Monday Mixer: Scarlett Johansson can soothe any wild beast
Posted Monday, April 13, 2015 at 4:30 PM Central
by John Couture
So, there's this show called Game of Thrones and judging from my twitter timeline, it came back from hiatus last night. I would be thrilled and excited about this development along with the 95% of the other people I know in a social media sort of way, but here's the rub, I'm not caught up yet.
I mean, I'm so far behind that author George R.R. Martin might actually finish the series of books before I catch up. You see, I am only able to make that joke because of social media as I've only read the first book (so far) and I don't have occasion to wonder about the lack of speed to which Mr. Martin is (or isn't) finishing books.
We find ourselves living in a strange world and, as we talked about in our latest podcast, Google is positioning itself to help us to avoid being spoiled. I'm doing slightly better on the TV series as I'm through season 1 and half of season 2 before the wife and I had to pause for the sake of our children's sanity. Apparently, seeing heads on pikes does not make for pleasant dreams for a three-year-old, who knew?
But yet, we live in a world in which it's becoming increasingly impossible to avoid spoilers. I know all about the "Red Wedding" despite being a few TV series and a couple of books away from it and I'm wondering if there ever will be another great shock. Will we ever again have that *spoiler alert* Bruce Willis was dead the whole time moment like we did for The Sixth Sense?
If that movie were made today, that secret would have been posted on twitter so fast, that the movie would have been ruined within a few hours. So, what are our options? It's not like we can avoid spoilers even if we were to swear off social media and go off the grid, there are still co-workers, friends and family members who assume that everyone must know because everyone must be as connected as they are.
There's the rub. But I've found one thing to be true, if something is genuinely well made, it will stand the test of time and spoilage. Knowing that *spoiler alert* Rosebud was a sled doesn't make me appreciate Citizen Kane any less. Of course, if social media had existed back then, I can already see the response.
Just saw CITIZEN KANE! Trippy film, Orson Welles is the P.T. Barnum of our times. #ItsASled
I think it's time to get to this week's MM.
Box Office 411
All of that buildup and I'm afraid that I've run out of substance. This weekend was as textbook as you can get when it comes to the box office. Furious 7 fell 60% in its second weekend which is a better hold than the last two Fast and Furious movie. It made $60 million this weekend to push its box office total to over $252 million.
As it stands, the film will easily cruise into the $350 million territory, but it remains to be seen what effect Avengers: Age of Ultron will have on it in a couple of weeks. This will be the first real big test of over saturation in the marketplace for 2015. If they can both co-exist, there's a real good chance that Furious 7 could surpass the elusive $400 million barrier.
As expected, with little competition in the family/kid market, Home held onto second place adding another $19 million to its coffers. To date, the animated film has earned a cool $130 million and is on its way to $160 million or more.
The only newcomer this week, The Longest Ride debuted in fine Nicholas Sparks fashion with $13 million. The celebrated author shares a steady box office business that is much in line with Tyler Perry. You can set a watch to their box office receipts, they are that regular. The Longest Ride is looking to finish up with $30 million which is right in line with his other romantic films.
One last interesting tidbit from this weekend's box office report is that Cinderella surpassed $180 million in box office earnings. With a few fortunate bounces in the coming weeks, it could make it to $200 million which would be a huge victory.
Quick Hitters
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So, there's a new Terminator film coming out this year and it's sort of getting lost in the noise of this massive onslaught of blockbusters that will soon be unleashed onto us. I'll be honest, none of the previous trailer did much to move the needle for me, but the latest one at least got my attention.
Spoiler alert. There's a massive spoiler for Terminator: Genisys in this trailer. As we talked above, I'm not sure now whether you can actually make it into the theater without knowing this especially since they put it in the trailer, but I thought I'd at least give you the chance to decide for yourself.
They promised that this will turn the franchise on its ear and it is certainly set to do that, but it remains to be seen how this twist will play out. Personally, I think it opens so many potential plot holes that it makes my head hurt.
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Are we living in 1985? We go from one tidbit about Arnold Schwarzenegger to this one about Sylvester Stallone. We all know that Rocky is entering the ring at least one more time, this time as a trainer to Apollo Creed's grandson.
Michael B. Jordan is playing Adonis Creed and that might be the biggest indicator that it's time to hang up the boxing gloves, when your greatest opponent's grandson is fighting, it's time to get out of the business.
Anyhow, Sylvester Stallone proved that he (or someone on his team) is social media savvy when he posted the first official pic from this film on Instagram.
- Have you ever wondered what today's top hits would look like as '80s VHS tapes? So did we. Well, wonder no more.
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Finally today, here's a first. ScarJo's touch actually made someone go soft. Even more impressive? That person was the Hulk. Now who's the Incredible one?
Life is good, mix well!