The 2024-25 Winter Hype Meter | House of R
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Whatever this is, Cap, be careful. The odds are against you. The odds are always against me. You're not Steve Rogers. You're right. I'm not. Strengthen up! You will live to regret this, old man. A crew of murderous pirates is coming. Greetings. Greetings.

And welcome to House of R, a Ringerverse podcast on the Ringer Podcast Network. I'm Mallory Rubin, and it is my absolute pleasure to invite you not only back to Hell's Kitchen and Middle Earth and a galaxy far, far away and a lot of other places, but also back into the House of R. Joining me today, reminding me that they are prey and we are predators.

It's Joanna Robinson. That's the first but not last Craven the Hunter reference coming your way today, my friend. Get ready. Don't worry. I'm all in on the bit. Just so folks know at home, I received in the group chat a photo of Mallory. You didn't post this on social, did you? Not yet. You received it. Okay.

It's just Mallory and the giant Craven the Hunter sort of standee at her local cinema. And more to come, I assume. So stay tuned. Every movie I see between now and then, I'm going to take the same picture because I assume every cinema has a wonderful, larger-than-life Craven. Do you have one of those Nosferatu coffins?

I didn't, I didn't see one at the, at the AMC where I, where I saw gladiator and took the Craven photo. I was trying to, our, our, uh, great producer, Kai Grady was at the screening with me. I was trying to find him in the lobby. I was like, where are you? He's like, I just watched past the Nosferatu coffin. I was like, Oh, got it. I know exactly where you are. Damn. Ringer Bay area coming through. It's true. Screenings. I love it. It's true. But listen, the Nosferatu coffin, uh,

If you could pose inside of that, that will be a new achievement unlocked for you. I only have another film to see this weekend, as we'll be revealing shortly. So I'm going to see what I can do. I'll see what I can do. And if any of the bad babies want to climb inside what is probably a structurally unsafe and unstable coffin and take a photo for me, I'd love to do it. It feels like we need some fine print on this suggestion. At your own risk. Yeah, exactly. At your own peril.

Sounds great. Yeah. We're here today not just to suggest how people interact with the marketing at their local movie theater, but also for the House of R Winter Hype Meter, a cherished seasonal tradition. We do have a slight scheduling tweak, as people are finding out in real time, because the Hype Meter was supposed to be next week after the holiday. We've moved it up so that we can do something else that we'll talk about in a second. Yeah.

In our programming reminders. Because of democracy. Here's what's coming. Midnight Boys. Pew, pew. You don't even have to wait. It's already up for you. The Gladiator 2 pod and the leading man draft. Sensational stuff. Also, more Junior Mint goodness. Mint Edition is continuing the arcane journey. The next installment on Arcane Season 2 is coming this weekend.

Here on the House of R, we will be back twice next week before the holiday. On Monday, this is the pivot. You were supposed to hear us today talking about Gladiator 2. You're still going to hear us talk about Gladiator 2. That's coming Monday, along with Wicked.

It's a Glickid. It's a Glickid pod, Jo. Are we going with Glickid? Are we going with? The world is, I'm not. What are you going with? Do you have an alternate preference? I don't. I'll workshop it. Like Wikiaider? No, I don't know that that's better. But like Glickid, for some reason. It's not Barbenheimer. It's not doing it for me. But the world at large has decided that's what it is. So I'm not going to fight you on this. This isn't like when you said loader and I was like, what are you talking about? You stand by it.

I won't be shamed. I mean, I will in certain things, but not for that. Not this day. It is not this day. But it is not this day.

I posted something about like our upcoming schedule on Instagram and I got an 11 billion DMS from people being like, where's the wicked pod. And I got people are messaging me on blue sky. People are messaging, emailing us. Where's your wicked coverage. You guys have been saying which stuff go for months now and you're not going to do the big damn, which movie, what are you doing here? So, uh, yeah, we're pivoting, pivoting the wicked. Are we pivoting to arcane or from no, but keep those emails coming and I'll read them. And, uh, and,

Maybe someday when Mallory and I have a time Turner, we will watch all of from, um, but we'll see. I cannot wait.

to pod about these movies on Monday. I can't wait. I've seen Gladiator 2. I had the genuine pleasure of podding about that with Sean and Chris. It was a, even by our usual standards, it just descended into complete madness by the end. I cannot wait to listen to that. That's going to be really fun. I have not yet seen Wicked. So that is what I will be going to the multiplex to enjoy this weekend. I'm truly excited. Can't wait. Can't wait to pod about that on Monday. And then the pod that we were originally supposed to do on Monday, Dune Prophecy Episode 2 will be

come on Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, timing a little bit TBD,

The team is working hard to get a lot of stuff set before the holiday, but we will definitely get that episode to you at some point next week. You can watch, as always, full video episodes of House of R and Midnight Boys Pew Pew on Spotify or on the Ringerverse YouTube channel. So subscribe. Speaking of Spotify, I wanted to mention one other thing on the programming announcements note. Please.

Batman Unburied season two is coming next week. Batman Unburied Fallen City drops on November 26th. Our colleagues at Spotify have been working hard on this. Check it out. Coleman Domingo as Batman, Jason Isaacs as Alfred.

No to Colton Domingo as Batman. Wonderful stuff. November 26th, Fallen City coming to Spotify. Get hyped. Joanna, how can everybody follow along? We just mentioned a lot of things that are coming here on the House and Bar and the Ringiverse, et cetera. What would you recommend?

I'm so glad you asked me without making me do the video part. But also what I was, what I'm really rejoicing over actually right now is I was going to ask you, when are we going to stop saying new ish? And you, today was the day you stopped saying new ish. It's just didn't even realize. I think I was just too brain dead or too tired to remember to say it, but you were just too excited to talk about old Miss Domingo as Batman and who could blame you? Okay. Listen,

Why don't you just subscribe to this pod? Do it. You listen to us. Why don't you subscribe to the pod yet? So subscribe to this podcast, subscribe to a river verse. I think that's a great place to start. Yep. Follow us on social. That might be a good idea. Um, we're on Twitter. We're on Instagram. We're on Tik TOK. We're on Facebook. Um,

Some ringer, increasingly by the day, more and more ringer personalities are over on Blue Sky. Should I get on Blue Sky? Yeah. Is it time? Okay. Come on over. Yeah. Okay. Maybe this is the weekend. Sure. Why not? Keep an eye out for Mal. No pressure. No rush, no pressure, no stress. But we would love to have you over on Blue Sky. What's going on on Threads? Should I do that too?

Aren't you like kind of automatically enrolled in threads if you are on Instagram? I think your handle is reserved, but I haven't actually done anything with threads or activated it. I don't believe. Are things popping on threads or no? Is Blue Sky the place to be? I think Blue Sky is a...

Blue Sky, at least right now, is in a really fun space. Okay. It's just a bunch of people. I'm sold. Who seem excited to have a place that is less clogged than Twitter became. Should my first post on Blue Sky be the photo of me standing in front of Craven the Hunter's abs? Yes. Okay. Your Craven supplicant photo should be your debut. Yeah.

Okay. So that's social media. That's follow the pod. All of that. Email us, hobbitsanddragons at gmail.com. Again, that is partially how Wicked got on the roster, is because you guys emailed us at hobbitsanddragons at gmail.com. Thank you to everyone who emails us always, but a special, extra special birthday shout out to Eli. Eli. Happy.

