Captain Marvel Still Number One!
In its second weekend in cinemas, Captain Marvel once again dominated the box office, says the Box Office Mojo. Written and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (who already collaborated on indie dramas like Half Nelson and Sugar), Disney and Marvel’s latest superhero blockbuster grossed almost $68 million domestically, bringing its worldwide total up to $750 million.
Far, far behind Captain Marvel are two box office newcomers: Wonder Park with $15,8 million and Five Feet Apart with $13,2 million. Wonder Park is a CGI-animated film featuring voices by Matthew Broderick (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off), Jennifer Garner (Alias), Ken Jeong (Community), Mila Kunis (That 70s Show), and John Oliver (Last Week Tonight). Interestingly, Wonder Park has no credited director since the person in question was fired due to inappropriate conduct on set. Five Feet Apart is a romantic drama starring Cole Sprouse (Riverdale) and Haley Lu Richardson (Split), directed by the actor and director Justin Baldoni, who previously appeared on TV shows like Jane the Virgin and Madam Secretary.
In the fourth place of the weekend box office is How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World with a bit over $9 million and a current worldwide gross of almost $470 million. Finally, in the fifth place of the weekend box office is Tyler Perry’s A Madea Family Funeral with $7,8 million and a combined gross of a bit over $61 million.
Ezra Miller and Grant Morrison Tackle the Flash
The standalone movie featuring DC superhero Flash (played in Justice League by Ezra Miller) apparently has a new scriptwriter… Ezra Miller! According to the Hollywood Reporter, Miller has been working on his own version of a script for a while now, collaborating with the comic book legend Grant Morrison. Best known for his work on titles like Doom Patrol, The Invisibles, and Flex Mentallo, Morrison also recently helped create SyFy TV show Happy!
We’ve already covered the troubled production of The Flash movie. Ironically, the production of a movie about the fastest man alive has been dragging for over three years now. Along the way, the Flash movie changed its director, its screenwriters and even its title. During the same time, Warner Bros. began producing superhero movies lighter in tone from Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy or Zack Snyder’s Superman movies. Apparently, Miller isn’t all that happy about this change, which is why he tried his hand at writing a script for his own movie. His initiative is understandable since his contract with the studio is running out this May. It remains to be seen what kind of story Miller and Morrison have concocted.
Lizzy Caplan Joins Hulu’s Castle Rock
Lizzy Caplan (Cloverfield, TV shows True Blood and Masters of Sex) will join Hulu’s TV series Castle Rock in its upcoming second season. Deadline reports Caplan will portray nurse Annie Wilkes, the villain in Stephen King’s 1987 psychological horror/thriller Misery who, when not murdering her patients, tortures bestselling romance writer Paul Sheldon with her fan fiction.
Castle Rock is based on and inspired by Stephen King’s novels and stories set in and around the fictional New England town from the show’s title. In its first season, Castle Rock already boasted an impressive cast that included the likes of Scott Glenn (The Right Stuff), André Holland (Selma, TV series The Knick), Terry O’Quinn (The Stepfather, TV series Lost), Bill Skarsgård (It) and Sissy Spacek (Misery). In the show’s second season, Caplan will be joined by Elsie Fisher (Eighth Grade), Garrett Hedlund (Mosaic) and Tim Robbins (Shawshank Redemption).
Castle Rock first aired on Hulu in July 2018. The release date of the show’s second season is, as yet, currently unknown.