- This past weekend the horror movie “Halloween Ends” made approx. $40 million which was below expectations and the lowest opening of the 3 recent “Halloween” sequels/spinoffs that started with “Halloween” in 2018 – most people say that was because the movie also started playing on the Peacock streaming site the same day it opened in movie theaters – however it was the best opening weekend in 2022 since “Nope” opened with $44 million almost 3 months ago on July 22. Total box office was approx. $79 million which is 27% lower than that the same week last year which had “No Time to Die” ($55 million opening) and “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” ($31 million 2nd weekend) but was 31% above last weekend and 39% higher than the average since the fall started 7 weeks ago. People are still looking at next weekends “Black Adam” and “Ticket to Paradise” to lift box office levels. Some predict next weekend will be higher than the same weekend pre-pandemic in 2019.
- Speaking of “Black Adam”, reports are now saying the movie needed to be edited repeatedly to get the PG-13 rating. The producer recently said it took 4 rounds of editing before they gave it a “PG-13” rating. They could have released it with the “R” rating – movies like “Logan” and “Deadpool” still did well with an R rating – but that would prevent star Dwayne Johnsons teen fan base from seeing the movie without an adult. Still, the filmmakers tried to stay faithful to the darker tone of the character in the comic books.
- I have been saying for a while that eventually every famous actor or actress will be a part of the Marvel and/or DC Universe. Even stars like Christian Bale – who played Batman before the DC cinematic universe started – and Cate Blanchett have appeared in Marvel movies recently. You can now add Harrison Ford to the list of actors who have joined the Marvel Universe. He just signed on to play General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross in the upcoming “Captain America: New World Order” (coming in 2024) and probably also “Thunderbolts” (also in 2024) – since the character is in the “Thunderbolts” comic books. He replaces William Hurt – who passed away early in 2022 – who played the same character in previous Marvel movies.
Little bit of humor….
Remember how I was saying above almost every famous actor or actress will eventually be part of the Marvel or DC universe….
Who says the studio system is dead?
LOS ANGELES FILM REVIEW 