Brandon Katz
- Indexed articles, last 90 days
- 7
- Latest publication
- Sep 12, 2026
- Outlet visibility, for The New York Observer – New York City
- Top 500K sites
- Earliest in this view
- Jul 10, 2026
Latest articles
Hollywood’s Biggest Film Festival Bets, From Flops to $500M Hits (opens the original)
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As I write from my kitchen table in the throes of coffee withdrawal, the following major film festivals have either just recently ended, are currently ongoing, or are on the direct horizon: Telluride Film Festival, Venice International Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, New York Film Festival, and the BFI London Film Festival. (I miss being a critic). Film festivals are useful resources for both talent and distributors. Filmmakers can use them to premiere their work and spark in
What Makes an Art Film a Box Office Hit in 2026? (opens the original)
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A24’s horror film Backrooms and surrealist dramedy Dream Scenario were both made on budgets of around $10 million. Yet the former delivered its studio’s biggest opening weekend ever ($81.4 million) en route to nearly $400 million worldwide. The latter, despite starring Nicholas Cage, earned just $12.4 million total. Similar low-budget specialty division titles. Completely opposite outcomes. This sort of outcome variance should be on the mind of every studio distributor hunting for the next ROI s
Taylor Sheridan and the Streaming Boom That Brought Westerns Back (opens the original)
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The Western genre is often viewed the same way we think of newspapers and dial-up internet: fossils from a bygone era best left behind. But audience behavior suggests otherwise. Nielsen named Gunsmoke the most-binged series of 2025, averaging a whopping 241 episodes per viewer. Meanwhile, Neo-Westerns such as 1923 and Landman, plus Western-adjacent romance drama Virgin River, are among the most-watched streaming original series of the last few years. A 70-year-old TV show and its modern-day genr
Can Brandon Sanderson Help Apple Break Hollywood’s Fantasy Spell? (opens the original)
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Recently, fantasy author Brandon Sanderson announced that he had finished penning the first draft of his Mistborn screenplay. This was big news among his devoted following, because it’s the first on-screen adaptation of his stellar seven-novel Mistborn series. In a worst-case scenario, we’re about to see billions of dollars lit on fire in real time. But in a best-case scenario, this will be looked back on as the point at which the blockbuster hierarchy first began to shift. Sanderson and Apple h
Despite ‘The Odyssey,’ Hollywood Still Has an Original Blockbuster Problem (opens the original)
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Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day is Hollywood’s latest attempt to launch an original blockbuster-scale property. It was a strong bet given its pedigree, solid quality and manageable $115 million production budget. Yet, with only $237 million at the worldwide box office as of this writing, it is expected to lose money. The torch has officially been passed to Christopher Nolan. Despite being a near-three-hour R-rated historical epic, The Odyssey nearly matched Superman‘s opening weekend with $123
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Top 500K sites
For The New York Observer – New York City, the outlet · Measured Aug 1, 2026
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