Monday, June 13, 2016
Box Office
From ew, As expected, James Wan’s horror sequel The Conjuring 2 bested both of its theatrical foes at the June 10-12 box office, nearly matching the impressive weekend gross of its predecessor with an estimated $40.4 million from 3,343 screens.
Featuring returning stars Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the film received decent reviews from critics and audiences, earning a 74 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and an A- grade on CinemaScore. With three new wide releases hitting theaters, the weekend box office still paled in comparison to the same frame last year, when Universal’s Jurassic World debuted to a then-record $208.8 million opening. Total yearly business is still up 4.1 percent overall from 2015, however.
The Conjuring series’ slight drop in attendance from the first film to second (a mere $1.5 million separates their opening weekend grosses) continues Wan’s financial success at the box office: He last directed 2015’s Furious 7 to over $1.5 billion worldwide and previously found success in the horror genre with 2004’s Saw ($103.9 million worldwide on a $1.2 million budget), 2011’s Insidious ($97 million worldwide on a $1.5 million budget), and 2013’s Insidious: Chapter 2 ($161.9 million worldwide on a $5 million budget). In-line with his previous efforts in the genre, The Conjuring 2 scared up around $50 million from 44 markets and approximately 10,400 screens around the world, bringing its worldwide total to $90.4 million.
Horror films in general tend to dip significantly in their second weekend, so it’s unlikely the film reaches the lofty $137 million precedent set by The Conjuring in 2013, but the fact remains that it is still the only major horror film on the market (and will be until The Shallows opens on July 1) and will serve as substantial counterprogramming to Finding Dory and Central Intelligence next weekend.
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A third installment of The Conjuring now seems likely, though Wan previously said he doesn’t know if he’ll have time to step into the role of director, as he currently has the DC Comics adaptation of Aquaman on deck as his next project.
For a film with a $160 million budget, Warcraft’s estimated $24.4 million domestic debut at No. 2 might seem small in comparison to other fantasy epics, but the North American gross of the video game adaptation is a tiny piece of a much larger puzzle for Universal, as the film continues to do stellar business overseas. As of Sunday, Warcrafthas earned over $300 million globally, including its U.S. totals and $144 million in China, where the film has thus far grossed more in its first four days of release than Star Wars: The Force Awakens andBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justice grossed over their entire runs. The film’s audience skewed largely male (69 percent), with a majority of moviegoers considering themselves to be “heavy gamers” according to comScore’s PostTrak survey.
Now You See Me 2, yet another cinematic continuation hitting wide release this season, fared well in comparison to other 2016 summer sequels, dropping slightly from the $29.4 million debut of its predecessor to bring in an estimated $23 million from 3,232 locations for a solid $7,124 per-screen average at No. 3. The Lionsgate flick attracted an evenly split demographic, as 51 percent of the film’s opening weekend audience was male with the remaining 49 percent being female. The film also attracted an even 50/50 split of audiences above and below the age of 25, indicating large cross-demo appeal that will, like the first film, carry it to a significantly higher cumulative total by the end of its run. The film also debuted in 30 international markets, bringing in nearly $23 million for an overall haul of $45.8 million globally.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows lost nearly 60 percent of its audience as it crashed from a $35 million opening to an estimated $14.8 million during its second weekend. The $135 million picture has grossed $116 million around the world, $61 million of which comes from North America — still failing to match even the $65.6 million the first film in the rebooted franchise made over its first three days of release.
Rounding out the top five, X-Men: Apocalypse edges out Me Before You with an estimated $10 million, though it lost 568 screens heading into its third weekend in wide release. The Warner Bros. romantic drama fell harder than expected, bringing in around $9.2 million according to early projections. The film, based on Jojo Moyes’ popular novel of the same name, has so far earned $55 million around the world on a $20 million budget.
Here are the weekend’s top 10 films at the box office:
1. The Conjuring 2 - $40.4 million
2. Warcraft - $24.4 million
3. Now You See Me 2 - $23 million
4. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows - $14.8 million
5. X-Men: Apocalypse - $10 million
6. Me Before You - $9.2 million
7. The Angry Birds Movie - $6.7 million
8. Alice Through the Looking Glass - $5.5 million
9. Captain America: Civil War - $4.3 million
10. The Jungle Book - $2.7 million
Friday, June 10, 2016
Why Russian Audiences Hated Spider-Man In Captain America: Civil War
From cinemablend, Captain America: Civil War was released over a month ago and fans are still reeling in glee from what may be the best entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Aside from the impressively grounded plot and superb pacing of the film, a few individual performances managed to successfully steal the show and delight comic fans. Perhaps the best of these was the debut of Tom Holland's Peter Parker/Spider-Man, who finally entered the MCU. Unfortunately, it turns out that Russian audiences weren't so thrilled with Spidey, and for good reason.
Russian audiences are reportedly very unhappy with the voice actor who dubbed Spider-Man in Russian. The actor apparently sounded extremely young, which ruined the coolness of Spidey and the ability for the audience to take the character seriously. The dubbed Spider-Man sounds as young as 10 years old, rather than a witty and wise-cracking teenager that Peter Parker is meant to be.
This outrage and disappointment with Peter Parker's Russian dub has led to Russian audiences starting a petition on change.org urging the studio to change the voice actor for future installments of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. At the point of writing this story, the petition has garnered a total of 1,188 supporters out of the goal 1,5000 signatures.
Spider-Man's strangely young voice presumably was rather distracting when Russian moviegoers finally got to see Captain America: Civil War. Both international and domestic audiences had been eagerly awaiting Civil War, which was built on eight years of films and character development. After seeing the previous 12 films, having one factor throw off the big airport fight would be infuriating.
Additionally, MCU fans had been waiting for Spider-Man to join the universe for a long time. Marvel's deal with Sony was cause for celebration, and the almost complete lack of Spidey in Civil War's marketing material only served to build up anticipation for the web slinger. So for the voice not to match the actor would probably drive me bananas, too.
Personally, I'm dying to hear the strange 10-year old voice in Civil War. While I can empathize with audiences, it's hard to truly understand their frustration without hearing the ridiculous voice for myself. Tom Holland's performance has been referred to as perhaps the best part of the movie, so it's hard to imagine a version ofCaptain America: Civil War where Spider-Man wasn't utterly awesome. But with much of Peter Parker's screen time occurring while in the Spidey costume, I'd imagine a child voice would really take me out of the moment.
Of course, we'll continue to update you as more signatures accumulate, and if it actually affects positive change in the Russian dub of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Captain America: Civil War is still in theaters, so if you want to see Spideydone right make sure you fly into the movies soon.
Disney is Currently Testing Interactive ‘Star Wars’ Droids For Its Theme Parks
From cinemablend, We all know that Disney’s Star Wars theme park lands are going to be immersive. Specifically, we all know that they haveto be immersive at the bare minimum if they want to compete with Universal Studios’ Wizarding World of Harry Potter, the current high water mark in theme park design. Knowing Disney, they will go out of their way and spend a lot of money to fight back against that boy wizard and reclaim their position at the top of this particular food chain. This theme park cold war is going to result in some mighty fine work. Whoever wins, we win.
While the two unnamed Star Wars lands are currently little more than big piles of dirt at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World, a new video has given us a taste of just how far they may be willing push to the immersion factor. How about droids wandering the area, integrating with guests and their environment?
The YouTube Channel DAPs Magic has footage of a droid wandering around the Star Wars Launch Bay exhibit at Disneyland and it’s pretty obvious that the Disney Imagineers are testing the waters for something bigger. It’s not clear if this little guy is being controlled via remote control or if he’s semi-autonomous and is essentially a next-generation Roomba, but we do know that his name is Jake and that he’s adorable in that typical Star Wars droid fashion. If this is the kind of tech Disney is testing out in the parks years before the actual Star Wars lands take shape, I can’t wait to see what they bring to the actual opening.
