THE ROUNDUP WITH JEFF STOCKTON (SEASON 36 ROUND 1)

 

Welcome to the all-new version of The Roundup with me, Jeff Stockton! It may look a little different, but you can expect the same level of studio-friendly, niticky-ness you have grown to know and love (hopefully).

Three films into Season 36 and already we’ve got one genuine blockbuster, two outright bombs, and enough overreaction material to keep me employed for another year. Let’s get into the biggest winners and losers of Round 1. Here's The Roundup....

BOBA FETT

If there was ever a proof-of-concept for what LRF can do with a legacy IP, Boba Fett is it.

For years now, Disney has treated the Star Wars universe like a franchise desperately trying to remember why people liked it in the first place. Bloated streaming shows, diminishing theatrical returns, and a general inability to decide whether nostalgia or reinvention should be driving the ship have left the brand creatively stranded. Then LRF hands the keys to James Wan and suddenly Boba Fett looks like an actual movie event again.

A $763 million worldwide haul and over $220 million in profit is the sort of result that doesn’t just justify the gamble — it announces that LRF’s Star Wars experiment deserves to be taken seriously. The biggest compliment I can give Boba Fett? It felt like somebody actually had a vision. Disney may want to take notes.

JASON MOMOA

At what point do we stop acting surprised and admit Jason Momoa has become one of the most bankable stars in LRF?

Seriously.

Tarzan was already a strong performer, but Boba Fett feels like the moment where this becomes a legitimate trend rather than a fluke. Momoa has somehow cracked the code of what modern action stardom actually looks like: charisma, physicality, and just enough personality to make larger-than-life characters feel approachable.

The irony is that Hollywood has spent years trying to force-feed audiences “the next big movie star” while Momoa has quietly become exactly that in LRF. Two major hits back-to-back changes perception quickly. Right now, if Jason Momoa headlines your movie, people seem willing to show up.

SEASON 36

You only get one chance to make a first impression, and Season 36 has gotten off to a strong start — aesthetically, at least.

The refreshed looks for LRF’s various editorial segments give the season a noticeably cleaner identity, and while visuals obviously don’t make or break a season, presentation matters. When everything feels more polished, the whole operation feels bigger.

More importantly, having a major hit right out of the gate helps calm nerves. A season always feels healthier when there’s an early tentpole giving people something to rally around. Now the question becomes whether Season 36 has enough depth behind Boba Fett to sustain momentum.

BOX OFFICE

Here’s the less fun reality: two bombs out of your first three films is not exactly the dream scenario.

Yes, Boba Fett hit big — huge, even — but one success doesn’t completely erase the sting of Three Rounds and Heartbeat both losing money. Early-season box office struggles have a way of snowballing into larger conversations about slate quality, audience interest, and whether the studio is programming the season correctly.

One blockbuster can cover a lot of sins financially, but creatively? You’d still prefer not to be batting .333.

HOLDEN ABBOTT

At a certain point, we have to stop saying “bad luck.”

I actually think Holden Abbott is talented. His early output suggests somebody who clearly knows how to write compelling material and has a distinct voice. But four straight bombs to begin an LRF career is the kind of streak that starts raising uncomfortable questions.

Fair or unfair, box office matters. You can only hear “underrated” so many times before executives begin wondering whether audiences simply aren’t interested. Abbott feels overdue for a breakthrough, because right now he’s dangerously close to becoming one of those writers critics respect far more than audiences support.

HEARTBEAT

I’m just going to ask it.

Are Paul Mescal and Carey Mulligan actually movie stars?

Because based on this result, I’m leaning no.

Now, before everyone starts yelling — this isn’t me questioning whether they’re talented. They absolutely are. Mulligan has delivered strong performances for years, and Mescal is one of the more acclaimed younger actors working today. But acclaim and star power are not the same thing.

A courtroom-medical thriller with respected actors, a recognizable premise, and Ralph Fiennes directing only manages $25 million worldwide? That’s rough. At some point, audiences have to actually buy tickets for “prestige casting” to mean anything commercially. Right now, Mescal and Mulligan feel much more like “critics’ favorites” than genuine box office draws.

