Ragnarok Rages Again
For the second straight week, it was hammertime. No one could touch Thor: Ragnarok this weekend. Marvel’s latest superhero smashfest banked an estimated $56.6 million and pulled its overall gross to around $211.6 million. That makes Ragnarok the most lucrative Thor movie of all time (though, granted, we’ve only seen three of them) and pushed […]
The Invasion of the Christmas Carols
Many of us mark our seasons by firsts: the first robin of spring, the first sunburn of summer, the first interception by our terrible quarterback of the fall. The Christmas season is no different—or, at least, so mall music supervisors tell us: It begins with the first Christmas carol playing in the vicinity of cash […]
Thor: Ragnarok Hammers Home a Win
Ragnarok? Try Ragna-rocks! Thor: Ragnarok roared to a truly thunderous win, plundering North American theaters for a titanic $121 million (estimated, of course). That’s about $35 million more than Thor: The Dark World earned in its first weekend back in 2013, and $55 million more than Chris Hemsworth’s original turn as the God of Thunder […]
Culture Clips: The ‘House of Cards Indeed’ Edition
For five seasons now, two-time Oscar winner Kevin Spacey has starred in Netflix’s buzzy House of Cards. He played a caddish President Francis Underwood who manipulated and murdered his way to power and—if the show’s title means anything at all—would’ve someday been laid low by his own misdeeds. We may never see Underwood’s comeuppance come […]
Jigsaw Puzzles Together a Win
Given the season and all, perhaps it’s fitting that a horror movie won a truly terrifying weekend—at least terrifying as far as Hollywood bean counters are concerned. Jigsaw, a resurrection of the Saw franchise, took the top spot with a woeful $16.3 million (estimated, of course). Its victory simultaneously confirmed the horror genre’s power this […]
Watching Our Language
As I mentioned yesterday, Boo 2! A Madea Halloween was the No. 1 movie in the country this weekend. Its “family friendly” PG-13 rating certainly helped raise its box-office tally, even though I didn’t find the film particularly family friendly. But turns out, the MPAA originally slapped the movie with an R rating before director/star […]
Madea Says Boo to the Box Office
Maybe now she can buy a newer car. Madea, Tyler Perry’s raging, gray-haired alter ego who drives a famously ancient Cadillac, drove to the top of the box office, with Boo 2! A Madea Halloween, peeling away with an estimated $21.7 million. Boo 2! technically had plenty of competition for that top spot, too: They […]
Happy Death Day Wins the Weekend
It’s been a bad year financially at the box office. A gigantic horror show, some might say. So maybe it’s only fitting that horror movies have been among the year’s only bright spots—financially speaking, at least. The grotesque genre continued its horrific hot streak this weekend with the debut of Happy Death Day, which blew […]
The ‘Trespassers Will’ of Childhood
No offense, Walt Disney. But to really understand the magic of Winnie-the-Pooh, you need to read it. Open the book and you walk into a comfortable, wryly funny and beautiful world. You track Woozles. You attend birthday parties. You sail through the Hundred Acre Wood in an umbrella. My mom read A.A. Milne’s beloved stories […]
Culture Clips: Fall of a Hollywood Kingpin
The bigger you are, the harder you fall goes the old cliché. But in Harvey Weinstein’s case, that seems to be true. Weinstein, one of Hollywood’s most successful kingmakers, was summarily ousted from his namesake movie distribution company after The New York Times revealed that the producer had been the subject of several sexual harassment […]