by Emily Nagle
Top 5 Highest Grossing Films for October 14 – October 16, 2022
5. Amsterdam ($2.9 million)
4. The Woman King ($3.7 million)
3. Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile ($7.4 million)
2. Smile ($12.4 million)
1. Halloween Ends ($41.3 million)
With October halfway through, audiences are prepping for Spooky Month and flocked to theaters for “Halloween Ends”. Despite also being available to stream on Peacock at no additional cost, the long-awaited final installment in the Halloween film series dominated ticket sales this past weekend. Starring series veteran Jamie Lee Curtis and Andi Matichak, in addition to newcomer Rohan Campbell, this movie received mixed reviews for its confusing story.
by Emily Nagle
Scottish actor Robbie Coltrane, best known for portraying half-giant groundskeeper Rubeus Hagrid in the “Harry Potter” film series, has died at the age of 72.
After graduating from the University of Edinburgh, Coltrane got his acting career started in his early twenties with theatre and comedy shows. His first film role came in 1980 with “Flash Gordon”, but his breakthrough came when he played criminal psychologist Dr. Edward “Fitz” Fitzgerald in the BAFTA-winning British crime drama series “Cracker”.
When Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling was giving her choices for cast members for the first film adaptation, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”, she was so set on Coltrane portraying Hagrid that when asked her top casting choices, Rowling replied in a single breath, “RobbieColtraneforHagrid”. Coltrane, who was already a fan of the book series, portrayed Hagrid for all eight films, starting in 2001 with “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” all the way through 2011 with “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2“.
Coltrane’s role as Hagrid was one that brought joy to children and adults around the world, and he recalled receiving fan mail and having children excitedly run up to him and ask him to autograph their books. “The legacy of the movies is that my children’s generation will show them to their children,” Coltrane said in the “Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts” that was released on HBO earlier this year. “So you could be watching it in 50 years’ time, easy. I’ll not be here, sadly, but Hagrid will, yes.”
In addition to “Harry Potter”, Coltrane is well-known for his role as Valentin Dmitrovich Zukovsky in the James Bond films “GoldenEye” and “The World is Not Enough”. He also appeared in “The Brothers Bloom” and “Ocean’s Twelve”, and had voice roles in “The Tale of Despereaux” and Pixar’s “Brave”.
Coltrane’s death was confirmed by his agency on Friday. He died after being in poor health for the past two years. Coltrane is survived by his sister Annie Rae, as well as his children Spencer and Alice.
by Emily Nagle
After years of Netflix CEO Reed Hastings stressing the necessity of the platform’s ad-free nature, Netflix will be rolling out an ad-supported payment plan in the United States on November 3, going for $6.99/month (as opposed to the ad-free Basic plan, which costs $9.99/month).
So, why is Netflix adding in commercials after being opposed to them for so long? In the first few months of 2022, Netflix lost a substantial amount of subscribers (200,000, to be exact) for the first time in a decade, and its stock plummeted as a result. The “Basic with Ads” plan will hopefully replenish Netflix’s revenue by introducing a cheaper option for customers who don’t want to pay premium. Ideally, this will help the platform to regain 1 million customers in the third quarter.
“We want to offer consumers choice,” Netflix COO Greg Peters explained in a media conference call, “and figure out what the best offering is for them.”
While they may have more choices, consumers aren’t particularly thrilled with the streaming platform’s decision. Many social media users have commented that the company has defeated its own purpose by adding commercials. Netflix, however, sees this as an opportunity to expand their services to people with different viewing and spending habits.
by Emily Nagle
As of earlier today, Cartoon Network Studios is essentially no more after the animation department was combined with Warner Bros. Animation in yet another cost-cutting realignment.
Ever since WarnerMedia’s completion of the Discovery merger back in April, CEO David Zaslav has been aggressively cutting costs by cancelling upcoming content and projects and laying off hundreds of employees – as a result of the consolidation, 26% of Warner Bros. Television Group’s workforce was axed.
WarnerMedia chairman Channing Dungey announced yesterday in a company-wide letter, “We are implementing a new streamlined structure in which the development and main production teams will now work across both Warner Bros. Animation and Cartoon Network Studios.”