On Location (Season 36 Round 1)

 

Boba Fett

- Gold Coast, Australia

Three Rounds
- Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Heartbeat

- London, England, UK

BOX OFFICE BREAKDOWN (SEASON 36 ROUND 1)

 

BOBA FETT

Budget: $165,000,000
Total Box Office: $763,673,771
Total Profit: $220,005,056

Launching Season 36 in dominant fashion, Boba Fett immediately established itself as the season’s commercial juggernaut and one of the stronger performers in franchise history. While not quite reaching true blockbuster-tier profitability, the film comfortably became one of the most successful genre releases in recent LRF memory.

BOX OFFICE FACT

Over nine films as an LRF director — including five Resident Evil films — James Wan’s projects have now grossed over $1.8 billion worldwide for the studio.

GENRE RANKINGS
Action: #50
Fantasy: #5
Sci-Fi: #17

THREE ROUNDS

Budget: $28,000,000

Total Box Office: $34,386,590

Total Profit: -$19,100,201

Despite strong pedigree behind the camera, Three Rounds struggled to find a theatrical audience and became one of the rougher financial starts to a season in recent memory. The sports drama joins a surprisingly short list of box office disappointments for one of LRF’s most dependable filmmakers.

BOX OFFICE FACT

After 12 films with the studio, prolific director Jeff Nichols has suffered his first box office bomb since Animus in Season 2, his LRF debut.

GENRE RANKINGS

Drama: #298

Sports: #18

HEARTBEAT

Budget: $23,000,000

Total Box Office: $25,404,407

Total Profit: -$14,777,490

A modestly budgeted legal-medical drama, Heartbeat ultimately failed to generate enough audience momentum to overcome its costs. While hardly a catastrophic result, the film continues a mixed commercial track record for its writer.

BOX OFFICE FACT

With 12 films written for Last Resort Films, Sammy-Jo Ellis now sits at an even 50-50 box office record — six profitable films and six money losers.

GENRE RANKINGS

Drama: #341

Round 1 Total Box Office:

$823,464,768

Round 1 Total Profit:

$186,127,365

Season 36 wasted little time making an impression financially, with Boba Fett accounting for over 92% of the round’s total worldwide box office.

Season 36 Total Box Office:

$823,464,768

Season 36 Total Profit:

$186,127,365

With only one round complete, Season 36 is already off to a massive start thanks almost entirely to the breakout performance of Boba Fett.

SEASON 36 BOX OFFICE STANDINGS

1. Boba Fett — $763,673,771 🔥

2. Three Rounds — $34,386,590 💣

3. Heartbeat — $25,404,407 💣

LRF TRIVIA TIDBITS (SEASON 36 ROUND 1)

 

Welcome back for more LRF Trivia Tidbits! Season 36 opens with a mix of franchise ambition, studio mainstays, and a long-awaited return behind the camera. From a major Star Wars swing to one of LRF’s most quietly reliable directors hitting a milestone, to a rare directorial comeback, Round 1 sets the tone for another packed season.

Boba Fett

Jason Momoa played a key role in shaping this project from the ground up, personally recruiting his Aquaman director James Wan to helm the film. With Momoa stepping into the iconic role of Boba Fett, the film is positioned not just as a standalone adventure, but as a potential launching point for a wider slate of Star Wars-related projects within LRF.

Three Rounds

With Three Rounds, Jeff Nichols quietly cements his status as the most prolific director in LRF history, marking his 12th film for the studio. Balancing franchise work like the Scion trilogy and a four-film Superman run with acclaimed prestige projects like Judas Iscariot, Nichols has become one of the studio’s most versatile and dependable filmmakers.

Heartbeat

Heartbeat marks Ralph Fiennes’ return to the director’s chair for the first time since Season 2’s Solution, one of the most critically acclaimed films in LRF history. That earlier project, centered on the 1942 Nazi conference that devised the “Final Solution,” set a high bar—making this new effort a notable comeback from one of LRF’s earliest standout filmmakers.

Release: Heartbeat

 

Heartbeat

Genre: Drama

Director: Ralph Fiennes

Writer: Sammy-Jo Ellis

Cast: Paul Mescal, Carey Mulligan, James Norton, Ralph Fiennes, Erin Doherty

Budget: $23,000,000

Domestic Box Office: $13,404,395

Foreign Box Office: $12,000,012

Total Profit: -$14,777,490

Reaction: Things have been slim pickings since Boba Fett kicked the season and the round off with a massive success. 