Happy birthday, Eli. May or may not be listening to a hype meter, but if he is, happy birthday, Eli. Okay. Great stuff. Did I do it? You did. You crushed it. You nailed it. Spoiler warning. We're not going to be talking about any...

specific stuff from the impending releases that we're going to be highlighting today because we don't know what's going to happen in these stories. This is about the anticipation and the excitement. We might mention things that have happened in previous seasons or previous installments. We'll use our, we'll use our discretion and keep it a fairly safe space. Certainly anything that's in a trailer, you know,

Casting news, et cetera, could be mentioned today, but that's it. It's a hype meter. You all know the drill. All right, Joe, once you're on Craven's list, there's only one way off. What happens if you're on our list? Let's find out. It's time to pod. It's time for the winter hype meter. Let's do a quick refresher of the hype meter rules. We've done like 100 of these at this point, but just in case you're new, zippy rundown for anyone who is enjoying a hype meter for the first time. Here's the process. We count down from 10 to 1.

Our lists are surprises to each other. I do not know what Joanna's 10 to 1 is. Sometimes to ourselves as well. So often to ourselves. One of us sent Steve 75 updates of their order today. I can't confirm or deny which of us. Who could that possibly be? I don't know. We will reveal our lists in real time as we count down. If we have picked the same title,

We will discuss it at the higher of the two spots. So if Joe has something at 10 and I have something at one, we'll talk about it when we get to number one. What is eligible for a House of R hype meter? Thanks for asking. These are genre picks. It does not necessarily mean we will definitively cover it here on this podcast, but it means we could. If it could come up on House of R or Ringiverse and feel at home, we can select it on a hype meter. I've

I have two that could possibly, we'll discuss it. I have two things that are a little, here's the deal. And I'll just say it here. Yeah. Fantasy, sci-fi, that all makes sense. Supernatural horror, we will never cover on here because Mallory doesn't like it, but I feel like it broadly belongs under the umbrella. Absolutely. So that's an exception I made. I'm like, we're never going to do a podcast on this particular thing I'm talking about, but I do want to talk about it.

I can't wait to find out. Are coffins involved again? Is it Wolfman? No. No.

Wow. The Wolfman trailer, boy, that was something. Exciting to behold, yes. Speaking of eligibility, what do we mean by winter? You might be thinking, does this need to be explained at the top of a hype meter? It does. We have never once in the history of a seasonal hype meter followed the actual calendar. And we're not going to today either. I will say this is maybe the closest we've come, but we're still starting early and ending late. So,

So anything that will release from December 1st through the end of March is eligible today. Time cops? Who's coming? To be clear. Jack Frost? Who's going to get upset about having hot Frosty? Check out Binge Miss, a wonderful ringer podcasting experience happening right now. The stories that conclude inside of that time period, Joanna, are not eligible.

Right. So we already picked Dune Prophecy on a prior pod, for example, even though that's airing in this window. Not eligible for selection today. Yeah. Gladiator and Wicked have already come out.

They're not eligible for selection today. Wildcard and honorable mention. I don't know if wildcard is relevant for you today. I don't believe it actually came into play for me, I will say. But as always, nine of the 10 picks must have confirmed release dates in the eligibility window. Of course, release dates change. There's nothing we can do about that. We will allow one spot to go to something that does not have a confirmed date but could reasonably be expected to come out in that time period. You do not have to use your wildcard spot. However, after we get through our 10, we'll quickly...

Quickly maybe toss out some honorable mentions that didn't come out, that didn't make our top 10, but that we're still excited for or think other people are excited for.

That's it. That's how it works. Anything else you'd like to say about the rules, the process, the eligibility? Any table setting notes about how you found the list making experience this time? Was this easier than usual for you? Harder than usual for you? I want to start with you because you teased to me earlier that this is the hardest it's ever been. And why was it? Because it was an abundance of options or a little bit on the ground?

It was not the hardest time I've had selecting my 10. It was definitely the hardest time I've had ordering them. Okay. I could not, I had, I knew what I wanted at the very top and I knew what I wanted at the bottom. I, I reordered my four, five and six. Hmm. Okay. A lot. And actually had some, some changes elsewhere as well, but boy, I struggled with my order. Do you think we have the same top two?

This is the least confident I've ever been that we have the same top. But weirdly, it's because I think maybe I did so hard to the bit that you put cream in it. No, I didn't do that. I did not do that. What if I had done that? I was prepared for you to do that. It actually is possible that we have the same top two, though. I think you might.

Okay. What do you think the overlap is in total? That's always a fun thing to predict. How many? 60%. Something like that. Yeah. I think that seems right. I found this a little thin on the ground in terms of like obvious options. We're not like, you and I were looking broadly at 2025 the other day with Arjuna and like there's a lot coming in 2025. But the first couple months are a little thin. And so-

I found myself having to sort of get a little creative in terms of fleshing out the entirety of the list. But everything's on there is something I'm genuinely very excited or at least very interested in. So, yeah. Okay. Should we get to it? Let's do it. With Lululemon, the real gift happens when they're living in it. When you give them the softest loungewear set, the real gift is this and this.

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Joanne Robinson, what is your number 10 for the Winter Hype Meter? My number 10 is because I'm willing to follow you into a bit, but only so far. So my number 10 is Craven the Hunter. I have it higher on my list. Yep. No shit. Though not as high as I think you might have been fearing. I was really ready for you to put it at number one. I have all to say this. Well, we'll talk about it again. Never mind. We'll talk about it higher up. What's your number 10? Just went over those. God damn it. Sorry. Sorry.

I just wanted to explain. I just wanted to defend myself to people who are like, how the hell is Kramer's character? And you're like, we'll talk about it. It's going to be a good fun time at the movies. Okay, my number 10 is something that the last time this show aired, you had on your hype meter and I didn't because I was sort of like, oh, is this eligible for House of R Hype Meter? And this time I remember that it was because of the supernatural maybe elements of

I'm going with Yellow Jacket Season 3, recently confirmed to come out on February 14th, Valentine's Day, featuring a Eat Your Heart Out Valentine's Day promo that came out mere days ago. Valentine's Day, I mean, maybe Jeff can still go strawberry. It's not too late. This will be once again... I believe in you, Jeff. I believe in you, Jeff. This will be once again airing across multiple days, so it'll go up on streaming on February 14th, and then...

Linear on February 16th. The experience that we had... America's Sweethearts, Walter and Misty, back together again on Valentine's Day. I know. I mean, Joanna, how exciting is it to think that we're only a few months away from more musical theater talk with Walter and Misty? Do you think they'll have...

Do you think they'll have their own reviews of Wicked, the film, inside of Yellowjacket season three? I hope so. I expect so. Maybe that'll be like a supplementary webisode that comes out as bonus content. It's entirely possible. Oh my God. Look, irrefutably, I mean, we had a great time potting about season two. We covered it on the Prestige TV podcast. I think, irrefutably, undeniably, season two was...

less successful than season one, right? No question. Particularly the present day storyline. But I still love the premise of the show. I love the structure with the multiple timelines of the show. I love the characters. I love the mystery. The question of, is this in fact, what is the supernatural element? Is there one, et cetera? I'm still really compelled by all of that. Tremendous performances. And I think season three, not only am I excited to be back in the story and in the world, I'm thinking of season three as kind of the

point of clarity for whether this should have been a one season experience or can in fact be a like viable and compelling five-ish season series. So I'm looking forward to

season three and sharing it. I hope that no severed animal heads are found lurking and waiting in secret lairs. That's just the thing I hope. I have bad news for you. What? We'll find out. Sure there will be. Okay. Well, that's dismaying. So you can count on one thing. It's dismembered animals in yellow jackets. And it's good to have things you can rely on. I did not have yellow jackets on my list and I love that you did. So thanks for doing it. Wonderful stuff. What do you have at number nine?

Number nine is a show that you and I covered when I just started. I have this way higher. Way higher? Just a little worried about it. Squid Game Season 2. We'll talk more about it higher up. But I will just say that...

This was our first pod when you started, right? Not our first. No? No. Early days, though. It was very early. It was a prestige, last-minute binge situation is what it was. Can you guys do this tomorrow or something like that is my memory. But I will just say, this is not indicative of my overall enjoyment of season one. It's just a show that

needs a season two is the question is why I have it. Totally fair. Okay. Totally fair. Okay. My number nine is your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Yeah. I'm excited. This comes out in January, January 29th, Disney plus part of phase five of the MCU. Uh, second season sounds like it's already in development. So that's, I guess a positive sign. This is an animated series. Of course, the Marvel animation emphasis is really fully afoot.

