John Wick 3 Is Killing With Fans, Earning Highest Scores Of The Franchise

John Wick 3 Is Killing With Fans, Earning Highest Scores Of The Franchise

Looks like if it was up to fans, John Wick would just keep thinkin' he's back forever. Each John Wick film has gotten progressively higher scores from fans and, in many cases, critics. That's not easy for a franchise to do.

John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum just opened in theaters yesterday, which means today we get to look at the CinemaScore from moviegoers polled on opening night. We can also check out the Rotten Tomatoes Audience Scores. All told, it looks great for John Wick. The box office is also looking like a franchise best, and maybe even enough to kill off Avengers: Endgame's weekend winning streak.

Seems to me like we can pencil in John Wick 4 for 2021 or 2022, but maybe I'm getting too pushy.

Here are some score comparisons, keeping in mind that John Wick 3's RT Audience Scores will fluctuate after the early rush of opening weekend. But either way, I don't see them going down so much that they don't stay the best of the franchise to date.

JOHN WICK (2014)

RT Audience Score - 80%

RT Critics Score - 86%

CinemaScore - B

Box office - $88,761,661 worldwide

JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 2 (2017)

RT Audience Score - 85%

RT Critics Score - 89%

CinemaScore - A-

Box office - $171,539,887 worldwide

JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 3 - PARABELLUM (2019)

RT Audience Score (so far) - 93%

RT Critics Score - 88%

CinemaScore - A-

Box office - Stay tuned!

As you can see, John Wick 3 is the only film in the franchise to date that has a higher RT Audience Score than a critics score. It also tied Chapter 2 with an A- CinemaScore. Looking at the first movie, I'm grateful we even got a second one, since a B CinemaScore and less than $100 million worldwide wouldn't inspire everyone to say "Yeah, I think we should keep going." Then again, that first film was made on a super slim production budget of roughly $20 million.

At any rate, John Wick 3 is already on target to top the previous two grosses. It had a very strong opening night at the box office, and the revised opening weekend projections are much higher than the early estimates of $30-40 million. The weekend isn't over yet, but Parabellum is even being eyed as the first to dethrone Avengers: Endgame as #1 at the domestic box office.

John Wick is a very violent franchise, but Keanu Reeves seems like such a chill dude and he's easy to root for. He's already had blockbuster after blockbuster in his career, and it's cool to think that in his mid-50s he's found himself at the top of another career-defining role. He and director Chad Stahelski have talked about being more than willing to come back for more, and John Wick 3 reactions would suggest fans are ready for more as well.

Have you seen John Wick 3 yet? If so, here's more on the ending and where the franchise could go from here. Also, why not add your score/grade to the list by voting in our poll below?

Avengers: Endgame’s Jeremy Renner Shares Set Photo From That Black Widow Scene

Avengers: Endgame’s Jeremy Renner Shares Set Photo From That Black Widow Scene

It’s been a little over a month since Avengers: Endgame hit theaters. Fans are finally on the road to recovery, even though all those major character deaths still may sting. Then Jeremy Renner has to post sentimental pictures such as this one and get us all emotional once more.

Check out the Hawkeye actor’s latest reminder of Endgame’s MCU culmination below:

I’m not crying, you’re crying! The Instagram picture has Scarlett Johansson and Jeremy Renner sweetly holding hands on set during their big scene together that ends tragically for Black Widow. Renner refers to ScarJo as the “goddess” that she is with this behind-the-scenes image of their scene on Vormir.

In Avengers: Endgame, the dynamic duo team up once again to retrieve the Soul Stone, with the cost unknown to them. Once Red Skull explains that one of them will have to sacrifice their life in order to complete their mission, the two compete to keep the other alive. Black Widow ends up with the short stick when she falls off the cliff and shares the same fate as Gamora did in Infinity War.

Jeremy Renner previously addressed the scene on social media, admitting it was a difficult day to film but one of the best. The pair actually shot another version of the scene on Vormir that would have had Hawkeye and Black Widow fighting off Thanos’ soldiers together before Scarlett Johansson goes for the cliff. Instead of Endgame including a final battle alongside each other, it was cut down, likely due to the movie’s pacing.

The scene certainly is one fans have debated since Johansson’s Black Widow is finally getting a standalone movie in Phase Four. Perhaps it’s a prequel? Some think that when Captain America goes back to Vormir at the end of Endgame to return the Soul Stone, Black Widow may also be resurrected.

