IP Picksš: Hillbilly Lawyers Take On the Man
ā The first organized-crime boss was more Mrs. Maisel than Michael Corleone
Welcome to The Optionist. As always, thanks for reading along. Weāre ready to send you out on the holiday weekend with some great picks.
This week, Texas Monthly ran a great profile of Colleen Hoover. Itās worth reading. As all of you know, Hoover has been one of the publishing worldās biggest sensations over the last few years, regularly placing multiple books on the New York Times best-seller list simultaneously. So far, sheās mostly managed to eschew the limelight. This piece not only explains why, but it also gives us a good sense of who she is and the pressures of hitting it big.
The article came out right before we got the initial viewer numbers on the trailer for the upcoming Blake Lively-toplined adaptation of her book It Ends with Us, which ended up getting 128 million views in its first 24 hours. Granted, thatās not quite Deadpool & Wolverine numbers (365 million views), but itās currently the most for a female-centered movie.
This is the first adaptation for Hooverās work since she really exploded as an author, so Iāve been eagerly anticipating its release on August 9. In fact, Iāve got a running conversation with Sean McNulty (aka āThe Wakeup Guyā) about this. My feeling is that Hollywood (or at least the Hollywood press) has been sleeping on this title and that Hooverās fan base is huge and passionate. Back when it was originally scheduled to come out right before Valentineās Day, I thought it would do gangbusters. Sean was more skeptical, noting that the absence of a trailer so close to its opening was a worrying sign. Then the movie got pushed to August. I still say itās going to be huge. As for Sean, heās taking a wait-and-see approach. (To be fair, Seanās a sober-minded guy while Iām definitely more of a hype man.)
Iām rooting for it to succeed because Iād love to see it give some juice to mid-budget non-superhero, non-sequel movies. I really believe thereās still a market for weepy romances, rom-coms and other adult-targeted movies. A big haul at the box office could re-energize an audience that still hasnāt fully returned post-Covid and convince studios that thereās a viable market there.
And letās be honest, I also want to be able to hold it over Sean and gloat if Iām right!
Onto this weekās picks:
A legal thriller in the vein of A Civil Action
A period true-crime drama about the first organized-crime boss
A political thriller with echoes of The Americans and The Manchurian Candidate
An inspirational sports drama about an inner-city fencing team
A feel-good story about a billionaire who gave $1,000 to every graduate in the audience for his commencement speech
