adam Wingard wanted to make another King Kong movie and then another Godzilla vs King Kong movie but Warner Bros wouldn’t let him so he had no choice but to mesh those two films together.
And while I am someone that enjoys a handful of these recent monster verse movies, they aren’t really movies I go back to a ton, only catching up on them whenever it’s on television. I mostly only remember my theater experiences with them and not much else. Heck, I couldn’t tell you what happened in Godzilla vs Kong aside from the title characters brawling if I tried.
Also, in case you are wondering, it is not on the same level as Godzilla: Minus One but I don’t think that it’s trying to be. Minus One was trying to be a smart, human driven story of how society can recover after being affected by a deadly war with a new threat starting to emerge. It’s the kind of movie that even if you took Godzilla how of the picture, it would still work entirely. It was one of the few Godzilla movies that you could describe as being smart and deep but it also had a function brain in its head, knowing when to let the human drama play off along with delivering the stellar Godzilla action when it counts.
Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire doesn’t try to be like Godzilla: Minus One. It doesn’t try to have a point to make or a message to deliver, it wants to deliver exactly on the “kids playing with monster figures” mindset and it succeeds completely. Whereas Godzilla: Minus One felt like a movie trying to win awards, Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire is a movie trying to sell tickets to dying movie theaters. It’s okay to enjoy a well made, cooked, and nutritious steak meal while also enjoying a delicious, messy Big Mac meal every once in a while.
While Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire doesn’t do much other than what it’s overall title suggests, it still does make for a fun time at the movies and a movie that is worthy of a discount price on a Tuesday. The action is cool, the special effects are a treat for the eyes, the cast are a lot of fun, and that final monster showdown brawl is certainly going to be one for the ages for monster fans everywhere. I could have used with more Godzilla in a movie and maybe a better attempt at breaking some of these common tropes with movies movie but for what it’s worth, Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire is simply a good enough monster movie that I enjoyed watching. Take of that as you will!
Now, here’s where things start to get quite interesting with SpongeBob SquarePants! As everyone knows by now, the Sponge we all know and love have a very successful run with the first three seasons and a nice movie. With the way the latter played out at the end, that would give you the indication that would act as the conclusion to the series as a whole. Although that was the intention by design by creator Stephen Hillenberg, Nickelodeon demanded for more SpongeBob episodes after the film’s release due to how insanely popular the brand has become. Because of that, Hillenberg resigned as showrunner and a handful of creatives and writers left the show while new creatives and writers stepped in with the new showrunner being Paul Tibbitt and Vincent Waller acting as creative director until 2015.
As you would expect with the way Nickelodeon has been milking SpongeBob content dry throughout the past two decades now, the reason why SpongeBob SquarePants is still around today is because of profits. Not just with the ratings of the show itself but the profit it’s made with the branding and merchandise sales since the show’s inception. If it was up to Hillenberg himself, he would have likely ended the show when he initially did after the third season and first movie. However, because Nickelodeon bought the IP that he pitched, the company has a say for how long SpongeBob goes and when he stops. There is PLENTY to talk about in the post-first movie era of SpongeBob SquarePants, starting off with what is likely considered the most “awkward” era of SpongeBob. That era being Seasons 4 and 5!
Seasons 4 and 5 is interesting to talk about among the fanbase and mainstream media. At the time, this was seen as the period where SpongeBob jumped the shark completely and became bad. However, as times goes on, there has been some reappraisal towards this era of Mr. SquarePants, especially in regards to Season 4. So much so, that not only were these two seasons not bad at all but they were the last remains of the “good” era of SpongeBob or at least the last until MUCH later on.
It’s not that those that praise one or two of this seasons are in deniable of its flaws or it compares to the very best of the first three seasons. It’s just that there are a handful of genuine SpongeBob classics from this era that often get overlooked because of the bad press surrounding these two seasons. And these episodes are good enough to warrant this era of SpongeBob has not completely bad and in some regards good. It’s only once we head into the next era we will be discussing between Seasons 6-8 where the show did indeed get REALLY bad.
However, what is it exactly that has made these two seasons so divisive?! What is it that made it become so hated when they first released and only in recent memory getting reappraisal? Is it strictly nostalgia? Is it because of how bad the series would get later on? Let’s find out by discussing Season 4 and 5 directly!
Season 4
About six months after the original run of SpongeBob SquarePants ended, we got our first taste of this new era of SpongeBob on May 6th, 2005 with Fear of a Krabby Patty. That episode right there would set the tone perfectly for the rest of this season. It made perfectly clear that a new voice has been added to SpongeBob SquarePants.
