As a seasoned cinephile with a heart for indie films and a knack for spotting hidden gems, let me dive into this captivating list!
Oh joyous Lisan al Gaib, we’ve returned once again for a fresh installment of the Movies Fantasy League, marking our fourth year! This could be the year you triumph! To make things even more thrilling, we’re boosting the rewards: newer, more abundant prizes! Extra opportunities to accumulate points! An expanded, shinier, fiercely competitive Podcasters Division! And as always, I’ll be here to lead you through this movie-loving adventure with clarity and a touch of fun.
The entry form is now open, and you’re free to start drafting your team(s), but wait! Before you do, might I interest you in some tips to help you get started? Followed by a list of every film that’s available to draft?
➼ Show me the movies.
➼ I’m ready to draft my team.
➼ I’m not ready yet! Remind me to draft before the deadline:
What Is the Movies Fantasy League?
It’s very easy, very fun, very free. You use the MFL draft form to assemble a team of eight movies that were or will be released in 2024; you get a budget of 100 fake dollars to spend on those picks. We’ve given each movie a price based on its projected points-earning potential. You have until 11:59 a.m. PT on October 3 to select your team. After that, your movies will accumulate points based on box-office returns, critical reception, and awards and nominations. (You can find the scoring system at the MFL hub.) Each week, we’ll update the standings and you’ll get a newsletter summary. Whichever team has the highest score following the Oscars ceremony on March 2, 2025, will win. Read on to learn more and immerse yourself in the eligible movies.
🎬
Strategy Talk
A brief road map to MFL glory.
Find Value
Your task is to create a list of eight movies that offer the best value for your investment. Remember, you can’t spend all your budget on a few expensive films; instead, try to find a balance. It’s tempting to focus on high-priced options, but the truly outstanding rosters are those that discover hidden gems in mid-range or low-budget movies. Last year, every top 100 list contained both “Poor Things” and “American Fiction”. These films were undervalued due to various factors (such as a rescheduled release date for “Poor Things” and unexpected success at the Toronto Film Festival for “American Fiction”). Shrewd drafters took advantage of these lower prices, which significantly impacted their final rankings.
Just Pick the Best Picture Winner!
Absolutely, it’s a smart move to predict the eventual Best Picture winner for our Fantasy League. Last year’s contender, “Oppenheimer,” and this year’s debutant, “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” have proven to be strong contenders with their impressive Oscar night performances. By the time the drafting for the league started, both movies had already been released, and they had made a compelling case for their potential Oscars. In essence, they were relatively safe choices due to their promising futures in the competition.
2021 appears to be a challenging year for predicting Oscar winners, due to stiff competition across various categories like Cinematography, Sound, Editing, Costumes. “Dune: Part 2” seems to have an edge in these areas, but it’s not expected to dominate the major categories. “Sing Sing” has garnered positive reviews, but a smaller film may face numerous hurdles to gain significant traction. The question remains whether “Gladiator II” can rekindle the magic of its predecessor or if voters will favor films about the London Blitz, papal elections, or stormy romances in Brighton Beach. Will it be the year for Joker and Harley Quinn, Elphaba and Glinda, or Bob Dylan played by Timothée Chalamet? Your guess is as good as mine – it promises to be an exciting race!
… Or Pick Low-Priced Box-Office Powerhouses Instead!
Last year, a couple of affordable blockbusters significantly boosted numerous rankings: “Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour” and “Five Nights at Freddy’s“. The latter gained an advantage as I, being in my 40s, wasn’t aware that video games were popular. The former benefited from being announced after the draft window had closed, although I might have underestimated the Swifties’ box-office influence, I accurately assumed the movie would flop once the awards season began.
