Shazam! Still Number One
In its second weekend in cinemas, Shazam! remained at the top, grossing $24,4 million according to the Box Office Mojo. The latest DCEU superhero blockbuster features Asher Angel (Andi Mack) as a teenager who gains the power to transform into a superhero called Shazam (Zachary Levi – The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel).
In the second place with $15,4 million is the fantasy comedy Little. Turning the premise of Shazam! upside down, Little follows a ruthless businesswoman (Regina Hall – The Hate U Give) who turns into a child version of herself (Marsai Martin – Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt). Neil Marshall’s reboot of Hellboy is in third place with just a bit over $12 million. This latest adaptation of Mike Mignola’s cult comic book features David Harbour (Stranger Things), Milla Jovovich (Resident Evil), Daniel Dae Kim (Hawaii Five-0) and Ian McShane (American Gods). Horror film Pet Sematary is in fourth place with $9,7 million. Finally, in the fifth place of the weekend’s box office is Disney’s live-action remake of Dumbo with $9,4 million.
Disney+ Announces Its Launch Date and Lineup of Shows
Last week, Disney announced TV shows coming to its streaming service Disney+ as well as the launch date for the service itself – November 12. An article on Tor.com reports an impressive lineup of new shows and movies.
There will be at least five TV shows set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Loki will follow the misadventures of our favorite Marvel antihero (portrayed by Tom Hiddleston). WandaVision focuses on the relationship between Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany). The Falcon & The Winter Soldier will delve into the adventures of these two superheroes, played by Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan. There’s also an as yet untitled limited TV series about Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and his protégé Kate Bishop. Finally, Marvel’s What If? will be an animated TV show exploring alternate history stories set in the Marvel universe.
Disney plans several shows set in the Star Wars universe. While we already covered Disney’s The Mandalorian, there’s also as yet an untitled Rogue One: A Star Wars Story prequel series as well as the seventh season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
We already reported Disney+ was developing a TV series called Monsters at Work based on Pixar’s animated feature film Monsters, Inc. Furthermore, there will be a new show about the Muppets, a Mighty Ducks TV series, a CGI/live-action Lady and the Tramp film and A Phineas and Ferb movie.
Mark Wahlberg to Play Six Billion Dollar Man
According to The Hollywood Reporter, filmmaker Travis Knight (Bumblebee) will direct a Six Billion Dollar Man movie. Mark Wahlberg (Transformers: The Last Knight) will portray the film’s hero – US Colonel Steve Austin who, after a terrible accident, gets remade into a living machine.
The movie is based on a 1970s science fiction/action TV series that was itself based on the 1972 bestselling novel The Cyborg by Martin Caidin. Throughout the show’s five seasons, Six Million Dollar Man (played by Lee Majors) battled crime, spies, corrupt politicians and — most memorably — a Sasquatch.
Travis Knight is one of the founders of the animation studio Laika that specializes in stop-motion animation. Knight helped produce films like ParaNorman (2012) and The Boxtrolls (2014). In 2016, Travis made his directorial debut with Kubo and the Two Strings. Knight’s first live action movie — Bumblebee — came out in 2018, earning over $460 million worldwide.