The animation is more over the top and wacky, the characters have more movement and expressions to them, the episodes moves at a much quicker pace, the jokes become thicker and faster, and it overall just has a much different vibe compared to the first three seasons. Even for kids such as me that grew up with the first three seasons and headed into this one, this had to be quite jarring. All these changes and more are what likely led Season 4 getting a more mixed response compared to the first three seasons.
It is also believed that Season 4 was the start of many infamous trends that later and worse seasons would follow. Trends such as the animation being way too wacky and over the top, the plot and morals feeling half baked and not well thought out, the characters acting more out of character, and treating their one defining trait of each character as absolute jokes every chance they got. Two of the more disliked episodes of Season 4 such as Good Neighbors and The Gift of Gum are severe victims of that.
When looking at it through those lenses, it’s easy to see why Season 4 was quite controversial among the fanbase and media. The changes in terms of tone, animation, and feel to it was certainly a turn-off for many people. It was likely the first sign of the show existing just for the business side of things and not for an artistic side of thing. However, as I said before, there are plenty that look back at Season 4 more fondly. Why is that?
There is always some form of perspective when talking about SpongeBob SquarePants and it largely depends on when you watched each season of the show that it reflected your overall feelings to it. To many fans, they watched Season 4 when they were young kids and likely haven’t develop the critical mindset for themselves just yet. Because of that, they likely looked at Season 4 much more fondly because of the episodes that they do remember being among their favorite episodes of the show. Whether it’s that or how much better Season 4 looks compared to what came after, there are actual episodes for this season that are fondly remembered.
Episodes such as Krusty Towers, Skill Crane, Selling Out, New Leaf, Ghost Host, and Wishing You Well are ones that certain fans would put alongside the best of the original three season era. There are even a handful of “special” episodes that were able to exceed expectations where the ones in the first three seasons felt flat such as Dunces and Dragons and Have You Seen This Snail?, the latter of which might be the most emotional impactful SpongeBob episode ever made. The flaws in terms of the new style and episodes were still present but the good episodes of this series were good enough to where it was able to out weight the negatives of the series.
In hindsight, I really wouldn’t consider Season 4 to be that bad. Heck, I may even go as far to call it quite good. Was it as consistently great as the first three seasons? No but then again, I don’t think any version of Season 4 was ever going to do that. The bad episodes are still there but even the worst episodes of this season would likely not being among the top 10 worst episodes of the show.
With a season that had this amount of good in it, what was it that made it so hated at the time? I do think I have one big answer for that but I feel it’s worth saving that for the very end and go over Season 5 first.
Season 5
Now, Season 5 is a bit harder to defend than Season 4. While there are plenty of good episodes that are presented throughout, the bad episodes were really quite bad. So bad that it basically hurts the reputation of Season 5 and is the reason for many that this was around the time where SpongeBob got bad, even from those that defended Season 4.
I will say if we go back strictly the first half of Season 5, I would think you have a good argument that it’s on par with Season 4. Flawed but still plenty of good episodes here and there to balance out all of the bad ones. You have fan favorites such as The Original Fry Cook, Friend or Foe, Rollar Cowards, Krabs à la Mode, Spy Buddies, and SpongeBob vs. The Patty Gadget. Heck, you even have a handful of episodes in the second half that most fans wouldn’t want to discredit such as The Inmates of Summer, 20,000 Patties Under the Sea, and Pest of the West. However, Season 5 is also the one that would introduce some of the most infamous episodes of the entire series.
Episodes such as Fungus Among Us, Waiting, To Love a Patty, Pat No Pay, and SpongeHenge, played a big factor into supporting the negative narrative surrounding Season 5. It also wasn’t help by the “special” and highest rated episodes such as Atlantis Squarepantis and WhoBob WhatPants?, which were just as ill-fated and poorly received as they come. While there was definitely some gold buried within to find, there was plenty of filth covered in them to be able to find them.
The biggest flaws with most of Season 5 are largely the ones that people always bring up when bringing up everything wrong with modern SpongeBob. The humor is way too grossed out, the characters are thoroughly unlikable and make baffling decisions, the plot and morals are complete rubbish, the logic of each episode is thrown out the window, and way too much of the jokes either center around a character getting hurt repeatedly, doing something stupid/insulting, or just beating you over the head with each individual trait of the characters. While there were certainly a few episodes you could describe that with Season 4, there were WAY too many examples of that in Season 5 that made it defending MUCH more difficult and nearly impossible.
