This is all of the Nintendo Switch games I currently have available, my way of giving you an indication of what I have to work from. I'll keep adding games to this list as I get them, and link to the reviews as I review them.
If you want to see a specific game from this list reviewed, ask! I may take you up on your request!
Anyway, here's the list (Note: Last Updated 5/20/20):
.
#Breakforcist Battle
#RaceDieRun
7 Billion Humans
12 is Better than 6
20XX
30-in-1 Game Collection (Includes 30 Games - full list in review)
911 Operator
1001 Ultimate Mahjong 2
1979 Revolution: Black Friday
2048 Battles
2064: Read Only Memories INTEGRAL
6180 The Moon
A Case of Distrust
A Ch'ti Bundle (Includes Ethan: Meteor Hunter and Inside My Radio)
A Hole New World
A Magical High School Girl
A Normal Lost Phone
A Robot Named Fight
A Winter's Daydream
ACA NEOGEO Aero Fighters 2
ACA NEOGEO Fatal Fury
ACA NEOGEO Fatal Fury Special
ACA NEOGEO Garou: Mark of the Wolves
ACA NEOGEO Metal Slug
ACA Neogeo Power Spikes II
ACA NEOGEO Samurai Shodown
ACA NEOGEO Samurai Shodown II
ACA NEOGEO Samurai Shodown III
ACA NEOGEO Sengoku
ACA NEOGEO The King of Fighters '94
ACA NEOGEO The King of Fighters '95
ACA NEOGEO The King of Fighters '97
ACA NEOGEO The King of Fighters 2000
ACA NEOGEO Zed Blade
Aces of the Luftwaffe - Squadron
Adrenaline Rush - Miami Drive
Aegis Defenders
AER: Memories of Old
Agartha-S
Agent A: A Puzzle in Disguise
Aggelos
AI: The Somnium Files
Air Hockey
Airfield Mania
Akane
Akihabara CRASH! 123STAGE+1
Akuto: Showdown
Aldred Knight
Alien Cruise
Alien: Isolation
Alternate Jake Hunter: Daedelus The Awakening of Golden Jazz
Alvastia Chronicles
Amazing Brick Breaker
Ambition of the Slimes
Angry Bunnies: Colossal Carrot Crusade
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Animal Rivals: Nintendo Switch Edition
Anode
Anodyne
Another Lost Phone
Another World
Ape Out
Apocalipsis Wormwood Edition
Aqua Kitty UDX
Aragami: Shadow Edition
Arcade Archives Crazy Climber
Arcade Archives Double Dragon
Arcade Archives Kid's Horehore Daisakusen
Arcade Archives Moon Cresta
Arcade Archives Ninja-Kid
Arcade Archives Ninja-Kid II
Arcade Archives Terra Cresta
Arcade Classics Anniversary Collection (Includes Scramble, Twinbee, Nemesis, Life Force, Typhoon, Haunted Castle, Vulcan Venture, Thunder Cross)
Arcade Fuzz (Includes TTV3 and Warpzone Drifter)
Arena of Valor
ARMS
Art of Balance
Armello
Ascendance
Asphalt 9 Legends
Assassin's Creed III Remastered
Assassin's Creed: The Rebel Collection
Assault Android Cactus+
Astebreed
Astro Bears
Atari Flashback Classics
Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk DX
Atelier Dusk Trilogy Deluxe Pack
Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky DX
Atelier Ryza
Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea DX
Atomic Heist
Atomik: RunGunJumpGun
ATV Drift & Tricks
Avenger Bird
Awe
Axiom Verge
Azuran Tales: Trials
Azure Striker Gunvolt: Striker Pack
Baba Is You
Bad Dream: Coma
Bad Dream: Fever
Balance Blox
Balthazar's Dream
Banner Saga 1
Barbarous: Tavern of Emyr
Barrier X
Bastion
Batman: The Telltale Series
Batman: The Enemy Within
Battery Jam
Battle & Crash
Battle Chasers: Nightwar
Battle Chef Brigade Deluxe
Battleground
Battleship
Battlesloths
Bayonetta
Bayonetta 2
Beat Cop
Bedtime Blues
Behind the Screen
Big Buck Hunter Arcade
Big Crown Showdown
Billy Bomber
Binaries
Biolab Wars
Black Bird
Black Paradox
Blacksea Odyssey
Blasphemous
Blaster Master Zero
Blazblue Centralfiction Special Edition
BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle
BlazeRush
Blazing Beaks
Blazing Chrome
Bleed (In Bleed Complete Bundle)
Bleed 2 (In Indie Darling Bundle Vol. 2 and Bleed Complete Bundle)
Bleed Complete Bundle (Includes Bleed and Bleed 2)
Bleep Bloop
Blindy
Block-a-Pix Deluxe
Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King
Blue Rider
Bomb Chicken
Bomber Crew
Bombslinger
Bouncy Bob
Bowling
Box Align
BoxBoy + BoxGirl!
BQM -BlockQuest Maker-
Braveland Trilogy
Brawlhalla
Bridge Builder Adventure
Bridge Constructor Portal
Broforce
Broken Age
Bubble Cats Rescue
Bubble Shooter DX
Bud Spencer & Terence Hill – Slaps and Beans
Build a Bridge
Bulb Boy
Bulletstorm: Duke of Switch Edition
Burger Chef Tycoon (In Cooking Tycoons - 3 in 1 Bundle)
Burnstar
Bury Me, My Love
Bus Fix 2019
Butcher
Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the Necrodancer Featuring The Legend of Zelda
Cake Laboratory
Call of Juarez: Gunslinger
Candle: The Power of the Flame
Candleman
Capcom Beat 'Em Up Bundle
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker
Car Mechanic Manager
Car Quest
Car Trader
Carcassonne
Card Game Bundle Vol. 1 (Includes Frost and Monster Slayers)
Castle Crashers Remastered
Castle of No Escape
CastleStorm
Castlevania Anniversary Collection (Includes Castlevania, Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, Super Castlevania IV, Castlevania: The Adventure, Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge, Castlevania: Bloodlines, Kid Dracula)
Cat Quest
Catan
Catch a Duck
Caterpillar Royale
Cattails
Cave Story+
Caveblazers
Celeste
Chalk Dash Carnival
Chameleon
Chasm
Chess Ultra
Child of Light Ultimate Edition
Children of Morta
Chime Sharp
Chocobo's Mystery Dungeon: Every Buddy!
Chop
Chop is Dish
Chroma Squad
Cinders
Circuits
Cities: Skylines - Nintendo Switch Edition
Citizens of Space
City of Brass
Classic Games Collection: Vol. 1
Clouds & Sheep 2
Clumsy Rush
Clustertruck
Collection of Mana (Includes Final Fantasy Adventure, Secret of Mana, Trials of Mana)
Collidalot
Color Zen
Color.Motif Deluxe
Colorgrid
Coloring Book
Commander Keen in Keen Dreams
Conduct Together
Conga Master Party!
Contra Anniversary Collection (Includes Contra (Arcade), Super Contra (Arcade), Contra (NES) (NA), Contra (NES) (J), Super C, Contra III: The Alien Wars, Super Probotector: Alien Rebels, Operation C, Contra: Hard Corps, Probotector)
Contra: Rogue Corps
Contraptions
Cook, Serve, Delicious! 2!!
Cooking Tycoons - 3 in 1 Bundle (Includes Burger Chef Tycoon, Food Truck Tycoon, Pizza Bar Tycoon)
Cosmic Star Heroine
Cosmonauta
Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy (Includes Crash Bandicoot, Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, Crash Bandicoot: Warped)
Crash Dummy
Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled
Crawl
Crayola Scoot
Crazy Zen Mini Golf
Creepy Brawlers
Croc's World
Croc's World 2
Croc's World 3
Croc's World Run
Croixleur Sigma
Crossniq+
Crush Your Enemies!
Crypt of the NecroDancer: Nintendo Switch Edition
Crystal Crisis
Cube Creator X
Cuphead
Cursed Castilla
Cyber Protocol
Cycle 28
Cytus α
Dandara
Dandy Dungeon - Legend of Brave Yamada -
Danmaku Unlimited 3
Dark Souls Remastered
Dark Tower: RPG Dungeon Puzzle
Darkest Dungeon
Darkest Hunters
Darksiders: Warmastered Edition
Darksiders II: Deathinitive Edition
Dauntless
Dawn of the Breakers
Day and Night
DC Universe Online
de Blob
de Blob 2
Dead Cells
Dead Fun Pack: Aliens and Penguins Strike Again (Includes Mutant Alien Moles of the Dead and Run Run and Die)
Deadlings
Deadly Fighter 2
Deadly Premonition Origins
Death Coming
Death Squared
Death Road to Canada
Debris Infinity
Deemo
Deep Diving Adventures
Defunct
Demon's Tilt
Depixtion
Deployment
Deru - The Art of Cooperation
Detective Dolittle
Detention
Devious Dungeon
Devious Dungeon 2
Dexteritrip
Diablo III: Eternal Collection
Diabolic
Dig Dog
Digerati Indie Bundle: Ink & Hacky Zack
Diggerman
Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth: Complete Edition
Dimension Drive
Ding Dong XL
Disco Dodgeball - REMIX
Disgaea 1 Complete
Disgaea 4 Complete+
Disgaea 5 Complete
Disney Classic Games: Aladdin and The Lion King
Distrust
Divine Ascent
Doggie Ninja The Golden Mission
Dokuro
Don't Die, Mr Robot! DX
Don't Starve: Nintendo Switch Edition
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
Donut County
Doom
Doom (1993)
Doom II (Classic)
Doom 3
Door Kickers: Action Squad
Doraemon Story of Seasons
Downwell
Dragon Ball FighterZ
Dragon Pinball
Dragon Quest
Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line
Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation
Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age - Definitive Edition
Dragon Quest Builders 2
Dragon Snakes
Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen
Draw a Stickman: Epic 2
Draw Chilly
Drawful 2
Dreaming Canvas
Dreamwalker: Never Fall Asleep
Drone Fight
Duke of Defense
Dungeon Rushers
Dungeon Warfare
Duped
Dynasty Warriors 8 Xtreme Legends Definitive Edition
Earth Atlantis
Earthlock
Earthworms
Eggggg - The Platform Puker
Elevator... To The Moon! Turbo Champion Edition
Embers of Mirrim
Energy Balance
Energy Cycle
Energy Invasion
Enigmatis 2: The Mists of Ravenwood
Enter the Gungeon
EQQO
Escape From the Universe
Escape Game: Aloha
eSport Manager
Estiman
Eternal: The Card Game
Ethan: Meteor Hunter (In A Ch'ti Bundle)
Event Horizon
Event Horizon: Space Defense
Everspace – Stellar Edition
Exception
Fairune Collection
Fallout Shelter
Farabel
Farm Together
Farming Simulator: Nintendo Switch Edition
Fast RMX
Fe
Feudal Alloy
Fight'n Rage
Figment
Fill-a-Pix: Phil's Epic Adventure
Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VIII Remastered
Final Fantasy IX
Final Fantasy X/X-2 Remaster
Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age
Final Fantasy XV Pocket Edition
Final Light, The Prison
Find the Balance
Firewatch
Fishing Star World Tour
Fishing Universe Simulator
Fitness Boxing
Flashback
Flat Heroes
Flinthook
Flip Over Frog
Flipping Death
Flood of Light
Florence
Flowlines VS
Fly O’Clock
Fobia
Food Truck Tycoon (In Cooking Tycoons - 3 in 1 Bundle)
Football Heroes Turbo
For the King
Forager
Forgotton Anne
Fortnite
Four Kings Casino and Slots
Framed Collection (Includes Framed and Framed 2)
Frederic: Resurrection of Music
Frederic 2: Evil Strikes Back
Freecel Solitaire Deluxe
Freedom Planet
Frost (In Card Game Bundle Vol. 1)
Frutakia 2
Full Metal Furies
Funbox Party
Funghi Puzzle Funghi Explosion
Funny Bunny Adventures
Furi
FutureGrind
.
(G-Z titles in comments)

Hey, everyone! I’m continuing a series from last year where I looked into and analyzed the Big 5 studios (+United Artists Releasing and 20th Century Fox).
In this post, I will be focusing on United Artists Releasing/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the studio that’s well known for Gone With the Wind, Doctor Zhivago, the Rocky series, Rain Man, the 007 James Bond films, and multiple lions that started roaring at the audience since the 1930s. I originally planned for A Look into MGM/UA for last year, but I got a little too lazy and cancelled it. Now that United Artists celebrates its 100th Anniversary and has an interesting future, I think it would be a good time to look into United Artists and Metro-Goldwyn Mayer, two of the former major film studios of the film industry. I will keep the history as short as possible
United Artists - 1919-1981
United Artists was created by Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, D.W. Griffith, and Mary Pickford on February 5, 1919 as a way for the four of them and for other filmmakers to have more control over their work than at another studio like First National Pictures, Universal Pictures, or Famous Players-Lasky (later renamed to Paramount Pictures). Despite not owning any theaters, they would have contracts with exhibition companies to show their films. In 1967, Transamerica purchased a 98 percent stake in United Artists. Transamerica owned the studio until 1981 when Heaven’s Gate became one of the biggest box office bombs at the time. So much so that Transamerica sold their stake in United Artists to another film studio and merge with them. Notable United Artists films: His Majesty, the American, Charlie Chaplin Films, Dollars Trilogy (A Fistful of Dollars, For A Few Dollars More, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly), 007 Franchise, The Magnificent Seven, West Side Story, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Rocky, Apocalypse Now, and Raging Bull
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer - 1924-1981
In 1924, Marcus Loew, a theater magnate needed films to show at his Loew’s Theatres chain. He bought Metro Pictures back in 1919, but that wasn’t enough. So he bought Goldwyn Pictures and Mayer Pictures. Then, Loew decided to fuse these companies together to form Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer with Louis B. Mayer (formerly the head of Mayer Pictures) to run MGM. MGM was already a merged company before United Artists joined as player four almost 60 years later. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was the dominating studio throughout the Golden Age of Hollywood (1920s-1960s), kind of like how Disney is now. However, their weakness is what lead to their downfall. Starting with Ben-Hur (1959), MGM believed that it would be able to constantly replicate its success every year by having one epic film carry them for a year. However, there were way too many times were the epic film would fall flat on their face. Since they heavily depended on the success of one film, they would suffer as a result. In 1969, Kirk Kekorian bought MGM and would use that name to focus on hotels and casinos with the MGM likeness. While MGM was able to rebound from losses, they never reached the top like they were able to back in the Golden Age of Hollywood. At some point, 20th Century Fox (a company that already was composed of two merged companies) and MGM were in talks to merge, but plans failed (20th Century Fox would instead merge with Disney 48 years later). However, MGM was able to merge with another major film studio, albeit not as strong as 20th Century Fox. Notable MGM films: Mademoiselle Midnight, The Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind, An American in Paris, Singin in the Rain, Ben-Hur, Doctor Zhivago, Network, Fame, and Clash of the Titans
MGM/UA Entertainment Era - 1982-1986
Kirk Kekorian’s Trancinda Corp purchased United Artists, which also owned Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The companies would merge to become MGM/UA Entertainment Company. At the time of the merger, David Begelman was fired due to greenlighting unsuccessful films with the sole exception of Poltergeist, meaning that MGM was struggling as well to a certain extent. In 1983, WarGames and Octopussy became a success for MGM, but the year wasn’t as profitable as Kekorian wanted. Not even MGM’s library was enough to help them get through the year. A year after the buyout, MGM started distributing independent films instead of financing their own films. On August 7, 1985, Ted Turner offered to buy MGM/UA for $1.5B. Turner immediately sold United Artists to Kekorian. Due to Turner having his own financial problems, Turner was forced to sell MGM’s production and distribution assets to United Artists for $340M. The MGM lot was sold to Lorimar Telepictures (which would later be bought by Sony to be renamed to Sony Pictures Studios). However, Ted Turner kept the RKO Pictures library that United Artists owned, the pre-1986 MGM library, and the pre-1950 Warner Bros library. Ted Turner’s Turner Broadcasting System would later merge with Time Warner (owner of Warner Bros), meaning that Warner Bros would regain their pre-1950 library that Jack Warner sold off back in the 50s, along with 99% of the RKO library and the pre-1986 MGM films. This is probably one of the factors that made Warner Bros the powerhouse they are today. Getting back on topic, this left MGM/UA with little to nothing. They have become a shell of their former selves and still are to this day as both United Artists and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer have lost their major film studio status in the 80s. They had to start from scratch like a brand new studio, but with a slight advantage of their brand recognition. Notable MGM/UA films: Rocky III, WarGames, Octopussy, Poltergeist, The Secret of NIMH, and Red Dawn
MGM/UA Communications Era - 1987-2010
When Kirk Kekorian reclaimed MGM, he renamed MGM/UA Entertainment Co. to MGM/UA Communications Co. Throughout the late 80s and 90s, the studio was able to stick around, but were far behind the big 6 at the time (Disney, 20th Century Fox, Columbia, Universal, Paramount, and Warner Bros). They had hits such as Moonstruck, Child’s Play, Rain Man, and Thelma & Louise. In 1997, MGM was able to strengthen their film library a little with the acquisition of Metromedia. Metromedia owned Orion Pictures, which made hits like First Blood, The Terminator, Three Amigos, Platoon, Robocop, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, UHF, Dances with Wolves, and Silence of the Lambs. In 2003, MGM attempted to buy Universal Pictures (I don’t know how as Universal was the stronger film studio), but failed and lost $75M in doing so. In 2004, it was the major film studios’ turn to try to buy MGM. Time Warner attempted to take MGM, but failed. However, Sony Pictures Entertainment won the bid overall. Sony did this to ensure that MGM would support the Blu-Ray format over the HD-DVD format that was happening in the mid-2000s. Sony agreed to purchase MGM and would distribute some of their films like Casino Royale and Rocky Balboa. In 2007, they returned to distributing on their own. While they did have modest successes with films like Valkyrie, it wasn’t enough. In 2010, MGM supposedly released what many thought would be their swan song, Hot Tub Time Machine. Later that year, MGM filed for bankruptcy. Notable MGM/UA films: Dalton and Brosnan 007 Films, Rocky IV, Child’s Play, Spaceballs, Moonstruck, Rain Man, Road House, Thelma & Louise, Stargate, Valkyrie, Daniel Craig 007 Films (producing only), and Hot Tub Time Machine (last film that United Artists and MGM distribute before the Production Company Era)
Production Company Era - 2011-2017
In this era, MGM could only produce films and not distribute them. MGM co-produced a Poltergeist remake with 20th Century Fox. With Paramount Pictures, MGM made Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Hercules, Hot Tub Time Machine 2, and a Ben-Hur remake. With Warner Bros Pictures, MGM co-produced The Hobbit Trilogy, Hot Pursuit, Max, Creed, and Everything, Everything. And with Sony Pictures, MGM made Zookeeper, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Hope Springs, Carrie, The Magnificent Seven, Skyfall (which gave both MGM and Sony their first billion dollar film), and Spectre. With their co-production, they were able to make a small comeback. Notable MGM films (producing only): Skyfall, Spectre, Creed, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, 21 and 22 Jump Street, The Hobbit Trilogy, and The Magnificent Seven (2016)
Return to Distribution Era - 2018-Present
Mirror Releasing was founded as a joint distribution venture between Annapurna Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to release their films under. MGM made a return to the world of distribution with Death Wish. Let’s see how well MGM did in 2018 and 2019.
