Matthew Monagle
Violence Erupts at the Algiers Hotel in the First ‘Detroit’ TV Spot
Every major historical movie comes with a choice. Do you go seek the true story behind the film’s events in an attempt to be well-read prior to its release? Or do you embrace your ignorance — albeit temporarily — in order to ensure the sanctity of the cinematic experience? It isn’t difficult to find in-depth literature about the film; Wayne State University Press recently re-released The Detroit Riot of 1967, a first-hand account by the former aide to the Detroit police commissioner who now serves as the Dean of Public Affairs at the University of Michigan. In many ways, Kathryn Bigelow’s Detroit seems to be setting a historical precedent for the abuse of power stories we see in every city across America.
Weekend Box Office Report: All Hail The Truly Wondrous ‘Wonder Woman’
Based on how this weekend’s box office numbers shaped up, odds are good that you either saw Wonder Woman this weekend or you avoided the theater altogether. It was a record-setting few days for everyone’s favorite warrior princess — sorry, Xena — but things were decidedly less rosy if your movie was… well, literally anything else. Here are the box office estimates as of Sunday afternoon:
Tom Cruise Is Probably Gonna Die in These 3 New ‘The Mummy’ Clips
We’re less than a week away from Universal’s latest attempt to launch a Dark Universe, and fans are still uncertain as to what’s in store for their favorite iconic horror characters. With stars like Tom Cruise and Russell Crowe on board, will The Mummy be more action-packed than horrific? Does Cruise have another hit franchise on his hands — to go along with the Mission: Impossible and Jack Reacher films — or will fans wish that this particular mummy had remained dead?
Bill Maher Apologizes for His Use of a Racial Slur on ‘Real Time’
Since 2003, HBO’s Real Time With Bill Maher has been a divisive source of comedy and political commentary. If you believe the old adage that there’s no such thing as bad publicity, then the last few years have been particularly kind to the series; Maher has come under attack for his comments on an Ann Coulter protest at the University of California at Berkeley or his decision to give alt-right poster child Milo Yiannopoulos the chance to spread his message of intolerance to the masses. And while Maher has survived and even thrived at the center of controversy, his recent use of a racial slur on the show may be the final straw for even his most ardent supporters.
Weekend Box Office Report: ‘Pirates’ Plunders While ‘Baywatch’ Blunders
There was a time not so long ago when Memorial Day weekend was a big deal for Hollywood, but this weekend felt more like a bunch of under-performers gathering together and learning very little about life. Call it the anti-Breakfast Club, if you will. This certainly isn’t what Hollywood had in mind for most of the franchises, and while Johnny Depp’s latest pirate movie did OK, OK seems to be the operative word of the summer if you’re not a movie about superheroes or literate villagers. Here’s the weekend gross through Sunday afternoon:
Things Get Awkward (and Sexy!) in the ‘Deadpool’ Gag Reel
Behold, the gag reel. Long a staple of the home video market, the gag reel was perhaps at its most popular in the 1990s, when Jackie Chan released a string of movies that included painful outtakes during the closing credits. When studios realized that they could package an entire DVD release around the special feature menu, the gag reel became a mainstay of any comedy releases over the last 15 years. And because Deadpool was one big improvised joke with enough physical humor to make Mel Brooks blush, it was a natural fit for the film’s Blu-ray release as well.
Wolverine Talks Sabertooth in This ‘Logan’ Deleted Scene
Fans of Hugh Jackman’s final Wolverine movie are about to have a pretty big month: not only does Logan return to theaters in a special black-and-white format on Tuesday, May 16, but the movie will be available on VOD that same date and on Blu-ray/DVD on May 23. A home video release, of course, means deleted scenes, and deleted scenes often have a habit of showing up online in the few weeks before the physical copy is released. And gosh, wouldn’t you know? A doozy of a deleted scene is now available for your viewing pleasure.
Weekend Box Office Report: ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Soars, ‘King Arthur’ Crashes
On Thursday evening, plenty of executives went to bed with dreams of big opening weekend numbers in their head. Could the movie about a magical king unseat the movie about a talking tree? Or would a mother-daughter comedy with just the right release date unseat a pair of battling sisters? Now that we’ve reached the end of the holiday weekend, we finally have the numbers, and it turns out the answer was no and no, respectively. Here’s this past weekend’s grosses as of Sunday afternoon:
Watch James Gunn Narrate a Key ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’ Scene
When it comes to cinematic influences, James Gunn is a bit of a sponge. His original Guardians of the Galaxy film not only drew on other films in the Marvel universe, but also from a slew of movies — both big and small — in Hollywood’s action and science-fiction history. It’s always fun to listen to Gunn talk about his film influences, which is what makes this New York Times commentary track of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 such a kick. Who else but James Gunn would drop references to Alfred Hitchcock and MAD Magazine in the same sentence?
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:
Pennywise Is Mighty Hungry in This New ‘It’ Production Photo
Studio math might be one part proprietary data and one part alchemy, but here’s something I feel pretty confident saying: when your trailer sets the all-time record for most views in a day, you’re about to make some moolah. We all remember that the first teaser trailer for It had 197 million views in its first 24 hours online, shattering the previous (albeit short-lived) record of 139 million set by The Fate of the Furious. Those would be extraordinary numbers for any movie, but for an unapologetic horror film about a demon clown? Not even the most aggressive Warner Bros. projections could have predicted that.