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August 11, 2025 12 mins

Welcome to the first episode of the Express Check-Up with Dr. O. This a short-form podcast where TDI gives you the latest news in movies. We break everything down in terms of box-office earnings, casting news, superhero universe reports, greenlit projects and MORE.



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(00:00):
This is the Drive In podcast. Take One.

(00:25):
Howdy Doody. Welcome to the first episode of
the Express checkup with yours truly, Doctor O.
This is a short form podcast where the Drive In gives you an
adrenaline shot of the latest news in movies.
Make sure to follow the pod for movie reviews, drafts, rankings,
and more every Monday, along with the expanded checkup and

(00:47):
trailer roundup on Fridays. So without further ado, let's
unload the clip and find out what's happening in movies.
Leading off with the Express checkup, we have to check in
with the box office. So this week we have to look at
what's going on domestically. Clocking in at #1 the winner of
the box office drum roll, please.

(01:10):
Weapons, 42 and a half million dollars.
Big success. Original film from Warner
Brothers, from Zach Cregger. Warner Brothers, this is their
tenth number one weekend of the year.
In their 7th movie to go #1 Warner Brothers has become the
first studio in history to have six consecutive films earn over

(01:30):
$40 million. Weapons joins a class that
includes Minecraft, Sinners, Final Destination, Bloodlines,
F1 and Superman. Got a few IP in there, get a few
original films. Warner Brothers kicking a lot of
butt in 2025. Coming in second this week at
the domestic box office. We got freakier Friday with $29
million. A sequel to the cult classic

(01:52):
from the mid 2000s starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay
Lohan. Budget here was 45 million #3.
This week we have Fantastic FourFirst Steps been making
headlines in terms of their box office.
They pulled in nearly 16,000,000and it's third week at the box
office. It has now passed $430 million
worldwide and it's eyeing to endits box office run at around

(02:14):
$500 million. MCU looking for better
performance there next. We have Bad Guys Too Animated
feature Kid Friendly came in at 10.4 mil in its second week and
rounding up the top five we haveLiam Neeson and Pamela Anderson
in The Naked Gun. They pulled in about 8 million
in its second week at the box office.

(02:35):
Other notables from this weekend.
Superman, which came in at #6 has become the highest grossing
Superman film ever domestically passing Batman VS Superman which
came out in 2016. It's a true change of the guard
for DC. James Gunn is here to stay.
Moving on from the box office, let's hit the casting couch
where we look at your favorite stars and we see which upcoming

(02:57):
projects they will appear in. Leading off, naturally, we have
the man who is in everything, Pedro Pascal.
He's in talks to star in Tony Gilroy's new movie titled
Behemoth. If you don't know Tony Gilroy,
may I point you to Andor? And if you don't like Star Wars,
may I point you to Michael Clayton?
The man can do no wrong. This film is said to be a drama

(03:18):
about a cellist. Originally Oscar Isaac was
intended for the role, but here comes Pedro Pascal slipping in.
When in doubt, cast Pedro Pascalwhether the audience wants it or
not. The source here comes from
Deadline. Moving from one movie star to
another, let's talk Timothy Chalamet.
He isn't talks to star in James Mangold's heist thriller High
Side. This film follows a former Moto

(03:39):
GP racer haunted by a career ending crash as he is drawn back
into racing before his brother recruits him for some bank
robberies on super bikes. Whoa.
We're talking James Mangold, we're talking Timothy Chalamet,
we're talking a complete unknownre collaboration between the
two. The complete unknown led to a
Academy Award nomination for Timothy Chalamet.

(04:00):
He was defeated by Adrian Brody for The Brutalist.
These two coming back together, I expect great things.
Source. Here is Deadline.
Speaking of a complete unknown, Monica Barbaro, who played Joan
Baez and earned an Academy Awardnomination, will star alongside
Callum Turner in One Night Only.This ROM com follows 2 strangers
who scramble to find someone to sleep with on the one night of

(04:22):
the year where premarital sex islegal.
To me, this sounds like The Purge just for perverts.
This hits theaters August 7th, 2026.
Source. Here is Deadline.
Moving from one iconic duo to another, let's talk Kristen Wiig
and Jonah Hill, two comedic legends.
They will star in a comedy titled Cut Off Guess what?
Jonah Hill is also directing this movie.

(04:43):
The film follows wealthy siblings who are forced to fend
for themselves after their parents have cut them off.
This hits theaters July 17th, 2026.
Source. Here is Variety.
So Jonah Hill coming back to comedies?
His last directorial feature though was a documentary titled
Stutz for Netflix. Prior to that he had done mid
90s four 824. Can't wait to see what he cooks

(05:06):
up next. Glad to see Jonah Hill back in
comedy. Next up on the casting couch,
let's talk Star Wars. Matt Smith has been cast as the
villain in Star Wars Starfighteralongside Ryan Gosling and Mia
Goth. Directed by Sean Levy, this
movie hits theaters May 28th, 2027.
Source. Here is Deadline.

(05:26):
Hazmat Smith been typecast as anover the top villain?
Absof freaking lutely. Is he awesome in those rules?
Absof freaking lutely. Moving on, Kevin Hart and John
Cena will start a new action comedy titled The Leading Man
for Netflix. The film follows a self absorbed
movie star who discovers that his Co star is a secret agent.

