The Monthly June 2025

Hey, welcome to the June edition of The Monthly. I’m sure it’ll be smooth sailing when it comes to the heat over the next few months ... or years.

Before you figure out how high you can crank your AC in July without knocking out your neighborhood’s power grid, let’s dive into 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

Denis Villeneuve’s word is Bond. James Bond.

The future of the James Bond franchise started to come into focus this past week. It’s going on four years since the franchise’s last film, with Daniel Craig ending his tenure as Bond after No Time to Die. Since then Amazon MGM Studios paid a ton of money to secure full creative control of the franchise.

The studio announced last week that Denis Villeneuve had been chosen to direct the untitled Bond reboot. Villeneuve has been a on tear since Prisoners hit theaters in 2013, following that up with Sicario, Arrival (Oscar nominations for Best Picture and Best Director), Blade Runner 2049, Dune (Oscar nomination for Best Picture) and Dune: Part Two (Oscar nomination for Best Picture).

He’ll reportedly complete the third Dune movie before turning to his Bond role. (Amazon MGM Studios)

Breaking up is easy to do

There goes our hopes for a Superman/Guy Fieri crossover movie. Warner Bros. Discovery announced this month that it was splitting into two companies, with the TV and movies studios going in one direction and the cable networks going in another.

• Streaming & Studios: “Warner Bros. Television, Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, DC Studios, HBO and HBO Max, as well as their legendary film and television libraries”
• Global Networks: “premier entertainment, sports and news television brands around the world including CNN, TNT Sports in the U.S., and Discovery, top free-to-air channels across Europe, and digital products such as the profitable Discovery+ streaming service and Bleacher Report (B/R)”

If we’re playing by the math of the merger/unmerger of Warner Bros. and Discovery, one David Zaslav is equal to CNN (and a ton of debt), right? (WBD)

WTF prepares to sign off

Everyone has a podcast these days. (Don’t think that Popculturology hasn’t thought about it.) So much of where the industry is today can be traced back to what Marc Maron has been doing with WTF for the past sixteen years.

Maron’s podcasting legacy will live on, but WTF itself will come to an end later this year. The comedian and his producer, Brendan McDonald, announced this month that they “had an understanding that the only reason we would stop the show was if one of us was ready to stop. So, that happened, for both of us.” (WTF)

• 📖 There Will Never Be Another WTF With Marc Maron (Diana Moskovitz, Defector): “Even as the show grew, it stayed true to its purpose — real conversations, after a real monologue to start the show — and though it evolved, it never lost sight of its core principles. The show stayed independent, always came out twice a week, and didn't shy away from its success or run away from its failures. It was, from start to finish, a deeply human show. That's just one reason why there probably won't be another show like WTF again.”

2 TRAILERS YOU NEED TO WATCH

Wicked: For Good

Wicked was a huge player at both the box office and during awards season last year. The film grossed $755.8 million worldwide and was nominated for ten Oscars, including Best Picture. (It won for Best Production Design and Best Costume Design.)

There’s little reason to think that the upcoming sequel, Wicked: For Good, will be any less of a force to be reckoned with on both of those fronts when it hits theaters later this year.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps

So much is riding on The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Not only is it the official introduction of these characters into the MCU (sorry, John Kasinski in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Chris Evans in Deadpool & Wolverine), but it’s the jumping off point for Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.

Director Matt Shakman needs to deliver a giant leap with First Steps.

1 ARTICLE YOU NEED TO READ

Sean Evans on the Future of Hot Ones, Celebrity Interviews

It’s strange that a YouTube series where famous people (of different degrees of fame) eat chicken wings, but this is the world we live in. Sean Evans has turned that quirky yet simple formula into a growing media empire. Along with his co-creator, Chris Schonberger, Evans now owns Hot Ones and is firmly in control of its future.

Vulture published a feature on Evans and his Hot Ones philosophy earlier this month, including the reveal that Complex at one point was ready to sell the show to ... MTV2.

“I was like, ‘What the fuck are you guys talking about? This is going to disappear from the collective consciousness!’” Evans told Vulture. “And somebody said to me, ‘Well, the contracts are signed. That’s a big-boy lesson for you, Sean.’ There was so much talk that was like, ‘It’d be a shame if we replaced you.’” (Vulture)

CATCHING UP

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

Friday Newsletter

• The next James Bond director is Villeneuve. Denis Villeneuve.
• Always Sunny gangs up on Abbott Elementary and The Golden Bachelor in new trailer
• The summer of Seth Meyers
• First Wicked: For Good trailer brings the fight to the Wizard
• Sometimes you gotta call it quits

Deep SNL Thoughts

• Let’s rank all 20 hosts of SNL Season 50

The Box Office Report

• Elio no ... Pixar’s latest crash lands with studio’s worst debut
• How to Train Your Dragon redo reheats box office with an $83.7M opening weekend
• Ballerina loses to Lilo & Stitch remake in box office dance off
• Karate Kid: Legends fails to put up a fight against Lilo & Stitch and Mission: Impossible
• Well, at least Disney has $183M to show for its live-action Lilo & Stitch remake

Snackology

• It turns out I can get enough of the Selena Gomez Oreos
• Strips! Tacos! Burritos! Taco Bell goes all in on Crispy Chicken
• Popeyes gets wrapped up in the Chicken Wrap battle
• I’m gonna go back for s’more of McDonald’s Hershey’s S’mores McFlurry
• Snack Chat May 2025
• Is cracking open a can of Miller Lite Pringles the perfect way to jump into summer?