Fifty Shades Freed Enjoys Being on Top
According to the Box Office Mojo, last weekend saw several new titles climb to the top of the box office. None of them were as successful as Fifty Shades Freed – last installment in the epic sub/dom story of Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson) and Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan). Based on a Twilight fan-fiction rewritten into a trashy book trilogy of its own, this erotic drama earned $38,5 million in its opening weekend.
In the second place is Sony’s Peter Rabbit, live-action/CGI-animated film that takes the quaint protagonist of the Victorian children’s stories by Beatrix Potter and remakes him into an animated character (voiced by James Corden) that’s just too-cool-for-school. Peter Rabbit earned $25 million in its first weekend. In the third place with $12,5 million is Clint Eastwood’s docudrama The 15:17 to Paris about the failed 2015 Thalys train attack. After its reigned in cinemas this January, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle dropped to the fourth place by earning a bit over $10 million. Finally, in the fifth place of the weekend box office is once again The Greatest Showman starring Hugh Jackman and Michelle Williams. While it did earn less than 6.5 million last weekend, this musical is nevertheless remarkable for the way it managed to stay among the top five films of the weekend for almost two months now!
Schwarzenegger, Fassbender, and Hasselhoff to Appear in the Kung Fury Sequel
You know we live in crazy times when Internet memes can become feature films. Case in point: in 2015, Swedish filmmaker David Sandberg created a Kickstarter sensation with his short film Kung Fury. A spoof and an homage to trashy action cinema of the 1980s as well as arcade video games, Kung Fury features robots, dinosaurs, time travel, Adolph Hitler and a cheesy song performed by David Hasselhoff who, hopefully, needs no introduction.
Kung Fury became a viral hit with over 40 million views worldwide. Currently, Sandberg is getting ready to direct a feature-length sequel and star as its titular protagonist. Not only that, but Sandberg enlisted an impressive list of actors. Recently, Variety reported that the two-time Academy Award nominee David Fassbender will star in the movie, bringing a touch of class to a story in which the main villain is called Kung Furher. Fassbender will be joined by David Hasselhoff who will reprise his role from the original and, hopefully, grace this sequel with yet another of his sensual, yet powerful ballads. But we’re not done yet because on Friday The Hollywood Reporter announced that Arnold Schwarzenegger will also star in the movie as the US President.
Brian Michael Bendis and Tim Miller to Work on a Secret X-Men Film
Fox executives just hired comic book writer Brian Michael Bendis as well as director Tim Miller to work on a secret X-Men movie. The as-yet-untitled film is now only known as 143. And yet, The Hollywood Reporter quickly learned that the number in question might very well be an allusion to the 1981 stand-alone X-Men comic episode in which Kitty Pryde battles a demon while being alone in the X-Men mansion.
Winner of five Eisner Awards, Brian Michael Bendis got his start in the comic book industry in the 1990s where he worked on crime and noir titles. Later Bendis moved to Marvel where he helped usher in the Ultimate Marvel universe by working on titles such as Ultimate Spider-Man and New Avengers. Tim Miller started as a visual effects artist who created title sequences to movies such as Thor: The Dark World. His first feature film Deadpool became a worldwide smash-hit, grossing almost $800 million on a $58 million budget. The character of Kitty Pryde previously appeared in the movies X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men: Days of Future Past, both times portrayed by Ellen Page.