2018
For MGM’s first film in years, Death Wish didn’t make twice its budget, which made $50M on a budget of $30M and neither did MGM’s second film in years, Operation Finale which made $18M on a budget of $24M. To be fair, Netflix distributed the film internationally, so they must’ve paid half. Even then, $18M in the US on a budget of $12M is nothing to get excited about. Annapurna wasn’t doing that great either. The only film they released that year that can really be considered profitable is Sorry to Bother You, which made $18M on a budget of $3M. The Sisters Brothers and Destroyer failed to recoup their budget, and If Beale Street Could Talk and Vice couldn’t make twice its budget. Unlike Annapurna, MGM had a major hit with Creed II, which made $214M on a budget of $50M. However, this isn’t completely MGM’s success story as Warner Bros distributed the film worldwide. In the US, Creed II made $116M on a halved budget (assuming MGM and WB split the bill) of $25M for MGM. This is still a major win for MGM, though that isn’t saying much compared to their slate. Mirror Releasing’s 2018 slate is at worst awful and at best mediocre, with Annapurna not helping matters.
Biggest Win: Creed II Biggest Loses: The Sisters Brothers, If Beale Street Could Talk, and Vice
2019
On February 5, 2019, United Artists celebrates its 100th Anniversary. As a way to celebrate the film studio, Mirror Releasing was renamed to United Artists Releasing with the name first appearing in Missing Link. Annapurna released three films this year. While Booksmart was able to be profitable making $25M on a budget of $6M, Where’d You Go, Bernadette failed to make its budget back, making $10M on a budget of $18M. However, this wouldn’t be Annapurna’s biggest loss. Missing Link bombed really hard, only making $26M on a budget of $100M, severely damaging Annapurna to the point of being on the verge of bankruptcy. This wasn’t just because of Missing Link. This was also due to the other films that Annapurna distributed in 2018, which didn’t make much of a profit either. As of now, it is unknown whether Annapurna will distribute films for United Artists Releasing next year. Orion Pictures would be apart of the United Artists Releasing group with Child’s Play. The Child’s Play remake made $45M on a budget of $10M, making it profitable. MGM released three films this year and they were all profitable. Fighting With My Family made $39M on a budget of $11M. The Hustle made $95M on a budget of $21M. And as of now, The Addams Family made $88M on a budget of $40M. It should be able to make $100M by the end of its run. Overall, United Artists Releasing’s 2019 slate is pretty good, and would’ve been amazing had Missing Link and Where’d You Go, Bernadette weren’t released by United Artists Releasing. Then again, Annapurna is the one suffering the losses and not MGM. MGM has a good year, even if it’s not enough to compete with the other studios like Lionsgate or Paramount. But that’s okay because it’s just baby steps. Overall, this was a decent year for United Artists’ 100th Anniversary, with two exceptions.. Biggest Win: The Hustle, Child’s Play, and The Addams Family Biggest Loses: Missing Link and Where’d You Go, Bernadette
2020: The next year is coming, and it’s time to look at what United Artists Releasing has in-store for everyone next year. I’ll try to keep it short (with a basic description of each one if necessary and how well it might do). The numbers I have won’t be accurate, so take it with a grain of salt.
Gretel & Hansel - it’s a supernatural horror film directed by Oz Perkins. As a horror film in January, I’d say that this could make some decent profit. The biggest concern is how many other horror films trying to capitalize on the January spot like The Grudge (Sony Pictures), Underwater (20th Century Fox), and The Turning (Universal Pictures). If I were being optimistic, I’d say it could make $40M DOM and $70M WW.
No Time To Die - it’s a spy film directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga and is the 25th film in the Bond franchise and the 5th and final Bond film starring Daniel Craig as the iconic James Bond. This is the film that United Artists Releasing needs to succeed in the future, and they are relying on it to be their largest film this year. I could see this making as low as $180M DOM and $800M WW and as high as $220M DOM and $1B WW. It could make a little less than Spectre or more, but I don’t see this surpassing Skyfall. Regardless, this should be a large hit for UAR. However, they are only handling domestic distribution while Universal Pictures handles international distribution, meaning that they aren’t going to be getting even half of the profits made from No Time to Die. This is almost guaranteed to be a hit for both United Artists Releasing and Universal Pictures.
Bad Trip - it’s a hidden camera comedy film directed by Kitao Sakurai. I don’t know how this is going to work, but based on the synopsis that it’s just a group of people traveling around and pranking people, I don’t see this doing gangbusters. I’d say $20M DOM and $30M WW.
Legally Blonde 3 - it’s a comedy film and the third film in the Legally Blonde series. I don’t think it will break records due to nostalgia, but it should get a decent amount of people into seats if it can get the casual and fans interested in the film. I’d say the highest it can make is $80M DOM and $100M WW.
Respect - it’s a music biopic film directed by Liesl Tommy and is based on the life of singer Aretha Franklin. This is coming off the success of other music biopics like Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocketman. I highly doubt this film will make even half of what Bohemian Rhapsody, let alone make close to those numbers (Bohemian Rhapsody made $904M. That’s not going to happen to Respect). Rocketman is more comparable to Respect and based off Rocketman’s $196M, I’d say this could make $100M DOM and $220M WW.
Bill & Ted Face the Music - it’s a sci-fi comedy film directed by Dean Parisot and is the third film in the Bill & Ted series. Bill & Ted has become a cult classic, so the release of a third film should get fans of the first two films to come see this one. With some help from the international audience (though it will make the most in the US), I’d say this could make $60M DOM and $80M WW.
Samaritan - it’s a film directed by Julius Avery and stars Sylvester Stallone. Not much is known besides that. Basing it off of how well both of their previous movies did, this should make about $30M DOM and $50M WW.
Robocop Returns - it’s a science fiction action film and is set to be a sequel to the original Robocop. Neil Blomkamp was originally attached to direct but left on August 2019. As of now, there’s no director. It’s highly unlikely that this film will come out next year, unless MGM can find a director and start filming sometime before the end of this year. I only have this up here because it’s still slated for 2020 and it’s not entirely impossible for this to come out next year, just very unlikely. If it does happen next year or gets pushed back to 2021, I’d say this could make $70M DOM and $160M WW with good reviews. This shouldn’t be too bad as long as the budget is $60M or less, which can be done.
Thoughts on the 2020 Slate: As a small film studio, United Artists Releasing has a promising slate. The overall domestic total should be around $500M, which is a large step forward for them. Their films are going to rely on the US market for success with the exception of No Time to Die. No Time to Die is a guaranteed money maker for both UAR and Universal and will be UAR’s biggest film to date. Legally Blonde 3, Bill & Ted Face the Music, and maybe Robocop Returns (if it comes out) will bring in fans of the series back after a long hiatus, especially Bill & Ted Face the Music. Another guaranteed hit for UAR will be Respect as music biopics are all the craze these days and Aretha Franklin is a well known singer with lots of fans. Bad Trip and Samaritan should be modest successes as original films from the studio. Gretel & Hansel is probably the only film I’m concerned about and that’s mostly due to how saturated January 2020 will be of horror films. It should do okay as long as the budget is low.
The Future: - Besides Robocop Returns possibly happening in 2021 instead of 2020, MGM has plans to make a sequel to Tomb Raider and to their most recent success, the Addams Family. Valley Girl from 1983 is getting a remake (if anyone remembers that). A remake of Night of the Comet is in development at Orion Pictures. As for the future of United Artists Releasing, if they can keep up with their small scale successes while successfully reviving their old franchises, a comeback will most likely happen for United Artists Releasing, to the point where they can do as well as Lionsgate and possibly even Paramount if they still have a hard time breaking $1B domestically.

