The box office not only over the Memorial Day weekend but all of May was something of a bloodbath. The lessons from it that I keep hearing from box-office experts is instead of pushing new potential franchises like The Fall Guy or critically acclaimed but historically break-even franchises like Mad Max is to push bigger franchises. Sure, that may work, but there are only so many huge franchises that exist, and it costs a lot to make those movies (also, go see The Fall Guy and Furiosa).

On the other hand, while Furiosa’s $32 million opening was a huge disappointment for a $170 million film with another $100 million in marketing, the $31 million that the bleak The Garfield Movie made was not so bad based on the $60 million pricetag (worldwide, it’s already over $90 million). That is where I would take the future of movies: More $50 and $60 million movies that don’t need to earn $100 million on their opening weekends to break even.

I’m thinking even of the movie that George Clooney directed last year, The Boys on the Boat, which was made for $40 million, made $55 million at the box office and will play on streaming services for years. It wasn’t even that great of a film (but it certainly scratched my Dad movie itch). This is what George Clooney can do when paired with another A-lister. Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney got a lot of press for resurrecting the romcom with Anyone But You ($220 million on a $25 million budget), but Clooney and Julia Roberts did well with Ticket to Paradise, too ($168 million on a $60 million budget). Brad Pitt, likewise, still has the power to eke out a profit on a relatively inexpensive film, Babylon notwithstanding.

So, I suspect that the Clooney/Pitt combo can rack up at least $120 million worldwide on a film that looks like it probably has a $70(ish) million budget, most of which will be spent on Clooney, Pitt, and director Jon Watts, who directed Tom Holland’s Spider-Man films. This is what works. Make cheaper films that don’t earn as much money but that don’t lose money and that also play really well on streamers for years to come. Wolfs seems to fit the bill. I would definitely watch it on a Saturday afternoon in September, and if I miss it, I’ll surely catch it on Apple TV+ a month later.