Demon Slayer Slashes Its Way To The Top
In a tight box-office race Demon Slayer: Mugen Train edged out martial arts fantasy Mortal Kombat According to the Box Office Mojo. The international sensation grossed $6,4 million last weekend in US cinemas. Its current US haul is $34,1 million, with another $394,3 million earned overseas in six months since the film first came out in Japan.
For its second weekend in cinemas, Mortal Kombat earned $6,2 million, raising its total domestic gross to $34 million. While the reviews are mixed, the fans of both the 1995 Mortal Kombat film and the original Japanese fighting games seem happy.
Monster mash Godzilla vs. Kong is in third place with $2,8 million, a domestic gross of $90,3 million, and an additional 325,1 million earned overseas. This week’s sole newcomer is a low-budget horror movie Separation featuring Madeline Brewer (Cam), Brian Cox (Succession), and Rupert Friend (Hitman: Agent 47). In its inaugural weekend in US cinemas, it grossed $1,8 million. And finally, in fifth place is Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon, with $1,4 million. After nine weeks in cinemas, this fantasy adventure is still holding on.
Production of the Next Blade Movie Postponed
GeekTyrant reports that the production of the next Blade movie has been pushed until July 2022. The initial plan was to start filming this September. Officially, the reason for this is Marvel wants to focus on perfecting the script and the story.
But there’s another straightforward reason for the delay: the COVID-19 pandemic postponed the launch of the entire Phase 4 of Marvel Cinematic Universe, along with the rest of the new releases. Black Widow was to premiere in May 2020. Instead, it will come out this July – over a year later. And even that isn’t a sure thing since it depends on easing up of lockdowns which, in turn, hinge on how well the mass vaccination goes. If all goes well, there will be a glut of big-budget movies, both by Marvel and others. Because of all this, there will be plenty of time for Blade.
One of the rare African-American superheroes, Blade is a half-vampire who hunts vampires. He was created in 1973 by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan. Until now, the character has appeared in three movies and a TV show. In 2019 Marvel Studios announced plans to develop a new film featuring Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali in a leading role. This February, Stacy Osei-Kuffour (HBO’s Watchmen) was hired to pen the script.
David Cronenberg Rounds Up the Cast For His Next Film
Filmmaker David Cronenberg is preparing to direct his first feature film since 2014’s Maps to the Stars. A science-fiction horror titled Crimes of the Future will feature a cast that includes Léa Seydoux (Spectre), Scott Speedman (Underworld), Kristen Stewart (Underwater), and Cronenberg’s frequent collaborator Viggo Mortensen (Dangerous Method, Eastern Promises).
According to Bloody Disgusting, the movie takes place in the near future when advanced technology allows people to alter their bodies and evolve. Performance artist Saul Tenser deliberately grows and removes strange organs in his body, turning surgery into a spectacle. Even as the government wants to shut down these unsettling experiments, Tenser is getting ready for his most daring performance yet.
So, Crimes of the Future is a body horror exploring the grotesqueries of human biology assisted by modern science. That pretty much sums up a decent chunk of Cronenberg’s career. Canadian filmmaker first drew notice with his early horror movies like The Brood and Shivers, both of which explored the disturbing bodily extremes from sex to childbirth and beyond. Then, in the 1980s, Cronenberg directed many movies that became cult classics, like Dead Ringers, Dead Zone, Scanners, The Fly, Videodrome, and others.
