Michael Myers Slices, Dices
Slashing its way through the competition as if they were horny teenagers, Halloween took the first place in the last weekend’s box office, earning $76,2 million, reports Box Office Mojo. Coming out 40 years after John Carpenter’s ground-breaking slasher, the eleventh movie in this undying franchise was directed by David Gordon Green (Pineapple Express, Eastbound and Down). Pretty much ignoring each movie after the first (just like several Halloween movies before it), Halloween follows yet another last battle of Michael Myers and the elderly yet unkillable ex-babysitter Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis).
In the second place of the weekend box office with just a bit over $19 million is the musical melodrama A Star Is Born featuring Bradley Cooper, Lady Gaga, Dave Chappelle and Sam Elliott. Below it is superhero blockbuster Venom with $18 million, starring Tom Hardy covered in black, CGI slime. Fourth place of the last weekend’s box office belongs to Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween. Based on popular children’s horror novel by R. L. Stine, Goosebumps 2 grossed $9,7 million in its second weekend in cinemas. Finally, in the fifth place of the last weekend’s box office is the historical biographical drama First Man, featuring Ryan Gosling as the astronaut Neil Armstrong.
Wonder Woman 1984 Pushed Back to 2020
The second Wonder Woman movie has now been officially postponed from November 2019 to June 2020, reports Entertainment Weekly. This news isn’t exactly unexpected. As we reported last week, Warner Bros has had some troubles with their DC Extended Universe movies. The Flash, in particular, has been stuck in production since 2016, with its filming now postponed all the way to the late 2019. Meanwhile, the studio is apparently giving up on further superhero adventures featuring Henry Cavill as Superman and Ben Affleck as Batman.
Since Warner Bros is obviously in need of a big summer superhero blockbuster, it makes perfect sense for them to change the release date of a sequel to one of their most successful and critically acclaimed DCEU movies. Directed by Patty Jenkins, Wonder Woman features Gal Gadot as the titular heroine and Chris Pine as Steve Trevor. Produced for around $150 million, the movies came out in the summer of 2017 and quickly earned over $800 million worldwide. Alongside returning stars Gadot and Pine, the sequel will feature Christen Wiig (Bridesmaids) as the villainous Cheetah and Pedro Pascal (Game of Thrones) in an as yet unknown role.
New Joker Movie Won’t Feature Batman… Or Will It?
According to Comic Book, Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker movie will also feature Batman…sort of. Dante Pereira-Olso (You Were Never Really Here) has been cast to play young Bruce Wayne. Directed and co-written by Todd Phillips (best known for his trilogy of Hangover comedies), this is just one of at least three separate movies currently produced that prominently feature the Caped Crusader’s greatest nemesis. Out of the three, this one may just turn out to be the most interesting one.
Phillips is co-writing Joker’s origin story together with screenwriter Scott Silver, best known for his script for the film 8 Mile. Very loosely inspired by the 1988 graphic novel Batman: The Killing Joke by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland, the movie will be set in the 1980s and follow a failed stand-up comedian, Arthur Fleck (Phoenix) as he slowly succumbs to madness and becomes Joker. Alongside Academy Award nominee Phoenix, the movie’s cast consists of character actors such as Marc Maron (GLOW), Shea Whigham (Boardwalk Empire) and, most interestingly, Robert de Niro who, in 1983, himself played a delusional, failed comedian in Martin Scorsese’s The King of Comedy.
