It’s Dragons vs. Madea in Cinemas Near You!
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World successfully repeated last weekend’s success, says the Box Office Mojo. For the second week in a row, this CGI-animated family film held firmly onto the first place of the weekend box office by collecting a bit over $30 million. It was closely followed by Tyler Perry’s Madea Family Funeral – weekend sole newcomer among the top five. A ninth film in Perry’s long-running franchise about the titular larger-than-life character (played by Perry himself), Madea Family Funeral is reportedly his last film in the series. In its opening weekend, it grossed $27 million.
Alita: Battle Angel — an adaptation of Yukito Kishiro’s classic cyberpunk manga — earned $7 million, dropping by one place since the previous week. Similarly, The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part also dropped from the third place to the fourth place, grossing $6,6 million. Finally, in the fifth place of the weekend’s box office with $4,7 million is Academy Award-winning drama Green Book starring Mahershala Ali (Alita: Battle Angel) and Viggo Mortensen (Lord of the Rings).
Brian K. Vaughan Hired to Script Mobile Suit Gundam Movie
According to The Hollywood Reporter, comic book creator Brian K. Vaughan has been hired to pen the script for a live-action adaptation of the classic anime Mobile Suit Gundam. First announced last summer, the project is being developed by Legendary Entertainment in a co-production with Sunrise – the original animation studio behind this popular franchise.
Created and directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino, Mobile Suit Gundam anime series first aired in April 1979. Through 42 episodes, it told a story about Amuro Ray, a pilot of a giant robot called RX-78-2 Gundam. Through Amuro’s perspective, Mobile Suit Gundam told a story about a future war between planet Earth and one of its space colonies, Principality of Zion. Mobile Suit Gundam proved immensely popular and, over the decades, developed into a multi-media franchise spanning novels, movies, video games, and comic books.
Brian K. Vaughan first drew attention in the early 2000s with his post-apocalyptic comic book series Y: The Last Man – which is being adapted into a TV series. His other award-winning works include Pride of Baghdad, Ex Machina, and Saga. Vaughan also worked as a writer and producer on the later seasons of the TV series Lost. Moreover, he was a show runner on the TV series Under the Dome, based on a novel by Stephen King.
James Bond 25 Gets New Stars, Possible Title
After ultimately settling on Cary Joji Fukunaga (Netflix miniseries Maniac, the first season of True Detective) as its director, production of the 25th James Bond film is continuing apace. AVClub reports that Rami Malek, who just won an Academy Award for his portrayal of Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody, is in talks to appear as the next Bond villain. MGM is also negotiating with another Academy Award winner – Lupita Nyong’o. However, considering her hectic schedule, it is somewhat doubtful these talks will come to fruition. Daniel Craig will return as the Agent 007 alongside Lea Seydoux who will reprise her role of Madeleine Swann that she played in 2015 Bond movie Spectre.
The working title of the 25th James Bond movie is Shatterhand – a reference to an alias used by Bond’s long-time nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld in Ian Fleming’s 1964 novel You Only Live Twice. While the title does sound a bit silly, it is only a working title. Although, frankly, it is neither better than worse than some of the real James Bond titles, like Moonraker or Goldfinger. Bond 25 is set for a release date of April 8, 2020.