On this post, I will focus on Sony Pictures/Columbia Pictures, the studio people want dead because they own Spider-Man and not Marvel. Besides Spider-Man, this studio is most well known for Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Men in Black, Hancock, 2012, the Daniel Craig 007 Films (Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, Skyfall, and Spectre), and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.
Before we start, I want to say something, and I might get downvoted for this.
People when Paramount Pictures’ 2017 slate critically and commercially flops (every single one of them was rated poorly: Monster Trucks, xXx: The Return of Xander Cage, Rings, Ghost in the Shell, Baywatch, Transformers: The Last Knight, Mother!, Suburbicon, Daddy’s Home 2, and Downsizing): I hope Paramount Pictures improves as a studio. But hey, with new management, Paramount will turn things around in no time.
People when Sony Pictures’ Venom gets negative reviews from critics: FUCK YOU SONY! STOP MAKING SPIDER-MAN FILMS! PACK YOUR BAGS! SELL THE SPIDER-MAN RIGHTS TO MARVEL! GO ROT IN HELL! YOU PEOPLE ARE INCOMPETENT! Oh by the way, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse looks great, Sony. I also can’t wait for Spider-Man: Far From Home which is an MCU film (as they forget that Sony has final creative control and distributes the film). Anyways, FUCK YOU, SONY! I WISH YOUR MOVIES WOULD FLOP SO YOU CAN SELL YOUR MOVIE DIVISION! YOU CAN’T MAKE SPIDER-MAN MOVIES ANYMORE! (Screeching Intensifies)
It’s a good time to be a Spider-Man/Sony fan and a bad time to be a Sony hater. I’m not saying Paramount Pictures deserves to get blasted on, but Sony getting blasted constantly is somewhat unjustified to me. Of course, you may not like the direction the Spider-Man franchise had been going with Sony (then again Into the Spider-Verse says hi), but people are judging some films negatively because it’s a Sony film. Or some people just look at the new Spider-Man movies, Ghostbusters (2016), the Emoji Movie, and Venom’s reviews, and say that the whole studio sucks because of that. I’m sure some people have other reasons, but I don’t get how Sony is a reason why a movie is bad. It’s just a film studio. They’ve made bad movies, but so have 20th Century Fox, Universal, Paramount, Warner Bros, and Disney. They’ve made good movies too. I’ll show you some down below.
1924-1976: The Beginning and Before the 80s
In 1918, Harry Cohn, Jack Cohn, and Joe Brandt founded Cohn-Brandt-Cohn (CBC) Film Sales. In order to improve the brand name, the company was renamed to Columbia Pictures Corporation on January 10, 1924. Columbia’s films were mostly moderately budgeted comedies, sports films, serials, and cartoons. As time went on Columbia would start making high budget films and join United Artists and Universal Pictures to become the “Little Three” in the Golden Age of Hollywood. Unlike the five major film studios in the Golden Age, RKO Radio Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, and Warner Bros Pictures, Columbia didn’t own any theaters. However, Columbia’s rise to become a major film studio was due to the ambitious director, Frank Capra, with movies like It Happened One Night, Lost Horizon, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, which made James Stewart a star. Columbia couldn’t afford to have a large amount of contract stars to the point where they would borrow stars from other studios. MGM would send some of their stars to Columbia to punish them if they weren’t obedient. After Harry Cohn’s death in February 1958, Columbia started to decline with multiple box office failures to the point where they could possibly go bankrupt. Fortunately in 1972, the studio was saved with an drastic overhaul in management and a deal with Warner Bros to share the WB studio lot. Some Columbia hits include Lawrence of Arabia, Dr. Strangelove, and Taxi Driver. Notable Columbia Pictures films: Discontented Husbands, It Happened One Night, Lawrence of Arabia, Dr. Strangelove, and Taxi Driver
1977-1983: Close Encounters of the Third Kind Era
On November 1977, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, a sci-fi film directed by Steven Spielberg, became a major success for Columbia Pictures and was their highest grossing film at the time (making $307M worldwide). In 1982, Columbia Pictures was bought out by Coca-Cola, the company behind the soda. Tri-Star Pictures was also created around this time, while Columbia expanded its television franchise. Major hits for the studio include Kramer vs. Kramer, The Blue Lagoon, Stripes, Stir Crazy, Tootsie, and The Big Chill. Notable Columbia Pictures films: Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Kramer vs. Kramer, Stripes, Stir Crazy, and Tootsie
Notable Columbia Pictures film that bombed: Krull
1984-1989: Ghostbusters/The Karate Kid/Rambo Era
On June 1984, two Columbia Pictures movies would be the biggest movies and the most well known films in Columbia’s library: Ghostbusters (making $295M worldwide) and The Karate Kid (making $91M in the US). Ghostbusters would receive a sequel in the form of Ghostbusters II, while The Karate Kid would become a trilogy. On the TriStar side, they had received Rambo: First Blood Part II and Rambo III, which would be a major success for the studio. Rambo: First Blood Part II was the highest grossing Columbia/TriStar film in this era, making $300M worldwide. Other hits include Stand By Me, Look Who’s Talking, Peggy Sue Got Married, and When Harry Met Sally… This success would catch the eyes of a fellow Japanese multinational conglomerate that would buy them in 1989. Notable Columbia/Tristar Pictures films: Ghostbusters 1 and 2, The Karate Kid Trilogy, Rambo: First Blood Part II and Rambo III, When Harry Met Sally…, and Look Who’s Talking
Notable Columbia Pictures films that bombed: Ishtar and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
1990-1996: Early Sony Era
On 1989, Sony bought Columbia Pictures for $3.4B. Did Sony buy the best studio at the time? Probably not, but I don’t know if they could’ve bought a different studio (20th Century Fox was owned by News Corporation, Warner Bros was probably too successful to be bought, and Disney would never give in to another corporation). The three studios I could see Sony buying instead of Columbia are MGM/UA, Universal, or Paramount, though I’m leaning towards Paramount more. Imagine complaining about the new Star Trek movie or Transformers movie being ruined by “Sony”. But honestly, this wasn’t a bad buy for Sony as they would keep their film division to this day. In the long term. As for short term, well, something was off. In 1994, Sony took a $2.7B write-off. It seems like it took less time for Sony to make a successful video game console (PlayStation) than it took for Sony to make Columbia Pictures an actual worthy investment. Most of the hits came from TriStar and not from Columbia Pictures with movies like Hook, Basic Instinct, Cliffhanger, Sleepless in Seattle, Philadelphia, Jumanji, and the highest grossing film for TriStar at the time, Terminator 2: Judgement Day (making $521M worldwide). On the Columbia side of things, the biggest franchise they had was probably City Slickers, but it wasn’t much compared to Ghostbusters, The Karate Kid, and Rambo in the 80s. They did have some other hits like Total Recall, Flatliners, Misery, Boyz N the Hood, The Prince of Tides, A League of Their Own, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, A Few Good Men, Groundhog Day, In the Line of Fire, Bad Boys, The Cable Guy, and the highest grossing Columbia Pictures film in this era, Jerry Maguire (making $274M worldwide). Notable Sony/Columbia Pictures films: Total Recall (1990), Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Hook, City Slickers, Basic Instinct, and Jumanji
Notable Sony/Columbia Pictures film that bombed: Hudson Hawk
1997-2001: Men In Black Era
Fortunately in 1996, Amy Pascal and Chris Lee was brought in to become the president of Columbia and TriStar, respectively. On 1997, Sony Pictures was ranked as the highest grossing film studio in the US, making $1.26B with movies like The Fifth Element, My Best Friend’s Wedding, Air Force One, As Good As It Gets, and the highest grossing Sony film in this era, Men In Black (making $251M in the US and $589M Worldwide). Other hits from Sony in this era include Godzilla, The Mask of Zorro, Stepmom, Big Daddy, Stuart Little, The Patriot, Charlie’s Angels, America’s Sweethearts, and Black Hawk Down. After their success in 1997, they weren’t able to replicate their success and fell behind the other major film studios. In 2000, they were in 7th place behind every major film studio plus Dreamworks SKG, making $682M that year. In 2001, they were in 6th place behind every major film studio, making $729M that year. Fortunately for Sony, they had gotten their hands on the most iconic Marvel superhero with plans to make a live action movie of this character. And this character made a major impact on Sony Pictures. Notable Sony/Columbia Pictures films: The Fifth Element, Men In Black, Air Force One, Stuart Little, and Charlie’s Angels
Notable Sony/Columbia Pictures film that bombed: Ali and Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
2002-2007: Spider-Man Era
While Paramount’s 90th anniversary in 2002 didn’t end well, Columbia Pictures’ 78th anniversary was amazing. Not only was this year the best year since 1997, Sony was able to have the largest market share and make $1.5B in the US, surpassing 1997 with movies like Panic Room, Mr. Deeds, Men In Black II, xXx, Maid in Manhattan, and Sony’s highest grossing film at the time, Spider-Man (making $404M in the US and $822M worldwide) Spider-Man would be the highest grossing Sony film domestically until 2018. In 2004, Sony had the largest market share again and made $1.2B in the US with movies like 50 First Dates, White Chicks, The Grudge, Christmas with the Kranks, and of course, Spider-Man 2. In 2005, Sony led a consortium that purchased MGM, giving Sony the distribution rights to the James Bond franchise. In 2006, Sony would have the largest market share for the third time this era and made $1.7B in the US, surpassing 2002 with movies like The Da Vinci Code, Click, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Open Season, Casino Royale, and The Pursuit of Happyness, showing that Sony doesn’t need Men In Black or Spider-Man to make $1B in the US. This didn’t happen with the odd-numbered years, as Sony was 2nd in 2003 (making $1.2B that year), 5th place in 2005 (making $918M that year), and 4th place in 2007 (making $1.2B that year, even with the release of Spider-Man 3) Around this time, Sony were able to keep two actors around to make most of their films under Sony: Adam Sandler with Mr. Deeds, Anger Management, 50 First Dates, and Click and Will Smith with Men in Black II, Bad Boys II, Hitch, and The Pursuit of Happyness. Spider-Man was clearly the biggest franchise for Sony in this era and has been the biggest franchise for Sony since. Sony had other small franchises that were profitable like Resident Evil and Underworld. Other hits from Sony include Daddy Day Care, Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, S.W.A.T., Superbad, and Spider-Man 3, which would become the highest grossing Sony film at the time, making $890M worldwide despite mixed reviews. Notable Sony/Columbia Pictures films: Spider-Man Trilogy, Men In Black II, Hitch, The Da Vinci Code, and Casino Royale
Notable Sony/Columbia Pictures films that bombed: Stuart Little 2, Gigli, xXx: State of the Union, Stealth, and Zoom
2008-2012: The James Bond Era
Now with the Spider-Man franchise mostly absent this era besides the Amazing Spider-Man, Sony mostly depended on Adam Sandler, Will Smith, and the James Bond franchise to be successful. I’ve noticed that other than that, Sony doesn’t heavily depend on multiple successful franchises compared to the other major film studios. They actually profited off of many original films in the previous era and this era. James Bond was still going strong with Quantum of Solace and reached to franchise and studio records with Skyfall, becoming James Bond and Sony’s highest grossing film and Sony’s only billion dollar film to this date, making $1.1B worldwide. Adam Sandler had hits with movies under Happy Madison like You Don’t Mess With Zohan, Paul Blart: Mall Cop, Grown Ups, Just Go With It, and Zookeeper. Will Smith had hits with movies like Hancock, The Karate Kid (as Producer), and Men In Black 3. They were 5th in 2010 and 3rd in 2008, 2009, and 2011. The only time they had the largest market share this era was in 2012, making $1.8B in the US, surpassing 2006 with movies like The Vow, 21 Jump Street, Men In Black 3, The Amazing Spider-Man, Hotel Transylvania, Skyfall, and Zero Dark Thirty. Other hits for Sony include Step Brothers, Pineapple Express, Angels and Demons, District 9, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Zombieland, 2012, Salt, The Other Guys, The Social Network, The Green Hornet, Battle: Los Angeles, The Smurfs, Bad Teacher, Moneyball, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Notable Sony/Columbia Pictures films: 007 James Bond (Quantum of Solace and Skyfall), Hancock, 2012, The Karate Kid, The Amazing Spider-Man, and Men In Black 3
Notable Sony/Columbia Pictures films that bombed: Year One, The Pink Panther 2, How Do You Know, Jack and Jill, That’s My Boy, and Total Recall (2012)
2013-2016: The Amazing Spider-Man 2/Sony Hack/The Decline Era
After 2012, it seems like Sony was slowly declining. Sony didn’t have a stable franchise, though was still doing better than Paramount. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was supposed to set up a whole cinematic universe on Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man, but underperformed and the sequels were cancelled in favor of a deal struck with Marvel Studios to bring Spider-Man to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Spectre did well as a James Bond film, but was the last James Bond film Sony would be able to distribute. Adam Sandler and Will Smith movies weren’t doing as well as before and pretty much stopped making films for Sony at the end of this era. Ghostbusters was rebooted, but infamously underperformed. They were 4th in 2013 and 2014 and 5th in 2015 and 2016 (making slightly less than $1B in the US), just above Paramount Pictures. Some other hits are This is the End, Grown Ups 2, Elysium, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, Captain Phillips, American Hustle, 22 Jump Street, The Equalizer, Hotel Transylvania 2, The Angry Birds Movie, Sausage Party, Don’t Breathe, The Magnificent Seven, and Passengers. In late 2016, Sony took a $962M write down, with rumors starting that Sony would sell off their movie division sometime in 2017 if their 2017 lineup didn’t do so well. This most likely wasn’t true, and 2017 fortunately proves the studio’s worth. Notable Sony/Columbia Pictures films: Captain Phillips, American Hustle, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, 22 Jump Street, Hotel Transylvania 2, and Spectre
Notable Sony/Columbia Pictures films that bombed: After Earth, White House Down, Aloha, Pixels, Grimsby, and Ghostbusters (2016)
2017-Present: Spider-Man/Jumanji Era (Comeback Era?)
In the first half of 2017, it wasn’t looking too good for Sony. Resident Evil: The Final Chapter did fine, especially in China. Life and Rough Night were only modest successes for the studio. Smurfs: The Lost Village was an attempt to reboot the Smurfs but underperformed, making slightly less than $200M. However, things started to turn around with three summer movies: Baby Driver, Spider-Man: Homecoming, and the Emoji Movie. Baby Driver was a surprise success for Sony and for director Edgar Wright. Spider-Man was shared between Marvel and Sony, which led to everyone wanting to see Spider-Man’s first solo film (+Iron Man) with Marvel Studios, making $880M worldwide, just $10M behind Spider-Man 3. The Emoji Movie was made fun of by everyone, even though enough people went to make this film $218M worldwide. The Dark Tower did alright, but probably not enough to warrant a sequel. It seems like Sony did alright, but then December 2017 came. Sony decided to release Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle near Star Wars: The Last Jedi as counter programming (what a moron, am I right? /s). With the movie having a surprisingly strong word of mouth, it topped Star Wars: The Last Jedi in the first few weeks of 2018. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle would later go on to make $405M in the US, surpassing Spider-Man to be the highest grossing Sony film in the US and would make $962M worldwide, just a notch below $1B. I had a feeling that $405M made in the US was what Sony was expecting the movie to make worldwide. In 2018, Sony’s success continued on with hits like Peter Rabbit, Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation, The Equalizer 2, and the biggest surprise of 2018 for Sony that isn’t Jumanji, Venom, making at least $212M in the US and at least $823M worldwide. Sony was also able to keep the budgets low and have low budget films like Sicario: Day of the Soldado, Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween, and Searching make a decent amount of profit. It may seem like Sony is making a comeback, especially with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse being well received and being at least moderately successful (though only time will tell). Notable Sony/Columbia Pictures films: Baby Driver, Spider-Man Homecoming (and Into the Spider-Verse), Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation, and Venom
2019 is next year, and it’s time to look at what Sony has in-store for everyone next year. I’ll try to keep it short (with a basic description of each one if necessary and how well it might do). The numbers I have won’t be accurate, so take it with a grain of salt.
Escape Room - it’s a psychological thriller film directed by Adam Robitel. If it has a low budget, I think this could be moderately successful while adapting the escape room idea into film. I’d say $50M Domestic and $70M Worldwide.
A Dog’s Way Home - it’s a family drama film directed by Charles Martin Smith. I don’t get how A Dog’s Purpose is at Universal while this movie is at Sony. Did Universal not buy the rights to every single A Dog book or what? This will probably make less than A Dog’s Purpose with $50M Domestic and $180M Worldwide. But at least it comes out before A Dog’s Journey, another movie based on the A Dog franchise. A Dog’s Way Home will probably make more than A Dog’s Journey based on this movie coming first.
Miss Bala - it’s an American-Mexican action thriller directed by Catherine Hardwicke and is a remake of the 2011 Mexican film of the same name. I don’t know what to compare this too. There isn’t any numbers on how much the original did either, so I have to make guesses. I’d say $50M Domestic and $100M Worldwide.
Greyhound - it’s a war film directed by Aaron Schneider and starring Tom Hanks in another World War II movie. No footage has been released, but it could make $100M Domestic and $300M Worldwide with the right marketing and a good movie like Saving Private Ryan.
The Intruder - it’s a psychological thriller directed by Deon Taylor. This could do almost as well as Don’t Breathe, but I still don’t get why the former owner of the mansion sold his house (if you see the trailer). $70M Domestic and $100M Worldwide.
The Rosie Project - it’s a film directed by Ben Taylor. Not much is known unless you read the book. Besides Crazy Rich Asians, there hasn’t been much romantic comedies. I guess this can be compared with Overboard (2018), meaning this movie could do $50M Domestic and $70M Worldwide
BrightBurn - it’s a horror film directed by David Yarovesky with James Gunn producing the film. This could break out, even in the late May slot. Then again, not much is known about this film. Maybe $80M Domestic and $120M Worldwide?
Men In Black International - it’s a science fiction action comedy film directed by F. Gary Gray and is a spinoff of the Men in Black trilogy. What makes this a spinoff is that this is a London based team instead of New York. And hey, Chris Hemsworth is another Sony franchise that Sony is trying to make relevant. But I think it could succeed this time, unlike Ghostbusters (2016). I could see this doing at least $160M Domestic, though it could go as high as $240M Domestic with a strong word of mouth, similar to how well Jumanji unexpectedly did. As for Worldwide, I’d say $450M, but it could go as high as $600M.
Grudge - it’s a supernatural psychological horror film directed by Nicolas Pesce and is a remake of The Grudge (2004) which was also a remake based on a Japanese horror film. It probably won’t be as successful as the 2004 remake as this 2019 remake is a similar premise and no one is really demanding it. I could see this doing $100M domestic and $160M worldwide at most.
Spider-Man: Far From Home - it’s a superhero film directed by Jon Watts and is part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I could see this going two ways. One way is that this will make $900M and the domestic total will drop from Homecoming (maybe $320M). However, this could possibly be the second Sony film after Skyfall to gross $1B. The only two obstacles are The Lion King movie which comes out two weeks later (it’s like Disney is trying to prevent Sony from being a major competitor for Disney in the movie industry like how Universal and Warner Bros currently are to Disney while Fox is taken care of and Paramount is trying to pick themselves up) and the plot is pretty much Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation.
Wish Dragon - it’s a 3D computer-animated film from Sony Pictures Animation. Not much is known about this film besides Jackie Chan being involved and it having a Chinese theme. It’s set to release on the same day as Once Upon A Time in Hollywood, but I have a feeling it could be moved to late 2019 or even 2020. Maybe this could make $80M Domestic and $200M Worldwide? I don’t know. I need more footage.
Once Upon A Time In Hollywood - it’s a mystery crime film directed by Quentin Tarantino. I could see this being similar in success to Inglourious Basterds or Django Unchained as this film seems like a wider release with a lot more marketing compared to The Hateful Eight. I could see this doing $150M Domestic and $400M Worldwide at most.
The Angry Birds Movie 2 - it’s a 3D computer-animated action comedy film from Rovio Animation and is the sequel to The Angry Birds Movie. Reception to the first one has been mixed, so I think it could go as low as $90M Domestic and $300M worldwide, or it could go as high as $120M Domestic and $400M worldwide.
Zombieland Too - it’s a post-apocalyptic zombie comedy film directed by Ruben Fleischer and is the sequel to Zombieland. This will be another franchise Ruben Fleischer is working on with Sony besides Venom. I could see this making more than the first one with a $90M Domestic and $120M Worldwide.
You Are My Friend - it’s a drama film directed by Marielle Heller. Not much is known besides the fact that it’s about a journalist who runs into Fred Rogers and has his life changed. Unlike Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, another film about Fred Rogers, this film has Tom Hanks portraying Fred Rogers. With a wide release (if it does get one), I could see this making $40M Domestic.
Charlie’s Angels (2019) - it’s an action comedy film directed by Elizabeth Banks and is a reboot of the Charlie’s Angels franchise. If this film goes the Ghostbusters 2016 route, I could only see this make $70M Domestic and $120M Worldwide. If not (hopefully), I could see this making as much as $140M Domestic and $260M Worldwide.
Masters of the Universe - it’s a He-Man film directed by Aaron and Adam Nee. It’s supposed to come out the same day as Jumanji 3, but I think it could be moved to 2020 (but I’ll still analyze anyways). This is a wildcard and a gamble for Sony. It could go both ways, but I think I need more footage to fully judge. $40M Domestic, $90M Worldwide?
Jumanji 3 - it’s a fantasy adventure comedy film directed by Jake Kasdan and is the sequel to Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, and the movie that made Disney move Jungle Cruise to July 2020. Like Spider-Man: Far From Home, it could go both ways. It could drop from the second, especially if Star Wars: Episode IX gets people to care about Star Wars, by making as much as $380M Domestic and $800M Worldwide. It will still do well as counter-programming, but maybe not as well as Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. Another way this could take is that everyone lost hope in Star Wars: Episode IX, and the people who didn’t see Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and saw Star Wars: The Last Jedi and hated it will go see Jumanji 3 instead. It’s possible that Jumanji 3 could be the second after Skyfall or the third after Skyfall and Spider-Man: Far From Home to cross $1B worldwide as a Sony film. This movie could also get a sequel boost with this making as much as $420M domestic, possibly becoming Sony’s highest grossing film domestically and passing Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. I’d say it could go down domestically, but it has the potential to reach $1B worldwide.
Little Women - it’s a drama film directed by Greta Gerwig and is based on the book of the same name. Columbia Pictures did a film based on Little Women back in 1994 and that was a success. I’d say it could go up from here. I’d say $60M Domestic and $80M Worldwide.
Thoughts on the 2019 Slate: Besides not having Ghostbusters, Robert Langdon, or The Karate Kid on their side this year (Well, there’s Cobra Kai, I guess), I think Sony is going all out next year. This is probably one of the best lineups for 2019. There’s Angry Birds, Men in Black, Jumanji, Charlie’s Angels, and Spider-Man on the same year, along with possible smaller hits like Grudge and Little Women. They won’t be going against Paramount anymore, they can now go against Universal, Warner Bros, and possibly Disney.
The Future: Regardless of what happens, I’m sure Columbia Pictures will live to see its 100th anniversary in 2024. Sony Pictures Animation will stay strong with a Peter Rabbit sequel, a Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse sequel, and a spinoff (though I don’t expect the Into the Spider-Verse movies to come out until 2021). Other upcoming Sony Pictures Animation films are The Mitchells vs. the Machines and Vivo. With the success of Venom, the Sony’s Universe of Marvel Characters will continue in 2020 with possibly Morbius and Venom 2. Even with the success of Venom, I doubt Sony would pull Spider-Man out of the biggest franchise ever after Far From Home. Bad Boys is coming back as Bad Boys for Life. Sony is getting more superheroes, this time from Valiant Comics starting with Bloodshot. Sony could start new franchises from video game adaptations like Watch Dogs and Uncharted (with Tom Holland as a young Nathan Drake). It seems like Sony is making a comeback, whether you like it or not.

WEEKEND TOP 5
1st - The Lion King (Disney) -> £5,158,311 ($6.29 million) from 710 cinemas, down 51.7%
2nd - Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw (Universal) -> £4,909,294 ($5.99 million) from 614 cinemas, new release
3rd - Toy Story 4 (Disney) -> £1,357,910 ($1.66 million) from 649 cinemas, down 46.5%
4th - Spider-Man: Far From Home (Sony) -> £862,507 ($1.05 million) from 533 cinemas, down 49.7%
5th - Angry Birds 2 (Sony) -> £701,223 ($855 thousand) from 562 cinemas, new release
OTHER NOTABLE OPENINGS
10th - The Magic Flute - Glyndebourne 2019 Opera (Trafalgar) -> £132,765 ($162 thousand) from 125 cinemas
14th - Animals (Picturehouse) -> £76,185 ($92.9 thousand) from 73 cinemas
THIS WEEKEND -> £16,288,136 ($19.9 million) from all movies, down 17.9% from last weekend and down 1.7% from the same weekend last year. Compared to the previous 52 weekends, this weekend ranks 21st and is up 3% against the average.
THE BIG RELEASE
Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw
£6,377,583 ($7.78 million) including previews
NA-DOM opening equivalent = $63.8 million
Outside of Disney and Marvel, studios have largely been failing to connect with audiences, as recent franchise 'blockbusters' have been coming in with underwhelming results, notably Godzilla KOTM and MIB International. Fortunately for Universal, their Fast & Furious moneymaker appears to have room for expansion, even if this new movie is behind recent openings.
Hobbs & Shaw's 3-day opening the same as Fast & Furious 2009, but 10 years of inflation turns F&F's £4.9m into £6.46m, not to mention F&F's total opening, including previews, is £13.7m (£18.1m), impressive for an effective 'reboot' of the street racing trilogy, paving the way for the transition into full-on action. More disappointingly, Hobbs & Shaw is behind the 3-day openings of F&F 6 (£8.7m / £9.79m), F&F 7 (£12.7m / £13.8m) and F&F 8 (£14m / £14.5m). So has 'franchise fatigue' finally struck one of Universal's golden geese? Not necessarily, as the film was promoted as a spin-off, not a continuation, featuring characters who had only appeared in the last few movies. If anything, it shows that Fast & Furious has built a loyal fanbase over the years, but we need to wait until next weekend to see if Hobbs & Shaw can attract action audiences, or if the opening is front-loaded and there'll be a sub £20m total. Regardless, Universal needs to wait and see until they green-light more spin-offs.
THE OTHER RELEASES
Angry Birds 2
NA-DOM opening equivalent = $7.01 million
Speaking of 'franchise fatigue' it looks like the Angry Birds have ran out of steam, opening with a third of Angry Birds 1's £2.1m (£2.25m adjusted) from 2016. The simple fact that there IS a second Angry Birds movie, alongside the fact that there is even a franchise is quite stupid. The game is 10 years old this year and it hasn't been relevant since around 2013, so it's no surprise that the second movie is opening to meager numbers. Assuming similar legs to Angry Birds 1, which closed with a total of £10.7m (£11.5m) Angry Birds 2 will end up with a maximum of only £3.5m, and probably lower with Lion King and Toy Story 4 taking most of the family audiences. Despite this poor result, the one redeeming thing is that, as of the time this post was published, Angry Birds 2 is the highest-rated video game adaptation in movie history, according to Rotten Tomatoes, though take in caution that there are only 28 reviews, so there's a chance for Detective Pikachu to reclaim it's stolen crown. Also of note, Angry Birds 2 is the first of August 2019's 'Why?' trilogy of unneeded family movies, with Playmobil: The Movie coming out this week and Dora and the Lost City of Gold the week after.
The Magic Flute - Glyndebourne 2019 Opera
NA-DOM equivalent = $1.33 million
Coming in 10th is the live broadcast of Mozart's The Magic Flute from the Glyndebourne Opera Festival, produced by André Barbeand Renaud Doucet. Sometimes considered one of the greatest operas of all time, Mozart's classic follows Prince Tamino and Papageno as they use instruments to rescue Pamina, whilst at the same time seeking the truth and a deeper understanding of true love.
Animals
£106,637 ($130 thousand) including previews
NA-DOM opening equivalent = $1.07 million
After premiering at Sundance earlier this year, Sophie Hyde's (52 Tuesday) drama about two best friends has a healthy limited opening for an independent film, considering that summer isn't really the best time to release those type of films. With an expansion on Friday and good critical reviews, Animals could very well see a good run with good legs.
TOP PERFORMING REPEATS
The Lion King
£50,701,449 ($61.9 million) after 3 weeks
NA-DOM total equivalent = $507 million
Despite being beaten by Hobbs & Shaw + previews, The Lion King continues to reign over the important 3-day rankings and has become the third film this year to top £50m, behind Endgame and Toy Story 4. Doing so also means it's Jon Favreau's highest-grossing directorial release, beating The Jungle Book's £46.2m (£49.5m adjusted) from 2016. With four weeks left of the school holidays, in most areas, look for Lion King to go higher. £60m is probably confirmed by now, but maybe even £70m?
Toy Story 4
£55,457,931 ($67.7 million) after 7 weeks
NA-DOM total equivalent = $555 million
Despite earlier predictions, Toy Story 4 has successfully managed to co-exist with Lion King, at the expense of other family movies underwhelming or even bombing at the box office. (Horrible Histories: Rotten Romans and Angry Birds 2 comes to mind) With the rest of the summer holidays remaining, Toy Story 4 has a good chance of making it to £60m.
Spider-Man: Far From Home
£32,909,785 ($40.1 million) after 5 weeks
NA-DOM total equivalent = $329 million
Spidey inches ever so closer to Spider-Man 3's £33.6m (£45.8m adjusted) total, which if passed means that Far From Home becomes the highest-grossing Spider-Man movie. In total, FFH should end up somewhere in-between £35m and £40m, but probably on the lower end of that.
NOTABLE FILMS STILL ON THE GO
£36,313,806 ($44.3 million) -> Aladdin (Disney) after 11 weeks
£12,016,150 ($14.7 million) -> Yesterday (Universal) after 6 weeks
£5,690,476 ($6.94 million) -> Annabelle Comes Home (Warner Bros) after 4 weeks
£4,577,465 ($5.58 million) -> Casino Royale 2006 (Secret Cinema 2019) after 9 weeks
£1,480,698 ($1.81 million) -> Horrible Histories: The Movie - Rotten Romans (Altitude) after 2 weeks
WEEKDAY RANKINGS
Monday
1 - Lion King
2 - Hobbs & Shaw
3 - Toy Story 4
4 - Angry Birds 2
5 - Spider-Man Far From Home
Tuesday
1 - Lion King
2 - Hobbs & Shaw
3 - Toy Story 4
4 - Angry Birds 2
5 - Spider-Man Far From Home
Wednesday
1 - Lion King
2 - Hobbs & Shaw
3 - Toy Story 4
4 - Bring the Soul: The Movie (Single day event)
5 - Angry Birds 2
THIS WEEK AT THE BOX OFFICE

