Every now and then we have a movie weekend where no one is really sure what the top film will be. Usually, we have a pretty good idea. For example, this weekend we know Frozen II will top any Mr. Rogers movie and Chadwick Boseman action film (unless said action film is Marvel related). However, we’ve just had two weekends in a row with no clear “Is this going to be a hit or not?” slate of films… and to answer the question, we’ve had a “yes,” a “sorta” , and a lot of “we’re done.”

After an October that only had a one-two punch (or maybe just a one-one-and-a-half… No one would call Maleficent: Mistress of Evil any more than “half” a hit), audiences were starving for the hits that every Holiday Movie Season promises and they stormed box-offices in record crowds! At least, that’s how the story was supposed to go. Instead, AMC A-Listers seemed to take a swipe left approach after the first weekend in our pool was more of a ripple than a splash.

The Oktoberfest steins are back on the shelf, Costco’s got Samuel Adams Winter Packs for sale, and I got stuck on Jury Duty today just so I could finish this update, so it's time for the 23rd Annual Holiday Movie Pool!

Whenever I’m at Costco and I see the Halloween costumes up and the Oktoberfest beer out I know it must be Labor Day Weekend. That means it’s time to put away the sunblock and speedos and say sayonara to these summer films of yesteryear (which I guess it still this year, but that didn’t sound as good).

The Fast & Furious franchise has been an ATM for Universal for years now. The last four films have made over $200 million in the U.S. and the last two topped a billion internationally. It only made sense for them to try an extend a franchise that, you’d think, can only do so much with Vin Diesel mumbling about familia over BBQs and stolen cars.

The Lion King has been a part of pop culture for 25 years now. We all instinctively define Hakuna Matata as having no worries for the rest of our days without even having to hum the song. Scar isn’t just something that happens when trying to open the fourth Ikea box with a utility knife to your kids new bedroom set that he apparently needs assembled right now or he’ll never fall asleep again; it’s also one of the most notorious villains of all-time. It even spawned the most successful stage musical of all-time and has earned literally over $8 billion!!! Elton John might as well just sing “Can you see the green tonight.”

Only once in Summer Movie Pool history has a Spider-Man film not finished in the Top 5. The film that didn’t, 2014’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Yes, the film we all like to pretend didn’t exist as it was mostly a 500 Days of Spidey rom-com with Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone hemming and hawing through their lines in so many on-again/off-again scenes we just wanted them off. Still, even that film ended up #6 for the season. That’s a pretty remarkable run for a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, so it’s only fitting that people continued to come out in droves when he took his act out on the road.