Sonic Still Racing Ahead
In its second weekend in cinemas, Sonic the Hedgehog maintained its lead. Paramount’s live-action movie earned $26.2 million, bringing its total domestic gross up to impressive $106.5 million. Directed by the first time director Jeff Fowler, Sonic features Jim Carrey (Kidding, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), James Marsden (Westworld, X-Men) and Ben Schwartz (Parks and Recreation) as the voice of Sonic the Hedgehog.
In the second place with $24.8 million is the first newcomer of the weekend: an adventure film The Call of the Wild. Based on Jack London’s 1903 adventure novel, the story follows a dog called Buck who embraces his wild side during the Klondike Gold Rush. Directed by Chris Sanders (How to Train Your Dragon, Lilo & Stitch), The Call of the Wild features a suitably scruffy-looking Harrison Ford and a CGI-animated dog.
Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn is now in third place with $6.8 million and a total domestic gross of $72.3 million. Bad Boys for Life is still going strong. After six weeks in cinemas, this action-comedy starring Martin Lawrence and Will Smith grossed $5.8 million and reached $191 million domestically. And, finally, in the fifth place of the highest-grossing movies of the weekend is the horror film Brahms: The Boy II with $5.8 million. All of this data comes from Box Office Mojo.
Spielberg No Longer Directing Indiana Jones 5
Last week we reported Harrison Ford confirming that the filming of Indiana Jones 5 is just two months away. Now Variety says Steven Spielberg won’t be directing that film. Reportedly the studio already started talks with the acclaimed director James Mangold (Ford v Ferrari, Logan) to take over. Spielberg will remain attached to the project but only as an executive producer. As for Ford, The Playlist says he retracted his earlier statement somewhat, admitting the project still has “some scheduling issues.”
This development isn’t surprising. There have been talks about the fifth Indiana Jones film over a decade now. Screenwriters and scripts changed. At one point, there was a rumor Chris Pratt might play Indy in a reboot. Throughout all these speculations, however, Spielberg as director remained a constant. Until now.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull came out in 2008 to tepid reviews. It was well received by the audiences though, grossing $790 million worldwide. But nowadays, with billion-dollar behemoths like Star Wars and Marvel movies dominating the box office, would such returns on such a well-known franchise satisfy Disney’s appetites? Even more importantly, do we want to watch 78-year old Harrison Ford pretending to be an action hero?
Train to Busan Sequel Gets a Synopsis
In 2014, South Korean director Yeon Sang-ho made a horror movie with a ridiculously simple premise: zombies on a train. The result was Train to Busan, a viscerally thrilling and surprisingly touching story about a divorced father (played by Gong Yoo) trying to reconnect with his daughter (Kim Su-an) during a train trip from hell. Train to Busan premiered at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival and went on to gross $90 million on an $8 million budget.
Several months ago, producers first announced that a sequel is in the works. Now ScreenDaily reports that the movie – called Peninsula – won’t be a sequel at all. Instead, it will tell a new story set four years after the events of Train to Busan. Peninsula will follow a soldier dispatched from overseas back to Korea to meet with survivors of the zombie outbreak. Peninsula has a budget of roughly $18 and features Gang Dong-won (1987: When The Day Comes) and (The Battleship Island).
Peninsula is currently in post-production and comes out this summer.
