Avengers Keep On Avenging
Three weeks after its release, Avengers: Endgame still sits at the top of the weekend box office with $64 million. According to the Box Office Mojo, Marvel’s superhero blockbuster is officially the second highest-grossing film in history, both internationally ($1.76 billion) and globally ($2.49 billion). The success of Endgame is second only to James Cameron’s Avatar, but it’s a tight race. At the moment, Endgame is behind Cameron’s sci-fi spectacle by a mere $300 million – a trifling sum.
In the second place is the children’s adventure film Pokemon Detective Pikachu. This live-action/CGI-animated hybrid follows Tim (Justice Smith – Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom), a former Pokemon trainer searching for his father accompanied by Detective Pikachu (voiced by Ryan Reynolds – Deadpool). Based on an insanely popular gaming franchise that’s been gladdening hearts of children and emptying their parents’ wallets for decades, Pokemon Detective Pikachu earned $54,3 million in its opening weekend. In the third place with a bit over $13 million is the comedy The Hustle, starring Anne Hathaway (Ocean’s 8) and Rebel Wilson (Pitch Perfect trilogy). The director of this female-led version of the 1988 comedy Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is the stand-up comedian and TV director Chris Addison (Veep). Thriller The Intruder featuring Dennis Quaid (Innerspace) is in fourth place with $7,2 million. The list of top five earners at the weekend box office closes off with Long Shot starring Seth Rogen (Knocked Up) and Charlize Theron (Atomic Blonde). In its second weekend in cinemas, this romantic comedy earned $6,2 million.
It’s Cavemen vs. Dinosaurs in Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal
Deadline reports Adult Swim has ordered a new cartoon series by the animator Genndy Tartakovsky. Set in the dawn of time, Primal is a brutal, action-packed story about a caveman hunter striking an unlikely friendship with a dinosaur. United by a tragedy, two of them fight to survive in the violent world of primeval wilderness. This awesome-looking, half-hour animated TV show will premiere this autumn.
Born in Moscow but raised in Ohio, Genndy Tartakovsky first drew attention in the 1990s while working on animated TV shows like Dexter’s Laboratory and The Powerpuff Girls. While both shows were nominated for Emmy Awards, it was Samurai Jack — his third project — that finally won him an Emmy in 2004. With its blend of hyper-stylized animation and frenetic action, Samurai Jack became a fan favorite, airing for five seasons. It was at that time that Tartakovsky started working on Star Wars: Clone Wars – quite possibly the best thing to come out of Lucas’ Star Wars prequels. Set between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, this cartoon series aired for three seasons and won four Emmy Awards.
Tartakovsky also tried his hand in feature-length animated films by directing Hotel Transylvania in 2012. The film earned over $350 million and had two sequels.
Production of the The Invisible Man Remake Continues
This week, Deadline announced that Storm Reid (A Wrinkle in Time) joined the cast of the upcoming remake of The Invisible Man. Its story will follow Cecilia (played by Elizabeth Moss – Us, TV show Handmaid’s Tale) who, after receiving news of her vicious ex-boyfriend’s apparent suicide, begins to experience unsettling events in her own home. As directed by the Australian actor and filmmaker Leigh Whannell (Upgrade), The Invisible Man will be a very loose remake of Universal’s 1933 classic horror film.
Several years ago, executives at Universal Studios followed the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe by launching a cinematic universe of their own. So-called Dark Universe was intended as a series of big-budget remakes of Universal’s classic horror films from the 1930s and 1940s. Instead, 2017 remake of The Mummy starring Sofia Boutella (Kingsman: The Secret Service) Russell Crowe (The Nice Guys) and Tom Cruise (Mission: Impossible – Fallout) was badly received and failed to earn back its $200 million production budget. Afterward, Universal quietly scrapped the Dark Universe project.
Universal is now teaming up with Blumhouse Productions, company behind cheap, effective horrors like Get Out, Happy Death Day, Insidious, Paranormal Activity, The Purge, Sinister, Split and Us. Blumhouse involvement means that The Invisible Man remake will most probably be a more low-budget affair instead of a bloated blockbuster monstrosity, which is for the best.