We are also about to get season three of What If, which did not make my top 10, but we'll toss out as an honorable mention. X-Men 97, of course, not part of the official MCU continuity, but a wonderful animated series that aired earlier this year. Eyes of Wakanda, Marvel Zombies, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. So this is a big area of emphasis for the MCU right now. I'm excited to, even just a little glimpse of footage that we got in the

Marvel look ahead for 2025. It was, you know, 10 seconds of your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man footage, but seeing how organically the comic book aesthetic is porting over to the way that this series is drawn is just really exciting. And I love, it is my favorite thing in comics, a classic Spidey tale. Yeah.

We're getting Peter's origin story here, which is, you know, of course, actually, we've gotten that plenty across various installments, but not something that we have gotten in the MCU. And I just love, love, love, love, love a coming-of-age Spider-Man story. This was, of course, renamed from freshman year, so that's, like, setting us early in high school. And I like that this simultaneously is a seemingly a not-

So classic Spidey tale. It's the classic Spidey tale in those ways. And then a not so classic Spidey tale, because it's going to be an alternate timeline story. The second Coleman Domingo mentioned of the podcast mere, mere moments in here we go. Cause he's voicing Norman Osborn. Who's,

Peter's mentor in this story. All very exciting. I'm looking forward to this. Something of a scientist himself. Something of a scientist himself, Joanna. There were a few animated series that I, that I considered picking for this slot, but this is. Do you want to smuggle any in here?

You know, I think that the what if mentioned, I'm excited to see what if season three, I really did not enjoy season two nearly as much as season one, but it hasn't necessarily diminished my enthusiasm for checking out season three, which is almost a pun. So I am looking forward to seeing that. And I guess I can say, because we're talking about animated series, like one of the surprises for me in putting together my list is that Invincible season three did not make my top 10.

It is on my honorable mentions, but it actually did not make my top 10. Did it make yours? It was not hidden. So yeah, we'll see. Yeah. Hopefully they can bounce back. So that was my number nine. Number eight. What do you have? Okay. This may shock you. No. I have one of the biggest movies coming up for our corner of the internet, which is

uh, Captain America, Brave New World. Okay. We can, we can continue the streak here. I have it higher. Yeah. I have it higher. Yeah. Not a ton, not, not a ton higher, but I have it higher. Okay. This is, I'm, I'm excited to tell you, you don't have to wait any longer. This is where I have Craven the Hunter. I'd like to tell you why. Tell me. Of all the spots, 10 to one where I could have put Craven the Hunter. It's like, how am I going to decide?

Is it number one to just lean into the bit? Is it number 10? Cause that's maybe where it actually belongs. Is it not on the list? Because that's probably actually where it belongs. How dare you? Frankly, how dare you? No. And then I realized this isn't hard. There's only one appropriate spot and it's number eight for the eight pack. Clearly.

It's all about the abs. Eight for the eight pack. In honor of those greasy abdominal crevices, it's number eight. You hate a crevice, but not this. Not this. You got to slather it and put it on top of Aaron Taylor Johnson. Joanna, we are less than a month away. Aaron Taylor Johnson, genuinely never a bad, never a bad...

performance of mary and taylor johnson uh craven the hunter december 13th literally the only reason i'm excited about this is because you're so excited about this and you're only excited about it because you've decided it'd be a funny bit but let's just be clear i think this movie looks good i do okay but i told you i'm protecting the source but i told you that i talked to someone who had seen it and they said it was good and they're not somewhere all my life and i was just like oh what

they told me it was good and I don't on the one hand I don't believe them on the other hand what if it is and you just are I can't fucking wait the treat of a lifetime okay so you're gonna be in LA at the very beginning of December maybe we'll get to go to a screening that week but if not can you stay another week so that we can see this together think about it you don't have to answer now

I do have a screening proposition for you that first week of December. It has nothing to do with our list, though, so we'll come back to it. As an award for all your hard work, perhaps. But anyway, Craven the Hunter, greasy abs galore, Aaron Taylor-Johnson. What else is happening in this movie? Okay, let me just throw this out there. It might be in people's minds. Has Sony's Spider-Man universe given us much reason to hope? It's a fair question, but...

Venom. Venom, Let There Be Carnage, Morbius, Madam Web, Venom, The Last Dance. I mean, I think when you read the list out loud, the answer can only be no.

However, I had fun at the movies for a good number of those. Dr. Michael Morbius has just called his litigator and is going to sue you. Morbius Mondays are Juna's favorite experience in the history of the Ringiverse. We had to go to a Morbius screening like early in the morning on a workday Monday. Wild times that we cherished. I continue to believe personally that this movie will be good, that this movie will be fun. I thought every trailer that has come out for this movie...

is sick. The Red Band trailers for this movie are fucking dynamite. This is something about a hype meter. Yes. This isn't about quality. We're not promising that these are going to be good. Thank you for remembering to say this. We always say this.

for putting something very high on their meter. Correct. This is all anticipation and hopefulness and optimism. We live in the moment while we can. And bits. Yes. Yeah. Would you say that this is the most important movie poster in the history of film? Wow. Great question. No, but... Top three? Maybe in 2024.

And also 2023, which is when I think it first came out because this movie has been delayed for like three years. Yeah. You know, there's a line in these trailer show. There's a, an ounce of truth in every myth. And that's how I'm thinking about this. The myth has been the bit, but maybe there's an ounce of truth in it and maybe this movie is going to be good. And I can't wait to find out. And if not, you know what? That's fine too. Our number one desire in terms of where to podcast is,

From would be inside the greasy crevice of one of one of the, a singular ab or two, you need two to make a crevice. Okay. Two, a pair of abs off of Aaron Taylor Johnson. Barring that, I just want to say, this is how I saw Dr. Michael Morbius, a movie that I don't think you guys made me podcast about. Um,

Which I saw it with a really good friend of mine in a theater where it was literally just the two of us. And we just ripped on it the whole time. And it was a great, great, great time at cinema. So if we could, you and I can figure out a way to watch Craven the Hunter where it's just the two of us in the movie theater. I will rent out a movie theater for us to see Craven the Hunter. I will. Consider it done. If you are in the same city as me, consider it done. If you rent out a theater. Yeah.

For Craving the Hunter, I will come down to LA for that. Put it on your calendar. Great. Steve and Arjuna, you can come too. We're totally normal people. Okay. What's next? Are we on number seven? Is that where we're on? Yes. Here is where I put my usual... I have a book here. Okay. How exciting. Is your book Onyx Storm? Of course. It's not mine, but I would have mentioned it here. But why don't you talk about Onyx Storm and then I'll talk about my books.

On January 21st, 2025, the Romantici boom continues. It blazes on. We haven't talked about it. No, we should cover it. Because I remember when book two was on your hype. How did book two work for you? I have a lot of questions about some of the things that happen in both Fourth Wing and Iron Flame. I have my notes. Yeah.

I tore through both of those books, though. Tore through both of them and read them with my college pals in our book club, Pulp. And, you know, I realized that I said on a recent pod that one of the members of Pulp gave us bookmarks. But actually, what it is...

is a press to like stamp the books that we read together. Yeah. So I would like to formally apologize to Suzanne for mischaracterizing the wonderful gift that she made all of us. Oh my God. Those are so cool. It's cool. Yeah, it's great. There are a few authors like Daniel Handler, who's Lemony Snicket. He, um,

Because he's not actually loving Snicket and it's weird to sign books as Daniel Handler, he brings an embosser and writes menacing little notes to children. It's a great experience. I love an embosser in an author signing experience. It's really, really fun. Should I get one? Absolutely. If I ever finish my second book? Okay, great. And you can now use it for, you can come over and after we rent a theater to see Craven and you can put a stamp on my book.