Season 5 has to be the most frustrating season of SpongeBob SquarePants! There are definitely good episodes to be found in this season that rank among the best of the post-classic era and the first half of the season was able to deliver mostly on that. However, it’s around the second half where too many flawed and ill-conceived episodes got released that hinder the overall experience of Season 5. Like Season 4, it gets points for experimenting and finding it’s own identity outside of Stephen Hillenberg, including bringing back the shorts which was used only once in Season 1. However, it loses points for doubling down on the fatal flaws of the bad episodes of Season 4 and making them even worse.
Just like Season 4, Season 5 has seen some appraisal over the years and I think that’s largely because of the amount of good episodes that I mention earlier. Unfortunately, the bad episodes are present and stand out like a plague whenever they appear. There’s too much that’s good to consider it bad but also too much bad to consider good either. Which is honestly why I can’t consider this part of the bad era of SpongeBob SquarePants but more of the “awkward” era of it.
The Not So Best Day Ever
I don’t think you can discuss this era of SpongeBob SquarePants without addressing the elephant in the room. The elephant that pretty much exposed Nickelodeon’s cynicism for the show’s continuation throughout the years along with the cynical practices of hyping up certain main SpongeBob “events”. While it’s easy to see why Season 5 is hated, it’s difficult to understand the bad rep that Season 4 got. That is until you talk about…..The Best Day Ever marathon.
For anyone that is unaware, back in November of 2006, Nickelodeon hosted a SpongeBob-themed marathon titled The Best Day Ever. It was a 24-hour long marathon where the network would air the top 100 episodes of the sponge’s history, which all would be voted by fans. This would also include the premiere of the The Best Day Ever special episode along with the first ever TV airing of The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. This was hands down the biggest event ever for SpongeBob SquarePants and perhaps even Nickelodeon. While the ratings were clearly high, the reception from fans was ANYTHING but.
This event could not have been more disastrous if it tried. You had episodes in the top 10 that didn’t even remotely feel like they belonged in the top 10, you had actual fan favorite episodes that were either very low on that top 100 list or not there at all, and you had this whole marathon capped out in the most underwhelmingly way possible. You had The Best Day Ever episode, which is probably the most average SpongeBob episode that’s ever been made, and it’s revealed that the episode that got the most votes as the best episode of SpongeBob SquarePants to that point was no other than…..Karate Island. I’m not even kidding about any of that!
This was an event that just had the word “rigged” written all over it. All that hype for the past 23 hours and 30 minutes just for one new episode that has SpongeBob doing all the things we have seen him do a million times before and for one episode that isn’t that well regarded that we were all suppose to accept was the best SpongeBob SquarePants episode ever. This was a ratings trapped at it’s finest and unfortunately would be the very for many more to come from Nickelodeon in regards to SpongeBob SquarePants.
It was basically this event that seemed to open the floodgates of criticism surrounding Season 4 and onwards of SpongeBob. Not just in terms of it’s overall quality but Nickelodeon’s treatment of the show itself. This is when they were clearly trying to take advantage of audiences and using the SpongeBob name itself in the hopes it would boast ratings and viewership for the show. This was the moment that Nick exposed themselves of using SpongeBob as a cash cow. And I likely tend to think this is when folks came to the realization of the post-movie era’s shortcomings. A realization that is still being talked about to this very day.
In Conclusion
Even speaking as someone that always likes to play both sides, I can totally understand each different viewpoints in regards to Seasons 4 and 5. There is plenty about both seasons that don’t work and largely led to the mindset that SpongeBob as a whole should have stopped after the original run. However, there is also plenty that does work and it’s those diamonds in the rough that make both seasons at least salvageable compared to some of the other very worst to come from the franchise.
If you want my opinion, I don’t hate either one of these seasons but I don’t quite love them either. There’s plenty I do hate and plenty I do love but it’s not consistent enough on either ends to where I can say this is up there with the first three seasons or down there with the next three seasons. It exists simply in that middle awkward spot within the history of SpongeBob SquarePants.
Following up the first three seasons of SpongeBob SquarePants was always going to be a difficult task. Without most of the creative folks that made the first three seasons as great and memorable as they are along with plenty of new blood involved, it was always destined to be a challenge for everyone involved. I hold no ill will to the creative team behind these two seasons as they had to have know they were going to face harsh criticism and be unfairly compared to the first three seasons.
Even speaking as someone that has grown tired of reappraisals of previously hated media and contrarian takes just for the sake of being contrarian, I’m totally cool with Season 4 and 5 being viewed in a much better light today. The good episodes in those seasons shouldn’t be discredited because of all the bad episodes that surround it. They were all the saving graces of otherwise inferior seasons of a television show. I don’t know if I would go as far to call these two seasons great but I I would also not go as far as to call them terrible either. That’s for the next era we will be discussing!
