#78 | A Knight’s Tale 2: The Gorgeous Ladies of Jousting

Fonging hell! We've got a real crowd pleaser to talk about this week - gleefully anachronistic jousting adventure A Knight's Tale, the starring the much-missed Heath Ledger. 

Released in 2001, A Knight's Tale helped to establish Ledger as a reliable leading man, after well-received supporting turns in 10 Things I Hate About You and The Patriot. It also featured a memorable cast of supporting characters including Alan Tudyk, Mark Addy and future Marvel star Paul Bettany in the role of a loudmouthed, frequently naked Geoffrey Chaucer.

This week's movie was selected by special guest Jason Croxon, host of the A Conversation With... podcast. Jason joins us on this episode to discuss olde worlde relationship politics, variable accent work, scenery chewing extras and much more. 

As always, we also spend the second half of the episode pitching our own fantasy sequel ideas to this feelgood romp - which sadly have to work around the less than cheerful fact of Ledger's tragic death in 2008. How could a spin-off movie ever work in his absence? That's a question we challenge ourselves to answer this week. Tune in now to see how we fared...

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Every week on Beyond The Box Set, we revisit a classic standalone movie that, for whatever reason, never got an official sequel. Then we compete to come up with our own pitches to bring that movie back to the big screen in 2018. It's a pointless thought experiment that's already guided us through 78 episodes with no sign of slowing down...

If you enjoy the show, please hit subscribe on your preferred Podcatcher and consider leaving us a review - it really helps new listeners to find us. You can also access a wide variety of bonus content by signing up to our Patreon for as little as $2 per month, and we have exclusive merchandise available on Teepublic.com

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00.00: Paul Bettany's bum deserves an Oscar

36.55: A Knight's Tale Drinking Games

43.50: A Knight's Tale 2: A Squire's Tale

51.00: A Knight's Tale 2: Catcheth Me Ift Thee Can 

59.20: A Knight's Tale 2: The Gorgeous Ladies of Jousting

1.12.50: Listener Submissions & Episode 79 Preview

#74 | Jerry Maguire 2: Jerry’s Game

From the chunky flip phones and questionable hair to the dodgy sexual politics and curious lack of any real stakes, Jerry Maguire is perhaps the quintessential mid-90s prestige rom com. Written and directed by Cameron Crowe, the movie stars Tom Cruise as a successful sports agent whose search for meaning in a cynical industry leads him into the arms of warm-hearted, possibly overly suggestible single mother Renee Zellweger. 

In this week's episode of Beyond The Box Set, we discuss the bizarre pacing of this movie, Renee Zellweger's succession of very poor decisions in the film and the fact that we're pretty sure all of the characters are addicted to cocaine. 

Once we've completed a thorough post-mortem, we move on to pitching our own Jerry Maguire sequels as set in 2018. Would Jerry's questionable business strategy of focusing on fewer clients and less money be working out for him? Would his quickie marriage to a woman who may very well be in a cult still be going strong? And would Cuba Gooding Jr ever appear in another successful project again? 

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Beyond The Box Set is the hit British podcast in which two hapless but creative film nerds pitch sequel, prequel and spin-off ideas for classic standalone movies. We've been featured as a must-listen Podcast by Podbean, The Guardian and iTunes, and our show is available on virtually all major platforms.

We also have a dedicated Patreon page where fans can access a host of bonus content, including our weekly cinema review show 'Beyond BTBS' and the opportunity to choose a film for us to cover on a future episode of the main show - all for as little as £2 per month!. 

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patreon.com/beyondtheboxset

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00.00: Cocaine, flip phones and unexamined white privilege

32.10: Jerry Maguire Drinking Games

39.05: Jerry Maguire 2: Breaking Jerry

45.30: Jerry Maguire 2: Jerry's Game

53.10: Listener Submissions & Episode 75 Preview

#69 | Mermaids 2: Search for the Merman

There are certain actors we'll watch in just about anything. Cher is one, Winona Ryder is another. In Mermaids, the pair play mother and daughter, with Christina Ricci and Bob Hoskins in supporting roles and a fabulous 1960s soundtrack in the background. Let's be realistic, there was never any way we weren't going to love this movie.

Released in 1990, a time when both women were at the height of their movie careers, Mermaids is a gentle coming of age dramedy based on a novel by Patty Dunn. It's very much a product of its time, but a little bit darker and more thoughtful than you probably remember it being - particularly if, like us, your main memory of the film is that it featured Cher's cover of the Shoop Shoop Song. 

