Vol. 25
No. 17
Pick Hits
At The Movies
Avengers: Infinity War
Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Thor
(Chris Hemsworth), the Hulk (Mark
Ruffalo) and the rest of the Avengers unite to
battle their most powerful enemy yet, the evil Thanos.
On a mission to collect all six Infinity Stones, Thanos
plans to use the artifacts to inflict his twisted will
on reality. The fate of the planet and existence itself
has never been more uncertain as everything the Avengers
have fought for has led up to this moment.
On DVD
Maze Runner: The Death Cure
Thomas (Dylan O'Brien) leads some escaped Gladers on their final and most
dangerous mission yet. To save their friends, they must break into the legendary
Last City, a WCKD-controlled labyrinth that may turn out to be the deadliest
maze of all. Anyone who makes it out alive will get answers to the questions
that the Gladers have been asking since they arrived in the maze.
The Buzz...
Avengers: Infinity War is eyeing a debut weekend of $225 million to $245
million, with a possibility of even crossing the $250 million mark. If numbers
reach the end of that range, “Infinity War” could have one of the biggest debuts
of all time. The hefty launch should go a long way to justify its wildly
expensive price tag of somewhere from $300 million to $400 million. As of now,
the biggest opening weekend of all time belongs to Star Wars: The Force
Awakens, which bowed with $248 million in 2015 and went on to make over
$936.6 million domestically. Only five films in history have hit the $200
million mark in their debuts.
Will Smith’s take on a beloved Disney character came into
focus during the studio’s presentation to U.S. movie theater owners at
CinemaCon. Disney distribution executive Cathleen Taff showed
exhibitors a behind the scenes package from Guy Ritchie’s upcoming
live adaptation of Aladdin, the first time anyone has seen Smith step
into the role made famous by the voice work of Robin Williams.
It looks like we may be seeing more young Han Solo showing up in
the future. Alden Ehrenreich is set to portray the legendary
smuggler in Solo: A Star Wars Story, which arrives in theaters next
month. While there are a lot of questions marks about that movie specifically
and the future of the Star Wars franchise, Lucasfilm is prepared to bring
Ehrenreich back as Han Solo, as the actor has confirmed he has a three movie
deal with the studio.
Amazon Studios is taking advantage of the buzz around A Quiet
Place star John Krasinski. Months ahead of its series debut,
the streamer and retail giant has handed out an early second season renewal for
Krasinski fronted series Jack Ryan.
According to a new rumor, Disney is developing a new live-action Snow
White spinoff film called Rose Red and they are looking to
cast Captain Marvel star Brie Larson in the lead
role.
Nickelodeon is rebooting classic kids’ game show Double Dare
with a 40 episode order.
Lost in Space, one of Netflix’s newest high-profile
original series, drew 6.3 million U.S. viewers within the first three days of
its release earlier this month, according to Nielsen.
MTV is aggressively building out its Thursday night original series
lineup in an effort to capitalize on the success of Jersey Shore
Family Vacation.
Sony Pictures chairman Tom Rothman confirmed at
CinemaCon that the upcoming sequel to Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
will be released in theaters on Christmas 2019. He also confirmed that Dwayne
Johnson will return to reprise his role and Kevin Hart,
Jack Black, and Karen Gillan are also expected to
return but that hasn't been confirmed. Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle was a huge
success for Sony Pictures. It's made over $956 million dollars,
and it recently became Sony's highest grossing domestic release of all time
beating out Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Disney Channel has cast The Goldbergs star Sean
Giambrone and newcomer Sadie Stanley as the leads of its
upcoming live-action Kim Possible movie. An adaptation of the 2002
animated series, the movie follows a high school girl named Kim Possible
(Stanley) who moonlights as a secret agent with the help of her friend/sidekick
Ron Stoppable (Giambrone).
Kanye West and his legal team are working to deliver on Ye's
promise to take over the consumer world, by slapping Yeezus trademark
protection on everything from audio recordings to kitchen appliances.