Matthew Monagle
Weekend Box Office Report: Thankfully, ‘Dunkirk’ Holds Off ‘The Emoji Movie’
Be honest with me: did you really want to see a picture of The Emoji Movie at the top of this article? You had to be hoping that Atomic Blonde or Dunkirk would hang strong enough to keep The Emoji Movie from finishing in the top spot of its opening weekend, right? Well, good news for you: it’s not the highest-grossing movie in America this weekend! Has there ever in the history of Hollywood been a box office one-two as disparate as Dunkirk and The Emoji Movie? Actually, don’t answer that, I don’t want to know. Here’s the projected grosses as of Sunday afternoon:
‘Princess Diaries’ Author Says a Third Movie Might Happen
While Colossal may not have broken box office records, it was a welcome reminder that Anne Hathaway deserved better than whatever rom-com hell we’d locked her in for the past few years. In fact, as Lauren Duca recently pointed out on Twitter, now would be a perfect time revisit our opinions of the actress altogether, dating all the way back to her breakout role in The Princess Diaries. I mean, it can’t be a coincidence that now that we’re learning to appreciate Hathaway again, we’re suddenly getting talk of another Princess Diaries movie. These strange things happen all the time.
Marvel’s Kevin Feige Addresses the Challenge of Superhero Fatigue
Unless you’ve been taking a break from your phone this past weekend - we all do it from time-to-time, it’s totally healthy to unplug every now and then - you’ve probably been inundated with new superhero movie and television rumors. New Marvel shows! New DC movies! Prequels! Sequels! Reboots! Reimaginings! Yes, whether you’re a global powerhouse like Disney or a smaller boutique studio like Blumhouse, odds are you’ve got at least one superhero adaptation on your slate of films for the next two years.
Check Out the Exclusive ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’ Comic-Con Poster
After a few months of radio silence from Marvel on the Ant-Man and the Wasp front, the last two weeks have seen a flurry of activity. First there was the announcement that Randall Park would be joining the cast as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, then the news that Walton Goggins had signed on for a yet-unknown - but probably evil - part in the movie. All of that was blown away this past weekend with the news that Michelle Pfeiffer and Laurence Fishburne would be joining the cast as contemporaries of Michael Douglas‘ Hank Pym. Man, these Marvel casts just keep getting better and better.
Weekend Box Office Report: ‘Dunkirk’ Wins the Weekend
What did you see this weekend? Was it the dour World War II epic? The raunchy New Orleans sex comedy? Or the movie where Cara Delevingne shoves her head into a telepathic jellyfish’s butt? Truly, with options like this, anyone who complains about the death of cinema has no idea what they’re talking about. Anyways, here’s the box office numbers through Sunday afternoon:
Check Out These Gorgeous New ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ Character Posters
While Disney might be holding back some of its best stuff for Comic-Con this year, that doesn’t mean there weren’t a few Star Wars: The Last Jedi teasers that they could share at this past weekend’s D23. Just yesterday, we were treated to a new featurette that went behind the scenes of the production; right on the heels of that comes these new character posters, a beautiful new mix of familiar faces and bright colors. It’s not exactly the brand new trailer that some were hoping for, but it should keep us occupied until the next opportunity presents itself.
Rumor: Be Prepared for Hugh Jackman as Scar in Disney’s ‘The Lion King’
Pop quiz, hotshot: what does an actor do after he retires from one of the most iconic superhero roles of all time? Answer: anything he wants! Nobody would fault Hugh Jackman for spending the next several years drinking mojitos on the beach and packing on some of the pounds he was contractually obligated to keep off for the X-Men franchise, but it sounds like Jackman isn’t about to rest on his laurels anytime soon. The actor has been hinting at an upcoming Disney collaboration over the last day, sharing suggestive photos of himself at Disney parks, and now a hot new rumor seems to explain why.
Rumor Has It Daniel Craig (and Adele!) Have Agreed to Return for ‘Bond 25’
If we’re lucky, every few years we’re treated to a will-they-or-won’t-they love story that sparks our imagination and warms our hearts. Ross and Rachel from Friends. Jim and Pam from The Office. Daniel and Barbara from Bond 25. Yes, these are classic, iconic love stories, where two people who are destined to be together must nevertheless fight through a series of unfortunate events before going public with their mutual love and affection. Which is all a complicated and jokey way of saying, c’mon, Daniel Craig and Barbara Broccoli, we know y’all are going to make Bond 25 happen, so just do it already!
Weekend Box Office Report: ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ Nails the Stark Internship
Did any new releases come out this weekend? I honestly can’t remember. Someone mentioned that there was a new Marvel movie in theaters - one featuring some sort of Spider-Person - but that can’t be right. I feel like I would’ve seen that, perhaps promoted on an unprecedented level for any superhero movie? Hmm. Well, anyways, here’s the weekend box office estimates as of Sunday afternoon:
Dino-Mite! Production Wraps on ‘Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’
While we still don’t know much about Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom - the newly rechristened sequel to Colin Trevorrow’s runaway success Jurassic World - there are a few things we can say for sure. For one, Jeff Goldblum is back in the franchise and will definitely be reprising his Ian Malcolm character from the original movie. For two, the movie will have an ‘epic’ submarine sequence that is intended to rival anything in The Fate of the Furious. For three, the film will also bring back ‘Rexy,’ the giant T-Rex that proves that she, not the Indominus Rex, is the true alpha of the Jurassic World kingdom.
Batman Will Go Steampunk in ‘Gotham by Gaslight,’ the Next DC Animated Movie
While the unholy war between DC and Marvel movies continues unabated on the internet, fans of the former certainly seem to have a leg up when it comes to animated movies. DC Animation, the animated branch of their comic book empire, has confidently been churning out high-quality animated movies while the movie franchise is discussed ad naseum, leading some fans to suggest that DC Animation, not DC Films, is the true powerhouse of the comic book company’s film market. DC Animation is so prolific - and often so much fun - that we even tackled a comprehensive ranking of all the movies released through 2016. Spoiler alert: Batman: Year One is still the best.
Steve Buscemi Joins the Cast of Adam Sandler’s Latest Netflix Comedy ‘The Night Of’
The next time you scroll through the Netflix menu and skip over an Adam Sandler comedy, just know that you’re not exactly in the majority there. You’ll probably remember Netflix’s numbers from earlier this year suggesting that their viewers have spent more than 500 million hours watching Sandler comedies, meaning that the average user has watched 2.86 of his movies on Netflix alone. We can argue about the merits of Sandler as a filmmaker or Netflix as a distribution model, but when it comes the marriage of Sandler and Netflix, the results are hard to deny. There’s oil in them-there sophomoric jokes.