Year: 2018

Mindy Kaling: White male critics are being ‘unfair’ to ‘Ocean’s 8’

“Ocean’s 8” star Mindy Kaling is making waves about white male movie critics — saying they’ve been “unfair” to the all-female-star reboot of the “Ocean’s” heist-movie franchise.

“If I had to base my career on what white men wanted, I would be very unsuccessful,” Kaling told Yahoo News. “There is obviously an audience out there who want to watch things like [‘Oceans 8’] which I work on.’’

Co-star Cate Blanchett agreed, blaming the media for not getting it right.

“The conversation has to change and the media has a huge responsibility,” Blanchett said.

Incredibles 2 smashes animation record with $180 million opening

Incredibles 2 is living up to its name at the box office.

Pixar’s spirited sequel about a family of superheroes is on track to earn an estimated $180 million from 4,410 theaters in the U.S. and Canada during its opening weekend, easily topping the box office and scoring the biggest domestic debut ever for an animated movie, not adjusted for inflation. The previous record holder was Pixar’s Finding Dory, which bowed to $135.1 million in 2016.

Incredibles 2 also marks the eighth-best domestic opening all time for any film (animated or otherwise, not adjusted for inflation), and the third-best opening of 2018, behind Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Infinity War ($257.7 million) and Black Panther ($202 million). As the parent company of both Pixar and Marvel, Disney is thus continuing its recent box office dominance.

Overseas, Incredibles 2 will add about $51.5 million this weekend from 25 territories (roughly a quarter of the international market).

Once again written and directed by Brad Bird, Incredibles 2 arrives 14 years after The Incredibles (which opened to $70.5 million in November 2004) and picks up right where the original film left off, with the Parr family (voiced by Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell, and newcomer Huck Milner) fighting to save the day and restore the public’s trust in superheroes. Reviews for the sequel have been almost unanimously positive (if not always effusive), and audiences gave it an A-plus CinemaScore.

Taking second place this weekend is Warner Bros’. gender-flipped heist movie Ocean’s 8, with about $19.6 million. That represents a decline of about 53 percent from last week’s chart-topping debut and brings the film’s domestic total to about $79.2 million.

Arriving in third place, Warner Bros. and New Line’s R-rated comedy Tag will earn about $14.6 million from 3,382 locations, in line with expectations.

Based on a true story, the film stars Ed Helms, Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner, Jake Johnson, and Hannibal Buress as five adult friends who have been playing the same game of tag for three decades. Tag garnered mixed reviews and a B-plus CinemaScore.

This week’s other new wide release, Superfly, Sony’s remake of the 1972 blaxploitation movie, opened Wednesday and is poised to earn about $8.4 million through Sunday, with $6.3 million coming from the weekend — below industry projections, and good for seventh place. Reviews were mixed, and moviegoers gave it a B-plus CinemaScore.

According to ComScore, overall box office is up 5.9 percent year-to-date. Check out the June 15-17 figures below.

1. Incredibles 2 — $180 million
2. Ocean’s 8 — $19.6 million
3. Tag — $14.6 million
4. Solo: A Star Wars Story — $9.1 million
5. Deadpool 2 — $8.8 million
6. Hereditary — $7 million
7. Superfly — $6.3 million
8. Avengers: Infinity War — $5.3 million
9. Adrift — $2.1 million
10. Book Club — $1.9 million

Ewan McGregor to Star in New ‘Shining’ Movie ‘Doctor Sleep’

Ewan McGregor will star as Danny Torrance in Warner Bros.’ adaptation of the Stephen King novel “Doctor Sleep,” the sequel to horror classic “The Shining.”

Sources say King has given his blessing to McGregor’s casting.

Mike Flanagan, who helmed Netflix’s adaptation of the King novella “Gerald’s Game,” is directing. Flanagan’s producing partner, Trevor Macy, will produce along with Vertigo Entertainment’s Jon Berg.

Warner Bros. had been developing this film, as well as “The Shining” prequel “Overlook Hotel,” for years, but the studio struggled to secure a budget for either film. Following the success of New Line’s “It,” every studio with any sort of King IP under its roof has fast-tracked each property into pre-production.

“Doctor Sleep” begins as Torrance carries the trauma of the Overlook Hotel into adulthood. He’s become a reflection of his murderous father, with lingering rage and a drinking problem that dulls his pain as well as his “shining” powers. Those powers return when he embraces sobriety and uses his gift to help the dying at a hospice. He establishes a psychic connection with a young girl who shares his extreme abilities, and who is being targeted by a group with similar abilities. They’ve found that their powers grow if they inhale the “steam” that comes off others with the power to shine, when they are suffering painful deaths.

