Categories
Movies

I am planning to see Hotel Artemis on Tuesday!! Here’s hoping!!!

’Ocean’s 8’ opens with $41.5M to top weekend

NEW YORK — “Ocean’s 8,” the female-fronted overhaul of the starry heist franchise, opened with an estimated $41.5 million at the box office, taking the weekend’s top spot from the fast-falling “Solo: A Star Wars Story.”

At a lower price point and in less fanboy-guarded franchise, “Ocean’s 8” — despite ho-hum reviews — found nothing like the stormy reception than the female-led “Ghostbusters” reboot did on the same weekend two years ago.

Made for approximately $70 million, “Ocean’s 8” and its cast featuring Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett and Anne Hathaway, set an opening-weekend best for the franchise, not accounting for inflation. The three previous “Ocean’s” films — starring Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Matt Damon, and based on the 1960 original “Ocean’s 11,” with Frank Sinatra — all debuted with between $36-39 million in the last decade.

“Ocean’s 8,” also starring Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson, Awkwafina, Rihanna and Helena Bonham Carter, drew a largely female audience — 69 per cent — for a result that slightly surpassed expectations.

“We thought we’d come in in the $35-40 (million) range,” said Warner Bros. distribution chief Jeff Goldstein. “Number one, it’s fun. Number two, it hits an underserved audience. Unfortunately, there is just a lack of stories that are aimed right at women.”

Yet the weekend’s three new wide releases were all female fronted.

The horror thriller “Hereditary,” starring Toni Collette, debuted with $13 million, setting a new company record for A24, the indie distributor behind releases like “The Witch” and “Moonlight.” The feature-film directing debut of Ari Aster, “Hereditary” has received rave reviews and been hailed as the year’s scariest movie since its debut at the Sundance Film Festival. Either from disappointment or simply because they were stunned from fear, audiences gave “Hereditary” — about a family cursed after the death of its matriarch — a D-plus CinemaScore.

Less successful was “Hotel Artemis,” starring Jodie Foster. The Global Road release, also starring Sterling K. Brown, Dave Bautista and Charlie Day, flopped with $3.2 million in 2,407 theatres. Set in a near-future Los Angeles, “Hotel Artemis” is about a members-only hospital for criminals.

Coming between more massive blockbusters like the recent “Solo” and the upcoming “Incredibles 2” and “Jurassic World,” the weekend was down about 20 per cent from last year, according to comScore, when “Wonder Woman” was setting box-office records. But some of the story was still the same.

“There’s a lot of women-powered revenue at the box office in the heat of the summer season,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for comScore. “Films featuring female leads are killing it at the box office, but that’s been going on for quite a while.”

One of the early summer’s more breakout hits has been the Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg documentary “RBG,” which has made $9.1 million in six weeks of release through Sunday.

Opening this weekend was another documentary that may prove a similar sensation: the Fred Rogers documentary “Won’t You Be My Neighbour.” The Focus Features release grossed $470,000 in 29 theatres for a per-theatre average of about $16,000. The film, 99 per cent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, has been acclaimed for its portrait of the man behind “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.” Focus said two thirds of the documentary’s audience was under the age of 45.

Meanwhile, the troubled “Solo” slid to second place with $15.2 million on its third weekend. It has now grossed $176.1 million, well off its expected pace.

“Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” began its international rollout in 48 overseas markets with an estimated $151.1 million, said Universal Pictures. That’s a predictably strong start for a film expected to be one of the biggest of the summer. It opens Friday in China, and on June 22 in North America.

Initial reviews, which came out this week, were mixed for J.A. Bayona’s sequel. But critics were also less thrilled with 2015’s “Jurassic World,” which grossed more than $1.6 billion worldwide.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theatres, according to comScore. Where available, the latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. “Ocean’s 8,” $41.5 million ($12.2 million international).
2. “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” $15.2 million.
3. “Deadpool 2,” $13.7 million ($18.5 million international).
4. “Hereditary,” $13 million ($3.5 million international).
5. “Avengers: Infinity War,” $6.8 million ($10.9 million international).
6. “Adrift,” $5.1 million.
7. “Book Club,” $4.2 million.
8. “Hotel Artemis,” $3.2 million.
9. “Upgrade,” $2.2 million.
10. “Life of the Party,” $2.1 million.