The Endgame writers called the trade an “everlasting exchange,” so Black Widow’s technical future could be bleak. The Black Widow movie has already cast a few stars for the flick including Stranger Things’ David Harbour and Fighting For My Family’s Florence Pugh, and is rumored to begin filming in June, so the film will likely be one of Phase Four’s early entries.

Additionally, Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye will be explored on an original series for the new streaming service Disney+. It is reportedly set after Endgame and will follow Clint Barton training Kate Bishop to be the new Hawkeye.

Even though the characters will still live on in these upcoming projects, their time on Vormir in the scene pictured above could potentially be the last time Black Widow and Hawkeye share the screen. At least they’ll always have Budapest!

Keep checking back with us for more news on the future of the MCU as they are revealed!

Godzilla 2 Box Office: King Of The Monsters Barely Tops Aladdin In Tepid Opening

Godzilla 2 Box Office: King Of The Monsters Barely Tops Aladdin In Tepid Opening

Godzilla: King of the Monsters ruled its opening weekend, but the Godzilla sequel didn't roar so much as politely squeeze by last week's winner Aladdin to claim the #1 spot. With roughly $49 million, King of the Monsters had the softest opening yet for the MonsterVerse -- but, hey, at least it topped the May 31-June 2 box office! Rocketman made close to half that amount, but it's a very different film, and for the Elton John biopic $25 million is a win. Fellow newcomer Ma had to settle for fourth place behind Rocketman, but that horror film's take was a win too.

Check out how all three newcomers did vs. the returning movies in the domestic box office chart, then we'll talk about everything below.

I wouldn't say this is a bad result for Godzilla: King of the Monsters, it just pales in comparison to previous MonsterVerse titles and also the revised expectations. The movie was initially projected to open between $40-$60 million at the domestic (U.S./Canada) box office, and that's what happened. But more recent revised predictions thought it would skew higher, well above $50 million.

In comparison, Godzilla made a massive $93,188,384 in its opening weekend in May 2014. The prequel Kong: Skull Island made $61,025,472 in its domestic opening in March 2017. There's another movie coming as a sequel to King of the Monsters, Godzilla vs. Kong, with that MonsterVerse title scheduled to be released on March 13, 2020.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters had bad reviews from critics -- with a score of just 37% on Rotten Tomatoes -- but a big thumbs-up from fans. The movie has an impressive 87% RT Audience Score and a CinemaScore of B+ from polled moviegoers. That's not the first huge critic-to-fan disparity this year, but it's quite a gap.

Aladdin also has a big critic-to-fan gap, with fans rating the live-action movie very highly and the critics just feeling meh about it. Aladdin almost scraped itself a second weekend victory, which would've been quite an upset. Instead, it had a respectable drop of 53.7% from last week.

Rocketman should feel just fine about that $25 million, which is actually a bit more than the initial $20 million projections. The Taron Egerton movie is enjoying praise from both critics and audiences. Octavia Spencer's horror film Ma has had a more mixed reaction, but if the production budget was only $5 million, then that $18 million is already a win.

And lookie what we have here with Booksmart and Brightburn. They reversed positions from last week, with Booksmart getting a mini boost of 13 more theaters, which helped it just enough to push past the superhero horror film.

Check out the full chart listings from Box Office Mojo, and prepare for a battle next week between Dark Phoenix and The Secret Life of Pets 2, with Late Night in there as some counter-programming. Oh, and by the way, Avengers: Endgame is now up to $2,713,201,784 worldwide. Yes, I am sticking to my guns that it will top Avatar.

No, Michael Keaton Isn’t Returning For Spider-Man: Far From Home

No, Michael Keaton Isn’t Returning For Spider-Man: Far From Home

With Spider-Man: Far From Home being the first Marvel Cinematic Universe movie post Avengers: Endgame, a lot of secrets were being kept about the film to keep the big crossover event properly secret. Now that things are getting a bit relaxed on the spoiler front, we're getting some more detail about what is actually in the upcoming movie, as well as what's not in it, including an appearance by the Vulture.

For many, one of the highlights of Spider-Man: Homecoming was Michael Keaton's role as Adrian Toomes. He's generally viewed as one of the better MCU villains to date, and that film ended with Toomes knowing the secret of Spider-Man's identity. It seemed like the sort of thing that might factor into a sequel, and so the word that Michael Keaton would be back for the movie that came to be known as Spider-Man: Far From Home wasn't a huge surprise.