Okay. Wait. I always have a hard time. Here we go. Yeah, there it is. Wait. I see it. Why is my hand moving around? There it is. There we go. There we go. We're a video pod now, guys. We got it. We're a video pod and things are going great. Okay, so I don't want to spoil any of the particulars in case people aren't expecting to hear Fourth Winger Iron Flame spoilers on this pod. I will just say, can't wait to be back with my fave Zayden and find out what happens next. And I cannot wait for the third book.

sex scenes. Cannot wait because I consider the sex scenes of the first two books to be extraordinary. Maybe we'll talk about this book. Maybe we'll find a way. At a minimum, we can do a dramatic reading of the best sex scene. I think we should do a romantic-y pod in 2025. I would love that. Whether or not we just drill down on the fine works of Rebecca Yaros or not, it remains to be seen. But, you know, our representation is like that. What are your books, Jo? Hit us. Give us some reading recos.

I only have one new one and then one that is like, okay, an object to own that I pre-ordered as soon as I found it existed. Okay. Exciting. So Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett is the third in her sort of Emily Wilde series, which is a book that I mentioned on like a previous, probably Ring of Earths recommends or anyway, like this, this is such a great series that is only getting better and better and

And it is about, I just really, really recommend people check out the first one. And if you like it, just know that the series just gets, I think, better from there. But it's about like a woman who is essentially like a 20th century, early 20th century, you know, fairy anthropologist is sort of like how I would put it. And so she's like trying to study the fairy world. And that sounds quite twee, but it's actually like,

it's very beautifully written and it's very like sassily written. It reminds me a lot of like Susanna Clark and it's sort of like language and then it's treatment of fairy as like a, as like a world that is like kind of scary and has its own rules and all that sort of stuff like that. So that is the one I would recommend. There's a lot of cool books coming out in 2025, but again, the first couple of months of the year are a little dry on that front. And then the other thing that's coming out the beginning of 2025 is,

is uh if you ever heard me talk about sort of my nerd origin stories one of like the most important nerd origin story moments for me is when i wandered into the sci-fi fantasy section of bookstore the town center where i grew up i can't remember town center was the name of the mall not i'm not just like in the town center um uh i can't i can't remember if it was like a borders or a barson noble or what it was it wasn't a little barson noble was not a local indie i'll tell you that much but um

I was in the sci-fi fantasy section and I saw the Dragonlance books, which took up like shelves and shelves, similar to the way like Agatha Christie would dominate the mystery section. And I was like, what's all this then? So Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weiss wrote a number of Dragonlance books, but the trilogy that's like,

I don't know. God, I can't remember. It's like winter, twilight, winter, autumn, dawning, spring, something, whatever. The original trilogy is being released in a beautiful black, hardbound, golden embossed Dragonlance Chronicles

And so since I no longer have my like falling apart pocketbook versions of these books, because I don't know where they, I lost them in some move or another. I will now own this beautiful Dragonlance Chronicles. And like, I just think that Dragonlance, which is like quite nerdy, obviously, is such an excellent blueprint for so many of the fantasy stories that came after. I don't think, I think it, yeah, it predates Dragonlance.

It predates Game of Thrones. It predates A Song of Ice and Fire. And A Song of Ice and Fire, as it does, lifts from a bunch of things, you know, including, yes, we got your emails. We know that A Song of Ice and Fire lifted from Dune. But like, a lot of people are like, why are you talking about Thrones and Dune as if George R.R. Martin didn't take stuff from Frank Herbert? We know that, don't worry. But like, yeah, Dragonlance, I just really recommend. It's just like really bonafide, nerdy,

shit that I really, really, really, really love in terms of like putting a ranging party together, um, and mythology and well-drawn characters and understanding, um,

how to assemble like lore lore just really good lore so love lore and if you love if you love dragon lance and you're just sort of like i want this but it's just beautiful like the edition they're putting out is just absolutely beautiful so it's not a new book but it's a bound edition that holds the original trilogy i think it's trilogy maybe it's four books um anyway

Really excited. Love this. Yeah. As you know, I love to collect multiple editions of books I love. So this is a great way to go on a hype meter. In the little cabinet where I have all my Tolkien editions and stuff like that. It's going to go in there. Beautiful. Delightful. Great one. Thanks. Okay. Number seven. That's just a number six. My number seven was Onyx Storm. Okay, great. Number six. This is where I have Captain America, by the way. We'll get to that in a second. First, we got to talk about

Does it count? I don't know. Paddington in Peru? Oh, yay! I'm glad you have this on here. I was hoping this would be on your list. I had this as an honorable mention. Yeah, of course this counts. If Paul King had directed the third installment of Paddington, this would maybe be my number one. Yeah. But this is a new director, and I have heard maybe some mixed things from some people who have seen it. So I'm willing to temper my expectations about Paddington in Peru, but I just need folks to know.

Paddington series is one of the most important cinematic experiences of this or any other lifetime. I think Paddington two is a perfect film. I think Paddington one is a near perfect film. Yeah.

And so, and you know, this one's adding Olivia Colman and Antonio Banderas, like who says no. So I think that Ben and Ben Whishaw, my number one, my, just like my, my dream of all dreams is doing a, is doing a show in December for Netflix called black doves, which Rob and I will be covering at least a little bit of over on the prestige TV. I've seen one episode. It's amazing. Ben Whishaw, uh,

We need more of him always. And if I will take more of him, if more of him is him voicing Paddington for Paddington in Peru. I just love, like, where are you in the Paddington series? What's your level of involvement and engagement? I had a moment last night where I was like, if this isn't number one on one of our lists, is Van ever going to speak to us again? You know? Yeah.

I mean, Van hasn't seen Paddington in Peru, so he doesn't know whether or not it's great. But Van and I are aligned on all other things Paddington. Yeah. There you go. Okay. Wonderful. Love this. Captain America. So you had this at eight?

Yes. I have it at six. This was one of the ones that I kept moving around. I had this at four. I had it at five. I had it at six. I couldn't decide exactly where I wanted it, but somewhere in this general zone felt right. This is another Valentine's Day movie, Jo, right? February 14th. Wow. Celebrating Valentine's Day with my actual one true love, Harrison Ford. Should we watch Yellow Jackets and then go to the cinema and see-

Harrison Ford, Red Hulk out. Remember when... I know you do. Sometimes I just sit and stare into the middle distance and think about someone asking Harrison Ford about Red Hulk in an interview. I think about that every single day. I also think about when he did his little... Yeah.

impression at Comic-Con. I mean, think about, this is all, frankly, everything we're saying right now is part of why this maybe should have been number one. I mean, the Harrison Ford press tour that we can anticipate around this film is just, if the dial of destiny shrinking 1923 press run is any indication of what awaits, like this stage of the Harrison Ford experience is overwhelming.

He's unrivaled. On Denzel levels of don't give a fuckery, and it's genuinely delightful. Exquisite. Exquisite. I basically couldn't put a movie with Harrison Ford in it any lower than six. And I'm, look, I'm very excited about the movie. I love Sam Wilson. Obviously, I love the Captain America franchise. This is the fourth Captain America film. Joanna, this is the, I'm going to say this out loud, and then we're going to take a minute, 35th MCU movie.

that's a lot uh i have had moments where i felt a little nervous about the volume of very highly publicized reshoots and reworking of the film and incorporating the uh the sidewinder serpent society plot more fully into the movie etc but as you as you often remind us and others sometimes that can be a

not only is that not abnormal, sometimes that can be a good thing. Sometimes that's when they can find their way to the proper end point of a film. So I don't necessarily know that that's a bad news. I think it's more like the movie's so crowded that that makes me a little bit nervous in terms of just the number of characters and component parts. But also that's hardly a new thing in the MCU. Maybe that'll be great. I love spending time with Sam. I'm excited to be back with Danny Ramirez as Torres. With Tyler and Tim Blake Nelson are back.

