Venom saves the movies
Venom saves the movies
And 'Billions' star abruptly exits
What to know
Venom, of all people, saves the movies… Venom 2 destroyed pandemic box office records, taking in a pretty dang normal $90 million. How? By being a comic book sequel, having 2 big stars, being rated PG-13, and only running 90 minutes. That’s how. Meanwhile, No Time to Die launched overseas and took in $119M. Things are looking good finally for movie theaters — and the stock prices of AMC, Cinemark, and Imax are reflecting it. Good job Venom 2, thank you for your service. 👽
Billions star exits, Corey Stoll joins as series regular… One can’t blame said star for leaving the show citing both creative and personal reasons. I had been a loyal viewer until the show’s most recent run of episodes. Coming back from the pandemic really exposed all of Billions faults (and I couldn’t stop thinking about Industry and Succession which are better versions of Billions). Corey Stoll is great in everything and fits well in this world, so I might check back in to see what the show is like when he becomes a regular in January. 💰
IATSE members authorize strike… 98% of the production crew union voted to authorize a strike. This doesn’t mean they are striking (yet), but gives its leaders leverage in negotiations with studios for better working conditions. Hopefully both parties can avoid a strike, but if that’s what it takes for the union to be treated better, it will be worth it. 🪧
Sterling K. Brown to produce and star in Washington Black miniseries at Hulu… This Is Us is ending and something tells me Brown is going to be the show’s most successful former cast member 📕
James Bond producers always ask themselves 2 questions before starting a new script… How do you like your martinis and in what order do you tell people your name? 🇬🇧
Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp go down for hours on Monday… what did you do with all your free time? 👩💻
Netflix puts Seinfeld in wide-screen, cropping out key jokes… when are these streamers gonna learn? 🍿
Netflix establishes $5.4M Chadwick Boseman scholarship at Howard University… OK Netflix, this makes up for the Seinfeld issues 🍿
For more pop culture news, discussion, and what-to-watch recommendations subscribe to my pals over on the Kickball Friends podcast. 🎙
Dropping this week:
There’s Someone Inside Your House — Oct 6 Netflix horror film | 🍅 53%
Ghosts — Oct 7 CBS comedy series | 🍅
No Time to Die — Oct 8 in theaters action film | 🍅 83%
Muppets Haunted Mansion — Oct 8 Disney+ comedy film | 🍅
Legends of the Hidden Temple — Oct 10 CW game show reboot | 🍅
What to watch
Trailer: tick, tick… BOOM! - Nov 19 Netflix and select theaters
Directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda, written by Steven Levenson, starring Andrew Garfield, Alexandra Shipp, Robin de Jesús, Joshua Henry, Mj Rodriguez, Bradley Whitford, Tariq Trotter, Judith Light, Richard Kind, and Vanessa Hudgens
This is a much better trailer than the teaser. Where that first trailer seemed to heavily trade on the tragedy of Jonathan Larson’s death, this gives us a much better idea of how Lin-Manuel Miranda and Andrew Garfield are celebrating Larson’s life. I would have loved to hear some more music from this as it is a musical with music and lyrics written by Jonathan Larson — but it’s become common practice for Hollywood to hide the fact that musicals are musicals in their musical trailers. Oh well! I’m on board anyway. Mr. Multi-hyphenate Miranda appears to be a competent director and Garfield is flexing his charisma and under-appreciated acting chops. Likewise, Robin de Jesús gets a nice showcase here as well. Hopefully this movie is good, the theater community deserves a win after Dear Evan Hansen.
For all past ‘what to watch’ recommendations, see the full list here!