Hotel Transylvania 2 Flaps to September Record
Leave it to an undead hotel manager to inject a little life into the September box office. Dracula and all his comi-creepy cohorts from Hotel Transylvania 2 siphoned an estimated $47.5 million out of moviegoers this weekend—enough entertainment lifeblood to claim a box office win and notch an earnings record for the month of September. […]
Scorch Trials Chars Black Mass
A balding, gun-wielding Johnny Depp and the low drone of Oscar buzz wasn’t enough to get scads of people to attend Black Mass this weekend. No, the moviegoing public was more interested in another little dose of dystopia. Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials produced a controlled burn that included real estate right at the top […]
The Perfect Guy in a Predictable Spot
The weekend’s box office showdown pitted a predictable thriller against the newest effort from M. Night Shyamalan, the one-time cinematic prince of unpredictability. And who won? Well, let’s just say the results were … predictable. The Perfect Guy stalked into the No. 1 slot, becoming the third straight movie with a predominantly black cast to […]
War Room Preys on Compton
If you thought last weekend’s War Room performance was a thing to behold, take a look at this. The latest film from the Kendricks Brothers and Sherwood Pictures went into battle for the second straight week against the rap biopic Straight Outta Compton. And while the Christian flick came up short last weekend, it turned […]
Miley, What’s Good?
Sunday’s MTV’s 2015 Video Music Awards were, naturally, again all about Miley Cyrus. She hosted it and managed to dominate it as only a savvy, shock-centric self-promoter can. The online press spent yesterday talking about her outfits (their huge number and tiny size), her dizzying references to marijuana, her “accidental,” somehow-not-so-shocking-anymore wardrobe malfunction. But perhaps […]
War Room Takes on Compton
Chalk it up to the power of prayer. Or, at least, the power of a prayer-centric movie to draw people to theaters. War Room, the latest movie from the Kendrick brothers and Sherwood Pictures, gave Straight Outta Compton a good run for the No. 1 slot, earning $11 million to Compton’s $13.2 million. And keep […]
Compton Triumphs Over Sinister Hitman
The rap biopic Straight Outta Compton laid the beat down on its competition for the second straight week, Easy-E’ing into the top box office spot with an estimated Ice Cube-cold $26.8 million. Compton has already snatched $111.5 million in two weekends of work, and that’s nothing to spit at. Granted, Compton’s win came during a […]
Moving Sesame Street … to HBO
When I was a youngster watching Sesame Street, I always knew that it had its sponsors: Two letters and a number. “Sesame Street is brought to you by the letters T and W,” I might hear at the end of the show, “and the number 9.” As of this fall, the landmark educational show will […]
Straight Outta Compton Goes Straight to the Top
Straight Outta Compton, a biopic about the controversial and influential rap act N.W.A., busted through the box office noise and climbed to the top, banking a pretty phenomenal $56.1 million. It crushed the rest of its competitors, earning more than the rest of the Top Five combined. Bad rap? Well, the movie certainly didn’t wow […]
Impossible Speeds to Improbable Win
For years, the box office trajectory of movies based on comic-book superheroes has been as reliable as death and taxes. And for the makers, the formula for success has been quite simple. Step One: Make a superhero movie. Step Two: Watch the movie hit No. 1. Step Three: Start shopping for that ocean villa in […]
