The Monthly December 2024

Wow, is this really (almost) the final edition of Popculturology for 2024? (The Box Office Report will hit your inbox tomorrow, if that’s part of your subscription.) I can’t believe this is actually the fourth edition of The Monthly. It feels like I just launched this element of the newsletter in September.

Three things to know. Two trailers to watch. One article to read.

The Monthly hits your inbox on the last Sunday of every month.

3 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

A Bluey movie, for real life

What a month for Bluey news. On a single day, we learned that a Bluey movie was in the works ... and that Bluey creator Joe Blumm planned to step away from the core Bluey TV show.

Since “The Sign” premiered in April, Bluey fans have been wondering what the future held for the show. It turned out the answer was, well, an extra episode of the show that teased an older Bluey (with a surprise!) and a bunch of shorts under the Bluey Minisodes banner. If you had asked me a few weeks ago what my guess was for the future of Bluey, I would’ve pointed at those Minisodes. They’re quick hits and seemingly don’t require any new lines from the aging kids who voice Bluey and Bingo.

But now there’s a movie on the way. Will we hear new voices for Bluey and Bingo? Will it take place in that future teased by “Surprise!”? Either way, it’s going to make a ton of money at the box office.

Brumm announcing on the same day that the movie was revealed that he’s “decided to take a break from my involvement in the TV series” was honestly the bigger surprise. Brumm is Bluey. Bluey is Brumm. What does Bluey look like without his involvement? Rolling Stone’s Alan Sepinwall poked at the confusion over where Brumm ends and Bluey begins, comparing Brumm to Calvin & Hobbes creator Bill Waterson.

There’s going to come a day when Disney writes a very, very large check for Bluey. (The Mouse also scored rights to have Bluey characters in its parks and cruises.) And it’s going to be a lot easier for Brumm and Ludo Studio to accept that check now that Brumm has begun separating himself from the franchise. (Disney)

Warner Bros. opts out of Sesame Street

Elmo and his neighbors are in need of a new home. Warner Bros. Discovery chose to not renew its production deal with Sesame Workshop, putting the future of Sesame Street into flux. (A future that already sounds rough based on a Washington Post piece that notes that kids don’t recognize Bert and Ernie anymore and that the show is paring its core Muppet cast down to just Elmo, Abby Cadabby, Cookie Monster and Grover.)

Since 2016, new episodes of Sesame Street have run on HBO (and later Max) before eventually airing for free on PBS. Without a deal, Sesame Street will either need a new production partner — Apple TV+? Netflix? — or the show won’t be able to fund the cost of creating new episodes.

This is the latest black eye for WBD CEO David Zaslav. After previously scrapping a Batgirl movie and killing the finished Coyote vs. Acme Looney Tunes movie for a tax write-off, Zaslav’s company is now saying that it doesn’t believe that keeping an iconic show like Sesame Street alive is part of its future. (The Hollywood Reporter)

A hot check for Hot Ones

There’s an iconic scene in the first Iron Man movie where Jeff Bridges’ Obadiah Stane dresses down one of his scientists tasked with replicating Tony Stark’s ARC reactor. “Tony Stark was able to build this in a cave! With a box of scraps!” Stane yells.

Well, Sean Evans and Chris Schonberger were able to build a YouTube show worth $82.5 million in a black room with hot questions and even hotter wings.

After being precariously shopped around by BuzzFeed, First We Feast (the company that produces Hot Ones) was sold for that massive sum to a group that included Evans and Schonberger earlier this month. The deal puts the duo firmly in control of the future of Hot Ones, with Evans now the company’s chief creative officer and Shonberger its chief executive officer.

While the deal is a huge triumph for the Hot Ones team, it’s another failure for BuzzFeed. “That a dude with a couple cameras and a plate of appetizers can make something worth $82.5 million and a media company looks at that and goes ‘couldn’t we make even more money if we had AI do it?’ tells you exactly how stupid these people are,” someone joked on Bluesky.

