Matthew Monagle
Weekend Box Office Report: ‘The Fate of the Furious’ Highlights a Week of Diversity
You know how culture critics sometimes say you should stop being surprised when diverse films do well at the box office? They may be right, but even the most optimistic pundit probably couldn’t have seen this weekend coming. The tops spots on this weekend’s Box Office Report are a testament to their audiences, proving that Americans are ready to support films that aim for more than just the typica
Weekend Box Office Report: ‘Fate of the Furious’ Wins a Turbulent Weekend
In a week devoid of any major releases, we still saw some major changes at the box office, with familiar faces like Kong: Skull Island, Power Rangers, and Get Out (RIP) all falling from the Top 10 in favor of new releases or aggressively expanding art films. Of course, not everything was different; if you read these box office reports every weekend, I’ll bet you can name the top three movies (in order) with minimal effort. Here’s the weekend box office projections as of Sunday afternoon:
Weekend Box Office Report: ‘Fate of the Furious’ Zooms Up the Record Books
Audiences don’t turn their back on family. That’s the lesson to be learned from this past weekend, anyways, when The Fate of the Furious proved that this is one franchise showing no signs of slowing down. It was never a question of whether The Fate of the Furious would take the top spot this weekend, but even the most optimistic of projections couldn’t have expected the global domination that this movie undertook. Here’s the box office estimates as of Sunday afternoon:
Unused Carrie Fisher Footage Will Appear in ‘Star Wars: Episode IX’
It’s been a few months since the world lost Carrie Fisher, and while many would prefer to expand the conversation to her accomplishments outside of the Star Wars universe, plenty of people are anxiously wondering how her death might affect her character in the upcoming Star Wars sequels. For some, this can be viewed as a tacky approach to celebrity, but there’s a sweeter side to things as well. Leia Organa remains an icon for people around the world; finding an appropriate way to say goodbye to her character will be, in essence, the way many Star Wars fans say goodbye to Fisher herself.
Weekend Box Office Report: ‘The Boss Baby’ Just Cannot Be Stopped
Welcome to the calm before the storm. With a handful of blockbuster movies already released, and more on the way, the second weekend in April was a relatively quiet affair, with a few old favorites dominating the weekend yet again and a few new releases grabbing whatever box office they could before things get fast and furious at your local multiplex. Let’s take a look at the projected grosses through Sunday afternoon.
You’ll Never Travel Abroad Again After Watching the ‘Berlin Syndrome’ Trailer
Every year, it seems like someone makes an argument that horror films are better than they’ve ever been in the past. And while the incredible success of Get Out means that 2017 is off to a great start for horror movies, the truth is, horror movies have been pretty darn great for a while now. The last decade has seen innovative filmmakers — even filmmakers not known for horror movies — use the genre to make inexpensive films with a few buckets of blood and something smart to say. Why waste time trying to figure out which individual year was the best when we could just watch some movies?
Weekend Box Office Report: ‘Power Rangers’ Is No Match for Beauties or Beasts
After several weeks of limited movement, a handful of new releases prompted a pretty thorough shakeup of the Box Office Top 10. While Beauty and the Beast continued its unstoppable assault on the domestic box office, we also said hello this weekend to three new movies and goodbye to a handful of old favorites from the first few months of the year. Let’s start with the estimated numbers as of Sunday afternoon.
Weekend Box Office Report: ‘Kong: Skull Island’ Climbs to the Top of the Charts
While the giant ape in Kong: Skull Island may not climb any New York skyscrapers this time around, he certainly did climb the box office charts. The latest Warner Bros. monster movie shot all the way to the top spot in its opening weekend, with Logan and the surprising hit Get Out both shifting one spot down to accommodate him.
Bill Paxton, Star of ‘Aliens’ and ‘Twister,’ Passes Away at 61
As a teenager in the ’90s, no actor better represented blockbuster movies than Bill Paxton. Although Paxton wasn’t typically a leading man in those movies — he would often play the brother, the second-in-command, or the comic relief — he served as a kind of talisman of quality. If you saw Paxton’s name in the opening credits of a movie, you knew that the film was going to be better for it.
Robert De Niro’s Still Trying to Lure Joe Pesci Out of Retirement for Martin Scorsese’s ‘The Irishman’
Like most cinephiles, I was vaguely aware that Joe Pesci has been retired from acting for a while now, but I assumed that meant he had made a few low-budget movies in the early 2000s and walked away. Imagine my surprise, then, when I realized that Pesci has made exactly two live-action movies since Lethal Weapon 4 in 1998. One was The Good Shepherd, the Robert De Niro-directed 2006 drama about the early history of the CIA. And if a close friend can lure Joe Pesci out of retirement once, maybe he can do it again.
Rumor: Did a Copyright Filing Reveal the ‘Star Wars: Episode 8’ Subtitle?
Look, we get it. Even with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story set to hit theaters next week, some of you just prefer your Star Wars stories to be part of the main story. And although we might be as caught up as everyone else in talking about the prospect of prequels and standalone movies, that doesn’t mean we’ve forgotten how to give you some good, old-fashioned Star Wars: Episode VIII gossip. Here’s one we know you’ll like: rumors are circulating that the title of the next film popped up in the most unlikely of places.
Ewan McGregor Explains Why He Nearly Turned Down ‘Star Wars’
Over the past few years, there has been a small but noticeable attempt to rehabilitate the image of the Star Wars prequels in popular culture. Last November, for example, the A.V. Club published an article on why the Star Wars prequels don’t deserve our hatred. Similar pieces have been published in The Mary Sue, USA Today, and many other websites and online publications. It just goes to show that there is a lid for every pot, no matter how misshapen that pot may be.