Stanley Kubrick directed the original adaptation of “The Shining,” starring Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall. Danny Lloyd played a young Danny Torrance. At the time, the film was considered a box office disappointment, earning $44 million on a $19 million budget. Now, however, it is thought to be one of the great horror classics and has a built-in fan base ready for a sequel.

McGregor can next be seen in Disney’s “Winnie the Pooh” adaptation “Christopher Robin.” He is repped by UTA.

‘Incredibles 2’ Poised To Squash ‘Dory’s $135M All-Time Opening Record For Animated Pic

After the summer box office ratcheted down following the $125.5M opening of Fox’s Deadpool 2, Disney is looking to make up for any shortfall created by its Memorial Day weekend fumble Solo: A Star Wars Story with the release of Pixar’s Incredibles 2, which is eyeing between $135M-$150M this weekend at 4,400 theaters.

Some tracking services have the sequel around $125M, but the confidence out there from rivals is that Incredibles 2 could feasibly beat Finding Dory‘s $135M opening, which is by all accounts, the current domestic record for an animated pic’s opening.

With ComScore counting summer’s start as of the first weekend in May, we currently count $1.24 billion season to date, which is even with the same period last year, which turned out to be one of the worst summers in 11 years with $3.97B. In regards to marquee big-budget animation competition from a rival such as Illumination, Incredibles 2 has zero competition so look for its legs to be huge. Finding Dory turned around a 3.6x multiple for $486.2M stateside, while Toy Story 3 with a $110M start did a 3.76x for $415M.

Like Dory, Incredibles 2 has an enormous amount of legacy goodwill from fans, and its second installment has been 14 years in the waiting. It’s another execution by Pixar in mining news fans, and pulling in die hards in a family play that ranges from ages 2 to 80. Incredibles is one of those Pixar brands that appeals to not just kids, but to adults’ sophisticated sense of humor and sensibilities, unlike Cars which largely plays younger. Rotten Tomatoes for Incredibles 2 is currently at 97% fresh.

The first Incredibles launched during the first weekend of November in 2004, minting $70.5M and making a household name out of director Brad Bird, and composer Michael Giacchino. Pic ended its run at $261.4M domestic, $633M worldwide.

Incredibles 2‘s theater count is comprised of 400 Imax screens, 650+ Premium Large Format screens, 3,000+ 3D locations, and 210 D-Box screens. A special double feature of The Incredibles and Incredibles 2 will play exclusively in Imax starting tomorrow starting at 6pm, with regular previews beginning Thursday at 5pm. The Pixar short film Bao, directed by Domee Shi, is playing in front of Incredibles 2.

Despite the kung-fu grip that Incredibles 2 will have on the marketplace this weekend, other studios have dared to appeal to other demos, specifically Sony which is going after African American audiences with its reboot of Director X’s Superfly and New Line/Warner Bros. with their R-rated guy comedy Tag.

Tag, which is based on Russell Adams’ Wall Street Journal story about a group of grown men who still engage in a game of ‘You’re It’ is expected to file in the $12M-$16M range. Pic stars Jeremy Renner, Ed Helms, Jon Hamm, Jake Johnson, and Isla Fisher and reps the feature directorial debut of Jeff Tomsic whose credits include directing and being an EP on the Comedy Central series Idiotsitter. Tag will preview in over 2,900 locations on Thursday at 7PM and expand to 3,382 theaters on Friday. New Line budgets their comedies in the upper $20M range before P&A. Rotten Tomatoes hasn’t revealed their score yet.

Sony is getting a leg up on their Silver Pictures release Superfly tomorrow sans previews tonight. They claim it cost a reported $16M before P&A. Tracking has a $7M-$12M five-day opening spread on this pic which could file in the upper part of that range. Rotten Tomatoes at 67% is better than Sony’s previous African American feature Proud Mary which received a 28% Rotten score. There was an unprecedented turnaround for Superfly which began production in mid-January. The movie is grounded in music, and Atlanta serves as a character in the film as the iconic cultural center for black entertainment. Future produced and wrote the original songs for this pic. In Superfly, career criminal Youngblood Priest wants out of the Atlanta drug scene, but as he ramps up sales, one little slip up threatens to bring the whole operation down before he can make his exit. Pic stars Trevor Jackson, Jason Mitchell, Michael Kenneth Williams, Lex Scott Davis, and Jennifer Morrison and was written by Alex Tse.

Warner Bros./Village Roadshow’s Ocean’s 8 should ease 40-45% from its $41.6M opening for $23M-$25M. In the last four days, the Gary Ross all femme ensemble has grossed $46M and should see a pop today from discount Tuesday and older audiences.

A24’s Hereditary, which repped the NY-based distributor’s biggest opener with $13.6M, is forecasted to decline an estimated 55% with $6.1M. Pic counts $15.2M through four days.