We already know that each Star Wars land will be an alien spaceport, a neutral location that will allow characters and ships from across the galaxy (and the canon) to gather in one place and interact with fans. In addition to two major rides, the area will include shopping and dining opportunities where each cast member (employee in Disney-speak) is “in character” as a citizen of the port. And it wouldn’t be a spaceport without droids rolling around all over the place. However, the final version of these will probably be accompanied by a guard of some sort. It may be the happiest place on Earth, but the stories of guests assaulting costumed characters at Disneyland are legendary. A tiny little robot will never survive on its own.
In the meantime, we can look forward to the opening of Walt Disney World’s Avatar-themed land at their Animal Kingdom park in Florida. Whether you like that movie or not, it should give us an idea of what kind of technology and theming we can expect from Star Wars land down the road.
Thursday, June 09, 2016
Tuesday, June 07, 2016
‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Has Finally Ended Its Theatrical Run
From collider, After nearly six months in theaters, Star Wars: The Force Awakens has finally ended its domestic theatrical run, and its concluding box office tally is a doozy. When all is said and done, The Force Awakens scored a grand total of $936,662,225. While it scored the all-time domestic record some time ago, surpassing Avatar’s tally of $760,507,625, the film just kept going and going, not just breaking the record but destroying it. It also far outgrossed the prior top-performing Star Wars film, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, which finished with $474,544,677 in 1999.
But while The Force Awakens is the domestic box office champ, it didn’t have the stamina to outperform James Cameron’s two juggernauts internationally. J.J. Abrams’ film has a worldwide total of $2.068 billion, which is enough to secure the #3 spot on the all-time worldwide chart, but is short of Titanic’s $2.186 billion orAvatar’s still-insane $2.788 billion. Indeed, Cameron’s worldwide record seems secure for the foreseeable future—I’m doubtful anything can beat that Avatar record. But for a full picture, here’s how the domestic all-time top 10 looks right now:
1. Star Wars: The Force Awakens – $936,662,225
2. Avatar – $760,507,625
3.Titanic – $658,672,302
4. Jurassic World – $652,270,625
5. Marvel’s The Avengers– $623,357,910
6. The Dark Knight – $534,858,444
7. Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace – $474,544,677
8. Star Wars – $460,998,007
9. Avengers: Age of Ultron – $459,005,868
10. The Dark Knight Rises – $448,139,099
The Force Awakens remains a success by all accounts, and it’ll be interesting to see if any of Lucasfilm’s many sequels and spinoffs in the works can come close to any of the film’s records, be it the domestic total or opening weekend ($246.9 million). Sequels by and large don’t perform as well as their predecessors, and while the newness of The Force Awakens demanded it be seen whether you were interested or not, now audiences have had a taste of the new Star Wars franchise and know for certain whether they want to continue with it. That means, despite the quality of further installments, the box office results will probably be lower than Force Awakens. The insane success of Abrams’ film could also explain why Lucasfilm appears bent on nitpicking Rogue One to death.
So while there’s plenty to look forward to in the Star Wars universe to come, it’s unlikely we’ll see something as monumental as The Force Awakens with subsequent films. For a refresher, here’s what Lucasfilm officially has on tap:
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story directed by Gareth Edwards – December 16, 2016
Star Wars: Episode VIII directed by Rian Johnson – December 15, 2017
Untitled Han Solo film directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller – May 25, 2018
Star Wars: Episode IX directed by Colin Trevorrow – May 24, 2019
Untitled Anthology film written by Simon Kinberg – 2020
And you thought you were having a bad day...
(CNN)An Australian ocean photographer has captured a one-in-a-million example of the cruelty of life in the deep -- a fish peering out into the ocean, helpless, from inside a jellyfish.
Tim Samuel, a self-described "ocean obsessed... lover of photography and adventures," captured the image off Pass Beach in Byron Bay, Australia.
He told CNN he was snorkeling out to a reef with a friend and collaborator, videographer Franny Plumridge, to photograph turtles and was swimming in open water between the shore and a reef when he came across the unusual sight.
Fish can recognize humans: study
"There were no other fish in sight," he told CNN by phone. "I just stumbled upon it."
He says he followed it around for about 20-30 minutes, and, despite the difficulties of focusing on such a small subject, was able to take a few photos, which he published to his website andInstagram account.
The fish, which was still alive, was trying to swim but the jellyfish kept veering it off course.
'Let nature take its course'
"(The fish) seemed to be struggling a little bit, as it would swim around, it would try to swim in a straight line but the jellyfish would knock it off course, would send it in little circles or loops.
"It was a tough decision, I definitely thought about setting it free, but in the end decided to just let nature run its course."
Underwater 'city' is natural, say scientists
Much of Byron Bay, where Samuel is based, is a designated marine park and is protected from fishing. As a result, Samuel says, marine life is thriving.
He says he's been in touch with marine biologists through the nature publication Australian Geographic, who "say they've never seen anything like it.
"At the time knew I'd stumbled upon something pretty special."
The publication quoted Ian Tibbetts, a marine biologist at the Center for Marine Science at the University of Queensland, who suggests the fish could be a juvenile trevally, which are known to use jellyfish stingers as protection.
"It's difficult to tell whether disaster has just struck, or whether the fish is happy to be in there," he is quoted as saying.
"Although by the photographer's description of the fish swimming, my guess is that it is probably quite happy to be protected in there"
Monday, June 06, 2016
Fox apologizes for 'X-Men: Apocalypse' ads showing Jennifer Lawrence being strangled
New York (CNN)20th Century Fox is apologizing for an "X-Men: Apocalypse" promotional image showing Jennifer Lawrence's character Mystique being strangled by villain Apocalypse.
The grim image was plastered on roadside billboards, posters and is featured in the movie's trailer.
Social media has been smoldering over the ads showing such violence to a woman. The film studio responded to the backlash by saying that they were removing the image from promotional materials.
"In our enthusiasm to show the villainy of the character Apocalypse we didn't immediately recognize the upsetting connotation of this image in print form," Fox said in a statement. "Once we realized how insensitive it was, we quickly took steps to remove those materials. We apologize for our actions and would never condone violence against women."
People took to Twitter to express their outrage over the seemingly sexist image.
The appeal of the X-Men poster showing Jennifer Lawrence being choked is that battery can be fun?— Gabriela RM (@GabrielaRM) May 13, 2016
One Twitter user wrote: "The appeal of the X-Men poster showing Jennifer Lawrence being choked is that battery can be fun?"
Is anyone else bothered by the fact that one of the most prominent advertisements for X-Men: Apocalypse is Jennifer Lawrence being choked?— Andrew Marshello (@itsthemarsh) May 11, 2016
Another user wrote: "Is anyone else bothered by the fact that one of the most prominent advertisements for X-Men: Apocalypse is Jennifer Lawrence being choked?"
This doesn't seem to be affecting the success of Fox's popular franchise, however.
"Apocalypse" opened at the top spot at the North American box office last weekend and has so far grossed over $285 million worldwide.
Box Office
Out of the Shadows banked $35 million which, when added with the $34 million earned in foreign markets, is less than a $70 million start against a $135 million production budget. That's unlikely to spell complete financial flop for the heroes on a half shell, but it certainly puts a crack in the viability of a third entry to this rebooted franchise. The opening is almost half of the $65 million start its predecessor enjoyed in 2014, a further indication that after only two movies, audiences are already weary of this TMNT incarnation.
Slipping to second place, X-Men: Apocalypse banked enough in its second weekend to finally cross the $100 million mark, something that other comic movies this year have been achieving in their first weekends.
At this rate the Apocalypse has a fighting chance to wind up as the second lowest domestic earner in the franchise, just ahead of X-Men: First Class. With international sales included, Apocalypse is at just over $400 million, meaning Fox still has a lot of money to make from future movies with its Marvel cash cow.
Romantic drama Me Before You took in $18 million for a third place debut. That's a nice start for first time feature film director Thea Sharrock (no doubt with much thanks to the presence of Game of Thrones actress Emilia Clarke's name at the top of the bill). Especially when Andy Samberg's latest comedy Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (which has garnered decent praise from critics) tanked to the tune of a $4 million eighth place opening, one of the worst for Samberg.
For the full weekend top ten, check out the chart below:
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