Categories
People

Very, very sad and shocking news. May he rest in peace.

Celebrity chef, author Anthony Bourdain dead at 61

Anthony Bourdain, the celebrity chef who took foodies around the world as part of his travelogue programs, has died at age 61, CNN said Friday.

Bourdain, who had been working on his CNN series on culinary traditions, was found unresponsive Friday morning by friend and chef Eric Ripert in the French city of Haut-Rhin. CNN called his death a suicide.

Bourdain’s popular show Parts Unknown airs on the network.

The New York chef previously hosted shows and documentaries on The Food Network and Travel Channel.

“His love of great adventure, new friends, fine food and drink and the remarkable stories of the world made him a unique storyteller,” CNN said in a statement on Friday.

“His talents never ceased to amaze us and we will miss him very much. Our thoughts and prayers are with his daughter and family at this incredibly difficult time.”

Parts Unknown took Bourdain around the globe. At each stop, he would delve into the regional culture and sample the cuisine, typically led by local experts. Last fall, he was spotted in Newfoundland and Labrador and the nearby French islands of St-Pierre-Miquelon.

“I have the best job in the world,” Bourdain said in 2017.

He said in a 2017 interview that his job came at a personal cost to family life. Bourdain separated from his second wife (mixed martial arts fighter Ottavia Busia) in 2016 and said he missed their daughter Ariane, who is 11, while on the road.

“I travel 250 days a year. How normal could I ever hope to be?”

He had recently been dating Italian actor-filmmaker Asia Argento, one of the prominent accusers of film producer Harvey Weinstein.

Born in New York, but raised in Leonia, N.J., Bourdain had attributed his love of food to his first oyster: eaten on a fisherman’s boat during a family vacation to France, from where his paternal grandparents had emigrated.

Though he dropped out of Vassar College, working in kitchens eventually led him to the Culinary Institute of America, from which he graduated in 1978.

He rose through the New York restaurant ranks, eventually landing as executive chef at the famed Brasserie Les Halles in 1998.

He began to gain wider public attention with the release of his blockbuster 2000 book Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, which grew out of a write-up he had submitted to The New Yorker the year before.

A string of bestsellers followed, including A Cook’s Tour: In Search of the Perfect Meal, The Nasty Bits, and Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People who Cook.

Bourdain was honest in retelling his life story, including his struggles with heroin addiction.

As he branched out into television opportunities, with series such as A Cook’s Tour and No Reservations, he became known for his acerbic style, admitting he had honed a role as a “provocateur.”

But he took the intersection of food, culture and politics seriously, preferring to visit local markets and food stalls rather than high-end restaurants.

“Tony was approachable to anybody, would speak to everybody, he would drink with everybody,” friend David McMillan, the Montreal chef and co-owner of Joe Beef, told CBC Radio’s qon Friday.

“It was a beautiful thing to see. It was very human.”

Indeed, in an interview with CBC’s On The Money in 2016, Bourdain said he was “dismayed” at a recent tide of xenophobia and anti-migrant sentiment in the world.

“If you travel as long as I have and as much as I have, and you meet as many people and spend time with them, in countries that we’re supposed to hate and who are supposed to hate us, when you see how mostly similar people are, particularly when sitting around a table, it makes it very, very hard [to see],” he said.

Despite being one of the world’s most famous foodies, Bourdain continued to marvel at his success.

In the latest preface for his breakout memoir Kitchen Confidential, he wrote that he never intended it to “rip the lid off the restaurant business,” but rather to write a book for his colleagues in his own voice. He never thought his book would have appeal beyond professional kitchens.

“What I set out to do was write a book that my fellow cooks would find entertaining and true,” he wrote.

True to his character, he then offered self-deprecating commentary about contributing to what has become North America’s obsession with and veneration of top chefs and restaurateurs.

“The new celebrity chef culture is a remarkable and admittedly annoying phenomenon. While it’s been nothing but good for business — and for me personally — many of us in the life can’t help snickering about it,” he wrote.

“Of all the professions, after all, few people are less suited to be suddenly thrown into the public eye than chefs.”

