April 30, 2017 – The world according to Dan.

Box office report: Fate of the Furious zooms past $1 billion

The eighth film in the car-based franchise joins its predecessor, Furious 7, as the second film featuring Dom and the family to pull in more than 13 figures thanks to an estimated domestic box office haul of $19.4 million this weekend, as well as an estimated international earning of $68.4 million. With estimated total worldwide earnings of $1.1 billion, the popular film (which scored an A on CinemaScore) not only sits atop the North American box office for the third week in a row, but it also marks Universal’s fourth highest grossing film (adjusted for inflation) after Jurassic World ($1.67 billion), Furious 7 ($1.52 billion), and Minions ($1.16 billion).

However, even though F8 has matched Furious 7‘s total worldwide performance in crossing the $1 billion mark after only three weeks, its domestic box office trajectory has been closer to that of Fast & Furious 6, which also saw a more than 45 percent drop in domestic ticket sales and earned a similar amount ($19.6 million) in its third week out. In fact, much of F8‘s success comes from the international box office, where the film has proved to be an immense crowdpleaser, having pulled in an estimated $867.6 million so far, in addition to the estimated domestic total of $192.7 million.

Second place this week belongs to How to Be a Latin Lover, a second big hit for Lionsgate and Televisa’s joint venture Panthelion (and the studio’s biggest so far) with the film earning an estimated $12 million from 1,118 locations. The romantic comedy sees international star Eugenio Derbez — also the lead in the studio’s 2013 sleeper hit Instructions Not Included — play a rich woman’s husband, who is dumped for a younger man, thus prompting him to move in with his sister (Salma Hayek) and her son (Raphael Alejandro) as he schemes to seduce a billionaire widow (Raquel Welch). Kristen Bell and Rob Lowe also star in the film, which marks actor Ken Marino’s directing debut.

Also joining the top five in the No. 3 spot is Baahubali: The Conclusion. The Telugu language film earned an estimated $10.1 million after opening in only 420 locations for an impressive estimated earning of $24,139 per location. The S.S. Rajamouli-directed movie stars noted South Indian actor Prabhas in what is the continuation of the 2015 epic fantasy Baahubali: The Beginning.

Coming in fourth is The Circle. The Dave Eggers adaptation did not go over well with audiences and critics alike, earning a D+ on CinemaScore, as well as largely negative reviews. The movie pulled in an estimated $9 million, a disappointing number, especially given that the cast boasts Tom Hanks (Sully), Emma Watson (Beauty and the Beast), and John Boyega (The Force Awakens), all of whom have pulled in big numbers in recent box office offerings — especially Watson, whose Beauty and the Beast continues to do well, having already earned more than $1 billion worldwide and an estimated $480 million in the domestic box office since opening in March.

And rounding out the top five is animated feature The Boss Baby, whose long legs as a family favorite (it earned an A- on CinemaScore) see it take only a 29 percent decline in the box office for an estimated weekend haul of $9 million. This brings it just shy of the $150 million mark at the domestic box office after five weeks in theaters.

A little lower down on the top 10 this week is Gifted. The film pulls in an estimated $3.3 million from 2,215 locations, its highest earnings yet. So far the movie, which stars Chris Evans as the guardian of a mathematically gifted young girl, has earned an estimated total of $15.6 million.

Elsewhere at the box office, Sleight, the latest film from Blumhouse’s BH Tilt genre label, took in an estimated $1.7 million dollars, around what was expected for the J.D. Dillard-directed film about a street magician using his skills to save his kidnapped sister. The film stars Jacob Latimore along with Seychelle Gabriel and Dule Hill.

Meanwhile, The Lost City of Z slipped a little in its fourth weekend out, earning an estimated $1.7 million from 866 locations. This brings the James Gray-directed film’s estimated domestic totals to $4.8 million.

Per ComScore, overall box office is up 4.2 percent the same frame last year. Check out the April 28-30 box office figures below.

1 – The Fate of the Furious – $19.4 million
2 – How to Be a Latin Lover – $12 million
3 – Baahubali 2: The Conclusion – $10 million
4 – The Circle – $9.3 million
5 –The Boss Baby – $9 million
6 – Beauty and the Beast – $6.4 million
7 – Going In Style – $3.6 million
8 – Smurfs: The Lost Village – $3.32 million
9 – Gifted – $3.3 million
10 – Unforgettable – $2.3 million

Wait, Is Mike Myers Heading To TV Soon? Here’s The Weird Story

Although Mike Myers got his big break on the small screen thanks to his gig on Saturday Night Live, he’s probably best known nowadays for his contributions to the big screen in franchises like Austin Powers and Shrek. Now, Myers may be heading back to TV for a brand new job, but… well, it’s not exactly clear. News broke today that ABC has chosen British comedian Tommy Maitland as host for its revival of The Gong Show, but it turns out that Tommy Maitland didn’t seem to exist until quite recently, and he looks an awful lot like Mike Myers in prosthetic makeup.

The photo of Tommy Maitland comes from his Twitter account, which is just one step that seems to have been taken to establish him as somebody who definitely exists and was not just invented for the purposes of a game show reboot. The story gets even more elaborate in a press release from ABC, which reveals that “Thomas Winston Maitland” was born in 1944 in the U.K. He became known when he began work as an announcer for a British radio show and landed minor roles in the Carry On film franchise.

According to ABC, he wrote a book, made 11 films, is hugely popular in Italy, and made a huge impression on Will Arnett when Arnett was a teenager. Arnett is executive producing The Gong Show for ABC, and he reportedly specifically reached out to Maitland to work as host. Maitland has openly admitted to coming out of retirement for The Gong Show for the money, and he told THR that he already has two potential catchphrases picked out.

Based on the uncanny resemblance between this “Tommy Maitland” and Mike Myers, Myers’ history of wearing prosthetics to play a wide range of characters, and the fact that THR has hinted that Myers and Maitland are one and the same in the wake of an interview, I’d say that the odds are pretty good that we’ll be seeing Mike Myers tackling hosting duties on The Gong Show when it debuts on ABC this summer. That said, we might not get confirmation of his involvement for a while, if at all. If Myers and Maitland are the same person, then ABC, Myers, and Will Arnett all went to pretty great lengths to sell the ruse. Kudos to them for going all-out, I suppose. If anybody could pull this off, I’d definitely put my money on Myers.

We can confirm some of the other folks who will appear on The Gong Show. Celebrity judges who will weigh in on contestants’ talents (or lack thereof) will include Will Arnett, Zach Galifianakis, Alison Brie, Andy Samberg, Elizabeth Banks, Joel McHale, Dana Carvey, Will Forte, Anthony Anderson, and Jack Black. Tune in to ABC on Thursday, June 22 at 10 p.m. ET to catch “Tommy Maitland” in his Gong Show hosting debut, and don’t forget to check out our midseason TV premiere guide and our summer TV premiere schedule to discover all your viewing options now and in the coming weeks. Be sure to drop by our rundowns for cable/streaming and broadcast TV renewals and cancellations as well.