Star Wars Takes Two
During a busy holiday weekend, the Force once again reigned supreme. Star Wars: The Last Jedi pocketed an estimated $100.7 million over the four-day weekend (including Christmas Day). (It made $68.5 million in the traditional three-day, Friday-through-Sunday run.) Sure, it’s a hefty drop from last weekend’s superlative figures, but still: $100 million its second week […]
Vodcast: How The Last Jedi Is a Religious Movie
Star Wars has long been a cultural powerhouse, but the saga itself is powered by a strange, supernatural element that undergirds its universe: the Force. The Force, in Obi-Wan Kenobi’s words, “surrounds us and penetrates us” and “binds the galaxy together.” It’s been a central tenant of every Star Wars movie, and the very concept […]
Culture Clips: The Force is Grouchy With This One
Our newsfeeds have been filled with a lot of serious news as of late. And we here at Culture Clips Central have dutifully reported much of it, from sexual harassment scandals to teen depression to accidents caused by Pokémon Go. But today, we want to delve into something really critical: whether the new Star Wars […]
The Last Jedi Takes to Hyperspace
The Bible tells us the last will be first one day. Alas, the last are rarely first on earth these days … unless, of course, we’re talking about The Last Jedi. Star Wars: The Last Jedi made like the Death Star and blasted the competition to smithereens en route to a truly cosmic $220 million […]
Television Tops 2017: Paul Asay’s Year-End Picks
Most of television’s nicknames are severely dated. How can it be called the “tube” when most of our HDTV’s don’t even have tubes anymore? I’ve been known to call it the “small screen” too, even though there’s nothing small about most television screens today. There’s nothing small about the influence of television, either. Experts say […]
Disney Now Owns All the Things
The Walt Disney Company, which already either made or bought most of our childhood memories, apparently wasn’t content. The mammoth Mouse House has now purchased a huge chunk of 21st Century Fox for a mere $52.4 billion. Probably found it at a garage sale or something. The deal hasn’t been officially inked: It’s still subject […]
Coco Creams Competition, Claims Crown (Again)
For the third straight week, Coco proved to be a box-office monster, buzzing to No. 1 and turning its competition inside out. Granted, Coco’s tally didn’t exactly soar to infinity and beyond. Pixar’s latest film made another brave showing, but it only collected an estimated $18.3 million—a pretty low tally for a weekend winner. Still, […]
Coco Tops the Box Office Again
Thanksgiving is long gone. But at the movies, we’re still dealing with leftovers. With Hollywood pivoting toward awards season, no major movies were released wide this week, leaving the box-office field in the domain of long-in-the-tooth holdovers. Indeed, the top five was a complete clone of last week’s. Coco topped the weekend’s box-office tourney, collecting […]
Why “This is Us” is Sweeping the Nation
Over the last two seasons, NBC’s This is Us has become must-see TV for many a viewer, many of whom watch the show with a box of tissues handy. While the show has its content problems—and really, how many popular TV programs don’t?—it also showcases compelling, deeply emotional narratives that, for many, hit close to […]
Audiences Go Cuckoo for Coco
Leave it to a movie about dead people to inject a little life into the box office. Coco, Pixar Studio’s latest visual feast, carved up the box office over the Thanksgiving weekend, gobbling an estimated $49 million over the traditional three-day frame. Throw in Wednesday night and Thanksgiving Day, and Pixar stuffed about $71.2 million […]