This week on Beyond The Box Set, we're joined by returning guest Lucy Meredith to discuss iconic wigs, Winona's intense inner monologues, the ineffable sex appeal of Bob Hoskins and more. We also pitch some scenarios to reunite these two quintessential Hollywood survivors in a sequel - with ideas including a musical, multiple road trips and an unlikely genre-shift into 'Black Swan' style body horror...

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Beyond The Box Set is a movie review podcast with a twist. Each week we take a classic standalone movie and compete to pitch sequel, prequel or spin-off ideas to bring them back to the big screen. We were recently featured as a 'Podcast of the Week' by The Guardian and have been listed as a 'Binge worthy podcast' by iTunes. 

You can find us on all good podcasting platforms, including iTunes, Spotify, Google Play and Stitcher. If you like the show, don't forget to check out our Patreon for a wide variety of incentives and bonus content.

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00.00: Demented monologues and iconic slap scenes 

36.00: Mermaids Drinking Games

43.20: Mermaids 2: Search For The Merman

57.00: Mermaids 2: A Body Horror With Actual Mermaids In It

1.04.45: Mermaids II: On The Road

1.12.35: Listener Submissions & Episode 70 Preview

#59 | That Thing You Do (feat. The Contrarians)

A sweet retro comedy about the rise and fall of fictional 60s pop band The Wonders, That Thing You Do! has virtually no stakes and gets by on the sheer good-natured charm of everyone involved, not least that of writer-director Tom Hanks. But can we sit through the 148 minute extended cut without succumbing to a severe case of toothache? 

In this month's Patreon special, friend of the show Julio Olivera of The Contrarians podcast joins us to discuss Tom Everett-Scott's spooky resemblance to Tom Hanks, the low-energy charm of Liv Tyler and why La La Land may in fact be a spiritual sequel to this movie...

Released in 1996, That Thing You Do! was modestly successful at the box office, but spawned a successful soundtrack and quickly became a cult classic. In addition to Scott, Hanks and Tyler, the movie was an early showcase for then-rising stars including Steve Zahn, Charlize Theron and Giovanni Ribisi. 

In addition to comparing notes on the movie, we also come up with some drinking games - highly recommend if you do attempt the extended cut - and pitch our sequel ideas, which this week feature a bittersweet 21st century reunion and a journey through the history of Rock 'n' Roll, by way of Quantum Leap, Doctor Who and Love Actually. Mr Hanks, we're waiting for your call...

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Beyond The Box Set is a hit movie podcast with a twist. Every week we take a classic piece of standalone cinema and compete to pitch the most ridiculous sequel, prequel or spin-off ideas to bring them back to the big screen. We're featured as a binge-worthy podcast on iTunes and can be found on all good podcasting platforms, including Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify and Podbean. 

Fans of the show can also show their support on Patreon, gaining access to all of our exclusive bonus material by pledging as little as $2 per month. Incentives include access to our bonus movie review show Beyond BTBS, the opportunity to choose a film for us to cover on a future episode of Beyond The Box Set and a 30 second ad slot to plug absolutely anything you like (within reason). 

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00.00: Emma Stone really needs to break the cycle 

25.55: That Thing You Do! Drinking Games

35.10: That Thing You Did!

55.00: That Thing You Manage! 

1.08.00: Listener Submissions & Episode 60 Preview 

#55 | Run Amélie Run (feat. Think Outside The Box Set)

A whimsical French comedy with some deceptively twisted themes, Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Amélie is a delightful ode to love, fate and the power of connection, bolstered by a star-making turn by Audrey Tautou. But do the film's visual invention and romantic tone mask something darker at the heart of the story?

In our first Patreon crossover special, friend of the show Nathan Hunt - of our near namesake podcast Think Outside The Box Set - joins us to discuss how what with all the stalking, gaslighting and parental neglect on display, Amélie is basically a Roald Dahl story told with a Wes Anderson sensibility - in French. No wonder we loved it...

Nathan also sticks around to help brainstorm some 2018-friendly sequels to the movie, including a timeline-jumping crossover with another classic of early 21st century European cinema and a spin-off inspired by a relatively obscure children's educational TV show. Never let it be said that we're predictable!