(05:47):
The source here is Deadline. Kevin Hart doing an action
comedy with a wrestler turned actor?
Color me shocked. Moving on.
Speaking of wrestlers turned actors, Dave Bautista has been
cast as the villain in Chad Stehelski's Highlander reboot
alongside Henry Cavill and Russell Crowe, Kalil and Jorel
themself. This comes from The Hollywood

(06:09):
Reporter. And then finally, from the
casting couch, Sebastian Stan will start a version of
Frankenstein. They'll be directed by Radu
Jude. This comes from Kultura LA.
Stan joins Jacob a Lordy and Christian Bale as notable actors
who will be portraying the iconic monster.
You have Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein that will feature a

(06:29):
Lordy. Then you have Maggie
Gyllenhaal's The Bride that willfeature Christian Bale as the
character that does it for the casting couch.
Let's move on to green lighters.These are movies that have been
greenlit. They will be entering
production. Leading off, a new Final
Destination movie is in the works.
Laurie Evans Taylor is writing the script Sheep and Bloodlines,
the critical and financial success from earlier this

(06:52):
summer. Next, Get ready nerds, a Space
Invaders movie is in the works. The source here comes from
Deadline. And finally, for The Green
Lighters, this one isn't exactlyin production yet, but it's
something to look out for. Zach Craiger says he wants to
make a weapons sequel. He said, quote, I have another
idea for something in this world, and I'd like to see it on

(07:13):
the screen one day. And quote the source here is
Variety. Weapons has had a very
successful opening weekend, a success for Warner Brothers and
New Line in original storytelling and original movie
making. Will they turn this into a
sequel? This question sounds very
familiar to when Ryan Coogler was coming off his opening
weekend for Sinners. Next we move from green lighters

(07:35):
to Cave's Corner where we talk everything superheroes and nerd
culture. David Zasloff says that James
Gunn will be writing and directing the quote next chapter
in the Super Family. What does that mean exactly?
Will it be a direct sequel to Superman that came out about a
month ago? Could it be a direct sequel to
Supergirl, which comes out in 2026, directed by Craig

(07:57):
Gillespie? Could it be a potential team up
of the two heroes in the DCU? We shall see.
Stay tuned. James Gunn's timeline, it's
always active. Next, Chris Hemsworth clarifies
that his recent statement about Thor was not a goodbye and that
he's looking forward to startinga new chapter with the
character. He said, quote, we definitely

(08:18):
got misconstrued and perceived in a different way.
And quote the source here was The Hollywood Reporter.
Place your bets now. Will Chris Hemsworth be playing
Thor past secret wars? Will we get Thor 6?
Certainly sounds like Chris Hemsworth wants it to happen.
After watching Chris Evans post end game, who can blame the guy

(08:38):
next Sticking with Marvel just not MCUA.
Spider Punk animated movie is inthe works.
This will be starring Daniel Kluya as the popular character
who appeared in a cross the spider verse.
Kluya is not only starring but is also Co writing the film.
Source Here is deadline Next, Ewan McGregor seemingly reveals
he will star in Ahsoka season 2 alongside Hayden Christensen.

(09:01):
He said, quote, I begin filming on that soon.
Was I supposed to say that? Was that something you knew?
End Quote. I'll answer that for you, Ewan.
No, we did not know that. But thank you for providing this
information for the express checkup.
This comes from Nexus Point News.
Finally, Cape's Corner, Zach Cregger has written ADC film
titled Henchman that he would love to make but hasn't pitched

(09:24):
it to DC Studios yet. The film would follow a low
level henchman in Gotham City who manages to incapacitate
Batman. Craiger also says that Harley
Quinn and Joker have roles in the story.
James Gunn, hop on the phone. This guy just made weapons.
I think you're open to the call.Finally, Speaking of DC, Warner

(09:44):
Brothers says that The Batman Part 2 will begin filming in
spring of 2026. Hallelujah.
Finally, this will be hitting theaters on October 1st.
Wait for it, 2027. Finally, today we have the rumor
mill. Let's talk about what's going on
in movies. Things that haven't been
confirmed yet, but the streets are talking about.
Leading off, Robin is reportedlya part of the Batman 2 script.

(10:08):
This comes from the Insider AKA Jeff Snyder.
He's had some good scoops, he's had some bad scoops.
He's accurate, he's inaccurate. The idea of having Robin in The
Batman 2 after having confirmed that the brave in the bolt
inside the DCU will have Damian Wayne alongside Batman, it makes

(10:30):
me skeptical that you would haveRobin in The Batman Part 2.
The Batman is adapted though from The Long Halloween, the
iconic graphic novel. The sequel to that graphic novel
is Dark Victory, and in that story Dark Victory, there is the

(10:50):
origin story of Robin. So although it might be a long
shot that this happens, I'm giving it a chance.
I'm going to set the odds of this actually occurring at +300.
Last part of the rumor mill and the last part of the express
checkup. It's rumored that Quentin
Tarantino's final film will start production in December
with Brad Pitt, Uma Thurman and Samuel Jackson possibly joining

(11:13):
the cast that is the Quentin Tarantino Hall of Fame.
The odds of this happening at Plus 350I do believe those three
actors would show up for Tarantino's final film, but to
have it shot in December, I findit highly unlikely.
Movie critic was scrapped less than a year ago.
We know that's going to be Tarantino's 10th and final film.

(11:33):
He's going to want to make this movie perfect.
I have a hard time believing that Brad Pitt's going to move
from one Tarantino script to another Tarantino script and
back-to-back movies. A guy's consistently working,
consistently being cast in projects, shooting in December
at Plus 350. That does it for the rumor mill
and that does it for the first ever edition of the Express
checkup. If you guys like what you heard,

(11:53):
please follow the podcast. If you have suggestions on the
format, please comment on Spotify or tweet at us at the
Drive in pod. You can also DM us at the Drive
in Pod on Instagram. Subscribe to our YouTube at
capital T capital D Capital I lowercase podcast and make sure
you guys listen to our review ofweapons if you haven't done so
already. Thank you for listening.

(12:14):
Thank you for supporting and until next time we will see you.
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