May 5, 2025 • 5 mins
"What happens when a movie's opening weekend is overshadowed by controversy?" Dive into this riveting episode of The Ben and Skin Show, where Ben Rogers, Jeff “Skin” Wade, Kevin “KT” Turner, and Krystina Ray dissect the latest box office trends and unexpected twists in the film industry.Skin Wade kicks off with a deep dive into the surprising box office performance of the movie "Rust," starring Alec Baldwin. Despite the controversy surrounding the film, it grossed a mere $25,000 in its opening weekend across 15 theaters. The hosts discuss the impact of the film's dark history and the public's reluctance to engage with it.The team explores the implications of Trump's proposed tariffs on foreign films, questioning how this could reshape the American film industry. Ben and Skin debate the potential effects on domestic and international box office revenues.KT shares his excitement for upcoming releases, including the highly anticipated Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd project "Friendship”.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Coming up here in thirty minutes, we're going to go
into the wayback machine and remember the time that Ben
had an issue with the barn Swallow. But right now
it's time for this.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Boo track, another edition of things Skin is tracking. All right,
thank you guys. So I'm very interested in this.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Bennett just mentioned, you know, Centners being this big box
office thing, and it's good. And I don't know if
you guys saw the news story this weekend, but you
know there's been all this talk about tariffs and Trump
had a tweet about doing a tariff on foreign films.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Yeah, I saw that. I didn't understand it. No one
understands it.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
And but we had that conversation a couple of weeks
ago where we were talking about it was Spielberg who
said the best American made movie is The Godfather.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
It's like, well, what all does that entail?
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Well, just so you know, the we export way more
American movies than we import, right, And so that's why
one of the things that was big about Sinners is
all right, what is its national gross and then what
is its global gross? Because you can have a big
domestic box office, but then you get a big international
(01:12):
box office, and then that really boosts things dramatically. What
is the movie that came out this weekend with the
superheroes Thunderbolts?
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Oh yeah, Thunderbolts.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Yes, okay, so it did great considering it didn't have
any big name superheroes in it, But part of it
is that it had a huge international gross as well.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Well.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
I'm wondering if you guys are tracking either the domestic
or the international gross for a movie that came out
this weekend. Besides Thunderbolts, was there any movie that you
guys were aware of that was on your radar that
came out this weekend? Anything that you can think of?
Speaker 2 (01:46):
No, I mean I didn't. I saw the when I
was at the theater.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
I saw a bunch of ads for Thunderbolts, but other
than that, I really hadn't heard anything about it.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
It was Centers was the one.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
I know, Fantastic Force coming, and I'm just my calendar
is all about the Tim Robin and Paul Rudd thing
May which is getting unbelievable pre buzz. You're like, this
is the funniest movie in forever, so I'm sure we'll
be all over that. Did you guys know that this
was opening weekend for the movie Rust.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Oh yeah, I'd heard about that.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Now why did they move forward, finish it and release it?
To honor the the camera woman? Who or the filmographer?
Speaker 1 (02:23):
What was? I think that's one of the best questions
anyone's ever asked, and I think it'll be asked forever
in the history of not only film but business, because
I stumbled across these numbers.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
I didn't even know it was coming out this weekend.
Had y'all heard that it was coming out? I heard
that it was still coming out?
Speaker 3 (02:39):
And I was like, what I had to like double
glan and I the one I when it was told
to me, it was like to honor the woman's life
because she was the videographer film.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Yeah, director of photography, and I was.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
Like, that's her last work, and so I'm like really,
and actually she might have even just been.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
The camera operator. I'm not sure.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Okay, So if you guys don't know listening, Rust is
the movie that Alec Baldwin produced and starred in in
which he accidentally shot the lady behind the camera when
they were rehearsing and he killed her and it was
a big controversy. This movie opened in one hundred and
fifteen theaters this weekend. Okay, I just want why don't
(03:22):
we do this game style? We'll go around the horn.
We'll start with you, Christina. How much money do you
think this movie gross domestically at one hundred and fifteen
theaters this weekend?
Speaker 2 (03:31):
What would be good and bad?
Speaker 1 (03:33):
I think good for one hundred and fifteen theaters on
an opening weekend is probably in an independent movie is
probably anywhere to five to eight million dollars.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Okay, Okay, I'm throwing that out there. Could be wrong.
I'll go four million. I'm gonna say one million.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
Ben, let's see, price is right style one million and
one dollar.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
I should have said a dollar, shouldn't I and one
hundred and fifteen theaters rust The Alec Baldwin film gross
twenty five thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
No one wants to see a western right now.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
No one wants to see Alec Baldwin, and no one
wants to sit in the darkness of that movie and
its story that is off. I went and did the
math because you know, I can't do it off the
top of my head anymore. Basically, at average two hundred
and seventeen dollars per theater on opening weekend. I don't
think you can go to see a movie for a
family of four with two hundred and seventeen dollars anymore,
(04:27):
can you?
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Wow?
Speaker 2 (04:29):
And that's probably because of what you said. None of
us had any idea that it was the opening weekend, Right.
They probably buried all the promo because.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Of Yeah, and then you don't also want to spend
money on advertising for a movie that's going to fail.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Right.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
He his fee alone, Alec Baldwin's fee to be in
the movie had to be astronomical.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Well, I think he was the executive producer, which means
he probably took less. He's the one who's bathing in it,
which is why for the last month or so you
could see his new reality show Life with the Baldwin where, yeah,
he's so rich and I could never figure out why
he is doing a Western in New Mexico.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Doing that work? Like, just do something else? Like why?
