John Wick Box Office: Beloved Hitman Takes Out Avengers: Endgame

John Wick Box Office: Beloved Hitman Takes Out Avengers: Endgame

You can't win the weekend box office forever. Even E.T., which somehow won the weekend box office sixteen different times, was eventually defeated. After surviving a close race with Detective Pikachu last weekend, Avengers: Endgame came into this weekend a bit beaten up, and John Wick 3 took full advantage, topping $57M in its debut weekend and almost doubling up Captain America and friends, which slipped to number two for the first time after winning its initial three weekends.

You can check out the full weekend box office results, including those for other newcomers A Dog's Journey and The Sun Is Also A Star below...

The big story here, of course, is John Wick 3. The previous two installments of the movie definitely had nice little runs at the box office, but round three almost doubled the weekend opening of round two, per Box Office Mojo. That's definitely a sign of a franchise trending in the right direction. Whether there will be a Chapter 4 is still unclear (info here WITH SPOILERS), but there's still the spinoff rolling forward over at Starz and it's hard to imagine Hollywood deciding to pass on a cash cow. As such, I'd expect to see another film too, whether it's a direct sequel or a spinoff.

Obviously, we should all tip our caps to Avengers: Endgame, as well. The film may not have won a historically significant number of weekends, but it'll go down as one of the highest grossing movies of all-time. That's ultimately a lot more important than winning a fourth weekend, which is as much related to competition as it is to absolute popularity. Obviously, the natural question moving forward is where the MCU goes from here and what the new normal as far as box office grosses might be. I don't think anyone at the Mouse House will be expecting numbers like this anytime soon, but it remains to be seen whether franchises like Black Panther will be able to eclipse their prior entries now that the MCU isn't directly building toward a clear climax.

All involved with Detective Pikachu should be happy with the film's solid second weekend, as well. Fans are already speculating on what Pokemon movies they'd like to see next, and it now seems certain we'll see another movie with a sizeable budget in the near future, which is the entire goal of trying to launch a franchise. Now whether that movie will include Pikachu or Ryan Reynolds is anyone's guess, but Detective Pikachu still deserves all the credit for proving enough people are invested in Pokemon to make a $100M+ budget a reasonable expense.

What Really Happened To Nick Fury's Eye In Captain Marvel Is Not What You'd Guess

What Really Happened To Nick Fury's Eye In Captain Marvel Is Not What You'd Guess

Major spoilers for Captain Marvel can be found below. Do not proceed unless you've already seen it or really don't care.

From the moment that we saw that Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury would have both eyes in the 90s throwback film Captain Marvel, we all expected one thing, to learn how Nick Fury ended up sporting his trademark eyepatch. Well, that's exactly what happened, though it needs to be said that it certainly didn't happen the way we expected. It wasn't an injury sustained in an epic battle for survival, but rather a random event after all the danger had, seemingly, been survived.

Here's What Happened

The moment comes after Maria Rambeau has successfully evaded alien pursuers while Nick Fury sits in the co-pilot seat with Goose, the cat that stowed away on the ship. Fury is celebrating their success and also thanking Goose for the feline's assistance (more on that in a second), by holding the kitty vertically, with their heads at a level and Goose's front paws extended like arms. Goose apparently doesn't care for that, because the kitty reaches out and swipes at Fury's eye, an injury that appears to be minor at first, but in the film's final moments we realize that it was not. The eye is lost.

Of course, I sort of buried the lede up there (in an attempt to not put spoilers too early in this) because the fact is Goose the cat isn't really Goose the cat. He's actually Goose the flerken. Goose is an alien creature that looks like a cat on the outside, but is capable of extending multiple octopus like tentacles from its mouth that are able to do some serious damage. This ability is part of what lets Nick Fury and company escape the attacking Kree, but it also means that when Fury got scratched, it wasn't a simple cat scratch, it was alien creature scratch and who the hell knows what bacteria that thing was carrying?

Here's What Nick Fury Says Happened

While we know the truth, it seems that Nick Fury has decided to protect his ego and not reveal what actually happened to the people around him. At the end of the film Agent Coulson is speaking with Fury and he asks...

