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Last Updated on October 14, 2024 In an absolute wild twist of fate at the box office, it’s looking increasingly likely that Terrifier 3, the low-budget slasher flick from Damien Leone, might actually unseat Warner Bros’s $200 million Joker: Folie a Deux at the box office this weekend. A few months ago, this would have been unthinkable, but given how toxic word of mouth has been for Joker, it looks like the film will have a massive drop-off at the box office this weekend after opening to a MUCH lower than expected $37 million.  Morbius and The Marvels, which both had similarly bad openings, dropped off 74% and 78% at the box office in their second weekends, and neither had Joker’s D CinemaScore rating to contend with. I’m expecting Joker 2 to fall about 70%, which would give it an $11 million weekend.  Terrifier 3, from the indie studio Cineverse, should be able to topple Joker 2. It looks like it will open with at least $12 million—possibly more. The word of mouth has been excellent on this gruesome sequel (our critic Tyler Nichols disliked the other movies in the series but loved this one), and Terrifier 2 proved to be an unexpected hit, so this looks like it might be a big success story for all involved, especially as the cult fervour around the series grows.  Third place should go to Jason Reitman’s Saturday Night, which has performed well in limited release. The movie tells the story of the hours before the first airing of Saturday Night Live, and it’s earned Reitman his best reviews since Up in the Air (we loved it). It should nab about $10 million. The Wild Robot shouldn’t be too far behind it with about $8 million, while Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice should take fifth place with about $7 million. Here are our predictions: Terrifier 3: $12 million Joker: Folie a Deux: $11 million Saturday Night: $10 million The Wild Robot: $8 million Beetlejuice Beetlejuice: $7 million Do you think Terrifier 3 will pull off the upset of the season? Let us know in the comments!

The box office numbers are coming in, and one thing is for sure – Joker: Folie à Deux is officially DOA at the box office. How does a movie go from being the most anticipated film of the year to one of the biggest box office flops ever? I guess by making it a musical and showing absolute disdain (if not loathing) for the fans that made the first one a billion-dollar box office smash (and an Oscar winner to boot). Indeed, the battle between Terrifier 3 and Joker: Folie à Deux wasn’t even close. The $5 million budget, unrated Terrifier 3 way outpaced expectations (including our own) to make just over $18 million this weekend (according to Deadline), despite no stars or studio support. When all is said and done, studios are going to have to sit up and take notice of the fact that two of the year’s most profitable movies, Terrifier 3 and Longlegs, wound up being smash hits because they became must-see events for their respective audiences. Why is it that seemingly only horror audiences can be mobilized this way? Maybe an enterprising studio can try to apply this formula to other, somewhat dormant genres, like lower-key action and comedy. Rebel Ridge was a smash for Netflix. Maybe something similar could gain a foothold in theaters? Joker: Folie à Deux didn’t even manage a second-place finish, with it easily beaten by the well-reviewed The Wild Robot (now getting a sequel), which made $13.45 million for a strong $83.7 million total. It will likely cross the $100 million mark by the end of next weekend. Joker slumped into third place, falling a shocking 82% in its second weekend for a $7.055 million weekend, and an abysmal total just north of $52 million. When the final numbers are in, it could theoretically be beaten by Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, which made over $7 million this weekend for a $275 million total. It’s pretty interesting that Warner Bros has both the biggest hit of the fall season and the biggest flop.  The Lego-animated Pharrell doc, Piece By Piece, managed an ok fifth-place finish with $3.8 million. Transformers One continued to underperform (spectacularly) with $3.65 million for a $52 million total. In pretty sad news, Jason Reitman’s excellent Saturday Night, about the early days of SNL, totally whiffed at the box office this weekend, making a poor $3.4 million for a total of just over $4 million. It will be lucky to break $10 million domestically, although it should find an audience on VOD.  The anime My Hero Academia: You’re Next (which our own Steve Seigh reviewed here) did well enough to hit eighth place, with $3 million. A re-release of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas turned out to be an event fans were dying to see, with it grossing a solid $2.3 million, bringing its lifeline gross to $89.9 million. Finally, the controversial Donald Trump movie, The Apprentice, was bombed (badly) and came in tenth place, with only $1.58 million despite playing on over 1500 screens. Yikes.  Next weekend sees the release of Parker Finn’s Smile 2, which could give us our first $50 million plus opening since Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Do you think Art the Clown will be able to slash his way to a second-place finish next weekend? Let us know in the comments!

Last Updated on October 8, 2024 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand has one hell of a backstory, not the least of which was a director swap that found Matthew Vaughn being swapped for Brett Ratner. But why did Vaughn leave such a high-profile project, especially when it would have helped really get his career going? It comes down to Halle Berry and a phony script. Halle Berry was lured back into the role of Storm (aka Ororo Munroe) after the script she was given showed her character tending to and saving children in Africa. Vaughn made the revelation about the swapped scripts last year, saying he made his own last stand to leave the X-Men movie once he found out that version that was being given to Berry was just a studio ploy to get her to sign on, at which point they would ditch it. To this, Berry is forever grateful. Posting to social media, Berry wrote, “Ya just never know the shady sh*t going on behind ya back! Thank you Matthew Vaughn for bringing the dark to light.” She added, “Hollywood is really political and odd. I went into an executive’s office, and I saw a script that was a lot fatter. I was like, what the hell’s this draft? They said, ‘don’t worry about it.’” At this point, we have to assume that the original X-Men script Berry was given didn’t have the infamous “toad line” in it… View this post on Instagram A post shared by Halle Berry (@halleberry) On the matter of the fake pages of The Last Stand that Halle Berry was given, Matthew Vaughn said he liked the idea of giving Storm that standout moment but was told by the studio that “it was the Halle Berry script. ‘She hasn’t signed on yet, but this is what she wants it to be. So once she signs on, we’ll throw it in the bin.’ I said, ‘Wow, you’re going to do that to an Oscar-winning actress? I’m out of here.’ So I quit at that point. I figured I was mincemeat.” With Vaughn gone, The Last Stand landed on Ratner, then between Rush Hour movies. To many, The Last Stand remains the worst movie in the entire X-Men franchise – which is really saying something! Berry – who has said she is open to playing the character again – would play Storm once more in 2014’s Days of Future Past, having not been invited to Deadpool & Wolverine.

If there’s one thing Tom Holland is known for in the MCU, it’s Spider-Man. But if there’s another, it’s his utter inability not to spoil its movies. Despite some serious gaffes in the PR department, Tom Holland did hold one major secret in regarding the MCU: Robert Downey Jr.’s role as Doctor Doom, one of the biggest surprise casting announcements in recent memory. Appearing on the Rick Roll podcast (via Variety), Tom Holland said he had a tremendously hard time keeping that particular MCU spoiler to himself. “I’ve been speaking to [Robert Downey Jr.] a lot, especially about him making his [Marvel] return, which is super exciting…That was a tough secret to sit on because I have a reputation for ruining things and I strategically have done no press.” Downey was announced as Doctor Doom this last summer, an incredibly bold move considering we all knew RDJ as Tony Stark/Iron Man for so long. Had he spilled the beans, no doubt we would all have all had an Aunt May moment, screaming our own version of “WTF?!” until we could get ourselves back in order. As for what Tom Holland is referring to with his MCU spoilers, the kid probably could have taken a few lessons from Peter Parker on how to keep a secret. Seriously, the dude has spoiled plot points in the MCU and the existence of sequels to the point where even his fellow Marvel cast members are on edge during joint interviews that he’ll do it again. (Hey, it would at least take pressure off of Owen Wilson!) With years of this kind of experience to his name, it really is something of a miracle that Downey Jr.’s future wasn’t blown. Tom Holland spoilers or not, Robert Downey Jr. returning to the MCU is one of the more intriguing and controversial casting decisions that the studio has ever dropped…Now we’ll just have to wait until 2026 to see if it pays off, as Avengers: Doomsday is set for May 1st of that year. The follow-up, Avengers: Secret Wars, is set for a May 7th, 2027 release.

