BOX-OFFICE REPORT
For April 27th - 29th:
- Avengers: Infinity War - $250 million
- A Quiet Place - $10.65 million
- I Feel Pretty - $8.1 million
- Rampage - $7.1 million
- Black Panther - $4.4 million
Avengers: Infinity War positively utterly demolished the competition, setting all-time opening-weekend records. The superhero sequel collected $250 million domestically and $630 million worldwide.
If you're into horse races, the previous record-holder was Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($248 million in 2015). Only four other films have topped $200 million in their first weekends: Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Jurassic World, The Avengers and Black Panther.
The first-place champion left little on the table for the other films out there right now. The horror hit A Quiet Place did half the business of the previous weekend and dropped from number-one to number-two.
Amy Schumer's I Feel Pretty clung to third place, but also had only half as much revenue as last weekend. Rampage fared even worse, dropping from number-two to number-four after a two-thirds drop-off.
The only other winner of the week was Black Panther, which sold another $4.4 million in tickets 11 weeks into its run and surged back into the Top 5.
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*Onetime Glee star Lea Michele got engaged to clothing company president Zandy Reich over the weekend. The 31-year-old actress showed off the four-carat diamond ring that he designed in an Instagram post.
*On Sunday night, episode #636 of The Simpsons set an historic TV record. Matt Groening's cartoon has now aired the most scripted episodes ever by a prime-time series. What show did it have to pass to achieve that? Gunsmoke. The western ran for 20 seasons, from 1955 to 1975.
*MoviePass is cutting down on its offer of unlimited movies. The deal for new subscribers is now capped at four movies a month. And free repeat viewings of the same movie are no longer allowed.
*Michael Anderson, who got an Academy Awards nomination for directing Around the World in 80 Days in 1957, has died. The British director, who was 98, directed Logan's Run and The Quiller Memorandum, among many other films.
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Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom met Pope Francis on Saturday at the Vatican at the United to Cure event, an international conference on the cure for cancer. Perry was one of the speakers.
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The Daytime Emmy Awards were held Sunday night on a lengthy program that was, ironically, not shown on television. Mario Lopez and Sheryl Underwood hosted. There are far too many categories to run down, but some of the winners include:
Outstanding Morning Program: Good Morning America
Outstanding Talk Show Entertainment: The Talk
Outstanding Informative Talk Show Host: Steve Harvey
Outstanding Game Show: The Price Is Right
Outstanding Game Show Host: Wayne Brady (Let's Make a Deal)
Outstanding Legal/Courtroom Program: Judge Mathis
Outstanding Talk Show Informative: The Dr. Oz Show
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Prince Harry Has Chosen His Best Man - It’s official, the royal wedding party is more regal.
Prince William will be his brother's best man when Prince Harry marries actress Meghan Markle next month. Kensington Palace announced today that Harry asked William to do the honor. It's a replay of the brotherly love the princes displayed seven years ago.
Prince Harry was Prince William's best man when William married Kate Middleton in 2011. Harry and Markle will be married on May 19th in St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle.
There had be speculation that it was a “sore” subject as Harry took a long time to ask.
Source: BBC
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For the first time since November, Matt Lauer is speaking out about the sexual misconduct allegations which got the longtime NBC anchor fired.
At the time of his termination, Lauer issued a statement apologizing for those he may have hurt, but denied many of the stories told by his accusers. In a new statement released to The Washington Post yesterday (Thursday), Lauer says, "I have made no public comments on the many false stories from anonymous or biased sources that have been reported about me over these past several months. I remained silent in an attempt to protect my family from further embarrassment and to restore a small degree of the privacy they have lost."
"But defending my family now requires me to speak up. I fully acknowledge that I acted inappropriately as a husband, father and principal at NBC. However I want to make it perfectly clear that any allegations or reports of coercive, aggressive or abusive actions on my part, at any time, are absolutely false." Several female staffers have accused Lauer of sexually harassment. (People)
Talk About It:
- In addition to losing his job, he's also about to lose his marriage.
- His latest statement comes on the same day that news broke of sexual harassment claims made against longtime NBC anchor Tom Brokaw.
- It sounds like Lauer is still trying to clear his name, but the damage has already been done.
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*Sarah Jessica Parker is being sued for allegedly backing out of a $7.5 million deal to create her own line of jewelry. Jeweler Kat Florence says the Sex and the City star signed a deal with them but then “refused to properly participate and comply with her contractual obligations, making the success of this enterprise impossible.” (NY Daily News)
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*A sequel to A Quiet Place is already in the works. The horror blockbuster has earned $135 million in three weeks.
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Long Awaited Pizza Hut Museum Is Open -
It took more that 30 minutes, but we’ve got a new museum!
A museum dedicated to a national pizza chain is now open in Wichita, Kansas. The museum, which highlights the founding of Pizza Hut, was dedicated yesterday on Wichita State University's new Innovation Campus.
The building being used is the original Pizza Hut building and will officially open to the public April 30th. The original sign hangs above the entrance, but if you were hoping to see the original kitchen and dining area, they no longer exist.
Pizza Hut was founded in 1958 by brother Frank and Dan Carney.
Source: KAKE
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The Taking Down Of Harvey Weinstein Is Going To Be A Movie -
The revealing of the Harvey Weinstein sexual misconduct scandal is being made into a movie.
Annapurna Pictures and Brad Pitt's Plan B Entertainment have acquired the film rights to a dramatization of the Weinstein story. The film will be about how “New York Times” reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twoheybroke the story of a powerful Hollywood producer accused of a pattern of sexual misconduct. The story by two "Times" reporters sparked the #MeToo movement, and the reporters won a Pulitzer Prize for their work last week. Weinstein has been accused of sexual misconduct by over 70 women.
The movie is in the development stage, with no writer signed up to create it, yet.
Source: Hollywood Reporter