The Day in Cinema, Saturday, November 8
Godzilla takes the weekend, four filmmakers take positions on AI, and James Gray takes it out on your star ratings.
- Takashi Yamazaki · 2026 · PG-13Godzilla Minus Zero
- Alessandro Carloni · 2026 · PGThe Cat in the Hat
- Jordan Firstman · 2026 · RClub Kid
- David Fincher · 2026 · RThe Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth
THE SHORT VERSION · KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Blockbuster scale and a fragile first feature can share the same weekend without either apologizing for the other.
- Four AI stories in forty-eight hours map four different fights: labor, authorship, production cost, and one French auteur who skipped the panel.
- Audience logging culture and classical criticism are arguing about the same movie theater from opposite ends of the lobby.
MOVEMENT 01
Godzilla is going to win the weekend, and that is fine.
The Hollywood Reporter has Godzilla Minus Zero heading for a $32 million opening with The Cat in the Hat at number two, which is the kind of sentence that should make nobody feel bad about American moviegoing. The Film Stage says the sequel serves “monster and man at incredible scale.” The quieter story is further down World of Reel’s weekend list: Club Kid, Jordan Firstman’s first feature, which The Film Stage calls “a bittersweet, tremendously moving debut.” On the Pass: 34 Godzilla fan screenings through AMC, and free Club Kid passes in Las Vegas and Seattle on Monday night.
“On the Pass: 34 Godzilla fan screenings through AMC, and free Club Kid passes in Las Vegas and Seattle on Monday night.”
MOVEMENT 02
Three people drew a line on AI this week. Bruno Dumont was already on the other side of it.
Christopher Nolan told Deadline the DGA is “holding the studios to account” on copyright, while Camerimage founder Marek Zydowicz told The Hollywood Reporter that “cinematographers are artists, not technicians.” In Taiwan, Korean producers warned Variety that AI could make filmmaking costlier than the 35mm era, an argument we did not have on our bingo card. And World of Reel reports Dumont made his next film, The End, entirely with AI. Four headlines, four different fights: labor, authorship, money, and one auteur who skipped the debate and shipped.
MOVEMENT 03
Letterboxd got bought on Wednesday. The reviews are in.
IndieWire has nine pros, cons and open questions about the New York Times paying a reported $330 million for it. James Gray, talking to World of Reel, aimed wider: first reactions, star ratings and the Tomatometer, and what they would have done to 2001. He is probably right, and also, a lot of us are going to log this weekend’s Godzilla with four stars and a joke. Both things are true.
IN BRIEF
In brief.
Robert Pattinson screen-tested for Bond, per THR and confirmed by two more outlets, which is two more than most Bond rumors get. Sebastián Lelio, who directed A Fantastic Woman, has died at 52. The trailer for The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth is out, Fincher directing Tarantino’s script with Pitt; we have a 1iota premiere listing for Los Angeles on the 17th. Kogonada’s microbudget Hong Kong film Zi gets an IndieWire review. World of Reel has published its first Cannes 2027 lineup guess. It is November.
ATTRIBUTED REPORTING
Sources & references
TOPICS & COVERAGE
EDITORIAL COLOPHON · High Standard Editorial
FURTHER READING
More from High Standard
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