Look what’s back! It’s been a while since the last edition of Movie News Monday! Enjoy today’s re-emergence! 
Welcome to this week’s edition of “Movie News Monday!” (“MNM!”)
What is ‘MNM’ all about?
In case this is your first time here, “Movie News Monday!” (MNM) is the place to visit on Mondays for a quick recap of trending entertainment news! I’ve collected info, rumors, etc from all over just for you to keep you updated on movies being released, actors/actresses in roles, dvd releases to keep a lookout for, which movie won in the box office over the weekend, etc! Are you ready for your weekly update? Here it is!
This Just In!!…
#1- “The Weekend Winner.” Last weekend, 3 wide new releases entered the box office arena and hoped for the top spots. With no big horror movie in theaters over the Halloween weekend, it was up to a scifi book adaptation, a Vegas venture and a Thanksgiving turkey trip to take flight. Disappointingly (my opinion), Bad Grandpa still claimed second place, but Captain Phillips passed the $200M mark in total gross over the weekend as well. Impressive.
Here are the weekend’s estimated results for Fri, Nov 1-Sun, Nov 3:
- Ender’s Game ~$28M
- Bad Grandpa ~$20.5M
- Last Vegas ~$16.5M
- Free Birds ~$16.2M
- Gravity ~$13M
- Captain Phillips ~$8.5
- 12 Years a Slave (Only in 410 theaters) ~$4.6M
- Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 ~$4.2M
- Carrie ~$3.4M
- The Counselor ~$3.25M
*Actuals may vary as earnings are updated much later on Monday afternoons. For updates, visit boxofficemojo.com.
Congratulations to Ender’s Game (Check out my review).
What did YOU watch this weekend?
#2- “From Batman to Superman to Spider-Man.” Movie soundtrack composer Hans Zimmer may not have had the most memorable soundtrack for Man of Steel but he is working with director Marc Webb to create a spectacular one for The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Having worked on numerous other action films, Zimmer is Webb’s choice for the sequel after James Horner who scored the first film.
When speaking about it, Zimmer stated:
“I’ve done a lot of action, I’ve done a lot of buildings falling down basically and things exploding, so I’m sort of trying to figure out, ‘Is there a slightly different way of doing it?’ And I’m not sure yet, but I’m certainly working on it.”
It will be interesting to see what he comes up with. (For the whole official press release, click HERE) He will be collaborating with several other big name musicians and forming a “supergroup” of sorts including Pharrell and members of Incubus, The Smiths and the Eurythmics. Plenty of assembling going on for the exciting sequel.
In addition to Man of Steel, Zimmer has also scored The Dark Knight Trilogy, Inception, Sherlock Holmes, The Prince of Egypt, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and more. Look for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in theaters on May 2, 2014, but first look for the trailer to swing in front of screenings of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug next month!
Are you excited to see Zimmer join the web of Spider-Man?
#3- “Boldly Going to the Block“ Has the next Star Trek film found its next director? Attack the Block director Joe Cornish is currently in the rumor crosshairs as being the one to captain the franchise ship into its next phase. With J.J. Abrams working on the other “Star” franchise, Paramount is still looking to hurriedly get to work on the successful fanboy franchise of Warp speed, phasers and Vulcan ears. With the bold re-introduction done by J.J. Abrams, the director’s chair is a big one to sit in for a third sequel. Speculation has abounded for months on who would pick up the responsibility.
While not official, it seems as if Paramount may have settled on Cornish who successful 2011 film Attack the Block received numerous amounts of praise (check out the IMDB page HERE). Scrutiny exists on both sides of the argument of going with someone other than Abrams whose vision relaunched the success of this franchise. Perhaps some fresh blood will help mix things up. You know, the whole “Marvel uses different directors” approach.
Alice doesn’t seem to care!
(I tried to mind-meld with Paramount to get more secrets for you, but while approaching the gates they stunned me with phaser fire…not before I got a couple of the redshirted guards with a Vulcan death grip though!) 
Thoughts on Cornish? Do you still want Abrams?
#4- “Shredder Sheds Light on the Turtles.” Courtesy @ClevverMovies, here is an update on the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie from William Fichtner who stars as the villain Shredder in the Michael Bay produced film directed by Jonathan Liebesman.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles stars not only Fichtner, but also Megan Fox, Will Arnett, Whoopi Goldberg, Noel Fisher and more and is scheduled to hit theaters on August 8, 2014.
What do you think? Are you still skeptical about this film?
#5- “This Week’s Blu-ray release.” This week, look for the following films on Blu-ray to possibly add to your collection:
White House Down- The second D.C. Destruction film finds Channing Tatum as the freedom fighter against terrorists in the nation’s capital. Jamie Foxx, Maggie Gyllenhaal and more star in this comedy/action/don’t know quite what genre it wants to be movie that packs a ton of explosions and jokes. Read my full review HERE.
Several other films also release this week. Check it out!
Also releasing:
- Extended edition of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (my review)
- Grown Ups 2 (my review)
- Lovelace
- Twilight Forever (all of the Twilights together in one movie…check out Fogs’ fun “Too Much Twilight To Take” marathon reviews beginning HERE )
- Parkland
- …and more.
Which will you pick up?
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Well, that’s it for this round of “Movie News Monday!”
Thanks for reading! Happy Watching!
-T, The Focused Filmographer
