Studios release a sequel in most part hoping to capture some of the power of the original film. Some sequels certainly do better box office than the original, but more often than not, sequels underperform the film that came before them. Jurassic World 2 will significantly underperform the original Jurassic World, but hey, it will still make money.
Ant Man and Wasp, the sequel to Ant Man, is typical Marvel — silly, filled with jokes and goofy moments, aimed to remind the audience that comic books for many are the home of fantasy role-playing for little kids and fond memories for adults.
The box office right now is being dominated by family fare, as Disney’s other top-5 film, Incredibles 2, is holding strong, rising past Jurassic World 2 in the box office, and will likely finish second for the weekend, a — pardon the pun — incredible hold for the animated superhero film. Incredibles 2 will pass $506M at the box office this weekend if Disney's projections are right, making it Pixar's highest grossing domestic film.
These aren’t the only options at the Box Office.
In limited release, expanding farther next year is the critically acclaimed, off beat comedy “Sorry to Bother You”. Which will end up as the highest per-theater average this week, in part due to limited options to see the film. It expands next week, and many think the film — which could best be described as Office Space with a dash of LSD, could really take off.
Also new at the box office, The First Purge is the fourth film in the franchise. The super-cheap franchise with no real stars and only lots of killing is a studio cash cow. Filmed cheap, the series is almost guaranteed money for the studio distributing it. While it won’t finish in the top 3 films this weekend, it doesn’t need to considering the production costs are as low as a major film can be.
Peter Howell of the Toronto Star summed up the film this way: “The most terrifying thought is that in both this fictional movie franchise and in real life, the worst is yet to come.” The gore fest is certain to net mixed reviews on the screenplay and actual film, but one area that has won the film praise is the diversity of hiring practices for the film. The film, with a cast predominantly filled by persons of color, The First Purge is getting some praise by opening the door to young actor of color and giving them a first opportunity to appear on the big screen.
In TV this week
Summer season gets going this week for real on the broadcast networks. Tuesday on Lifetime, for those that can tolerate it — here comes the seventh season of “Married at First Sight”. The same night, CW premieres their new fantasy epic “The Outpost” while Vice, TLC, HGTV, and others launch a nighttime of new seasons of shows about home flipping, rehabs, hacking your life or learning how to manage a family.
After a rough and at times very controversial season, Wednesday brings us the Season finale of Handmaid’s Tale on Hulu, along with the second season premiere of their other well received series, Harlots.
On Friday, Netflix drops their science fiction film “How It Ends” as well as new series premieres for “Captain Underpants” and another cooking reality show “Sugar Rush” a baking competition about, you got it, the sweet stuff that makes up desserts.
New in Music
While Chief Keef releases Manion Musick and Rick Astley returns with Beautiful Life, few expect any of the new releases in album form this week to make huge waves on either the charts or album sales. Part of the reason could be laid at the feet of Drake's unbelievable sale and stream record set off of his album "Scorpion"
Billboard sums it up nicely:
Drake's new set Scorpion has become the first album to hit 1 billion streams globally across all streaming platforms in a single week, industry sources have confirmed to Billboard.
In all, Scorpion's tracks accumulated more than 1 billion streams globally in the most recent tracking week (June 29-July 5), the set's first week available, making it the first album to reach the milestone. Previously, Post Malone's beerbongs & bentleys held the global record with just under 700 million streams (April 27-May 3), according to industry insiders.
So, when the album chart comes out on Tuesday, Drake’s effort is likely to easily control the top spot.
The other surprising winner this week is an old hand — Paul McCartney, in part thanks to his appearance in Carpool Karaoke, is seeing his catalog, both the Beatles and his solo efforts, see a surge on the charts. The Beatles compilation album, “#1s” put itself back in the top 40 album sales this week, charting at 38. The Beatles continue to set longevity records with their albums selling year after year — even 50 years after the height of their success.
In singles, Taylor Swift finally has a real hit from her album “Reputation”. The album, which sold well in the first week, has failed to produce a major breakout single in the way her prior albums dominated the charts. “Look What You Made Me Do”, a Right Said Fred ripoff, managed to hit the top of the charts but couldn’t hold it. While Reputation sold well, it just didn’t match any of Swift’s prior successes, and in comparison to her blockbuster 1989, it seemed like a huge fall off. Delicate, the fourth single off the album, has become her break out summer single.
For me? It’s time to break out the BBQ grill, and do some home repair. So, off we go to get some around the house projects done.
What sounds good this week, CUA’ers?
Netroots Nation 2018
RSVPS
1. Neeta Lind, organizer (kosmail her to connect)
2. Bill in Portland Maine
3. Common Sense Mainer
4. Meteor Blades
5. vicki
6. markm667
7. belinda ridgewood
8. paradise50
9. smileycreek
10. side pocket
11. Mrs. side pocket
12. annrose
13. Spedwybabs
14. ericlewis0
15. shanikka
16. Crashing Vor
17. cv lurking gf
18. brillig
19. mik,
20. K1 (aka thatkid)
21. K2
22. loggersbrat
23. Richard Cranium
24. Jeff Singer
25. BeninSC
26. KathyinSC
27. mommyof3
28. Chris Reeves
29. DrLori
30. Will Johnson
31. Carolyn Fiddler
32. Irna Landrum
33. Drew Linzer
34. Jen Hayden
35. peregrine kate
36. Michael Langenmayr
37. Paul Hogarth
38. Rachel Colyer
39. Wagatwe Wanjuki
40. Kelly Macias
41. ramara
42. Will Rockafellow
43. Jessica Sutherland
44. Rory Morris
45. Laura Clawson
46. Arjun Jaikumar
47. Rachel Sinderbrand
48. Wes Williamson
49. Kimm Lett
50. Huiying Chan
51. Joan McCarter
52. Candelaria Vargas
53. Stephen Wolf
54. Gabe Ortiz
55. Steven Howard
56. Jonaya Leek
57. Rebecca Buckwalter-Poza
58. chigh
59. chigh2
60. Mark E. Anderson
61. Marian Piekarczyk
62. gmats
63. Vic Uzumeri aka grapes
64. Joanne Savard
65. DrLori
66. texasmom
67. texasdad
68. Mike Johnson
69. Maya Gold
70. Jon Sitzman
71. watercarrier4diogenes
72. Wee Mama
73. Tall Papa
74. David Nir
75. Kaili Joy Gray
76. Daniel Donner
77. Lulu
78. Susan Grigsby
79. 714day
80. True Blue Majority
81. dopper0189
82. Adel Reid
83. Dartagnan
84. Mr. Clawson
85. Mrs. Clawson
86. SemDem
87. Mrs. SemDem
88. Leslie Salzillo
89. Alona Sistrunk
90. Chitown Kev
91. DebtorsPrison
92. warprof
93.
MAYBEES :
|