"Heartbeat is an engaging if somewhat formulaic legal-medical thriller elevated by strong performances from Paul Mescal and Carey Mulligan. Ralph Fiennes brings a quiet authority to both his direction and supporting role, and the film effectively taps into anxieties surrounding profit-driven healthcare. However, the plotting occasionally feels overly convenient, with conspiracy reveals arriving too neatly and courtroom turns lacking the complexity they need. Still, Mulligan and Mescal make the material compelling enough to carry through its familiar beats." - Kirk Langerhorn, The Sun UK

“It’s a bit by the numbers, and don’t be surprised if you can predict everything that happens, but Carey Mulligan gives an earnest and charming performance as the surgeon trying to save her career and livelihood from a healthcare system so horribly broken.” - Mitchell Parker, New York Times

"Despite an intriguing setup, Heartbeat quickly collapses into melodrama and increasingly implausible plotting. The film juggles hospital corruption, legal drama, romance, sabotage, and systemic healthcare criticism without giving enough depth to any one idea. Paul Mescal is charismatic but feels oddly miscast as a polished courtroom attorney, while the central conspiracy grows so broad and convenient it begins to resemble a prestige-TV medical soap. Carey Mulligan does strong work with Clara’s emotional conflict, but even she struggles against dialogue and twists that too often feel engineered rather than earned." - Wayne Heathcliff, Kansas City Star

PG-13 for language and thematic material

PRESS X: SPLINTER CELL

 

I'm Alex Kirby and welcome to another outing of Press X. This time around we are moving on to the deep-cut PlayStation adaptation - Dino Crisis, which took the concept of Jurassic Park but turned it into survival horror. Here, we don’t just ask if the latest video game adaptation is faithful — we ask if it levels up, glitches out, or just needs a hard reset.

I can just hear the pitch meeting from Capcom developers in the late ’90s, throwing darts at walls and saying, “How about this? Resident Evil, but Jurassic Park.” Shinji Mikami stood up, looked out the window of the 23rd floor of the Capcom building and said, “You son of a bitch, I’m in.” And thus, we got 1999’s Dino Crisis. A third-person action horror originally released on the PlayStation. Developed by Capcom, the same team behind Resident Evil, Dino Crisis swapped zombies for dinosaurs. While that might sound like the most shameless cash-in imaginable, the gamble worked. The game was both a commercial and critical hit, spawning a short-lived franchise. (Meanwhile, Resident Evil got annualized like an EA sports title. Seriously, Capcom, you’ve got other franchises starving. Devil May Cry? Mega Man?)

Anyway, I digress.

In Dino Crisis, you control Regina, a red-haired special intelligence operative working with the raid team S.O.R.T. Their mission: infiltrate a research facility on Ibis Island and recover Edward Kirk, an energy researcher presumed dead but secretly developing a project called Third Energy. Naturally, the island is crawling with dinosaurs. The gameplay is a mix of puzzles, resource management, and surviving raptor ambushes. Regina was one of the earlier examples of a female action hero who didn’t need to “dress down” to be both badass and interesting, a breath of fresh air in 1999.

The game’s story was simple enough that you could easily adapt it for the big screen. And that’s exactly what happened here in Season 2. Writer Billy Cruder made his debut with this script, showing early glimpses of the style that would define his later work. Directing was Matt Reeves, fresh off the success of Creature from the Black Lagoon. But the question looms: did the film adaptation live up to a T. rex–sized appetite?

Well, the movie does stay remarkably close to the original game’s plot. It just feels more fleshed out with modern action-thriller pacing and a few cinematic character beats. While the concept still screams Resident Evil meets Jurassic Park, Cruder and Reeves’ take plays more like Aliens with Dinosaurs: a tight squad, an isolated setting, conspiracy layers, and big, toothy creature action. Reeves in particular deserves credit for how he frames the monsters: raptors stalk like slasher villains, while the T. rex looms like a kaiju.

