Part two of our Spielberg in Space series leading up to Disclosure Day — this week it's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.

We dig into E.T.'s insane box office run (28 straight weeks in the top 5, nearly a year in theaters, $2.2 billion worldwide adjusted for inflation — second only to Jaws in Spielberg's career), then connect it back to Close Encounters of the Third Kind as a kind of spiritual sequel. We talk about how Spielberg shot the film almost entirely from a child's-eye view, why his parents' divorce shaped both Elliot's story and the absent adults in this movie, and why this whole thing might be the secret blueprint for Stranger Things.

Also covered: the Reese's Pieces vs. M&M's candy debate nobody asked for, the Star Wars/Coors/Coca-Cola product placement, John Williams' score, and our final star ratings — including a Letterboxd community score that genuinely shocked all three of us.

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Close Encounters of the Third Kind came out in December 1977, made $116 million in the US alone, and lost the box office crown for that year to exactly one movie: Star Wars. Not a bad second place.

Josh, Garrett, and David kick off Spielberg in Space Month with Spielberg's pre-E.T. love letter to alien optimism. They get into why Richard Dreyfus was the right guy for a role Steve McQueen, Al Pacino, and Gene Hackman all passed on, why the mashed potatoes scene is actually the emotional center of the whole thing, and what it means that this is basically the only alien movie where nobody tries to blow anything up. All three hosts land at four and a half stars. Josh finally wins the Letterboxd guessing game. David's son watched the aliens and said they looked like naked five-year-olds.

So Many Sequels is your book club for movies. Follow along at somanysequels.com and @somanysequelspod on Instagram.

Summer movie season is officially kicking off, and the box office is already throwing curveballs. This week, we dive into the numbers for The Mandalorian & Grogu, which defied early tracking worries to pull in a solid $81.9 million over the weekend. But the real story might be the horror-thriller Obsession, which pulled off a rare 30% weekend-to-weekend jump thanks to an intense viral billboard campaign and massive word-of-mouth.

Before the box office breakdown, we catch up on everything we've been watching on screens big and small. Josh and Garrett check in on the brutal fatalities and Karl Urban's washed-up Johnny Cage performance in Mortal Kombat 2. Meanwhile, David checks out the streaming survival-thriller Send Help starring Rachel McAdams, and gets surprisingly emotional over the Netflix book adaptation Remarkably Bright Creatures, featuring Alfred Molina as a brilliant, human-helping octopus.

Go check that out at somanysequels.com to subscribe, and let us know what you're watching on Instagram at @somanysequelspod.

The guys wrap up their Golden Oldies theme with a divisive debate over Alfred Hitchcock’s voyeuristic classic, Rear Window.

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So Many Sequels is a movie podcast where Josh Gammon, Garrett Powders, and David Prock talk about new releases, old favorites, and everything in between like a book club for movies.

By His Hand is a cult thriller road movie shot in Utah on a bootstrapped budget by three brothers who grew up in the LDS faith — and left it.

Josh and David sat down with director Taylor Paur, co-writer Ethan Paur, and producer Connor Paur to talk about how the movie got made and what it's actually about. They get into why Fowler — the film's cult leader — is most dangerous when he's making people feel loved, the Mad Max: Fury Road obsession that quietly shaped the film's structure and maybe even its title, what four seasons on Yellowstone taught Taylor about filmmaking, and why the brothers hope young men especially find this one.

By His Hand is available to rent or buy on Amazon now and hits Tubi free on May 29. Let us know what you think at somanysequels.com and @somanysequelspod on Instagram.

This week on So Many Sequels, Golden Oldies Month continues with John Ford’s 1940 adaptation of The Grapes of Wrath.

Josh, Garrett and David dig into the film’s Dust Bowl-era Oklahoma roots, its connection to John Steinbeck’s landmark novel, and why a movie released more than 80 years ago still feels uncomfortably current in 2026.

We talk Henry Fonda’s Tom Joad, Jane Darwell’s Oscar-winning performance as Ma Joad, the film’s depiction of poverty and displacement, and the way its story exposes systems that keep working people desperate, divided and disposable. We also get into Oklahoma’s place in the story, the case for a modern remake, and why any new version better actually film in Oklahoma.

It’s a classic for a reason — and maybe a warning we still haven’t fully listened to.

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The Odd Couple debuted in 1968, making $44 million on a tiny $1.2 million budget and eventually spawning a five-season TV show. But watching it today, the most shocking part might be the opening scene: our introduction to a comedy about mismatched roommates is Felix wandering the streets, genuinely trying to figure out how to kill himself.Kicking off our "Golden Oldies" month with pre-1970s films on So Many Sequels, David, Josh, and Garrett break down the undeniable chemistry between Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. We discuss how the movie's theatrical blocking and long takes make modern comedies feel disconnected, analyze the excruciatingly funny Pigeon sisters double date, and realize that Felix is actually a deeply manipulative person to live with.Let us know what you think. Would you rather live with Oscar the slob, or Felix the neat freak? Go check that out at somanysequels.com, and follow us on Instagram at @SoManySequelsPod.somanysequels.com

Three of us saw Project Hail Mary separately. Different theaters, different formats, different weeks. Same reaction: this is the one.

We talk about what makes Ryan Gosling's performance land, why Rocky might be the best new alien character in years, and whether a film that made $80M opening weekend and barely dropped the following week has a real shot at next year's Oscars. Also: Stephen Colbert is making a Lord of the Rings movie. We have thoughts.

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