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, 2 wide new releases entered the box office arena and hoped for the top spots. And it is no surprise that The Hunger Games: Catching Fire took the lead, but it also broke a few records. THG:CF now has the record for the largest opening of any 2D movie ever and the largest November opening period! Wow. On another note, I’m also glad to see Thor: The Dark World still doing well.
Here are the weekend’s estimated results for Fri, Nov 22-Sun, Nov 24:
- The Hunger Games: Catching Fire ~$161.1M
- Thor: The Dark World ~$14M
- The Best Man Holiday ~$12.5M
- Delivery Man ~$8.2M
- Free Birds ~$5.3M
- Last Vegas ~$4.4M
- Bad Grandpa ~$3.5M
- Gravity ~$3.3M
- 12 Years a Slave~$2.8M
- Dallas Buyers Club ~$2.7M
*Actuals may vary as earnings are updated much later on Monday afternoons. For updates, visit boxofficemojo.com.
Congratulations to The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (Check out my review).
What did YOU watch this weekend?
#2- “Return to Wonderland.” Disney has announced the release date for the upcoming sequel to the 2010 live-action adventure of Alice in Wonderland. The sequel, currently tentatively titled simply “Alice in Wonderland 2,” is scheduled to release in May 2016 over Memorial Day weekend…seven months after the intended release of the upcoming live-action “The Jungle Book” movie that is being directed by Jon Favreau.
Not only is the release date big news for Disney, but also the return of actors Johnny Depp and Mia Wasikowska who have officially signed on to reprise their roles as the Mad Hatter and Alice respectively. The first film, which was met with rather mediocre reviews and has a 51% rating on RottenTomatoes, did have great level of visuals which is expected to continue in this film with a synopsis still yet to be revealed.
Director Tim Burton will not be seated in the director’s chair for this sequel. That seat now belongs to James Bobin who directed The Muppets (2011). More on Alice 2 as the story develops.
Are you interested in this sequel?
#3- “Official Avengers“ The Marvel sequel that fans all over the world are anxiously awaiting is on the way. The Avengers: Age of Ultron is on the horizon, and, while mention of two castmembers has been floating in the air for a few months now, it is now official:
Elizabeth Olsen and Aaron Taylor-Johnson will be The Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver (respectively) in 2015 comic adventure.
Posted on Marvel’s site today (see HERE), here is an excerpt from the announcement:
Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen have officially joined the Avengers family as the brother-sister duo of Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch in Marvel’s “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” the highly-anticipated sequel to 2012′s smash-hit “Marvel’s The Avengers”! “Avengers: Age of Ultron” arrives in theaters May 1, 2015…
…Taylor-Johnson and Olsen will share the screen as leads in the highly anticipated “Godzilla” remake scheduled for a May 2014 release.
“Avengers: Age of Ultron” will bring the Marvel Universe’s biggest heroes together again to face one of their biggest villains, with “Marvel’s The Avengers” director Joss Whedon returning to write and direct the sequel. “Marvel’s The Avengers” was released in 2012 and went on to earn $1.5 billion worldwide, making it the third-largest grossing movie of all time.
The Avengers: Age of Ultron also brings back the cast of The Avengers under the direction of Joss Whedon and is a highly anticipated installment of the mighty Marvel movie movement!
What do you think of this casting news being official?
#4- “Gran Turismo races to the Movies.” With the Fast and Furious franchise revving up for another installment and recently with star Paul Walker promising there will be an 8th and 9th film AND with the addition of the Need for Speed (see the trailer HERE) videogame franchise also getting it’s own movie with actor Aaron Paul in the driver’s seat, why not give Playstation’s greatest racing franchise a run at the movies as well?
[As much as I love racing games (I'm a FORZA fan myself), I am not excited to see this trend take off but here you go.]
The Gran Turismo movie has actually been in development through Sony for a couple of years now but developments seem to be taking off. Screenwriter Alex Tse who penned the screenplay for Watchmen has been approached to write the script for this upcoming videogame-based movie.
“The movie that we’re gonna do is kind of really a wish-fulfillment fantasy that this kid plays this video game and ultimately goes from this video game to actually racing the race cars.”
Read more at http://collider.com/gran-turismo-movie-alex-tse/#qCJGBOcsDJJD7VuX.99
Tse is working on the script now and more details are assuredly to come in the next year.
What are your thoughts on this?
#5- “This Week’s Blu-ray release.” This week, look for the following films on Blu-ray to possibly add to your collection:
RED 2- The DC comics continuation starring Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, Mary-Louise Parker, John Malkovich and more was sadly more forgettable than it was enjoyable. I loved the first one and the second finally releases and is a fun watch for the moment, but may not be one to buy. Read my full review HERE.
Several other films also release this week. Check it out!
Also releasing:
- Getaway (my review)
- Jobs
- The Canyons
- …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
up next: Review for Delivery Man
