With around 2,000,000 Americans receiving vaccines across the U.S. every day, and the reopening of theaters in the Los Angeles area last week, box offices showed signs of continued growth this weekend despite only having one major studio release hitting theaters. Below are the top 5 highest grossing films for the weekend of March 19-21, 2021.
Top 5 Highest Grossing Films for Weekend of March 19-21, 2021:
1. Raya and the Last Dragon: $5,129,473 ($23,412,079 Gross Sales)
2. Tom and Jerry: $3,800,000 ($33,700,000 Gross Sales)
3. Chaos Walking: $1,932,097 ($9,691,730 Gross Sales)
4. The Courier: $1,822,089 (Premiere)
5. The Croods: A New Age: $625,995 ($55,250,573 Gross Sales)
In first place for the third weekend in a row was Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon, at $5,129,473 from 2,261 locations for a gross domestic total of $23,412079 to date. In second place, Warner Bros.’ Tom & Jerry stayed strong 4 weeks in raking in an estimated $3.84 million this weekend bringing the live-action cartoon to $33,700,000 in gross sales. Notably, performing well in the Los Angeles area for the film over the weekend.
The only major new release of the weekend was Roadside Attractions’s spy thriller The Courier, which raked in $1,822,089 this weekend, landing it in fourth place in the rankings with a fairly soft result overall. The Benedict Cumberbatch & Rachel Brosnahan title received an 84% “Fresh” score on Rotten Tomatoes and played very well with the audience who gave the film a 97% audience score.
by Emily Nagle
Ed Brubaker, one of the co-creators of Winter Soldier, has shared in a newsletter that he has “mixed feelings” about the new Disney Plus series “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.” The writer explains that he is unsure how to feel about Bucky Barnes becoming such a big part of Marvel’s Cinematic Universe, because he doesn’t feel like he received adequate recognition for creating him.
“Everyone at Marvel Studios that I’ve ever met (all the way up to Kevin Feige) have been nothing but kind to me,” Brubaker explains. “But at the same time, for the most part all Steve Epting and I have gotten for creating the Winter Soldier and his storyline is a ‘thanks’ here or there, and over the years that’s become harder and harder to live with.”
Brubaker began working for Marvel Comics in 2004, with the first comic he worked on for them being volume five of “Captain America #1,” which he worked on with Steve Epting. This is the volume that resurrected Bucky Barnes after nearly 40 years, turning him into the Winter Soldier, a Soviet assassin with a bionic arm. He worked on the series until 2012.
“I have a great life as a writer and much of it is because of Cap and the Winter Soldier bringing so many readers to my other work,” Brubaker continues. “But I also can’t deny feeling a bit sick to my stomach sometimes when my inbox fills up with people wanting comments on the show.”
After laying down the foundation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Brubaker has received some recognition for his work, receiving a cameo in “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” and receiving “special thanks” in the credits of “Avengers: Endgame,” “Avengers: Infinity War,” “Captain America: Civil War,” and “Captain America: The First Avenger.” Even still, it’s not the same as getting paid for his major contributions.
By Kurt Balingit
Midnight Movie Society, a curated subscription video service specializing in underground, cult and taboo horror, has partnered with Invincible Entertainment in a streaming deal that sees Invincible Entertainment handling Midnight Movie Society’s streaming services.
Midnight Movie Society is a partnership between Rue Morgue, the world’s leading horror in culture and entertainment brand and MVD Entertainment Group, a full service music and movie distribution firm, exclusively representing thousands of audio and visual products for DVD, Blu-ray, CD, vinyl, and digital rights, worldwide.
Invincible will be handling scheduling, and play-out services for Midnight Movie Society’s on-demand streaming services. Invincible will also be providing some content to Midnight Movie Society, by having their free broadcast network, Watch It Scream, play titles from both Midnight Movie Society and Invincible Entertainment on Watch It Scream and Midnight Movie Society’s websites.
by Emily Nagle
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For this Film Review Friday, I’m reviewing the second season of the HBO Max original Close Enough.
I’ll start with a little background about the show. Close Enough is an adult animated sitcom created by J.G. Quintel (who’s best known for creating the Cartoon Network series Regular Show). It follows Josh and Emily, a couple in their early thirties, who are living in an apartment in Los Angeles with their six-year-old daughter Candice, along with their divorced friends Alex and Bridgette. Much like Regular Show, all of the episodes revolve around a small problem that eventually turns into a surreal, sci-fi-style adventure of large proportions. Like Josh joining a gym so he can be strong enough to pick up Candice, but it actually turns out to be an addictive cult.