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Beyond The Box Set is a top ten TV & Film podcast officially deemed 'Binge Worthy' by Apple Podcasts. Each week, we take a classic standalone movie and compete to pitch the most ridiculous sequels, prequels and spin-offs to bring them back to the big screen. 

We're available on virtually all major Podcasting platforms and most forms of social media. We're also now available on Patreon, where you can support us for as little as $2 per month in return for a host of exclusive perks, including access to our weekly bonus show 'Beyond BTBS', a 30 second ad slot on Beyond The Box Set and the chance to appear as a character in one of our sequels! 

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00.00: Amélie - The Story of a Sociopath

19.30: Amélie Drinking Games

24.40: Run Amélie Run

45.10: Where In The World Is Amélie Poulain?

53.45: Listener Submissions & Episode 56 Preview 

#53 | Garden State 2: Pet Sematary

Remember when everybody loved Garden State? Strange as it seems, Zach Braff's directorial debut was widely praised on release - so why has its reputation curdled so dramatically in recent years? Louise Ball joins us this week to discuss Manic Pixie Dream Girls, alarming animal cruelty and to help pitch the sequels that none of us actually want to see...

Released in 2004 at the height of Zach Braff's Scrubs fame, Garden State was a slow-burn box office success, grossing over $35 million against a $2.5 million budget, bouyed by a Grammy-winning soundtrack and enthusiastic reviews. Despite this initial success, the movie later attracted criticism for its ponderous exploration of mid-twenties ennui and the characterisation of Natalie Portman's female romantic lead as less a recognisable human being than an infantilised collection of infuriatingly self-conscious quirks. 

Is Garden State totally without merit? We didn't quite think so. In this episode we discuss some of the reasons the movie was initially so successful - as well as the many elements that have aged poorly in the cold light of 2018. In pitching our own sequels, one of us attempts to inject some excitement by splicing the cast with a modern sci-fi phenomenon with an equally iconic soundtrack, one of us digs into the appalling animal cruelty hinted at in the original film, and one of us decides to ditch the insufferable central duo altogether and allow some of the movie's most memorable supporting characters to take centre stage...

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Beyond The Box Set is a top ten TV & Film podcast officially rated 'Binge Worthy' by Apple Podcasts. Each week, we take a classic standalone movie and compete to pitch the most ridiculous sequels, prequels and spin-offs to bring them back to the big screen. 

We're available on virtually all major Podcasting platforms and most forms of social media. We're also now available on Patreon, where you can support us for as little as $2 per month in return for a host of exclusive perks, including access to our weekly bonus show 'Beyond BTBS', a 30 second ad slot on Beyond The Box Set and the chance to appear as a character in one of our sequels! 

beyondtheboxset.com

patreon.com/beyondtheboxset

twitter.com/beyondtheboxset

facebook.com/beyondtheboxset

instagram.com/beyondtheboxset

00.00: Natalie Portman is not a natural laugher 

22.15: Garden State Drinking Games

31.05: Garden State 2: Velcro Bad Things

46.40: Garden State 2: Pet Sematary 

52.50: Garden State 2: The Infinite Abyss

1.03.10: Listener Submissions & Episode 54 Preview

#50 | Forrest Gump II: Jenny’s Side

Episode 50 marks Beyond The Box Set's first full year on the air, so we knew we had to celebrate with a truly iconic movie choice. So sit down and join us as we pitch sequels to the tearjerking 90s classic Forrest Gump, aka Harry's all-time favourite movie. 

In this episode we compare notes on how long each of us lasted before welling up, reveal the historical crossover scene that was wisely left on the cutting room floor, and debate whether Jenny Curran is the most unfairly maligned cinema character of the past thirty years...

We also bring you a bumper selection of drinking games, including needlessly shirtless Lieutenant Dan, every time Jenny's wigs signify a time jump and the occasional hints of Mama Gump's dark side...

Over twenty years after Tom Hanks hung up his running shoes and put little Haley Joel Osment onto the bus, it seems increasingly unlikely that a real Forrest Gump sequel will ever come to pass. Not that we let that spoil our fun as we dedicate the second half of this episode to pitching ridiculous follow-up ideas, including Colin Hanks as a young Forrest undertaking an improbable journey through the plot lines of some of Tom Hanks most famous films - trust us, there was enough to go on...