The AMC series Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches – which, as you may have deduced from the title, is based on author Anne Rice’s trilogy of Mayfair Witches novels – was only four episodes into the eight episode run of its first season when AMC ordered a second season of the show back in February of 2023. Now we finally know when fans are going to have the chance to see new episodes of the show, as AMC has announced that Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches season 2 will premiere on January 5, 2025 on both AMC and AMC ! They have also unveiled a new batch of images, which can be seen in this article. Our review of the first season of the show can be read HERE. AMC’s Mayfair Witches series is an exploration of female power and the mortal implications of our decisions. Mayfair Witches focuses on an intuitive young neurosurgeon who discovers that she is the unlikely heir to a family of witches. As she grapples with her newfound powers, she must contend with a sinister presence that has haunted her family for generations. Alexandra Daddario (We Summon the Darkness), Jack Huston (Boardwalk Empire), Tongayi Chrisu (Palm Springs), Harry Hamlin (Mad Men), Annabeth Gish (Rim of the World), Beth Grant (No Country for Old Men), Erica Gimpel (God Friended Me), Jen Richards (Her Story), and Alyssa Jirrels (Fatal Attraction) star. Daddario plays Rowan, “a brilliant doctor who grapples with her fate as the heir to a family of powerful witches.” Huston’s character is Lasher, “a powerful, shape-shifting entity who has been bound to the Mayfair witches for hundreds of years.” Chrisu is series regular Ciprien Grieve, Hamlin plays Cortland Mayfair, “current reigning patriarch of the Mayfair clan with a voracious appetite for more money, more power and more life”. Jirrels’ character is Moira Mayfair, Rowan’s cousin and a mind reader. Gish takes on the recurring role of Diedre, Grant is the recurring Carlotta, Gimpel is the recurring Ellie, and Richards is Jojo. Mark Johnson (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul) is overseeing the building of AMC’s franchises based on both her Mayfair Witches novels and her Vampire Chronicles novels. Esta Spaulding and Michelle Ashford, both of whom previously worked on Masters of Sex, are writers and executive producers on Mayfair Witches, with Ashford also serving as the showrunner. Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches trilogy consists of the novels The Witching Hour (1990), Lasher (1993), and Taltos (1994). Season 2 of the TV series will be adapting Lasher and will see Rowan adapting to her unwitting role in birthing the demon Lasher. While using him to fulfill her purpose as a healer, she will fight to understand what she has become and, as tragedy strikes, protect her family.  Are you looking forward to Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches season 2? Check out the images, then let us know by leaving a comment below. Tongayi Chirisa as Ciprien Grieve – Mayfair Witches _ Season 2, Episode 1 – Photo Credit: Skip Bolen/AMC Harry Hamlin as Cortland Mayfair – Mayfair Witches _ Season 2 – Photo Credit: Skip Bolen/AMC Jack Huston as Lasher – Mayfair Witches _ Season 2 – Photo Credit: Skip Bolen/AMC Alyssa Jirrels – Mayfair Witches _ Season 2, Episode 1 – Photo Credit: Skip Bolen/AMC

Season one of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy hasn’t even aired yet but has already been renewed for a second, a huge get for the latest expansion of the franchise. Added to this, Tatiana Maslany – who fully broke out in more ways than one with Marvel’s She-Hulk: Attorney at Law – has also been named as a cast member. Fresh out of New York Comic Con comes word that Starfleet Academy will go beyond at least its first season, which is currently filming in Canada. Those episodes aren’t even expected to drop until next year at the earliest, with some pegging them to be released in 2026. Whenever the actual release will be, Starfleet Academy is looking to freshen up the franchise in a way that will hopefully beam in a younger audience. Starfleet Academy will indeed skew towards the next generation, as it “introduces us to a young group of cadets who come together to pursue a common dream of hope and optimism. Under the watchful and demanding eyes of their instructors, they will discover what it takes to become Starfleet officers as they navigate blossoming friendships, explosive rivalries, first loves and a new enemy that threatens both the Academy and the Federation itself.” But there will still be some veterans in the cast, with Holly Hunter portraying the head of the namesake academy and Paul Giamatti taking on the lead villain role. Maslany’s role has yet to be revealed. Starfleet Academy was formally announced early last year, with cameras rolling this past August. But this isn’t the only Star Trek project going on, as season three of Strange New Worlds is set to debut next year, with the second season having concluded in August 2023. Of course, the original Star Trek series first debuted nearly 60 years ago in 1966. But the franchise has had no problem (well, for the most part) adapting with the times or building its fanbase, even switching exclusively to streaming programming last decade with Discovery. Like its predecessors in the streaming age, Starfleet Academy will be available on Paramount . What are your expectations for Starfleet Academy? Do you think it has a shot to live long and prosper?