Except, it turns out, that's not the case. Director Jon Watts says that we won't see Michael Keaton in the new movie, nor will we see Laura Harrier, who played Liz, Peter's love interest, and Toomes daughter, in the first film. According to Watts...

Keaton is not in the movie. And Laura is not in the movie.

Jon Watts doesn't go into further detail with Fandango, so it's not clear why it was being reported that Michael Keaton would be returning a year ago and now that turns out not to be true. It's possible there were initial plans to have Adrian Toomes appear, but the script went through changes. It's also possible that somebody got a hold of a fake script, something MCU movies have been known to use in the past to prevent spoilers from leaking.

Back when it was reported that Keaton would be in the movie we knew very little about the project as a whole, and so the possibility that he would be returning was certainly there. Now that we know what the movie is about, with Peter Parker on a European vacation with classmates when some massive elemental monsters appear, it's hard to imagine how Keaton's character, in prison in New York as far as we know, would fit into the story.

There appears to be plenty going on already. Jake Gyllenhaal plays Mysterio, a character who is typically a Spider-Man villain, but appears to be a hero in the trailers. Of course, Mysterio is usually a fraud in the comics, so it remains to be seen if this is all on the level.

In addition to that, we have the information that a hole has been torn in between dimensions as part of the use of the Infinity Stones, allowing at least one person from an alternate reality to cross over.

While we may not see Michael Keaton return in Spider-Man: Far From Home the possibility of him returning in the future is always there. If the multiverse really is going to play a role in the future of the MCU, we could see multiple versions of Michael Keaton for all we know.

Why LeBron James Is Having Trouble Getting NBA Players To Appear In Space Jam 2

Why LeBron James Is Having Trouble Getting NBA Players To Appear In Space Jam 2

LeBron James is bringing back Space Jam to the big screen with a sequel starring himself and all our favorite Looney Tunes. Since the 1996 original starred Michael Jordan and a ton of NBA player cameos, basketball fans might imagine a contemporary dream team would be assembled this time around as well. It’s their chance, do their dance! However, recent reports indicate that various courtside politics have been getting in the way of more NBA stars joining Space Jam 2.

Last week, ESPN said LeBron James -- who is also an executive producer on the project -- had reached out to a number of top players but hadn’t been successful in closing deals with them. Early speculation pointed to the rate of pay being offered for the cameos, or other NBA players not being interested in being a sideshow to LeBron’s top billing. The Hollywood Reporter has now offered up a few more reasons why LeBron James has been having trouble recruiting more players for the highly-anticipated family basketball movie.

First off, Warner Bros is apparently in charge of finding NBA talent for Space Jam 2, not LeBron. Also, the franchise has close ties with the Nike brand, especially since inspiration for the film itself started from a Nike Super Bowl commercial called "Hare Jordan," directed by Joe Pytka, who would later helm Space Jam starring Bugs and Michael Jordan as well. LeBron James has a Nike deal of his own, so players associated with competing sneaker brands will likely not join in on the sequel.

The report points to Stephen Curry, James Harden, and Kevin Durant as no-gos -- since Curry has a contract with Under Armour, Harden with Adidas, and while Durant is part of Team Nike, he is working on his own Apple series based on his life titled Swagger.

Additionally, the sources say the movie starring LeBron James isn’t looking to feature a large number of other NBA players for the film anyway. Space Jam 2 will focus a great deal on James as the central character, along with a second teen lead named Dom, who has yet to be cast. The movie will also feature Sonequa Martin-Green, who will play James’ wife, and a character named Malik, who will be modeled after James’ real-life best friend since childhood and producing partner Maverick Carter.

Fans of the original will likely be a bit disappointed if no other players cameo in Space Jam 2, since the first one had over a dozen legends playing alongside the Looney Tunes and against a team of bully aliens. There are certainly a few NBA players who don’t have ties to these brands and would be interested in taking part in this exciting sequel. The movie directed by Terence Nance, produced by Ryan Coogler and Justin Lin, is scheduled to begin filming this summer and be released on July 16, 2021.

Robert Pattinson Has Been Cast To Play The New Batman

Robert Pattinson Has Been Cast To Play The New Batman

Ever since Ben Affleck retired as Batman at the beginning of the year, fans have been wondering who would play the next version of the Caped Crusader in the DC Extended Universe. All that had been revealed was that it would be someone younger than Affleck and that The Batman director Matt Reeves was looking for someone well known. Well, evidently Twilight star Robert Pattinson was the best man for the job with those qualifications.

