Hello everyone,
BOX OFFICE: There was some good news and some bad news over the holiday weekend. The good news is that the overall domestic box office was more than DOUBLE the previous weekend with a total of $77 million (3 day) and $92 million (4 day holiday weekend). This was thanks to “Bob Marley: One Love” passing predictions with $28 million (3-day), $34 million (4-day) and a total of $52 million since it opened on Valentines Day last Wednesday. The bad news is that the other wide release this weekend was WAY below expectations. “Madame Web” made only $15 million (3-day), $18 million (4-day) and $26 million since it opened last weekend. That’s the lowest opening weekend for ANY Marvel movie (including the Fox and Sony movies not part of the MCU) and one of the worst opening weekends for ANY superhero movie. In other news, “Wonka” rose total domestic rose past $200 million this past week. It’s still #5 on the most recent box office charts.
WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE: The worldwide box office was a lot like the domestic. “Bob Marley: One Love” made an impressive $80 million worldwide total while “Madame Web” made a disappointing $52 million – around the same amount the Bob Marley has made so far domestically. In other news, “Wonka” just slipped past $600 million worldwide total (counting 2023 and 2024 box office) which makes it #6 on the top worldwide box office for 2023, and “The Beekeeper” –and “Mean Girls” were the first two 2024 movies to pass $100 million worldwide. “The Beekeeper” – which is doing better internationally than domestically – is currently the #1 movie of 2024 with $143 million total and “Mean Girls” is #2 with a little bit over $100 million worldwide (domestically “Mean Girls” is the #1 movie released in 2024 and “The Beekeeper” is #2).
AWARD NEWS: The BAFTA awards were last night and “Oppenheimer” took the top awards – including Picture, director, actor, and supporting actor – while “Poor Things” also did well taking lead actress, best makeup and hair, costume design, and production design. The top British film and top film not in the English language was “The Zone of Interest”. Movies like “Barbie” and “Killers of the Flower Moon” were completely shut out.
OTHER NEWS: They shuffled around a couple Marvel movies scheduled to come out in 2025. The first MCU movie scheduled for 2025 is still “Captain America: Brave New World” which is scheduled around this time next February, then “Thunderbolts” – which was previously scheduled for July 2025 – is now scheduled for May 2025. Then “The Fantastic Four” – previously scheduled for May 2025 – is now scheduled for July 2025 instead. They also announced the leading cast for “The Fantastic Four” which will be Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards (aka Mr Fantastic), Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm (Invisible Woman), Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm (Human Torch), and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm (Thing).
LITTLE BIT OF HUMOR:
Lots of jokes online about Zendaya at the “Dune Part 2” world premiere this past weekend. I wonder how she can sit down in that suit.
LOS ANGELES FILM REVIEW 