Matthew Monagle
Weekend Box Office Report: Tom Cruise Is No Match for ‘Wonder Woman’
If you only look at the surface numbers, this was a pretty predictable week at the box office. Wonder Woman did well, The Mummy did not, and everything else shook out accordingly. That being said, there’s some pretty interesting narratives emerging in the how and why of this weekend’s box office report. Let’s take a look at the rankings as of Sunday afternoon and dive into some of the specifics:
Melissa McCarthy Is Set to Save Christmas in ‘Margie Claus’
Rejoice, parents: you’ll soon have a new Christmas movie to add to your family’s holiday rotation. If your family was anything like my own, you probably grew tired of placating screaming nieces and nephews with the same ratty DVD copies of A Christmas Story, Elf, or Home Alone. That makes any new holiday movie — regardless of quality — a welcome change of pace. Arthur Christmas? Fine. Rise of the Guardians? It’ll do in a pinch. Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale? Maybe save that one for the time in the evening when the uncles break out the adults-only eggnog. But a Melissa McCarthy Christmas comedy? That could be quite a boon for tired family members everywhere.
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.
‘Crouching Tiger’ Star Zhang Ziyi Joins the Cast of ‘Godzilla: King of the Monsters’
If you’ve been paying attention to the early box office reports for Tom Cruise’s The Mummy, then you know that cinematic universes are no sure thing in the modern blockbuster era. That being said, the international success of the first films in the Monsterverse — the affectionate nickname for the shared universe of Godzilla and King Kong movies — has pretty much ensured that Legendary and Warner Bros. will be moving forward with their movie franchises. And while the studio may not be populating their films with the most obvious household names, they seem to be going a more interesting route, pulling together a diverse group of talented actors to anchor their monster-driven stories.Bradley Whitford Joins the Cast of ‘Godzilla: King of the Monsters’
The Funniest ‘Wonder Woman’ Scene Was Completely Improvised
A few weeks before Wonder Woman hit theaters, film critics took to social media to share their early reactions of the newest movie in the DC Cinematic Universe. And while critics had plenty of great things to say about the film’s overall tone and Gal Gadot in particular, one sentiment above all others kept bubbling to the surface: this movie was funny. When fans got a chance to see the movie for themselves, they were pretty quick to agree. Gadot’s fish-out-of-water take on Diana Prince, combined with Chris Pine’s deadpan delivery as the superhero’s straight man, makes Wonder Woman one of the funniest comic book movies to date.
Producer Ivan Reitman Wants ‘Ghostbusters’ to Go International
There are two diverging narratives surrounding Paul Feig’s 2016 Ghostbusters remake. On the one hand, fans of the original films were irrationally upset to see Hollywood give their (suddenly untouchable) films an all-female cast. For them, the film was a deserved flop. On the other hand, countless stories were written about a new generation of female Ghostbusters fans who were thrilled to see the movie reach out to new audiences. These fans believe the movie did more than enough to warrant sequels. And while the box office numbers and critical scores didn’t signal the slam-dunk hit that most fans were looking for, it sounds like the producers side in the second camp, with Ivan Reitman promising earlier this year that he was hard at work weaving together a cohesive universe from the games, movies, and animated films.
Decades Later, Terry Gilliam Finally Finishes ‘The Man Who Killed Don Quixote’
There are troubled productions, and then there are troubled productions, and then there is Terry Gilliam’s The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. A Monty Python alumnus and the visionary filmmaker behind projects like 12 Monkeys, Brazil, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Gilliam has been working on his modern day retelling of Don Quixote for over 20 years. The film was originally set to go into pre-production back in 1998, but setbacks and a series of freak accidents — all covered in the acclaimed documentary Lost in La Mancha — tanked that production and have kept Gilliam in production limbo ever since. The Daily Beast put together a detailed history of the film earlier this year; it seriously makes Apocalypse Now sound like a Troma Entertainment production by comparison.
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.
Many, Many Unaccredited Writers Worked on the ‘Wonder Woman’ Story
Audiences have grown accustomed to seeing a slew of screenwriter credits on summer blockbusters. A few studios, like Universal and Paramount, have put together writers’ rooms for their biggest franchises; some films also have a host of different writers who either worked to develop the story or hammered out the final screenplay itself. Therefore, fans probably won’t bat an eye when they see three different writers’ names pop up in the Wonder Woman opening credits, but to hear one of the film’s producers tell it, that’s only part of the story. The road to bring Wonder Woman to the big screen involved a whole host of writers who didn’t end up mentioned in the final product.
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: