It's almost time. You feel it. I feel it. The temperatures go up, nights blend in to each other, alarms sometimes come and go, shoes get ditched for sandals. Somehow, summer is creeping back around already and we will be helping the Movie Crews out over the next few weeks by breaking down the movies through a few different lenses:
1. The Little Ones: Those little roommates who love a good flick and parents enjoy the reprieve just as much.
This week we'll do the heavy lifting to pull together some post-camp, pool time or What in the heck do we do when it's 98 out picks as we get ready for some of the best times of the year. The Little Ones guide is up this week on Movie Night Mix.
The Little Ones' Summer Movie guide starts off with parental favorites: PLAY THE HITS!!!! Sometimes going into known. Crowd pleasers for the five year-old crew is the way to go because the week has been F-U-L-L of surprises.
This summer a couple of familiar titles get sequalized and revamped - Spirit Untamed (June 4) and Peter Rabbit 2 (June 18).
There are two ways to look at this: 1. Nothing super original with the reboot, sequel route OR 2. Remember last year when we would have LOVED to take the crew out to the theatre, grab some popcorn and relax for 1.5 hours? Yep. We went with the second choice, too.

SOME WEEKS JUST WRITE THEMSELVES WHEN IT COMES TO THE THEME, IDEAS OR MOVIES WE TEE UP FOR THE WEEK AHEAD. THIS WEEK MORTAL KOMBAT ROLLS INTO THEATRES AND @HBOMAX WITH ANOTHER SHOT OF ADRENALIN TO THE BOX-OFFICE. LIKE ANY GOOD WARRIOR WE CAN ALL START OUR TRAINING EARLY AND OFTEN AS WE GEAR UP FOR BATTLE IN WHAT LOOKS LIKE A PRETTY FUN RIDE LATER THIS WEEK. HOWEVER, WHEN OUR BELOVED GAMES HIT THE BIG SCREEN OR STREAMING PLATFORMS OVER THE YEARS, NOT ALL WEEKS FEEL AS HOPEFUL AS THIS ONE. WE'LL LOOK AT IT ALLLLLLLL THIS WEEK FROM THE GOOD, BAD AND WHAT IN THE ACTUAL HELLLLLL IS GOING ON HERE? GAMING WEEK IS UP ON MOVIE NIGHT MIX.

The hustle. Can't stop it and gotta respect the hell out of it. Taking a pause from the here and now, crossing fingers, rolling up sleeves, I got to thinking about what drives us outside of our comfort zone and selling a crazy idea to those out in the ether. "Always Be Closing" is an iconic line from an iconic scene in Glen Gary, Glenn Ross. However, what other movies personify what it is like in the pit, on the sales floor, smiling and dialing. If your week is full of left clicking your life away, don't worry because it could always be worse.
If you're hustling, cold-calling, hitting your numbers or like I've been before - on the complete other side of the Champions Diamond Emerald club, scrambling for a new sale - the world of sales is something to behold. Two under the radar picks are here to draw some inspiration or possibly a night where misery joins you right alongside your couch and bills. Sorry to Bother You, a wild ride of thought-provoking, mind bending, you gotta see it to believe it filmmaking, gives us LaKeith Stanfield AND Tessa Thompson together. Isn't that enough? Then, Boiler Room rolls along from 2000 to give you those a pit vibes that might feel all too familiar. Plus, hey, it's Vin Diesel not in a car!

Like we do each week, thinking about ways to introduce something old to go find something new to the younger members of our movie crews a couple of picks seemed to be obvious choices for Always Be Closing week.

The Pursuit of Happyness may feel like an emotional ride with nothing to do with selling but in itself, the perseverance and grut it takes to defy the odds is front and center, as well as the straightforward elements Will Smith's character pursues. Next up is The Founder, which has obvious connections into the art of the deals, origins of blue chip brands of today and sometimes it just comes down to this: Michael Keaton. Nuff said, right? Will Smith, too, right?
Stars ✅ Inspiration ✅ Message for the Crew ✅ Budding sales rockstars❓❓❓❓

This week on Movie Night Masters it's time to lay down some bets for 2021: Which movie is the next big thing, hot on the heels of Godzilla vs. Kong? Will anyone move up into May for a big swing at the box-office pie (looking at you Ghostbusters Afterlife). There are movies slated for April and May that will bring the crowds in but the slate is still a little limited. We will look at the locks and toss out some wishlist picks to bump up after being moved aside in 2020.
Heading back to theatres, although some of us have been lucky enough to keep our toe in that water thanks to a variety of options, it is clear that the appetite for options and fun, entertaining blockbusters is as big as ever. Given the past year, one could even argue that now more than ever (and in the next six months as more people get vaccinated) the demand could grow even more. Theatres aren't dead but the product being sold has to improve, right alongside the experience of going out. Maybe it is a creative night of curating movies and the experience or subscription models, VIP access to @WB movies for @hbomax subscribers.
Tossing the opinions out into the void of the Internet - Is there really anything else to do - to start wrapping up The Next Big One week. Two holdover from 2020 and the mouse house's replacement May movie.
A Quiet Place II and Spiral head to theaters in hopes of scares, jumps and continuations of hits being the driver of executives crossing their fingers that audiences will want to go for a ride in a creepy vehicle. For me, I think AQII lands really well with audiences and Spiral is a mild success at best. Although the involvement of Chris Rock is intriguing but are wide audiences looking for a grim, bloody ride from the book of Saw? I could quickly be proven wrong here when simple supply meets demand from new release starved audiences.
Cruella takes the place of Black Widow - now that would be an interesting addition to The Avengers. With nice looking trailers and a huge void at theatres for families as it will already be 2+ months since Raya and the Last Dragon, Cruella rides the supply and demand wave to possibly being the biggest next one up.

March Madness, busted brackets, spring training, free agency, sprints to the playoffs and majors. This time of year is great for sports fans and there's no better time to ride the wave than right now as those good time spring vibes push us right into April, Easter and championship time. If you're tired of the madness, you might be a little perturbed at us for finding more reasons to watch sports but it's just something we've been looking forward to for quite a while. Here's hoping we all get our one shining moment soon, but if we don't this week is for you.
Next up during Championship Mix week, our favorite baseball movie, a 90s college basketball flick with Shaq, Penny and Nolte, and the 🐐 and Bugs. Not sure if anyone has the energy for a triple feature but how about the notion of Barad Pitt waxing poetic about baseball, Shaq trying on his first acting role and MJ fighting the Monstars, setting up one of our most anticipated flicks of the summer Space Jam 2. Take a little break from trying to fix the bracket, root, root, rooting for the home team and the final stretch for your NBA teams to dip your toe in the Movie Night Masters Championship Mix.