Day: July 8, 2018

Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg Will Work Together Again

Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright have a long working history together, from the TV series Spaced to the Cornetto Trilogy. The duo haven’t teamed up since 2013’s The World’s End, but according to Pegg, it’s only a matter of time before they’re together again.

So will we ever see a Edgar Wright/Simon Pegg film again? According to Pegg, the answer is yes. In a recent interview with Coming Soon, the actor says that the only reason the two haven’t worked together is due to timing and scheduling:

“Oh yeah, that’s like a given. The only reason we haven’t is just timing. Me and Edgar and Nick [Frost] are not colleagues, we’re friends. We go back a long time and we have a relationship that transcends work, but if only to hang with each other for an extended period we’ll make another film again. It’s just with our various commitments we have to find the time to write and make it. Me and Edgar talk about it all the time, and whenever we’re together we start brainstorming and we have certain ideas we want to develop. It’s just a question of ‘when,’ not ‘if.’”

This is very good news. While I’m fine with Pegg and Wright’s Cornetto Trilogy standing on its own, and while I think The World’s End was a perfect conclusion to said trilogy, I’d love to see them work together again. In addition to starring in the three entries of the Cornetto Trilogy, Pegg co-wrote those films with Wright. Wright directed Spaced, the British sitcom written by Pegg and Jessica Stevenson – a series that also featured Cornetto Trilogy cast member Nick Frost.

We’ll just have to be content with Pegg and Wright’s individual projects while we wait for them to reunite. Pegg will next be seen in Mission: Impossible – Fallout, hitting theaters July 27, 2018. Wright, meanwhile, is working on a documentary about the band Sparks. In addition to that, there’s a good chance Wright might be working on a Baby Driver sequel in the not too distant future.Pegg and Wright have come a long way since their first big movie together, 2004’s Shaun of the Dead. While they continued to work together with Hot Fuzz and The World’s End, their careers also branched off into different directions. Pegg joined both the Star Trek and Mission: Impossible franchise, and Wright helmed the surprise blockbuster Baby Driver.

Ant-Man and the Wasp scales up to $76 million opening weekend

Two tiny heroes are making a sizable impression on the box office this weekend.

Disney and Marvel’s stature-shifting superhero sequel Ant-Man and the Wasp is on track to debut with about $76 million in ticket sales from 4,206 theaters in the U.S. and Canada, dethroning Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and continuing Marvel’s incredible hot streak.

Ant-Man and the Wasp marks the 20th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and each installment has opened at No. 1. While fellow MCU movies Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War both scored historic openings earlier this year, Ant-Man and the Wasp is a smaller-scaled affair that should still keep the mega-franchise’s momentum going. The opening is in line with industry estimates, which ranged from $70 million to $85 million, and it eclipses the original Ant-Man, which bowed to $57.2 million in 2015. Overseas, the sequel will add an estimated $85 million this weekend (from 48 percent of the marketplace).

Starring Paul Rudd as Ant-Man/Scott Lang and Evangeline Lilly as the Wasp/Hope van Dyne, Ant-Man and the Wasp finds the heroes trying to rescue Hope’s mother (played by Michelle Pfeiffer) from the quantum realm, while also battling an intangible opponent (Hannah John-Kamen) and dodging the feds. Peyton Reed returned to direct the film, which reportedly cost about $162 million to produce.

Critics’ reviews for Ant-Man and the Wasp were generally positive, and audiences gave it an A-minus CinemaScore. The next MCU movie on the calendar is Captain Marvel, starring Brie Larson; it opens March 8.

This week’s other newcomer, Universal and Blumhouse’s dystopian thriller The First Purge, opened Wednesday (on Independence Day) and is headed for a five-day total of about $31.1 million, in line with expectations. The Friday-Sunday frame accounts for $17.2 million of that amount, good for fourth place.

Arriving as the fourth entry in the Purge series, The First Purge is a prequel depicting the origins of an annual night of state-sanctioned lawlessness. Gerard McMurray directed, and Y’Lan Noel stars. Reviews were mixed, and moviegoers gave it a B-minus CinemaScore.

Rounding out the top five this weekend are Disney and Pixar’s animated hit Incredibles 2 ($29 million), which is edging out last week’s top earner, Universal’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom ($28.6 million), and in fifth place, Sony’s borderland thriller Sicario: Day of the Soldado ($7.3 million).

On the specialty front, Roadside Attractions and Miramax’s Whitney Houston documentary Whitney is poised to open with about $1.3 million from 452 locations (a per-theater average of $2,758), and Annapurna Pictures’ outré sci-fi comedy Sorry To Bother You (directed by Boots Riley) is on track to debut with $717,302 from 16 theaters (a per-theater average of $44,831).

According to ComScore, overall box office is up 9 percent year-to-date. Check out the July 6-8 figures below.

1. Ant-Man and the Wasp — $76 million
2. Incredibles 2 — $29 million
3. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom — $28.6 million
4. The First Purge — $17.2 million
5. Sicario: Day of the Soldado — $7.3 million
6. Uncle Drew — $6.6 million
7. Ocean’s 8 — $5.3 million
8. Tag — $3.1 million
9. Won’t You Be My Neighbor — $2.6 million
10. Deadpool 2 — $1.7 million