Is it true that the Kree burned your eye out?

Nick Fury has decided to keep Goose close but he's clearly not revealing to anybody else what the creature really is. Nick Fury has already begun to not trust anybody, giving us a glimpse of the man he will become in later (chronologically) installments of the MCU. It sounds like Fury may have started a rumor himself so that people thought they knew what happened. Fury doesn't technically lie, he tells Coulson he can neither confirm nor deny that story.

And let's face it, having your eye burned out by the Kree is a way cooler story to tell at SHIELD cocktail parties.

How Fury's Previous Comments Fit With Captain Marvel

On the whole, Nick Fury had remained quiet about his injured eye in previous films. He had only made one statement about what happened resulting in his loss of depth perception. In Captain America: The Winter Soldier Fury tells Cap that his lost eye came as a result of trusting the wrong person. Here's the exact moment below.

For what it's worth, the events of Captain Marvel could certainly be interpreted that way, that he trusted somebody and paid for it. Goose comes to Fury's rescue and really seems to be trying to help out our heroes. Fury thinks they're on the same side, and he trusts that the furry little flerkin isn't going to do anything that would hurt him. Turns out, that's not exactly the case.

Captain Marvel has some fun with the eventual reveal. Knowing that fans are waiting for this moment, Nick Fury actually injures the same eye in his first encounter with Captain Marvel and the Skrulls earlier in the film. It's a minor cut above the eye that he says is fine, but it's a bit of foreshadowing for what we all know will be coming at some point.

So that's how the Nick Fury became the one-eyed badass that we know and love today. It certainly wasn't what anybody was expecting, but it's something we clearly won't forget.

How Many People Watched Triple Frontier In Its First Month, According To Netflix

How Many People Watched Triple Frontier In Its First Month, According To Netflix

In a lot of ways, Netflix is still very much a black box. We don't really know what goes behind the scenes as the company frequently doesn't reveal numbers regarding how many people are actually watching on any regular basis. However, Netflix did just release viewing numbers on Triple Frontier, the action-heist movie starring Ben Affleck and Oscar Isaac, and according to the streaming service, 52 million households watched the film in in its first month.

52 million is a solid number of households, as likely many of those views were actually multiple people watching together, so the actual sets of eyeballs who have seen Triple Frontier is even greater. If every person who saw Triple Frontier spent $9 at the theater to see the same movie it would have been a box office smash. Of course, those households actually spent about $13 for the month to be able to watch it, so Netflix did even better.

It's possible that not all of those 52 million actually know how Triple Frontier ends. For the purposes of measuring viewership, Netflix counts those who have watched 70% of a movie or TV episode, so some of those that are being counted may have been called away from the movie and haven't gone back to watch the end.

The number is a far cry from the 80 million households who reportedly watched the Sandra Bullock movie Bird Box in its first month, which appears to be the current Netflix record, but it's still a remarkable number. It shows that people who have Netflix are more than willing to check out new original movies when they hit, especially now that they frequently have bankable stars at the forefront.

Triple Frontier stars Ben Affleck, Oscar Isaac, Garrett Hedlund, and Pedro Pascal as a group of former special forces operatives who come together in an attempt to use their talents in order to steal from a drug kingpin.

Netflix has only recently begun revealing viewership numbers to its original movies, but it's not being consistent in those announcements. THR reveals that while Netflix has given numbers for movies like Triple Frontier and Bird Box, it was never revealed numbers for Roma, the Oscar winning film that came out at the end of December not that far removed from Bird Box. It seems likely based on the silence that while the movie was revered by critics, not all that many people may have actually watched it.

With two more big movies set for release later this year, Martin Scorsese's The Irishman, and Ryan Reynolds Six Underground, Netflix is likely hoping for big numbers from those films as well, since they have major names attached. With the streaming game heating up, and Disney+ set to debut at a very aggressive price point, Netflix needs its original content to hit with audiences in order to ensure people have a reason to keep paying for Netflix.