Finally, we also marked our one-year anniversary by finally launching our own dedicated Patreon and Merchendise pages. For as little as £2 per month, you could become a VIP subscriber for access to our weekly bonus episodes, a 30 second shout-out on the show and the chance to become a character in one of our sequel ideas! Just visit our Patreon Page for more information. 

T-shirts, mugs, iphone covers and other assorted Beyond The Box Set accessories are also now available via our Teepublic online store

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Each week on Beyond The Box Set, we take a classic standalond movie and compete to pitch the most ridiculous sequel, prequel or spin-off ideas to bring them back to the big screen. We're currently featured as a 'Binge Worthy Podcast' on the Apple store, and we've frequently cracked the top ten TV & Film Podcasts on UK iTunes.

In other words, our first year has been a wild ride and we don't intend to get off any time soon. You can help support the show by hitting subscribe for a new episode every Friday morning, or by leaving us a review on the Apple store. You can now also support us as an official VIP supporter on Patreon, using our pay as you feel model to gain access to a huge raft of amazing extras (if we do say so ourselves...)

You can find Beyond The Box Set on most major Podcasting platforms, including iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, Podbean and much more. You can also get in touch with us via our social media, we always love to hear from our listeners.

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00.00: John's Tom Hanks Mea Culpa and A Defence of Jenny

29.40: Forrest Gump Drinking Games

43:55: Forrest Gump 2: Jenny's Side

01:00.55: Forrest Gump 2: Being Tom Hanks 

01.18:55.: Listener Submissions & Episode 51 Preview

#48 | Kiss Kiss Bang Bang 2: Ding Dong & Dynamite (feat. Easy Riders Raging Podcast)

It's the whip-smart cult comedy that revived Robert Downey Jr.'s career and rescued us from the prospect of Johnny Knoxville headlining the Iron Man Franchise. Shane Black's Kiss Kiss Bang Bang combines classic Neo Noir references with a distinctly 21st century sensibility, making it just the kind of curious genre-crossover we love to sink our teeth into...

With the invaluable assistance of our special guest Chris Johnston of Easy Riders Raging Podcast, we attempt to wrap our heads around the insanely convoluted plot of this movie, debate whether it's OK to shamelessly objectify your female lead if you make a point of being self aware about it and question just what exactly the root cause might be of Val Kilmer's increasingly alarming facial dimensions...

Naturally we also get down to some sequel ideas, which this week include a Rush Hour-inspired location switch, a deconstruction of the original movie's obsession with gay panic jokes and a lot of really terrible plays on the title. Kiss Kiss Cillit Bang, anyone? 

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Every week on Beyond The Box Set, we take a classic standalone movie and compete to pitch the most ridiculous sequel, prequel and spin-off ideas to bring them back to the big screen. We've covered everything from timeless blockbusters to beloved cult classics, and quite possibly ruined them all with our sacreligious and frequently unfilmable reboot concepts. 

If you like the show, please hit subscribe to get a new episode every Friday morning, and leave us a review on your preferred Podcasting app to really make our day. You can also reach out to us on most forms of social media, or through our official website. 

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00.00: Val Kilmer has strange proportions 

29.00: Kiss Kiss Bang Bang Drinking Games

35.00: Click Click Click... Bang! 

41.05: Kiss Kiss Bang Bang 2: Ding Dong & Dynamite

46.30: Kiss Kiss Bang Bang 2: Who's Afraid of Gay Perry?

1.02.35: Listener Submissions & Episode 49 Preview

#46 | WALL-E 2: A Garbage Movie

In almost a year of recording Beyond The Box Set, it occured to us this week that we've never actually covered a fully animated movie. So in the spirit of the new year, we decided to correct this oversight and turn our imaginations towards one of the most beloved animated features of the past decade, Pixar's WALL-E. 

Written and directed by Andrew Stanton and Jim Reardon, WALL-E was one of Pixar Studios riskiest and most ambitious releases. Set in the wasted remnants of a long-abandoned Planet Earth, the movie follows a largely non-verbal trash compactor robot who dreams of experiencing true love - or at least the version of it depicted in his worn-out VHS of the 1969 musical Hello Dolly. 

From its virtually dialogue-free first half to the depiction of a future in which humans have quite literally become oversized babies, WALL-E challenges its audience considerably more than the average children's movie. It was a gamble that paid off when the movie became a highly acclaimed global blockbuster, taking in over $200 million at the US Box Office and picking up the 2008 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. 