• Playmobil: The Movie
  
• Blinded by the Light
  
• The Art of Racing in the Rain
  
• The Sun is Also a Star
  

Asian releases

• Parey Hut Love
  
• Superstar
  
• Nerkonda Paarvai
  

Hobbs & Shaw will continue to play on most, if not all premium screens, including IMAX 2D and 4DX. As always, depending on location.
SOURCES

• BFI (For precise box office numbers)
  
• Comscore (For weekday rankings)
  

 

BIRTH OF RAP

 
Numerous ancient religious texts foretold the coming of a great prophet in the 3rd week of August in the year 1989 A.D. The ascension of Brandon McCartney to the top of the Western world’s cultural sphere has proven these predictions to be true.
 
Born to a virgin in the small town of Bethlehem—err, Berkeley, Brandon showed an impeccable musical acumen from a young age. He began composing music from within the womb and continued to do so following his official birth. He sustained his musical output throughout his childhood, most of which is due to be released upon his death, as Brandon himself has said that his early material is “too real” for the world at present and will only be able to be properly understood by the generations that follow.
 
Despite receiving grades that broke California elementary school records and having multiple Ivy League scholarship offers in his early teens, Brandon’s truest passion was for creating hip hop music. At the age of 16, he had his first major radio hit:
 
Vans
Lil B’s only charting single and an essential component of his discography. This was my own personal introduction to Brandon’s music though I didn’t know it at the time. The track may seem unimpressive in the greater context of the music that would follow it, but it set the foundation for Lil B to enter the music industry and make a name for himself, foreshadowing the success he would find at the start of the following decade.
 

CREATING THE BASED GOD

 
In the years following the release of “Vans”, Brandon began to hone his craft and release music at a Picasso level of productivity. From the mid-2000s through the early 2010s literally THOUSANDS of Lil B songs were released through the once-dominant social media website MySpace. Because the site would limit the number of tracks that an artist could upload to their profiles to just 5 songs, Brandon created hundreds of MySpace pages to showcase all of his material. It was also around this time that he conceived of his greatest creation: The Based God.
 
The Based God is a bit of an enigma in regard to who he is and what his relationship to Brandon consists of. Some believe that “The Based God” is just another name for Brandon’s rap persona, similar to “Lil B”, but seeing as how the Based God is normally referred to in the third person in Brandon’s music this has been a point of contention among the Based community. Regardless of who the Based God truly is, he is a being that is all knowing, pure swag and boundlessly positive; these qualities are properly summed up using the adjective “based”, a word that is hard to properly define but is best described as being synonymous with everything having to do with Lil B. The Based God’s influence had a major impact on the music that Brandon was making, both in terms of increasing the quality of the songs and widening the scope of his popularity. This led to the creation of Lil B’s next major hit:
 
Wonton Soup
“Wonton Soup” was many peoples’ introduction to the music of Lil B and, for many, it was their exit point as well. The song seems pedestrian on the surface with a generic trap beat and non-sensical lyrics from the Based God, but underlying the more elementary aspects of the song are a flurry of pop culture references and clever wordplay, including the infamous “Bitches suck my dick because I look like J.K. Rowling”, among others. The song inspired a slew of memes and skyrocketed Lil B’s popularity into the stratosphere, with the original YouTube upload of the video having over 1.4 billion views before it’s unfortunate removal. It also serves as an early example of Lil B projecting his confidence in his ability to have sex with your girlfriend, a common trope that would resurface frequently in his music.
 

COOKING MUSIC

 
Brandon continued to hone his craft for recording abstractly lyricized trap bangers over the following years. These songs, many of which were considered to be “Based Freestyles” or “cooking music” (named after the famous cooking dance that is meant to be performed along with the music), would come to represent one of his trademark styles of music and would help him connect with the more plebian contemporary rap crowd in a way much of his other material could not. Some of his most notable work in this vein includes:
 
Like a Martian
A Based Freestyle in the purest sense of the word, Lil B’s raw lyricism and unbridled swag make this song what it is. “Like a Martian” describes how Brandon’s sex escapades and drug abuse are comparable to that of someone who is not of this Earth, but instead of its closest cousin in the planetary system. The music video, directed by once-slightly-relevant rapper Kreayshawn, features several quick camera cuts that highlight the chaos of Lil B’s raps. Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk has agreed to send Brandon on the first pedestrian spacecraft sent to the planet Mars as a result of the track.
 
Pretty Bitch
With 56 usages of the word “bitch”, this song more than lives up to its title. A full 18 months before A$AP Rocky would first lay claim to being the prettiest rapper in the game, the Based God proved he was the one who truly held the crown. The music video also featured an early tease of the mysterious Black Ken mixtape, which would not see a proper release until 2017 due to Lil B’s uninhibited perfectionism.
 
Justin Bieber
One of many celebrity-themed songs recorded by the Based God, wherein Lil B highlights the various ways that he is comparable to and, in some cases, is actually the person that he is writing the song about. “Justin Bieber” features Brandon claiming to be a blood relative of Mr. Bieber, substantiated by a totally not Photoshopped image of the two hanging out together at a local Bay Area library.
 