Where the film stumbles is in the very thing fans may love it for: its camp. The game’s late-’90s Capcom dialogue: melodramatic, exposition-heavy, and gloriously pulpy, doesn’t always translate to the big screen. Stephen Lang chews the scenery as Dr. Kirk, monologuing about Third Energy with the subtlety of a ’60s Bond villain. Regina having to fetch parts called the stabilizer and the initializer is a faithful nod to the game, but one that’s hard for actors to sell without the audience smirking. The film’s greatest strength, its loyalty to the game, is also its biggest weakness. What feels charmingly cheesy in a cutscene can come off as Syfy-channel schlock in live action.

Critics seized on this. Some dismissed it as a mash-up of better films (Jurassic Park, Aliens, Resident Evil) without offering anything new. Others praised the effects and Reeves’ ability to wring tension out of a concept as inherently silly as “Resident Dino Evil Crisis.”

The irony? Audiences ate it up. On a $99M budget, the movie grossed over $314M worldwide, with overseas sales carrying most of the weight. Critics may have rolled their eyes, but clearly, people wanted to watch dinosaurs rip through black ops agents. Capcom’s gamble paid off.

Overall, Dino Crisis falls into that rare category of video game adaptations you either embrace for its faithful camp or reject for its pulp excess. What everyone can agree on, though? Karen Gillan kicking a raptor in the face is cinema.

Now Showing: Heartbeat

 

Heartbeat

Genre: Drama

Director: Ralph Fiennes

Writer: Sammy-Jo Ellis

Cast: Paul Mescal, Carey Mulligan, James Norton, Ralph Fiennes, Erin Doherty

Plot: Inside the Westinghouse Medical Centre in London, Dr. Clara Mitchell (Carey Mulligan), a world-renowned cardiac surgeon, is performing a delicate heart transplant on a high-profile patient. The atmosphere in the operating room is tense but controlled, with the surgical team working like clockwork. Clara is focused, her hands steady, moving with precision. But then, in the blink of an eye, everything changes. A small mistake—barely noticeable—throws the room into chaos. Sweat beads on Clara’s forehead as she desperately tries to stop the bleeding. Despite her best efforts, the patient tragically dies on the table. Silence falls, broken only by the urgent beeping of alarms and frantic murmurs from the team. Clara’s face betrays a mix of confusion and disbelief—she's not sure what went wrong. Was it the weight of the groundbreaking procedure? Or was it something more?

The following morning, the hospital is surrounded by a swarm of reporters, cameras flashing, and voices shouting for a statement. Inside, the air is thick with tension. Clara is escorted from her office by security. The hospital’s administration, led by the formidable Dr. Harrison Kline (Ralph Fiennes), has already made a public statement distancing himself from her. The narrative is clear: despite her reputation, Dr. Clara Mitchell made a fatal mistake and is now suspended.

Meanwhile, rising defense attorney James Caldwell (Paul Mescal) sits in his office, surrounded by case files, the hum of the city outside his window. He gets a call from Elliot Barrington (James Norton), a prosecutor known for winning high-profile cases. Barrington gives Caldwell a brief rundown of Clara’s case, hinting there’s more to the story than a simple error. Intrigued, Caldwell agrees to meet with Clara.

When they meet, Clara is devastated. She insists she made no mistake—what should have been a routine surgery went horribly wrong for reasons she can’t explain. She’s adamant her hands were steady, her judgment sound. But as she recounts the events, a trace of doubt in her eyes betrays a growing inner turmoil. What if the pressure, the stakes of the new technique, led her to overlook something small but vital? Could she have missed a critical step in her pursuit of medical advancement? Clara hints that the pressure at the hospital, combined with the revelation of a groundbreaking new surgical technique, may have made her a target.

Caldwell, initially skeptical, starts to believe there’s more to this than meets the eye. But is it a conspiracy, or just a tragic mistake?

Clara's internal conflict intensifies as the investigation unfolds. She knows that every operation is a gamble, but she can’t shake the feeling that the stakes were higher than ever this time. She feels betrayed not just by the system, but by her own ambition. Had she been reckless? Or was this sabotage, an unfortunate consequence of trying to innovate in a system that feared change?

Caldwell begins investigating. He looks into the hospital’s board, especially Dr. Kline, who has long disagreed with Clara’s unconventional methods. Caldwell uncovers a possible connection to Dr. Thomas Lee, Clara’s former mentor, who recently distanced himself from her and might have his own reasons for turning against her.