Where to get help:
The toll-free National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (NSPL) at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Kids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868 (Phone), Live Chat counselling at www.kidshelpphone.ca

Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention: Find a 24-hour crisis centre

Association québécoise de prévention du suicide (AQPS) (French): 1-866-APPELLE

If you’re worried someone you know may be at risk of suicide, you should talk to them about it, says the Canadian Association of Suicide Prevention.

Here are some warning signs:

Suicidal thoughts.
Substance abuse.
Purposelessness.
Anxiety.
Feeling trapped.
Hopelessness and helplessness.
Withdrawal.
Anger.
Recklessness.
Mood changes.

Categories
Jodie Foster

She’s still the greatest!!

Jodie Foster: At 55, ‘I can do what I want’

Jodie Foster, one of the most famous actresses in the world, is having a quiet night in.

“I’m at my house with my feet up,” the star, who’s been recovering from surgery after a February skiing accident, tells The Post.

The relaxed vibe is a relief for the intensely private actress, who normally does back-to-back phone interviews from desks in LA hotel rooms when she’s promoting movies. This time, she’s on her own couch.

“They were like, ‘You can do your phoners at home.’ And I was like, ‘What?! It’s a brand-new world!’”

Foster, 55, is all about being unrestricted at this point in her life. The Oscar winner, who stars in the new film “Hotel Artemis,” out Friday, says she has finally been able to choose her own adventure. Now, she only takes the parts she wants — calling herself “picky” — and has spent the last several years focusing on another passion: directing.

“I wanted to re-balance my work,” Foster. “You kind of have to choose, because they’re [each] really 150-percent careers.”

The actress is back in front of the cameras with “Hotel Artemis,” which comes after a five-year break from performing. Her last role was in “Elysium,” and like that 2013 flick, which co-starred Matt Damon, “Artemis” has many elements of science fiction — a genre Foster has grown fond of since starring in “Contact” in 1997.

“I love how predictive sci-fi is and has been,” she says. “I remember going to see … ‘The Matrix,’ and being like, ‘What?! A movie where a guy has an avatar and he’s actually on his couch and has no muscles? What?!’ And I’ve realized it’s just so predictive of where we’re headed.”

In “Hotel Artemis,” which also features Jeff Goldblum and Sterling K. Brown, she tackles the role of the Nurse, an eccentric who stitches up dangerous international criminals at a hotel in a dystopian LA.

The Nurse is far from Foster’s usual fare. For one, the character is 70 years old. She also has none of the actress’ signature confident swagger. The Nurse is a shut-in who shuffles through hallways, head down, and mutters with a Brooklyn accent, even though she lives in California. “Nobody in LA is from LA,” Foster says.

“I really wanted a transformation,” she adds. “That’s something that I’ve wanted to do for a long time.”

But while she was busy making herself totally unrecognizable, her co-star Goldblum was Jeffing it up.

“There’s nobody like him,” Foster says of working with the zany actor. “He’s always Jeff Goldblum no matter what he’s in. It doesn’t matter if he’s playing an 18th-century prince. It doesn’t make any difference. He’s always Jeff Goldblum!”

Foster has worked with countless other stars — among them Kate Winslet, Uma Thurman and Anthony Hopkins — over the course of her long career. As a 3-year-old in LA, she began working as a model in TV commercials because showbiz was in the family. Her mother, Evelyn, was a small-time actress. Her dad, Lucius, from whom she’s now estranged, was a lieutenant colonel in the military. But she never thought an ad for Coppertone would snowball into a full-blown Hollywood career.

“If I had a choice, I probably would’ve ended up being a lawyer,” says Foster, who married photographer Alexandra Hedison in 2014 and has two children, ages 17 and 20. Acting, she says, “is not my personality.”

Nevertheless, she went on to star in some of Hollywood’s most acclaimed films, including “Taxi Driver,” “The Accused” and “The Silence of the Lambs,” winning Oscars for the latter two. During her five-decades-long career, she’s seen the industry make huge changes. Many were for the better, such as the inclusion of more women in producing, writing and directing roles.

“When I was first starting, there were no women,” she says. “It was just me and the lady who played my mom. And sometimes a script supervisor or makeup artist.

