A Tale of Two Toldja's! David Fincher's 'Squid Game: America' and Johnny Depp's 'Day Drinker' Confirmed

Happy Monday, folks!

I didn’t see Venom: The Last Dance this weekend but Sony’s sequel reportedly “stalled out” at $51 million domestic, and roughly $175 million worldwide (the year’s third-highest international bow). All $120 million movies should be so lucky to stall out at that figure. Elsewhere, Anora and Conclave performed well in limited release…

Over the weekend, I watched The Creep Tapes, a new six-episode series from Mark Duplass and director Patrick Brice that continues the story of Duplass’ serial killer Peachfuzz. I watched the entire thing in one sitting, and though each episode is only 24-25 minutes, I have to say, I found the series to be repetitive by the end.

I think Shudder will be rolling out episodes weekly, which is probably for the best, as this isn’t a particularly rewarding binge, though I did enjoy Krisha Fairchild’s appearance in the final episode. I just didn’t feel the same level of fear, or investment, as I did in the Creep movies, but I’ve never been a big fan of horror on television given how the rhythms of the genre conflict with the rhythms of the medium.

And in local news, Californians are celebrating after Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled a new film and TV tax credit program featuring greater incentives, which will jump from $330 million a year to $750 million. In comparison, the state of New York only allocates $700 million a year for filming. Such a move was necessary, as California has been losing productions to Atlanta and Canada of late, and the state had to do something to keep the industry shooting in the state — though expect others to follow in California’s footsteps and enhance their own tax credit programs in an effort to stay competitive.

Those who applied for tax credits on the TV side should hear back by Nov. 25, while the next round of film applications will be open from Jan. 25-27.

Tonight, you’ll read about two hot scoops of mine that were confirmed today — one about David Fincher returning to Netflix, and one about Johnny Depp returning to the bar, er, the studio system. Plus, I review Clint Eastwood’s courtroom drama Juror #2 even though Warner Bros. didn’t see it fit to invite me to the film’s AFI premiere.

There are also items about Greta Gerwig making IMAX-sized moves, Armie Hammer’s new podcast, Kyle Edward Ball’s follow-up to Skinamarink, the return of Jon Stewart to The Daily Show and Dwayne Johnson to the Jumanji franchise, and the latest addition to the cast of Edgar Wright’s The Running Man. Plus, I weigh in on the trailer for Hulu’s new series Interior Chinatown starring Jimmy O. Yang.

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