Everybody’s favorite sponge arrived on the big screen for the first time ever on November 19th, 2004. It was directed by the creator of SpongeBob Squarepants himself, Stephen Hillenburg, who crafted the story alongside Derek Drymon, Tim Hill, Kent Osborne, Aaron Springer, and Paul Tibbitt. They decided to structure the story as a mythical hero’s journey that would put SpongeBob and Patrick front and center. The film was originally meant to serve as the series finale, as Hillenberg wanted to end the series on a high note and not have it wear out it’s welcome. However, because the series had become increasingly profitable and still having an insane amount of popularity, Nickelodeon ordered for more episodes after the film’s release and is still ordering them to this very day. As a result, Hillenburg resigned as the showrunner, with Tibbitt taking his place until 2015.
The movie received generally positive reviews from critics and is generally beloved by fans, many of whom found it to be a satisfying conclusion to the original run of SpongeBob Squarepants. It grossed 141 million dollars worldwide, becoming the seventh highest grossing animated film of 2004. There were two follow-ups to this film with Sponge Out of Water releasing in 2015 and Sponge on the Run in 2020 along with a fourth film that is in the works subtitled, Search for Squarepants, that is set for a release on December 19. 2025.
I’m not gonna lie, I can’t recall a film that I have had more nostalgia for in my ENTIRE life than The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie. This was the very first movie I remember ever seeing in a theater. I have watched this so many times as a kid and have nearly every single scene and line of dialogue memorized in my head. To tell you the truth, this might be one of my personal favorite movies. I’m not joking.
There is something about The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie that just feels so right, so earnest, so joyful, and so emotionally satisfying every single time that I watch it. It’s a movie that just works no matter which way you look at it. Not only does it make for a perfectly satisfying epilogue for fans of the series but it even works as a nice hero’s journey with a great, heartful message for kids, telling them that there’s nothing wrong with being who you are and never doubt yourself because of it. If you’re a kid, be a kid. Because at the end of the day, not only are we all a kid inside, we are also a goofy goober!
What makes this movie stand out bigger than not just the other SpongeBob movies but also other SpongeBob medium is the definite sense that this is the endgame. This seems like the one that has the desire to change up the status quo by the end and have all things come full circle for the characters and the franchise. The three main components in particular being about how a second Krusty Krab restaurant now exists, SpongeBob gaining a new promotion as manager, and of course, Plankton is FINALLY able to steal the Krabby Patty formula for once and fulfill his destiny to rule all of Bikini Bottom with everyone as his slaves. These were all major events that had never happened before in prior SpongeBob material and really feels like it could only happen in movie form. Even with the knowledge that this was not the fact where the series ended and is still going all these years later, you can’t help but think of this movie being the true finale to the story and that everything that has come after it is a prequel at best to this.
While the SpongeBob Squarepants series hasn’t necessarily been known for having the strongest storytelling and character development out there, this movie manages to make both measures better than it ever has been before with the series. Sure, the message that the film is trying to get across is an obvious one and there will likely be contrivances and deviance of logic to the plot if you were to dissect the film Cinema Sins-style but that’s all find and dandy because of how well executed SpongeBob and Patrick’s journey is but it’s also has a message that anyone of any age can relate to.
We have always had a moment in our lives where we doubt ourselves. Whether it’s due to our age, race, gender, sexuality, religion, etc., there will also be someone out there that will judge strictly based on simple, trivial merits such as the ones mentioned. Instead of letting others put you down for it, embrace it. Embrace who you are, inspire yourself to be the best version of yourself you can be, and be the first person to prove your doubters wrong. Use it as strength, not as a weakness. It’s only then where you will find yourself to not only be a kid inside as well, but also a goofy goober as well. Just like what SpongeBob and Patrick discover about themselves throughout their adventure.
Not only are SpongeBob and Patrick going on this journey to get King Neptune’s crown back to save the town and Mr. Krabs but also to discover who they truly are. They keep thinking they must be something they are not instead of being that something they really are deep inside. They insist they need to be the manliest of men with facial hair and a load of GRIT to get the job done. But that’s just not who they are. They are just a couple of goofballs who are only going on this adventure because they are the only ones in the sea that can possibly save the day. And you know what, they are all the better for it. It’s only at that moment where they embrace the fact that they are kids that they have 100% confidence in the world to get the job done.