The series premiered on HBO Max in July 2020, and got renewed for a second season less than a month later, which arrived on the platform on February 25, 2021. Two weeks prior, the series got renewed for a third season. It’s been met with mostly positive reviews by users on Rotten Tomatoes, IMDb, and IGN.
While it has a lot in common with Regular Show, Close Enough is for a slightly older target audience, skewing more towards Millennials than kids and teens as we watch the couple and their best friends/roommates transition from their 20s to their 30s. Like that awkward time period between spontaneous college life and settling down to start a family or career.
With that being said, let’s dive into season 2. With the last season setting up the cast of characters and getting us used to their personalities and quirks, I found this new season to be a little different. There were episodes focusing on the other characters in the show besides Josh and Emily, which I liked a lot. I got to see more of the other occupants of the duplex, including their landlord Pearle and her adopted son Randy.
One of my favorite episodes from Season 2 was “Cyber Matrix,” one of the two segments of episode 3. This segment focused on Alex’s refusal to get a smartphone, as he believed that it would become addictive. Sure enough, the quirky, washed-up community college professor ends up switching to a smartphone after his old phone breaks (with the selling point for him being that it has a calculator feature). When the virtual assistant ends up seducing Alex into a smartphone addiction so intense he’s literally connected to the phone, it’s up to Josh to connect to him via VR headset and bring him back to reality.
Josh and Emily’s daughter got her own episode as well, titled “Sauceface.” This was also one of my favorite episodes of the season, featuring the six-year-old starting an illegal hot sauce ring after the school cafeteria bans it so she and her friend can buy a drone.
I’m really liking Close Enough so far, and find it to be a super creative, funny show about growing up and becoming an adult. As someone who grew up watching Regular Show, this show almost feels like a spin-off (Quintel even confirmed that it takes place in the same universe), and it’s almost like this is what Regular Show grew up to become. It has that same witty, quick humor, and I love how it turns mundane, everyday situations into wild fantasy situations. I’m excited to see where this show goes in the future!
By Kurt Balingit
The CW has casted Kaci Walfall as Naomi in the upcoming series based on the DC Comics. In the comics, Naomi is described as a teenage superhero from an alternate Earth. She’s a likeable high school student who is the adopted daughter of highly touted parents. She is unafraid to embrace her intelligence and comic book–loving nerdiness.
After a supernatural event leads to the discovery of super powers within her, she pursues her hidden destiny. The character of Naomi debuted in her own comic book series in 2019 and was illustrated by Jamal Campbell. In the comics, Naomi had energy-based powers as well as an ability to transform into a state that gave her super strength and many other abilities.
Alexander Wraith will star as Dee, the owner of a local tattoo parlor who knows more than he tells. Cranston Johnson will star as Zumbado, the owner of a local used car lot who Naomi actively tries to avoid, but after a tense encounter makes her curious about his past. Camila Moreno will star as Lourdes, a young woman who works in a vintage collectibles shop and has a crush on Naomi, and she shares an obsession with classic comics with her.
by Emily Nagle
Yaphet Kotto, an actor best known for his roles in “Alien” and the James Bond film “Live and Let Die,” has passed away in the Philippines at the age of 81.
Born and raised in New York City, Kotto first became inspired to start acting when he was 16 years old and watched “The Defiant Ones” starring Sidney Poitier, an African-American actor. “Standing right there on the screen was this tall black man,” Kotto recalled in a 1994 interview with the Chicago Tribune. “And I said to myself, ‘I could be like him.’” Also an inspiration for him was Marlon Brando of “On the Waterfront” fame.
Three years later, he got his first professional acting role in Othello. After years of acting on Broadway, his first major film role came in 1973, when he played villain Mr. Big in the James Bond film “Live and Let Die.” In 1979, he played Parker, the chief engineer in the sci-fi horror hit “Alien.”
Kotto is survived by six children, along with his wife Tessie Sinahon, who announced his death in a heartbreaking Facebook post Monday night. She wrote, “You played a villain on some of your movies but for me you’re a real hero and to a lot of people also. A good man, a good father, a good husband and a decent human being, very rare to find.”
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