To the Infinity War and Beyond!
Everybody knew that Avengers: Infinity War will be huge. But it seems that even Marvel Studio executives underestimated its success. According to Box Office Mojo, Avengers: Infinity War earned almost $258 million in its opening weekend, thus breaking a number of box office records. Among them: largest single Saturday gross, the largest single Sunday gross, the largest April opening, the largest Spring opening and – most importantly – the best movie opening in cinematic history, which is a record previously held by 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Meanwhile, in the second place of the last weekend’s box office with $11 million is once again horror movie A Quiet Place. While not nearly as spectacular as Avengers: Infinity War, this low-budget film has had an incredible run at the box office. Made for mere $21 million, A Quiet Place has so far grossed over $240 million worldwide. In the third place with $8,1 million is the comedy I Feel Pretty starring Amy Schumer. Science fiction/disaster movie Rampage is in the fourth place with $7,2 million while the list of top five movies closes with Black Panther, yet another Marvel blockbuster that grossed $4,7 million last weekend after eleven weeks in cinemas.
Paramount Announces New Star Trek Movies, Director
We already covered bizarre yet intriguing news about an upcoming Star Trek movie written by Quentin Tarantino. Now, AVClub reports that in a recently held presentation at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, Paramount confirmed they are planning to produce not one, but two new Star Trek movies.
Variety adds that the fourth Star Trek movie will be set in the rebooted version of the universe after the events depicted in 2016 Star Trek Beyond. The movie will be directed by S.J. Clarkson, who is best known for her work directing episodes of shows such as Dexter, Marvel’s Jessica Jones, Marvel’s The Defenders, Bates Motel and Orange is the New Black. As written by J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay, the movie’s script has Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto) meet Kirk’s father (originally played by Chris Hemsworth who will reprise his role) via the time-traveling shenanigans. As for the Quentin Tarantino/J. J. Abrams Star Trek film, the details about that project remain mostly sketchy. The movie is still being written and will likely be produced only after the release of the fourth Star Trek movie.
Westworld Renewed For Third Season
Variety reports that HBO plans to renew Westworld for the third season. This decision came after only two episodes of the show’s new season aired, thus demonstrating the network’s confidence in its show. As created by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, Westworld is a loose remake of a 1973 sci-fi movie written and directed by the late Michael Crichton. A sci-fi western featuring Sir Anthony Hopkins (Silence of the Lambs), Ed Harris (The Right Stuff), Thandie Newton (Mission Impossible 2), Jeffrey Wright (Casino Royale), Tessa Thompson (Thor: Ragnarok) and Evan Rachel Wood (True Blood), Westworld has proven itself a huge hit among the viewers and reviewers alike.
First season of the show had, on average, over thirteen million viewers per episode on various platforms – about as much as HBO’s current flagship show Game of Thrones. At the last year’s 69th Primetime Emmy Awards, Westworld was nominated in twenty-two categories and won five, including the award for the Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Media within a Scripted Program. The release date for the show’s third season is unknown, but considering the eighteen months gap between the first two seasons, the viewers will probably have to wait awhile.
