Whole bunch of movie news for this week…
- According to current estimates, “Avatar: The Way of Water” made approx. $17 million Thursday night late showings and approx. $55 million Thurs & Fri total. That means it’s estimated to make approx. $150-170 million over the 3 days weekend which would make it the #3 biggest opening weekend this year (After “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” $187 million and “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” $181 million) and only about two thirds of “Spider-Man No Way Home” last year on the same week which made $269 million. However, none of the other movies opened in China where “Avatar: The Way of Water” has already made $24 million.
- If you’re in the Los Angeles area you may be happy to know that the former “Arclight Culver City” has been purchased by Amazon Studios and re-opened today as “The Culver Theater”. It now has 1 8K micro-LED Samsung Onyx screen and 3 or 4 4K Samsung Onyx screens WITH Dolby Atmos audio. It’s playing a lot of Amazon Studios movies but right now it’s also playing ‘Avatar: The Way of Water” and “Top Gun: Maverick” too. I’m not interested in seeing either of those but if “Babylon” is playing in that theater next weekend I may go check it out.
- The Critics Choice Awards nominations were released this past week. “Everything Everywhere All At Once” led with 14 nominations including best picture. “The Fabelmans” got the second most with 11 nominations. Other nominations for best picture were “Avatar: The Way of Water”, “Babylon”, “The Banshees of Inisherin”, Elvis”, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”, “RRR”, “Tár”, “Top Gun: Maverick”, and “Women Talking”.
New Trailers:
- The new trailer for next summers animated “Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse” premiered recently.
- The first teaser trailer for next summers “Barbie” movie premiered. For some reason it references a 53-year-old movie that most people under 30 probably never heard of (“2001: A Space Odyssey”).
- Next Year is Warner Bros studio AND Walt Disney Studios will celebrate their 100-year anniversary. Warner Bros released a 5 min….trailer??? I’m not sure if it’s a trailer because it’s not promoting anything other than the studio. It looks like something studios show at conventions like CinemaCon.
- Exclusively in IMAX theaters playing “Avatar: The Way of Water”, there’s some footage of Christopher Nolans next movie “Oppenheimer” which comes out next summer (the footage isn’t online yet.)
Internet responses…
- A few days ago, Jennifer Lawrence implied that “The Hunger Games” movies were the first action movies with a female lead (she later said she said it wrong.)
The internets response:
- Also, a couple days ago, Christopher Nolan said they filmed an atomic bomb explosion for next summers “Oppenheimer” movie WITHOUT USING CGI.
The internets response…
- James Cameron and Kate Winslet promoting “Avatar: The Way of Water” are getting questions about a “Titanic” debate that’s been going on for years. Could Jack and Rose both fit on the door at the end of the movie. Kate Winslet feels insulted because a lot of people implied she was too fat for both of them to fit on the door. James Cameron – refuting the decision of the “MythBusters” TV show (they said that both could have partially laid on the door and survived) – says that he’s made a scientific study about the scene and he hopes to show it in Feb 2023 when “Titanic” has a 4K re-release for its 25th anniversary.
Finally…little bit of humor:
THEY MADE IT IN 4D?!?!?!?!
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
LOS ANGELES FILM REVIEW 