The Monthly July 2025

Hey, welcome to the July 2025 edition of The Monthly. If you’ve been reading the Friday editions of Popculturology, you know that it’s been a busy month. (I even had to skip including the new trailer for Tron: Ares despite it getting an even bigger reaction from my fellow audience members than the first trailer for Avatar: Ash and Fire when I saw The Fantastic Four: First Steps.)

So before we turn the page to August, here are the three stories you need to know, two trailers you need to watch and one article you need to read.

3 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

Colbert cancelled

It’s still hard to believe that CBS has cancelled The Late Show, a pillar of late-night TV that’s run since David Letterman launched the franchise in 1993.

Is late-night TV a dying, unprofitable format? Did Paramount sacrifice Stephen Colbert, the No. 1 rated late-night host, in order to secure approval of its merger with Skydance? (The South Park guys, armed with their new $1.5 billion deal, have some thoughts on this.) What does Colbert do next? If late-night TV truly is dying, does Seth Meyers get a renewal for Late Night after his contract is up in a few years? Does Jimmy Kimmel call it quits when his deal expires? And is SNL safe? (The New York Times)

Wait, check the rulebook again to see if a dog can’t play basketball

The original Air Bud should’ve won an Oscar for the iconic line, “ain’t no rule says a dog can’t play basketball.” The franchise would expand to a theatrical sequel, four more sequels, seven Air Buddies movies (the dogs talk now) and two Santa Paws movies, but nothing could live up to that single line.

The franchise is going to take another shot at glory, with Air Bud Returns announced this past week for a release next summer.

“Air Bud Returns isn’t just another sequel or remake — it’s a unique story,” Air Bud Entertainment founder Robert Vince said in a statement. “This movie will engage nostalgic Air Bud fans while introducing a new generation to the beloved basketball-playing golden retriever, Buddy. It builds upon the legacy of the OG Air Bud with all the fun, the magic, heartwarming scenes, and Buddy playing basketball.”

It’s a legacy sequel, folks! (Variety)

Is there more to Dune dropping Messiah?

OK, so this one sounds like minor news — Warner Bros. Pictures is going with the uninspired Dune: Part Three title for Denis Villeneuve’s next film instead of the much cooler Dune Messiah — but there might be more to this news than just a studio going with a safer title.

What if Dune Messiah, the title of Frank Herbert’s second Dune book, doesn’t make sense for Villeneuve’s adaptation because he’s actually remixing elements from Dune Messiah and its follow-up, Children of Dune, into the third Dune movie? This could possibly explain how Anya Taylor-Joy is still playing an adult Alia and teenagers have been cast as the twin children of Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya.

If this is Villeneuve’s final Dune movie, why not go out by definitively wrapping up the story of Paul Atreides? (Variety)

2 TRAILERS YOU NEED TO WATCH

Stranger Things

Maybe it’s just me, but I forgot how much fun Stranger Things is. Maybe it’s the long delay from Season 4 to Season 5. Maybe it’s the jokes about how the cast looks like they should all be returning to Hawkins for their ten-year high school reunion.

But when I watched the first trailer for the show’s final season, I was instantly reminded of how consistently enjoyable Stranger Things has been.

Project Hail Mary

What if you took The Martian, kept its screenwriter but swapped out Matt Damon for Ryan Gosling and director Ridley Scott for Phil Lord and Christopher Miller? Oh, and added an alien who seemed to be made of rocks?

That’s the formula for Project Hail Mary, the upcoming adaptation of The Martian author Andy Weir’s latest book. I can’t wait to see how this one turns out. (The buzz I’ve seen sounds super positive.) Based on the 400 million views the movie’s first trailer got over its first week, it looks like I’m not the only looking forward to Project Hail Mary.

1 ARTICLE YOU NEED TO READ

Inside Elio’s “Catastrophic” Path: America Ferrera’s Exit, Director Change and Erasure of Queer Themes

Elio, the latest film from Pixar, is on track to become the studio’s first theatrical release to not cross the $100 million mark in North America. (Onward’s domestic haul was halted at $61.6 million thanks to the onset of the pandemic in 2020.)

So what happened with Elio? Why was Pixar unable to follow up on Inside Out 2’s historic box office success with this original film? The Hollywood Reporter’s Ryan Gajewski did a deep dive on Elio’s chaotic path from conception to release, chronicling the film’s shift in directors, cast and even its characters themselves. (The Hollywood Reporter)

CATCHING UP

Here’s what you might have missed from The Omnicosm this month ...

Friday Newsletter

• We finally have a, well, fantastic Fantastic Four movie
• CBS cancels Colbert, The Late Show to end next year
• James Gunn’s Superman is great because its Superman is good
• Is Ryan Gosling’s Project Hail Mary the next Martian?

The Box Office Report

• Superman soars to $57.3M second weekend
• It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s a $122M opening weekend for Superman.
• Get your dinosaur puns ready. Jurassic World Rebirth stomps to $147.3M 5-day debut.
• Vroom vroom. F1 races to a No. 1 opening for Brad Pitt

Snackology

• ‘You win’: Blueberry Pie Oreo cookies are back
• At long last, the McDonald’s Snack Wrap is back
• Everything is Awesome Sauce with these new Goldfish crackers
• Wash down those fireworks with a cold Mountain Dew Summer Freeze Zero Sugar