Smartass Superhero Defeats Avengers!
After three weeks at the top, last week saw Avengers: Infinity War drop to the second place of the weekend’s box office. The entirety of Marvel’s stable of superheroes was single-handedly defeated by Deadpool 2, a sequel to a 2016 superhero comedy starring Ryan Reynolds (Green Lantern) as the unkillable wise ass assassin. Also featuring the likes of Josh Brolin (Avengers: Infinity War) and Morena Baccarin (Firefly), Deadpool 2 earned over $125 million in its opening weekend, while Avengers: Infinity War earned around $29.5 million.
According to Box Office Mojo, in the third place of the last weekend’s box office with $13.6 million is the romantic comedy Book Club starring Candice Bergen (Murphy Brown), Jane Fonda (Barbarella), Diane Keaton (Annie Hall) and Mary Steenburgen (Back to the Future Part III) as four elderly women bonding over their shared, shall we say, interest in E. L. Grey’s bestselling erotic novel 50 Shades of Grey. In the fourth place of the last weekend’s box office is the comedy Life of the Party starring Melissa McCarthy that earned $7.6 million in its second weekend in cinemas. Finally, in the fifth place of the last weekend’s box office is the thriller Breaking In that grossed $6.8 million.
Amazon Saves The Expanse!
Several weeks ago, SyFy announced it won’t renew its sci-fi show The Expanse. This news caused consternation among the show’s small but vocal fan base. Luckily for them, Amazon proved ready to jump in and continue the show after its current, third season comes to a close. According to The Hollywood Reporter, not only is Amazon currently negotiating a deal with the show’s production company Alcon Television Group, but The Expanse also happens to be one of the favorite shows of Amazon’s CEO, Jeff Bezos.
Based on the bestselling series of science fiction novels written by James S. A. Corey (pseudonym of writers Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck), The Expanse tells a story set several centuries in our future in which humanity colonized most of our solar system despite being mired in all the petty politics and prejudice of today. Although critically acclaimed, this space opera failed to draw in enough viewers to compensate for its production costs. Part of the problem was that Syfy held only the first-run linear rights in the U.S. while – similar to many other genre shows – much of The Expanse’s audience watched it via streaming services such as Netflix.
First Look at Matt Groening’s Disenchanted
Speaking of Netflix, just this week the streaming giant released the first images from their upcoming cartoon show Disenchanted. It was last July that Netflix first announced a deal made with Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons and Futurama, for a fantasy-themed animated TV show.
Art thou ready for this?
August 17. pic.twitter.com/iY2psJqB96— Disenchantment (@disenchantment) May 23, 2018
Set in the “crumbling medieval kingdom of Dreamland”, Disenchanted will follow the adventures of tough-as-nails princess Bean, her elven companion Elfo, and her personal demon Luci. While following this trio of adventurers, viewers can assuredly expect Groening’s darkly satirical twist on all the hoary cliches from fantasy classics and their weekly Dungeons & Dragons games alike. The show will feature voices by Abbi Jacobson (Broad City) as the princess, Nat Faxon (Academy Award-winning screenwriter of The Descendants) as Elfo, and Eric Andre (Man Seeking Woman) as Luci. According to an article by Indiewire, they will be joined by the veteran voice actors from The Simpsons and Futurama, including John DiMaggio, Maurice LaMarche, and Billy West. First ten episodes of Disenchanted are scheduled for a release by Netflix on August 17, 2018.