And, yes, BuzzFeed plans to take that money and invest it in AI, with CEO Jonah Peretti saying his company “we will continue to invest in our most scalable and tech enabled services, launching new AI-powered interactive experiences, and delivering for our loyal audience and business partners.” (Deadline)

2 TRAILERS YOU NEED TO WATCH

Superman

A ton is riding on James Gunn’s ability to deliver a Superman movie that honors the character and connects with audiences in the 2020s. After watching Superman turn bitter with Zack Snyder’s take (a version of the character that I don’t blame Henry Cavill for), fans of the character got their first taste of a more hopeful Man of Steel with the first teaser trailer for Superman.

“What Gunn appears to be grappling with isn’t the need for a Superman or the resigned acceptance that there is one, but the question of ‘how do we make the world want a Superman?’” The Hollywood Reporter’s Richard Newby asked in his writeup of the trailer.

It’s impossible to decipher what the actual movie will be like from a teaser like this, but that shot of Superman saving a girl from an explosion gives me a ton of, well, hope that Gunn is going to get this one right.

28 Years Later

Here’s a trailer that was over two decades in the making. After delivering the groundbreaking 28 Days Later in 2002, director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland passed on the film’s inevitable sequel, 28 Weeks Later. (Don’t worry, the duo would keep busy, with Boyle winning an Oscar for directing Slumdog Millionaire and Garland writing and directing films like Ex Machina and Annihilation.)

The duo has reunited for 28 Years Later, with Sony releasing the chilling first trailer for the film this month. The trailer is especially tense thanks to the recording of the Rudyard Kipling poem “Boots” echoing through it.

Sony has a ton of confidence in the story Boyle and Garland are telling in 28 Years Later, already putting 28 Years Later Part II: The Bone Temple into the works with The Marvels and Candyman director Nia DaCosta at the helm.

1 ARTICLE YOU NEED TO READ

Interstellar’s Most Enduring Quality Is Exactly What People Used to Hate About It

I love Interstellar. Over the past few years, I’ve tweeted and posted about my love for it, noting that I hoped people would eventually appreciate it as Christopher Nolan’s greatest movie.

That time has finally arrived as we celebrate Interstellar’s tenth anniversary. In addition to a virtually sold-out IMAX re-release, the movie has been celebrated by many well-respected pop culture writers. Birge Ebiri is one of those writers.

Vulture published a piece from Ebiri earlier this month focusing on love being at the core of Interstellar — a concept that was often ridiculed when the film was first released — and proclaiming that “Interstellar now feels like one of the greatest films ever made about being a parent.” (Vulture)

CATCHING UP

Here’s what you might have missed from Popculturology and Snackology this month ...

Friday Newsletter

• A hopeful Superman trailer takes flight
• Disney recycles Chris Evans and Tangled
• Skeleton Crew is up to something ...
• Is Dune: Prophecy doin’ enough?

Deep SNL Thoughts

• Nine Five-Timers Club members (and Jimmy Fallon) welcome Martin Short into the SNL club
• Chris Rock gets SNL into the Christmas spirit with a very special cameo
• Paul Mescal hosts SNL, but it’s still the Dana Carvey show

The Box Office Report

• Sonic 3 rings up a huge box office win over the live-action Mufasa
• No one was cravin’ Kraven as Moana 2 hits $700M worldwide
• Moana 2 cruises past $300M with a dominant second weekend
• Moana 2 knows the way to a massive Thanksgiving weekend
• A Wicked good weekend at the box office

Special Edition

• Moana 2 gets a weak ‘chee hoo’ from me

Snackology

• Taco Bell isn’t chicken when it comes to entering the nugget wars
• Kraft Mac & Cheese Everything Bagel Flavor is a menace
• Aw nuts, the Toasty Holiday Peanut M&Ms aren’t great

And beyond

• 9 Political Issues That Bit the Dust This Year