Downton Abbey Serves a Dollop of Nostalgia
Last weekend saw a period drama charming the audience away from astronauts, warriors and killer clowns alike. Based on the British TV series created by Julian Fellowes in 2010, Downton Abbey continues the story of lords and ladies and those who serve them at the titular country estate. Four years after the series last aired on ITV, most of its absurdly talented cast – too numerous to list here – returned for one final bow. In the process, Downton Abbey earned $31 million at the weekend box office.
In the second place with $19,2 million is another newcomer – the science fiction adventure film Ad Astra. Produced, co-written, and directed by James Gray (Lost City of Z, Little Odessa), Ad Astra follows an astronaut (Brad Pitt – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) as he travels to the far reaches of the solar system looking for his father (Tommy Lee Jones – No Country for Old Men) while investigating the possible extraterrestrial signal. In the third place is the final newcomer of the week – Rambo: Last Blood, starring Sylvester Stallone as the world-weary killing machine John Rambo. Rambo: Last Blood grossed a bit over $19 million. In the fourth place is It: Chapter Two with $17,2 million while the list of the top five highest-grossing movies of the weekend closes of with crime drama Hustlers that earned $17 million. All of this data comes courtesy of the Box Office Mojo.
Here Are the Winners from the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards
The 71st Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony took place on September 22 at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California. Quite surprisingly, the final season of Game of Thrones didn’t dominate the night. This was most evident in the Directing For A Drama Series category. Game of Thrones was nominated for three separate episodes only to lose to crime drama Ozark. Game of Thrones did win the Outstanding Drama Series award though, as well as the Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series award for Peter Dinklage.
Sitcom Fleabag steamrolled over other comedy contenders by winning awards for its writing and directing, the best comedy series and the award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for the show’s lead and creator, Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Barry‘s Bill Hader won the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series award, while the awards for the best supporting actor and actress in a comedy series went to Tony Shalhoub and Alex Borstein for their performances on Amazon’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
HBO’s miniseries Chernobyl dominated the limited series categories by winning awards for writing, directing and the Outstanding Limited Series award.
Here’s the full list of all the winners of the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards.
Jared Padalecki to Play Walker, Texas Ranger
Jared Padalecki, star of the long-running horror series Supernatural is getting ready to tackle another long-running series – Walker, Texas Ranger. According to Deadline, the project will be written by Anna Fricke (Being Human, Wayward Pines) and produced by Dan Lin (Lethal Weapon) and Dan Spilo (Sunnyside). Padalecki will play the titular character and serve as one of the show’s executive producers. Currently, the remake of Walker, Texas Ranger is being shopped by CBS TV Studios that aired the original series as well as The CW, home of Supernatural.
Created by Albert S. Ruddy & Leslie Greif, Walker, Texas Ranger was inspired by the 1983 action film Lone Wolf McQuade. The series first aired on CBS in 1993 and went on to air for eight seasons and over two hundred episodes. Both the film and the series starred martial artist, actor, singer and real-life internet meme Chuck Norris. In the show, Norris plays Cordell Walker, a sergeant in the Texas Rangers who fights crime and helps the local community. In 2005, four years after the show’s cancellation, CBS aired the made-for-TV sequel to the series titled Trial By Fire. The movie ended on a cliffhanger, which was never resolved.