Even though I’ve primarily focused on high-budget films thus far, it’s worth considering the mid-range movie category as well. This could potentially reveal if I’ve underestimated the box office success of Kraven, Venom, or the chilling smiles of Smile 2. We’ve revamped our points system for domestic box office this year to make it more significant. Each dollar million still earns a point, but instead of two bonus-point thresholds at $50 million (previously 20 points) and $100 million (previously 40 points), we’re now using a different approach:
Achieving a clearance of $25 million awards a 10-point bonus, while clearing $50 million earns you 15 points. If you manage to clear $75 million, $100 million, or any subsequent multiples of $25 million up to $175 million, you will receive a 15-point bonus each time. However, if you reach a clearance of $150 million, $175 million, or $200 million, the bonus increases to 15 points and 25 points respectively, for every week spent at No. 1 at the domestic box office. This rewards system incentivizes prolonged stays at the top of the box office.
The bonuses accumulate, meaning a movie that grosses $100 million will receive:
As You Monitor the Festivals, Don’t Forget Cannes
Last year, three of the biggest awards contenders — Anatomy of a Fall, The Zone of Interest, and Killers of the Flower Moon — all premiered at Cannes. Oscar voters are increasingly looking to international features to fill out their ballots, so it’s worth doing a little digging into the Cannes contenders that might show up this year, especially if they’re being distributed by the likes of Neon, A24, or Focus Features. The Palme d’Or winner, Anora, is being distributed by Neon and released in the fall, a formula that has worked out in the past for the likes of Anatomy of a Fall and Parasite. Other Cannes notables include Emilia Perez, The Substance, Bird, The Seed of the Sacred Fig, and of course Francis Ford Coppola’s possible bomb Megalopolis.
Documentaries and Animation
One of the best places to find big value among lower-priced films is with docs and cartoons. Last year, the documentaries 20 Days in Mariupol, Beyond Utopia, and Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie were among the best movies to draft when it came to points earned per dollar spent. And the latter two didn’t even get nominated for the Oscar. Similarly, offbeat animated movies like Robot Dreams and Suzume delivered nice returns.
Don’t Sleep on the Team Name
To achieve success, it’s crucial to have a strategy in place, and this includes carefully choosing the team name that will make you proud when it reaches the summit of the leaderboard. Last year, there were numerous Barbie, Oppenheimer, Barbenheimer, Anatomy of a Fall, The Color Purple, and May December-themed puns. Our fourth-place team creatively referenced Jack Quaid’s character Richard Feynman from Oppenheimer. Our tenth-place team opted for the classic “Melvin and Howard the Duck,” while our grand-prize winner Ben Chung simply chose his own name – Ben Chung (This is what happens when you don’t plan for success – love you, Ben, can’t wait to see if you’ll defend your title again!).
2024 promises a wealth of witty wordplay in its movie lineup. Titles such as “I Spotted the Screen Illuminate“, “Joker: Duo Madness“, and “Horizon: A U.S. Chronicle” are ripe for creative reinterpretation. There’s no shortage of drama surrounding stars like Blake Lively, Ben Affleck, and others who weren’t in “The Community“. With an election looming, beware of any names that could be associated with a coconut tree or couch-dweller – the competition is fierce. However, feel free to get creative when it comes to names like Tim Walz, as they lend themselves well to dadcore puns.
The main idea is: The Fantasy Movies League is all about enjoyment, so let’s make it as enjoyable as possible! Carefully select your team members, challenge your friends, and pick an amusing team name within the allowed characters (something like “The New Rochelle Challenger Presented By Dementus’s Gas Town” could work). Let’s have a great time together!
🍿
Top Picks
Gladiator II ($40)
Director – Ridley Scott; Stars – Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal; Release date – November 15
Dune: Part Two ($35)
➼ Box office ineligible
Dune (2021)
Moana 2 ($30)
Director – David G. Derrick Jr.