The incredible Hulk cast is returning, obviously, because Harrison Ford is playing my nemesis, Thunderbolt Ross. I can't remember exactly the order of this. We were writing the MCU. Yeah. And they had like... We were writing the MCU book and they had already called up

other characters from an actress from the Hulk movie. And we had a joke that was like, live Tyler, stay by your phone. And then it was like, we really liked that line. And then I think, I think before we went to final draft, it was announced that she was hired and we had to like kill that joke or, or it got killed in the paperback edition. I can't remember which, but it was just sort of like live Tyler, stay by your phone. It was one of my favorite things we wrote in the books. And then it happened. So we were like, okay. Yeah. Yeah.

I thought the trailers for the movie were fun. I'm very worried about this movie. I know I shouldn't be so depressing about things I have on my literal hype meter, but here's what I'll say. I'm really high on the MCU for 2025. Same. Yeah. I have a lot of MCU hype right now. There's more MCU to come on both of our lists here. There are things I am extraordinarily excited for in 2025. I'm just

this is one that I'm worried about. How much of it is because they felt compelled to put Tiamat the ocean celestial from Eternals in the movie and in the trailer? How much of it is that? Actually, that one makes me kind of optimistic because I'm like, this is the answers we've been clamoring for. So, you know. Great. Love Harrison Ford playing the president.

On a plane. Yeah. As the Red Hulk on a plane. Whatever it is. I'm here for it. Great stuff. Okay. Captain America. You're eight. My six. And that takes us to number five, right? Yes. What's your number five? Get out your rickety coffins. It's time to talk about Nosferatu. Lovely. Obviously, this is not on your list. And I...

I care, even though you and I care the correct and right amount about Nicholas Holt. This is, and the aforementioned Aaron Taylor Johnson. Yep. This is from Robert Eggers, who did The Vich and The Lighthouse. Really great atmospheric horror film.

borderline intolerable levels of tension, et cetera, et cetera. This is Nosferatu starring Bill Skarsgård, of course. Yeah. Nick Holt, our collective fave. Can I just tell you something? Something that Sean Fantasy texted me and then said to my face again on the big pic. Is he used a word that I haven't used since we talked about...

House of the Dragon, actually, not that long ago. That was just a few months ago. He was like, Nick Holtz is the ultimate cuck or something like that. And I was just like, talk about the characters he plays. And I was just like, what are you talking about? It's an outrage. Go to hell and die there, Sean Fennessey.

He's so protective of Nick Holt. Lily Rose Depp is here. Apparently a lot of people think she's the standout of this movie. Since I haven't seen it, I could not tell you one way or another. Lily Rose Depp, I have some questions about it. Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin, who absolutely crushed it in Deadpool and Wolverine, as well as The Crown, is here. Willem Dafoe as Professor Alban Eberhard von Franz.

The Lightful. Fabulous. Ralph Innocent. Oh, yeah. Of The Witch and Green Knight fame. Yeah. Also Thrones, obviously. And then Simon McBurney. Like, it's just a tremendous cast. Do you think that I could handle the horror level? Yeah, I do. Because this is like old-timey horror. Do I think you'll love this? I don't know. I mean, have you watched... Did you watch The Witch? Or...

I think you would love the lighthouse. Have you, have you tried the lighthouse? No, but I want to. Yeah. I think you'd really love the white. I love the lighthouse, especially the anatomically correct mermaid. I think you would have a great time with that. Rob Eggers is a real sicko. Uh, and this is gonna be a real sicko film, uh, starring people that I absolutely love. Um, and it's vampire shit, which of course I also love. So, um, delightful. Yeah. That's right. Great pick. Okay. Fantastic.

Look for the coffin in the theater near you. Climb in. Don't hurt yourself. Send us a pic. What's your number five? Skeleton Crew. I have this higher. Okay. But it's my number four. This is another one. Well, I had this at three, four, and five. I think Steve, if I'm remembering correctly, this was the very last thing I changed was flipping this.

And another thing. So this wound up at five, but I could easily have this as high as three without really much hesitation. We haven't gone to Squid Game yet. Wild. Okay. Yeah. Things are out on my list a lot. I almost consider like six through... I don't know. I don't know. It's just, it was hard. I had a hard time. I knew what I wanted my number one to be. After that, it was chaos. Okay. Um...

But I have this in my number four, so we can talk about it. Tell me why you're excited for Skeleton Crew other than Jude Law. We've seen some of this. We have. We've seen the premiere. Two-part premiere. I watched the third episode as well. That's all I've seen. They sent us three episodes. I watched them. Mallory watched the premiere.

Obviously, we're not going to get into any of the particulars, but I will say I was immensely charmed by this. Immensely. Yeah, you liked it a lot. I had a tougher time in the first two episodes. I really liked the third episode. That's why I wanted to mention it. I really liked the third episode. And the third episode, I think this is okay for me to say, has a lot more Jude Law than the first two episodes. And I think once Jude Law is there in earnest, the whole thing sort of...

But this is from John Watts. This is clear...

Ripped from homage to the kids on bikes, Amlin entertainment genre. A favorite of ours. You get the suburban sprawl of ET, but make it a galaxy far, far away. You get streamers on speeder bikes. You get all this other stuff, but it's about a group of kids who find a ship that

Now we're in, like, Flight of the Navigator territory, and then we're, like, off on an intergalactic space adventure. This is much more... I knew that they were drawing from Amblin, but it's also... It's so piratical. We are so...

Treasure Island, it's not even funny. That's what we're doing here as well. And so that's really funny. Space Pirates is also just incredibly exciting. Kids Adventure, Space Pirates, Goonies, all that sort of stuff is in the mix here. I was promised a bunch of creatures.

in this show and then the first episode was like a lot of cgi stuff and i was like where are my puppet puppets like i was told there were puppets episode two is pup very puppet heavy and then like i think going forward we're gonna get a lot more of the puppeteering so like if you watched and or loved and or as we did and you're like but where are all the critters um they're all here we found them they're in yeah i'm excited eight episodes eight episodes yeah um

I love a John Watts coming of age story. I love a kids on bikes tale. The kids are, I thought, so charming. The kids are, not to invoke Van again on our pod, but I will say the kids are, yes, quite plucked to spare. Just plucked for days. I love that. I love that. We talked about this before too, but like the murderer's row of the director's lineup. Yes. Very exciting when thinking about the entire eight episode run. Great cast. Yeah.

Have we mentioned that Jula's here in a Star Wars show? Delightful. My wife, Carrie Condon, is here. Great stuff. Jula is great. Fun new droid. Always love a new droid.

This is set in the Mandalorian timeline. The extent to which this show interacts with other aspects of the Mando timeline, I have no idea. Genuinely no idea. But that is where it's set. So that's interesting to know. And I really am excited to see the whole season and talk about it and cover it. And it just seems really fun and sweet. And I love a coming-of-age adventure. The droid is called Smee with...

two threes instead of ease. And it's voiced by Nick Frost, which is great news for everyone involved. Um,

And there's a kid on the kid front. Like, yes, a little plucky. And like, you love it. I felt like a little uncertain about it. Once again, once it's... You need a hopper. You need something to like balance out the pluck of the kids. And so once... You know how I feel about hopping. I know how you feel about hops. And once Jules shows up to sort of like acidly sort of balance out the pluck of the kids, the show really finds, I think, its measure. But...

There's one kid, Neil, played by a kid, Robert Timothy Smith, who is playing in mocap dots. And he's got like a little elephant head, like a CG rendered elephant head. And he rules. Neil is great. So good. It's very guy in the chair. Neil Energy is bringing in. I just love him and will fight anyone who ever tries to harm Neil. I love this kid.