Very strange to me. Why do these old.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
White guys get caught up and I want to sink
my family fortune into a Western?
Speaker 2 (05:16):
I don't understand what is wrong with these people? Uh,
all right, there it is, there's our things.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Skin Weight is tracking coming up next in the Hollywood Shuffle,
the series finale of a show we all love.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
We'll discuss it next
Coming up here in thirty minutes, we're going to go
into the wayback machine and remember the time that Ben
had an issue with the barn Swallow. But right now
it's time for this.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Boo track, another edition of things Skin is tracking. All right,
thank you guys. So I'm very interested in this.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Bennett just mentioned, you know, Centners being this big box
office thing, and it's good. And I don't know if
you guys saw the news story this weekend, but you
know there's been all this talk about tariffs and Trump
had a tweet about doing a tariff on foreign films.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Yeah, I saw that. I didn't understand it. No one
understands it.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
And but we had that conversation a couple of weeks
ago where we were talking about it was Spielberg who
said the best American made movie is The Godfather.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
It's like, well, what all does that entail?
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Well, just so you know, the we export way more
American movies than we import, right, And so that's why
one of the things that was big about Sinners is
all right, what is its national gross and then what
is its global gross? Because you can have a big
domestic box office, but then you get a big international
(01:12):
box office, and then that really boosts things dramatically. What
is the movie that came out this weekend with the
superheroes Thunderbolts?
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Oh yeah, Thunderbolts.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Yes, okay, so it did great considering it didn't have
any big name superheroes in it, But part of it
is that it had a huge international gross as well.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Well.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
I'm wondering if you guys are tracking either the domestic
or the international gross for a movie that came out
this weekend. Besides Thunderbolts, was there any movie that you
guys were aware of that was on your radar that
came out this weekend? Anything that you can think of?
Speaker 2 (01:46):
No, I mean I didn't. I saw the when I
was at the theater.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
I saw a bunch of ads for Thunderbolts, but other
than that, I really hadn't heard anything about it.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
It was Centers was the one.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
I know, Fantastic Force coming, and I'm just my calendar
is all about the Tim Robin and Paul Rudd thing
May which is getting unbelievable pre buzz. You're like, this
is the funniest movie in forever, so I'm sure we'll
be all over that. Did you guys know that this
was opening weekend for the movie Rust.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Oh yeah, I'd heard about that.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Now why did they move forward, finish it and release it?
To honor the the camera woman? Who or the filmographer?
Speaker 1 (02:23):
What was? I think that's one of the best questions
anyone's ever asked, and I think it'll be asked forever
in the history of not only film but business, because
I stumbled across these numbers.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
I didn't even know it was coming out this weekend.
Had y'all heard that it was coming out? I heard
that it was still coming out?
Speaker 3 (02:39):
And I was like, what I had to like double
glan and I the one I when it was told
to me, it was like to honor the woman's life
because she was the videographer film.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Yeah, director of photography, and I was.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
Like, that's her last work, and so I'm like really,
and actually she might have even just been.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
The camera operator. I'm not sure.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Okay, So if you guys don't know listening, Rust is
the movie that Alec Baldwin produced and starred in in
which he accidentally shot the lady behind the camera when
they were rehearsing and he killed her and it was
a big controversy. This movie opened in one hundred and
fifteen theaters this weekend. Okay, I just want why don't
(03:22):
we do this game style? We'll go around the horn.
We'll start with you, Christina. How much money do you
think this movie gross domestically at one hundred and fifteen
theaters this weekend?
Speaker 2 (03:31):
What would be good and bad?
Speaker 1 (03:33):
I think good for one hundred and fifteen theaters on
an opening weekend is probably in an independent movie is
probably anywhere to five to eight million dollars.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Okay, Okay, I'm throwing that out there. Could be wrong.
I'll go four million. I'm gonna say one million.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
Ben, let's see, price is right style one million and
one dollar.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
I should have said a dollar, shouldn't I and one
hundred and fifteen theaters rust The Alec Baldwin film gross
twenty five thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
No one wants to see a western right now.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
No one wants to see Alec Baldwin, and no one
wants to sit in the darkness of that movie and
its story that is off. I went and did the
math because you know, I can't do it off the
top of my head anymore. Basically, at average two hundred
and seventeen dollars per theater on opening weekend. I don't
think you can go to see a movie for a
family of four with two hundred and seventeen dollars anymore,
(04:27):
can you?
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Wow?
Speaker 2 (04:29):
And that's probably because of what you said. None of
us had any idea that it was the opening weekend, Right.
They probably buried all the promo because.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Of Yeah, and then you don't also want to spend
money on advertising for a movie that's going to fail.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Right.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
He his fee alone, Alec Baldwin's fee to be in
the movie had to be astronomical.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Well, I think he was the executive producer, which means
he probably took less. He's the one who's bathing in it,
which is why for the last month or so you
could see his new reality show Life with the Baldwin where, yeah,
he's so rich and I could never figure out why
he is doing a Western in New Mexico.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Doing that work? Like, just do something else? Like why?
Very strange to me. Why do these old.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
White guys get caught up and I want to sink
my family fortune into a Western?
Speaker 2 (05:16):
I don't understand what is wrong with these people? Uh,
all right, there it is, there's our things.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Skin Weight is tracking coming up next in the Hollywood Shuffle,
the series finale of a show we all love.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
We'll discuss it next
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