Sing Sing ($25)
➼ Box office ineligible
Sing Sing
Emilia Perez ($25)
Movie Name
Anora ($25)
Director: Sean Baker has taken the helm
Blitz ($20)
Steve McQueen’s Film
Joker: Folie a Deux ($20)
Todd Phillips’ Film – Starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga
Conclave ($20)
The Vatican Thriller
Wicked ($20)
Wicked
Mufasa: The Lion King ($20)
Movie Details
Nickel Boys ($20)
The Director and Main Cast of the Film
Inside Out 2 ($15)
➼ Box office ineligible
Director – Kelsey Mann; Stars – Amy Poehler, Maya Hawke; Release Date – June 14
A Complete Unknown ($15)
Bob Dylan Biopic
Challengers ($15)
➼ Box office ineligible
Challengers
Queer ($15)
Movie Project by Luca Guadagnino
Maria ($15)
Director: Pablo Larrain
The Wild Robot ($15)
Director – Chris Sanders
The Brutalist ($15)
Leading Director: Brady Corbet
The film “Corbet’s grandly presented story of a Hungarian-Jewish architect in mid-century America” has the potential to shine at the 2024 award ceremonies. Corbet, who directed films like “Vox Lux” and “The Childhood of a Leader”, won Venice’s Best Director prize, with Brody’s acclaimed performance sparking speculation about his second Oscar nomination. Furthermore, there has been a lot of buzz about Pearce potentially receiving his first-ever Oscar nod. Despite some initial doubts about distribution, A24 has reportedly acquired the film for an awards campaign in 2024. Keep it on your radar!
The Piano Lesson ($10)
Director: Malcolm Washington
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice ($10)
➼ Box office ineligible
Beetlejuice Sequel
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 ($10)
Director: Jeff Fowler
Nightbitch ($10)
Nightbitch (Directed by Marielle Heller)
Venom: The Last Dance ($10)
Director – Kelly Marcel
A Real Pain ($10)
A Real Pain
Babygirl ($10)
Babygirl
Didi ($8)
➼ Box office ineligible
Director – Sean Wang
Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1 ($8)
➼ Box office ineligible
As a passionate advocate for this film, I eagerly anticipate its release on June 28, showcased at prestigious festivals such as Cannes. Starring the talented Kevin Costner alongside Sienna Miller and Sam Worthington, this movie promises an unforgettable cinematic experience.
Heretic ($8)
Directors – Scott Beck & Bryan Woods, Stars – Hugh Grant, Sophie Thatcher, Chloe East
Bird ($8)
Director – Andrea Arnold
Hard Truths ($8)
Untitled Mike Leigh Film
The Room Next Door ($8)
Director: Renowned filmmaker Pedro Almodovar
Saturday Night ($8)
Jason Reitman’s Film
Nosferatu ($8)
The Northman – A Gothic Horror on Christmas Day
We Live in Time ($8)
The Film (Tentative)
The Outrun ($8)
Movie [Title]
Kraven the Hunter ($5)
As a film enthusiast, I’m excited about the upcoming release of “Director: J.C. Chandor” featuring stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Ariana DeBose. The anticipated standalone movie for the Spider-verse villain is scheduled for December 13. Despite a few challenges, this film seems determined to stick to its planned release date. While December isn’t entirely empty this year, the holiday season usually draws larger crowds, helping films like ours to avoid competing too closely with other productions such as “Madame Web”.
Janet Planet ($5)
➼ Box office ineligible
Film by Annie Baker
Eden ($5)
Director: Ron Howard
Thelma ($5)
➼ Box office ineligible
Director – Josh Margolin
Hit Man ($5)
➼ Box office ineligible
Film Name
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga ($5)
➼ Box office ineligible
George Miller as Director
A Different Man ($5)
➼ Box office ineligible
Movie Name
Unstoppable ($5)
The Debut of Director William Goldenberg
The Order ($5)
Justin Kurzel’s New Film
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl ($5)
Wallace & Gromit Film (working title)
Hand of Dante ($5)
Film (TBA)
The Seed of the Sacred Fig ($5)
Film Name
My Old Ass ($5)
➼ Box office ineligible
Director – Megan Park
Smile 2 ($5)
Parker Finn’s Directorial Debut
Flight Risk ($5)
Title Role: Mel Gibson (Director)
His Three Daughters ($5)
➼ Box office ineligible
Azazel Jacobs’ Movie
Will & Harper ($5)
Road Trip with Will Ferrell and Harper Steele
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes ($5)
➼ Box office ineligible
Director: Wes Ball steers the ship
The Apprentice ($5)
Untitled Ali Abbasi Film
The End ($5)
Upcoming Film
Wolfs ($5)
➼ Box office ineligible
The Film
Deadpool & Wolverine ($5)
➼ Box office ineligible
Role: Shawn Levy is the Director
The Fall Guy ($5)
➼ Box office ineligible
The director of this film is: David Leitch
The Substance ($5)
➼ Box office ineligible
Director: Coralie Fargeat
Kinds of Kindness ($5)
➼ Box office ineligible
The Film
Twisters ($5)
➼ Box office ineligible
Director – Lee Isaac Chung
Megalopolis ($5)
➼ Box office ineligible
Director: The film’s director is Francis Ford Coppola
Problemista ($5)
➼ Box office ineligible
As a film enthusiast, I’ve recently had the pleasure of watching Julio Torres’ directorial debut, a cinematic gem that promises to leave an indelible mark on the annals of cinema. This extraordinary piece, featuring the captivating performances of both Julio Torres and Tilda Swinton, has already graced the screens at South by Southwest 2023. Mark your calendars for March 1st, the day it officially hits theatres.
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim ($5)
Title Information:
The Fire Inside ($5)
Director – Rachel Morrison
I Saw the TV Glow ($5)
➼ Box office ineligible
Director: Jane Schoenbrun
Red One ($5)
Director – Jake Kasdan
🎟️
The Bargain Bin
Popcorn emoji (🍿) denotes a film that is eligible for box-office points based on its release date.
Could Show Up at Indie Awards
Titles:
Gunning for Craft-Category Noms at Best
1 Movie Titles at Discounted Prices:
Documentaries That Could Contend
Piece by Piece ($3) 🍿
Elton John: Never Too Late ($3) 🍿
Daughters ($3)
Black Box Diaries ($2) 🍿
Martha ($2) 🍿
Sugarcane ($2)
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story ($2)
I Am Celine Dion ($2)
Frida ($1)
Animated Features Hoping Disney or Pixar Stumble
Flow ($3) 🍿
Memoirs of a Snail ($2) 🍿
Spellbound ($2) 🍿
Transformers One ($2)
Ultraman: Rising ($1)
International Features That Could Contend
Parthenope – Could Be Rewritten as: A Sojourn at Parthenope
Smaller Festival Stuff
Superior Gentleman ($3) 🍿
Could Make Some Money
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever ($2) 🍿
Never Let Go ($2) 🍿
Your Monster ($2) 🍿
Y2K ($2) 🍿
Bagman ($1)
Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point ($1) 🍿
My Dead Friend Zoe ($1) 🍿
Pure Wild Cards
Items and Their Prices:
Streaming Long-Shots
The Deliverance ($3)
Rez Ball ($4)
Hold Your Breath ($3) 🍿
Joy ($3) 🍿
Six Triple Eight ($3) 🍿
Back in Action ($2) 🍿
Carry-On ($2) 🍿
The Idea of You ($2)
The Instigators ($2)
The Union ($2)
Uglies ($2)
Shirley ($2)
A Family Affair ($1)
If It Releases
Brothers ($2) 🍿
Woman of the Hour ($2) 🍿
Emmanuelle ($2) 🍿
Read More
- BONE PREDICTION. BONE cryptocurrency
- AAVE PREDICTION. AAVE cryptocurrency
- UFO PREDICTION. UFO cryptocurrency
- Uncovering the Mystery of Red King Players in Clash Royale – What Reddit Users Have to Say
- Discovering the Infinite Power: The Abiotic Factor that Could Change Everything
- Skull and Bones: Navigating the Quest for Extra Teeth in the Game
- Finding Resources in Palworld: Tips from the Community
- W PREDICTION. W cryptocurrency
- Diablo Lag Issues: Is the Latest Update Playing Tricks on Gamers?
- The 10 Best Movies of 2024 (So Far)
2024-09-10 20:56