“I think it got a lot healthier, and it felt better for everybody when women came into the picture.”

But, she adds, the business of filmmaking has lost its soul. Foster feels that big-budget superhero movies have cannibalized the kind of character-driven films she dazzled audiences with during the ’80s and ’90s.

“I’d like there to be more movies out there that people will go see on an opening weekend that are real stories about real people that don’t feel manufactured in order to get as many asses in seats as possible,” she says. “[Studios] have taken that bet and said, ‘We’re gonna be all in on movies that cost $200 million plus. Damn it, we’re gonna put it on 4,000 screens, and we’re gonna get as many people that first weekend as we can, and we’re gonna sell as much Coca-Cola as possible.’ ”

Nowadays, the best stuff, the actress insists, can be found at art houses or on television. She’s dived head-first into TV, directing episodes of “House of Cards,” “Orange Is the New Black” and, most recently, “Black Mirror” for Netflix. Foster seems to be content working more than ever.

“I feel a kind of freedom now as an actress that I haven’t had in my career,” she says. “I’m 55. I can do what I want. So, if I feel like doing a tiny little part in a little indie movie with a first-time guy that’s shot on his iPhone in his apartment, I can do that.”

Categories
Music

Happy Birthday, Prince!!

New Prince album to be released in September

MINNEAPOLIS — Warner Bros. Records has announced a new Prince album on what would have been the musician’s 60th birthday.

The company said Thursday that “Piano & A Microphone 1983” from Prince’s storied vault will be released on Sept. 21 on CD, vinyl and digital formats.

Warner Bros. says the album features Prince working through nine tracks in a private rehearsal recording at his now-demolished home studio in the Minneapolis suburb of Chanhassen.

Among the songs are “17 Days,” Joni Mitchell’s “A Case of You,” “Strange Relationship,” “International Lover” and “Purple Rain,” the title song of Prince’s 1984 hit movie.

Also included is Prince performing the spiritual “Mary Don’t You Weep.”

Prince was 57 when he died of an accidental fentanyl overdose at his Paisley Park recording complex in 2016.

Categories
Movies

Very cool casting, Quentin!!

Al Pacino Joins Quentin Tarantino’s Manson Movie

Quentin Tarantino’s star-studded “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” just landed another legendary actor: Al Pacino.

Pacino will play Marvin Shwarz — Leonardo DiCaprio’s character’s agent in the Sony film — marking his first collaboration with Tarantino. Dating back to his first feature film, 1992’s “Reservoir Dogs,” Tarantino has always cast movie stars he grew up watching, from Robert Forster in “Jackie Brown” to David Carradine in the “Kill Bill” films. Pacino fits that mold of A-list actors who rose to fame in the 1970s.

Also joining the cast are Damian Lewis, who will play acting icon Steve McQueen, Luke Perry as Scotty Lancer, Emile Hirsch as hairstylist Jay Sebring, Dakota Fanning as Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme — a member of the Manson family — Clifton Collins as Ernesto the Mexican Vaquero, Keith Jefferson as Land Pirate Keith, and Nicholas Hammond as legendary director Sam Wanamaker.

The movie, which Tarantino is writing, directing, and producing, also stars DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Burt Reynolds, and Timothy Olyphant. David Heyman and Shannon McIntosh are producing as well.

The pic takes place in Los Angeles in 1969, at the height of hippy Hollywood. The two lead characters are Rick Dalton (DiCaprio), the former star of a western TV series, and his longtime stunt double, Cliff Booth (Pitt). Both are struggling to make it in a Hollywood they no longer recognize. But Dalton has a very famous next-door neighbor … Sharon Tate.

The film will be released worldwide on August 9, 2019. Opening on the 50th anniversary of the day that the Manson family committed the LaBianca murders and the day after Tate was killed, the film will face off against “Artemis Fowl,” Disney’s adaptation of the popular sci-fi and fantasy series.

Pacino is coming off rave reviews for his performance as Penn State coach Joe Paterno in HBO Films’ “Paterno,” and can be seen next in Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman.”

Categories
Movies

I’m not really sure I need to see OCEANS 8. I’m sure I will, eventually, but I’m in no rush.

