For the third time in as many days, I’m blogging about filling one of the next 37 overall guaranteed Two ThouCentennial spots, as my plan to have Secret Headquarters compete against Gigi & Nate for overall guaranteed spot 2,017 didn’t pan out, due to the former of the two movies failing its assessment. So given that, plus Gigi & Nate not quite showing enough to warrant getting spot 2,017, a start from scratch back-up plan was formed, with it being that 16 movies (that are not bound by pre-determined faction rules) all competing against each other in a four-round format, where rounds one through three all being single-elimination and round four being the winner in a best two-out-of-three getting that still up for grabs spot.
Of course, it was a challenge trying to find 16 movies that weren’t bound by pre-determined faction rules. But thanks to the combination of looking for common themes, remembering movies that I passed up on assessing in favor of the disappointment known as Feeling Minnesota, surfing the HBO Max app and wanting to erase the memory of seeing the movie Gia from my mind, I was able to come up with 16 such movies, all of which are listed with a reason for being allowed to compete via the chart below:
| Movie | Why it’s allowed to compete |
| Fury | This movie could be neck-and-neck with Inglorious Basterds, as both this movie and that movie are Brad Pitt movies that are set during the World War II era. |
| Gigi & Nate | It’s earned the right to defend to the very shaky ground that it stands on when it comes to making the Two ThouCentennial Project. |
| Beauty And The Beast ‘17 | Emma Watson was the selling point in Little Women ’19 getting assessed, so it’s time to see if her being cast as Belle completely works in this movie. |
| Stash House | This movie was among those that were in the selection pool with Feeling Minnesota. Plus, the hard copy (DVD) of it is present, so might as well assess it. |
| Along Came A Spider | It’s the first of seven movies that were selected during the last HBO Max surf session. Plus, it’s the sequel to Kiss The Girls, the latter of which is a Tier 2 movie. |
| Code Of Silence | It’s the second of seven movies that were selected during the last HBO Max surf session. Plus, this movie could outrank Firewalker, as both this movie and that movie are Chuck Norris movies. |
| Deloris Claiborne | It’s the third of seven movies that were selected during the last HBO Max surf session. Plus, this movie was an external recommendation back in June 2018. |
| The Fog | It’s the fourth of seven movies that were selected during the last HBO Max surf session. Plus, there’s no such thing as too much Maggie Grace in the Project. |
| Greenland | It’s the fifth of seven movies that were selected during the last HBO Max surf session, and it was among those that were in the selection pool with Feeling Minnesota. Plus, this movie was somewhat of an external recommendation back in February 2021. |
| The Last Emperor | It’s the sixth of seven movies that were selected during the last HBO Max surf session. Plus, it’s a movie that’s been overlooked for far too long. |
| The Witch | It’s the seventh of seven movies that were selected during the last HBO Max surf session. Plus, this movie could be a pleasant surprise just like both The New Mutants and The Menu, as all three movies are Anya Taylor-Joy movies. |
| Monsoon | This movie was among those that were in the selection pool with Feeling Minnesota. Plus, Henry Golding’s swag and successful Two ThouCentennial track record make it worthy of an assessment. |
| Mr. & Mrs. Smith | This movie was among those that were in the selection pool with Feeling Minnesota. Plus, the component of Brad Pitt Vs. Angelina Jolie is a potentially entertaining one. |
| Original Sin | This is the movie that was picked to erase the memory of seeing the movie Gia from my mind, as both this movie and that movie are Angelina Jolie movies. |
| The Devil’s Own | Air Force One is a Tier 3 movie that came out the same year as this movie and also stars Harrison Ford, thus those two common threads making this movie worthy of a re-assessment. |
| Wendell & Wild | This movie was among those that were in the selection pool with Feeling Minnesota. Plus, this movie features the criminally under-utilized Natalie Martinez. |
Well, there you have it. The 16 movies that will battle for spot number 2,017. And as evidenced by that chart above, three of them have already been assessed/re-assessed, so it’s going to be a 13-movie marathon that will resume before this entry even posts tonight and during the wee hours of this coming Wednesday. And once that is all complete, first round matchups will be announced in the next entry of this subseries, as it’s going to take multiple entries to provide updates about this particular selection process. And given how open most of my upcoming days will be during the foreseeable future, the next entry of this subseries should be ready to post on either Wednesday or Thursday, so stay tuned.