Quentin Tarantino Asks Moviegoers Not To Spoil Once Upon A Time In Hollywood Ahead Of Its Release

Quentin Tarantino Asks Moviegoers Not To Spoil Once Upon A Time In Hollywood Ahead Of Its Release

Usually you can count on movies being released to select audiences before the general public can view them. Sometimes that just means that critics can check out said movies days or even weeks early, while other times it means attendees can see them at a film festival months beforehand. Quentin Tarantino’s latest flick, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, falls into the latter category, as it’s about to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.

Ahead of this screening, Quentin Tarantino has asked those who will see Once Upon a Time in Hollywood not to spoil anything about the movie afterwards. Here’s what his message said:

I love cinema, You love cinema. It’s the journey of discovering a story for the first time. The cast and crew have worked so hard to create something original, and I only ask that everyone avoids revealing anything that would prevent later audiences from experiencing the film in the same way.

Not spoiling a movie is just a matter of common decency, but I imagine it goes further than that for Quentin Tarantino. The script for his last movie, The Hateful Eight, leaked online in early 2014, and after that happened, Tarantino considered not making the movie at all and would publish it as a novel instead. Eventually he changed his mind and The Hateful Eight was filmed, released to the masses and earned numerous awards, but Tarantino, like a lot of filmmakers, is still concerned about spoilers getting out for other projects.

That brings us to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which is premiering at Cannes two months before the public gets to see it. That’s a lot of time for someone to be a buzzkill and post information about what happens in the movie online. So to help decrease the chances of that happening, the director used Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’s social media platforms, including Twitter, to politely ask that people at Cannes stay quiet about what they saw until everyone else gets to see it. That’s a reasonable request for any movie lover to honor, right?

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is arguably Quentin Tarantino’s most star-studded movie yet, with its main actors including Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie, and its supporting cast including Al Pacino, Bruce Dern, Lena Dunham, Mike Moh and the late Luke Perry. The movie is set in 1969 Los Angeles and follows an actor and his stuntman embarking to make a name for themselves in the film industry, all while the Manson Family is carrying out its illicit activities.

Assuming you’re not currently at Cannes, you can check out Once Upon a Time in Hollywood starting July 26, and don’t forget to scan through our 2019 release schedule to learn what other movies are coming out later this year.

First Look At James McAvoy’s Bill Denbrough In IT Chapter 2

First Look At James McAvoy’s Bill Denbrough In IT Chapter 2

2017 brought us the first installment of director Andy Muschietti’s adaptation of Stephen King’s legendary novel IT. It also brought the suspense of having to wait for the second half of the story, as the doorstopping length of that source book inspired Muschietti to split the story into two parts.

The first chapter delivered the childhood portion of the story, and now with a brand new photo from the director himself, we have our first look at the adult form of Bill Denbrough in IT: Chapter 2, played by James McAvoy:

While it’s not a full-body shot of McAvoy’s adult incarnation of the character originated by Jaeden Lieberher in IT, it looks like we’re seeing Bill indulging in one of his old habits. As the posture of James McAvoy’s body in the photo suggests, it looks like Bill’s riding a bike, more than likely his childhood steed Silver.

Bill is certainly going to need that bike, and any other support from his childhood memories he can get, as he and the entire Loser’s Club gang are reuniting in Derry to take on the evil known as Pennywise The Clown once again. After thirty years of relative peace, with his group of friends being scattered all over, it’s going to take more than just a slingshot to defeat the greatest fears of Bill and the rest of the gang.

With Andy Muschietti previously confirming that a lot of detail went into finding actors that could look and feel like their childhood incarnations, we’re starting to see that work really pay off. See for yourself, by comparing the photo of James McAvoy above with this photo of Jaeden Martell’s version of Bill from IT:

While we’ll have to wait until later this year to see how McAvoy’s performance captures the essence of Lieberher in IT: Chapter 2, there’s certainly a strong resemblance between the two actors in this photo from Andy Muschietti’s Instagram. This isn’t the first we’ve seen when it comes to the adult versions of The Losers Club, as we were treated to some footage of another scene at this year’s CinemaCon.