1000 Bitches
In early 2013, the Based God finally realized his lifelong goal of having sexual intercourse with 1000 different women. Following an illustrious award ceremony, he recorded and released “1000 Bitches” as a teaser single from his then-upcoming Pink Flame mixtape. The video game sound effects woven throughout the beat are a reference to Brandon’s first sexual encounter at the age of 7, when he was fellated while simultaneously playing Super Mario 64.
 
Look Like Jesus
Arguably the most controversial song of the 21st century, “Look Like Jesus” took Lil B’s brash and provocative rap style to a whole new level. With a music video that was recorded inside of an actual church and lyrical content referencing the fact that Jesus may have indeed looked like the Based God, the song wound up being highly influential on contemporary artists’ renderings of Jesus in the early 21st century and beyond.
 

BASED MUSIC

 
While most peoples’ ideas of Lil B’s music stem from his more ‘cooking’ style tracks, true Task Force members recognize that Brandon’s best tracks are the ones that come from his heart. In contrast to the more trap-flavoured feel of the aforementioned songs, the Based God’s more serious material is among the most moving and inspirational hip hop music ever produced. Some believe that the “cooking” music was created by Lil B as a rouse to get media attention and publicity so that his more “based” material could be given a proper spotlight.
 
I’m God
The song that many consider to be the pinnacle of Lil B’s career. In addition to being named one of the best produced songs of the decade by the highly respected Complex Magazine, launching the career of then-unknown producer Clams Casino and having countless rappers hop on the beat in an attempt to capture the magic of the original (though none were as graceful as the Based God’s version), the song was an early indication of Brandon’s ability to be more than just a meme. He states on the intro that he had always wanted to be God, and on this track he finally realizes that dream. No other words are required; simply listening to this masterpiece is enough to convince one of its greatness. It’s close cousin “B.O.R. (Birth of Rap)”, which is also produced by Clams, is equally impressive.
 
The Age of Information
Probably my all time favorite Lil B song, and my go-to for proving to others that he isn’t the surface level artist that one might assume he is having only heard material like “Wonton Soup”. A brutally honest assessment of contemporary culture and its overreliance on technology, “The Age of Information” was so crushingly relatable that it felt as if the Based God himself was speaking to me directly the first time I’d heard it (granted I was stoned off my ass at the time but I digress). For the millions of millennials who have grown up glued to TVs and computer screens this song almost serves as a form of therapy, with Brandon admitting that he himself spends more time living in the fantasy world of the Internet than he should, taking the real world around him for granted in the process.
 
Birth to Life
The only Lil B album to receive a vinyl release was Rain in England, a spoken word new age record (yes I’m being completely serious; it’s literally a spoken word new age album) that featured the Based God spreading his boundless wisdom on top of ambient instrumentals, all of which Brandon created on his own. “Birth to Life”, the intro to the album, is the equivalent of an entire semester-long college level philosophy class condensed into 3 minutes and 42 seconds of pure bliss. The Based God would later release an instrumental version of Rain in England entitled Choices and Flowers, correctly declaring it to be the first classical music album ever released by a hip hop artist.
 
I Hate Myself
2011 marked the release of Lil B’s most notorious and possibly most well-known album, the controversially titled I’m Gay. This album, along with the Angels Exodus album released a few months prior, were the most consistent and serious releases of Lil B’s career up to that point. “I Hate Myself” was undoubtedly the most poignant cut off of the former. Over a brilliantly utilized Goo Goo Dolls sample, the Based God laments the negative self-image of young black men in America. The track ends with Brandon recognizing that the views he previously had of himself were a lie; with this realization, he finds that he can finally and truly love himself as the person he is.
 
All My Life (Remix)
A personal favorite off of the legendary Angels Exodus project, the remix to Lil B’s “All My Life” puts Brandon’s beautiful singing voice on full display. It’s often assumed that Brandon used Auto Tune or some other form of pitch correction on his vocals to get them to sound as perfect as they are on this song; on the contrary, his natural singing talents leave such studio trickery to be unnecessary.
 
G.O.R. (God of Rap)
The centerpiece of the Based God’s 101 track mixtape 05 Fuck Em, “God of Rap” is a brilliantly sequenced Based anthem. In the span of 10 minutes Lil B takes the listener on a journey through the first three levels of the Based experience (it should be noted that there are 32 levels in total to be accessed; to date Brandon is the only person alive known to have reached the sacred 32nd level). Featuring three separate beat switches and a constant stream of knowledge from the Based God, this song alone is enough to eclipse most artists’ entire careers. Eminem’s “Rap God” came out one month later and was directly inspired by Lil B’s track, though it failed to reach the same artistic heights as the song it was trying to imitate.
 
No Black Person Is Ugly
While some weak-minded fools considered the Lil B phenomenon to have mostly run its course by the end of 2012, Brandon proved his naysayers wrong by dropping this gem off the Ultimate Bitch mixtape in 2014. Showcasing one of the best flows of any Lil B song and projecting an exceptionally Based message unto the listener, “No Black Person Is Ugly” espouses the values of inner beauty and believing in oneself in the face of racism and discrimination. It famously received the illustrious “Best New Music” tag from cultural zeitgeist Pitchfork, which confirms that the song is objectively good regardless of one’s subjective (and potentially wrong, if you disagree) opinion.
 

MISCELLANEOUS MUSIC

The following songs are notable but do not fit into either of the two aforementioned categories of Brandon’s music:
 
Eat
A major smash off of the Pink Flame mixtape, “Eat” is an in-depth look into Lil B’s impeccable cunnilingus skills. With a distinctive 80s flavor and a luxurious music video filmed at a local Olive Garden, the song is a divine showcase of the Based God’s sexual prowess and impressive tolerance for rank vagina. The line "56 bitches and I look like Based God" is a subtle nod to the 56 usages of the word "bitch" in the previously discussed "Pretty Bitch". A common prank to be played on children is to blast the intro to the song at high volume from a car and watch them run out of their houses thinking it’s the ice cream man.
 
Can I Bust Tonight
The Based God’s cover of “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” from The Lion King had such an emotional impact on film director Jon Favreau that he gave Lil B a starring role in his upcoming recreation of the Disney film as a token of appreciation. This alone is all that needs to be said to attest to this song’s greatness.
 
4 Me
In 2011, Rihanna’s Calvin Harris-produced “We Found Love” became a worldwide smash, giving the pop star her 11th number one single in the United States. What most people don’t know was that Calvin Harris had actually given the song to Lil B first, sending him the beat in early 2011 before Rihanna’s version had been recorded. Lil B ultimately left his take of the song, “4 Me”, on the cutting room floor for his Illusions of Grandeur mixtape, leading to Rihanna picking up the song later on. In early 2013, Brandon’s version was leaked to the Internet, prompting its inclusion on his 100% Percent Gutta mixtape as a bonus track. Lil B receives 2% of all royalties earned from “We Found Love” as a result.
 
California Boy
The presumed first single from the long delayed Lil B rock album, “California Boy” more than proves that the Based God’s musical talents span across multiple genres of music. Despite the music video showcasing a full backing band, Brandon actually mixed, mastered, and played all of the instruments on the song by himself. The Lil B rock album was also slated to include collaborations with Mick Jagger, Jimmy Page, Slash, Ringo Starr, Lars Ulrich, Jim Morrison, Scott Stapp and Seth Putnam, among others. Critics have long asserted that, if released, the album will be the most important rock album this side of Nevermind.
 
Fuck KD
A highlight from the basketball-themed Hoop Life mixtape, and possibly the most legendary of Lil B’s numerous diss tracks (save, perhaps, for the David Banner career killer “I Own Swag”), this scathing critique of basketball superstar Kevin Durant was a result of Durant ignorantly dissing the Based God on Twitter and later refusing to play him in a one-on-one game of basketball after being challenged by Brandon. Lil B had previously placed a curse on Durant which would have prevented him from ever winning an NBA championship. Durant later chose to join Lil B’s hometown team, the Golden State Warriors, in a blatant attempt to have the curse removed. The Based God obliged, and Durant finally won the NBA championship in his first season in Oakland.
 
I Love You
Capping off the manifesto is “I Love You”, the closing track from Lil B’s God’s Father mixtape and one of the rarest songs in the Based God’s catalog. Gorgeously produced and exceptionally heartfelt, “I Love You” perfectly encapsulates the Based mentality that permeates the best of Brandon’s material. He himself was so moved by the track and what it represents that he can be seen crying at the end of the music video. Rest assured that all of us are crying along with him.
 
 

BONUS MATERIAL:

Noisey’s 22 minute documentary on Lil B
Part 1 of Lil B’s lecture at New York University
Lil B teaches how to do the cooking dance
Lil B’s appearance on ESPN’s “Sports Nation”
Nardwuar vs. Lil B
Guy throws his girlfriend on stage and asks Lil B to fuck her
The song Lil B recorded with his cat
 
 
 
^{Note: Some of the information presented here as fact may actually be exaggerated, misinterpreted or downright false.}