Choosing to go with the mystical hero’s journey was a GENIUS move by the writing crew. They knew that in order for SpongeBob to work as a movie, there would need to be a fully layered plot that had a big increase on stakes, arcs, emotion, and a hard-earned message at it’s core. Is it the most complex story ever told? No! Does the arcs that SpongeBob and Patrick go through are quite predictable? Sure! Is the overall message a bit cheesy? Absolutely! But you know what, for SpongeBob Squarepants, that is literally all you need to make it all work perfectly. Even if that doesn’t make for a perfect film overall, it makes for a perfect SpongeBob film.
To be sure, while there is definitely more effort put into its plot and character development than most Spongebob media, it never forgets the elements that makes the series as great as it is. It’s still an EXTEREMELY funny movie with the same style of humor, gags, and amusing visuals that the series has always been known for. It’s able to expand upon the world of undersea than ever before, it moves at a solid, breakneck pace, the new characters are great and iconic in their own right, the music is still soothing, the voice acting is perhaps at it’s most energetic, and it never once forget the overall charm of what the show has stood for. Hillenburg and friends could not have done a better job for adaptation SpongeBob onto the big screen if they tried.
Were there some missed opportunities here? Perhaps! As much as I love the focus on strictly Spongebob and Patrick, it does feel unfortunate that other characters don’t seem to get much of the spotlight, most notably fan favorites such as Gary, Squidward and Sandy Cheeks. Considering the fact this movie was originally structured as the series finale, it does seem odd that these characters didn’t get a special moment to themselves or be able to share their thoughts one last time about SpongeBob at the very end.
I also find it jarring how the movie seems to forget about Patrick once we get to the climax where SpongeBob goes full DEUS EX GOOFY GOOBER mode! The movie puts so much focus on the starfish, practically making him the co-lead of the picture, and then it like…forgets he exists by the very end. The very last scene we get of Patrick is him with his long sneezy legs getting SpongeBob down from the ceiling.
Do these flaws hinder my enjoyment or has me thinking this isn’t a perfect four out of four star movie for me? Not at all! But I would imagine that there would at least be one hardcore fan that would have wished a bit more love was given to some of the other characters here! I guess they would have to wait for the next movie for them to get their time in the spotlight.
The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie still remains an all-time classic in my eyes. Regardless of whether you view this as an adaption of the show, the epilogue of a beloved franchise, or even just a standard kids film, it all works in every way it possibly can. Even if the clear target audience is for kids, I do think there is something for adults to get something out of this as well. The message of the film is just that resonating. Beautifully animated, perfectly written, immensely funny, and emotional beats that all feel earned (You are a robot sent from Skyler if you didn’t cry at SpongeBob and Patrick’s “death scene”!), I could not ask for a better SpongeBob movie than this.
Even as someone that’s about to turn 27 this year, I can’t help but have a strong attachment to this film as I get older. When rewatching it for this marathon, I was legit worried that I wasn’t going to feel that same fondness when watching this film as a kid, that it was just nostalgia that clouded my judgement and it was time to take the rose-colored glasses off with the acceptance that this movie simply wasn’t as good as I thought it was. However, watching it again, I was wrong to ever doubt it. Because in the end, we are all goofy goobers. No matter what age I am, I will always feel proud to call myself a goofy goober!
Even though this did not end up being the very last of the series like it was originally intended to, this still works perfectly as a definite end to the franchise. Despite the fact that multiple seasons and films involving Spongebob have come along since 2004, it doesn’t change the fact that the timeless nature of it makes this feel like the main stopping point and everything that came after basically just what came before chronologically. It’s the way that Stephen Hillenburg always intended and quite frankly, it works all the better for it.
Tune in next month as to when things start getting “interesting” as we will take a look at what can be considered the “awkward” era of Spongebob Squarepants, with Seasons 4 and 5 respectively!
Other thoughts:
I still find it hard to believe that Black Widow herself, Scarlett Johansson, did the voice of Mindy. It’s no wonder Patrick had a big crush on her.
It’s sad we never got to see Mindy in a big role throughout the rest of the series.
I also remember playing the movie tie-in video game a lot as a kid. Boy, do I have complicated feelings about that game.
It’s only until now that I realized that Best Day Ever song was originally a part of this movie’s soundtrack and NOT for the Best Day Ever episode.
Now, That We’re Men is gonna be playing in my head rent free for the next month.
The guy that played Patchy the Pirate in this movie was great btw.
I do wonder who voiced Dennis though. Surely, it’s just some no name actor that disappeared off the face of the earth because he decided acting wasn’t his thing and didn’t do something utterly terrible that destroyed his life. I will still stick by the fact that Dennis is voiced by “He who shall NOT be named!”
Lastly, David Hasselhoff, BEST CELEBRITY CAMEO EVER!
Adam's Blog 