Through the clips shown to us from IT: Chapter 2, it sounds like James McAvoy isn’t the only example of adult actors sticking the landing on their aged portrayals of their younger counterparts. With a lot of that particular look at the film showing us Jessica Chastain’s Bev, and a few snippets of other Losers being shown, it feels like the fires of hype surrounding this momentous finale are starting to be stoked higher than ever.

IT: Chapter 2 invades our dreams, nightmares, and local theaters, on September 6; but if you want to see what else is heading our way in the months prior to the return to Derry, head over to the 2019 release schedule for further information.

Netflix And The WGA Are Disputing Over How Much Its Writers Are Paid

Netflix And The WGA Are Disputing Over How Much Its Writers Are Paid

Last year was perhaps Netflix’s most successful yet when it comes to its original films, with Roma netting Oscar wins and movies like Bird Box and To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before proving extremely popular. Now the streaming service’s original films are the subjects of a new dispute with the Writer’s Guild of America over how much its writers are paid.

According to Deadline, the WGA has filed an arbitration claim against Netflix over the residuals it says are owed to the union’s writers of 33 of the streaming service’s original movies. These were Netflix original films that were released in theaters to qualify for awards contention at the same time or close to it that they debuted on the streaming service itself.

The WGA’s dispute with Netflix is over the manner in which Netflix applies residuals formulas to its original films. The residuals for the original films owed to the writers are calculated based on licensing fees. Netflix pays itself to license the films to stream on its platform and the crux of the issue is the way in which Netflix allocates these licensing fees.

Because these films are being released in theaters for awards consideration, they are being licensed for the streaming services and by the sound of it, the WGA thinks that Netflix is handling its licensing fees and calculating residuals in a fashion that is shortchanging the writers who are owed more money than they are being paid.

A whopping 51 Netflix original movies were made under WGA contracts last year alone and the growth of the simultaneous streaming and theatrical release model means that the result of this arbitration claim could impact other streaming services if the WGA wins here. With Amazon, Hulu and Apple also releasing original films in theaters in the quest for golden statues, they too could be targets of the WGA over this issue.

It is interesting how this dovetails with the recent tumult over whether or not Netflix movies and those of other streaming services should be eligible for Oscars after qualifying for contention with limited theatrical runs. Director Steven Spielberg is seemingly against it, thinking that streaming movies should compete for Emmys, not Oscars, because of his belief in the importance of the theatrical experience and a desire to preserve it.

These are just some of the issues that arise in an industry that has been shaken up by the explosion of streaming services. At one point streaming service movies were just for the small screen, but with some movies from Netflix and others now getting to shine on the big screen, the waters get ever muddier and there are no clear answers because these are all new issues.

These conversations and disputes will only become louder and more important because of the increasing share of the industry streaming services command. Netflix alone plans to produce some 90 original movies this year.

To keep track of all the biggest movies coming to theaters in 2019, check out our release schedule and take a look at our guide to see what's headed to Netflix this month.

Why The John Wick Franchise Is Better Than Mission: Impossible

Why The John Wick Franchise Is Better Than Mission: Impossible

There is a general consensus among many movie fans, as well as a lot of film critics, that the best modern action movie franchise is the Mission: Impossible series. Tom Cruise has taken action to the next level by not only performing all his own stunts, but performing some practical stunts on screen like we've never seen before.

I would never claim that what Tom Cruise has accomplished in the Mission: Impossible franchise isn't amazing. It absolutely is. However, while Tom Cruise climbing the world's tallest building is phenomenal on its own, as a franchise, I actually find the John Wick movies to be far superior in many ways. Here are some reasons why.

John Wick Is More Human

It's true that, for the most part, both John Wick and Ethan Hunt are essentially superheroes. They are men of incredible talent and skill who are successful to a ludicrous degree in everything they do. However, I find John Wick to simply be a much more relatable character.

When we first meet Mr. Wick, he's not busy murdering a room full of assassins. He's in his house, alone, mourning. The first thing that we learn about Wick is his weakness and vulnerability This is important, because for the rest of the movie he is running around murdering rooms full of assassins, but now we can better relate to him.

By contrast, Ethan Hunt is a near perfect superspy who free climbs dangerous mountains alone for fun in his free time. The franchise has done a better job of humanizing him in more recent films, but it's been working backwards. It made him the invincible hero first and that's just not as relatable.

It Has Superior World-Building

The first thing that jumped out at me about the John Wick franchise was the excellent way it created the world in which Wick and the other characters lived. The idea that this whole world of professional killers is happening all around us in plain sight is incredibly entertaining. There's a serious lack of expository dialogue as well. Instead, the film just drops you into the world and lets you understand how it works as you go along.

Nobody tells us where the Continental hotel comes from or where its traditions originated. It's just there; one assumes it always has been. Because the characters can navigate this world with ease, it comes across as normal to us and we learn what we need to know by watching what happens.

We don't even need the explanation of who John Wick is that the first movie gives us. Everything we need to know about the level of badass we're talking about here is expressed in the dialogue between two other characters. The reaction spells it all out.

The Mission: Impossible franchise isn't without its own world-building, specifically as it pertains to the IMF itself, but for the most part the IMF just feels like any spy agency in the real world. I enjoy the more fantastic elements of John Wick.

There's A Cohesive Story

One of the things that set the Mission: Impossible movies apart was the way that each installment was handled by a new director. This let each one take the property in a different direction and use it to try and do something different. This was a great idea and it gave us a lot of different flavors of Mission: Impossible to enjoy, and also a John Woo movie.

Unfortunately, one negative side effect was that each movie feels so different that they barely feel like they're part of the same franchise. Only in the last couple films have we seen real sequels that feel like they belong together, and that's because Christopher McQuarrie has been overseeing things.

By comparison, the John Wick films are so tightly woven together, the second film follows almost immediately after the first and we know the same will be true of John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum. The entire trilogy takes place over a matter of days. Each event that happens follows directly on the events that came before. The events of Chapter 2 happen because of what happened in the first movie. Parabellum's plot is a consequence of Chapter 2. The reason that the following installments are called chapters is because they really are just pieces of a longer narrative.

More Visceral Action

Action scenes are largely a matter of taste and the type of action that one person loves might not work for another, but personally, I'm a fan of action that is simple and personal. Give me a good sword fight or fist fight, when well shot and choreographed, and I'm in heaven.

Mission: Impossible certainly isn't without this sort of action. The bathroom fight scene in Mission: Impossible - Fallout is a thing of beauty and my favorite part of that film. However, the rest of the action in that movie involves Tom Cruise doing HALO jumps and flying helicopters. They're big, amazing moments, but I find them to be so big that the character of the moments gets lost.

John Wick, by comparison is almost nothing but these close quarters hand-to-hand fights and gun battles. Everything feels more intimate, and therefore, more tense. When John Wick gets thrown off the balcony of the dance club you don't just see him hit the ground with a thud, you feel that impact.

John Wick isn't about one massive set piece stunt, it's about a collection of stylish, perfectly choreographed action sequences, where each one ever so slightly out does the one that came before building to an epic finale.

It's Got Style For Days

While the action of John Wick may feel more real, the rest of the world, to be sure, does not. The world of assassins that exists around our own is somewhat fantastical, that's true, but that's what makes it so much fun.

It exists out of time, with operators using an old fashioned switchboard and typing out contracts on vintage typewriters. Contracts are sent out on the modern cell phone network, but they come from a computer that looks like it came out of a silicon valley garage in the 1970s. The timeless element adds so much to the overall feel of the story.

The fight scenes are an extension of this style. Everything in them is beautifully choreographed. It's like watching a big song and dance number in a very bloody musical. Watching all the players perform their steps to perfection is a joy to watch.

I still love the Mission: Impossible franchise. I look forward to the two additional films that are coming from Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie, and I can't wait to see what they have in store for us next. There's no question we'll see some epic stunts. However, outside of those epic stunts, I'm just not sure there's going to be enough in the story to keep me excited when the big stunt is over.

Instead I'm much more excited to see John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum, and if there are even more chapters in John Wick's story left to tell, I'll be even more excited for those. I find John Wick to be a more compelling character, who also is really good at killing lots of people in very pretty ways.