As Caldwell digs deeper, he uncovers disturbing truths. He meets with Dr. Emily Winters (Erin Doherty), a medical ethics expert, who reveals the systemic issues within the medical industry: pressure to stick with outdated practices, prioritizing profits over patients, and fierce competition among hospitals to secure lucrative contracts with investors. Winters suggests Clara’s new technique posed a serious threat to the financial interests of key figures, especially those heavily invested in the hospital’s current business model.

The deeper Caldwell goes, the more convinced he becomes that someone within the hospital orchestrated the “fatal error” to discredit Clara and protect their financial interests. He begins to suspect Dr. Kline isn’t just suppressing Clara’s work—he may be actively involved in a conspiracy to bring her down.

Kline’s motivations become more complicated. It’s not just money at play; Kline feels a deep responsibility to the hospital’s legacy and reputation. He truly believes that Clara’s methods are too risky for the institution and may lead to disaster. In his mind, protecting the hospital—ensuring its future—is a noble cause, even if it means sabotaging one person’s career.

The pressure mounts as Caldwell pieces together the conspiracy. He discovers that the patient who died wasn’t just any patient, but one with close ties to the hospital board. The surgery had been part of a PR campaign to promote the hospital’s “innovative” heart surgery program. The patient’s death provided the perfect scapegoat to stop Clara’s research and tarnish her image as the breakthrough surgeon.

In a tense confrontation, Caldwell faces off with Dr. Kline, who denies all accusations but cracks under pressure. Kline argues he was only protecting the hospital’s reputation, claiming Clara’s technique was too risky, too untested. But Caldwell uncovers a trail of emails, financial documents, and secret meetings, exposing Kline’s involvement in the cover-up. The truth becomes clear: Kline wasn’t just trying to prevent Clara’s work from causing harm—he was trying to stop it to protect his own interests and the hospital’s finances.

Meanwhile, Clara struggles with self-doubt. She questions her abilities as a surgeon, torn between her love for her work and the weight of the accusations against her. She has sacrificed so much for her career, her family life a casualty to the relentless pursuit of innovation. She begins to wonder if all the pressure to be the best has led her to overlook her own limitations.

Caldwell, ever the skeptic, finds himself increasingly moved by Clara’s vulnerability. He begins to understand her—not as a reckless surgeon, but as someone who has been swallowed by the system she’s tried to change. Their bond deepens as they share moments of vulnerability, where Clara opens up about the emotional toll her career has taken on her—her failed relationships, the loneliness of being at the top. For Caldwell, this is more than just a case—it’s a personal quest to take down a corrupt system.

The court case begins, and Caldwell faces off against prosecutor Elliot Barrington, a tough, no-nonsense lawyer eager to win. Barrington paints Clara as a reckless surgeon who “got careless,” trying to sway the jury with her public image. The courtroom is electric with tension, and Clara feels the weight of the world bearing down on her.

Caldwell’s defense hinges on exposing the corruption and manipulation behind the hospital’s actions. But Barrington does everything he can to discredit him, questioning his motivations and painting him as a lawyer defending an arrogant surgeon. Caldwell, in his closing argument, connects the dots—revealing the hospital’s financial interests, the patient’s ties to the board, and the deliberate sabotage of Clara’s procedure. With previously undisclosed evidence, Caldwell paints a damning picture of a system where profits trump patient care, and the truth was buried to protect powerful figures.

As the jury deliberates, Clara’s future hangs in the balance. The final moments are tense, leading to a shocking twist—a whistleblower from within the hospital steps forward at the last minute, confirming Caldwell’s suspicions about the conspiracy. The witness’s testimony turns the tide, and Clara is acquitted of all charges.

Though Clara is exonerated, her career and reputation are forever marred by the events. The hospital faces public outrage, and Dr. Kline, along with several board members, is arrested for their roles in the cover-up. Clara, though free, is left to pick up the pieces of her shattered life.

Caldwell sits in his office and looks through more files on the health system, hoping to uncover more lies underneath all the dirt, a newfound purpose to expose the darkness within the medical system.

Clara stands in a medical research lab, looking toward a brighter future. Despite everything she’s been through, she’s determined to continue her work—committed to creating a better, more ethical healthcare system.