The Croods Keep on Crooding
In its second weekend in cinemas, CGI-animated family adventure The Croods: A New Age remained at the top of the box office in the US. Not only that, but A New Age managed to gross more money last weekend than the next top titles at the box office combined – $4,4 million. Any other year, this would have represented a spectacular success. However, with movie theaters and the entertainment industry in crisis, it’s just another 2020 oddity.
In second place at the last weekend’s box office is Half Brothers. This newly released comedy features Luis Gerardo Méndez (Charlie’s Angels) and Connor Del Rio (Unfriended: Dark Web) as comically mismatched half-brothers on a road trip to Mexico. Directed by Luke Greenfield (The Girl Next Door), Half Brothers collected a bit over $700,000 in its opening weekend. Horror comedy Freaky starring Kathryn Newton (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) and Vince Vaughn (DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story) is in third place with $474,600. Fourth place belongs to this week’s second newcomer – romantic drama All My Life. Inspired by a true story and featuring Jessica Roth (Happy Death Day) and Harry Shum Jr. (Crazy Rich Asians) in leading roles, All My Life grossed $370,000 in its inaugural weekend. And in the fifth place is a re-release of a 2004 comedy Elf, starring Will Ferrell, with $320,000.
All of this data comes from Box Office Mojo.
HBO to Reboot True Blood
Less than seven years after it ended, HBO plans to reboot its campy horror series True Blood. According to BloodyDisgusting, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Riverdale) will write and executive produce the new version of the show alongside Jami O’Brien (NOS4A2). Alan Ball, who developed the previous version of the show, will be among executive producers.
Set in modern-day rural South, True Blood takes place in a world where the invention of artificial blood allowed vampires to “come out of the coffin” and rejoin mundane life, even if only by night. This, in turn, encouraged a whole bunch of other mystical and mythical creatures to try and re-enter society, causing chaos.
Based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries series of novels by Charlaine Harris, True Blood first aired in 2008. Throughout its seven-season run, it provided the viewers with blood-spattered campy fun while frequently lacking a coherent narrative. Its ensemble cast included Nelsan Ellis (Elementary), Ryan Kwanten (Knights of Badassdom), Joe Manganiello (Magic Mike), Stephen Moyer (Devil’s Knot), Anna Paquin (X-Men), Alexander Skarsgård (upcoming miniseries The Stand), Sam Trammell (The Fault in Our Stars), Rutina Wesley (Queen Sugar), and Deborah Ann Woll (Marvel’s Daredevil).
The reboot is still in the very early stages of development, so there is no information about the possible cast of this new version of the show.
Legendary Entertainment Unhappy With Decision to Stream Dune and Godzilla vs. Kong
Last week, Warner Bros. first revealed a plan to release its 2021 titles on streaming and in cinemas simultaneously. The fallout of that decision continues. Legendary Entertainment, a studio producing the upcoming Godzilla vs. Kong as well as Dennis Villeneuve’s Dune isn’t happy about WarnerMedia’s hybrid distribution plan. According to the AVClub, executives at Legendary were provided with merely half an hour’s notice before the decision was announced publicly.
Just last week, WarnerMedia disrupted talks between Legendary and Netflix about the streaming rights to Godzilla vs. Kong. Netflix was ready to offer $200 million. However, WarnerMedia – distributor of Godzilla v. Kong – wants to stream it on HBO Max instead. Legendary provided around 75 percent of the budget for Dune and Godzilla vs. Kong. Presently, the production company is worried it won’t be able to recuperate these costs via WarnerMedia’s hybrid release plan.
Meanwhile, critically-acclaimed filmmaker Christopher Nolan isn’t all that happy about this new distribution model. Over the last two decades, Nolan directed several critically-acclaimed and commercially successful titles for Warner Bros., including The Dark Knight trilogy and Inception. On top of that, he is a champion of the movie-going experience. According to the AVClub, Nolan’s initial reaction has been disbelief, since he wasn’t aware of the studio’s plans. Several days later, Nolan released a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. In it, he said: “Some of our industry’s biggest filmmakers and most important movie stars went to bed the night before thinking they were working for the greatest movie studio and woke up to find out they were working for the worst streaming service.” Nolan further added: “Warner Bros. had an incredible machine for getting a filmmaker’s work out everywhere, both in theaters and in the home, and they are dismantling it as we speak. They don’t even understand what they’re losing.”