‘Ocean’s 8’ Will Run Off With Weekend #1 & ‘Hereditary’ Readies Record Debut for A24

One year ago, fueled by female audiences, Wonder Woman was lighting up the summer box office, en route to becoming the third largest domestic release of 2017. This weekend, the female-led ensemble cast of Ocean’s 8 looks to deliver some solid results of its own following a downer weekend last week. Also hitting theaters is A24’s much-talked about horror film Hereditary as well as Global Road’s Hotel Artemis. Meanwhile, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is getting its start internationally this weekend, two weeks ahead of its domestic bow.

Debuting in a healthy 4,145 theaters, Ocean’s 8 features a massive ensemble including Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Rihanna, Helena Bonham Carter, Sarah Paulson, Awkwafina and Mindy Kaling. The film fits within the Ocean’s film franchise, which began with the 2001 remake starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon and debuted with $38.1 million. That filmed spawned two sequels, the last of which hit theaters eleven years ago, which is just one of the reasons comping for this title has been a little difficult.

While some are pointing to the 2016 Ghostbusters remake as a comp title, or even 2008’s Sex and the City, a variety of factors make both films, along with the original Ocean’s features, a difficult comparison to this latest release. Looking at films over the past five years or so, we’ve used IMDb page view data to draw our attention to films such as Cinderella, Maleficent and Dwayne Johnson’s San Andreas, the latter of which played to an audience that was 51% female and 70% of the overall audience was over the age of 25.

Analysis of IMDb page view data over the two weeks leading up to release shows Ocean’s 8 pacing about 20% behind Cinderella and Maleficent and just 10% behind San Andreas. It’s also dramatically outperforming the Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy comedy The Heat, and while that film played to an older audience, of which 65% were female, its R-rating makes it a tougher comp to rely on.

Overall, Warner Bros. is anticipating a debut in the mid-thirties while tracking as of last week had the film performing within the $35-40 million range. That being said, we’re having a hard time finding reason to go that low and we’re seeing signals this one could hit $50+ million. Right now we’re going out with a $45 million forecast, but won’t be surprised to see this one pop even higher.

Looking at a second place finish is Disney and Lucasfilms’s Solo: A Star Wars Story, dropping about 47% for a weekend around $14.5 million, pushing the film’s domestic gross to $175 million as it begins its third week in release.

Third place could be a tight race between Fox’s Deadpool 2, which begins its fourth weekend in release, and A24’s Hereditary, which will be the studio’s widest release yet, debuting in nearly 3,000 locations. Deadpool 2 should drop around 44% and bring in right around $13 million as it nears $280 million domestically, but will that be enough to hold off Hereditary?

After debuting at the Sundance Film Festival in January, Hereditary has earned rave reviews including a review from The Hollywood Reporter saying it is “[a]rguable the most effective domestic horror chiller since The Conjuring and The Babadook” and Time Out called it “a new generation’s Exorcist”. That’s lofty praise and A24 is looking to take advantage, debuting the film in 2,964 theaters, the studio’s widest release yet topping It Comes at Night, which opened with $5.9 million in 2017 from 2,533 locations, the studio’s second largest opening ever. A24’s largest opening ever currently belongs to another festival darling and horror feature in The Witch, which opened in just 2,046 theaters with $8.8 million. So how does Hereditary stack up?

Fandango.com reports the film is second to just Ocean’s 8 heading into the weekend in terms of ticket sales and looking at IMDb page view data for the last two weeks, Hereditary is out-pacing both It Comes at Night and The Witch at the same point in the release cycle. In fact, it’s pacing just ahead of Oculus ($12m opening) and ahead of The Boy ($10.7m opening). All told, while we wouldn’t be at all shocked to see it slide into third place, right now we’re anticipating a fourth place finish with a strong $12 million three-day.

Rounding out the top five, look for STX’s Adrift to drop right around 45% for a $7.3 million weekend as it nears $25 million domestically.

Outside the top five we have Global Road’s Hotel Artemis, which will open in 2,340 theaters with the studio anticipating a debut in the mid-to-high single digits, which meshes well with our pre-release analysis. IMDb page view comparisons to films such as Criminal and The Last Stand all suggest debuts right around $7 million while comps to films including Collide and Bullet to the Head push expectations down closer to $5 million. Heading into the weekend our anticipated range is anywhere from $4-7 million with our current forecast targeting a $5 million debut.

Elsewhere, keep an eye on The Orchard’s American Animals which topped the weekend charts this past weekend based on per theater average with a solid $33,698 from four locations. This weekend the film expands into a total of 42 theaters and by the end of the month should be in over 400 locations nationwide.

Finally, Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom began playing internationally yesterday in seven of the 48 markets it will release in this weekend before its North American release on June 22. The studio is reporting a $20.2 million opening day from Korea, France, Indonesia, Germany, Philippines, Belgium and French-speaking Switzerland including a record-breaking opening day of $9.7 million in South Korea. Previews also began in select markets on Wednesday including $2.9 million in the UK.

While the studio isn’t expecting the film to reach the heights of 2015’s Jurassic World it’s worth mentioning that film debuted in 67 markets and delivered the third largest overseas opening of all-time with $316.7 million. Other markets where Fallen Kingdom will see release this weekend include Denmark, Hong Kong, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Spain, Thailand, India, China, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico just to name a few.

This weekend’s domestic forecast is directly below. This post will be updated on Friday morning with Thursday night preview results followed by Friday estimates on Saturday morning, and a complete weekend recap on Sunday morning.

Ocean’s 8 (4,145 theaters) – $45.0 M
Solo: A Star Wars Story (4,335 theaters) – $14.5 M
Deadpool 2 (3,823 theaters) – $13.0 M
Hereditary (2,964 theaters) – $12.0 M
Adrift (3,015 theaters) – $7.3 M
Avengers: Infinity War (2,882 theaters) – $6.0 M
Hotel Artemis (2,340 theaters) – $5.0 M
Book Club (2,802 theaters) – $4.6 M
Upgrade (1,458 theaters) – $2.5 M
Life of the Party (1,848 theaters) – $1.9 M

Categories
Movies

I saw SOLO – alone – again this week and enjoyed it just as much. It’s not perfect, but it’s not as bad as people are making it out to be.

Solo box office plummets in second weekend, Action Point fizzles

The Millennium Falcon is hitting some turbulence on a slow post-Memorial Day weekend.

Disney and Lucasfilm’s Solo: A Star Wars Story is on track to earn about $29.3 million in ticket sales from 4,381 theaters in the U.S. and Canada during its second frame, holding on to its box office crown but dropping a steep 65 percent after an already lackluster debut.

That brings Solo’s domestic haul to an estimated $148.9 million after 10 days in theaters — which is less than the opening weekend of the previous Star Wars “anthology” movie, Rogue One ($155.1 million). Solo will add an estimated $30.3 million overseas this weekend, pushing its international total to about $115.3 million.

Marking the 10th film in the Star Wars saga and the second standalone movie, Solo explores the younger years of Han Solo and features Alden Ehrenreich in the title role. Ron Howard directed the film, which cost upward of $250 million to make, in part because he took over for original helmers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller and undertook significant reshoots. Reviews have been mixed to positive, while audiences gave Solo an A-minus CinemaScore.

As the fourth Star Wars movie in less than three years and the weakest yet of the Disney era, Solo could indicate some franchise fatigue. Still, the studio has Episode IX on the calendar for Dec. 20, 2019, and is considering new movies about Boba Fett, Lando, and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Taking second place this weekend is Fox’s Deadpool 2, with an estimated $23.3 million in its third frame. The superhero sequel starring Ryan Reynolds will have grossed about $254.7 million at the domestic box office through Sunday.

The highest-grossing newcomer this weekend is STX’s survival drama Adrift, with about $11.5 million, good for third place. Directed by Baltasar Kormákur and loosely based on a true story, the film stars Shailene Woodley and Sam Claflin a couple who get stranded in the middle of the Pacific Ocean during a hurricane.

Reviews have been mixed to positive, and moviegoers gave it a so-so B CinemaScore.

Also arriving this weekend are BH Tilt’s sci-fi thriller Upgrade, in sixth place with about $4.5 million, and Paramount’s theme park comedy Action Point, in ninth place with about $2.3 million.

The latter figure represents a hard landing for the Johnny Knoxville vehicle, which reportedly cost about $19 million to make. Film critics panned Action Point, and audiences gave it a C-plus CinemaScore.

According to ComScore, overall box office is up 6.2 percent year-to-date. Check out the June 1-3 figures below.

1. Solo: A Star Wars Story — $29.3 million
2. Deadpool 2 — $23.3 million
3. Adrift — $11.5 million
4. Avengers: Infinity War — $10.4 million
5. Book Club — $6.8 million
6. Upgrade — $4.5 million
7. Life of the Party — $3.5 million
8. Breaking In — $2.8 million
9. Action Point — $2.3 million
10. Overboard — $2 million

Categories
Movies

Very cool!!

Elvis Presley’s ’68 Comeback Special to Hit Movie Theaters This Summer

Elvis Presley’s legendary television special Elvis, better known as the “’68 Comeback Special,” will be screened in movie theaters this summer to mark the 50th anniversary of its airing. The screenings will take place on Presley’s death, August 16th, and again on August 20th.

The owner of Elvis Presley Enterprises, Authentic Brands Group–which also owns and manages branding for Marilyn Monroe and Shaquille O’Neal, among others–is arranging the screening with Fathom Events. They have yet to announce the screening times.

“Seeing Elvis onscreen is one of the most memorable and influential brand experiences and we look forward to bringing this special and future events to audiences around the world,” ABG’s senior vice president of entertainment, Marc Rosen, said in a statement.

“ABG is recognized as a global leader in the brand space and the company’s commitment to creating immersive brand experiences aligns perfectly with Fathom’s dedication to providing our audiences with exclusive, interactive and memorable cinema events,” Fathom Events CEO Ray Nutt said. “We look forward to working together on many exciting projects for cinema audiences worldwide, beginning with this rare concert experience for Elvis fans.”

Presley’s comeback special came at a time when the King had been appearing in movies rather than recording music or performing live. It opened with footage of him dressed in a slick, black leather jumpsuit–curling his lip the way his fans remembered–and included a loose, “sit-down” set where he played his early hits with members from his backing band in the Fifties.

“Elvis was hardly ever nervous–but he was then,” drummer D.J. Fontana told Rolling Stone in a feature about the special last year. “We played a couple of songs, and it got loose after a while, and it turned out fine. He just had been out of the public eye for a long time.”

Categories
Television

Sadly, I haven’t been into The Walking Dead since Negan first appeared. I lost all interest in it then.

‘Walking Dead’: Andrew Lincoln to Exit as Norman Reedus Eyes $20M-Plus New Deal

The face of The Walking Dead is leaving the franchise.

Star Andrew Lincoln, who has played beleaguered former sheriff Rick Grimes since the show’s premiere, will exit the AMC zombie drama in its upcoming ninth season, sources confirm to The Hollywood Reporter. Meanwhile, co-star Norman Reedus, who plays Daryl, is in the midst of negotiating a rich new deal that will pay him more than $20 million as he will become the new No. 1 on the call sheet.

Sources say Lincoln will be phased out in season nine in a fashion similar to co-star Lauren Cohan, who will film only six episodes of the series. Cohan, who pays Maggie, opted to exit the highly rated AMC drama and booked the lead in ABC’s Whiskey Cavalier after her efforts to renegotiate a new deal to stay on The Walking Dead went south. After ABC picked up Whiskey Cavalier to series for a midseason bow, it closed the door on Cohan’s full-time return to the series — even if she had closed a new deal. AMC declined comment.

Lincoln’s decision to leave comes as a major shock for the franchise, which ranks as one of the top dramas on all of television among total viewers and the advertiser-coveted adults 18-49 demographic. What’s more, Lincoln’s Rick is still the focal point of creator Robert Kirkman’s comic series on which the AMC drama is based.

Losing Lincoln comes as The Walking Dead has always taken a “remix” approach to its source material and after an eighth season that featured the death of Rick’s son, Carl (Chandler Riggs), who was largely seen as the future of both the show and the comic. (Carl remains alive and well in the source material.)

For his part, Lincoln lives with his family in London and returns to the show’s Atlanta set for production. He has made no secret that he has little desire to cash in on the show’s success with film deals, and he saw his time with The Walking Dead coming to an end sooner rather than later after Rick’s death was foreshadowed multiple times in a season-eight storyline that wound up being part of Carl’s death.

In December, Lincoln told THR that “there needs to be an end game and that is something that is definitely being talked about.” In February, the actor said that “there’s certainly an endgame in my head. Whether or not that’s the same endgame that’s in the producers’ heads or the people I work with, is another matter. That’s open for discussion.”

Sources note that contracts for Lincoln and Reedus were up after season eight. Unlike in the past, AMC was slow to announce a season-nine renewal as the series was negotiating a larger pact with now-former showrunner Scott M. Gimple. Reedus and Lincoln closed new deals at the time to return for season nine, with the former now looking to cash in given the latter’s pending departure. Sources say Reedus has already begun work on season nine in Atlanta as he negotiates his new pact, which, while it isn’t a done deal, is said to be worth north of $20 million.

“There are lots of unanswered questions, and we owe a debt to all of the viewers to answer a few of those,” Lincoln said in February when asked about a storyline in which Rick appeared to be dying. “So, yes, once they’re answered, there is an endgame. I’ve said it before. There’s certainly an endgame in my head.”

News that Lincoln is leaving The Walking Dead comes as the franchise is poised to reinvent itself again in season nine with Angela Kang becoming the show’s fourth showrunner, replacing Gimple. For his part, Gimple has moved on to a larger role with AMC as chief creative officer of all things Walking Dead after Kirkman exited his overall deal with the cable network for a rich deal with Amazon Studios.

“We knew for a long time that season [eight] was, in many ways, the end of a chapter of the show,” Gimple told THR after the finale. “The differences that people will be seeing in season nine and beyond are going to be pronounced. It’s going to be a very different show with characters handling very different issues, challenges and threats than we’ve seen before. These characters will be different in a lot of ways.”

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I hope that Sting gets a cameo. That would be too funny!!

Denis Villeneuve Confirms ‘Dune’ Will Be Released In Two Parts

Esteemed Quebecois filmmaker Denis Villeneuve has quickly shot up the ranks of Hollywood’s top-shelf directors. While “Blade Runner 2049” wasn’t a box office hit, unable to earn even $100 million domestically, it was well respected, earning five Oscar nominations and two wins including the overdue statue for legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins. The movie earned the already-prized director clout, and he’s using it to make his “dream project,” an adaptation of Frank Herbert‘s classic science fiction novel ‘Dune,” which was made into a film by David Lynch back in 1984 (arguably his first and only misstep).

It’s an ambitious undertaking, one filled with scope and scale which feels rarer and rarer within today’s franchise-hungry Hollywood studio system. The fact that Villeneuve is seemingly being given creative carte-blanche for such a project is a reason for celebration.

Not too much has been known about “Dune” so far. Villeneuve had casually mentioned last March that his goal was “to make two films, maybe more.” And in speaking to the French media, the filmmaker confirmed his “Dune” adaptation would definitely split into two parts. “I wish I could direct both movies at the same time, but it would have been too expensive,” he told La Presse. “We’ll do them one at a time.” Villeneuve went on to state that he intends on beginning pre-production on Dune “soon.”

The director said the script is almost in place too. “Eric Roth [“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button“] has written the first draft and, on my side, I worked on it as well,” said Villeneuve, “I have not had such fun creatively since “Incendies.”

Herbert’s “Dune” is dense and sprawling and frankly demands one film to tell its story, so Villeneuve has the right approach. Undoubtedly, the budget will be huge and it speaks to the love of the “Blade Runner 2049” achievements that a studio like Legendary would double down and sink money into another, sure-to-be artful sci-fi epic.

Will that be the approach though? After “Blade Runner 2049,” Villeneuve said making the most expensive art-house movie wasn’t necessarily the best idea, “Let’s just say it would not be a good idea for me to make a movie like that twice,” he told the Telegraph. “It was only when I came out that I realized we had made a monster.”

Let’s hope he changes his mind, the movie connects with mainstream audiences, and he brings Roger Deakins along for the ride.