Hollywood continues to profit from my generation’s entertainment conditioning.

Warner Bros. and Tim Burton’s sequel “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” and Paramount’s animated “Transformers One” topped international box office charts over Universal and DreamWorks Animation’s “The Wild Robot.”

-Rebecca Rubin, “Blah Blah Movie Titles Things You Know“, Variety.com

I remain incontrovertibly annoyed at the existence of Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, not least because I know perfectly well they’ve set themselves up for a third movie by way of the title, which now will probably happen. As I’ve said before, hookers, blow, and Southern California real estate to have rapper sex parties at don’t just buy themselves (why exactly are we surprised that Gansta Rap legends were all sex predators? Weren’t they telling us that all along?). There’s no reason for this movie to exist, other than to snap a “remember THIS?” whip-hit under the nose of 50-year-old dorks who like to talk about how Tim Burton used to make good movies, who will then blow box-office dollars on watching another of his shitty ones. Word around the campfire is it’s a pile of Fan Service mixed in with just enough cleverness to make you not feel like a sap. Basically Rogue One with more likeable characters.

As for Transformers One, I assume that will be a Transformers movie. Is anyone nostalgic for the original Michael Bey flicks yet? We’re just about due for some Late Millenial/Elder Zoomer nostalgia mining, I should think.

Among Hollywood titles, “Transformers One” led the way with $16.6 million from 61 international territories, representing a 44% decline from the prior weekend. “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” which opened earlier in September, added a strong $13.6 million from 77 markets over the weekend. Meanwhile, “The Wild Robot,” which is staggering its foreign rollout and is comparatively playing on far fewer screens, brought in $9.86 million from 29 markets.

-Rebecca Rubin, “Once I Dreamed of Being a Writer,” Variety.com

Officially, I should be rooting for The Wild Robot, and in one sense, I suppose I am. But I watched the trailer for it at the last theater re-release of Coraline I attended, and I could not have cared less. Robot hangs out with animals, learns Feelings, defies Robot Authoritah, saves the day or some shit. Just watching the trailer made me feel like I’ve already seen it.

Still, it’s not a sequel, legacy sequel, reboot, or anything else of an existing IP (if there’s some manga or something it’s based on, that’s fine). Somebody wrote something, and an army of workers labored to put it together without having to rely on something someone else already did. I wish them well on that account. A shift in the programming might be nice.