In other words, Cartoon Network Studios will have to share resources with Warner Bros. Animation. This is bad news for Cartoon Network, which in recent years has produced original animation including Craig of the Creek, Infinity Train, Steven Universe, and Over the Garden Wall. Meanwhile, Warner Bros. Animation is more focused on creating content for WB’s many preexisting properties, such as Looney Tunes, DC, and Hanna-Barbera characters.
As a result of the studio realignment, Cartoon Network’s future content could very well consist of more reboots and spin-offs of popular Warner Bros. properties, being more focused on nostalgia than original stories and characters.
by Emily Nagle
With people off from school and work for the long Columbus Day & Indigenous Peoples’ Day weekend, this past weekend served as the perfect opening for lots of new films. With 41 releases raking in a total of $66.8 million nationwide, it was the most profitable weekend for movie theaters since over the summer.
Top 5 Highest Grossing Films for October 7 – October 10, 2022
5. Don’t Worry Darling ($4 million)
4. The Woman King ($5.9 million)
3. Amsterdam ($7.2 million)
2. Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile ($13.2 million)
1. Smile ($2`1.1 million)
After debuting last week, horror movie “Smile” continues to dominate ticket sales, earning over $20 million for two consecutive weeks. Coming in at number two is musical comedy “Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile”, based on the children’s book of the same name. Following a family that moves to New York City, only to discover a singing, caviar-loving crocodile (Shawn Mendes) living in their new home, many critics found “Lyle” to be a so-so family film, with nothing particularly unique going for it. Julian Roman of MovieWeb summarizes, “Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile will entrance the youngest tykes. Big-budget CGI animation and Shawn Mendes’ soaring vocals will have them dancing in the aisles. Their parents won’t be as entertained.”
While “Amsterdam” made it to number three out of all 41 releases, its overall box office performance was less than stellar. It opened to $10 million against a budget of $107 million, most likely due to mixed reviews from critics. Despite well-received performances from its star-studded cast including Chris Rock, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Mike Myers, the complicated screenplay and unconventional visual style were met with criticism by viewers.
by Emily Nagle
This afternoon, the long-awaited teaser trailer for “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” made its world premiere at New York Comic Con, as well as on a special Nintendo Direct livestream. It’s only been a few hours, but viewers already have strong feelings about the upcoming film, creating memes and sharing their first impressions of the film on social media, particularly the portrayal of mustachioed plumber Mario.
When the all-star cast list for the Illumination and Nintendo co-production first got announced online, the name that drew the most attention was Chris Pratt (Jurassic World, Guardians of the Galaxy), who will be voicing Mario. Especially when it was revealed that he wouldn’t be using an over-the-top Italian accent like the overall-sporting plumber speaks with in the games. In other words, Mario would just sound like a regular dude.
Of course, with the trailer only being a teaser, Mario got the least screen time compared to other characters. We open to a scene featuring Bowser (Jack Black), Kamek (Kevin Michael Richardson), and an army of Koopas facing off against a team of fuzzy blue penguins. Long-time Nintendo fans enjoyed this reference to Super Mario 64, a classic Mario game that has a level challenging the player to race a penguin down a snowy mountain. And Jack Black is phenomenal as Bowser, sounding super badass and menacing as we watch the Koopa king steal a shiny star.
As for how Mario sounds: it’s hard to say, because the only lines we hear him say are “What is this place?” and “Mushroom Kingdom, here we come!”. Pratt seems to give the character a bit of a New York accent, reminiscent of television depictions of Mario, namely The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!. Pratt was right, though; based on what we’ve seen, Mario’s voice is more or less Chris Pratt’s regular voice. Which, if you think about it, is kind of hilarious.
The rest of the Internet, however, has mixed feelings on Pratt’s performance. Many users criticized Hollywood’s tendency to use big-name celebrities as voice actors, rather than actors who are particularly well-known for their voice work – before portraying Star-Lord in the Marvel films, Chris Pratt was best known for playing Andy in Parks and Recreation. While it marked a turning point in his career, Pratt’s starring voice role as Emmet Brickowski in The Lego Movie in 2014 isn’t the first credit of his that comes to mind.
This gave us only a small preview of what to expect next spring in “The Super Mario Bros. Movie”, so only time will tell how Pratt does with voicing Mario. One can only hope he doesn’t pull what Tom Hanks did in his role as Geppetto in Pinocchio last month, where he half-assed a vaguely Italian accent for the first 20 minutes before giving up completely.
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