Despite all this success, to date WALL-E has never been recomissioned for a sequel. Join us as we attempt to recitify this with a haunting end-of-humanity origin story and a romantic sequel that finds WALL-E and EVE's teenage child experiencing the first pangs of robot love during the Earth cleanup process. 

Along the way we also discuss whether WALL-E should really be considered a children's movie, question the necessity of sentient parasols in the future and learn the hard way that 'cockroach life span' is a difficult phrase to say...

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Every week on Beyond The Box Set, we watch a classic standalone movie and compete to pitch the most ridiculous sequel, prequel or spin-off ideas to bring them back to the big screen. We were recently featured by Apple iTunes as a 'Binge-Worthy Podcast', which was a very validating start to 2018.  

If you like the show, please hit subscribe on your preferred podcasting platform to hear a new episode every Friday. Beyond The Box Set is available for free download and streaming on iTunes, Stitcher, aCast, Podbean, Pocket Casts, Youtube, Google Play and most other popular podcasting platforms.

If your new year's resolution was to review more podcasts, why not start with us? It makes us feel nice and it's the best way to help us find new listeners, so please consider throwing us some stars on iTunes, Stitcher and any other podcatcher that allows it. 

If you have a suggestion for a film you'd like to hear us cover - or a sequel idea of your own that you'd like us to shout out on air, you can contact us via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+ and Tumblr - or by leaving a comment under any blog post on our official website. 

00.00: Intro - EVE shoots first, asks questions later...

20.55: WALL-E Drinking Games

26.00: WALL-E: A Garbage Movie

37.25: WALL-E 2.0

48.25: Listener Submissions & Episode 47 Preview

BONUS | Pitching Sequels to the Movies of 2017: Part Two

The second half of 2017 gave us blockbusters of wildly varying quality - from the artistic and commercial highs of Dunkirk and Baby Driver to the wildly misguided lows of Justice League and Geostorm. We also made time for some less mainstream fare, including Kumail Nanjiani's delightful The Big Sick, James Franco's hilarious The Disaster Artist and Darren Aronofsky's utterly batshit Mother!

Join us in this second half of our year-end special as we attempt to pitch quick-fire sequels to every movie we caught in the cinema between July and December. As before, spoiler warnings do apply to all the movies we describe in this episode, but we'll try to give you plenty of warning. 

Here are the movies featured in this episode (Star Wars fans, you're safe...)

00.00: Intro 

01.10: Baby Driver

05.40: Spider-Man: Homecoming

11.20: War for the Planet of the Apes

16.05: Dunkirk

18.40: Atomic Blonde

21.50: The Hitman's Bodyguard

24.20: The Big Sick

28.55: Detroit

33.20: Kingsman 2: The Golden Circle

36.50: Mother! 

41.00: Geostorm

45.45: It

47.30: Murder on the Orient Express

51.35: Thor: Ragnarok

54.00: Justice League

56.45: Suburbicon

59.35: The Disaster Artist

1.03.20: The Best and Worst Movies we saw in 2017

1.05.50: Episode 46 Preview 

We'll be back to our regularly scheduled programming on Friday 5th January. Thanks for supporting us through the first year of our show - here's to the next one!

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Every week on Beyond The Box Set, we watch a classic standalone movie and compete to pitch the most ridiculous sequel, prequel or spin-off ideas to bring them back to the big screen. Over the course of 2017 we've pitched sequels for beloved classics like Sideways, The Sixth Sense and The Good, The Bad & The Ugly, cult favourites such as Swiss Army Man, The Fifth Element and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, plus more questionable fare including Deja Vu, Me Before You and Krampus. 

If you enjoy the show, please hit subscribe on your preferred podcasting platform to hear a new episode every Friday. Beyond The Box Set is available for free download and streaming on iTunes, Stitcher, aCast, Podbean, Pocket Casts, Youtube, Google Play and most of the other popular podcasting platforms.

Leaving us a review is the absolute best way to help our show to find new listeners, so if your new year's resolution is to be nicer to strangers on the internet, please consider throwing some nice words and a star or five in our general direction on any platform that allows for it. 

If you have a suggestion for a film you'd like to hear us cover - or a sequel idea of your own that you'd like us to shout out on air, you can contact us via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+ and Tumblr - or by leaving a comment under any blog post on our official website. 

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