Weeks after he was among the rumored actors up for the Batman role, word has come in Robert Pattinson will don the cape and cowl next, with a deal set to close shortly. This makes him the seventh actor to play Batman in a live action theatrical movie, and the second youngest actor to ever bring the character to life in his superhero persona, following Christian Bale. According to Variety, Pattinson has been cast to lead The Batman even as Matt Reeves is still polishing the final draft of the script.

Robert Pattinson is best known for playing Edward Cullen in the five Twilight movies from 2008 to 2012, and his other notable credits include Queen of the Desert, Life (2015), The Lost City of Z and High Life. The Batman marks Pattinson’s second upcoming Warner Bros project, as he’s already set to star alongside John David Washington and Elizabeth Debicki in Christopher Nolan’s next movie.

It is worth mentioning that Deadline claims that Nicholas Hoult is still in the running for The Batman, though Robert Pattinson has the edge on the short list. Given that Hoult had already played Beast in four X-Men movies, it’d be nice if Pattinson gets the opportunity to leave his own mark on the superhero genre.

Although The Batman is featuring a younger version of the eponymous protagonist, it will not be an origin story in the vein of Year One. No specific plot details have been revealed yet, but it’s said to be a noir-driven tale that will highlight Bruce Wayne’s detective skills, which haven’t been explored in-depth in previous Batman movies.

As far as villains go, Matt Reeves has said that The Batman will feature a rogues gallery, with Penguin said to be one of the antagonists. Beyond that, we’ll have to wait and see what kind of stamp Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson put on this 80-year-old character that distinguishes him from past iterations. Production is reportedly scheduled to begin either towards the end of the year or in early 2020 in London.

The Batman will cast its shadow in theaters on June 25, 2021, so stay tuned to CinemaBlend for continuing coverage. In the meantime, you can learn what other DC movies are on the way by looking through our comprehensive guide.

How Toy Story 4 Included Don Rickles After His Death

How Toy Story 4 Included Don Rickles After His Death

The Toy Story franchise has been capturing moviegoers attention and breaking hearts since 1995, and the iconic group of toys will soon return to theaters with the upcoming fourth movie. Toy Story 4 will pick up on Woody, Buzz and company now that they're living with Bonnie, and will reunite them with Annie Potts' Bo Peep in the process. But there's another toy who fans were worried about as the movie was being worked on: Mr. Potato Head.

Potato Head was voiced by comedy legend Don Rickles. But when Rickles passed away in 2017, fans worried about the character's future in Toy Story 4. But Rickles is still on the cast in the upcoming sequel, and director Josh Cooley recently explained how Mr. Potato Head was given life, saying:

We went back through all of the outtakes for all of the films, all the shorts, all the video games, all the ice-capades shows, every possible thing, and there was a lot of Don Rickles. So I wouldn’t say it was easy, but there was a lot to work with. So I’m very, very, very honored that he’s in this film.

It seems that nothing is impossible in the current age of film, and that includes bringing characters to life on screen after the actor in question passes on. The Star Wars franchise has famously made strides in this department, and now it look like Toy Story 4 will follow suit.

Josh Cooley's comments to Comic Book are sure to be a relief for Toy Story fans, who were worried about how the fourth movie would be utilizing Mr. Potato Head in the wake of Don Rickles' death. But Cooley and his team utilized the Disney Vault, and found unused footage from the first three Toy Story movies, as well as the various specials that he recorded content for.

Since Toy Story 4 is an animated blockbuster, the House of Mouse doesn't have the pressure of bringing Don Rickles' physical likeness to theaters. Instead, Mr. Potato Head's movement and participation in scenes can be built around what extra dialogue Josh Cooley found. As such, it will probably not be super obvious that previously recorded dialogue is being utilized in the upcoming movie.

Related: Full Toy Story 4 Trailer Brings Back Bo Peep And Even Andy

In addition to keeping Don Rickles as Potato Head in Toy Story 4, the upcoming movie will also contain a special tribute to the late comedian. Considering his contributions to the franchise and comedy as a whole, it's safe so say Rickles deserves it.

The Star Wars franchise is pulling a similar (albeit far more ambitious) move with The Rise of Skywalker. Carrie Fisher's General Leia will have a role thanks to unused footage of the late actress in previous two installments. And Fisher's brief appearance in the first trailer is already enough to make fans well up.

You can see Don Rickles' final bow as Mr. Potato Head when Toy Story 4 arrives in theaters on June 21st. In the meantime, check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies