by Emily Nagle
Amazon Prime’s superhero series “The Boys” is launching a podcast about the show’s creation and development.
With the release of season 2 last fall, fans of the show are anxiously awaiting season 3, which is confirmed to be in production. Launching this Thursday, The Boys: The Official Podcast will supplement the show, giving viewers something to hold them over until the third season is released. It will feature members of the cast and crew, from executive producers Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, and Erick Kripke to actors such as Antony Starr and Karl Urban, and even those who are more behind the scenes, like costume designer Laura Jean Shannon.
On the podcast, discussion topics will include favorite moments on set, challenges while working on the show, and how they brought some the show’s most well-known assets to life, such as The Boys’ super suits.
The Boys: The Official Podcast can be streamed on Amazon, Apple Music, and Spotify. Following its two-episode debut on April 15, one episode will premiere each week until May 27, making a total of eight episodes. Seasons 1 and 2 of “The Boys” are available to stream on Amazon Prime.
by Emily Nagle
With the vaccine slowly becoming available to the public, things are finally starting to look closer to “normal” than they did at this time last year. As a result, people are starting to watch films, instead of just streaming them from home.
Top 5 Highest Grossing Films for Weekend of April 9-11
1. Godzilla vs. Kong
2. Nobody
3. The Unholy
4. Raya and the Last Dragon
5. Voyagers
The top grossing film for this weekend was “Godzilla vs. Kong,” which grossed $13.8 million. This action-packed monster movie has raked in a monstrous $70 million (and that’s just in the United States – it’s a hit around the world, too) since its release two weeks ago, which is no small feat. It has fared so well in theaters that experts believe that moviegoing will return this summer.
“Nobody” grossed $2.6 million this weekend, and has made $15.6 million since its release three weeks ago.
Currently in its second week of release, “The Unholy” grossed $2.4 million, and has now made a grand total of $6.7 million.
Disney’s “Raya and the Last Dragon” soared to the number 4 spot for this weekend, grossing $2.2 million. It’s now made $35.3 million since it first arrived in theaters and on Disney Plus on March 5.
The fifth-highest grossing film of this weekend was the new sci-fi film “Voyagers,” which made its debut on Friday. To date, it’s made $1.3 million.
by Emily Nagle
One of Invincible’s newest partnerships, the MMA-focused streaming service, XFCTV – owned by Xtreme Fighting Championships (XFC) – has recently broadcasted its first live event.
The fight, which streamed at 8pm EST on March 27 to over 100 million viewers worldwide, was the first installment of the channel’s YoungGuns Series, which features amateur and professional fighters as young as 19. While this is an opportunity for them to who are gaining worldwide recognition as the stream is accessible throughout North and South America, in addition to parts of Europe.
Taking place at Shawnee, Oklahoma’s FireLake Arena, the tournament kicked off with MMA veteran Braden Smith defeating Franklin Patterson. This was followed by the co-main event as 19-year-old Austin Bashi won in a match against Mason Iacobellis. In the subsequent matches, Enzo Perez won against Tony Clanton through a TKO, and Kris Vereen versus Rico Cato at welterweight. Making their grand entrance to the professional fighting scene, Cody Linne defeated Maika Samson at flyweight, and Quran Walker won against Davi Young at featherweight. In the women’s flyweight division, Kristina Williams defeated Helen Lucero via unanimous decision.
The first amateur fight of the night took place between bantamweights Jared Ray and Datrelle Kozeluh, with Ray defeating Kozeluh via unanimous decision. This was followed by Parker Avendano’s win against Sean Arvelo through anaconda choke before Randy Ray defeated James Robinson. In the featherweight division, Jared Brown beat Jesse Robertson, and Billy Wilson defeated Chad Decker. Lastly, in the light heavyweight division, Kyler Fairchild took down Montaine McFarland.
XFC is the largest independent MMA organization in the world. XFCTV is powered by Invincible’s own Galxy TV, which will bring the combat sports to more television screens around the world through free, ad-supported streaming. A replay of the March 27 tournament is available on the official XFC TV website.
by Emily Nagle
Discovery’s newest streaming service, Discovery Plus, has arrived on Comcast’s Xfinity Flex platform, and is now available for broadband-only customers.
The recently launched streaming service, which began on January 4, will also be rolled out to Comcast’s Xfinity X1 platform for pay-TV customers in a few weeks. It currently has an estimated 11 million subscribers across the United States, and can be accessed in the “Apps” section or by saying “Discovery Plus” into the Xfinity Voice Distant.
“We’re thrilled to develop our relationship with our valued accomplice Comcast to present their prospects with direct and easy accessibility to Discovery Plus and different functions throughout their industry-leading leisure platforms – Xfinity Flex, and shortly X1,” Gabriel Sauerhoff, SVP of digital distribution and industrial partnerships at Discovery, announced in a statement.
Discovery Plus runs for $4.99/month with ads, or ad-free for $6.99/month, and boasts a diverse catalogue featuring thousands of episodes of shows from Discovery’s networks that will appeal to a wide variety of audiences. Properties offered on the service include HGTV, Food Network, Discovery Channel, and Animal Planet.
by Emily Nagle
Late “Black Panther” star Chadwick Boseman was honored at the 27th Annual Screen Actor’s Guild Awards on Sunday.
Already a heavily accomplished actor, having once accumulated four motion picture nominations for the SAG Awards in a single year, Boseman was honored at the ceremony for his performance as trumpeter Levee Green in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”. His widow, Simone Ledward Boseman, accepted the award on his behalf, delivering an emotional speech quoting the late actor.
“‘If you see the world unbalanced, be a crusader that pushes heavily on the seesaw of the mind,'” Simone recited. “That’s a quote from Chadwick Boseman.”
After a private, four-year battle with colon cancer, Chadwick Boseman passed away last summer at the age of 43. “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” was one of the final films he was in prior to his death, with the other film being “Da 5 Bloods,” which he had a supporting role in.
“Godzilla vs. Kong” had the best opening week we have seen since the pandemic, raking in $48 million. That is more money than all the total of number 1 films made at the box office for the last five weeks. It’s also $6 million more than what every film has made for the last two weekends combined. “Godzilla Vs. Kong” has provided a good sign for the film industry, Especially after besting Wonder Woman 1984’s entire domestic gross in just five days. Out of the best four theatrical openings over the past year are films also available on HBO Max for home subscribers.
Weekend of April 2-4
- Godzilla Vs. Kong: $11,600,000 ($48,000,000 Gross)
- The Unholy: $3,153,456 (Opening)
- Nobody: $2,999,810 ($11,804,105 Gross)
- Raya and the Last Dragon $2,039,116 ($32,172,036 Gross)
- Tom & Jerry: $1,400,000 ($39,500,000 Gross)
Warner Bros. has already pushed back “Mortal Kombat” a week to give “Godzilla Vs. Kong” an additional week at number before that takes over. More theaters and chains are opening this month, which will also reduce the weekly drops. The last film in the MonsterVerse series, “Godzilla: King of the Monsters”, had a 3-day opening of $47.7 million and finished with just $110 million domestic and $386 million internationally. It makes you wonder the numbers “Godzilla Vs. Kong” could have done when not limited to capacity and closed theater chains. The numbers this week Godzilla Vs. Kong did, provides real hope that we are on the road to recovery.
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