So yeah. Protect Neil. I love it. Okay. That takes us to my number four. Yeah. Which I have to assume you have higher on your list. You must. Lord of the Rings. What?

The War of the Rohirrim. This was another one I moved. I'm just kidding. I haven't hired. I had this at two at one point. I had it at three. I had it at five. It ended up at four. I just was a disaster setting my order this time. I have time. Okay. We'll talk about it when we get to it on your list. That takes us to your number three and my number three. What do you have at number three? Yes. Okay.

This one I am so excited for, and I don't think you have it on your list. It is Sinners. Yeah. The Ryan Coogler film. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So this is, again, I'm going to say supernatural horror. And I consider not putting it so high because I'm like, we're probably not going to cover it on the show. It looks way too scary for Mal. But it looks so...

So written and directed by Ryan Coogler, Michael B. Jordan is playing twin brothers, Elijah and Elias. Um, so double the Michael B. Jordan who says no, um, whole bunch, a whole bunch of, uh, MC faves are here, right? Um,

Haley Steinfeld's here. Wumi Masako, who we know from Loki or has been in a ton of other stuff, I don't think got to do everything in Deadpool and Wolverine. I don't think she got to do everything she could possibly do in Loki and Deadpool and Wolverine, and so I'm very excited. She was so good in Lovecraft Country, so I'm really excited to see her in this. And if you're like, what's the plot? They are...

what the plot is. The trailer is incredible experience of just sort of like imagery and this impression of what's happening, but it's very like Jordan Peele in that you're just sort of, he's just sort of like, I'm going to give you some vibes and then you get to decide whether or not you want to come hang out in this vibe thing that I've created. And so this is the description for Warner Brothers. It's,

Quote, trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers, Jordan, return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back.

What do I know beyond that? I could not possibly tell you having, despite having watched this trailer multiple times, there's no further information out there as far as I could find it. It's like an original story. And Ryan Coogler is like, we're going to just let people experience this for themselves in the theater, which is a really fun idea. Michael Jordan is doing strong mustache work, strong accent work. So I think this is going to be really, really cool.

Music by Lubrid Gordson. Never heard of him. I'm just really excited for this. March 7th. Great pick. Yeah. My number three is for sure something that you still have coming, either as your two or your one. Oh my God, what is your...

Okay. What is it? I have something in my, I think my number one is not on your list, which is a real twist. I wonder if we're going to have a was this eligible conversation around it, which is, we'll get there soon. It's fine. My number three is because my number two is something you already mentioned. I had Lord of the Rings at four and that's still to come for you. So my number three has to be your two or one, Daredevil, Born Again. Yeah. Is that your number one or your number two? Yeah.

You're number one. Yeah. I, this was, okay. So this was, I was like, should I, I had this at two for a while. Then I moved into three. Are you noticing a trend, a pattern here? Um,

But we're on your number two and my number three. So let's talk about it. Daredevil Born Again. I can't fucking wait. It's my number one. Your number one. We haven't talked about... So Lord of the Rings is your number two. Yeah. Should we talk about that first and then talk about Daredevil after? Let's talk about... And then let's talk about the thing that you put on the list that seems like it's ineligible or I massively fucked something up. It's definitely eligible based on the...

Anything that could in theory be covered on Ringiverse or House of R, even if it isn't or hasn't been, but could be, is eligible for the exercise. Tell me about... Are you worried about... I'm just curious. This is just like something for us all to think about as we eagerly await what your number one is. Is it...

You think I'm going to question subject matter eligibility or do you think I'm going to question date eligibility? No, no, no, no. It has a set date. Yeah. I thought it would be on your list too. So, but now I'm like, oh, maybe, maybe that's why it's not. Yeah. Okay. Lord of the Rings War of the Ruhirrim. Tell me. Oh my God. This is the same day as Kraven. What a double feature. I'm so excited about Lord of the Rings War of the Ruhirrim. This is an animated, uh,

about the Rookerium, about the land of Rohan. And I am, I don't know. I just think the opportunity for expansive Middle-earth storytelling in an animated space is so exciting if this hits. Philippa Boynes, who you may know from the Lord of the Rings trilogy, is one of the credited screenwriters, which is very, very exciting. Yeah.

And we've got the voice of frickin' Brian Cox as Helm Hammond. Yeah. Logan is here. Verena Otto doing her Eowyn voice to narrate the film. I mean, I'm just, I'm... Most importantly of all, have you seen how hot Wolf looks in the trailer? He can seek my hand in marriage. Actually, that's not the most important thing. The most important thing is definitely the AMC popcorn bucket. They're doing the Warhammer.

I'm really, really, really, really excited about this. I love Erohirum. And as you know, because I recently was talking about Eomir's Helm on our props episode. But yeah, I just, I think this is such a good idea in terms of expansive Middle-earth storytelling. And it just opens the door to so many possibilities. It looks great.

gorgeous like absolutely beautiful and um i'm just really excited about this as like a incredible in theater um experience for people so um yeah

I can't wait. I don't know what else to say. I can't wait to see the movie. You don't need to say anything else. I agree with you. It's like, not only does the trailer look great, I feel similarly excited about... First of all, it's just so fun to have so many Lord of the Rings stories in our life right now. And, you know, from different studios. So that's like...

there's a little bit of a, oh boy, when will this get messy kind of hanging over the, the entire IP. But in some ways it's really fun leading to variants and, and dabbling in different ways, playing in different slices of the timeline, you know, being 183 years before the trilogy, that's like a fun part of the timeline to, to play in here. And like, I agree with you, the, do you think they'll say 183 years before the birth of probably. Yeah.

Now that that's the approach. If you're familiar with this from House of the Dragon and Dune Prophecy, you can expect it here. You know, something like...

Star Wars visions, you know, season one of Star Wars visions, seeing the, seeing anime come to Star Wars and like all of these different artists applying their different styles and sensibilities to a world that we had spent so much time in, like it was such a thrill. And this is obviously different in many respects, but

I'm equally excited for it. I just really can't wait for this. And I'm excited that we get to see it on the big screen. So yeah, like I said, this was as high as two on my list at one point. And I'm incredibly excited for it. I can't believe this is only a few weeks away. I know. Steven Gallagher is the composer on this. So I don't know the rules of whether or not they're using any of the original score. But if I'm sitting in a theater and the Rohan theme starts playing...

I will cry and I won't apologize for it. I cry when we watch at home in the Rohan theme place. So if I'm in a theater in the dark with a Warhammer popcorn bucket and like looking at a beautiful anime on screen and then I hear the Rohan theme, I'm going to lose it. I'm going to lose it. So yeah. Maybe we'll get to see this together in person too. Wow. So much promise that one week in December. That's a busy week. Busy week. A lot going on.

The next thing we're talking about is coming out not in December, but in March. March 4th, Daredevil. Daredevil Born Again. It's why I asked us to expand this into March. Yeah, I figured. Yeah. I sent you a little level emoji in your life. I was like, do you know when Last of Us is out? I was like,

Then I realized it was Daredevil. It was Daredevil, yeah. Great stuff. So... The devil of Hell's fucking kitchen. Matt Murdock. Very important. I remember when we were watching Echo and we were like, this is okay. And then Matt Murdock showed up and it was wonderful. I do. We're just going to get many episodes of that. The trailer for this...

Rips so hard. I can't even tell you. This is one of those shows, those Marvel properties where there has been significant reshoots, overhaul. There were earlier iterations of this. Compressing of the season into fewer episodes. And there was a, there was an earlier iteration of this where they were going to try to like really move away from the Netflix, uh,

you know, continuity and it seems like they have swung back. Good. You know, they're giving us Karen and Foggy in like a lot of the promotional material and stuff like that. So it's just sort of like, no, we're not pretending that the Netflix show didn't happen. I loved that.

Those seasons. I know you did. I'm so excited. I really, I loved, I think, I think season one is one of the best things we've ever been given in the Marvel space. I think season two was bumpy, but I loved Electra. And then I actually just like loved season three in a way that I don't know that everyone did, but I really, really did. For a very long time,

when podcasters everywhere would engage in, you know, if you could pull one performer and character or two performers and characters or three performers and characters from the Netflix Marvelverse into the MCU, like, who would you pick? My top picks were always Charlie Cox's Matt Murdock and Vincent D'Onofrio's Kingpin. And, you know, on the one hand, I think nothing has diminished my enthusiasm for a full season of Kingpin. The deployment of Kingpin in...

Hawkeye and Echo was a little wobblier than we had hoped. But the flip side is, as you mentioned, the little nuggets of Matt Murdock that we've gotten so far, No Way Home, the iconic Walk of Shame and She-Hulk, Echo, they've all been perfect. So...

it's just a genuine joy and thrill that this crew is back together. And it seems like from, you know, the little glimpses of footage so far, that tone that people... The tone that people loved of the Netflix series is preserved and intact and continuing on. And, you know, look, anytime it's... Anytime it's a Barenthal season, it's Ringer season. I mean, Frank Castle is here. Get Chris Ryan on the phone. He might have to call in. I'm sure not my favorite thing in the whole world, but...

Wilson Bethel as Benjamin Dexpoint Dexter Bullseye is a huge favorite of mine. So I'm really, really excited. Okay. That is why he's my number one. I mean, I just like, I think this, I'm hopeful that this is just great. We had such a good time with Agatha when Marvel TV is great. Is Marvel back? Oh my gosh. So like, and also like,

Daredevil Matt Murdock is a property that really begs spending time in the comic book space that inspired it. There's opportunity for that in every Marvel property, but there's something about...

and Matt Murdock. And there's so many iconic runs. So it's going to be a really funny opportunity to revisit a lot of those. This is a character that I really like a lot. So, yeah. Okay, fantastic. My number two is Squid Game. This is where I have Squid Game. Yeah, okay. I did have it way lower at first. And then because of the thing you're mentioning, which is just like...

Does season two of Squid Game only exist because it was literally the most popular show in the history of Netflix? A genuine, it's not hyperbole to use the word phenomenon, like unmatched in the history of television. Is it only a thing that's happening because nobody could resist the urge to tap back in? But everything we've seen and heard about it

in this stretch of time as we're actually on the eve of it is thrilling to me. Okay. What is thrilling? Well, so this is a binge, of course. We should say that. December 26th. That part's not thrilling just in terms of planning coverage and thinking about it coming out of the holiday. The success of season one of Squid Game, you have the...

oh, this was a sensation. Yeah. This was not something that anybody could have possibly anticipated and then it took the world by storm. There was the experience around Squid Game, but just thinking about the actual show, I mean, it was brilliant. Like, Squid Game season one was brilliant. You had a great time with it. And so I have no reason to doubt the creative genius behind it or the splendor of the cast or any of those other things. And in terms of just the thematic positioning of it, this, like...

the division of the factions and this,

You know, there was this recent Hollywood Reporter cover story on the new season, and this positioning of it is like, is the majority always right? I think that's going to be very unpleasant to watch based on current events, but also, you know, that's a rich vein to tap. So my base position will be going in hoping that it is as magnificent as season one, and if it isn't, it isn't. But until I know for sure it isn't, I'm going to hope that it can be.

That's why I ended up moving it up, up, up, up, up and putting it at number two. Tell me what you're thinking. We love Li Zhengjie, obviously. We just loved so much of what he did in Acolyte. And so it'll be great to spend time with him again. I think there's a bit of like... The world of Squid Game... I am resistant to...

you know, the like, let's make a reality show out of it. Let's do this, that, and the other thing, which seemed to me to like fundamentally misunderstand the point of Squid Game. The like, Yes, for sure. proliferated commodification of it and stuff like that. So there's that hesitancy around it. I'm like separating all of that. Oh yeah, and I think that's fair. In my mind, but yeah. I think that's wholly fair. And also it's just been like

so many years. It's been my, like my entirety of my time at the ringer. Um, so we're definitely gonna have to rewatch season one. Um, I am hopeful. He's still only listed as guest cast, but, uh, Gong Yoo, who played the like recruiter, who is one of the most handsome, um,

to ever have existed. Yes. He's a big star. And so like when he showed up for this tiny part, everyone's like, oh, but he's going to have a bigger part in season two. And I am dismayed to find that he's still listed as guest guest. But if you've ever seen Train to Busan, which is just a phenomenal film, he is so good in that. He's wonderful. And so I was just like hopeful he would be like a co-lead in season two. But I am really, I mean, I am thrilled to spend time with Lee Jung Jae and I'm excited to

get, you know, have exposure to even more South Korean actors who I'd never seen before who might be well-known in South Korea but new to me. So, yeah, Squid Game season two. I hope it's great. I hope it's great. Are we going to, are we going to, are we going to? Maybe coming out of the holiday? Start the new year with some Squid Game? Yeah. Yeah. I like that. Yeah. We have some stuff to figure out about the holiday schedule still. For sure. Yeah.

Uh, John, Arjuna, Steve, we will respond to your slacks shortly. Uh, that brings us, Joe, to my number one. Any guesses? Okay, give me a hint. It is a show that we covered together on the Prestige TV podcast. We covered the finale and you and Rob will be covering the new season, but I still believe, on Prestige, but I still believe it is eligible for the hype meter. Severance. Oh, my God. This is my fault. This is my fault. This is entirely my fault.

It's definitely, I can pick it, right? A hundred percent. Yeah. I'm so sorry. I put it, I, you're right. I had put it in the prestige TV bucket because you and I covered it over there and Rob and I are going to be covering it over there. But it could be in the height meter for sure. Yeah. Of course. Not only number one. I'm mortified. I'm mortified.

I was like, whatever it is, I better not be mortified. No, no, I'm mortified. Listen, we can make it like you went down into the elevator at Limit HQ and you just, you know, there you go. It's meta. Not only was this my instant number one when it came time for the Winter Hype Meter, because this comes out in January, January 17th, Apple TV. This is one of my most anticipated shows the entire year. Like one of our favorite...

annual traditions is to do the hype draft. I would anticipate when we do the hype draft, this goes in the first round. Like, I don't know how high it will go, but it's going to be one of the top picks off the board. And that said, though, there's a lot of great shit coming out next year. There's so much coming out next year. The first couple rounds are going to be really crowded. It's going to be a hell of a hype draft. Mm-hmm.

The first season of the show was unbelievable. The finale, which we had the privilege of chatting about our prestige together, was one of our favorite finales in recent history. Dan and I also did an episode. I'm vaguely recalling how we covered the slapdash way we covered Severance. Talk about a show I'm excited to rewatch before the new season. I can't wait to revisit season one. I love the world. That was an incredible finale. The sets, the sense of place, the rhythm, the pairing of beautiful...

character dynamics and genuine mystery and mythology and lore and intrigue. We have a lot of questions. We have very few answers. I still remember like one of our favorite experiences as TV viewers is when something happens, you watch something and it,

just shreds you. And then when you think about it at this point, three years later, I mean, the severance ended in April of 2022. That's a real, again, this is a pattern a really long time ago. Like when I think about Irv looking at Burt,

I just want to sob. Like, it feels just as keen and fresh as when I watched it for the first time. So I cannot wait for this season of TV. I really hope it's wonderful. For me, the visual, you know, that sticks with me is Zach Cherry's character, Dylan, like, just reaching, just really trying to...

Still trying to work that out. Great show. Severance. Great. Great fucking pick, obviously. This is very exciting. Yeah, Rob and I will be covering this on Prestige, but I do think it belongs over here. We should probably talk about it in some form or another. Yeah, we'll do something. I did have a moment when I moved Squid Game up to two where I'm like, is my top two stuff that we're not going to cover? Is that weird? We'll probably talk about them in some way. Yeah, we'll figure out a way. We'll find a way. A lot of good stuff.

Yes. Gosh. And it's not all like, it's, you know, we've got, we've got a Star War on here. We've got a couple of Marvels on here. Got a, you know, Lord of the Rings on here, but it's a lot of like, you know, off the beaten path sort of IP stuff, non-IP stuff. So that's exciting. It is. This was a fun hype meter to put together. Any other honorable mentions you want to toss out? I'm going to tap the mic. I don't know if that registers through my pop filter, but tap, tap, tap.

To all the Trekkies at home. Okay. Yeah. I would like to throw you this bum and say Star Trek section 31, which is the Michelle Yeoh like film spinoff of Star Trek disco that they're doing. Michelle Yeoh on Star Trek disco was phenomenal. You know, too short lived, but phenomenal. And the fact that they're giving her like a little spinoff is wonderful. And I can't wait to watch it. So great one. Yeah. Can one of my honorable mentions be a trailer?

The Superman Legacy trailer is coming out soon. Is this your, like, when we do the hype draft, is Superman Legacy going to be your number one pick? No. No. In part because, as always, I have multiple TV shows before movies. You're so excited for it. It's not even my most anticipated movie of the year. But it's high. What's your most anticipated movie of the year? Fantastic Four. Okay.

I mean, I'm prepared to be disappointed by some of this, but I can't wait. I'm excited for both of those. And the prompt is get excited and I'm like, well, here's why I'm a little worried. I understand that that's not the prompt and I do it every time anyway, but that's why we work well together. I'm not doing that with Fantastic Four. With Fantastic Four, I'm just a believer based on what? I don't know. But I'm a believer in Fantastic Four and Thunderbolts. I'm like, I'm

I'm in. Same. Dude, that most recent Thunderbolts trailer was absolute art. Art. It's burning. Art. Any other honorable mentions? Let's see. We already mentioned Invincible. What if Creature Commandos? Creature Commandos is coming soon. Sure is. Are you excited for SideQuest? The Mythic Quest? Maybe. Expansion pack? That's coming soon? Mufasa?

is the thing that exists. Here's okay. I have a really important question for you about Mufasa. Yes. I, when I was at the cinema seeing, I don't know, wicked gladiator too. I've been in the movies a lot. The brutalist I saw yesterday. Um, uh, and I was walking past the Mufasa put a line of Mufasa posters, right? And there's one that has two lion cubs, uh,

I don't know the plot of Mufasa. I imagine that's Mufasa and Scar when they're kids. Is that the plot of Mufasa? I mean, it's a prequel, right? Yeah, I imagine them as adorable cubs pre-Scar-Scar. It looks like these cubs, the way that they're posed on the poster, it looks like they're taking a goddamn selfie. And it made me irresponsibly angry. I don't know why it made me so mad. But I was just like...

I don't understand why we do these live action, quote unquote, live action things. But if it isn't the point of them to do like a sort of photo realistic world and like a plausible deniability, this could actually exist in the real world kind of story. Otherwise, why are we doing it? But what the hell is this selfie pose for these two lion cubs? I was like, no, no. So I have no explanation for the selfie like nature of that. But here's why. Here's what I will say.

I'm gonna be a mighty king, so enemies beware. I never saw the live action Lion King, so I can't comment on this franchise, but I love these.

Of the original animated one. Yes. My grandma took me to see the Broadway show once when I was young. Sure. That was fun. Listen, Julie Taymor, great stuff. Original Lion King, great stuff. That Lion King remake, pretty much ass as far as I'm concerned. I'll chime in once I've caught up. I don't know why the Smith Fossa thing. Fair. Okay. Any other honorable mentions? Let's see. What else? What else? I mean, if we're Sonic. Live action Disney, we should mention there's going to be a Snow White. Snow White? Yeah.

Yes. Oh, looking ahead now I'm outside of the eligibility window, but maybe my most anticipated movie of next year is Mickey 17. Yeah, I know. I know. And it's just outside the eligibility window, but I, that's an April one. So we couldn't put that on. Also, we should just get this on the record. Now they have said last of us is spring, but we don't know the date. We are assuming that it is not coming out in, in March. I did some math on this. It would have been number one.

one. Just to be clear. Casey Boyce said that at least six episodes will have aired by May 31st in order to put it inside the Emmy eligibility window. So counting backwards, I would say this is probably mid-April. Yeah, that seems likely. Beginning of April at the soonest, but probably more like mid-April. And then we'll go from Last of Us into Night of the Seven Kingdoms. What a time to be us. Holy shit! Chuck and I were talking about

Talk the Thrones? Come back. Who knows? We'll see. Probably. I hope so. Very excited. I'll be there. That's my, yeah, it's just you at the table by yourself. I'll be there. Yeah. There's a lot coming and I get to cover it with you and I'm so excited. I'm thrilled. And in the short term, I get to hear your wicked takes. Can't wait to watch the movie. Your gladiator takes. I'll be texting you when I see it. I have a lot of opinions on gladiators. Give me one sentence.

It's hard because I had a complex response to the film. I thought it was incredibly entertaining and fun. I have a lot of notes on the movie. It's just way too similar to the first one to me. Bizarrely. What's your highest point of the movie? Everything with Denzel. What is your lowest point of the movie? This is an actual take. Should I put it out here?

Yes. I have some notes about squandering Pedro Pascal being in your movie. Why would you cast Pedro and do that with him? Honestly, also, why would you cast Paul and do that with him? But Denzel, absolutely chewing it all up and having a great time. Okay, so we'll be back. Starting to discuss it. With more Gladiator takes. I was thinking of you every single time we saw as much or as little of Thy as we did. There's one point when he puts on the like leather, the like this, the kilt that's just like leather strips. Yeah.

But then there was this like linen underskirt. And I'm like, why? Why the underskirt? Okay. We'll talk about it all as well as those wicked witches on Monday. Very exciting. Can't wait. Glicked. Here we come. We'll keep workshopping that. Thighs and... Okay, let's do it right now. Thighs. Thighs and girls. Um...

uh, you have a better name that, what did you say? To the Western thighs, to the Western thighs. Hmm. Look to the Western thighs. Look to the Western. Um, uh, everyone deserves a chance to thigh. Okay. Um,

Hobbsandjacketsgmail.com if you have a better sort of like portmanteau or something. Send your coffin prop photos and your suggestions for how to name this double feature. And if you want to tell us your idea for the double feature whilst in an unstable rickety coffin. There you go. I wouldn't blame you. Anyway, yeah. Thigh thoughts, witch thoughts.

coffin selfies, June prophecy thoughts. Don't forget those. That's right. Yes. Fantastic. Okay, we did it. We did another hype meter. Always a blast. Always a joy. We're just another podcast hunting for a trophy. Got to end with another Craven reference. Thank you. Thank you too, Steve Allman. You just heard him chime in. The best. He is the best. Thank you, Steve, for...

being with us today, for being with us always, for producing this podcast. Thank you, as always, to Arjuna Ramgopal, who is also here, but we cannot hear him or see him, but he is here, for his production supervision, friendship, camaraderie, leadership, everything, now and always. Thank you to Jomia Deneron for his work on the social for this episode and every episode. And thank you today to Stefano Sanchez for video editing and Alea Zanaris for

video supervision. We will see you on Monday for Gladiator 2 and Wicked. We will see you on Tuesday night slash Wednesday morning exact time TBD. Before your turkey is done. That's right. That's exactly right. Before your turkey is done and before, hopefully, certainly before our turkeys are done. We'll get it done. We'll get this done before Thanksgiving. Dune Prophecy Episode 2. Until then, I'm going to quote the Kraven trailer one more time. Until then, bye.

Embrace who you really are, son, and you will become a legend.